Oolite Bulletins

v0.7 released (phkb's v0.6 is linked later in this thread).
Added compatibility with Xenon HUD and Equipment by Ship Class.

v0.5 released with some tweaks and lasers that are only available in some systems (so that you'll have to look for them).
There is a 'system' (or systems) to finding them and they can also be found by accident.

Now at v0.4 with 8 categories of laser, 2 weapons in each category as well as an additional 'uber' option (that requires activation by those wishing for it to be available).

Updated to 0.2 and available from the download manager.

In addition to the details below, 6 other lasers have been added:

• Ergon pulse, beam & military - less range but improved recharge over their Ingram counterparts
• VariScan, Hassoni & Volt models - beefed up pulse lasers but a little slower (brown colour)
• ColtMaster Assault - military laser with shorter range but slightly higher power (purple colour)

Major change from 0.1 is the re-assignment of default lasers to core vessels:

• Ergon equivelants - Boa, Boa II, Fer-de-Lance, Krait, Mamba
• HiRad - Anaconda
• VariScan - Cobra I (Hassoni), Python (Volt)
• MegaBlast - Viper (although it keeps the magenta police laser colour)
• Burst - Asp II (I tweaked the colour slighly to make it look a little less like the Thargoid laser)

I'd be interested to know what anyone thinks re laser performance and pricing. Current pricing is not representative purely of power. The Assault laser is priced higher than the military laser but is not meant to outperform it.

Blurb for 0.1...

Taking advantage of the recent work going on in the Progress thread, I've made a little oxp/z.

This is a simple mod to add three new types of lasers to Oolite, drawing inspiration from the Elite manual.
No superlasers here (I hope ), just some more variety between the extremes of pulse and military.

MegaBlast Pulse Laser: (orange colour)

• This is essentially an improved pulse laser, with slightly longer range and an improved fire rate.
  According to the Elite manual, this laser was equipped by the Viper police ship.

HiRad Pulse Laser: (cyan colour)

• Despite the name, this is more of a combat capable mining laser. It has a longer range and improved fire rate but each hit only carries half of the mining laser's (considerable) power.
  Now you can mine and fight with the same laser; it's no military laser though...
  According to the Elite manual, Anacondas would carry a front mounted HiRad laser.

Burst Laser: (green colour)

• This is a form of supercharged beam laser. More power, more range but it heats up faster too. Not as rapid-firing as the beam laser but capable of causing more damage per second. Aim carefully...
  According to the Elite manual, this laser was standard issue for the Asp MkII.

Happy shooting!

This requires a recent source or trunk install/update of Oolite and for that reason I've not yet made it available via the in-game installer.

It's only been tested to make sure that it works, pricing and laser profiles may need to be adjusted in future.
Here it is (in oxz format) for anyone who'd like to try it:

https://app.box.com/s/j6lj8dhhhqn3zxs6owsh

Now available from the download manger.

Redspear wrote:

This requires a recent source or trunk install/update of Oolite and for that reason I've not yet made it available via the in-game installer.

That's no good reason. Set the "minimum Oolite version" field to 1.81 and Oolite 1.80 will refuse to download it.

I was under the impression that 1.81 is older than the ability to modifiy the laser properties as described here.

If I'm wrong, or if I'm describing a non-issue, then I'll happily add it to the manager.

Redspear wrote:

I was under the impression that 1.81 is older than the ability to modifiy the laser properties as described here.

1.81 is a moving target. In theory it can refer to any nightly build between "1 hour after 1.80 released" to "latest build", but we expect people using the nightly build to make sure they have the latest version. It would be the correct minimum version for this OXP, anyway.

I wouldn't at this stage advise putting 1.81-only OXZs into the manager. I shall try to set up a "beta" status in the manager which can be used to distribute 1.81-only OXZs, prototypes, and other "not for general use" OXZs sometime in the next few weeks

Now that 1.82 is out I've added some extras (see first post) and uploaded to the download manager.

Hmm! Very interesting use of the original canon... or, in this case, cannons. (*cough*) Do NPC ships get to have these installed randomly as well, or are they player-available or default ship-available only?

Nice Will download. Very nice to have some more variants.

Layne wrote:

Hmm! Very interesting use of the original canon... or, in this case, cannons. (*cough*) Do NPC ships get to have these installed randomly as well, or are they player-available or default ship-available only?

Thank you.
Not sure if I catch your meaning correctly so please forgive me if I spell it out...

There are 3 config files in there:
equipment.plist of course to define the lasers (the originals are the 'Ingram' lasers)
shipdata-overrides.plist to assign them to the NPC ship templates (so a typical NPC Asp for example, should be equipped with a burst laser)
shipyard.plist to assign lasers to ships for sale (so when purchasing a Cobra MkI for example, it should typically come with a Hassoni VariScan laser)

I'm not sure how random equipment is assigned in the shipyard but currently all of these lasers are available to all ships with weapon fittings. I may change that at some stage in the future...

pagroove wrote:

Nice Will download. Very nice to have some more variants.

Thanks, would love to hear your feedback once you've tried it out.

Redspear wrote:

I'm not sure how random equipment is assigned in the shipyard but currently all of these lasers are available to all ships with weapon fittings. I may change that at some stage in the future...

I meant if we would encounter pirates or mercenaries or disgruntled Happy-Eye Preachers with these weapons in the wild? And not just as the assigned core weapons for that ship type?

Layne wrote:

I meant if we would encounter pirates or mercenaries or disgruntled Happy-Eye Preachers with these weapons in the wild? And not just as the assigned core weapons for that ship type?

Ah, I see...

Where the pirate variant has a different laser than the template (some do, some don't I think) then the answer would currently be no...
That's an easy tweak for the next release however so thanks for the question

For oxp ships, 'new lasers' will not interfere (besides shooting them of course ) and I'm currently reluctant for it to do so.

(Hmm... maybe some different laser sounds for a future version...)

I think I will like this oxz. Thanks
You asked what are our thoughts. I think I will put a dogfighting (short range, highest power then best recharge possible) laser on front and a courier laser (long range) at the back to harass my followers.

Day wrote:

I think I will like this oxz. Thanks
You asked what are our thoughts. I think I will put a dogfighting (short range, highest power then best recharge possible) laser on front and a courier laser (long range) at the back to harass my followers.

You're very welcome and that is exactly the kind of strategic thinking I was hoping to evoke

Others might want an Ingram Military laser at the front for sniping, perhaps with a HiRad laser at the rear for easy mining and reasonable defence. I wanted more than just budget to be the deciding factor in laser choice.

Thanks.

Redspear wrote:

You're very welcome and that is exactly the kind of strategic thinking I was hoping to evoke

Thank you

Redspear wrote:

Others might want an Ingram Military laser at the front for sniping

If I were into sniping, I would put it on a side : a sniper has all the time he wants, so he can use a side laser.

Hallo Redspear i just installed it and gave it a go.
I have to say that I love it. It gives variety to the game. So if I understand correctly the ingram models are same as the standard game lasers.
But so far I only encountered ingram military lasers available. are the other models more high tech?
I also love the colour coding touch. It is informative. you can make out who is firing the long range laser an who's laser is more high powered and mast be evaded at close courters

Also I really like the idea of having a more powerful shorter range laser for my side lasers that I mostly use point blank!

just out of curiosity, now that we can manipulate lasers in the game, is it possible to make lasers have power relative to distance?
you know like less power in long range, normal for mid range and more at point blank

mohawk wrote:

less power in long range, normal for mid range and more at point blank

I suggested a dissipation parameter anno but left out from 1.82. Maybe in 1.83?