Oolite Bulletins

Capt. Murphy wrote:

A lot of the discussion here on Navy size seems to be centred on the assumption that the Thargoid menace is a massive force, needing a massive Navy (albeit out in Intergalactic space) to fight/contain it. That doesn't necessarily need to be the case....

I envisage Thargoid culture and biology as somewhat fractious and not all Thargoid's are bad.

Fits in with what I know

...a Thargoid dissident opposed to the dominant faction's intentions to colonise the inhabited worlds.

He saw this plan as destabilising and a threat to the Thargoid species, who although militarily strong and technologically advanced were relatively small in number. He believed that a full-scale war was more likely to lead to the destruction of the Thargoid empire than give the Thargoids the resources they would need to expand.

Capt. Murphy wrote:

We are yet to see what happens when the Queen produces a daughter and sends her on her way to start a new hive.......

Some of us have seen that already!

Smivs wrote:

Some of us have seen that already!

Indeed! That saucer has fearsome firepower!

Smivs wrote:

HIMSN light cruiser?

(It's a Boa2 with wings and a bridge attached - just done as a proof-of-concept at this stage)

There's already a light cruiser, the Boa 2...so that's more like a medium or heavy cruiser, as it's likely to have better shielding, more missiles, and possibly turrets as well (much like the Anaconda Transport does).

Request for sources: Elite Canon.

I have access to the following:

BBC Elite (Primary source)
Original Elite Manuel
The Dark Wheel

Elite+ (Secondary source)
Manuel
Imprint

Elite FAQ from alt.fan.elite
The Wiki of course.

What I need is the exact original wording of the mission texts from the various versions of the original Elite. (BBC, C64, Spectrum, Elite-A, etc). Can anyone help with those.
Also, there are a few suggestions for placements of various Naval installations in this thread. If anyone has the source for these it would be great. If it's just a suggestion, that is fine too, but I would like to know which is what.

I have about 10 pages of notes so far, covering anything from nitty gritty details to wishy washy overviews. Still some way to go to get all ideas organised. I'm using the stuff I find in this thread as guidance.

A very personal opinion: [heresy]I have never regarded The Dark Wheel as canon![/heresy]

Switeck wrote:

There's already a light cruiser, the Boa 2...so that's more like a medium or heavy cruiser, as it's likely to have better shielding, more missiles, and possibly turrets as well (much like the Anaconda Transport does).

My initial "Order of Battle" for HIMSN so far is as follows:

HIMSN version of the Sidewinder
HIMSN version of the Asp mk II
HIMSN version of the Boa Cruiser as a HIMSN Corvette
HIMSN version of the Anaconda as a HIMSN Frigate
HIMSN version of the Anaconda as a HIMSN Supply ship
HIMSN Light cruiser with small docking bay allowing docking of Sidewinders.
HIMSN Assault Ship. Bulky Logistics ship with docking bay up to Asp size ships.
HIMSN Behemoth. Large battle ship with docking bay.
HIMSN Shuttle. Navy shuttle for transfers between station and ships.
HIMSN CSAR ship. HIMSN version of the Moray Star Boat

This is probably too much for where I think this should go.

El Viejo wrote:

A very personal opinion: [heresy]I have never regarded The Dark Wheel as canon![/heresy]

I have no problem with that. I'm just trying to get things in sync. The mission texts are what I want to use and stretch to do this. But I can't find them. Apparently some of them were available in Christian Pinders source for Elite NXT, but I don't have it.

The Boa Class Cruiser is to my mind mis-named. It is a civilian transport/freighter and the name 'cruiser' implies a military role. I therefore normally refer to it as the Boa 2.
The vessel above is my interpretation of a military derivative, with no cargo hold but plenty of weaponry perhaps with weapons arrays on the 'wings'. I envisage it having more missiles than the Boa 2, military lasers of course, and maybe turrets. But only maybe, because firstly I don't think it will need turrets, and as it is still basically a Boa 2 hull it can still dock at main stations. In my opinion turrets only make sense on very large vessels (and WonderWorms of course ).
In fact having thought on this ship a bit, and bearing in mind that the stock Boa 2 is fairly quick and manoevreable I think this vessel fits more into a Destroyer role. A heavily modified Anaconda might make a better cruiser.

