Oolite Bulletins

Greetings all
1st off you all have no diea how glad I am to see the "original" Elite back out and Im glad there are some real enthusiasts out there improving the game and keeping it interesting so my ETERNAL Thanks to you all.

I dont know if these have been suggested but here goes:

1) Weapons cooling system (Requires use of cargo space to install)
2) Manuverability Enhancers
3) different colored Lasers (perhaps each color has different effects like red blue and green lasers Red doing medium damage to shields and Hull Blue doing Heavy damage to shields light to hull ect)
4) salvage rights when a vessel's pilot abandons ship and the vessel is just sitting there why not be able to call a OoHauler and salvage the vessel and get a reward for it from the insurance company(plus the cargo) say 1% of the ships total value.
5) Detachable cargo barge (where your ship can dock with it and it can hold a certain amount of CT.(should be relatively inexspensive)
6) Hull Armor for those times when you facing those nasty Renegades(got jumped by 3 of them in 1 system although 1 at a time but OWWWWWWWWWW!!!!!!!!) could have 2 types of arrmor External which reduces speed and manuverability and Integral which eats cargo space.
7) The Ability to sell equipment back to the ship yards

Also if cargo space for Equipment can be Implemented the following equipment should have cargo space penalties:
Fuel Scoops since they scoop up cargo and fuel a area really needs to be able to have access to both
Ore Processor (and i think that more than just 1 KG of gold or Plat should come from 1 ton splinters) Also after literally days of mining i have yet to get any gemstones)
WitchDrive Fuel Injectors
Extra Energy Unit (including the Naval)
Energy Bomb
Shield Boosters
Galactic Hyperdrive

Sorry if i get a little wordy and i dont know how hard these thins wil be to script or add on or what ever you call it since i dont know jack about writing all this stuff i just have some ideas.

Welcome to the nicest board this side of Reidquat! Beware of the Spam Assassins, they're still a little antsy! In regard to your questions:

Wolfspirit wrote:

1) Weapons cooling system (Requires use of cargo space to install)

This has been debated at least a dozen times back and forth. The general concensus is that having coolers on the weapons would make the game a little too easy for the experienced Commander and a little too hard for the green Jamesons (since in Oolite, the NPS's have access to the same equipment as the PS's)

Wolfspirit wrote:

2) Manuverability Enhancers

Not quite sure what you're on about there, but there are yaw thrusters in Oolite 1.67 and above that are bound to the , and . keys (on the PC). Other than that, I am not sure what you mean.

Wolfspirit wrote:

3) different colored Lasers (perhaps each color has different effects like red blue and green lasers Red doing medium damage to shields and Hull Blue doing Heavy damage to shields light to hull ect)

Oolite doesn't actually have separate shield and hull integrity ratings. When your energy banks are down to zero it's 'Press Space, Commander'. Different coloured lasers for different weapon types? Maybe, several OXP ships (the Ionics, Star Wars and Selezen's excellent Imperial Courier Mk. 2) have different weapon beam colours.

Wolfspirit wrote:

4) salvage rights when a vessel's pilot abandons ship and the vessel is just sitting there why not be able to call a OoHauler and salvage the vessel and get a reward for it from the insurance company(plus the cargo) say 1% of the ships total value.

Do a search for 'Remora Torpedo'

Wolfspirit wrote:

5) Detachable cargo barge (where your ship can dock with it and it can hold a certain amount of CT.(should be relatively inexspensive)

Inexpensive? Really? So I could trade in my run-of-the-mill Cobbie 3, buy a rusty Asp and a cargo barge and have everything I want? Speed, maneouvrability and a good cargo capacity. might be a little bit uber

Wolfspirit wrote:

6) Hull Armor for those times when you facing those nasty Renegades(got jumped by 3 of them in 1 system although 1 at a time but OWWWWWWWWWW!!!!!!!!) could have 2 types of arrmor External which reduces speed and manuverability and Integral which eats cargo space.

Don't know if this would work with there being no difference between hull and energy banks.

