Oolite Bulletins

20 years since the C64 wars where i became Elite. Eventually my ship was destroyed and i escaped in my pod. Things were not the same after that. I stayed away from space piloting. I frequented a vast amount of alleys, bars and 'fun houses' in the seemy and dangerous underlevels of many technically advanced worlds where there are "horizontal cities" with the rich close to the daylight and fresh air and the dregs survive as best they can in squalor, violence and darkness below. Yet the anonimity and adventure suited me. I lived on my insurance pay outs and doing many odd jobs, some illicit, some illegal. 10 years passed.

Then i had a brief stint flying for various outfits (combat, trade and privateering) in the PC/Elite Plus era. This ended quickly after a monetary disagreement with an "associate" concerning a loan for my vessel... The person in question wound up dead. I dropped out of sight.

8 years later still i have pooled my resources, called in old favors, borrowed some money and became an independent again. 2 weeks on brings us to the present, loans are repaid, i have purchased my vessel and the most vital equipment (the military still makes some wonderfully efficient lasers!) have 12000 credits to my name and my rating is steadily climbing.

The Galaxy has Changed! So many different new possibilities, new missions to undertake and new goals to achieve. I see many new pilots, slicers, coders, pirates and traders. But what does not seem new to my eyes is the kinship and fraternity i observe among these groups, mutual aid (and B-Weed) will redeem us all, or failing that we will at least have a great time going down in failing shields and roaring flames together!!

It is great to be back.

See you on the space lanes.

Commander V1nce

Greetings Commander V1nce, and welcome to the friendliest board this side of Reidquat!
That's the obligatory (and somewhat well-used) greeting out of the way. Glad to hear you're so enthused by Oolite. I hope you enjoy what the excellent coders and OXPers have thrown into the mix.

Why not check out the FAQ thread for any questions that might pop into your head, or even head on over to the Oolite section of the EliteWiki for all the OXPs and background about this fabulous game. Don't forget to read your Instruction Manual (it's in the glove box just behind the box of tissues and the half-empty bag of boiled sweets).

Now you have everything, why not spend Cr30 on a cute and fluffy companion to accompany you through the oft-dangerous, otherwise silent depths of space. It's sweet chirrups can calm the nerves and stave off the effects of Space Madness <proot> <proot>. Can I interest you?

Captain Hesperus

Captain Hesperus wrote:

Greetings Commander V1nce, and welcome to the friendliest board this side of Reidquat!
That's the obligatory (and somewhat well-used) greeting out of the way.

WHAT?!?! <metallic grating sound of a katana being drawn>
Not only the psycho cat steals my catchphrase, he goes and belittles it?!...

What about making it our official greeting?

Cmdr. Maegil wrote:

<metallic grating sound of a katana being drawn>

You'd better watch that grating sound, it'll dull the edge. And you never know when you might need that pigspam-sticker again....

By the way, I meant no offence regarding your 'other' catchphrase (your most famous being: "Haaaaiiiiii!!!! Banzai! Die, Spammer!" <sliiiitch, squelch, slurge!>), I merely meant that it was getting to be pretty much the standard greeting for No0bz Jamesons new board members. Please accpet my apologies.

Captain Hesperus

Much to my surprise, there actually isn't page on Reidquat in the Wiki..

ovvldc wrote:

Much to my surprise, there actually isn't page on Reidquat in the Wiki..

So write one. Or maybe Maegil, being a regular resident-transient, could do a 'Visitor's Guide to Reidquat', listing the best and worst bars, clubs, whorehouses 'Spacer's Shore Leave Establishments' and suppliers of the finest illicit, recreational substances.

Captain Hesperus

Captain Hesperus wrote:

ovvldc wrote:

Much to my surprise, there actually isn't page on Reidquat in the Wiki..

So write one. Or maybe Maegil, being a regular resident-transient, could do a 'Visitor's Guide to Reidquat', listing the best and worst bars, clubs, whorehouses 'Spacer's Shore Leave Establishments' and suppliers of the finest illicit, recreational substances.

