Oolite Bulletins

Hi Guys,

I've just finished the Stealth OXP, and wanted to write-up some of what I discovered here, as it may be of use. I have version 1.04 installed.

The mission which comes with Stealth OXP involves finding and destroying the "Barracuda Base", which is in the Lequena system.
There are a number of discussion topics here to do with people having trouble finding this Base, and thereby moving forward with the mission.
I too had trouble finding the base. I read and digested all of the posts, and took some of the hints mentioned therein. I visited and flew right around all the moons and planets of that system, flew right around the Sun on several different axis, visited the hacker outpost, and every asteroid field and rock hermit I could discover, and still no Barracuda Base!
I couldn't understand it. I was thinking that perhaps it was because I had set my Sun to be so far away, and that did something weird with distances between objects or something.

In the end, I took to experimenting with the saved settings in the .oolite-save file. And that's where I hit paydirt!
In order for the Barracuda Base to be discoverable, you need the following settings value in your .oolite-save:
<key>mission_stealth_mission</key>
<string>GO_GET_EM</string>

The trouble (and I think it's a bug) is this: Lequena is an anarchy system, and I had, on more than one occasion, got myself into a scrap I couldn't handle, and I'd hyperspaced out of there to a nearby system, to lick wounds and get repaired, etc.
If you do this, and also dock at a main station and save your game, then the mission script saves these settings in your .oolite-save:
<key>mission_stealth_mission</key>
<string>BASE_INTACT</string>

What this basically means is that you have fought the Barracuda and come away without having destroyed the base!
But (a) there was no updated or changed message in the F5-F5 screen - it still said "Head to the Lequena system and take out the pirate Barracuda and their base." and (b) I hadn't even found the the Barracuda Base, let alone lost a fight with them.
So, by failing to find the base the first time, and then by jumping out of the system, the F5-F5 message and the saved state came out of sync with each other.

Anyway, I was certainly not going to report back that I'd failed to kill a single Barracuda, or the Base, so I hand-edited the .oolite-save file back to GO_GET_EM, jumped back into the Lequena, and voila! I found the Barracuda Base, after a more normal duration of searching. I then had myself a nice fight, managed to destroy the Base and 5 out of 6 Barracudas, and called it a day. I don't know where the last Barracuda got to, but I guess part of the game is that they are awfully difficult to see or detect - clue's in the name of the OXP!

I think the mission is an excellent one, by the way. The mystery surrounding this Base, and the fact that it's in an anarchy system all add to the atmosphere, as I was really quite on edge as I flew around wanting to find the Base, but also not wanting to find it at the same time - in case I found the 6 Barracuda were too tough for me. Note: the base is perfectly destroyable with "normal" munitions - no need for Energy Bomb or Quirium Cascade Mine.

So if you're having trouble finding the Barracuda Base, check your .oolite-save file, and check you're not already classed as having lost the fight ....

Regards,

Stewart

For reference, a couple of existing threads on this OXP:
https://bb.oolite.space/viewtopic.php?t=10183
https://bb.oolite.space/viewtopic.php?t=13099

Thargoid wrote:

The idea I'd to give the mission a sense of urgency - by the time you' be hopped out and back the bad guys have had time to clear out and escape. But there are several interesting possibilities available now in scripting that weren't there when I first wrote that OXP. So I'll look at it again when I get time and see what I can do to brush things up and make it a bit clearer and another.

This makes sense. All I would say is that I didn't quite understand that urgency from the original mission briefing, and also if the F5-F5 message could have changed from "Head to the Lequena system and take out the pirate Barracuda and their base." to "Report in for an intel update." so that I'd have known - it needn't be immediate, maybe if you've just spent too long messing around and not cutting to the chase.

As I said, excellent mission though! It's rare to be able to create that "Oh crap, I've actually found it" moment. I think only the first time I ever found the Constrictor in the 1980's compares.

Thargoid wrote:

Ok, based on this feedback discussion (and a couple of past items) I've updated the OXP to v1.05, to take some of them into play and iron out the worst glitches like possibly missing the mission if you jump out of the target system before destroying the prey once you arrive.

Downloads via the links below, as normal.

Very cool. Thank you!

I just completed this mission. I would say it's a damn good mission with good hints, and the "bad asteroid" is not to easy nor to difficult to find, and the combat is challenging. All in all a very well balance mission in my opinion.

/ Commander Redec

Trying thi mission too

I'm jumping in-and-out of the target system (Leq*) and not finding anything. F5 still says "Head to <L> system and take ot Barracuda and the base". My save settings are:
i'm running 1.04 version of Stealth.OXP - can I / should I, upgrade to the latest one? I've faffed around on this mission and not seen anything, so I'm wondering if it's already over.

Beeze

Ah...thanks Thargoid. I've read the other threads on this mission and (probaby too late now) started looking in the right places (i.e. away from the planet) etc. But nothing If you can write a, 'reset script' - fantastic, otherwise I will have to see if I've got a older saved game before I took on the mission.

Meanwhile, I'll uprgrade the OXP now...

Beeze

UPDATE:

Found ealier saved game. I suppose I could have editted and updated the save file with GO_GET_EM and 0 for kills
Anyway, found them in an asteroid field...and got twatted. Have to re-load from last save. I'm guessing even in visual range, I can't lock on an hardened ECM missle? Otherwise, might invest in a cascade mine now the EB has been removed ...

Or can I use any of this stuff? He-He...

http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/69 ... 77jan.jpg/

Many thanks!

I downloaded the zip, but won't run it since I've restored older game and this one always spawns the asterioid field

Problem now is...i keep getting killed Perhaps some tactical advise is needed. i don't want to restore the energy-bomb option.

Beeze.

Trying.....but what the hell are these, "Homing Mines" ???

UPDATE

Got the base and 3 of the fighers! Good mission...tough as old boots