Wolfspirit wrote:

7) The Ability to sell equipment back to the ship yards

This I agree with. I rarely use E-bombs (or escape pods for that matter) and I find that when I see a ship I want, I inevitably have to pass it over because it has the above items which takes the price above the level at which I can still afford worthwhile cargoes.

Wolfspirit wrote:

Also if cargo space for Equipment can be Implemented the following equipment should have cargo space penalties:
Fuel Scoops since they scoop up cargo and fuel a area really needs to be able to have access to both
Ore Processor (and i think that more than just 1 KG of gold or Plat should come from 1 ton splinters) Also after literally days of mining i have yet to get any gemstones)
WitchDrive Fuel Injectors
Extra Energy Unit (including the Naval)
Energy Bomb
Shield Boosters
Galactic Hyperdrive

Seems a bit harsh on ships like the Asp that have no cargo space....

Captain Hesperus

hmmmmmmm

but cant you buy a cargo bay for the asp?

can also balance this out by making it so that all the suggested upgrades are only available in galaxy 3 and up maybe?

Wolfspirit wrote:

but cant you buy a cargo bay for the asp?

Unfortunately not, as it's a Cargo Bay Extension. It only adds about 15TC to an existing cargo bay.

Captain Hesperus

Hi and welcome Wolfspirit. Good first post, fresh contributions are always encouraging.

You might want to have a look at the FAQ's and search the suggestion box forum, you may find some of your ideas are already implemented or an impossibility, but more importantly it may spark a light of genius for you to share with us.

Wolfspirit wrote:

Greetings all
1st off you all have no diea how glad I am to see the "original" Elite back out and Im glad there are some real enthusiasts out there improving the game and keeping it interesting so my ETERNAL Thanks to you all.

Greetings to you, Wolfspirit, and a warm welcome to the boards and of course to this great game!

Then thanks for your suggestions. It's always nice to have new players and posters who are willing to contribute their ideas!

Not all of it is possible or will get a majority of the votes, however. Captain Hesperus and TGHC have already answered most of it, but I'd like to add a few words.

1) Weapons cooling system (Requires use of cargo space to install)

The suggestion has been made frequently, and has been turned down all the time. C_H gave the reasons. Have a look at the FAQ-page of the Elite-wiki as well.

2) Manuverability Enhancers

I think you are referring to more precise key-controls, are you? Also this has been discussed more than once. And the outcome so far is: Learn to fly your ship!

3) different colored Lasers (perhaps each color has different effects like red blue and green lasers Red doing medium damage to shields and Hull Blue doing Heavy damage to shields light to hull ect)

As C_H already has pointed out, there are already different coloured lasers. You will come across a lot of ships with green, cyan, purple, blue, orange, yellow or magenta-coloured lasers, sometimes even a cluster of lasers in different colours. In principle, in the latest version of Oolite the range of colours for lasers is virtually unlimited. However this is all eye-candy. As far as their effects are concerned, all lasers do the same: eating your shields first, then your energy, and then you're dead.

If you just want another laser colour for your own ship, this can be done with a little experience and a text editor. You just have to open the shipdata.plist that contains your ship (can be from Oolite itself or in an OXP, depending on your ship). There, in the entry named <key>yourship-player</key> (yourship being the name of your ship) you have to find the lines <key>laser_color</key> <string>redColor</string>. Now replace the color name redColor with any of the available names in Oolite. There is a list of all legal names in the shipdata.plist-documentation in the wiki. Go to the entry for laser_color.

And, as C_H also has pointed out, there is no difference between shields and hull in Oolite. The reason for this is basically that there was no difference between shields and hull in the original Elite. And as you are glad to see the original Elite back out...

4) salvage rights when a vessel's pilot abandons ship and the vessel is just sitting there why not be able to call a OoHauler and salvage the vessel and get a reward for it from the insurance company(plus the cargo) say 1% of the ships total value.

C_H gave the correct hint on this one. It is a very long-standing proposal, and actually some people have invested some efforts to take it somewhere, bus so far nothing has come out of it.

