ECM failure!

[ehmuk]

Hello all,

Played various versions of Elite over the years so its great to see it still growing strong. Sorry to start off with a negative but this really is spoiling my enjoyment of the game.
Just that sometimes when I use the ECM the missile doesn't always destruct, even if I press the button again.
This has happened numerous times and its usually a Python that lands the fateful blow. Is this a flaw or are some missiles meant to be indestructible in this version?

[Killer Instinct]

The ECM proof missile, very much a feature of Oolite. Being almost of ELITE rating (just a few more to blow up!!) and having a large credit pile and a Tiger Mk1 I carry at least 4.

[*cat]

Is it true that frequent ECM-ing will take out even a hard-head? I was running v 1.69 recently and that tactic seemed to work, but I've reverted to 1.65 for stability and the only escape from them seems to be those trusty Witch Fuel Injectors and a jump when I'm clear.
Does anyone know?
And does one ECM blast take out any number of missiles?
Incidentally, I've occasionally found a missile floating around in space and thought I'd have a go shooting it, but I've never hit one.

[*cat]

Sorry, but missile strategy (with ECM and Injectors) reminded me of Old MacDonald...
E - I - E - I.... Oh ("Press space Commander")

Sorry everyone...

[TGHC]

Hi ehmuk and welcome, the standard missile will be killed with a quick burst of ECM, but Oolite has moved on to give you many more options of offensive and defensive equipment. One of thes is the ECM hardened missile, which can be killed with repeated bursts of ECM, but not always!

You need to bling out your ship with all the kit you can, some of the NPC's are really nasty, and you are advised to be careful which OXP ships to install in the early days of your command, it's up to you.

Have a look at the Oolite wiki there's a fund of info on equipment and missions etc.

If you are in galaxy 4 you can get the cloaking device which will hide you from everything including hardhats.

[ehmuk]

Thanks all for the quick response. Will have to brush up on my dogfighting skills. Indestructible missiles - Oh bugger!
Only just found out about Oolite in the last few days and must of missed the information about this on the wiki. Too busy installing OXPs. New HUD,ships etc.
Have to admit to a little impatience.Traded in my mark 3 for a mark 1 to buy a docking computer (amongst other things). Finding hard to see the ships until their right on top of me without giving myself a headache with the brightness and the key layout feels so unnatural but its great to be flying the old Cobra again!
Anyway thanks again. Time now for a couple of hours of piracy!

[LittleBear]

Welcome to the boards.

There is an OXP on Oosat1 that removes the Hardened Missile from the game (if you are a purest ). However, a feature of Oolite is anything the player can have the NPCs can also have. Oolite is a bit more realistic than Elite in that pirates often tend to kit there ships out for combat (well you would won't you) and so often will have ECMs fitted. You may miss the Hardhead when you have enough credits to buy a few! Fuel Injectors are therefore a must for combat in Oolite as you can't rely just on your ECM to escape a missile. Even Hardheads only have enough fuel for a minutes flight, so with fuel injectors you can outrun them. Keep a bit of distance in combat though as a hardhead in the face will spell game over!

As a hardhead costs more than ten times as much as a standard missile few pirates use them (cheapskates!) and your ECM will take out most missiles comming in your direction, but richer or more dangerous ships often have them loaded up.

The Hardhead is not totally impervious to ECM so keeping the E key depressed for several bursts may get it. But don't count on it, dab the injectors to keep the missile at a distance until it runs out of fuel.

[JensAyton]

However, a feature of Oolite is anything the player can have the NPCs can also have.

Really? When did you last see an NPC with a side laser or an advanced nav array? Or, for that matter, shields? ;-)

[LittleBear]

Ok. I know the game handles shields diffently for NPCs, but apart from the A.N.A (which woundn't make a game play difference if they did have it), can't they have everything the player can? I've got NPCs with rear lasers using them on me. When I accidently gave a special missile that I only meant the player to have for one mission the role missile, NPCs fired them at me.

Meant to ask you about side-lasers. The bug-report on Assassins revealed STARBOARD and PORT lasers as invalid, so I took them out. Were they allowed at some point, as I think I've have seen these keys in other OXPs?

[JensAyton]

Side lasers have never been supported for NPC ships (they can’t carry them, let alone use them). Their presence in shipdata.plists indicates wishful thinking. The game will simply ignore keys it doesn’t know about, so they’re not actually harmful.

[Wiggy]

the key layout feels so unnatural but its great to be flying the old Cobra again!

You can customise the key controls, by modifying keyconfig.plist. More details on the Wiki.