Oolite Bulletins

Hi everyone, I'm new around here. Thanks to all the contributors for making Oolite happen, I've enjoyed it tremendously so far.

I'd like to know more about a few things, however:
1. I can't find any of these missions people keep talking about, such as grappling the fabled Constrictor or spoiling some Thargoid Plans. My Elite rating is Competent and my Cobra's almost a true Iron Ass by now, I'm also playing legally clean. Are these missions OXP only or am I supposed to run into them after leaving Galaxy 1 or something?
2. So far I've been quite happy with my Cobra III, but could someone recommend me a better powerhouse? I'm looking for something in the style of a Porsche Panamera or Audi RS6 Avanti coupled with some muscle car tradition, if we'd compare spacecraft to modern cars. I don't need as much manouverability as a Cobra 3 has, but I'd like more speed and cargo space. What would you veterans around here be piloting in such a case?
3. What is the difference between Galaxies? Is there any point or purpose in moving to a new galaxy if you have a clean legal slate?

Thanks in advance!

Hi Azured,
You can find details of both native and OXP missions here on the Wiki.
As for a new ship, you are spoilt for choice. From the 'core' ships the Boa Class Cruiser is reckoned by many to be the ultimate, but look at OXP ships, and you'll be spoilt for choice. For what it's worth I fly a Boa Clipper, which is a variant of the Boa Class Cruiser.
Every Galaxy is different so take your time, but eventually you may wish to visit them all, specially for missions. Galaxy Five is thought by many to be the best one.
Enjoy!.

Hi Azured,

From memory to get the first native Oolite mission (the Constrictor mission) - you must be in G1 (possibly G2) and half way to Dangerous (so you should be getting the nod soon!)

I've always stuck with a Cobby3, but I hear the BCC would meet your alternative ship requirements.

Doing the constrictor mission WILL take you from G1 to G2 at some point - the rest is down to you - there are plenty of OXP missions set in the later Charts - it depends on how much you want to explore.

For those who know the game well - Chart 5 is a particular favourite.

PS - In case nobody else has said it (I note this is, at the time of writing, your 2nd post) "Welcome to the friendliest board this side of Riedquat!" (tm)

EDIT: Ninja'd by Smivs with an almost word for word reply - spooky!!!

On the subject of sectors/galaxies, have you seen ClymAngus' excellent pdf charts... very useful for route planning.

Oh... the fifth is definitely the best sector... but take your time getting there.

It truely depends what sort of carrear you want in the future as to what ship you purchase, I did all the native missions and most of the assassins missions with the Cobra 3, then when I knew that I didn't want to trade I swapped to a Xeikil MK2 which is what I still fly.

The best ship is one you are comfortable with, when you buy a new ship save it as a different file, that way if you decide you hate it you can just swap back to your other one.

In my opinion small fast ships that have 1 or maybe even 2 tonnes of space are the best, very hard to hit and very manouvereable... Then again, it's completely up to you

Welcome to the board Azured!

Oolite is a great game for space combat and what good is an "iron ass" if you don't intend to get into the fray. Free cargo is the way to fund combat so I would recommend at least a 15t cargo capacity and perhaps a little more maneuveurability than the stock CobraMkIII. Look around and save often and before major ship changes and I'm sure you'll find something you like. The real fun is in the discoveries to be made by trial and error(and code diving hehe!) so have fun exploring!

G'day Azured,
Welcome to the Ooniverse.
For missions you can't go wrong with the random hits oxp. Gives heaps of fun and something to do when your not busy doing other missions. Well actually I probably do them as often during other missions.
That's when Cmdr. ClymAngus's vector maps are a must for navigation.

For the Constrictor mission, it's so long ago, at least 3 cycles of the 8 galaxies. I don't really remeber, but it did start in G1 for me.
I didn't get the Thargoid plan mission till G7 I think. As said, long time ago.

As has been said, when you trade in your ship for a new unkown, save the old one first and rename the new one. OH; sell all your gold, Plat. and gems first, newer versions of Oolite don't transfer them. Preferable to trade in with an empty hold and just after a maintenance service. Better trade price, just like having your car detailed before selling.

As for ships.. Ah well.. Just so many to try.
I loved my cobby3, then I loved my cobby super, then my Python CC. Tried a few others, wasn't so taken with them.
Now I love my Caddy OMG (Neocaduceus omega) The Gertrude Oblitz. What a ship. Had to dampen the pitch rate, she was just a bit too twitchy. A bit like a Chieftain tank handling like a formula 1 race car.
The maintenance is just as bad too, very expensive and often. But worth it.
Besides between Random hits and doing my civic duty to pirates in the space lanes, I still make a profit.

Great! Thanks for all the answers, this really is a friendly board.

I've had quite a long look at the OXP ships in the Wiki. However, I'm quite picky. How hard is it to make your own ship? I'm looking for something in the size class and cargo capacity of the Python, but much much faster. Is there a way to edit an existing Python hull design and just change the textures and technical data?

how about the Python ET Special? for some reason it doesn't show up on ships list, but it is on the wiki anyway.



or if you really want something different you can model one, I have a nice selection of modeling tutorials here

Changing the details and textures is easy enough....edit the shipdata.plist for the ship's spec, and create a new texture using Gimp or Photoshop etc.
You'll need to do some fancy stuff to change the model, but it is possible. I think you'll find the details here somewhere if you look.
The usual advice is to keep it sensible, specially if you are planning on releasing the OXP. For instance if you want more speed, you'll need bigger engines and they have to go somewhere so you should lose a chunk of cargo space to free-up the room. And of course a bigger ship like a Python shouldn't be as manoeuvreable as say a small fighter.
You'll find the OXP Howto page on the Wiki useful, and my Texture tutorial might help if you want to re-skin a ship.

This board is friendly... and fast Must be because many of you seem to be from Europe like me.

Anyways, I have no intention of cheating my way into stardom. I'd just like to try something a bit brutish - a ship that has a turning radius of a small moon, but enough cargo space and engines to really gun it from the Witchspace beacon to the orbital station. Maybe after some practice in modding and f(l)ight testing I might make a serious OXP out of it.

On that note, how do Injectors and the Torus drive enhance my ship's speed? Do they multiply the default flying speed or can they be set in the ship's data? Or both?

Azured wrote:

On that note, how do Injectors and the Torus drive enhance my ship's speed? Do they multiply the default flying speed or can they be set in the ship's data? Or both?

Hi Azured, you'll find the answer here.