5) Detachable cargo barge (where your ship can dock with it and it can hold a certain amount of CT.(should be relatively inexspensive)

Perhaps that would be scriptable, although I doubt that Oolite's sub-optimal collision detection could handle the player towing a barge. So in my opinion the answer to this one is: Buy yourself a bigger ship with more cargo capacity. (The Oo-Hauler, e.g., is in itself something like a barge.)

6) Hull Armor for those times when you facing those nasty Renegades(got jumped by 3 of them in 1 system although 1 at a time but OWWWWWWWWWW!!!!!!!!) could have 2 types of arrmor External which reduces speed and manuverability and Integral which eats cargo space.

As of above, there is no armour whatsoever in Oolite. But I like it, it would be a nice idea for a new piece of equipment. What it would do in-game, basically, would however be just to increase your shield-capacity. So its effect would be reduced to another shield enhancer.

7) The Ability to sell equipment back to the ship yards

For a reduced price, of course (or could you imagine a sane equipment dealer who would buy back an escape capsule from Captain Hesperus for a full refund??? ). But I agree on that one.

Also if cargo space for Equipment can be Implemented the following equipment should have cargo space penalties:
Fuel Scoops since they scoop up cargo and fuel a area really needs to be able to have access to both
Ore Processor (and i think that more than just 1 KG of gold or Plat should come from 1 ton splinters) Also after literally days of mining i have yet to get any gemstones)
WitchDrive Fuel Injectors
Extra Energy Unit (including the Naval)
Energy Bomb
Shield Boosters
Galactic Hyperdrive

I am completely against the idea of equipment in cargo space. Just makes no sense to me. You simply wouldn't mount your shield boosters or your fuel injectors within your cargo bay. They belong to specific systems of your ship. Imagine your car. What kind of extras that you can buy for it would actually go in the trunk? So in my humble opinion the equation (equipment) = -(cargospace) is just pure nonsense.

If we seriously would reflect on equipment items taking up space (and I am not principally against that), then my vote goes for the introduction of an equipment space that is different from cargo space all along.

In that case I would again advocate a system like in the games of the Escape Velocity series (which are in some aspects superior to Elite/Oolite, again in my humble opinion). There you have for every ship a certain cargo space and a certain equipment space. And you can easily imagine the latter spread all over your ship, wherever you can attach something to a system in order to improve it. This solution would allow for finer balance on the part of ship-designers as well. You could e.g. make a very fast ship less "über" by reducing its equipment space and therefore the possibilities to max it out.

Commander McLane wrote:

For a reduced price, of course (or could you imagine a sane equipment dealer who would buy back an escape capsule from Captain Hesperus for a full refund??? ). But I agree on that one.

Hey! My Escape pods are barely used. Except for the small wet, foul-smelling patch in the corner, Stepan gets too concerned with my 'hand-brake' docking.......

Commander McLane wrote:

I am completely against the idea of equipment in cargo space. Just makes no sense to me. You simply wouldn't mount your shield boosters or your fuel injectors within your cargo bay. They belong to specific systems of your ship. Imagine your car. What kind of extras that you can buy for it would actually go in the trunk? So in my humble opinion the equation (equipment) = -(cargospace) is just pure nonsense.

Although car CD changers were originally located in the trunk/boot, I agree. Most of the equipment in Elite/Oolite is known to be 'plug-and-play' (or plug-and-pray), so there is an assumtion that there would be vacant compartments within the ship's superstructure to house said items like with modern aircraft.

Captain Hesperus

Captain Hesperus wrote:

Although car CD changers were originally located in the trunk/boot, I agree.

Hey, that's an idea!

So, why not modify the sound-pack OXPs in a way that when you first have them loaded you get a mission screen saying:

"A bunch of Fierce Red Lobsters enter your ship, carrying a large number of heavy chests. 'Hi, are you the dude who ordered the alternative sound system? Okay, so what we are going to do now is to install all these components of the Sound System Changer in your cargo bay. Don't worry, will only take a couple of hours. Oh, yes, and it's going to cost you 2t of cargo space, of course. But the system is really state of the art, man!'"

