Oolite Bulletins

All done and dusted more or less about the same time,

re-newed missile countermeasure,
a missile,
and a small set of bounty hunter fighters.

Posting the readmes, coming up. All these, C the Oolite community, CC-BY-NC-SA 3.0

/// AMS decoy mod 2.04, by Thargoid and Wyvern ///

Developed about the same time, Thargoid's AMS and my Missile Spoof, while mechanically different, had the same overall goal.
So, I put them in a sleazy motel room complete with shagarific carpet, tiger striped bed sheets and furniture, cheap beer in the fridge, lava lamps, a disco ball, a DVD player with copies of crappy porn... mmhmm, tacky decour at it's Austin Powers approved best! And left them for awhile to get down with some... unusual mating traditions. *insert mad scientist cackling here*

This abominable bastard is the result.

Basically AMS - to be backwards compatible with VirmanaHUD - modded to launch Missile Spoof's decoys.
But wait, there's more! The decoys also troll your foes with a bit of psychological warfare, sowing chaos and confusion into the battlesphere by broadcasting Thargon ident signals. BWHAHAHA!!

 AMS with decoys

/// Raptor series fighters, by Wyvern ///

Pterdyne Technolegies, Inc, in co-ordination with the Hunter's Guild, brings you a marvel of top notch engineering, the Raptor series assault fighters.

"Okay. Let's get this straight.
You've made your bones and bank grinding milk runs and long hauls, got an impressive credit rating to show for it. Congradyou-frakin'-lations. But, feel too young to hang up the flight suit and retire? Then how about this offer?
The Guild needs you, and we're sure you've had more than enough of spacelane robbers using your tailend for target practice. Itching to spray some anguish back at those wastes of organic material? hehe, I bet you are! And I'm here to tell you, this is the chariot to do it with!
Yeah, it's a pureblood fighter, and no error. Swift n' agile, eager to turn n' burn. Feel the gee forces baby, rooohah! It's not made to make dosh on the milk run, heh, you've done that already anyway... it's made to kick freebooters right in the booty, and make em cry! Just enough hold space for scooping their eject pods... Those that wimped out and yanked the handle instead of going out in a flash of exploding honor, that is. That's all a *ahem* "freelance security expert" needs. The rest can suck vacuum, it won't be a loss.

So what do ya say? Think on it.
Then buy this craft, iron her up real nice, get out there, tiger...
And take some BITES outta crime!!"
--- Derik "Wyvern" Roh'i, Hunter's Guild representative

*** SPECIAL FEATURE ***
- Introducing a new role for the player ships, "hunter-player". While flying your Raptor, the pirates would identify you as a vigilante bounty hunter thirsty for pirate blood, not as a trader or any other traditional pirate victim, and quake with fear. It's done with a custom role-categories-overrides.plist file.

*** ABOUT THOSE WEAPONS ***
"The Raptors come with open-ended linear particle acelerators, otherwise known as particle beam weapons or PBWs, in phased arrays. It may sound like it, but that's not at all a new technolegy. It's ooooold, from the early atomic age on Earth. We've read it was first experimented with by a tribe called Russians, but we can't really be sure on that. *ahem* Anyway. Heavy, charged paricles are filtered from the drive exaust, stored, then the weapon acelerates those in streams of hyper-energetic doom at your target. It operates considerably more effeciently than comparable lasers. The problem is that the tech is a tricky thing to scale, and requires a reliable resource for it's particle 'ammunition'; ergo it has to be integrated into the craft's drive assemblies. Can off the shelf lasers be mounted? umm... Yes, I suppose so. But the ship's thermal and power management systems aren't designed for that kind of load, so don't expect it to function reliably. We really don't recommend it." -- Pterdyne field techie

*** COMBAT TIPS ***
- Most ships are flat and wide. The Raptor's weapons array is arranged horizontally just for that reason. Roll your craft so that your mark is horizontal in your sights, then he'll feel the full force of your rage.
- Pirate battle freighters are often well shielded, and can absorb a missile hit with minimal damage. The Raptor can hammer their shielding to a quick collaspe, which leaves the freighter vulnerable to a well aimed torpedo.
- With all those guns, the speed, the agility, you may think the Raptor is a bit uber. In terms of offensive capability, you'd be right. However, the ships are a glass cannon: Even with strong shielding, a few hits can be painful. Be generous with the sunjuice, use the turn rate and injectors to evade! Get the hell out of a too hot battlesphere if you have to. Don't be a dead hero, copy? Come back when you've recharged. There's always more pirates.