Smivs wrote:

In fact having thought on this ship a bit, and bearing in mind that the stock Boa 2 is fairly quick and manoevreable I think this vessel fits more into a Destroyer role. A heavily modified Anaconda might make a better cruiser.

Noted, and a Destroyer will fit nicely into my HIMSN Task Organisation, but I also want to limit the types of ships.

Gimi wrote:

El Viejo wrote:

A very personal opinion: [heresy]I have never regarded The Dark Wheel as canon![/heresy]

I have no problem with that. I'm just trying to get things in sync. The mission texts are what I want to use and stretch to do this. But I can't find them. Apparently some of them were available in Christian Pinders source for Elite NXT, but I don't have it.

I'd assume that Oolite's mission texts are identical to the originals. With the caveat perhaps that not all versions of 8bit-Elite may have had the same mission texts (not all versions even had all missions). Thus Giles may have based his mission texts on one specific version. AFAIK Oolite is most closely created after BBC Elite, so this may be the most likely candidate.

Gimi wrote:

... but I also want to limit the types of ships.

Agreed. I'm thinking that in fact very few are needed.
The war against the Thargoids is fairly straight-forward...dealing with minor incursions into GalCop space (normally dealt with by Police and any passing civilians) and the major battles in Inter-galactic Space. One or two Capital ship types are enough, and then fighters. I don't see much need for ancilliary ships like transports, unless we just want to see the Navy's support vessels from time to time in normal space.

My suggestion would be:-

Carrier - Large carrier (Behemoth-like) to act as C and C, and as mobile dock/hospital etc.

Heavy Cruiser - (Thunder Class?) big but nimble with very powerful weaponry specifically to deal with Thargoid carriers and cruisers

Destroyer/Corvette (Something like the Boa 2 derivative above) Fast and powerful vessel that can hold its own while keeping multiple Thargoid Warships occupied.

Fighter - I'd favour the Asp. To harry Warships and mop-up Thargons etc.

How's this? I've replaced the 'wings' with borrowed parts from Staer9's 'chopped cobra'. I think this looks meaner, much more 'military' and pretty damn cool.

Smivs wrote:

My suggestion would be:-

Carrier - Large carrier (Behemoth-like) to act as C and C, and as mobile dock/hospital etc.

Heavy Cruiser - (Thunder Class?) big but nimble with very powerful weaponry specifically to deal with Thargoid carriers and cruisers

Destroyer/Corvette (Something like the Boa 2 derivative above) Fast and powerful vessel that can hold its own while keeping multiple Thargoid Warships occupied.

Fighter - I'd favour the Asp. To harry Warships and mop-up Thargons etc.

I think we need maybe two more. As a minimum I would want:

HIMSN version of the Sidewinder
HIMSN version of the Asp mk II
HIMSN version of the Boa as a HIMSN Frigate/Destroyer
HIMSN version of the Anaconda as a HIMSN Supply ship
HIMSN Assault Ship. Bulky Logistics ship with docking bay up to Asp size ships.
HIMSN Behemoth. Large battle ship with docking bay.

This to create the right atmosphere in-game. The regular trader will mostly see the logistics ships bringing supplies to the front, but even that should be a rare event.
I also want both the Sidewinder and the Asp. Firstly, both are specifically mentioned as Navy ships in the Elite documentation. Secondly, I have distinct roles planned for both. I also want to base as many ships as possible on the standard ships in Elite, but would very much like them modified and distinguishable from their civilian counterparts.

Gimi wrote:

I also want to base as many ships as possible on the standard ships in Elite, but would very much like them modified and distinguishable from their civilian counterparts.

Agree with that.

Smivs wrote:

How's this? I've replaced the 'wings' with borrowed parts from Staer9's 'chopped cobra'. I think this looks meaner, much more 'military' and pretty damn cool.

Very nice Smivs, wings might need to be a little bit bigger. Looks like a Boa with added weapon pylons. If you cold fit in some kind of communications array/antenna/dome/??? that still looks cool, it would be great.