And then "awardEquipment: EQ_SOUND_SYSTEM_CHANGER", which does nothing except reducing your cargo space by 2t.

Hah Hesperus' escapepod is a modified BoyRacer, as no insurance company wants to carry him anymore. He wrecks way to many ships and docking bays.

IIRC the playerlasercolour (Q3) is fixed.
Unless this has been changed in v1.68+ , only NPC ships can have lasers of a colour other than red and only NPCships can have multiple (subentity) lasers.
Or so i was told by the M&C.


@ previous post: lol, but such an impressive disco in the cargohold is bound to increase the trade-in value by 150%, regardless of the state of the rest of the vessel. There are always Boy-Racer owners who think owning a battered adder with a Cool-Sound(TM) system will surely get them the respect (and chicks!) they deserve (But are denied because of ageism).

ps welcome to the boards.

Arexack_Heretic wrote:

IIRC the playerlasercolour (Q3) is fixed.

No. Refer to my above post. Just change the laser_color-entry of your shipdata.

Red lasers suck! As long I can remember my personal ship is the only one in the known Ooniverse to have a white laser!

P.S.: And if I'll ever come across another ship with that laser colour, he'll get a taste of it. I promise!

P.P.S.: Or I'll resort to a black laser. Harder to aim, but for sure makes an impressing impact on an unsuspecting victim!!

The mercenary frigate used to have an array of 8 white 'photon-lances'.


plus an almost unlimited supply of missiles
(Which thankfully did not work, as they were a test-project).
Next time I create a capital ship, it will have a small dock to launch torpedoes from instead. It was an impressive sight though, to see those volleys of missiles streaking towards that happless Behemoth.


Anyway. I was told player-ship lasercolour was fixed as red.
Also IIRC, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/X11_color_names |HTML/X11 named colours were allowed...I'll test this.
edit: not so. ie fuchsia_colour defaults to red...so does lime_colour. I must have inadvertedly used the allowed colournames previously.

Arexack_Heretic wrote:

The mercenary frigate used to have an array of 8 white 'photon-lances'.


plus an almost unlimited supply of missiles
(Which thankfully did not work, as they were a test-project).
Next time I create a capital ship, it will have a small dock to launch torpedoes from instead. It was an impressive sight though, to see those volleys of missiles streaking towards that happless Behemoth.


Anyway. I was told player-ship lasercolour was fixed as red.
Also IIRC, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/X11_color_names |HTML/X11 named colours were allowed...I'll test this.
edit: not so. ie fuchsia_colour defaults to red...so does lime_colour. I must have inadvertedly used the allowed colournames previously.

There is a list of all the allowed colour names. All means that nothing else than these exact wordings is accepted. If you want any other colour you have to specify it with a colour specifier. N.B.: This will work only from 1.69.2 onwards, IIRC.

Commander McLane wrote:

There is a list of all the allowed colour names. All means that nothing else than these exact wordings is accepted. If you want any other colour you have to specify it with a colour specifier. N.B.: This will work only from 1.69.2 onwards, IIRC.

1.69.0. Also since then, black or otherwise dark lasers aren’t allowed (they’ll be brightened to at least 50% luminance).

The geek in me demands to point out that there’s no such thing as a white laser. But then, there’s no such thing as a laser that’s visible in space, either. :-)

Wolfspirit wrote:

Also if cargo space for Equipment can be Implemented the following equipment should have cargo space penalties:
[...]
Ore Processor (and i think that more than just 1 KG of gold or Plat should come from 1 ton splinters) Also after literally days of mining i have yet to get any gemstones)

Greetings Wolfspirit

I also wanted the Ore Processor to take up cargo space, but there's no such option when making equipment. Instead I decided against making it able of extracting multiple kilos of gold and platinum to balance things out.

The reason why there's no gemstones to be extracted is that we had no coders to tell us what gemstones are called internally, and we couldn't get it to work.

isn't it 'gem-stones'?

edit: Gem-stones is the name you can use to 'awardCargo:'
Or are you referring to the cargo_type?