Survey: What is your Oolite playing style?

[Cholmondely]

Being human, I naturally assume that everyone else does what I do (but if I were a lobster...).

Personally, I always start with a raw Jameson, and by trading and dodging pirates, work my way towards wealth, exploring the galaxy as I go. [My "cheat" test Jamesons are just for testing oxp's, and I don't even bother properly naming them or their ships]

Two recent conversations with younger players suggest that they don't. Hence this poll!

What I'm hoping to do is to get some sort of feel for how you like to play, so feel free to add comments below!

Re interpreting the above poll results: Total votes means only total votes. It is not the total number of voters!

[Cody]

Virgin Jameson: sell missiles, sell laser, buy food, launch, dive into the first wormhole to appear, and take it from there!

[Griff]

I've very boring, start with a new Jameson, then shuttle Computers and Luxuries between two systems, staying very close to Lave until i have enough money for a big shopping trip to Zaonce to get a millitary laser and all that stuff, then go on a bit of a spree picking fights with pirates then sort of loose interest and put the game aside for a while, before just repeating the above a few months later

[Slartibartfast]

hello

-- afair ---


i have started nomal in Lave
sold Laser, Missile
buy as much freight as possible
and set out for the area around Bemaera
jumping around till i have a large Cargo Bay and a Beam Laser
-- set out for Laenin


matthias

[Cholmondely]

hello

-- afair ---


i have started nomal in Lave
sold Laser, Missile
buy as much freight as possible
and set out for the area around Bemaera
jumping around till i have a large Cargo Bay and a Beam Laser
-- set out for Laenin


matthias

Well done you! Hope it works out.

I've never sold my laser & missiles. I know I'm utterly useless with the laser, but I find the idea just a little too scary! And the missiles are good for ECM (if I can remember which button does what! - used in conjunction with Fast Target Selector OXP - a snip at 10₢).

I do use Laser Arrangement to move it to the back of my ship (Weapon Laws OXP can clobber that, but I think that Phkb has put in a fix for Oolite v.1.92 when it comes out). Since I'm fleeing all the time (until I eventually save enough to buy Military Lasers), Witchfuel Injectors are always one of my first purchases.

[tsoj]

I sell my Cobra Mk III and get a used rusty Cobra Mk I. Now I have lots of money to buy injectors, lasers, better shields (I am using the ship configuration OXP), targeting systems, etc. As the Cobra Mk I doesn't have good cargo hauling capabilities, I try to make money with missions, parcels, bounty hunting and similar stuff (I have lots of OXPs installed, so I have money other opportunities to earn credits beside trading). On my trips I buy rare materials (gold, platinum, etc.) when the price is good and sell them at good opportunities, as they don't take up much space in my cargo bay, even when I throw a lot of money at them. Sometimes I disembark my ship (I have the "Life In The Frontier"-OXP installed), go to the fitness studio and do some push-ups in real life. It creates immersion and is probably a good idea to do from time to time

[Cholmondely]

I sell my Cobra Mk III and get a used rusty Cobra Mk I. Now I have lots of money to buy injectors, lasers, better shields (I am using the ship configuration OXP), targeting systems, etc. As the Cobra Mk I doesn't have good cargo hauling capabilities, I try to make money with missions, parcels, bounty hunting and similar stuff (I have lots of OXPs installed, so I have money other opportunities to earn credits beside trading). On my trips I buy rare materials (gold, platinum, etc.) when the price is good and sell them at good opportunities, as they don't take up much space in my cargo bay, even when I throw a lot of money at them. Sometimes I disembark my ship (I have the "Life In The Frontier"-OXP installed), go to the fitness studio and do some push-ups in real life. It creates immersion and is probably a good idea to do from time to time

I wish I had the skills to work on Life in the Frontier and expand it a bit. I'd dearly love to extend it to Feudal/Royal Hunting Lodges for example, and allow the player to try his leg at the Geisgezan Gavotte!

