Oolite Bulletins

Mount the banners! Alert the media! Injectors on full! I have finally exhausted my ability to playtest my two new mini OXPs and now need outside hurt, er, help. You might even call them "micro" OXPs, since together they have fewer than 800 lines of source. And only one of them is really "new", but ... enough blather:

• Furball is a tiny OXP that uses a new 1.74 JavaScript call to create a multi-ship battle right outside the station.
• Target Range is a resuscitated version of my 2008 teaser OXP, which creates a gunnery range in rich stable systems.

Both are aimed at the lower end of the experience spectrum, with Target Range intended to be an actual training aid for new Jamesons.

So try them out, and let me know!

Oooh... that was a lovely furball... until the Vipers turned on me!
Nice one Caracal. Back out for a little more of that, now.

El Viejo wrote:

Oooh... that was a lovely furball... until the Vipers turned on me!

Yeah, that's happened to me more than once now. It seems related to whether your target sends a distress call. Even though he's still a Fugitive, the cops decide you need a beating. Adds to the spice.

El Viejo wrote:

Nice one Caracal. Back out for a little more of that, now.

Heh, thanks, glad you like it! I find the default 1-in-20 chance to be just about right for normal cruising around. Keeps me from getting bored on long cargo contract runs.

Just great fun! How high will that number of ships factor go?
I’ve had it on five (thirty-two ships), so far… and the Vipers left me alone, this time.

El Viejo wrote:

Just great fun! How high will that number of ships factor go?

Heh, as high as your system will support, I guess. I've not tried anything higher than 4, myself.

El Viejo wrote:

I’ve had it on five (thirty-two ships), so far… and the Vipers left me alone, this time.

You're a braver man than I! And probably have a beefier system. But yes, there's something rather thrilling about seeing all those ships in space, each zooming around throwing laser beams everywhere. "I watched C-beams glitter in the dark near the Tannhauser gate." -- Roy Batty

Dog Day Station

Dixeza station… it was high summer dirtside, and somehow the general feeling of heatwave irritability had made it’s way into orbit. In the spacer bar, people were tetchy, short-tempered… two spacers squared off over an Argellian love slave and all hell broke loose. Who or why didn’t matter… everyone got stuck in. Suddenly, all involved ran for the ship bays and launched… and it carried on outside in station space. Man, you should have seen them… thirty maybe forty ships, all having at each other, and the GalCop Vipers in the middle, trying to sort it all out. Laser beams criss-crossing everywhere, pilots ejecting, missiles like a swarm of hornets. Enough to bring a warm glow to a combateer’s heart… and a wicked grin to his face.

Furball...

El Viejo wrote:

Dog Day Station ...

I love it! This is exactly what I had in mind for the OXP. Thanks for the smile, El Viejo!

Excellent work. Have added these two to the wiki, Furball here and Target Range here.

JazHaz wrote:

Excellent work. Have added these two to the wiki, Furball here and Target Range here.

Great, thanks very much JazHaz!

Caracal… a thought about Furball. It’s ideal for a newish ‘Jameson’ to get some practice.
How about a more difficult version for us hard-bitten veterans, with a lower proportion of GalCop Vipers?

El Viejo wrote:

Caracal… a thought about Furball. It’s ideal for a newish ‘Jameson’ to get some practice.
How about a more difficult version for us hard-bitten veterans, with a lower proportion of GalCop Vipers?

Y'know, we just discussed that on IRC. One flaw with the current code is that some stations launch their own normal defenders, which are in addition to the ones launched by the OXP itself.

So yeah, maybe making the number of cops a separate configuration item from the number of Fugitives would solve that problem as well as answering your request. I can't really prevent the station from launching defenders, but could make it so the OXP doesn't add any to them, or adds a reduced number.

There are several other things I could do to increase the challenge to the player, possibly controlled by a separate "difficulty factor" or something: Bucking up the launched ships with military shields and lasers, hardhead missiles, extra injector fuel, and making them target the player immediately, all should warm up the action. I could also have a more aggressive AI for selected brawlers.

How's that sound? Would that make it more interesting for you? The OXP could still be delivered in a fairly safe state, but those eager for a party could ramp it up to their heart's content.

Yeah… that sounds real good. It’s ‘interesting’ enough as it is anyway… I’d forgotten it was there this evening.
I’d just fought my way into an anarchy system, made it to station space, badly damaged… and Furball!!!

El Viejo wrote:

Yeah… that sounds real good. It’s ‘interesting’ enough as it is anyway… I’d forgotten it was there this evening.
I’d just fought my way into an anarchy system, made it to station space, badly damaged… and Furball!!!

Heh, yes, rule #1 of Furball: Don't talk about Furball. No, wait, rule #1 is: Furballs always happen when you least want them to.

I think I will install Furball...I love the idea of mayhem near Space Stations. Lately I made my game too much legal.