Oolite Bulletins

*enters

*looks around

'xcuse me, is this the right place?

*mumble, mumble*

Er, ok... This may be a matter of taste, but the sky in the game looks artificial to me. Personally, I'd prefer if it looked more realistic - only bright and much more numerous tiny silver specs, without those reddish-violet-something blotches that are supposed to act as "brighter" stars, but to me, at least, seem more like they come out of a cartoon, not at all the way they should look in a serious space simulation...

But, again, may be a matter of taste

Strictly speaking if you wanted it to be 'realistic' you'd not be able to see any stars at all with a bright planet, sun and ships flying around with megawatt laser beams out there!

Know what you mean though, some Star Wars/Star Trek style backdrops might be nice.

Cheers,

Drew.

drew wrote:

Strictly speaking if you wanted it to be 'realistic' you'd not be able to see any stars at all with a bright planet, sun and ships flying around with megawatt laser beams out there!

Not true. While photos and film from Earth orbit or the Moon seldom show stars due to exposure issues, human beings who are actually there do see stars.

Real starfields tend to be rather repetetive and dull, though. The nebulae make it easier to get your bearings. As for serious space sim… er, this isn’t one. Sorry.

Ahruman wrote:

drew wrote:

Strictly speaking if you wanted it to be 'realistic' you'd not be able to see any stars at all with a bright planet, sun and ships flying around with megawatt laser beams out there!

Not true. While photos and film from Earth orbit or the Moon seldom show stars due to exposure issues, human beings who are actually there do see stars.

Hm, true, but on the other hand, the Sun pretty much blinds you... I guess having a starfield unless there is a sun in your viewscreen would require more coding...

Real starfields tend to be rather repetetive and dull, though.

As I said, a matter of taste. I think it would be a beautiful stage.

The nebulae make it easier to get your bearings.

I don't mind nebulae, on the contrary. I mind those violet dots that act as stars.

Can anyone guess how much processor time does the starfield calculation take depending on the actuall number of stars? What I mean is, if the starfield would be sufficiently dense - as is in reality - you could see enemy ships' "shadows", covering the stars as they pass in front of them...

Lensflares or loss of contrast* at having the local sun within 33degree arc of viewer centre?
Would add another degree of tactics to engaging the foe.

I don't really mind the stars... my grasp of oolite reality is fairly cartoonish anyhow. must be all the grubbing I did when I was less wise.
Oldstyle elite 'skins' were all in the mind.

*An automatic safety feature to prevent severe burns either to the viewport cameras or the pilot itself if inside an exposed cockpit.
Adaptive masking technologies are available, but add the risk of missing the flares of missile exhausts.

Not true. While photos and film from Earth orbit or the Moon seldom show stars due to exposure issues, human beings who are actually there do see stars.

I would be very skeptical of any claims that you could see stars anytime the bright sun or fully illuminated nearby planet is in the sky. Behind a planet or in deep shadow away from the sun, yes granted.

Don't discount cockpit illumination either. As an astronomer I use a laptop occasionally at night to do CCD imaging and it completely knackers your night vision. Even with the brightness turned down to minimum and a filter inplace you're only left with the brightest stars for a minute or so.

I've always assumed the 'on screen' isn't just a window, but some kind of computer enhanced display, which balances out the brightness levels for you, thus the sun doesn't blind you when you're scooping and you can 'see' in the dark.

Cheers,

Drew.

drew wrote:

I've always assumed the 'on screen' isn't just a window, but some kind of computer enhanced display, which balances out the brightness levels for you, thus the sun doesn't blind you when you're scooping and you can 'see' in the dark.

That's the way I have always seen it too. That accounts for the layout of the bridge as seen in the manual (which has a chair with a single screen in front) and the fact that you can access all viewpoints from the console.

As I've said before, I've always thought of the visible "windows" on some ships to be solar panels or some such...

Selezen wrote:

As I've said before, I've always thought of the visible "windows" on some ships to be solar panels or some such...

Yeah, and the windows are much too big, in comparison to the size of the ships, some of them must be 30 meters wide windows

Promenade decks.

(That said, expecting scale in Oolite to make sense is an exercise in frustration. Deal.)

Well said that man.

Maybe someone should try looking at making scale accurate versions...

Dream Team #2, maybe?

They make the viewports out of transparent aluminum.

reills wrote:

They make the viewports out of transparent aluminum.

They aren't viewports, they are CCD arrays.

Captain Hesperus

Are you saying that that salespitch about nanomaterial linked by twisted photonic couplings to the viewscreens is a lie?

Well, perhaps not a lie. Just a little, err, exaggerated, probably...

Ahruman wrote:

Promenade decks.

(That said, expecting scale in Oolite to make sense is an exercise in frustration. Deal.)

lol