Oolite Bulletins

DaddyHoggy wrote:

If you want to make Oolite more difficult - then everytime you die - start again at Lave with 100Cr and a new pilot.

digger wrote:

0. Too rich cargo, gold and gems every time . "Damn food again" at Sinclair.You become rich too fast.

digger wrote:

1.You become Offender when you attach clean ship at any place and the police comes to protect the victim (if available and not buzy at the system).Once you shot police , you become Fugitive. Maybe exclusion should be Feudal and Anarchy planets.

digger wrote:

3.Now you become strongest in the world too fast.You almost should be not able to take convoy alone and travel alone to dangerous planets without being killed.So that join convoys to trade or wolfpacks to rob.The wolfpack ,like now,could include fighters and a Piton to collect cargo, revenue is divided. Woflpack tactics could be implemented : patrolling areas and calling the rest when a convoy is detected.

digger wrote:

4.AI of convoys. Now they allow to unknown ship to come to close position at 6 of trader.At least warning should be.

digger wrote:

5. Anti-laser maneuvers, yours and enemy's. Should be adequate to enemy skills and ship type. Now random, a Piton sometimes hits you regardless how do you fly.

Sendraks wrote:

digger wrote:

0. Too rich cargo, gold and gems every time . "Damn food again" at Sinclair.You become rich too fast.

I certainly didn't have this problem. I get far more in the way of food/textiles dropping from cargo than I do gold or silver. Ofc - as there is so much more to buy in Oolite than in the spectrum version of Oolite, having the same financial progression doesn't make sense.

digger wrote:

1.You become Offender when you attach clean ship at any place and the police comes to protect the victim (if available and not buzy at the system).Once you shot police , you become Fugitive. Maybe exclusion should be Feudal and Anarchy planets.

Install the Anarchies OXP, that should resolve most of these concerns. A feudal OXP is in the works, Communist and Dictatorship OXPs already exist.

digger wrote:

3.Now you become strongest in the world too fast.You almost should be not able to take convoy alone and travel alone to dangerous planets without being killed.So that join convoys to trade or wolfpacks to rob.The wolfpack ,like now,could include fighters and a Piton to collect cargo, revenue is divided. Woflpack tactics could be implemented : patrolling areas and calling the rest when a convoy is detected.

Plenty of OXPs out there which toughen up the opposition and will teach you the quality of humility. OSE, as already linked by Lestradae, opens up many many cans of whoop ass.

As for making dangerous planets more dangerous, you could always play the game in strict mode.

digger wrote:

4.AI of convoys. Now they allow to unknown ship to come to close position at 6 of trader.At least warning should be.

Am not sure what you expect the computer AI to do in response to this. Aggressive response wouldn't make sense.

digger wrote:

5. Anti-laser maneuvers, yours and enemy's. Should be adequate to enemy skills and ship type. Now random, a Piton sometimes hits you regardless how do you fly.

Some pirates are better at hitting you than others. Given you say the opposition isn't tough enough, this appears to be something of a contradiction.

I find that my being hit depends on a) how well I'm flying, b) how big the ship I'm flying is, c) how fast it is and d) what sort of pirate vessel is pursuing me. Flying a Wolf MKII, I can evade almost all incoming enemy fire (there is always a random chance to get hit), whereas it is much harder to evade in an Anaconda. The Cobby MkIII is one of the easier ships in the game to hit with laser fire, as it has quite a tall and wide profile. If you trade up to a vessel that has a smaller profile, you'll find you get hit a lot less often.

DaddyHogg wrote:

Yawing, rather than pitching and rolling seems to help limit the amount of fire you're taking (even in a Cobby3)

Sendraks wrote:

digger wrote:

4.AI of convoys. Now they allow to unknown ship to come to close position at 6 of trader.At least warning should be.

Am not sure what you expect the computer AI to do in response to this. Aggressive response wouldn't make sense.

