Oolite Bulletins

I was quite expirienced player once - i was Elite on PC version and on Plus and completed all LInewars II missions (though that was really easy)

So i try to summarize differences that seem to be most important for me.

First, there was nothing in Elite universe that could survive military laser - i mean, even if it gets overheated, damage it caused exceeded any defense screen recharge rate anyways, so having enogh time and accuracy you may drill anyone. One mission i remember even included destroying rogue Coriolis. Now laserproof ships are quite common and that is disturbing But we have ECM-hardened missiles instead, but those are expensive.

Second, if you attack the station, a huge number of Vipers was launched to kick your ass. Now, just a few.

Third, fuel scooping became much much harder.

Fourth, but quite important: if you run away in old Elite, chasers finally get a position strictly behind you, so they are sitting ducks for aft laser. Now it is not easy to aim.

Fifth, shooting mssile on the fly with your laser became almost impossible, though i succeeded to do a couple of times.

Sixth, docking w/o a computer is not hard at all now, but almost necessary if there is heavy traffic. Navigation buoys is great idea.

Seventh, witchdrive fuel injectors changed the fight scenario much. Having those means you may escape before things become too bad almost every time. But they may escape as well and there is no chance to follow Fer-de-Lance NG

Okay, so which of those changes do you like/dislike and why?

Given the title of the topic, I don't think he's really going for a like/dislike angle. It's just a summary.

ArkanoiD wrote:

Now laserproof ships are quite common and that is disturbing

Which ships do you mean?

Rxke wrote:

ArkanoiD wrote:

Now laserproof ships are quite common and that is disturbing

Which ships do you mean?

Well, i've seen Wolf mkIIs and Veel-smth-oid (can't remember exact spelling, that rotating thing) that seemed to be unaffected by military laser until it overheated without a single shot missed.

Weeviloid.

Some ships in Oolite had upgrades, too. In original Elite, other ships were always vastly inferior to your Cobra Mk.3. This is not the case in Oolite. Some ships have upgrades, too. A Weeviloid fighter takes a bit of battering before it goes down - certainly more than one charge of the military laser.

aegidian wrote:

Okay, so which of those changes do you like/dislike and why?

The only ones i certainly dislike are 2) and 5) and i think a laser cooler that drains energy banks to
keep game balance would be nice.

And i think residual momentum should be

winston wrote:

Weeviloid.

Some ships in Oolite had upgrades, too. In original Elite, other ships were always vastly inferior to your Cobra Mk.3. This is not the case in Oolite. Some ships have upgrades, too. A Weeviloid fighter takes a bit of battering before it goes down - certainly more than one charge of the military laser.

It's ok, but looks like its shields are recharging too fast - you simply cannot beat him with military laser alone. I spent a lot of time trying.

ArkanoiD wrote:

It's ok, but looks like its shields are recharging too fast - you simply cannot beat him with military laser alone. I spent a lot of time trying.

I don't know that that is necessarily a bad thing. Making Elite should be very difficult.

ArkanoiD wrote:

It's ok, but looks like its shields are recharging too fast - you simply cannot beat him with military laser alone. I spent a lot of time trying.

You need to practise then - I routinely kill 'em with military lasers. They do take a bit of pounding, but if you make every shot count and get a good burst in, they will die. If you're having a bad laser day, then follow up with a hardened missile.

winston wrote:

ArkanoiD wrote:

It's ok, but looks like its shields are recharging too fast - you simply cannot beat him with military laser alone. I spent a lot of time trying.

You need to practise then - I routinely kill 'em with military lasers. They do take a bit of pounding, but if you make every shot count and get a good burst in, they will die. If you're having a bad laser day, then follow up with a hardened missile.

What is the proper tactic? Say, i start fire, then i get my laser overheated -should i wait for a while to let it cool down? How long?

Make every shot count. Use something more precise than keyboard control (mouse, or joystick in precision mode on SDL versions of the game). Make sure you get as much of a complete volley of military laser fire to hit. Let the laser cool off about half way and give it another volley. It's important to get a good solid burst to hit - stop firing if you're missing and line the target up again.

