Oolite Bulletins

So, I was curious about what the nova mission was like, so I went to chart 4 and hyperspaced around quite a bit to see if I'd get the fuel leak that starts the mission. Nothing happened. So, changing priorities, I jumped to chart 5 to get the cloaking device, completed the mission, and jumped away towards the closest navy sector command. On my way there, in chart 5 mind you, I got a fuel leak. When I docked at the main station, nothing happened. I launched from the mainstation to see if the sun was about to go boom, and nope, nothing happened. Is there a bug in the native nova mission? Or is it just possible to get fuel leaks elsewhere completely apart from the native mission?

Falcon777 wrote:

So, I was curious about what the nova mission was like, so I went to chart 4 and hyperspaced around quite a bit to see if I'd get the fuel leak that starts the mission. Nothing happened. So, changing priorities, I jumped to chart 5 to get the cloaking device, completed the mission, and jumped away towards the closest navy sector command. On my way there, in chart 5 mind you, I got a fuel leak. When I docked at the main station, nothing happened. I launched from the mainstation to see if the sun was about to go boom, and nope, nothing happened. Is there a bug in the native nova mission? Or is it just possible to get fuel leaks elsewhere completely apart from the native mission?

Yes, it is definitely possible to get fuel leaks without nova, and IIRC nova only happens in Chart 4.

Zireael wrote:

Yes, it is definitely possible to get fuel leaks without nova

Yep.. simply neglecting your ship maintenance for too long can result in fuel leaks.. in any chart.

Also note that the fuel leak is not the only indicator that the mission has commenced. You will know you are in it once you start receiving system-wide mayday transmissions from the witchspace beacon. Look out for the Sierra-November alert.

Just a quick question, but when you decided to move on to G5, did you buy your galdrive and jump immediately after launch?

Smivs wrote:

did you buy your galdrive and jump immediately after launch?

I think you already know te answer.

Smivs wrote:

Just a quick question, but when you decided to move on to G5, did you buy your galdrive and jump immediately after launch?

I'm not sure what this has to do with the nova mission, but yes, I did do a galactic jump immediately after launching from the space station. However, this was after being in chart 4 for like....maybe 20 jumps? I guess I just need to spend more time in chart 4?


I guess a quick question to figure out if it ever triggered or not would be: Does the fuel leak happen immediately after hyperspacing into the system where the nova mission triggers? Because if so then I just need to spend more time in chart 4.

I do keep my ship maintained as often as possible, as long as the tech level is above 10. Usually this means I do the maintenance at sector command stations as I can guarantee high quality and cheapness, but they aren't always readily available.

It's been a while but since the only way out of the mission is to Gal-Jump, the game waits until you have one before springing the mission on you. So you need to fly around with a galactic drive equipped for the mission to trigger. If you used it immediately, you skipped the trigger. IIRC.

metatheurgist wrote:

It's been a while but since the only way out of the mission is to Gal-Jump, the game waits until you have one before springing the mission on you.

The only problem with that is, most people don't tend to cruise around with one.. they buy them on an as-needed basis. Otherwise, in the meantime it's just one more expensive item to get damaged in combat, or worse, accidentally triggered.

Diziet Sma wrote:

metatheurgist wrote:

It's been a while but since the only way out of the mission is to Gal-Jump, the game waits until you have one before springing the mission on you.

The only problem with that is, most people don't tend to cruise around with one.. they buy them on an as-needed basis. Otherwise, in the meantime it's just one more expensive item to get damaged in combat, or worse, accidentally triggered.

metatheurgist is right, hence my question, and this explains why Falcon777 did not get the Nova mission.
I personally do tend to carry one routinely. Being TL12 you may not be able to buy one when you need it, and a galdrive can be a useful 'get-out-of-jail' device if you have no other means of escaping a bad situation, so I think keeping one on board is good advice. I always buy one as soon as possible after a gal-jump.
This explains why I spent so little time in G4

I always carry a gal-drive - it can be expensive cannon-fodder, but you never know when you might need it.

Cody wrote:

I always carry a gal-drive - it can be expensive cannon-fodder, but you never know when you might need it.

Me too. This habit comes back all the way from Elite - at some point after Constrictor mission, usually in G2 or G3, you can easily afford one. And for me that meant that you just have to have one, to be used if you feel like it.

Wait, whaaaaaat???? You seriously have to have a galactic drive equipped for the mission to trigger?......

Hmmmm, I suppose this makes sense now that I think about it. When you arrive at the station, if the mission doesn't give you a chance to refuel and fix the fuel leak problem then you'd need some other means of escaping.

Personally, though, I think it's kind of...irritating for that to be. Galactic drives are five times as expensive as an excape pod (which also doesn't carry with it the problems of cutting off any current mission you are on, assuming you aren't doing parcel, cargo, or passenger contracts). Sure, it's another way of escape, but it's a redundancy that's unnecessary in all situations except this one.

Falcon777 wrote:

Sure, it's another way of escape, but it's a redundancy that's unnecessary in all situations except this one.

The gal-drive has other uses - it's an escape from being stranded in interstellar space*, for a start (which is mainly why I've always carried one).


*There are other ways of escaping IS in the next version.

Meh, the pylon loaded fuel tank is how I escape from intersteller space. It was one of the first oxps that I downloaded. But I guess if you are counting core game...yeah, I suppose. Well, thanks for the answers...I'll check out chart 4 again some time after I've gone all the way around, I suppose.