Oolite Bulletins

Is there any reason to create new and interesting star systems, if players are happy fighting and trading their way through the ones we've got? Is there any reason to create new weapons and equipment, and tougher opponents, if players are happy exploring and trading with the ones we've got? Is there any reason to improve the trading system, or make mining more interesting, if players are happy with what we've got?

I don't know about new and interesting star-systems people have created, but I have recently been going beyond the usual eight by exploring what it's like to play Oolite in a different set of galaxies.

This has made the Constrictor Hunt much much more of an odyssey, not being in the usual sectors of G2. Plus there's always the opportunity for a new, rude planet name.

-- Giles in <key>galaxy_seed</key><string>150 180 144 4 166 111</string>

With respect to the poll, I think that may depend on where you are in the game.
My 'main' Commander is mostly exploring and fighting, with a little bit of trade on the side. He has a fully-loaded Iron-Ass ship and he's made his money and can afford to do what he wants and to have a bit of recreational fun.
My 'new' Commander is just starting out and is concentrating principally on trade. He needs to continue to upgrade the still-basic equipment his ship has, largely avoids conflict as his ship is not too well defended, and his 'exploration' consists of deciding on a destination and safely trading his way there.
As to whether I'm happy with what we've got, well yes, mostly, although there is always room for improvement. And of course with the wealth of OXPs available you can 'improve' the game in pretty much any way you like.
Having said that my 'new' Commander is living in a very 'pure' Ooniverse (just eye-candy to re-texture the default ships, objects and planets) and I'm enjoying the experience more than I would have imagined. I think like so many of us I'd lost sight of what a 'complete' game vanilla Oolite is. Just like Elite back in the day it has everything it really needs built in, and I'm thinking more and more that this quality is easily lost when too much is added.
The net result of this is that for now at least I won't be adding any more OXPs except for the occassional 'flavour' OXP depending on where I am and what I'm doing. I'm going to keep it simple, keep it pure, keep it FUN!

I picked "fighting, exploring and trading", because that's what it's all about at the moment for me. I'm happy with combat pretty much as it is, with the relatively small number of ships I've got in the game, and I'm not desperate to jump on to an escalating scale of weapons, bigger bad guys and stronger defences. But if intriguing new trades and trading systems were created, or the opportunity to genuinely explore strange new systems and places, then undoubtedly my priorities would change, and trading and exploring would rise up the rankings.

There isn't any reason to create anything in the game, except to entertain and amuse yourself. In any case, most of the really great breakthroughs happen when people go off and do their own thing, without worrying about what other people want. Mostly, people don't know what they want, or at any rate can't express it: this is why TV shows, films etc. created by focus groups and marketeers are so consistently bland. They undoubtedly tick all the boxes ... the problem is, so does pretty much everything else, in exactly the same ways. The real secret is to tick boxes that people didn't even know existed, and didn't know they wanted, until they saw them.

I picked exploring, fighting trading. I love to explore new story lines from OXP missions (currently, I'm enjoying Iron Raven), I like matching my skills and my Cobra Mk3 with offenders and fugitives stupid enough to target me (I'm still on my path to Elite, though getting really close now), and I don't need to trade so much anymore, though out of habit I still trade in furs and computers when they are particularly cheap somewhere where my exploring takes me.

As Smivs said, it depends on how far you are in the game. Once I got fully kitted out and had a couple of hundred grand, trading became an afterthought.

aegidian wrote:

Giles in <key>galaxy_seed</key><string>150 180 144 4 166 111</string>

Downright subversive, is that... my Commander Magellan is now adrift in a parallel Ooniverse!

I think that it's necessary to trade in order to explore star systems. You have to trade to buy equipment and/or fuel, because without fuel you can't reach other star systems and explore, and without equipment you can't defend and so on.

So my order would be, firstly trading, secondly exploring and thirdly fighting.

Hanging around the space stations shooting the police, no?

Cheers,

Drew.

drew wrote:

Hanging around the space stations shooting the police, no?

That's pretty much what I do when I need to blow off steam... if I just went on a 60-light-year journey without saving only to be shot down by a few Asps, I'll load up my alter ego uber-savefile and show the Vipers who's boss.

aegidian wrote:

Giles in <key>galaxy_seed</key><string>150 180 144 4 166 111</string>.

If anyone wants to try out Aegidian's ooniverse, I would recommend this as the starting point: That will put the most challenging galaxy (with two islands) on chart 8.

What? No oxping?

ClymAngus wrote:

What? No oxping?

What? You talkin' 'bout?

Yes, but the poll only allows 10 possible responses.

3 x 2 x 1= 6, but 4 x 3 x 2 x 1 = 24.