Oolite Bulletins

Hi All

I used to play Elite when it was first released on the BBC Micro back in 1984 - I was always very bitter I only had the tape version and not the floppy (as that meant you didn't have the missions nor military lasers).

Anyway, fast forward to 2013 and the middle aged me read about Oolite in Micro Mart magazine (in the UK) and wanted to give it a whirl. Suffice to say I'm hooked. One thing that I am finding frustrating is that it takes ages to fly towards anything - I make use of the 'J' key as a I did on the BBC but usually I am 'mass-locked' and it just takes forever to go anywhere.

Is there any way to speed up the passage of time?

Many thanks

Richard

Hello and welcome.

You'll need to buy Witchdrive Fuel Injectors. They don't actually speed up the passage of time, but you'll be able to boost out of mass-locks.

Best thing to do is to fly outside the main spacelane between the witchpoint and the planet. Then you can torus jump most of the way without getting masslocked.

When you jump into the system, aim away from the planet and jump for a few seconds to get out of the lane, before angling back towards the planet.

If you've got the cash, its also worth getting fuel injectors, so you can inject past any masslocking ships, for the cost of spare hyperjump fuel.

Thanks Guys - I'll do that (and save for the drives )

JazHaz wrote:

Best thing to do is to fly outside the main spacelane between the witchpoint and the planet. Then you can torus jump most of the way without getting masslocked.

When you jump into the system, away from the planet and jump for a few seconds to get out of the lane, before angling back towards the planet.

.

^ this worked an absolute treat - thank you very much!

Hello Commander Tricky!

I'm new here myself.
Folks here are very helpful aren't they?

Injectors are so useful but they really make me watch that fuel gauge...

Did you know that there is a Fuel Collector OXP as well?
Can't recall price etc. but it wll slowly (very slowwwwwwly...) replenish your fuel supply as you zip around in space.

Works for me anyway

Good luck

Redspear wrote:

Injectors are so useful but they really make me watch that fuel gauge...

Fuel is dirt-cheap or free... yet it's priceless!

The witch fuel injectors are absolutely priceless IMO - I don't go into a scrap without them.

I just can't stop playing the dang game! I've turned into a devious back-stabbing thief prepared to blow the heck out of some hapless trader just for a ton of food. I LOVE it!!!

Confutioos says: "If you are in a hurry, go slow. If you are in a real hurry, take a detour."

Fuel scoops & the Advanced Space compass are worth a look in Wiki.
The compass orientates you sunwise & refueling is free & relatively fast. It's easier pilotage than targeting ships & takes you out of the 'masslock' lanes.

Good gaming

Jenko

You can, in fact, increase the speed of time. To do this (on mac anyway) you pause the game and push the right or left arrow keys depending on if you want faster or slower. It can go up to four times as fast. I often use this if I am in a hurry IRL, without fuel, and mass-locked. Just remember how many times you pushed the arrow key so you can reset the time since there is no display that shows what speed you are set to. Hope this is helpful!

Hans Olo wrote:

You can, in fact, increase the speed of time. To do this (on mac anyway) you pause the game and push the right or left arrow keys depending on if you want faster or slower. It can go up to four times as fast. I often use this if I am in a hurry IRL, without fuel, and mass-locked. Just remember how many times you pushed the arrow key so you can reset the time since there is no display that shows what speed you are set to. Hope this is helpful!

A few quick notes about this feature:
- it's intended as a debugging feature for OXP developers, so in 1.77 onwards it's only available in the Test Configuration optional downloads (this is also why it's not in the manual)
- in 1.77 onwards, to stop you accidentally activating it, the arrows only work when the frame rate display is enabled (Shift-F). The frame rate display will tell you what the setting is, though.
- various bits of the game don't like having time accelerated - NPC AIs are particularly sensitive. You might notice some odd effects, especially when ships are trying to dock, and especially if your computer is already struggling to run Oolite at a high frame rate. If you have a modern computer, you can probably get away with 4x, though.

Interesting. I mainly run oolite on a mid-2000's ppc Mac, and thus only run 1.76 (1.77 only works on intel processors), so I am unfamiliar with the specifics of 1.77

Yeah run Oolite between a couple of planets, say an Industrial and a Agricultural say 2 to 4 Lt years apart.
Then you can Injection to escape fights or during fights;P

If distance is too far apart, I tend to scoop fuel then head for planet, using Injection as I want;)
Remember as you scoop fuel, slow down and watch attitude and Cabin temperature.

"Remember as you scoop fuel, slow down and watch attitude and Cabin temperature".

The only time that you want to do that is if you have all the shielding that you can get and have a vessel that is quick enough to escape burning up.

Here is my technique: Head toward the center of the star with torus in full effect. when the mass lock occurs, keep heading but with an up bubble towards the top edge of the Sun. If you have injectors ( highly recommended) use them until the temperature runs about 1/2 way up the scale.. at this point, the fuel scoops should become active.. keep going until you are topped off.
If at anytime the cabin temp goes past 1/2-2/3 of the yellow range.. abort the scoop. Once the fuels is topped off.. turn your ship 180 degrees and still on injectors, head out trying the torus. Once the torus clicks in, you are safe. I also will set my jump coordinates so that while I am escaping on injectors, I am also counting down for the jump, then just before jump occurs.. cut the injectors and use the wormhole
if you have a slower vessel (python type) this will not do... get extra fuel tanks and utilize them or go to a space fuel station( if you have that oxp)