*** RECOMMENDED HUDS ***
Tested and plays nice with:
XenonHUD
DangerousHUD (amber)
NumericHUD v3
VimanaHUD

*** RECOMMENDED OXPS ***
All these are optional, but may make your career as a hunter easier.

SniperLock Plus
Shield Equalizer
NavalGrid Next
Fuel Collector
Fuel Satelites/Stations
Telescope
Target Filtering
Target System Plugins
Auto Crosshairs
Bounty Informer
Police IFF
Auto ECM
Auto Eject
Missile Beep
Power To Engines
Indestructable Injectors
Welcome Mat
Tracker
Ironhide
And of course, Random Hits

 Raptors

/// Boomstick missile, by Wyvern ///

As if there isn't enough ordinance to choose from!
The Boomstick is a nippy, accurate dogfighting missile developed alongside, and a great match for, the Raptor series fighters.

 Boomstick Missile

Thank you! Downloaded. I hope to try out the missile spoof at some stage, but have little experience with either missiles or non-Vanilla ships!

Will you be mentioning these on our wiki?



I'd like to edit your Pteradyne Technology/ies page to list all the ships produced by the company.

Question: the pages says this: a small aerospace firm operating out of tech level 15 worlds in Galaxy 1

But Ceesxe is the only TL15 world in Galaxy 1 - and the only oxp which increases TL to that extent (Famous Planets) turns Sori into TL16 Ascension.

Cmdr Wyvern wrote: ↑Thu Apr 28, 2022 11:44 pm

/// AMS decoy mod 2.04, by Thargoid and Wyvern ///
...The decoys also troll your foes with a bit of psychological warfare, sowing chaos and confusion into the battlesphere by broadcasting Thargon ident signals. BWHAHAHA!!

Should this not be illegal if one is caught in the act?

Cholmondely wrote: ↑Fri Apr 29, 2022 8:31 am

Thank you! Downloaded. I hope to try out the missile spoof at some stage, but have little experience with either missiles or non-Vanilla ships!

Will you be mentioning these on our wiki?

I may, if I manage to remember my wiki password. Yeah, it's been that long.

Cholmondely wrote: ↑Fri Apr 29, 2022 8:31 am

I'd like to edit your Pteradyne Technology/ies page to list all the ships produced by the company.

Question: the pages says this: a small aerospace firm operating out of tech level 15 worlds in Galaxy 1

But Ceesxe is the only TL15 world in Galaxy 1 - and the only oxp which increases TL to that extent (Famous Planets) turns Sori into TL16 Ascension.

Ok, that's def in need of a brushup.
They still remain more or less small scale, specializing in integration and minituration; for example, standard flight computers would be the size of an average desktop PC. Pteradyne makes units the size of cigarette packs.
Also, they've moved their operations to cover TL13, for the supply/demand cost benefits, and have shipyards and factory platforms spread across the Eight.

Cholmondely wrote: ↑Fri Apr 29, 2022 8:35 am

Cmdr Wyvern wrote: ↑Thu Apr 28, 2022 11:44 pm

/// AMS decoy mod 2.04, by Thargoid and Wyvern ///
...The decoys also troll your foes with a bit of psychological warfare, sowing chaos and confusion into the battlesphere by broadcasting Thargon ident signals. BWHAHAHA!!

Should this not be illegal if one is caught in the act?

I don't know. Maybe? It's kind of a gray area, that I'm not lawyer enough to figure out.
There once was a mine that dispersed inflatable fake Thargoid warships to psyche out bandits, and that was gotten away with.

At any rate, the advantage gained will be short lived. The smartest bandits either won't fall for it, or are gonna be back on your ass as soon as they figure they've been pranked.

Cmdr Wyvern wrote: ↑Fri Apr 29, 2022 2:04 pm

I may, if I manage to remember my wiki password. Yeah, it's been that long.

I can easily issue you with a new one - but don't think that I can resurrect the old, sorry.