Eric Walch wrote:

When approached with hostile intentions, convoys already react before a shot is fired. Every 10 seconds they do a scan for hostile ships. But although the computer can look into the minds of NPC pilots, Oolite still has no interface with the players brain. Maybe the player just want to say "Hello digger"

Sendraks wrote:

As I have no idea about scripting other than tinkering with plists, I've no idea if it is possible to have a flag on certain trader AI's that sends them hostile in response to player vessel proximity.

pmw57 wrote:

Sendraks wrote:

As I have no idea about scripting other than tinkering with plists, I've no idea if it is possible to have a flag on certain trader AI's that sends them hostile in response to player vessel proximity.

They could send appropriately barbed quotes such as:

"How's my undercarriage doing?"

"Why don't you scrape off the barnacles while you're down there"

"Do you mind moving? I can't see my escort with you in the way"

"I see you still have some spinach left between your teeth"

Sendraks wrote:

Eric Walch wrote:

When approached with hostile intentions, convoys already react before a shot is fired. Every 10 seconds they do a scan for hostile ships. But although the computer can look into the minds of NPC pilots, Oolite still has no interface with the players brain. Maybe the player just want to say "Hello digger"

Yes, I was thinking in terms of players rather than NPCs. I suppose a message from traders saying "hello" would be a nice touch (and already happens sometimes with the UPS OXP installed). I think what Digger is wanting is a chance for some of these convoys to get twitchy and react to craft coming into close proximity.

As I have no idea about scripting other than tinkering with plists, I've no idea if it is possible to have a flag on certain trader AI's that sends them hostile in response to player vessel proximity.

drew wrote:

Sendraks wrote:

Eric Walch wrote:

When approached with hostile intentions, convoys already react before a shot is fired. Every 10 seconds they do a scan for hostile ships. But although the computer can look into the minds of NPC pilots, Oolite still has no interface with the players brain. Maybe the player just want to say "Hello digger"

Yes, I was thinking in terms of players rather than NPCs. I suppose a message from traders saying "hello" would be a nice touch (and already happens sometimes with the UPS OXP installed). I think what Digger is wanting is a chance for some of these convoys to get twitchy and react to craft coming into close proximity.

As I have no idea about scripting other than tinkering with plists, I've no idea if it is possible to have a flag on certain trader AI's that sends them hostile in response to player vessel proximity.

This seems reasonable to me. In the real world a convoy being approached by an unknown vessel would surely go through a sequence as proximity decreased.

1. Say 5 km, 'yellow alert' - readiness to lock on target, message "Please identify and state your intentions"
2. Say 2 km, "red alert, - escorts intercept intruder, prepared to attack, mesage "Disengage or you will be fired upon."
3. Say 1 km, "attack." - escorts will attack

Currently it's possible to waltz up right behind a Boa or Python in a formation, blow its guts out, steal the cargo and make off on injectors before the escorts react effectively. This really isn't realistic. Escorts should be immediately suspicious the moment you start heading in their direction.

In military circles, any escorts that return unharmed having lost their 'charge' are utterly disgraced.

Cheers,

Drew.

