Oolite Bulletins

szaumix wrote: ↑Wed Jul 13, 2022 7:22 pm

Cholmondely, has this thread come up with the kinds of ideas you were looking for? I value the idea of exploration really highly, as well as non-linear things to do. It's one of my main attractions to this game -- very much more so than combat and generalized action which in any case is invariably too easy no matter how much I tweak for difficulty.

Good question!

I suspect that there are two main schools of thought exemplifed in this thread.

1) The radical rejig
- create new galaxies using the Oolite game engine (as per Cim's AltMap).
- create an invasion of Thargoids in some of the Eight where the immediate F6 screen electronic maps are rendered out of date, and a new Dark Age is ushered in.

2) Faffing at the fringes
- rejig things so that some become more rare, or are restricted to, say, just the one galaxy (eg Redspear's lasers or Switeck's orbital stations), thus introducing elements of exploration.
- create a number of unique experiences in various of the galaxies which cry out for exploration (eg a revamped Lave.oxp, TOGY, Tianve Pulsar, etc.)

I hope that that is a fair summary.

As an ignoramus of the Dark Arts, I suspect that I might be able to do something with 1b. But I've not really penetrated beyond Galaxy 1 so far (lousy combat skills), hence I feel no immediate urge. Maybe we could introduce some new maps for Oolite which combined with ZeroMap (for instance) would provide a much more explorational environment which could then be adumbrated with relevant oxp's. I do think that that would be the easiest to manage.

Edited to add: We Ooliters are very lucky that various people have added things to the game which make many of these possibilities much easier to realise. Cim's scenarios, A_C_'s graphics, the absolutely amazing collection of .oxp's...

With major changes, campaigns/missions that insist on long trips across a Galaxy Chart may run into a problem caused by other OXZs...that hide/remove/nova key systems along the way.

Switeck wrote: ↑Sun Jul 17, 2022 3:14 pm

With major changes, campaigns/missions that insist on long trips across a Galaxy Chart may run into a problem caused by other OXZs...that hide/remove/nova key systems along the way.

So there would seem to be at least 3 get outs:
1) someone who "knows what they are up to" sorts out the conflict!
2) Banish the missions by specifically naming them in the exclusions field in the manifest.plist
3) Banish everything except for a handful of inclusions by putting the major change in a scenario

hiran wrote: ↑Mon Jul 04, 2022 7:34 am

'The Collector' is a very nice hunt to finding some special station. Unfortunately it promises a wealth of missions - yet there is only one.
So what has started as a really good story ends as 'sorry, you reached the end'. Oolite needs more, and more complete such stories.

Did you ever try any of the other missions?




Out of place Edit:

There is more on Oolite as an Exploration game here: https://bb.oolite.space/viewtopic.php?p=293335#p293335

Cholmondely wrote: ↑Tue Jul 19, 2022 4:24 am

hiran wrote: ↑Mon Jul 04, 2022 7:34 am

'The Collector' is a very nice hunt to finding some special station. Unfortunately it promises a wealth of missions - yet there is only one.
So what has started as a really good story ends as 'sorry, you reached the end'. Oolite needs more, and more complete such stories.

Did you ever try any of the other missions?

I tried one or the other but 'the collector' was the one I really investigated on and played till the end.
Of others I remember the Tionisla reporter that brought me to some plant in interstellar space but I never took any photos.
And another where I would have to locate a ship that must have jumped to another galaxy. Experiencing other galaxies Ooniverse looked too homogenous to stay thrilling.

Wildeblood wrote: ↑Tue Jan 16, 2024 5:56 pm

Cholmondely wrote: ↑Tue Jan 16, 2024 5:10 pm

There's an essay on the wiki about Exploration with relevant OXP links: https://wiki.alioth.net/index.php/Exploration

Yes, I've just spent the last hour reading it. Switeck gets it (he usually did). Szaumix seemed to get it. It was an interesting, if frustrating, discussion to read. Edit: No, that's not what I was reading; I read the thread in the discussion forum about that essay.

So!

August and Exalted Life President of the Guild of Explorers!

Sir Wildeblood, how do you understand "exploration"?

What am I missing?

What were you hoping to see here?

And how would Oolite need to be tweaked in order to enable your sort of exploration?

I notice that your relevant OXP work included not just Traveller's Club & your Galactic Hyperdrive, but also Alternative Ooniverses, Altimeter, Destination ETA with spectroscope, Distant Realms, Distant Suns & Galaxy Names.



(...and how can that Exploration wiki page be improved?)