Oolite Bulletins

Am I imagining it… when you eject, should you get a brief view of your ship sailing away, before the docking sequence kicks-in? I’ve just ejected several times, and it goes straight to the station docking sequence… no last view of my ship.

1.74.2 on Win XP

Can someone please tell me if this is the case… or not.

Just made me realize: I've never used it in Oolite. Didn't the escape capsule in Elite actually travel to the station and was in danger of being shot as well? Does memory serve me right or is this just what my imagination made of it?

There’s me, trying to remember something from only a few weeks ago…
... now you’ve got me trying to remember something from twenty-five years ago.

<walks around the room, mumbling and rubbing his forehead>

I'm not sure whether I have ever used an escape capsule in Elite, but I'd rather think you would not have made an excrutiatingly long journey before docking.

However, I know for sure that in previous versions of Oolite you used to get a view of your ship flying away from your viewpoint, complete with sparks if it was damaged enough to throw them. That lasted for a couple of seconds before the docking rings kicked in. If this isn't the case anymore in 1.74.2, something must have changed. Perhaps in that case one of the coders could shed some light on the matter?

In Elite I believe you did get to see a view of your ship before then automatically docking at the nearest space station. I don't remember using the escape capsule in prior versions of Oolite and I haven't used it lately either.

The big question is: what happens if your escape capsule gets fuel scooped and you're sold into slavery... does that open up a whole new sub-game?

maik wrote:

Just made me realize: I've never used it in Oolite. Didn't the escape capsule in Elite actually travel to the station and was in danger of being shot as well? Does memory serve me right or is this just what my imagination made of it?

I know for certain that you are not in danger of getting shot and the trip is pretty instantaneous. But I don't remember precisely, if you see a view of the ship.

At last my meager fighting skills and propensity to run are good for something other than simple self preservation.

Chrisfs wrote:

maik wrote:

Just made me realize: I've never used it in Oolite. Didn't the escape capsule in Elite actually travel to the station and was in danger of being shot as well? Does memory serve me right or is this just what my imagination made of it?

I know for certain that you are not in danger of getting shot and the trip is pretty instantaneous. But I don't remember precisely, if you see a view of the ship.

Ok then... seemed more exciting in my head

YEAH, IT'S ALWAYS BEEN LIKE THAT, fkn caps, soz.
the BBC version used to show the Cobra as though you were curving back and up, Oolite kinda fires you straight backwards. the view you get of your ship depends on the eject position in Shipdata.

Good… now I know that my memory of watching from the escape capsule, as my previous ship, Clear Air Turbulence, dropped into the sun, is not a false memory... could someone please confirm that Oolite 1.74.2 no longer does this.

For me, this behaviour of the pod is a bug. It is most likely a side effect of changes made in the code so that the time counting after a weapon has been fired resets when changing views.

Try this: Just before podding out, fire the lasers once. You will see that now you can see the sequence correctly. But if you fire lasers, count to 15, then pod out, the sequence is skipped. This is because the time allocated for the sequence is 10 seconds and this time counts from last time the main weapon was fired,

I don't think this is what it should be. The sequence must always be visible. I have an idea how to fix it, but I don't know if I can find the time to do it soon.

another_commander wrote:

Try this: Just before podding out, fire the lasers once. You will see that now you can see the sequence correctly. But if you fire lasers, count to 15, then pod out, the sequence is skipped. This is because the time allocated for the sequence is 10 seconds and this time counts from last time the main weapon was fired,

Thanks a_c... that works exactly as you predicted.
Next time I eject, I'll remember to fire first, eject second.

I found time. Fixed in r3748/3749.

Thanks a_c… you guys amaze me, you really do!

Chrisfs wrote:

maik wrote:

Just made me realize: I've never used it in Oolite. Didn't the escape capsule in Elite actually travel to the station and was in danger of being shot as well? Does memory serve me right or is this just what my imagination made of it?

I know for certain that you are not in danger of getting shot and the trip is pretty instantaneous. But I don't remember precisely, if you see a view of the ship.

At last my meager fighting skills and propensity to run are good for something other than simple self preservation.

You definitely saw your ship in the ZX Spectrum version. A nice vista of your Cobra floating away before you got 'teleported' to the station (presumably the sleep mode kicking in) and saw the docking tunnels.

Cheers,

Drew.