Already the unidentified ship was level with them. Rebecca hit the starboard viewer. It was
at extreme range, barely larger than a dot. It was flickering slightly, as if it was changing shape.
“He’s dropping speed and altering course,” Lance observed, double-checking the stats.
“I don’t like this,” Rebecca said quietly, keying the comlink onto tightband, “Red?”
“You called, little sis?” her brother answered.
“We’ve got a pacer, twenty kay off the starboard bow.”
There was a pause. Presumably Red was having a look for himself.
“I see him, though he’s out of range on my scanner. Funny looking ship. What’s the ID?”
“That’s just it. There isn’t one; he’s got no reg. He came howling up ahead of us and slowed
to match our course and speed.”
“Don’t see any need to bother him unless he bothers us; probably one of these hot shot boy
racers again. We’ll activate guns and be ready with a missile lock just in case. Suggest you do the
same.”
“Will do.” Rebecca flipped the switches for the beam laser’s prefire coil and the missile
arming mechs.
“He’s probably from in system and us just checking us over,” Lance agreed, “Or maybe just
sightseeing. This is a corporate system; what’s he going to do? There’s police every hundred kays
from the planet to the jump point.”
“Yeah.” Rebecca still felt worried, a tightness in the pit of her stomach; something didn’t
feel right. Traders always kept themselves to themselves; you didn’t follow other vessels around;
you didn’t do anything to cause alarm: accidents happened that way, people got nervous and started
firing. Traders had to assume the worst, it was the only way to guarantee staying alive.
It couldn’t be a boy racer either, not at 480 metric! That was a pretty heavy midsized ship.
They waited an anxious five minutes before the other vessel slowly started accelerating
away, changing to a course that would take it behind them. She’d been wracking her brains trying to
think of any ships that could manage point-three-seven-five at that tonnage but she’d come up
blank. She could see it a little better now: it looked almost like a catamaran, but nobody, as far as
she knew, had ever gotten a twin hull design of ship to work effectively. Maybe it really was some
new Galcop prototype; they were testing a lot of new ships at the moment, what with the Thargoid
situation. The ship was too far away for any decent visual observation.
The ident computer pinged up again.
Ident remains unconfirmed. Galcop Restricted. No data available.
Rebecca bit her lip, “Looks like a prototype of some kind.”
“And there he goes,” her brother’s voice said reassuringly over the comlink. The strange
ship was quickly accelerating away from them now. The exhaust flux was bright white with an
actinic blue edge, unlike the cyan glow of traditional engines.

Suddenly all hell broke loose. The astrogation scanner lit up red and the sirens went off.
“Prak!” Lance shouted. ”Someone’s got a target lock on us!”
Rebecca looked at the console: it was the other ship, the one that had been pacing them, the
restricted Galcop vessel. It had turned and was accelerating towards them, closing the range
between them rapidly. Attacking from behind.
“Red?” called Rebecca, her voice high with alarm.
“I see him; we’re moving to intercept. Lock missiles, hit full throttle and sit tight. We’ll
handle this.”
“Copy.” Rebecca flipped switches and pushed the throttles forward. With a top speed of
point-two-four the Boa wouldn’t be able to outrun the unknown ship. They were relying on their
escorts. The generators began to whine as they met the increasing energy demands. They were only
carrying four missiles; one pylon was empty. They were also the cheap unhardened type.
“Here’s hoping he doesn’t have an ECM. Good shooting.”
Eclipse lurched slightly as her brother’s Krait, the Cobra Mk1 and the two Sidewinders
roared back past at full throttle. She wished she was at the helm of one of the fighters rather than
stuck on the old barge. They all knew she was the best pilot. She targeted all four missiles.
“And this is supposed to be a totally safe system,” Lance complained.
“No such thing,” growled Rebecca with feeling.
The incoming ship was rapidly growing larger. It was big, dwarfing their fighter escorts. It
was nothing like anything she’d seen before. A mean, tough looking ship. Twin hulls, which
appeared to be mostly engine nacelles, and a sleek modern profile quite unlike the blocky designs of
the last fifty years. It’s central section was very elongated, presenting a very slim frontal aspect. A
ship designed for fighting.
“What the prak is that?”
The four fighters broke off into a standard engagement pattern, shooting out away from each
other to attack from four different angles, combining their firepower into a simultaneous strike.
Rebecca watched as the newcomer turned and began tracking one of the Sidewinders.
Whatever it was it was quick; even faster than the fighters. She’d never seen anything so big
turn so quickly. It must have been souped up somehow, probably high gee bow thrusters or
something. Their escorts’ formation broke up in disarray, completely underestimating the new
ship’s performance.
“Frag! Would you look at that…”