Oolite Bulletins

Until recently I wasn't aware a main system station could be destroyed (Except in the case of a system star going nova).

I came across this when I decided to revisit the old worlds i.e. Lave, Diso etc. I decided to jump to the Leesti system and approached the plant only to have a major problem finding the station.

I knew that the system description states that Leesti is cursed by deadly asteroid storms and once I got close to the planet I managed to find the navigational buoy, plenty of asteroids striking the planet surface, (of which I managed to get a screenshot), but no sign of the main station.

I then set a course for the system star refuelled and jumped to Riedquat in search of the fabled friendliest bar.

That sounds like an OXP "Asteroid Storm" I think. http://wiki.alioth.net/index.php/Asteroid_Storm

It does some clever work around to kill the main station.

Yes, with Oolite 1.65 the destruction of the main station was permanent, even after removing asteroid storm. In current Oolite, I think that the station will "magically" re-appear after removing the oxp.

Alternatively, you could do the mission in Asteroid Storm and save the station from being wiped out by Asteroids.

As the station is already destroyed in your game, this may require hacking your save file and removing any mission variables set by Asteroid Storm. Then jump into the system again.

BTW another bit of useful information: in the rare event of a main station being destroyed, Oolite automatically chooses the closest secondary station and promotes it to the rank of a main station. This could be another station within the aegis, or even a rock hermit. The station indicator on your compass (the square that's only visible while in the vicinity of the planet) will point to the new main station. So you can still save your game.

Of course, the system may run completely out of stations (or may have started with the main station as its only station). In this case there will be no main station.