Oolite Bulletins

As I type this I am trying to dock with a piece of debris. The haunting cadence of the docking computer echoes in my head and the Debris floats, ever retreating, away.

It has just passed the 10 kilometre mark on my scanner.

Recently it became necessary to use an escape pod, which docked at this Debris. It seems like a nice place. I want to go there again to meet this furry humanoid - and I must stress the syllable "-oid" which is far more descriptive than any other syllable in the word. Must she, and her debris, adrift now at the 20 kilometre mark, remain forever a dream?

The docking computer is still active.

Well I soon got sick of waiting. At about 24 Km I decided that Debris was NOT aligning itself by drifting in space, turned off the DC and re-approached the spinning, pitted alloy sanctuary. I decided to scoop it.

beep beep beep "thank you for your patience an approach is being prepared for you" it announced.

But I'd heard this drivel before and wisely ignored it.

Quivering all over (excitement) I could hardly manipulate the controls. It was as though some mysterious force pressed buttons at random!

*C*R*A*S*H* ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! !
That is what I expected to hear.

W-H-O-O-S-H
That is what I actually heard! I had docked with the thing after all!!

I was able to buy a new escape pod here, and some other stuff, but I must wonder whether the significance of dockable Debris is in any way significant?

Significantly, after a short time in the dimly lit speakeasy (this Debris was under prohibition during my visits) everyone was auto launched or something; all there was then were Pythons and a looming SeymourClassCargoSled. Had the wretch scooped our tryst? ejecting us like the fools we were? with no regard for our compromised mating traditions? laughing "ha! ha!" and pawing through our pristine contraband?

Or was I hallucinating my way through a reality where docking with space flotsam is impossible?

..just curious.

Sounds like perhaps Oolite has spawned something dockable and cocked up and spawned it as Debris by mistake - however I prefer your own explanation!

TABLE 1

entities rescuing pods expressed as a percentage

entity ------------ % of all rescues
STATION -------- 29
CASINO --------- 41
BEHEMOTH ------ 4
R.HERMIT -------- 9
FTZ -------------- 11
DEBRIS ---------- 5
OTHER ----------- 1

I think this is a bug from one of the older versions of asteroid storm. Some of the debris the station throws out if destroyed have the role station_debris. However Oolite automaticaly treats any object with the word station in its name as a dockable object, so you can get the dockable wreakage. Thought it was fixed in the last release though.

LittleBear wrote:

I think this is a bug from one of the older versions of asteroid storm. Some of the debris the station throws out if destroyed have the role station_debris. However Oolite automaticaly treats any object with the word station in its name as a dockable object, so you can get the dockable wreakage. Thought it was fixed in the last release though.

The bug is not just in some older version but only was added after version 3.42 and only fixed in the very last version 3.52.

This very special handling of the word "station" in the role-list causes mainly problems. I wonder if any old oxp would break if this exception was removed

I don't at all mind dockable debris - but when pod is rescued by Debris, I notice that it is the type with a crater feature (after launching from it).
I thought that Crater might be a docking port, and Debris the equipment store of something, surviving whatever happened to it sort of intact.

I do have Asteroid Storm in AddOns folder, but have never seen an exploding station anywhere.

From what you wrote, LB, it is possible that this category of debris may appear anywhere? (and not just when I escape pod outa there!)

Zbond-Zbond wrote:

From what you wrote, LB, it is possible that this category of debris may appear anywhere? (and not just when I escape pod outa there!)

It depends. With version 3,45 it replaced 1% of both types of alloys and also splinters. From 3.46 onwards it only replaced the type you describe. But now 5% of all alloy that is ejected, not just from the special stations but with all exploding ships. So ending up in such debris after using the pod is quite likely in every system.

Eric Walch wrote:

I wonder if any old oxp would break if this exception was removed

Probably not, as I hope that stations are usually also given an appropriate role and probably scanClass. But you never know, unless someone goes and scrutinizes all old OXPs containing stations. Can't be that much, I think. (But I'm still not the one doing it.)