Oolite Bulletins

Hello everyone,

New member here, and someone who's recently "discovered" space exploration/sim gaming. I've been aware of it for a long time (41 years old, been gaming since I could hold a gamepad :p), but for some reason, flight sims always kinda intimidated me. And anyway, for most of the time, I was more a fan of more terrestrial fantasy type games, moreso than space/sci-fi.

Lately, though, I've been getting kinda drained and worn out on the fantasy setting, as well as the overall dumbed-down and hyper-linear approach games have been taking. They leave so little for the player to learn or explore for themselves, and it just isn't fun to me. I've been wanting to find something with more depth, and more to wrap my head around.

I've also been developing an interest with space/sci-fi more.. Not wanting to invest too much in something I might end up not enjoying, I decided to start with Oolite. Initially, I was a bit daunted by it, and still am really heh. All the keys, screens and functions are a lot to take in for a new player, but I've picked up the basics. I'm by no means comfortable with it yet, but it seems like a game, and a genre, I could end up really enjoying. The open-ended exploration and sorta "do what you want" nature of it is very appealing. Combat is still a bit daunting, so fortunately I haven't gotten into any fights yet.

I do have a question, however... Is it recommended to play Oolite with a flight stick? I'm thinking it might be a lot more "intuitive" (not to mention easier on my fingers) to play with one of those, rather than trying to jockey across my keyboard and hope I don't accidentally come down on the wrong key at the wrong time, in the heat of battle or whatever.

So, overall, I'm looking at one, and was curious if anyone has an opinion on it? Or, perhaps, if you'd like to suggest other models - preferably in the same overall price range. Here it is.

Also, if there's any tips or advice one might offer to someone like myself, new Oolite and the genre in general, that would be awesome and much appreciated.

Otherwise, I hope to have some fun stories to share with y'all as I learn and explore and get into who-knows-what kind of shenanigans.

Thanks!

Welcome Wolfsong73....
Joysticks... I never use one but there are many who do and I am sure that they will let you know what is :best

The keyboard may seem daunting but you will get used to it with practice.
things to remember:
learn to dock
learn to dock
learn to dock Enough on docking. just don't shoot the station...bad karma.

Find safe trading route and stick to it... yes it is boring but you need the credits to upgrade. bounty hunting is for those who have credits to pickup lasers and shields. pirating will lead to a very short life.

listen to your elders... they got to be elders by learning from their mistakes and are willing to share.

practice your maneuvering.. turning 180 degrees quickly may keep you out of q bomb range.... maybe.

Upgrading your ship is critical so think of the path you want to take and upgrade accordingly.... example:
if you want to take passengers.... berths are required but not qbombs. shields to protect injectors to outrun etc.
get my drift?

Me, I am a bounty hunter... commanding an iron ass vortex and armed to the teeth to face the hordes that are after me. and
it took me a long time to get there and many ship upgrades.

ask questions but it doesn't hurt to research first by using the search function because (leaning in close and whispering) some
pilots get cranky if they have to answer a question that has already been repeatedly asked by newbies.

good hunting
Yah-ta-hey

Hi Wolfsong73, and welcome.
I'm glad you are enjoying the game - it gets better the more you play
I have always used as joystick (since playing on a C64 back in the day) and find it so much more intuitive than the keyboard. I have a Logitech, one of the old Attack Three models which are no longer available, and it is excellent, so the posh one you are looking at should be great.

Hello from me too.

I've been more than happy with the stick you're pondering about. Works great with Oolite.

G'day, Wolfsong73, and welcome aboard!

There are a number of good 'sticks around.. go with the best your budget can afford.. the more buttons it has the better, is about all I'd really recommend..

Yah-Ta-Hey wrote:

(leaning in close and whispering) some
pilots get cranky if they have to answer a question that has already been repeatedly asked by newbies.

Really? Can't say I've ever encountered one, here..

Wolfsong, don't be put off by that remark.. most of us have the attitude that "there's no such thing as a stupid question".. and we're not called "The friendliest board this side of Riedquat™" for nothing.

Diziet Sma wrote:

most of us have the attitude that "there's no such thing as a stupid question".. and we're not called "The friendliest board this side of Riedquat™" for nothing.

Indeed, yes, ask away! Generally, the problem is more how to get us to stop talking ...

