Oolite Bulletins

Ramirez wrote:

An opponent should yield once they hit low energy (25% of maximum); as well as releasing a flare a comms message should come up on screen. I think if things are busy, comms messages can sometimes be lost so maybe I should change this to a more reliable console message. Another complication is that if you continue to attack a ship after it's yielded you forfeit the challenge.

I do recall a challenge a while ago which I lost because the tournament buoy was "behind" the asteroid. So I launched, flew out there, shot them until they yielded, and then flew back. But I couldn't dock immediately, because they were ahead of me in the docking queue ... and as I waited, they flew right into the side of the asteroid.

That particular bug seems to have been the docking bug reported elsewhere and now fixed in trunk, but is it possible for the forfeit to only happen if you had anything to do with them exploding?

At the moment I've been a bit lax with my use of the 'whom' function, and so any time an opponent dies after the challenge has ended, it forfeits the challenge. I should change this so that only a death caused by the player ends in this result.

Just looking at the script again, I've noted my earlier post is incorrect:

Another complication is that if you continue to attack a ship after it's yielded you forfeit the challenge. So if you keep firing your laser and don't realise the opponent has yielded that may end up in failure.

Although this was my intention I think I removed this feature because I realised it can cause difficulties. This OXP is so big I've lost track of what I intended and what I've actually implemented!

b.t.w. you shouldn't need to wait for the other ship to dock; you can return to the lodge as soon as the challenge has ended.

Ramirez wrote:

b.t.w. you shouldn't need to wait for the other ship to dock; you can return to the lodge as soon as the challenge has ended.

Normally, yes, but the lodge wouldn't grant docking clearance because the other ship had already got it. So it was either wait for them or take the fine for docking without clearance.

Would I be right in thinking that's related to the Docking Clearance Protocol added in v1.72? I'm afraid I've been a bit ignorant of this feature and haven't ever tried it, let alone modified this or any of my other OXPs to accomodate it.

However, a simple fix for this example would be to switch to a route1traderAI or something equally innocuous.

Ramirez wrote:

Would I be right in thinking that's related to the Docking Clearance Protocol added in v1.72? I'm afraid I've been a bit ignorant of this feature and haven't ever tried it, let alone modified this or any of my other OXPs to accomodate it.

Yes, that's it. It's not really a problem except in the rare cases where a defeated opponent somehow manages to get themselves killed between the tournament buoy and the lodge before you can dock, having previously got in quicker with their docking clearance request. The underlying bug with docking AI is fixed in trunk, so you'd need something like an unexpected thargoid invasion or something for it to be a real problem now.

Thanks Ramirez, I am really looking forward to starting the game again in an adder and only a loan from the Black Monks to see if I can survive (thanks a bunch Switeck! ). That's what I did last time.

I know I've already mentioned this but I gotta go at it again...

100,000 is a lorra lorra wonga! I think the biggest win should be roughly double your stake. That's a lot of money too bearing in mind I haven't left the system to earn it and was in no real danger (provided I launched a flare). Otherwise at 100,000k per joust I can go from space bum to shopping for a new ship and all the wizz wazz to give me an iron ass inside of an hour. And, if I take damage in a joust that costs more than the winnings - whose fault is that? Mine for going into the kitchen.

I think you need to have made a certain number of kills ( average rating ?) before you can participate in a challenge.
Good luck in reaching that with a non-iron ass in an hour.

Note :
if i am wrong, it does feel logical to have such a limit.
After all the nobles come offer those challenges in the spirit of chivalry.
Beating an ill-equipped ship/ unexperienced pilot is not a challenge and doesn't seem very chivalrous.

I had no problems in an Adder or Mongoose getting maximum odds with v1.13.

[edit] I have a saved game if the veracity of my claim is in doubt [/edit]

Ramirez wrote:

What I'd like is for people to have a bit of a play around and post some of their findings. I can then use this info to make the challenges much more risky and interesting. Remember to fire your flare to yield to an opponent if you don't want to get blown up!

Finally had time to get to a hunting lodge and have a go.

Cobra III, forward military laser. No problems defeating any of the opponents, unfortunately. It's not that difficult, after the initial closing-in, to be continuously in a position where they can't hit you - even with a 180 degree front turret - but you can pound away at them with the laser, as you circle around.

The Jaeger was actually slightly more of a challenge than the Korvette or Zerstorer, since it's a smaller target, and more manoeuvrable. One of the Korvettes used injectors, which didn't really help it since it was horribly vulnerable when running away.

Worst result for me: lost a quarter of a military shield (equivalent to most but not all of a basic shield) in the initial joust, didn't get hit at all after that. I'm not sure there's any reasonable amount of firepower they can be given in their current configuration that would make them properly challenging without also making it possible for them to blow up a decent Cobra III on the initial joust if they got lucky.

What might work is to change their front weapon back to a laser, but to stick a low-range (2km at most) low-power turret on the top and bottom of the ships to force the player to fight at a slightly longer range where the challenger might actually get chance to aim. Maybe increase the power or rate but not the range on the Korvette and especially the Zerstorer.

I'm running 1.76 and although the royal courts appear on the planet's the Hunting lodges don't appear in my advanced space compass I believe they used to be represented by a f and be quite near the sun

perhaps I'm in a feudal system that is one of the few without a hunting lodge

The Hunting Lodges should be appearing in the same systems as the ones with the Royal Courts on the planet surface and listed in the PDF readme. If things aren't happening as they should can you note down the system and galaxy you're in and I'll check things out.

I'm going to start by saying this OXP, as far as I'm concerned, is an integral part of Oolite, and I wouldn't have it any other way. However:

I've read the PDF, and I've been a Knight of Ededleen almost as long as I've been playing Oolite, but I can't seem to get any higher. What do I need to do?

I assume you've been carrying out lots of missions in an attempt to get a promotion? You need 40 points to go above a knight. Delivery and tribute missions only get you 1 or 2 points per time, but escort missions can net you 20 points if they're fully successful. I kept the scoring system rather hidden away to make it less certain as to when you might get a promotion.

Ramirez wrote:

I assume you've been carrying out lots of missions in an attempt to get a promotion? You need 40 points to go above a knight. Delivery and tribute missions only get you 1 or 2 points per time, but escort missions can net you 20 points if they're fully successful. I kept the scoring system rather hidden away to make it less certain as to when you might get a promotion.

I have been the past month or so, mainly delivery/tribute missions - so I just need to be more patient. I was concerned that knight might be as high as it gets (incomplete like Roberto's Taranis OXP).