Oolite Bulletins

Just leaving a station, and I normally line up my rear sights to target any ships that launch after me, when I saw one of these ships launch. It looks like a shuttle of some kind, as I've not seen it before on the lanes. What OXP is it from?


Jade Class RunAbout by JazHaz, on Flickr

Thargoid wrote:

Liners - it's one of the service shuttles for the Emerald, along with the larger Diamond class.

That's funny, there are no liners in sight in this system. I suppose Oolite has chosen one of these instead of an normal shuttle to the planet.

Ha, yes I've seen a couple of them without a Liner present as well....something for the next up-date perhaps?

Sounds good to me

Maybe the name isn't the best for a passenger shuttle ... "Take your seats, ladies and gentlemen! Our on-board shuttles Fireball and Twisted Wreckage will ferry you in comfort and style!"

Although I suppose there could be cultural factors here: some peoples might believe that giving a ship a name like that prevents disaster. Maybe calling a ship the Sweet Return or the Happy Landing would be regarded as tempting fate!

Well, let's be honest, a shuttle is about as boring as spaceships come, so giving them an 'exciting' name seems quite a good idea to me.

Thargoid wrote:

Ask McLane - the name is from Random Ship Names OXP not Liners

Actually he should ask the person who provided most of the name lists for the random ship names, in fact a guy named "Disembodied".

"Fireball" happens to be among the peaceful standalones, as well as among the aggressive ones. Together with "Chariot", "Hurricane", "Tornado", "Typhoon", and "Thunderbolt", by the way. The idea being that even a shuttle pilot may want to name his craft after something exciting. Perhaps he's secretly longing to be a freelance bounty hunter? After all, there's nothing worse than having a boring job and a boring ship name.

In The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen: Black Dossier (the comic book, I hasten to add, which has almost nothing to do with the dreadful film), Allan Quatermain and Mina Murray steal a rocket named Pancake XL4. It's explained that it's part of the "XL" series, where each ship is named after the manner of her predecessor's destruction – for example the Mushroom Cloud XL2 and the Shrapnel XL3. You can guess what happens to Pancake XL4 ...

Disembodied wrote:

... where each ship is named after the manner of her predecessor's destruction – for example the Mushroom Cloud XL2 and the Shrapnel XL3. You can guess what happens to Pancake XL4 ...

Next up is Fireball XL5, I presume?

El Viejo wrote:

Next up is Fireball XL5, I presume?

Followed by Cancelled XL6 ...

You're showing your ages there, guys.

Wildeblood wrote:

You're showing your ages there, guys.

Heh... 'I wish I was a spaceman, the fastest guy alive... '