Oolite Bulletins

Hey,

Firstly, I am in disbelief as to how awesome you guys, guy-esses and guy-oids are. I have such fond memories of playing Elite as a child, but it wasn't till a few months ago that I realized there was such a vibrant online community devoted to its legacy. Then, at a student party, I got into a friendly argument about great computer games and when I mentioned Elite, someone mentioned "an online version". Didn't take long to find Oolite and, well, the bad news is I look like wasting as much of my adulthood hanging round in Leestian dive bars as I wasted of my childhood chasing Thargoids through witchspace. So, in general, thumbs up to everyone involved in Oolite, and the OXPs.

Second, I looked through the forums and have seen more threads about this subject than an Onriraian deadly Esonatoid has fangs, but none that exactly express the pure, unbridled noobishness of my question, so apologies if this sounds familiar.

When I first got Oolite I tried a few OXPs, but quickly decided I wanted to explore the game as close to how I remembered as possible. I removed all of them except, Lave Academy, a couple of shader sets and a HUD. Now, after playing for a while and cycling through all 8 galaxies, completing the native missions, getting to Elite, beefing up my ship, etc., I would like to give the OXPs a try.

However, I don't want to take on too much. Last week I thought I'd start with the various system flavours ("Commies"/"Dictators"/"The Feudal States"/"Anarchies") and they have been great fun so far. I've bested a noble in single combat, docked at an Astromine, been hailed by the Thought Police, and run across a Renegade Station.

My concern is that so many of the OXPs sound interesting that I am worried I will get carried away, install all of them, and suddenly find myself playing a radically different game. So, bearing in mind that some of them I would probably rather just try out than leave as permanent additions, is there a particular "order" people would recommend trying them out in? For example, is it better to first try all the "flavour" OXPs, before loading any "mission" OXPs?

Something I also liked about Elite was that, relative to many games, the AI was relatively hard. Even once I became proficient, I could easily find myself entangled in dogfights with superior enemies, overheating lasers, and not enough energy to run an ECM. Many of the OXPs seem to give players (or give players the opportunity to get) nice ships and heavy gear. So are there any important OXPs to make sure everything remains level and AI ships still have plenty of chance to make me regret not using the save points?

Also, completely unrelatedly, how do (a) Oolite and (b) OXP authors view attempts at fanfiction incorporating their plot elements?

Many thanks in advance for any help :)
Sam

briefly, i'd say start w/ eye candy ~ check out the OXPs that have ships only, esp anything by Griff. there's a bunch of other stuff like the Black Monks that add eye candy but don't affect the game if you don't interact w/ them. most of the OXP ships are sensibley statted so they shouldn't pose too much of a threat as a beginner : notable exceptions are the Renegades, so read up before you decide to install something!

once you've got a bit more established w/ money and kills, you can try the missions, as by that time you'll probably be looking for a bit more excitement than standard trading runs.

It really depends on what you like. To me, Oolite with just the standard missions would be too boring but seeing that you already made it to Elite status without mission OXPs you seem to be different

Anyhow, most missions take place in a certain galaxy and are balanced such that when you first get into that galaxy you should still find them challenging. There are a few exceptions that actually assume that you already went through all eight galaxies and amassed a fair number of kills (Cataclysm and To Catch A Thargoid come to mind). Also, some give you galaxy-independent missions such as Random Hits.

So you could start with those and afterwards start a fresh game of Oolite taking in all the missions as they fit into where you are. This is actually how I am playing--I install all the mission OXPs for the galaxy that I'm in, finish them, and only afterwards go to the next galaxy. Just as Killer Wolf suggests, I also added most eye candy and some additional sounds, plus the flavor OXPs that you already have.

Hope that helps,
-Maik

PS: And welcome to the friendliest board this side of Riedquat. There. Done it. First time

Hi, FeelGone, and first of all welcome to the boards, and of course to this great game!

You are right, the question which OXPs to install is indeed a very frequently asked one on these boards. And it is also correct that—at the end of the day—all will depend on one's personal taste.

