Oolite Bulletins

I played Elite when it first came out (yes I am 60 years old), and seem to remember being able to lock your lasers onto a target in your forward view and firing at long distances. Is this possible with Oolite or am I just dreaming?

there is a target lock which puts a highlight on a target (upgrades to this allows extra info such as bounty etc or the *target receptacle going red*) but afaik there is no automatic laser tracking device.

the military laser has a range of around 20km mind you so you can take out pirates before they get near you.

*via an oxp

Yes it was, and to an extent it still is, but it's more tricky unless what you're shooting at is visible at that range for you to lock and fire on.
I used to take out groups of 3 pirates on the Beeb version with military lasers at extreme range, before I even knew what ships they were flying. Just centre the crosshairs over that tiny single pixel in the distance, and squeeze that trigger
Now things are in greater graphical resolution, that single glowing white pixel is a tiny ship, which may well be invisible at the ranges we used to fry them at. But with a military laser, you can still hit at that range.

To expand on the advice given by the previous members:
The pulse laser only has a range of 5000km, the beam laser 15000km, whilst the military laser can hit anything within scanner range (provided you can see it). This range can be seen by equiping the aforementioned scanner targeting enhancement.

PS. Welcome to the board

Hi, Captain G, and welcome to the friendliest boards this side of Riedquat! Although – and this has always bothered me – that depends on which side of Riedquat you're standing on ...

Anyway. If you want further targeting functionality you could try the Milspec Hud – it's probably the latest word in combat gizmos!

I played Elite on the C=64 way back then. I remember lasers being hard-mounted, but noted a curious thing happening - if the hostiles were just out of visual range, ie mere single pixel dots in your sights, then holding the trigger let the military laser wipe out the entire pack. Seems the military laser was a nastier weapon in C=64 Elite than it is in Oolite, go figure. But I don't think it had any tracking ability beyond the ability to slaughter pirates at extreme range.

Now in Oolite, the laser for us GalCop citizens is still a hard-mounted weapon, but takes a steadier hand and dead-eye aiming to get long range hits. And forget about magic mass exterminations beyond pressing the E-bomb trigger. Oolite's Thargoids have a tracking laser, but that tech isn't available to us. The best we have for tracking guns are flak turrets.

BTW, welcome to the friendliest board this side o' Reidquat! Would you like to purchase a fuzzy little copilot? Only 30cr!

(Our usual fuzzy copilot dealer is lost in space again, and well, someone has to mind the store.)

bigmike20vt wrote:

the military laser has a range of around 20km mind you so you can take out pirates before they get near you.

That would be 30km.
Which is arguably the best reason to invest in a military laser.

For comparison's sake, the other weaponry have ranges of 5km (Plasma Cannon), 12.5km (Pulse/Mining Laser), 15km (Beam Laser) and 17.5km (Thargoid Laser - NPC only).

i stand corrected!.

mind you, i struggle enough shooting @20km

And for enough credits, certain people round here can tell you where on Riedquat will sell you the paperwork to prove that your trumble really IS a registered co-pilot!

Sorry I was inaccurate with the pulse laser range its been a while since I used one. I concur with Disembodied about the Milspec Hud by the way, it really is unmatched for long ranged sniping.

Oh yes, before you ask:

Yes, the mil' laser heats up like crazy.
No, you cannot have a laser cooler.

Learn to fire in quick bursts, invest in hardened missiles, and mount at least a second laser on the rear.

Kudos for the MilHUD plugs, friends. I'm pleased that it's of use to you.

Cmdr Wyvern wrote:

(Our usual fuzzy copilot dealer is lost in space again, and well, someone has to mind the store.)

Yes I'm slightly concerned that one of his bad deals may have caught up with him. Which would be a pity because despite his many faults, he has a lovable roguish quality and a backbone of steel (admittedly underneath a broad yellow streak). Ah, things are not the same without feline "Del boy"

ClymAngus wrote:

Yes I'm slightly concerned that one of his bad deals may have caught up with him. Which would be a pity because despite his many faults, he has a lovable roguish quality and a backbone of steel (admittedly underneath a broad yellow streak). Ah, things are not the same without feline "Del boy"

Aye, he does attract the rage of many a vigilante and cavalier, doesn't he? Not to mention uniformed police, disease control officials, environmental protection officers, antiterrorist squads, ad infinitum. Our felinid friend doesn't get much of a break these days.

Cmdr Wyvern wrote:

I played Elite on the C=64 way back then. I remember lasers being hard-mounted, but noted a curious thing happening - if the hostiles were just out of visual range, ie mere single pixel dots in your sights, then holding the trigger let the military laser wipe out the entire pack. Seems the military laser was a nastier weapon in C=64 Elite than it is in Oolite, go figure. But I don't think it had any tracking ability beyond the ability to slaughter pirates at extreme range.

IIRC it was a tad different. If other ships were farther away than a certain treshold (perhaps 20 km?, not sure) they were no more drawn as a wireframe model, but as a solid pixel, and I would even say as 2x2 or even 3x3 solid pixels. Which made them actually bigger and therefore easier to hit than the one-pixel wireframe just below that treshold. And for this reason it was best to do long distance shots. I think that didn't work for Thargoids, because they were much bigger than the other ships, and therefore stayed wireframes regardless of their distance.

Commander McLane wrote:

IIRC it was a tad different. If other ships were farther away than a certain treshold (perhaps 20 km?, not sure) they were no more drawn as a wireframe model, but as a solid pixel, and I would even say as 2x2 or even 3x3 solid pixels. Which made them actually bigger and therefore easier to hit than the one-pixel wireframe just below that treshold. And for this reason it was best to do long distance shots. I think that didn't work for Thargoids, because they were much bigger than the other ships, and therefore stayed wireframes regardless of their distance.

I remember getting some sniper kills on the Bugs, ala the Plans mission. But yeah, it's an oddity that sniper shots were more effective on packs of pirate fighters than Thargoid warships, despite the Thargs fielding bigger ships.