Oolite Bulletins

I've been kicking this idea around on my own, and since my 'talents' don't exist I have decided to pass it on to the community. Who knows, maybe it's an idea someone else could use?

My idea is a vessel specifically designed specifically with a bounty hunter in mind. The theoretical name for it would be Copperhead following the snake theme within game, and since it's a very common venomous snake in my area. It would be smaller than a Python, maybe Fer-De-Lance size (For that matter it could be a variation of the Fer-de-lance) Some of the features it would have be;

• *Smallish cargo bay, 5-12 ton. this should keep the size down, and keep it reasonably crisp to fly while allowing mild scavenging work.
  *Good handling characteristics, but not so jumpy that it is overly difficult to get a good laser shot at ranges beyond 5km. Slightly more mobile than a Python, but not as jumpy as an Adder.
  *Fore and Aft lasers, none on the sides. Keeps the cost down, while allowing the 'average' pilot to do good work. In battle, I tend to forget I even have port and starboard lasers. Fore and Aft should do.
  *Black in color at least in the nose area. This should make it a little tougher to pick up visually. (I find the IFF a little clumsy for locating a ship, admittedly, the AI pirates may not have that problem, but black looks cool, so black. OR, you could go with a black to copper fade where the 'head' (nose) of the bird is copper colored fading back to black. Copperhead!
  *Slightly more shields than a bone stock ship. It is designed to by flown by a newer bounty hunter who may make the occasional (or frequent) error before getting the hang of dogfighting.

Aesthetically, a lot of ships would work, or it could be a one off ship so that only the player would have one. The only major issue I see is finding balance between maneuverability and stability. The Adder (maybe one of the Cobras, it's one of the low end ships available at lave) is really maneuverable, but to get a good laser shot, it's not ideal for it IMO. I'm absolutely sure there are people who have become experts at using them as shooting platforms, for me, they move so quickly that I get Sim-Sickness for real. It would need to blend maneuverability with being a stable shooting platform. Having to adjust and readjust six times to line up a laser shot on a slowly moving or stationary ship is going to be bad news when there are ten pirates in the vicinity all going to work. It would need to be able to turn with smallish ships, but not go so fast that it is too sensitive. It would not be a 'sniper ship' so ultra long range work isn't required, but it would need to get a shot on another vessel at the same time, or slightly earlier, than the other ship makes a hit. 5Km, maybe? I'm virtually empty-handed beyond 3, and I take hits from 5 to point blank, so being able to reach out a little bit might not be bad.

Ideally, the ship would be best suited for 'entry level' bounty hunters. The ship wouldn't cost too much, but likewise, it wouldn't be a great ship for trading due to the small cargo cap. It would allow a lower rank pilot the chance to compete against the pirates with a little more ship than just a converted trade vessel. I am not thinking Ubership, I'm thinking bettership. A vessel that suits the needs of a trader who wishes to look into hunting. Not as exclusive or expensive as an Anaconda, but better than a bone stock Cobra or Adder.

For all I know, the ship I have described may already exist in an existing OXP. I just know that with my Python, I soak up a lot of abuse to just protect myself. I can't imagine what it'd be like to intentionally seek out and attack pirates regularly. Trying that in a Cobra, Adder, or even a Python, that's a job I'd not look forward to. I'm loaded for bear, and I rarely survive without having to resort to Energy bomb.

Any thoughts?

From the medical bay a voice cries out, "Look to The Scimitar", followed by a choking sound.

CaptSolo wrote:

From the medical bay a voice cries out, "Look to The Scimitar", followed by a choking sound.

Ah, thanks. I love the Wiki, but it's tough finding a lot of information there. The search feature seems to be nearly handcuffed. I'm learning.

CapnSkweek wrote:

I've been kicking this idea around on my own, and since my 'talents' don't exist I have decided to pass it on to the community.

