Oolite Bulletins

Apologies if it has been posted/discussed before, but would it be possible to disable navigational buoys in Strict Mode? I don't believe the original Elite games had those. While they are tremendously helpful for newbies, experienced players should be manually OK docking without one. Just a random thought while I play Elite Plus and wait for my first video card (for Oolite) to arrive in the mail.

BF Bullpup wrote:

Apologies if it has been posted/discussed before, but would it be possible to disable navigational buoys in Strict Mode? I don't believe the original Elite games had those. While they are tremendously helpful for newbies, experienced players should be manually OK docking without one. Just a random thought while I play Elite Plus and wait for my first video card (for Oolite) to arrive in the mail.

It's an interesting thought - and I think I agree - except with the tiny caveat that Oolite != Elite (it's just potentially very close to it's original beginnings)

I agree with you that it is a fine line. I think there is still plenty to make Oolite Strict somewhat different from the original Elites, such as docking (much more work in Oolite), fluctuating market prices in the same planet at different times, real-time clock during all aspects of unpaused gameplay, modern HUD with full-screen field of view, and more. If the developers feel it best to keep the buoys, no problem at all.

I actually wanted to remove the nav buoys from the main game, but with Cheyd's Nav Buoys OXP installed, they've become nice eye-candy.

I like the idea of making strict mode as close to Elite as possible within the Oolite physics, so removing the nav buoys in strict gets my vote.

maik wrote:

I like the idea of making strict mode as close to Elite as possible within the Oolite physics, so removing the nav buoys in strict gets my vote.

What he said

From memory (on the C64 version) it was impossible to come to a dead stop in Elite - is this true in Oolite (in strict mode) - as I don't think it's true in normal mode.

DaddyHoggy wrote:

it was impossible to come to a dead stop in Elite

This was true in Elite and Elite Plus. In Oolite's strict mode, you can come to a dead stop, as you can in normal mode.

El Viejo wrote:

In Oolite's strict mode, you can come to a dead stop, as you can in normal mode.

Really? How, exactly?

Ha! Just went and checked... you can zero the speed on the hud, but the spacedust still drifts very slowly towards you.
So you must still be moving... I'd never noticed that! Amazing!

As it happens, that drift would be nice in normal mode too, I reckon.

El Viejo wrote:

Ha! Just went and checked... you can zero the speed on the hud, but the spacedust still drifts very slowly towards you. So you must still be moving...

Also, if you launch from a space station and immediately stop, then turn to face the space station and change your view to a side view, you will more easily see the ship move as it creeps toward the station.

El Viejo wrote:

As it happens, that drift would be nice in normal mode too, I reckon.

I don't! I like being able to stop.

That sounds like the better version of the Newtonian flight model loved so much by Frontier fans and hated so much by original Elite players.

SandJ wrote:

El Viejo wrote:

Ha! Just went and checked... you can zero the speed on the hud, but the spacedust still drifts very slowly towards you. So you must still be moving...

Also, if you launch from a space station and immediately stop, then turn to face the space station and change your view to a side view, you will more easily see the ship move as it creeps toward the station.

Or, if you launch and fly straight ahead, coming to a stop somewhere in front of the buoy, you'll slowly crash into it sooner or later.

By the way, I noticed that strict mode has one oddity: if you start your game in unrestricted mode and switch to strict mode, you can still use the debug console afterwards, although it's technically an OXP.

However, if you quit the game while still in strict mode and start it again, it will still be in strict mode, and the debug menu and debug console are gone. Even switching to unrestricted won't bring them back. You have to quit and restart again in order to be able to use them.

But in the first case, while OXPs are disabled but the debug console still works, you can use it normally and script actions in the Ooniverse which otherwise adheres to the the strict mode restrictions.

Commander McLane wrote:

Or, if you launch and fly straight ahead, coming to a stop somewhere in front of the buoy, you'll slowly crash into it sooner or later.

You can also dock at 'drift' speed... a little tricky, but quite good fun!