Oolite Bulletins

my itch concerning the awesomeness of EBs, and that they make a severe class split between players and NPCs (the only inconsistency of this kind), needs peace, so I try these suggestions, as I think a few small changes could really flip it to Oolite's advantage.
if no public liking, I'll concede my campaign forevah..

so, what if:

• -EBs damage range is slightly reduced to ca. 60-75% of the current blast radius..
  
  -they require something like a 5sec power-up prep time, and when activated emit a detectable signal..
  
  -EBsensors (for sale but not cheaply) detect and give a grim warning that sends a commander on a frantic survival dash..
  
  -they become part of the (ironass) NPC arsenal..

Is the issue of non-vaporized debris still awaiting agreement too? ie Should you benefit by the ability to scavenge after blasting everything in sight? Would their, realistically, be any debris?

Murgh wrote:

-they require something like a 5sec power-up prep time, and when activated emit a detectable signal..

-EBsensors (for sale but not cheaply) detect and give a grim warning that sends a commander on a frantic survival dash..

-they become part of the (ironass) NPC arsenal..[/list]

I like these particularly, especially the opportunity to a) be warned that an energy bomb has been activated in the vicinity b) run like bloody f*ck from the area. Would add a little extra spice to the fun.

I don't use EBs at all, unless they come as part of the fixtures of a ship I'm buying - in which case, I usually discharge them as soon as I can (asteroid fields are good, for this, since you get about a hundred credits back, for your efforts). I regard them as a silly addition, and personally wouldn't like to see them given any more formal place in the game. At the moment, you can at least treat them as optional.

These do seem to be quite radical suggestions, fundamentally altering the gameplay...

HOWEVER, I agree that the energy bomb remains, very much, the odd man out. It's awesome destructive power does seem innapropriate to be able to fall into the hands of Joe's Pizza delivery fleet of second-hand Adders.

I think someone (perhaps NoSleep) made the point that he's never ever actually used one and I have to confess that I've rarely used one for three main reasons:

1) I usually forget that I have one available to use.

2) If I do remember that I have one, I often want to destroy selective ships (to avoid the possibility of increasing my criminal status)

OR

3) Again, even if I do remember I have one, I would only want to use it as a last resort and often die before I can make the key press to detonate.

In some respects EB's are similar to Escape Capsules as the only time I'd use one of them is if I have gone several systems without saving the game and make shed loads of money in the process. Otherwise it's easier to just die and start off at the last system you were docked at (or is it the last system you saved at?). Bottom line is that both EB's and EC's I rarely use.

Here's another radical idea for you, how about making it ILLEGAL to detonate an energy bomb (under any circumstances and regardless of system lawfulness)?

In the words of Pulp Fiction "...It's legal own it, It's legal carry it and if you're the proprieter, it's legal to sell it... but if you know what the best part is? If you get stopped by a Galactic Police Viper Interceptor, it's illegal for them to search you."

I agree flyingcircus. I never use em myself, either. But, as long as it was a rare occurence, I wouldn't mind the distraction of an energy bomb being utilized against me, and the ensuing scramble.

I don't use them after I inadvertantly vapourised a Rock Hermit, just as I was abbout to dock with him. [Query: could you accidentally vapourise the station?]

I tend to agree with a number of points here.

1. Energy bombs do favour the player over the other ships. NPCs should occasionally have EBs.

2. EBs aren't particularly satisfying to use - and don't vaporise ships eliminating debris as perhaps they ought.


I favour rewriting the energy Bomb for v1.41 or higher this way:

Triggering an energy bomb will drop a physical package (like a cargo canister) on a short timed delay that will explode into an expanding energy cloud (with pretty visuals) behind your ship, and accelerate you to your top-speed to stay ahead of it's destructive wave front (possibly limiting EBs to ships fast enough to outrun the effects). The expansion will be slow enough for some quick ships to turn and outrun the blast, and there may be some electronic warning for a similarly equipped ship. Ships and asteroids and such caught by the blast front will suffer massive (terminal) damage - this will vaporise any wreckage. Watching one of these go off in your rear view should be fun.

