Oolite Bulletins

Hello all. My first post.

I am (was) ELITE on (in order)

Elite (Spectrum 48K)
Elite PC-DOS
Elite Frontier (Still can't believe it came on one 1.44MB disk!)

Found OOlite by chance, great, great effort. Really.

Question one - the flight model seems really weird compared to Elite - it takes AGES to fly to planets, not least due to far more frequent jump-drive drop-outs due to powered ships around. The speed of flight seems at least half that of the original versions - this has the perverse effect of making the 'box' flown in seem smaller.

Second, the NCPs seem capable of ridiculously tight turns - this takes the non-Newtonian model too far, IMO. I get fed up of trying to hit silly, over-wobbly paths followed by enemy ships. X-Wing and it's successors hit the spot for enjoyably 'realistic' space flight models. Again, all IMO.

Third, it is hard! Come on, throwing 5-ship beam-laser equipped pirate groups against a pulse laser equipped 'Harmless' Cobra MkIII! Please!

AlexIWantThatB wrote:

Hello all. My first post.

I am (was) ELITE on (in order)

Elite (Spectrum 48K)
Elite PC-DOS
Elite Frontier (Still can't believe it came on one 1.44MB disk!)

Found OOlite by chance, great, great effort. Really.

Question one - the flight model seems really weird compared to Elite - it takes AGES to fly to planets, not least due to far more frequent jump-drive drop-outs due to powered ships around. The speed of flight seems at least half that of the original versions - this has the perverse effect of making the 'box' flown in seem smaller.

Second, the NCPs seem capable of ridiculously tight turns - this takes the non-Newtonian model too far, IMO. I get fed up of trying to hit silly, over-wobbly paths followed by enemy ships. X-Wing and it's successors hit the spot for enjoyably 'realistic' space flight models. Again, all IMO.

Third, it is hard! Come on, throwing 5-ship beam-laser equipped pirate groups against a pulse laser equipped 'Harmless' Cobra MkIII! Please!

Hi, Alex, welcome to the forum! I can't say I've noticed that flying to planets takes much longer than it did on the Speccie ... there is the wrinkle in Oolite that you meet ships flying in to the planet, whereas in Elite on the Spectrum, pretty much everyone you met was (weirdly) flying away, so you passed them faster. Some OXPs add a bit more traffic, too – things like Tugs and Transports. If you've got those installed, and are finding the traffic too much to handle, maybe take them out. And save up for a witchdrive fuel injector: it's the best thing for shooting past any masslock bottlenecks, and really speeds up the trip (as long as you're careful with fuel – it's a good idea to sacrifice a missile pylon and get an external fuel tank, too).

Not sure about the NPC turning circles, either – of course this may depend again on what ship OXPs you have installed. You can adjust their nimbleness yourself with a text editor, though. Personally I find a rapid hand on the throttle, slowing down hard to keep the turns tight, works just fine.

As for it being hard: the game isn't player-centred. It doesn't adjust to you, or look out for you – which IMO is one of its greatest charms. When you're a Jameson you have to stick to the safe systems. Corporate States and Democracies, maybe Confederacies too, if you keep your fingers crossed. Learn to run away – the fuel injector is a big help there – and take yourself off the main space lanes. That'll avoid the traffic, too. The basic Cobra III is woefully underpowered to begin with. You can either do milk runs and save up, or trade it in for something smaller and use the change to kit yourself up a bit.

(Edited reply to point 3: I misread your original post there ... not long back from the pub, sorry!)

And if you've 5-beam equipped Pirates slicing you up, then I'd suggest you find the oxp 9since this isn't a native ship) and take it out until you're better equipped.

And of course there's always the trick of Torus driving out of the space lane as you jump in to a system at 90 deg to the normal line you'd take for say 10s, then pulling parallel with the space lane (ie the planet on the scanner compass is still green but right at the bottom of the compass) while still using the torus drive (J) and then pulling back down near the end of the flight will generally (unless you have things like Deep Space Pirates installed) give you a completely non-incident and short run into the system (sub 30s is possible)

Oh and of course "Welcome to the Friendliest Board this side of Riedquat(tm)"

no, he said five-ship groups.
pretty sure threes and fives were about usual on the BBC and Amiga too, if you went into Anarchies etc, if you keep to the safe and sensible routes until you're a bit specced up you should be ok ~ usually i just come across the odd loner looking for a barney.

Killer Wolf wrote:

no, he said five-ship groups.
pretty sure threes and fives were about usual on the BBC and Amiga too, if you went into Anarchies etc, if you keep to the safe and sensible routes until you're a bit specced up you should be ok ~ usually i just come across the odd loner looking for a barney.

So he did! Anyway, what you said - stick to the milk runs - until you're better equipped to either run away or fight.

I agree with DH, avoid the main space lane from the witchpoint beacon to the planet, and you'll meet far less hostile trouble. I still do it occasionally now, usually when I'm in a hurry to get somewhere else.
Save up for a beam laser, and remember, 90% of those ultra fast, super manoeuvrable ships are the little delicate ones, and if you can get right on their tail, they are easy to kill.

DaddyHoggy wrote:

Killer Wolf wrote:

no, he said five-ship groups.
pretty sure threes and fives were about usual on the BBC and Amiga too, if you went into Anarchies etc, if you keep to the safe and sensible routes until you're a bit specced up you should be ok ~ usually i just come across the odd loner looking for a barney.

So he did!

That's how I read it too, when I'd come back from the pub – I thought "Holy crap, there are bad guys out there with five lasers?!"

"I thought "Holy crap, there are bad guys out there with five lasers?!""

there are if you install "Renegades", and there's 3-gunners out there if you install my Dominatrix OXP

yeah, 5 laser ships that seems a little (I don't know) enthusiastic. Mind you I can talk. I have a habit for "bristling".

The rattle cutter has 4 forward lasers, which is more than enough.

Cmdr James wrote:

The rattle cutter has 4 forward lasers, which is more than enough.

I only ever see ships like the Rattler as a distant blob in my rear view ... as soon as those multiple lasers start stabbing at me out of the dark, I'm up and over and gone (and flipping my brain the other way up so I can use my rear gun more effectively). Long-range sniping out the stern: your path to prolonged existence!

Cmdr James wrote:

The rattle cutter has 4 forward lasers, which is more than enough.

I got jumped by a pair of Rattlers once.. my very first encounter with them, too.. it was one of the scariest moments of my (all-too-brief) existence..

Four lasers apiece.. no wonder I didn't live long! <shudders>

I thought the Hydra had 5 lasers? Pretty sure it has more than the rattlecutter, but has the disadvantage that the lasers can be destroyed.

Either hurts if you're not prepared for them.

Sendraks wrote:

I thought the Hydra had 5 lasers? Pretty sure it has more than the rattlecutter, but has the disadvantage that the lasers can be destroyed.

There are two types of Hydras, IIRC, with different numbers of lasers.

Oh, and the lasers of all ships from Military.oxp can be destroyed, including the Rattlecutter. It's just that the subentities which make the lasers on a Rattlecutter are a lot smaller than in case of a Hydra, and therefore harder to hit.

Hehe, this talk of the the Rattle Cutter, I remember Murgh telling me he created that ship to be a pain in the backside...