Oolite Bulletins

Hello all and each,

As my years are advancing, I seldom play games on my PC. I found "they don't write them as they used to". I often wondered "Why hasn't someone updated the fantastic Elite (that I used to play on my Atari ST for hours on end), with new graphics and sound"?

Lo and behold, a bit of seaching around, and here it is!

I have has great fun fiddling with the textures, and sounds, and generally blasting around after making myself an instant millionaire, but now I have got some questions.

I'd appreciate any help.

1) On the ST, the entry level was very easy (I don't quite have the dexterity I once had). I wanted to start from scratch, but I get pounced on by about 4 Mambas, and that's the end of that!

2) I am having great trouble defining the ships in the far distance. On the ST, they became a grey dot, larger then the stars, when they were far away. I know you can change the brightness of panels "in the shade", but I was wondering if there was an expensive add-on, or something that puts a box around a ship, or such like?

3) Is the image of the sun set in stone? I'd like to make it something a bit different to a white disc.

4) What are the nebulae files? I wish to replace them with some genuine files of nebulae. I want to get the space images as close to "Homeworld" as possible.

5) Anyone made any progress on these 'ringed' Saturn-like planets I've been reading about?

6) Also on the ST, the military laser lasted a lot longer before it over-heated. Is this adjustable?

7) Is the planet surface random, or is a an image projected around a globe?

Any help would be much apreciated.

Keep up the good work!

Hi!

1) If you fly in safe systems (ie corp state etc) then you shouldn't get attacked. Don't pick a fight until you've get a decent laser etc.

2) Sharper graphics mean the ships get drawn more realistically. That means that when they're a long way away they're much harder to see. It does make it a bit harder but that's what makes it so much fun

3) I don't know - although you can change the skin of planets in OXPs (user built expansion packs) so I guess you might be able to change it...

4) There's a post somewhere about getting the nebulae to work - that might help. Alothugh I think they're deliberately quite simple to keep the game speed up.

5) Don't think anything is being done about that. It'd take a lot of effort of implement... There's some other in progress community developed game that's using them.

6) This is a common request. It overheats at that rate to stop it being too powerful. Just make sure you're on target before firing. And save up to get a rear laser to double the amount of firepower.

7) Image projectd round a globe. Although I think the image is randomly generated unless you specify it in a OXP.

Welcome to the game! On 2. You can buy a scanner enhancment that puts a target box round a ship, once you've missile locked or ID computer locked it. This also tells you the ship's legal status. I'd make fuel injectors your first buy though. Pirates usually have Beam lasers, which cut though your basic shields pretty quick. NPCs are much tougher in Oolite than in Elite, as pretty much everything the player can buy so can they. Once you have Shield Boosters, or better still a Military Shield you can shug off most pirate attacks, but even with these somtimes you need to flee and split up the squadren. Fuel Injectors to run away are pretty essential in the early days.

the main trick for avoiding contact when you start out is to keep out the space lane. so don't fly straight towards the planet/space station as all the traffic is there. Instead fly 90 degrees away from the witchspace beacon, then engage the jump drive (j) then gradually turn back towards the planet.

Thanks so much for your replies folks.

Much appreciated.

I look forward to contributing to the forum in the future...

Leroy Boyce wrote:

3) Is the image of the sun set in stone? I'd like to make it something a bit different to a white disc.

It can’t be customized. However, it’s not actually a white disc; each sun has its own colour (which affects illumination in the system) and its own coronal colours.

Leroy Boyce wrote:

4) What are the nebulae files? I wish to replace them with some genuine files of nebulae. I want to get the space images as close to "Homeworld" as possible.

Not possible. The current version uses a single greyscale texture, which is repeated in clusters and in different colours. Future versions will use a few different textures, but they’ll still be coloured and clustered. More information on how nebulae are generated can be found [url=https://bb.oolite.space/viewtopic.php?t=3522]here/[url].

(Also, genuine pictures of nebulae wouldn’t actually look realistic. Nebulae aren’t all that bright, and most of the pictures are false-colour.)

Leroy Boyce wrote:

5) Anyone made any progress on these 'ringed' Saturn-like planets I've been reading about?

No-one’s working on them. There was a recent thread about ringed planets in Infinity, an entirely different game with much more ambitious graphics and world generation. Fitting something like that into the squished little solar systems of Oolite wouldn’t really work.

Leroy Boyce wrote:

6) Also on the ST, the military laser lasted a lot longer before it over-heated. Is this adjustable?

No.

Leroy Boyce wrote:

7) Is the planet surface random, or is a an image projected around a globe?

It’s pseudo-randomly generated, and not an image at all in normal use. In some test versions (but not the current one) you can enable an experimental textured mode, which uses pseudo-randomly generated textures. OXPs can add planets with predefined textures, though.

Hi, Leroy Boyce! First of all welcome to the boards and of course to this great game!

You may want to check out the Oolite Instruction Manual and the Frequently Asked Questions on the EliteWiki. I'm sure these will answer a lot more questions you might have.

Generally you should be aware that Oolite in its core is a re-creation of old Elite, and is programmed very much in the spirit of it. However it is rather BBC Elite than ST Elite that is considered as the original; ST (and Amiga) Elite are sometimes even thought of as a little bit odd versions.

That said, Oolite, while being in the spirit of original Elite, is not a 1-to-1 copy of it, but in some respects expands the original game, most notable being the possibility of expanding the game itself via Oolite eXpansion Packs (OXPs). Another difference to the original game is that Oolite is supposed to take place a couple of years after the adventures of the original Elite-Jameson. For the timeline consult the very informative website of Selezen, who is one of the main contributors on this board.

To improve the visibility of distant ships you can try to increase your display gamma setting. (assuming your setup permits it).

I find that about 2.2 brings about a vast improvement. Your mileage may vary.

LittleBear wrote:

Welcome to the game! On 2. You can buy a scanner enhancment that puts a target box round a ship, once you've missile locked or ID computer locked it. This also tells you the ship's legal status.

That sounds perfect! What is it called? (Perhaps I should look in the wiki...)

Leroy Boyce wrote:

That sounds perfect! What is it called? (Perhaps I should look in the wiki...)

The proper title is the Scanner Targeting Enhancement and it is a fabulous addition to get since even if your wily target is off-screen, there's a handy-dandy arrow around your targeting reticule that helpfully points out your victim....

Captain Hesperus

Mananged to buy one from Zaonce (so-and-so wouldn't budge on the price).

What a gem!

The pirate in my universe are now shaking in their boots...

i'd watch out for a particular puss-in-boots, however. he carries big rifles and a satchel full of trumbles.... ;D

Leroy Boyce wrote:

Mananged to buy one from Zaonce (so-and-so wouldn't budge on the price).

What a gem!

All these new gizmos along with the missions and eye candy/flavour OXP's in Oolite are what makes it so great and incline me towards saying "stuff Elite 4 who needs it!"

TGHC wrote:

...incline me towards saying "stuff Elite 4 who needs it!"

...I think there's been a few of us saying that for a while!!

I bow in reverence to my elder