Oolite Bulletins

Hi,

I've just reinstalled Oolite after not playing for a few years, and have a few questions:

1) How does the Advanced Navigation Array calculate travel times? Specifically, why is the "quickest route" usually longer and less direct than the "shortest route"?
For example, I was in Rebia and needed to get to Raoror ASAP (I had a passenger from the other side of the galaxy to deliver with almost no time to spare, and another for Isti). The direct distance from Rebia to Raoror is 6 LY (est travel time 36hrs), but the "quickest route" according to the ANA was via Estionbi (a triangluar route, taking 6.4LY but apparently only 32hr).

I can understand a "more jumps" route would be quicker than a "fewer jumps" ones if it was more direct, but not if it is physically shorter as in this case. (Plus, more jumps presumably means more time travelling to the station/sun to refuel).


2) What determines how close you can get to a space station before being mass-locked? Sometimes I get mass-locked miles out, and have to spend ages crawling towards the station. Other times I don't get mass-locked (or inside the station aegis) until I'm almost on it. There have even been a couple of times I would probably have crashed into the station at just-below hyperspeed if I hadn't quickly hit "fast dock".


3) On a couple of occasions, I seem to have massively speeded up the game. (I think I must have pressed something while paused). What does this, and how do I turn it off? I can't see an obvious answer in the instructions or on the wiki.

Cmdr Darkstar wrote:

1) How does the Advanced Navigation Array calculate travel times? Specifically, why is the "quickest route" usually longer and less direct than the "shortest route"?

It's the nature of the mysterious witchspace at work here. Time flies exponentially when you are in witchspace.

Welcome back... which version of Oolite are you using? Should be 1.77.

Cmdr Darkstar wrote:

1) How does the Advanced Navigation Array calculate travel times? Specifically, why is the "quickest route" usually longer and less direct than the "shortest route"?

Travel time inside a wormhole is not linear: travel time in hours = distance in light years squared. So one 6LY jump takes 36 hours; three 3LY jumps take 27 hours (3 x 9 hours per jump).

Cmdr Darkstar wrote:

2) What determines how close you can get to a space station before being mass-locked? Sometimes I get mass-locked miles out, and have to spend ages crawling towards the station. Other times I don't get mass-locked (or inside the station aegis) until I'm almost on it.

Probably this is due to the position of the planet. The planet has a huge masslock radius, so if the station is almost directly between you and the planet, you'll get a lot closer in before you masslock than if the planet is more or less between you and the station.

Cmdr Darkstar wrote:

3) On a couple of occasions, I seem to have massively speeded up the game. (I think I must have pressed something while paused). What does this, and how do I turn it off? I can't see an obvious answer in the instructions or on the wiki.

This is probably the (experimental) Time Acceleration Factor (TAF). I think it's increased/decreased by the left/right arrow keys when paused. I also think it's turned off by default in version 1.77 ... if you press shift-F, it'll show you your frame rate, and your current time acceleration factor, in the top-left corner.

Cmdr Darkstar wrote:

2) What determines how close you can get to a space station before being mass-locked? Sometimes I get mass-locked miles out, and have to spend ages crawling towards the station. Other times I don't get mass-locked (or inside the station aegis) until I'm almost on it. There have even been a couple of times I would probably have crashed into the station at just-below hyperspeed if I hadn't quickly hit "fast dock".

The planet mass-locks you at the top of altimeter range (4000 km). The station orbits at 1 planetary radius above the surface. Check the planet's radius on the F7 screen. If it's over 4000 km, you can reach the station without the planet mass locking you. If it's under 4000 km, then you cannot.

Spam: grab the latest version of Destination ETA and make use of the advanced space compass's station mode, where a warning is given for low-orbiting stations.

Thanks everyone

Cody wrote:

Welcome back... which version of Oolite are you using? Should be 1.77.

I'm on 1.76. If I upgrade to 1.77 can I keep my old saves?

Cmdr Darkstar wrote:

Thanks everyone

Cody wrote:

Welcome back... which version of Oolite are you using? Should be 1.77.

I'm on 1.76. If I upgrade to 1.77 can I keep my old saves?

Nods