Oolite Bulletins

Folks,

I've been on this forum since 2006 and in that time a lot of Oolite history has gone under the Witchspace conduit. Given my current status as official Elite author-to-be, I'd like you ask the forum at large what they consider to be most fundamentally 'Oolite-y'.

What do I mean? I mean, what do you consider to be the essential themes of Oolite, as apposed to Elite, Frontier et al. Crucially, what makes Oolite, Oolite?

Why?

Because here's our opportunity, however limited, to inject a bit of ourselves into the official fabric of the Elite universe and make it stick forever. I'd like you to give me your ideas and I'll see what I can work into Elite:Reclamation on your behalf.

As a starter for ten, one thing that will be in there is a line of dialogue including the "...friendliest place this side of Riedquat."

Over to you...

Cheers,

Drew.

Hi Drew,
I suppose for me the defining feature of Oolite has to be the OXPs/expandability, but that as such is not something you could include in the novel, although features taken from OXPs most certainly could.
Also the community almost defines Oolite, and again some of the characters from the board could find their way into fiction, as has already happened, or maybe DS' seedy space bar could have a role.

I like the non-main station stations - that there's a chance to do a bit of wheeling and dealing in-system - the Constores and their associated commercialism on a grand scale in the form of the Ad boards certainly makes me think Oolite and not Elite...

1) Fuel injectors
2) Q-mines
3) TravelTime (hrs) = Distance (LY) * Distance (LY)

another_commander wrote:

1) Fuel injectors
2) Q-mines
3) TravelTime (hrs) = Distance (LY) * Distance (LY)

Yes, good points!

Also, Hard head missiles.

One thing that Oolite has done is to make real a lot of the myths/exaggerations/lies from the original Elite manual: deep space dredgers, generation ships, and the like. It might be interesting to inject some of these back into Elite: Dangerous - or make up your own myths/exaggerations/lies based on Oolite: people who swear blind they've seen a generation ship, or who've docked with a Thargoid warship and lived to tell the tale ...

You could also have some Co-operative loyalists scattered around the place, here and there: those who still keep a torch burning for the days before the Fall, before the Federation and the Empire. Old, embittered types, mostly, who won't shut up about it if you make the mistake of buying them a drink.

Disembodied wrote:

You could also have some Co-operative loyalists scattered around the place, here and there: those who still keep a torch burning for the days before the Fall, before the Federation and the Empire. Old, embittered types, mostly, who won't shut up about it if you make the mistake of buying them a drink.

<nods> I wonder how the new history will deal with the Fall. Will Riedquat even exist? Old myths and legends... excellent!

Cody wrote:

Disembodied wrote:

You could also have some Co-operative loyalists scattered around the place, here and there: those who still keep a torch burning for the days before the Fall, before the Federation and the Empire. Old, embittered types, mostly, who won't shut up about it if you make the mistake of buying them a drink.

<nods> I wonder how the new history will deal with the Fall. Will Riedquat even exist? Old myths and legends... excellent!

It will still exist, but you'll need one of the old, old ships where the co-ordinates of the now defunct Witchspace beacon is stored in it's limited memory. And you're doomed if the authorities ever find you with such a piece of contraband - when you should have handed that nav-computer in for a shiny new and completely free upgraded many, many years ago...

Disembodied wrote:

Old, embittered types, mostly, who won't shut up about it if you make the mistake of buying them a drink.

'She' will have a cameo.

Cheers,

Drew.

drew wrote:

'She' will have a cameo.

<hums an old Charles Aznavour song>

Certainly the interplay of OXPs that mean you can have a Galactic Navy war against Thargoids that was anticipated and also have additional multiple Thargoid Carrier invasion fleets turn up by surprise, a revenge hit on you from relatives of someone you 'hit' earlier and have some Pirate Military ships all waiting for you when you finally arrive having escaped from a witchspace ambush that left you without fuel and you only escaped by following through another ship's wormhole.

The comms received can also make me smile, especially the Thargoid insults(?) also the additional equipment, passengers, landing on a planet, being able to make space busy with ships and the greater variety of ships to fly in.

Fuel Injectors and Q-Bombs. Yes, indeed.

Cheers,

Drew.

For me, Elite always made space feel like a lonely dark (no pun intended) place, that you trekked across to find those little islands of (non)humanity and interaction, except when you got ambushed.
OOlite just made everything seem so much more populated. There's people like me out there doing the same. Pirates and police and bounty hunters, doing their thing, while I'm doing mine.

And to be honest, this forum is what makes OOlite even more so for me. Some time in the far future when we all fly our own ships, we'll be talking on the galaxy wide net about what the best upgrade to buy for your ship is and reading Top Injector magazine.

This forum I think is the essence of OOlite as I feel like I'm playing it, even when I'm not.

!m!

drew wrote:

Crucially, what makes Oolite, Oolite?

1) I think Oolite takes the open universe game play and raises it to the nth power. With OXPs, there are endless options to construct the sort of experience that suits your play style and interests.

2) There's always something interesting to do, and frequently the "task list" gets pretty long sometimes, and there are decisions to make about which things to satisfy, which things to let slide. I like that there are time critical missions *and* time not critical missions.

3) I think it's unique to Oolite also the combination of NPC interactions and game features that lead to comic, fascinating, maddening, challenging situations that constantly surprise and delight. That seems to be a constant thread running through the messages in "Tales from the spacelanes."

Drew, you should sell one Tionisla Chronicle Array to Mr. Braben.