Oolite Bulletins

Posted: **Thu Dec 05, 2013 7:58 am**

I apologize if this is in the wrong section. I am new here.

Okay, my problem is this-

I hate using rear lasers because I think that the process of using a rear laser is too cumbersome for my tastes. If I want to blow up pirates behind me, I would maneuver my ship so that I end up behind them.

Is it possible to remove or disable them? From EVERY ship (including NPC ships) in the game?

And before I go, I would like to thank the developers for creating such an awesome remake of a game that I would have played if I was alive in 1984 and the supportive community for all the awesome OXPs.

Posted: **Thu Dec 05, 2013 8:24 am**

G'day Tony, and welcome aboard!

Ignoring for the moment as to whether or not it can be done, since some here are far better qualified than I to speak on that subject (though I'd say it probably can be done without too much bother), I'd rather address the question of why you'd want to do so in the first place..

If you don't like using the rear laser, (something which does take some time and practice to get the hang of), you can simply not use it, or not fit one in the first place.. after all, nobody is forcing you to do so. However, as you progress in the game, you'll most likely find there are times when a rear laser will come in very handy.. for instance, suppose you get jumped by a pirate pack, your ship has taken severe combat damage, shields are low, the injectors are offline (maybe damaged, or you just have no fuel left), all your missiles are gone, and you're desperately attempting to flee the scene. One or two of the bad guys are in hot pursuit, and you know that if they catch you, you're toast..

Being able to kill as you run, or at least discourage them from pursuing, will be the only thing saving your hide.. why would you want to give up that ability?

Also, there are enemies out there that can be very difficult (if not impossible) to kill without having multiple military lasers mounted, and if you think the rear laser is difficult to use in combat, just wait until you try the side-mounted ones..

As for a solid argument against blocking all NPCs from having rear lasers, I'm not able to think of one just now (need more coffee, perhaps

), but I'm certain somebody here could make a good case against that as well..

In short, I'd suggest not being in too much of a hurry to get rid of rear lasers, until you've had some more time with the game (please pardon my assumption that you haven't been playing very long). You might find rear lasers are not so bad as you might think.

Posted: **Thu Dec 05, 2013 9:59 am**

What Dizzie said. The rear laser is an extremely useful bit of kit and mastering their use is one of the 'rites of passage' in the game. But if you really don't like them, just don't install one

As far as I'm aware, no core-game NPCs have aft lasers, so any you encounter will be on OXP ships. Either remove the OXPs with aft-laser equipped ships, or get your hands dirty and edit the OXP to remove the lasers from these ships. This is a very easy process, so if you want to have a go but aren't sure what to do, ask here and we'll talk you through the details.

Posted: **Thu Dec 05, 2013 5:43 pm**

Smivs wrote:
As far as I'm aware, no core-game NPCs have aft lasers, so any you encounter will be on OXP ships.

The bigger trade freighters do, and a few other ships will be getting them in the next version.

The most reliable way to get rid of aft (and side) lasers is to add weapon_facings = 1; to every shipdata. Slightly less reliable, but almost as effective, is to have a worldscript which does

Code: Select all

this.shipSpawned = function(ship) {
  ship.aftWeapon = null;
}

Posted: **Thu Dec 05, 2013 7:07 pm**

cim wrote:
Smivs wrote:
As far as I'm aware, no core-game NPCs have aft lasers, so any you encounter will be on OXP ships.
The bigger trade freighters do, and a few other ships will be getting them in the next version.

I really must pay more attention!

Posted: **Thu Dec 05, 2013 8:22 pm**

cim wrote:
Smivs wrote:
As far as I'm aware, no core-game NPCs have aft lasers, so any you encounter will be on OXP ships.
The bigger trade freighters do, and a few other ships will be getting them in the next version.

The most reliable way to get rid of aft (and side) lasers is to add weapon_facings = 1; to every shipdata. Slightly less reliable, but almost as effective, is to have a worldscript which does
Code: Select all
this.shipSpawned = function(ship) {
  ship.aftWeapon = null;
}

This is what I like. Answers.