"You extend your left foot, only to be stamped on by a burly baron who snarls "out of my way, peasant" in your face"

Will you 1) challenge him to a duel, 2) apologise, 3) snarl back etc.

[Nite Owl]

Started fresh shortly before joining the community back in 2018. Am still playing the same Commander. As a completionist have only made it as far as Sector 4. Currently finishing up the Deposed Mission set in that Sector and will soon jump to Sector 5. Play style is a mixed bag. Started out in the usual way trying to earn enough credits to Iron Ass my Cobra by trading. Did that in relatively short order. Did not go Vanilla and started the game with over 300 OXZ's so the choices to be made were vast. Once fitted out properly did an extensive tour of Sector 1. Have followed this same extensive tour concept in every sector visited which is why a Complete 8 has yet to be achieved despite the amount of time that has passed.

After a short while the "trade only" concept grew a bit thin so the role of Bounty Hunter was added into the mix. This occurred while still doing my extensive tour of Sector 1. It also lead to a hunt for the best weapons, the best equipment, and the best ship, both in game and in and amongst the many OXZ's available. Hit Elite status while still roaming about in Sector 1. Since then my number of kills has grown to ridiculous proportions. This is probably due to my going too far with the best stuff concept. Learning to tweak OXZs and to somewhat create OXZs has, more than likely, added to my fascination with too much of the best.

Still in all it is time and effort well spent as Oolite and its modification have provided me with a huge amount of entertainment over the years and will continue to do so into the future.

[Cholmondely]

... my going too far with the best stuff concept. [/b].

Still in all it is time and effort well spent as Oolite and its modification have provided me with a huge amount of entertainment over the years and will continue to do so into the future.

Any chance of a couple of examples of how you have tweaked things: what and why? What do you mean by "best stuff"?

[Cody]

Am still playing the same Commander.

As am I (from 2009), and I'm still flying a Cobra MkIII. I dropped anchor in the seventh octant on my fifth circuit of the Eight.

[montana05]

I started the game with milk runs like furs/computers while doing some smuggling on the side. After a while exchanged my Cobra Mark III for a Cobra Mark III-XT, and after I had enough cash for a Caduceus Alpha and later Caduceus Omega. Started a new carrier as bounty hunter, assassin (Random Hits) and reservist for the GN while slowly moving from one sector to the next.

After trying several ships, I finally ended up back in Devil's Triangle, G1, flying a Caduceus Psi and enjoying my semi-retired life on my feudal estates.

[CaptSolo]

Sold missiles, bought some evil brandy, and headed for Zaonce. Yeah, not as gutsy as mi amigo. Settled in trading between Tionisla and Isinor with the occasional foray to Qutiri and Ensoreus. Also visited Rock Hermits quite often before heading to the main stations and occasionally before jumping out. Slowly built up my bank account to kit out the ole rust bucket.

[Cody]

Yeah, not as gutsy as mi amigo.

<grins> Yeah right... "gutsy" would be taking on that parcel delivery to Begeabi!

[Nite Owl]

Any chance of a couple of examples of how you have tweaked things: what and why? What do you mean by "best stuff"?

Almost all of my tweaks fall into two categories.

First is a "talking ship". As one ages the memory starts to go so read messages do not register in the short term memory as well as messages that are heard with one's own ears. Almost all of the messages that would normally be sent to my Commander via the ship's text console have been converted into audible messages spoken by my ship's computer. It was a long and tiring conversion process initially given the number of OXZs involved but it was well worth it. Now the process is down to a routine so that a new OXZ can be converted in a short amount of time. Basically it is a matter of finding all instances of player.consoleMessage and changing it to player.commsMessage in the JavaScripts in which such code appears. There is an occasional need for a bit of grammar clean up to make the message more appropriate for being spoken rather than read. Have also tweaked the f2 voice file just a bit to make it more understandable and appealing.