Captain Hesperus

Ahem! I'm pretty sure one of the reasons for this is that the world in question is called Riedquat, not Reidquat!

<turns on instructor's voice>

Stupid students! Say it together and learn it by heart:

Riedquat

Riedquat

Riedquat

Riedquat

Riedquat

Riedquat

Riedquat

Riedquat

Riedquat

</turns off instructor's voice>

*****

Oh, and of course: Hi, v1nce! And welcome to the boards and of course to this great game! (Just to put my catchphase here as well. )

Salutations Commander V1nce!

Good to see another "old timer" making it back to the fold.

Yeah, things have hanged out there haven't they. It's a lot more dangerous for a start. What with the Galactic Navy and the Thargoids kicking seven bells out of eachother, new fangled ships and as for the pirates these days......Well they still provide a good income for a Commander with steady nerves and a shrap shot.

Still, best to watch you back out there, know what I'm sayin'.

Thank you for all the kind greetings. The brotherhood of Pilots, Captains and Commanders does not disappoint.

Many changes indeed, and though i remember much from days gone by i will likely have many questions. Perhaps you might humor me and provide some answers if you so please. Here is the first:

What ships do you pilot/own and why? What are the benefits and advantages (over others) of that ship?

I personally fly a Python trader called....well check out the link.

Captain Hesperus

I fly a Wolf Mark II SE called the Radio Maru. It's fast, it's mean, and with a 20-ton cargo hold I can drop in empty on an Anarchy and fill her up with recovered stolen goods on my way in to the station. And, frankly, it's a chick magnet.

There are ships out there which are considerably more über, but with the OXP mix I play with (ones which are derived from, or are in my opinion at least compatible with, the original Elite), I think the Wolf II is the sweetest of them all. And the Special Edition has got that little extra icing of perfection.

It's not cheap, and I've worked my way through a few others to get there: the old Potage Électrique, my original Cobra III; a relatively brief but nonetheless exciting stint in an Iguana, the Likely Story; and a spell in a Python Class Cruiser called the Prodigal Daughter ('cos no-one was ever as pleased to see her as I thought they should be...).

The Cobra III's a good ship, of course, but you'll know that. The Iggie is fast, and pretty agile, and a good combat vessel all round, but kinda cramped and, I dunno, the colour scheme just wasn't me. And the PCC is chunky and powerful and a guy can make a lot of money hauling big cargos, but it's a big fat target too and the damn ramscoop can make docking a bitch until you get the hang of it (sideways, sideways!).

I fly a Wolf MkII SE too, heehee!

I think it's a ship very strong but just not Uber, so it doesn't feel like cheating.

Boa cruiser for me. Lots of cargo capacity and similar speed/agility to the cobra III.

I generally don't install any ship OXPs (unless I have to to get an OXP running) as some of them are a bit uber.

As you get further on in the game there's enough kit to make any ship pretty much invincible so I just wanted lots of cargo space. Goodness knows what I'm going to do with the huge pile of cash it's earning me though!

An Imperial Courier. When I first saw this ship, I instantly fell in love with it! Yes, it is a bit uber (although the v2 is fairly downtuned), but this just makes sure that it can hold its own against, frankly, anybody. Which is quite essential for an..., errrm..., privateer like me. Its quite slim profile makes it hard to hit, and almost every possible adversary will already tremble with fear, if he just sees (or rather feels) it appearing "all leggy and silver and looking like a hungry vulture" (to quote Disembodied).

Commander McLane wrote:

An Imperial Courier. When I first saw this ship, I instantly fell in love with it! Yes, it..."all leggy and silver and looking like a hungry vulture" (to quote Disembodied).

Absolutely! I was entranced the first time I saw one in 'EliteII-Final Frontier' on my Amiga all those years ago. Traded hard to get one, both in Elite and Oolite! Great fun. Lovely ship.