Oolite Bulletins

I was playing the other day and during combat it seemed like the pirates wanted to make sure that either they or my scanner was always in the sun. This was of course just a coincidence but it gave me the idea of having a sun visor which could be switched on or off at command to block out the sun.(As I almost was at one with an asteroid )

What do you think? would it be possible.

The sun behind the scanner can be a real problem in a firefight. You could try installing an opaque hud, like CaptKev’s Fighter Hud.
It’s more of an instrument panel than a hud, but it works very well… I use it myself (the Mk I version).

Coming at an opponent with the sun at your back to make it harder to see you is a trick as old as the Red Baron in WW I. Sadly, I doubt it works as well against the AI as it works if the AI happens to be using it against the player. The AI doesn't get partially blinded by glare.

Ganelon wrote:

The AI doesn't get partially blinded by glare.

Maybe it should!

There's actually code in the game already (from what I've heard rather than testing) that NPC ships take longer to "find" ships hidden in the planet's shadow.

Switeck wrote:

There's actually code in the game already (from what I've heard rather than testing) that NPC ships take longer to "find" ships hidden in the planet's shadow.

Its not the finding a target, but the aiming is more difficult when shooting at a ship in the shade while being themselves in the sunlight. Less shots will be fired in those conditions. When both ships are in the dark, they can adapt their eyes to the dimmed light conditions and npc ships will shoot as often as usually.

Fatleaf wrote:

I was playing the other day and during combat it seemed like the pirates wanted to make sure that either they or my scanner was always in the sun. This was of course just a coincidence but it gave me the idea of having a sun visor which could be switched on or off at command to block out the sun.(As I almost was at one with an asteroid )

What do you think? would it be possible.

Nice idea for some expensive equipment. I'd buy it.

Did we establish (somewhere in the annals of forum history) that what we see on the computer screen is not actually us peering out into the darkness of space with our own meager eyes, but in fact an "on-screen" representation of what the ship "sees"? (A bit like the Star Trek, "On-screen")

To that end one would assume that the ship's computer would be able to perform things like anti-glare measures (as well as magnification, but that's another story already been discussed).

In short, a logical upgrade, although honestly not hugely useful as I can probably count on one (maybe two) hands the number of times I've run into problems with sun glare and bad guys. Although, I suppose any opportunity to gain an upper hand over your opponents and iron-ass your ship out even more is always welcome.

Darkbee wrote:

Did we establish (somewhere in the annals of forum history) that what we see on the computer screen is not actually us peering out into the darkness of space with our own meager eyes, but in fact an "on-screen" representation of what the ship "sees"? (A bit like the Star Trek, "On-screen")

Yes, of course, as evidenced by the fact that you can switch from front to rear or side views (without turning your head ).

It becomes even clearer when external views are considered as well. Obviously they can't even be explained by a simple technical device like a camera, so they must indeed be a visual representation of scanner and/or sensor data.

In which case it becomes less easy to explain the proliferation of gorgeously shaded and highly detailed ship models! Wouldn't it make sense for the screens to continue to just display the approximations?

PS. Sunvisor - at least for the HUD, should be esily possible. Just script it so that if the player is facing the sun, the HUD gets replaced by one with a more or less opaque background.

Micha wrote:

In which case it becomes less easy to explain the proliferation of gorgeously shaded and highly detailed ship models! Wouldn't it make sense for the screens to continue to just display the approximations?

Back to the wireframe ships!

Well, it all boils down to the old sliding-scale-between-realism-and-gameplay thing. And for gameplay people want eye-candy.

Or in other words: the only thing absolutely consequential in Oolite is its inconsequentiality!

I don't think external views need explanation otherwise we'd better explain them for flight sims as well. They are a game mechanism not a feature representation (if that makes any sense).

And to be quite honest I rarely use them. When it do it's usually to look at a gorgeously shaded and highly detailed 3D models. (to quote Micha)

Micha wrote:

In which case it becomes less easy to explain the proliferation of gorgeously shaded and highly detailed ship models! Wouldn't it make sense for the screens to continue to just display the approximations?

PS. Sunvisor - at least for the HUD, should be esily possible. Just script it so that if the player is facing the sun, the HUD gets replaced by one with a more or less opaque background.

So maybe somebody will do it in the future?

Zireael wrote:

Micha wrote:

In which case it becomes less easy to explain the proliferation of gorgeously shaded and highly detailed ship models! Wouldn't it make sense for the screens to continue to just display the approximations?

PS. Sunvisor - at least for the HUD, should be esily possible. Just script it so that if the player is facing the sun, the HUD gets replaced by one with a more or less opaque background.

So maybe somebody will do it in the future?

I don't think it's that easy. For starters, there is no event handler for "facing the sun", so what would trigger the switch?