Oolite Bulletins

(or really any other station besides the one at Lave)

I made an account here just to ask this question. I've searched around to the best of my abilities in an attempt to solve my problem, but no luck. Bear with me, please.

So, this game seemed to be just the sort of thing I've been looking for. I read the FAQ and watched lots of people play in an attempt to learn how to play. I'm fine with controls and stuff but for the life of me I can't find space stations. I obviously see the one at Lave but no matter which system I warp to, I can't find another. I've usually started by heading toward Zaonce because of the whole agricultural <> industrial trade thing. But no matter where I go, I'll end up meandering around the planet for up to an hour and a half as I wait for a green object to show up on my scanner. I'll fly toward the planet with torus drive on until I get masslocked. Then I fly away until I'm not and I'll continue circling around the planet with torus drive until I'm locked again. Rinse and repeat. There just isn't anything there. The "Getting Started with Oolite" page says stuff about getting to a station but it's not helping.

No OXPs. I'm playing on Mac. I had to do a fix via Terminal to get my galactic chart to display correctly, but that probably doesn't have anything to do with this. I desperately want to play this game. Please help.

Hi and welcome.

To find the station, you need to use the compass (blue circle right next to scanner). The compass locks on various things as you travel, but in its basic shape and form it can lock only on planet and station. When you enter a system it will be locked on the planet. As you approach the planet, keep an eye on the green dot. When that dot is in the center, it means that whatever the compass is locked on to is positioned directly ahead of you. When you get close enough to the planet, you will see the green dot jumping to a new position. That will be the position pointing to the station and all you have to do is bring it to the center of the circle and continue on your course.

All this and much more is explained in the Oolite Reference Sheet pdf, which is distributed with the game. It's worth having a look, it may save you from a lot of worries.

Huh. Well that's news to me. I thought that the compass only showed planets, since even when I was quite close to a planet it seemed to be still pointing toward it.

OH MY GOD IT WORKED. Thank you!! I seriously thought I was going crazy because I was following everyone's guides and it wasn't working. Problem solved. I can finally play this game.

Cool... welcome aboard, Commander!

Welcome to a game that will take over!
It is worth having a good play with the expansions to find some that suit you. The begginers pack is quite good.
There is a Planetary Landing one that is excellent too!
Loads of ships and amazing graphical updates available - such as Smiv's shader stuff. It's all down to what your pc can handle.

CWolf wrote:

It is worth having a good play with the expansions to find some that suit you.

Aye... but apart from eye-candy expansions, learn the core game first.

Yeah, I'll be sure to check out some of the expansions. Fortunately I'm decently familiar with flight simulators so I won't need anything to make that part easier. Thanks so much, everyone.

It might also be helpful to note that you can choose the target direction of the compass. You can select between planet, station. It also directs you to the witchpoint beacon, the currently targeted ship and some expansion set features like a space bar or con-store. (Advances space compass this is)
Standard key is "#" as far as I recall, maybe different on your keyboard, in case you can't find it, just check the keyconfig.plist.

ralph_hh wrote:

It might also be helpful to note that you can choose the target direction of the compass. You can select between planet, station. It also directs you to the witchpoint beacon, the currently targeted ship and some expansion set features like a space bar or con-store. (Advances space compass this is)
Standard key is "#" as far as I recall, maybe different on your keyboard, in case you can't find it, just check the keyconfig.plist.

This requires the Advanced Space Compass to be installed.

The selection via "#" already requires that?
Then how did I find the station as a new Jameson?
Well, that was a long time ago obviously...

Actually you can see many stations from the witchpoint, if you look closely. Strangely, there doesn't seem to be a single station that is behind the planet, but some are in the shadow.

Strangely? Well, the witchpoint is not given by chance, it is put there by the same guys that set up the station. So it seems prudent, to put the witchpoint in the line with the station so you shall see the latter easily. This said, the station must be orbiting in the same time as the station does.

My interpretation is that the witchpoint was not put there, but it is there for some physical reason (gravity of planet and sun?). The buoy is only there to mark the spot (you can still jump in even if the buoy has been destroyed!). And, as you say, the station should orbit the planet. It probably wouldn't even be a big deal to put it at a different position on its orbit each time the system is created, this would make the game a little more variable for those who spend some time trading between only two or three different systems.

A problem when approaching a station behind a planet is the missing 3D visualization of the planet on a 2D computer screen. You tend to be mass-locked when circumnavigating the big ball.

ralph_hh wrote:

A problem when approaching a station behind a planet is the missing 3D visualization of the planet on a 2D computer screen. You tend to be mass-locked when circumnavigating the big ball.

Turn on Wireframe mode to see it really is a 3D object and where it is.