Oolite Bulletins

Very, very rarely, I'd say about once every 100 kills, there's this mass that gets ejected from a ship that's blowing up and zooms out of sensor range at very, very high speed (hyperspace speed or faster). It's so fast I've never been able to ID it, and even if I did, I'd never be able to catch it.

There's no chance that it's an ejection capsule, I've seen and caught those before and they are nowhere near that fast.

Does anyone know what it is? Has anyone ever caught it? Is it a game error?

It's the ships trumble - they're always escaping like that!

Killer Instinct wrote:

It's the ships trumble - they're always escaping like that!

New from Hesperus Enterprises(R), Homing Trumbles!!

Captain Hesperus

using internally generated hydrocarbons for propellent? ;D

Don't forget the reduced sulfur compounds! They give the exaust flame such a pretty colour...

I actually managed to ID it a while ago. It was an ejection capsule, but obviously there's some sort of error - it's travelling much faster than even hyperspace speed.

Fraoch wrote:

I actually managed to ID it a while ago. It was an ejection capsule, but obviously there's some sort of error - it's travelling much faster than even hyperspace speed.

You must mean jump speed as hyperspace (or witchspace) is mean the ship travels through when you move from a system to another.

Cmdr. Maegil wrote:

You must mean jump speed as hyperspace (or witchspace) is mean the ship travels through when you move from a system to another.

Yes, that's what I meant.

Maybe it is bumbed by something (wreckage) while it is being spawned and thus still indestructble?
alternatively, the ship applied fuel injectors reight before ejecting the pod.
Ejecta inherit the parent's velocity.


I commonly chase pods that are travelling at just below injectorspeed (adder).
Probably there is some sort of strange behaviour with ejecta speed.
parent_speed X injector_factor + ejection_velocity?
ejection should be directed to the rear, so reducing the resulting pod speed.

Arexack_Heretic wrote:

alternatively, the ship applied fuel injectors reight before ejecting the pod.
Ejecta inherit the parent's velocity.

It's far faster than injection speed. It zooms across the HUD at 1:1 in less than 3 seconds.

then I vote for the invulnerable-spawning-debris-collision-imparted-momentum theory.

If you have seen any large (huge) vessel detonate, you know what I am talking about. (even pre-wreckage)
Alloys will be zipping away in all directions at more than injection speed.

If you have seen any large (huge) vessel detonate, you know what I am talking about. (even pre-wreckage)
Alloys will be zipping away in all directions at more than injection speed.

Yes, they can fly away at high speed. I have been experimenting with escape-capsule ejection, just before the explosion of a coriolis station. Out of 15 capsules about 3 to 5 are blown away at immense speed and found back at very large distance of the station were they speed was reduced to normal. (I had to give them beacons to find them back)

It makes sense that the most of the debris is imparted with a huge speed, as they are exploded from the ship.
Linking to another thread, in the ejected cargo and escape capsules' case it makes less sense that their speed is much different than the ship's original speed minus the ejection speed.

you found the survivors!

good bit of detective work, commander

On a related (if somewhat tenuous) topic:

Why don't escape pods come fitted with locator beacons?
I mean, consider. You are flying off the space lane and come a cropper (you plant your ship into an unnoticed asteroid), you hit the 'coffin with a view' and punch out of your wreck. With your Insurers guaranteed to pay a 'bounty' on your safe return (as opposed to being sold on the 'meat market'), wouldn't you be happy to know your 'last chance box' is sending out a distress call to attract some enterprising young Jameson who needs about Cr250 for a job well done?

In fact, I'm going to alter the escape pod ship entry to have a beacon. I think the letter 'P' would be appropriate, or possibly '£'

Captain Hesperus