Oolite Bulletins

Have heat shields, went skimming, temp went red, higher, tried to bail using injectors, died w/ scoops not activating at all. lost about 8 kills.
wtf. last i recall scoops fired up at about 80-90% max heat??

I have the same experience, I haven't scooped fuel even once in Oolite for this reason.

Quick and dirty check, and I was able to scoop fuel (using injectors*). You guys are using external heat shielding, right?


*Had to be quick as dinner's cooking!

Cody wrote: ↑Mon Jul 25, 2022 5:33 pm

*Had to be quick as dinner's cooking!

Trumbles?
Actually, eventually I have to try skimming again, since I have one on board right now ...

Never had trumbles on my ship! If I ruled the Ooniverse, I'd excise them from the game.
Was it C64 Elite which introduced them? I don't recall them being in BBC Elite.

as mentioned, i have heat shields. was doing full speed, temp bar was very slow to hit the red but when it started flashing i tried to get out of there. even using injectors at the last moment when i saw the bar was still going up despite heading directly away from the sun didn't save me.

and while i'm on the subject of WTFs - hardened missiles. i've been hit w/ a few - i've ECM'd a couple, if i'm reading the code right it's supposed to be a 1 in 20 chance. on the other side of the coin, i've fired about in the course of several manic dogfights, and they've been instantly ECM's every time. EVERY time.

Killer Wolf wrote: ↑Mon Jul 25, 2022 8:39 pm

as mentioned, i have heat shields.

Sorry, missed that - dinner was cooking!

Playing with Stranger's World, sunskimming is unneccessary as you can skim further out in space, within, say, 5,000km of the sun (but the home planet can be 30,000km distant).

But I've done it when I've played strict. You just torus into the sun until the masslock hits (ie so fast that you don't heat up too much), and then even out your flight path so that the sun is on the edge of your space compass (ie your flight path is parallel to the surface). After a tad (mostly refuelled) move back out again until you can engage Torus. I exploded once at the very beginning (a year ago?), but not since.

Reference: Guide to 'Failsafe' Skimming by Commander Dilbert

Dilbert says:

... and have an emergency hyperdrive location set just in case.

That should be de rigueur, regardless. Cheyd's EWI can be useful - no telling where you might end up, but it'll get you out of a hot spot quicker.

so maybe i've been misremembering, or something's changed over the years - i was getting to the sun and skimming through the upper atmosphere, as i believe the BBC docs said. That appears to make you heat up and die.
as per the guide below [thanks @Cholmondely] if you mass lock, it works - so i'm guessing the trigger is not entirely hull temp, but altitude is involved too. that was a learning experience

Same experience. I haven't been able to achieve sunskimming in Oolite.

Then again due to various balance irritations I'm at the point where I've just stopped playing and am unlikely to come back for a while

Just tried it myself and was able to fill up the entire 7 LY from empty (flushed it all with the debug console) without getting roasted. Heat shielding was of course included and it had entered the flashing red alert zone by the time I was finally able to hit the injectors and get out of there, but it is definitely doable, especially if you just want to pick up some fuel and not all fuel.

Edit: Did it a few more times in a row just to be sure. Hint: when scooping you are basically blind; use the compass. When approaching, switch compass to sun and keep it near the edge of the circle. This way you know that you are approaching the sun's disk at its edges and not dead on. Once the scoop activates, start turning slowly so that the sun becomes a red dot and get it in the center. Time it nicely so that the sun gets positioned in the center just about before your tank is full. You should already be moving away from the sun during the last few seconds of the refill. After that, just stay in course and use some of the fuel if you can afford it to get out of the oven more quickly.

another_commander wrote: ↑Tue Jul 26, 2022 9:27 am

After that, just stay in course and use some of the fuel if you can afford it to get out of the oven more quickly.

Or hyperspace out - time it right, and the scooping will complete as the countdown ends.