Welcome aboard! I use a Logitech Extreme 3D Pro, and it is a very good budget 'stick - probably the best at its price.

When I was new to the boards, I have had the pleasure of some snarky comments about researching the boards... but generally, this is a friendly board and the principle to agree to disagree in a friendly fashion is upheld.

Just my 2 cents. When your stuck flying via keyboard (as I am), I found that docking, and the game in general, became much easier after I swapped the roll and yaw keys! You can get a key mapper utility HERE to help.

Welcome!

I actually had the opportunity to play the original Elite game (on a commodore, not whatever those things were before you had the old, large floppies), and I used a stick for that game. However, Oolite has a lot of options, lots of keys that can be used. So I use a keyboard for this game (that and I play on a laptop. Adding a stick would just make things awkward).

As to advice: Don't be afraid to download lots and lots of expansion packs! They really do help to add to the game and change the flavour so that the game is more fleshed out. That being said, do take a little bit of time to research them (and to play the core game first) so that you know what you might want and don't want.

In any case, good hunting commander!

Falcon777

Personally, I use a Thrustmaster joystick/throttle setup, and even with the Commie days used a joystick. Just doesn't feel like spaceflight without one But that's me. Your mileage may vary. Some prefer keyboards, and others use mice (though that to me is just anathema for a space sim type game)

Yah-Ta-Hey wrote:

When I was new to the boards, I have had the pleasure of some snarky comments about researching the boards...

I'm sorry that happened to you, Sky Warrior.. on behalf of my fellow Commanders, I apologise. Hopefully the miscreant has since learned some manners.

Hey everyone...

Thanks for the replies! lol.. I hadn't realized there were replies to this thread. For some reason I thought I'd posted in the 'Introduce yourself' thread and it just hadn't gotten approved yet.. Doh.

Thank you for all the advice as well. Admittedly, a lot of what was said is still in "whoosh!" status at this point, as I'm still trying to figure out what to buy or sell along trade routes. I got hit by a pirate the other night who "asked" me to drop cargo, and I had none to drop.. that was fun.

I'll admit the game is kinda starting to feel a bit dragged out and boring to me at this point, though. I'm sure there's tons to do, and it gets better as you go... The problem I'm having is, I can't seem to get a good deal on trading (buying/selling) goods. I saw advice that you want to sell goods to a system that they'd find most valuable... so, sell alloys and such to an Industry heavy system, etc. But that's not really yielding any kind of a payoff. I think I came out 3 "credits" ahead after selling it, and I haven't been able to find any kind of information on how to tell what system is likely to have a higher payout.

I've tried taking missions, but most all of them are grayed out and I can't accept them, except for a few.

I've followed the advice of turning 90 degrees and flying for at least 10 seconds before attempting to hit the highspeed toward a station, but seems I'm always in that "mass" section and it won't let me. Or, if it does, it only lasts me a few seconds and then it gets shut down again and I have to veer all over trying to get out of it again.

I'd noticed similar advice is given to avoid pirates by getting out of traffic lanes... yet a pirate still got me when I was at least "12 seconds out" of the traffic lane itself. So that doesn't seem to work for me, either.

Basically, I'm following all the advice I'm seeing, to get around faster, to make money, to avoid pirates, etc...and nothing's working.

I dunno... I read stories of what people do in this game, and it sounds awesome. But at this point, I'm beginning to wonder when the actual real fun starts, 'cause so far I feel like the game is keeping me locked in "perpetual newbie" mode, with all exits blocked or detoured.

a few tips :

time to get out of the traffic lane depends on ship speed, personally i've used atleast 20 seconds of hyperspeed with a cobbie.

a typical 'milk run' goes like this :

look for a low tech agrarian world and a high tech industrial world close together (less then 7 LY apart).
on the industrial world, buy computers/luxuries.
Sell them on the agrarian world, buy /furs/liquor/textiles/food .
sell those on the industrial world, repeat.

Once you got enough cash to get a full cargo hold, this can net you a profit of 1000-2000 credits per run.

Lone_Wolf wrote:

look for a low tech agrarian world and a high tech industrial world close together (less then 7 LY apart).

It's not the technology levels that are important, really, it's how rich or poor the economy is. A Poor Agricultural world sells the cheapest agricultural goods, and pays the highest prices for industrial products; a Rich Industrial world makes the cheapest industrial products, and pays the best for agricultural imports.