Gecko: Bounty 31 ₢: Drop your cargo and get out of here!
Raptor VHF: Resolute: Molon labe, voidbrains.
Mamba: Bounty 30 ₢: I'm taking too many hits!
Gecko: Bounty 31 ₢: I'm taking heavy fire from the Raptor VHF. Help!
Gecko: Bounty 31 ₢: Alas!
Mamba: Bounty 30 ₢: Energy banks critical!
Gecko: Bounty 31 ₢: Surely we can talk about this?
Raptor VHF: Resolute: Chat with this missile.

How do you want me to do this?

Option 1) I create the pages and link them in to the other relevant ones (eg Raptor to "Bounty Hunter OXP's" on the Career Options page) and you then edit it all to death as you see fit.

Option 2) I link the relevant pages into this thread instead, and then you can create the pages yourself at leisure.

Option 3) You post your oxp's as oxz's (zipped and with a Manifest.plist and maybe even a Shiplibrary.plist) on the Expansion Manager (you will need a password for this - phkb/Montana05/Hiran can help there, and you will need to fill in a manifest for each of your new oxz's), which will ask for the relevant wiki pages.

This option requires the wiki pages to be up (unless you want to add them later - which I find to be a pain in the unmentionables...)

Just had a look at your Raptor, sweet fighter, and I certainly like your PBWs. If I might suggest adding a small condition script like:
to your laser for compatibility reasons.

Cholmondely wrote: ↑Sun May 01, 2022 9:00 am

How do you want me to do this?

Option 1) I create the pages and link them in to the other relevant ones (eg Raptor to "Bounty Hunter OXP's" on the Career Options page) and you then edit it all to death as you see fit.

Option 2) I link the relevant pages into this thread instead, and then you can create the pages yourself at leisure.

Option 3) You post your oxp's as oxz's (zipped and with a Manifest.plist and maybe even a Shiplibrary.plist) on the Expansion Manager (you will need a password for this - phkb/Montana05/Hiran can help there, and you will need to fill in a manifest for each of your new oxz's), which will ask for the relevant wiki pages.

This option requires the wiki pages to be up (unless you want to add them later - which I find to be a pain in the unmentionables...)

Let me ponder on this. I'll get back to you on it.

FYI, they are packed up as OXZs, complete with manifest files, and the ships come with a shiplibrary file.

montana05 wrote: ↑Sun May 01, 2022 9:29 am

Just had a look at your Raptor, sweet fighter, and I certainly like your PBWs. If I might suggest adding a small condition script like:

Code: Select all

this.allowAwardEquipment = function(equipment, ship, context)
{
	// remainder from oolite-conditions.js:

	// OXP hook to allow stations to forbid specific equipment
	if(context == "purchase" && player.ship.dockedStation && player.ship.dockedStation.scriptInfo["oolite-barred-equipment"])
	{
		if (player.ship.dockedStation.scriptInfo["oolite-barred-equipment"].indexOf(equipment) != -1)
		{
			return false;
		};
	};

	// OXP hook to allow ships to forbid specific "available to all" equipment
	if(ship.scriptInfo && ship.scriptInfo["oolite-barred-equipment"] && ship.scriptInfo["oolite-barred-equipment"].indexOf(equipment) != -1)
	{
		return false;
	};
	
	// for compatibility with Laser Mount Switching System (LMSS)
	var lmss = worldScripts.LMSS_Core;

	if(lmss && lmss._switching == true) 
	{
		return true;
	};
	
	// otherwise permitted
	return true;
};

to your laser for compatibility reasons.

Good idea, but I don't think it's necessary, exactly. The readme does say that trading the PBWs in for lasers is a terrible idea. Lasers in the array would heat up and consume power like a mofo, especially in the heavy fighter and very heavy fighter models.

If the customer did that and found themselves at a disadvantage afterward, then there's two ways to restore the PBWs: Buy a new ship (which will have the PBWs installed) or travel to a high TL outfitter to have them reinstalled.

UPDATE: I checked, and the TL to have the PBWs reinstalled was too high. Do'h!! So I fixed that. PBW restore available at TL 13+
Same link

Some weirdness going on with the missile.

If you have Broadcast Comms installed, the missile will thank you for the assist when it reaches it's target and detonates.

It's like-shipped from the hardened missile and simply respecs the speed and agility (resolving that crazy ivan thing native missiles want to do instead of detonating), and sprays shrapnel for additional kinetic damage.

There's nothing there has has anything to do with comms, it shouldn't talk. A weird little thing I can't fix. Must be a glitch in Broadcast Comms, or even more fundamentally in Oolite itself.