Thank you for that.

As for everyone else, the reason that I don't want to kill pirates with my rear lasers, besides it being too cumbersome for me, is because I want to see (or imagine) the looks on their faces when they just realized that I, miraculously, destroyed their entire fleet when, seconds earlier, I was facing certain death from extensive damage to my ship. It's hard for me to imagine such a scenerio if I am running away.

In fact, I will leave everyone with a couple of good quotes-

“The most common way people give up their power is by thinking they don't have any.”

― Alice Walker

“Our greatest weakness lies in giving up.
The most certain way to succeed
is always to try just one more time.”

― Thomas Edison

Posted: **Thu Dec 05, 2013 8:27 pm**

I never use my aft laser - but I'm more than happy to take-on bandits who use theirs.

Posted: **Fri Dec 06, 2013 1:49 am**

Tony_Crunch wrote:
As for everyone else, the reason that I don't want to kill pirates with my rear lasers, besides it being too cumbersome for me, is because I want to see (or imagine) the looks on their faces when they just realized that I, miraculously, destroyed their entire fleet when, seconds earlier, I was facing certain death from extensive damage to my ship. It's hard for me to imagine such a scenerio if I am running away.

In which case, why not simply do as Cody does.. not fit a rear laser yourself, but let the NPCs have them? You're clearly not afraid of a challenge..

Posted: **Fri Dec 06, 2013 10:29 am**

If it's only about your own rear laser, there's a much easier way: Don't install one in the first place. None of the core ships comes equipped with a rear laser when you buy it, and few OXP ships do. In order to get one, you have to actively buy it. Thus, if you don't want one, simply don't buy it.

Having said that, I'd also like to re-iterate a point made earlier by m'colleagues: if you want to make fighting with many opponents (for instance pirate groups) a habit of yours, you'll sooner or later reach a point where you'll need a rear laser, because your front laser overheats and becomes useless for battle. That's the point where you turn your ship on the spot and continue fighting with your rear laser.

You may even encounter situations (for instance during certain missions) where even two mounted lasers are not sufficient to kill an enemy, and you'll need to fire full salvos from all four of your lasers continuously in order to deal with a particularly nasty target.

Thus handling (at least!) your rear laser is a skill well worth learning.

Posted: **Tue Dec 10, 2013 8:47 am**

The only ships in the core game that have rear lasers are the big freighters, and of those only the Python ever shows up as a pirate sometimes.

Since my Switeck's Shipping OXP added rear lasers to more ships and gave other freighters a slight chance of being pirates, I've seen rear lasers on numerous NPCs...usually while they're shooting them at me! Pythons in particular are weird -- on their inbound approach they don't seem too accurate but in their outbound (rear laser) retreat they hammer away on me. Probably only an illusion or due to the changing distance between me and it -- on retreat the distance shrinks very slowly, if I'm chasing it -- but on attack it whizzes by me in seconds.

Posted: **Mon Dec 16, 2013 7:54 pm**

Switeck wrote:
The only ships in the core game that have rear lasers are the big freighters, and of those only the Python ever shows up as a pirate sometimes.

Since my Switeck's Shipping OXP added rear lasers to more ships and gave other freighters a slight chance of being pirates, I've seen rear lasers on numerous NPCs...usually while they're shooting them at me! Pythons in particular are weird -- on their inbound approach they don't seem too accurate but in their outbound (rear laser) retreat they hammer away on me. Probably only an illusion or due to the changing distance between me and it -- on retreat the distance shrinks very slowly, if I'm chasing it -- but on attack it whizzes by me in seconds.

A stern chase is when the rear laser comes into its own. lure the enemy into following you, then blow their tiny brains away... They pretty much have to come in from the line of the rear axis if they want to take you out. It's not sporting, but especially since the energy bomb went I've found it very useful.

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