However, I very much like your approach of being cautious how OXPs change the game. Because they do, and it is entirely possible (and even likely) that you may get carried away and find yourself playing a radically different game. Personally I always have abstained from giving recommendations, because I am concerned about altering the game as well, and I simply haven't found the time yet to make a list of recommendations based on how an OXP (in my opinion, of course this will always be subjective) alters the fundamentals of Elite. But I am seriously planning to do so.

In the meantime, I don't think it is really a question of "order". It is more a question of what aspects of the game you want to change, and how. And in order to decide about that, indeed a list of OXP under the perspective of "which OXP changes which aspect(s) of Elite" would be highly useful. The closest I would be able to directly answer your question would probably be: start with the OXPs which make the smallest changes in the aspects of the game for which you are afraid of changing too much. And be generous where you like change (or variation), for instance in adding more ship types, or where the original Elite wasn't convincing to you.

Thank you all for the welcome and comments. I have begun my journey into the world of OXPs with your advice in hand.

The original Elite excelled in suggesting at stuff that was going on, which actually wasn't. Such as insect worlds having high demands for luxuryitems etc, player behaviour made this real, but the game did not actually generate higher prices for lux IIRC. I like OXPs that try to help make these atmosphere elements real, most are in the features section of the OXPwiki. The flying dutchman is a very recent addition I'll add as soon as I install the latest version. As well as the shadered classics by Griff.

I'm trying to update my own flavour oxps to the new Griff-standard, but sadly not as talented at this newfangled hi-grade model/texture-ing as G.

Hello,

Rather a gravedig, but I hope that's ok.

I haven't been trying out OXPs for a whole year, as I had to take a break from any sort of computer stuff to deal with some RL Thargoids (or the metaphorical equivalent thereof, anyway), but it has been a while and I have moved from not wanting to risk loading a single OXP, to having a huge jumble in my AddOns folder, and twice as many in my reserve folder ready to be called into action when needed.

From that perspective, I've now downgraded my initial concern about changing the balance of the game, in that I've started to include OXPs that make it harder (such as, in no particular order, Deep Space Pirates, Deep Horizons - Pirate Ambushes, Tough Guys, NPC Shields, Switeck's Shipping Mod, and Illegal Goods Tweak). While I don't routinely run Tough Guys at Armageddon level, I have come to enjoy the Ooniverse with a little more spice now that a couple of Kraits and an FdL no longer hold quite the same terror. Equally some OXPs are very cool, but I no longer include as I felt they shifted the balance too much in my favour e.g. Your Ad Here!, Fuel Station.

I have enjoyed some of the mission OXPs but I have particularly the mission-like flavours e.g. Galactic Navy, The Feudal States, that, at the expense of the more detailed plot, give regular challenges.

Some of the other OXPs have also changed the way I tool up a new Jameson (my oldest save remains OXP-less and in general I start a new game whenever applying an OXP that I think will fundamentally change the balance i.e. I wouldn't have got to where I was now under these circumstances). For example: I now view the Advanced Space Compass as one of the most valuable game items. When it simply showed N, W, planet, and sun, I didn't see too much point to it; but now, it contains a whole alphabet of possibilities for trading, exploration, and mission progression. So now, if I load a new Jameson, I try to buy an ASC early on, as it rewards in greater trading possibilities that lead to more rapid accumulation of credits.

Equally, Ore Processor has rather revolutionised mining, which I had always viewed as a slightly pointless endeavour. A mining laser seemed like an indulgence for the price, given minerals are not worth that much at resale; I'll scoop splinters if I have the room but they're generally the first things to be dumped when I see cargo floating, and I won't set out with an empty hold solely in search of an asteroid field; and I'll sometimes add a mining laser to a well kitted out ship's port flank, but it'll be among the last items on my purchase list (behind even Docking Computers, which I have actually found a use for, finally, with the abrupt and inconvenient pirouettes of various Big Ships). But the Ore Processor, expensive as it is, pays such dividends that forsaking military/combat-oriented upgrades and being sparing with missiles now seems, so as to acquire mining laser, scoops and the processor itself now seems like a good career path.

In short, some of the OXPs have provided colour to my established way of playing the game, and some have changed the way I play the game; I'm deeply gratified I did pursue testing them out, and am even more gratified to the various authors and contributors of said OXPs.

~ Sam