Oolite Bulletins

Does anyone actually use this?

the main problem -- if it is a problem (which it probably isn't) -- is that games saved in strict mode won't open in in normal mode (whatever "normal" is) .. .. hang on I'll just try that the other way around

Strict mode and non strict mode games are different ooniverses, I dont see much sense in opening one in the other.

I have played strict mode, and have thought of going back to it a few times, but currently I play non-strict.

I forwarded the question to the twitterverse. Answers so far:

• Yes.
• I have no idea what Strict mode does.

I never bothered with strict mode.
I enjoy the fun, challenges, atmosphere, and yes, loads of eyecandy that oxps provide. By the way the vote is cast so far, I'm not alone.

I use an emulator and play the originals for "strict mode".

Cmdr Wyvern wrote:

I never bothered with strict mode.
I enjoy the fun, challenges, atmosphere, and yes, loads of eyecandy that oxps provide. By the way the vote is cast so far, I'm not alone.

Yes I'm the same.

Thought it would be interesting to see how the poll goes.

James (trukkle) on Twitter wrote:

@Oolite To be honest, I have no idea what Strict mode does, only that it's name implies no mods work. Wiki & FAQ search was no help either.

TBH neither do I, having never bothered to even select it!

Cmdr Wyvern wrote:

I never bothered with strict mode.
I enjoy the fun, challenges, atmosphere, and yes, loads of eyecandy that oxps provide. By the way the vote is cast so far, I'm not alone.

Thirded. (No surprise)

Originally I thought that "Strict Mode" was one where if you died, you died – you couldn't restore your pilot from saved in the event of death. There's a setting like that in the Escape Velocity games. I still wouldn't have used it, though!

Disembodied wrote:

Originally I thought that "Strict Mode" was one where if you died, you died – you couldn't restore your pilot from saved in the event of death. There's a setting like that in the Escape Velocity games. I still wouldn't have used it, though!

At first that's what I thought too.

Strict mode just disables the loading of your AddOns directory, and of course, the oxps in it.

I think it also disables the native Oolite extras that weren't in Elite, such as shield booster, shield enhancer, hardhead missiles, injectors, and Q-bomb.

Cmdr Wyvern wrote:

Strict mode just disables the loading of your AddOns directory, and of course, the oxps in it.

I think it also…

So by “just”, you mean “not just”? :-)

The full set of Strict Mode differences, as far as I can make out:

• OXPs are not loaded.
• You can’t buy ships.
• The passenger contract system is disabled.
• Extra info on the short range chart (i key) is disabled.
• The Manifest screen (F5-F5 screen) is disabled.
• Ship wear and tear and equipment damage are disabled.
• Yaw control is disabled.
• Player cannot lower speed under under 10 m/s (or, presumably, the energy bomb will explode).
• Cargo, buoys and rocks pay out full bounty and count as kills.
• You never get equipment sold at a lower tech level than usual.
• Processing of NPC escape pods when docking is skipped. I don’t know offhand whether this means they don’t exist, or they always count as slaves.
• The following equipment is not available: passenger berth and passenger berth removal (no passenger contracts), missile removal, hardened missile, witchspace fuel injectors, scanner targeting enhancement, multi-targeting system, advanced space compass, advanced navigational array, target system memory expansion, quirium cascade mine, shield boosters, military shield enhancement, external heat shielding, wormhole scanner, maintenance overhaul (no wear and tear), military anti-scanner countermeasures, military scanner filtering, shield enhancers.
• Hyperspace motor spin time, fuel scoop charge rate can’t be modified (a technicality, since there are no OXPs).
• The docking clearance system is always disabled (again, not noticeable without OXPs).

@Ahruman,
Thanx for clearing that up.

Ahruman wrote:

Player cannot lower speed under under 10 m/s (or, presumably, the energy bomb will explode).

Really?
I can see where the E-bomb spontaneously going off can be a royal PITA when docking. It's often required to cut speed to zero in manual docking maneuvers, and the DC does that often. To have your E-bomb auto-nuke all the ships lined up to park, well that makes you target practice for a swarm of angry Vipers. Oy! I think I'd prefer to keep the police happily downing donuts.

Just used the "strict play" mode for the past two weeks without actually knowing what it means. It was very frustrating reading about ships and equipments on this here forum and not being able to see them. It thought it was a bug.

Maybe someone should put Ahruman's list on the wiki, and under "strict play", not "strict mode". I searched the wiki and the forum using "strict play" and found zip.

Strange, I first played Elite 20 years ago on an intel PC (I think a brand new 286), and it had hardened missles.