The second category is equipment prices and descriptions. Usually the prices are lowered to make acquisition easier. A bit of a cheat but my Commander is no where near the 100 million credit mark that some have reached. Bounty Hunting is not nearly as profitable as the delivery service options. As to the equipment descriptions these are usually expanded to give me a better idea of exactly what a piece of equipment does with just a quick glance. That way there is no need to go find a ReadMe file to understand precisely what that equipment does. To all of the creators of these OXZs be advised that a strict adherence to your original intent is preserved as much as it can be. It may be added to, reorganized, or reworded to either sound better (first category) or make more sense to my brain at the moment.

Technically there is a third category. That is the major reworking of an OXZ or the creation of a new OXZ. This reworking happens very rarely, maybe half a dozen of the 300+ OXZs in use. There are varying degrees of reworking done. These can range from changing values, changing names, or commenting out or adding to whole sections of code. These instances occur when an OXZ is considered essential but just does not quite fit into my Ooniverse as released. In these instances the OXZ will be tweaked to better fit my definition of how things should operate. These OXZs will never be released to the general public as they do not constitute the intent of their creators and are for my personal use only. As to the creation of a new OXZ, only one is in the works and has been for a very long time. It is my personal ship OXZ. It will be released someday when my satisfaction with it reaches a comfort level considered appropriate for public consumption.

Finally to answer your question about "Best Stuff". The best equipment available from OXZs and the standard equipment that fits into my definition of my Ooniverse. Things like the Rimmer Laser from New Lasers, the Eco Reactor from Eco Lasers, the Fast Target Selector, the Warrant Scanner, the Bounty Scanner, etc. Needless to type the list goes on for quite some length. Decisions need to be made as to what is best for one's play style and what is a compromise and what is not a compromise. It is a matter of studying all of the available equipment, making choices, testing things out, and then implementing them. That is my approach to any endeavor that might be undertaken - study, choose, test, implement. It is not everyone's cup of tea. Some people like to jump right into the ocean and not worry about the details. They immensely enjoy themselves for having done so. Me? Needs to know about the sharks and the stinging jellyfish and how best to avoid and defeat them. The study method does involve some extra time before the enjoyment actually begins but one approach is not any better than the other. Once again it all comes down to a matter of choice.

[hiran]

When I started Ooliting, I had no Elite experience but just heard the name and stories about. So I knew you could engage in battle/piracy or trade. And without any dogfight skills I opted for trade. Unfortunately I was bad enough my trade runs barely made up the fuel I spent. And when pirates showed up it all ended in frustration.

So I found another way to get money by editing the savegame. Money was not a problem any more, but getting shot down at the first witchpoint was more the rule than the exception. Searching for different ships that I could buy I found he Imperial Star Destroyer - the biggest ship with the lowest risk of even getting attacked. And when I was attacked, a battery of turrets and a fleet of fighters would take care before I could point the ship to the attacker.

But then other problems kicked in. The Star Destroyer cannot dock the stations, so I had to learn to either scoop fuel from space or stars. Missions, be it parcel delivery, passengers and whatnot were out of reach in the station, likewise were maintenance overhauls. The fuel generator proved to be a heavenly gadget. This eventually became better when we 'repaired' the shuttle, which is incompatible with the ILS oxp. But it remained annoying to watch how the shuttle was literally beating around the bush...

When I felt a bit more comfortable in Ooniverse I climbed out of the Star Destroyer and tried some other ships, and was surprised how durable and agile the Cobra MKIII actually is. Some manoevres like barrel roll and evading the space lanes help a lot. The fuel generator is still my most used addon, but the Vimana HUD and Vimana beams give me quite good control over the ship. Only recently I figured out how to shoot Thargoids, and my kills start counting up. But this is all sniper work, keeping the attacker in a distance where they cannot shoot but Vimana can. As soon as the fight gets more active I still struggle. If I am overwhelmed by opponents and the ship is damaged so I cannot escape I barrel roll towards GalCop or the station. It can take a long time but is quite safe to do.

And this way I am getting around the galaxy. Still not delivering parcels or passengers I travel for fun, eventually bumping into hints for the collector. This may be the first mission that I engage in...

In the meantime I created an addon that might let players play together to some degree. It seems one of the best hidden secrets so far...