[insert ear-to-ear smiling emoticon with tear rolling down cheek]
always knew you fellas had adamant opinions on this too, and here we are, relating. *snif*

I feel now I have to come clean and admit that in my commander's infancy I did employ EBs a few times to come out king from failed witchjump intermezzos with Thargoid gangs. always left the wrong taste in my mouth, though. honest. this guilt may explain my long time urge to have someone else EB my ass.

the above TODO would be fun to watch in the rear view indeed, from either the POV of the EBs deployer, or a grateful survivor of someone else's.. getting murdered this way would certainly wipe away any sneaking feeling of invincibility. this has the makings of a weapon of bosses.

Been observing this little debate from the sidelines, but now have to admit that the only time I've ever used them(other than the very first time on Speccy Elite when I wanted to know what they did!) is against 'too many' Thargoids.

I'm very intrigued by Giles' proposed changes, I'm sure it will provoke a whole new wave of comments when it is implemented!

Giles++

That would be cool.

There's definitely something wrong with the the player being at the epicentre of the blast and being untouched! A dropped module and jump to full speed seems much more reasonable.

It might be an idea to have energy bombs do a fixed amount of damage, decreasing with distance (inverse squared law, baby!) rather than an autokill. That way, slow ships that haven't taken too much damage might just be able to survive.

Regarding NPC ships (shouldn't that be NPS?) occasionally having access to energy bombs, fine. It seems that shipdata.plist shouldn't have a simple true/false for whether a ship possesses an item, but a percentage chance.

Lazygun wrote:

Regarding NPC ships (shouldn't that be NPS?) occasionally having access to energy bombs, fine. It seems that shipdata.plist shouldn't have a simple true/false for whether a ship possesses an item, but a percentage chance.

That's a very very fine idea.

(*TODO* comment here)

aegidian wrote:

Triggering an energy bomb will drop a physical package (like a cargo canister) on a short timed delay that will explode into an expanding energy cloud (with pretty visuals) behind your ship, and accelerate you to your top-speed to stay ahead of it's destructive wave front (possibly limiting EBs to ships fast enough to outrun the effects). The expansion will be slow enough for some quick ships to turn and outrun the blast, and there may be some electronic warning for a similarly equipped ship. Ships and asteroids and such caught by the blast front will suffer massive (terminal) damage - this will vaporise any wreckage. Watching one of these go off in your rear view should be fun.

Would you require witchdrive fuel injectors to use the energy bomb? What if you are running low on fuel. I would love it if the ships computer tried to discourage you if you didn't have enough fuel: "I'm afraid I can not let you do that, commander" and you had to press tab again to go out with a blaze!!!

I think you should be able to use it, but not be able to survive it if your ship isn't fast enough!

GusGus wrote:

Would you require witchdrive fuel injectors to use the energy bomb?

No, I expect to limit the EB expansion rate to about 0.3 LS and to limit the ships that can fit it to those that can manage that speed.

The Fuel Injectors will however be critical if you should see the message:

WARNING: ENERGY BOMB DEPLOYED!

I assume that it'd show up on the scanner? Maybe as a flashing white and red line?

Because you'd need to know where the hell to run away from otherwise you might just be powering even closer to it with your fuel injectors.

I would say that you shouldn't need an upgrade to detect an energy bomb my case would be:

Since they are highly destructive and probably not the sort of thing that ANY system wants ships to use willy nilly perhaps it could be galactic law that an energy bomb must be fitted with an auto-broadcast message upon activation. I just hope the Thargoids don't have similar technology since I imagine they don't give a rats a**e about galactic law.

Question: Given that there will visually be an object representing the bomb what will the effect of firing lasers at it be?

Earlier detonation or bomb disarment (in a final sort of sense).