Something like this is a great way to start getting into OXPs, and we all started from a position of knowing nothing, so why not give it a go.
You could adapt an existing ship (such as the FerDeLance) and just change some of the specifications in the shipdata.plist to match your requirements.
Perhaps the easiest way is to modify an existing single-ship OXP. This will have all the 'bits' you need already assembled into an OXP package, so all you will need to do is replace the texture with the texture of the ship you've chosen (modified if you fancy trying your hand at a custom paint-job), and adapt the shipdata and shipyard.plists - the easiest way is to c&p the relevant parts from the core game plists into your 'new' OXP to overwrite what is already there, and then change some of the specs to suit.
Use Gimp (free and open source) for the artwork, and any good text editor (but NOT notepad!) for the plists.
If you get stuck, or aren't sure about anything, ask here and there will always be lots of help and advice forthcoming.
Give it a go...it's great fun (and can be addictive!) and is not as hard as you might imagine.

CaptSolo wrote:

From the medical bay a voice cries out, "Look to The Scimitar"

Less noise from the medical bay, please! Heh... how is your knee, Solo?

CapnSkweek wrote:

The theoretical name for it would be Copperhead

You forgot to mention that there is already a [wiki]Copperhead[/wiki], Solo.

Sounds like you are describing roughly a Moray Star Boat, or a Fer deLance.

To me the main problem with such a ship is, that if compared to the Cobra 3, the latter usually wins : though a bit on the large size it is good for the job, cheap, and has more cargo capacity.

CapnSkweek wrote:

The theoretical name for it would be Copperhead following the snake theme within game

El Viejo wrote:

You forgot to mention that there is already a [wiki]Copperhead[/wiki], Solo.

Indeed, it becomes increasingly harder to follow the snake theme, because practically all of the well-known snakes are already taken. It's a good idea to check new name ideas against the ship lists in the Wiki.

Well after picking up an Asp Mk II to try my hand at hunting, I think I'll stick to the regular trading side of the game. I tried a dozen times to jump from planet to planet and every time there were at minimum three pirate vessel waiting. At one point, I had four nearby, so I poked the witchdrive injection to make a run, thus encountering at least a dozen pirate vessels.

Apparently, the players choice of vessel heavily influences what sort of spawning a player is liable to see. I can do mild hunting in my python, but the idea of using a Hunting Specific vessel, that's more trouble than any rookie needs.

As for the snake theme, it does seem that for the most part the venomous snake group is thinning quickly. In a while, it with either have a lot of duplicity, or there will be ships named Garter.

Smivs, I read you wiki tutorial on skinning vessels, and I'm still working on it. Thanks about the suggestion to modify an existing OXP, as I hadn't really considered that option.

El Viejo wrote:

CaptSolo wrote:

From the medical bay a voice cries out, "Look to The Scimitar"

Less noise from the medical bay, please! Heh... how is your knee, Solo?

CapnSkweek wrote:

The theoretical name for it would be Copperhead

You forgot to mention that there is already a [wiki]Copperhead[/wiki], Solo.

Back home and doing well, thank you. Modern surgery is a marvel. Your pert replies always cheer me up EV. Blame the pain meds for me not mentioning the Copperhead.

@CapnSkweek: If you ever do decide to oxp a ship of your very own, please do consider naming it the "SandJ's Revenge". I would probably think twice before attacking a ship with that name if I encountered it in my game.

CommonSenseOTB wrote:

@CapnSkweek: If you ever do decide to oxp a ship of your very own, please do consider naming it the "SandJ's Revenge". I would probably think twice before attacking a ship with that name if I encountered it in my game.

Do you mean the ship that has a cargopod fitted as standard clearly marked:

Cargopod wrote:

[size=120]Atrisoian [i]"Sexotica"[/i] Brand
[b]Rampant Sex Slaves[/b]
1 tonne (including PVC and feathers)
[i]Ready-assembled and raring to go[/i]™[/size]
Fresh. Pre-lubed. One size fits all.

that is actually filled with starving Trumbles?

SandJ wrote:

CommonSenseOTB wrote:

@CapnSkweek: If you ever do decide to oxp a ship of your very own, please do consider naming it the "SandJ's Revenge". I would probably think twice before attacking a ship with that name if I encountered it in my game.

Do you mean the ship that has a cargopod fitted as standard clearly marked:

Cargopod wrote:

[size=120]Atrisoian [i]"Sexotica"[/i] Brand
[b]Rampant Sex Slaves[/b]
1 tonne (including PVC and feathers)
[i]Ready-assembled and raring to go[/i]™[/size]
Fresh. Pre-lubed. One size fits all.

that is actually filled with starving Trumbles?

haha! yeah, that's the one all right!