General tactical advice for lasers is at http://wiki.alioth.net/index.php?title=Laser_tactics

winston wrote:

Make every shot count. Use something more precise than keyboard control (mouse, or joystick in precision mode on SDL versions of the game). Make sure you get as much of a complete volley of military laser fire to hit. Let the laser cool off about half way and give it another volley. It's important to get a good solid burst to hit - stop firing if you're missing and line the target up again.

General tactical advice for lasers is at http://wiki.alioth.net/index.php?title=Laser_tactics

Thanks! Will try!

You need to practise then - I routinely kill 'em with military lasers. They do take a bit of pounding, but if you make every shot count and get a good burst in, they will die. If you're having a bad laser day, then follow up with a hardened missile.[/quote]

What is the proper tactic? Say, i start fire, then i get my laser overheated -should i wait for a while to let it cool down? How long?[/quote]

I found nothing so far (including the above mentioned ships) that couldn't be killed with a military laser, but it may take several bursts.
It is much more difficult now than in older versions of oolite (say e.g. 1.40), but it became a bit boring that you could kill anything with a single good burst (incl. thargoid warships). Now it's more fun!

Tactics:

1. When you go full speed ahead, the burst of the (fore) military laser seems to be more effective, than with low or no speed. (Am I right with that? A bit of an Einstein conundrum, since laser travels speed of light, which should be the same regardless; any physicists around?).
You have less time though, so precision counts.
Could also be, that going full speed brings you closer to the enemy, and distance counts: the closer you are, the more effective is the burst.

2. Not sure about this one, but it felt that hitting a ship in a line from fore to aft has more impact than just on the nose. It's nice anyway that one can see the red impact glow and it looks a bit like opening a can.
With difficult oponents though you rarely get the chance to do that, but it works miracles with pythons.

3. Use fore and aft military lasers: when enemy comes towards you, engage with full speed, hit him as precisely as you can, till laser overheats, let enemy pass you (avoid collision), slow ship to standstill, switch to aft laser and let him have it! When aft laser overheats, switch to front, turn, go to full speed (hit i-key shortly, thats the quickest way) and blast again. (laser should be cooled down to about middle at least).
Now this works best, when it's a single enemy not using his fuel injectors to flee from you. If enemy disappears too quickly, don't bother using aft laser, but pursue with fuel injectors till you catch up, your fore laser should be cooled down by then.
If you are in the middle of a thargoid attack, hit and run seems the best, do not slow down to use aft laser, the damage inflicted on you gets too heavy. Engage one warship full speed, blast it as much as you can till laser overheats, turn and run with fuel injectors. When distance great enough (you know that, when you're not getting pounded constantly...), you can either slow down and use aft laser, or if front laser has cooled down completely (you will need a full prolonged blast to do the job!), turn and charge full speed again. Maybe you are lucky...

pirx wrote:

You need to practise then - I routinely kill 'em with military lasers. They do take a
T
3. Use fore and aft military lasers: when enemy comes towards you, engage with full speed, hit him as precisely as you can, till laser overheats, let enemy pass you (avoid collision), slow ship to standstill, switch to aft laser and let him have it! When aft laser overheats, switch to front, turn, go to full speed (hit i-key shortly, thats the quickest way) and blast again. (laser should be cooled down to about middle at least).
Now this works best, when it's a single enemy not using his fuel injectors to flee from you. If enemy disappears too quickly, don't bother using aft laser, but pursue with fuel injectors till you catch up, your fore laser should be cooled down by then.
If you are in the middle of a thargoid attack, hit and run seems the best, do not slow down to use aft laser, the damage inflicted on you gets too heavy. Engage one warship full speed, blast it as much as you can till laser overheats, turn and run with fuel injectors. When distance great enough (you know that, when you're not getting pounded constantly...), you can either slow down and use aft laser, or if front laser has cooled down completely (you will need a full prolonged blast to do the job!), turn and charge full speed again. Maybe you are lucky...

well, have to practise more with aft laser, the skill i do not have..