Oolite Bulletins

Hi, all!
Way back, in the 1980s, I had a C64. I found Elite and became totally immersed, as did most of us. When I moved to an Amiga 2000, I continued playing, but when I went to the Dark Side (Windows PC) in the late 1990s, I lost track of Elite.
I only stumbled upon Oolite last week, and was totally stoked. However, I have no memory of the gamer anymore. I boot it up, and there I am floating in space. I was able to dock on Lave, because the station is right there. I jumped to Reorte...can't even find the station. I am totally lost.\Is there a real tutorial that at least takes you through one mission? I have all the manu8als, but nothing is a How to. They seem to assume you know how to get around and all. Even the Advice for New Commanders doesn't tell you ho9w to dock and such. HELP...please?
Me, I'm a 59 y/o social worker living in New Jersey, USA.
ANY help will be greatly appreciated.

LMO01

Hi LMO01, welcome to the boards! There were some videos on the oolite.org website but they seem to have gone astray ... in the meantime, you might find "Let's Play Oolite" useful:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qo5NTCa6OUY

[Edit]
There's also a 40-minute (!) video here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1j1xEVab5h8

I have to confess I've not watched it, but it might be useful to see someone play the game.

Basically, when you jump to another system, you want to head in towards the planet - then when you're close to the planet your space compass (see the Manual) will click over to show you which direction the station is in. Usually, you can spot the station in orbit around the planet before you get that close. Once at the station, head for the navigation buoy (below the station, assuming "below" means closer to the planet). Once you're at the buoy, turn towards the station itself: you should be lined up on the docking slit. Fly towards the dock, and match the station's rotation as you fly in.

Welcome to the boards, LM001.

If you're having trouble finding the station, jump to Leesti. There it's almost exactly between the sun and the planet (though much closer to the planet than the sun, of course), so as you fly towards the planet it should be very obviously twinkling in the sunlight just above "midday" (you might even be able to spot it as soon as you enter the system). That should give you an idea of how the compass works to navigate to the planet and then to the station, and then you should be able to find stations in other systems by using the compass.

Thanks for the replies.
When I jump and come out of Witchspace, I'm guided to a beacon. I go to the beacon, stop, and turn (as the manual says) but there's nothing there. Do I head to the planet from the beacon?

There are two beacons - one near the station (which is near the planet), and one marking the witchspace exit area. So, yes, head for the planet to find the other beacon.

You can cycle through compass targets with \ or # as soon as you arrive in the destination system. The station beacon is a diamond with the letter N. Make sure it is green (if it's red you're flying away from it) and in the middle of your compass. You're on track for the station.

Edit: you need to buy the advanced space compass to use this method - it costs 650 credits at a techlevel 7 (or higher) station, so you'll have to use the methods suggested by the others for a while until you can purchase that.

greetings LMO01
The info that you have received is great with one exception.. you follow their advice and you are going to run the gauntlet of the traffic lane.
The Gauntlet is not reccommended as you will be intercepted by any vessel in your space (think yellow lollipops on your radar). This will
prevent you from using your torus drive and it will take FOREVER to get to station at a snail 's pace...
May I suggest the following: once in regular space turn your vessel so it is going about 45 degrees to the left or right of the planter. Hit the "J" button.
this will start your torus drive. if there are any yellow lollipops on your radar. torus drive cannot take place. Once torus drive is initiated, go until the planet disc goes red in your screen, then turn directly toward the planet ( what you did was to get out of the danger zone for interception and should have a pretty good chance of getting to the station under your torus drive. As you head toward the planet, keep a sharp eye out for a suddenly appearing light that will close to th planet.. it may twinkle at you... that is the sun reflecting off the sides of the station..Keep your heading toward the twinkler but stay away from the planet. What I do is to put the station so that it is between you and the planet. (this will keep the torus active). Once you get close enough, you will see the red beacon
between the station and the planet. that is where you want to go and then turn and attempt to dock your vessel.
good luck and keep trying. Keep asking questions as you will always get help, (good and some not so good)
yah-ta-hey

Thanks, all! I'm slowly getting it. It seems to come back as I play. I guess something you spent thousands of hours playing 20 years ago is still in there! Amazing.
Thanks, for the J tip, Yah-Ta-Hey!

Gimbal Locke wrote:

You can cycle through compass targets with \ or # as soon as you arrive in the destination system. ....Edit: you need to buy the advanced space compass to use this method -

The basic compass, you start with, will guide you to the station. Just follow it. At great distance, it will guide you to the planet. Than, when close enough, it will change target and point to the station.

LMO01 wrote:

It seems to come back as I play. I guess something you spent thousands of hours playing 20 years ago is still in there! Amazing.

Yep... welcome aboard!

Welcome aboard, LM001!

I hope you have lots of time on your hands, because boy are you gonna start burning some hours..

Yeah, I can't recall easy ways to amass funds, so I'm crawling though trading goods!

Until you can acquire some kit, the early part is always a bit of a slog.. although installing spara's Start Choices OXP will give you a few more options when beginning a new commander.

If you haven't already found it, inside the Oolite installation folder is a folder named 'doc'. Amongst the documents inside, is one called Advice For New Commanders by the legendary Dockmaster, Mr Gimlet. You'll probably find a number of useful tips there to help you get going. Take a peek at the OoliteRS (reference sheet) while you're there..

ClymAngus' zoomable Vector Maps on this page are very useful for planning trade routes (some are pre-plotted). This is very useful too.

I loaded a few OXPs. Some don't show up in the game (i.e.-IMissle). Are they not compatable with the latest version?