Oolite Bulletins

A few months ago I started updating Tionisla_Orbital_Graveyard to version 1.1

Changes in v 1.1
- Increased minimum Oolite to version 1.74
- At regular intervals there are tourist shuttle launches from the graveyard station.
- Broadcasts of ships are no longer silenced by the many objects, but always reach the player.
- Removed all the rusty adders and put them together with new rusties in a separate pack.
- Changed the colour of the monuments on the scanner from white to a more appropriate colour for a graveyard.
- Updated all AI files.
- Added a 1.75 ship-key that makes that killing a monument does no longer count as a kill. (No longer boosting your score by q-bombing the graveyard on Oolite 1.75+)
- Added several ship scripts for better fine-tuning all kind of behavior.

More discussion about the oxp can be found here in the suggestions forum.

The oxp is tested thoroughly with Oolite 1.74 and with trunk. Actually, I used this oxp to test some changes in trunk. During this I noticed all kind of bugs in this oxp. It was written for Oolite 1.52 and not updated since as far as I am aware. However, Oolite has evolved largely since these releases and stuff that was impossible back than feels as bugs now, knowing it is supported by current Oolite.

To give the player a choice, the oxp is split in 3 parts.
- TOGY_Main. This is the main module with all the scripts in it. The module only contains simple monuments for maximum performance on old hardware.
- TOGY_Monuments pack. This oxp only holds additional, complex monuments. When added together with the main oxp, it will replace part of the simple monuments by the more complex ones. Leave it uninstalled when every thing slows down while flying through the graveyard.
- TOGY_Shipwreck pack. This oxp holds only rusty ships. It does the same as the Monument pack, but now replacing the simple monuments by rusty ships. Add this pack when you like the wrecks, but be aware that the rusty ships were never intended to be in a release version. Putting it in a separate pack is a bit of a compromise.

Be aware that this oxp adds over 200 extra objects in the Tionisla system. This has an effect on the FPS rate when flying in the Tionisla system. However on fast computers this FPS drop will not be noticeable to the player. Any speed difference between the packs will not be noticeable when the player is not near the monuments, as they are only drawn when the player is within the draw distance. For any speed effect between the installed packs you must approach the graveyard. When you are not in the Tionisla system, this oxp has no performance hit at all.

have you tested it with a Q-bomb yet?

This line:

- Added a 1.75 ship-key that makes that killing a monument does no longer count as a kill. (No longer boosting your score by q-bombing the graveyard on Oolite 1.75+)

Would indicate yes!

TGHC wrote:

have you tested it with a Q-bomb yet?

yes and no. I tested it a few months back. Many and many bombs. At that time I used a ship script in every monument that set back the counter for the player. But a few weeks back trunk got a special ship key for this and I removed those scripts. In this I trusted the key to work as advertised and have not actually tested it again. With 1.74 you still get your high kill score

It would make sense to give the Graveyard Station a low-enough techlevel that it doesn't have Q-bombs for sale (and perhaps even energy bombs).

One question.

In Status Quo there is a mention of a huge antenna array serving the Tionisla Chronicle Wide Band broadcast. Don't know if this is represented in any OXP. Would it be an idea to have this in TGY as an optional package. Would make it into more of a Tionisla OXP, but I think it is the right place for it and a good idea.

From Status Quo

The government had invited huge orbital ship contractors and anyone with the requirement for a big rig to build there and now the night sky was full of blinking flashing shapes. One of the biggest was the Tionisla Chronicle Array, a huge transmitter now moored directly opposite the cemetery, permanently eclipsed from the sun in complete radio silence, serving newsfeeds across the galaxy.

The array is of Drew's creation as is the Tionisla Chronicle - but if somebody could model something suitably grand...

DaddyHoggy wrote:

The array is of Drew's creation as is the Tionisla Chronicle - but if somebody could model something suitably grand...

If memory serves me right, The Tionisla Chronical is a part of FFE and/or Frontier. (Not sure if my memory is up to scratch here)
The array is as you say something Drew came up with, and a pretty cool thing. Faster than light transmitters. Maybe it even runs on Quirium.

I could come up with something on paper, but that wouldn't help much. That only leaves the hard part. I imagine something like the array in the film "Contact"

Edit: Lots of arrays in that film. I was thinking of the array she sees at Vega when she travels.

Nope, I invented both the Tionisla Chronicle and the array itself.

The array is supposed to be on the 'dark side' of Tionisla, on the opposite side of the planet from the graveyard, at about the same distance.

The Array is the transmitter for the Chronicle itself. Something like the 'Contact' array would be perfect, but it's beyond my abilities..

As it happens, the Tionisla Chronical, the array and Tionisla itself features heavily in the opening segments of 'Incursio' (as you might have spotted from the trailer) - there's a 'chase scene' through the graveyard itself.

If somebody would do me the honour of creating an array, I'm more than happy to immortalise them in prose along with certain other worthies already included! . A Tionisla OXP including the TOGY would be awesome!

Cheers,

Drew.

drew wrote:

Nope, I invented both the Tionisla Chronicle and the array itself.

So Sorry!

My memory failed me (again, and it seems to happen a lot more often these days). .

(I did check as soon as I got home, but you spotted my post before I could change/edit it)

Gimi wrote:

My memory failed me (again, and it seems to happen a lot more often these days

• I talk to myself much more these days, I’ve found,
  Halfway up the stairs I stop and frown,
  Now, what was I going to get… and did I get it yet?
  And more to the point, am I going up… or coming down!

El Viejo wrote:

• I talk to myself much more these days, I’ve found,
  Halfway up the stairs I stop and frown,
  Now, what was I going to get… and did I get it yet?
  And more to the point, am I going up… or coming down!

Who are you talking to Commander?

Nice work, Eric. Thanks for taking this and running with it. Downloading now...

Would it be a nice idea to commerate some of the past great contributors to Oolite with a memorial in the graveyard? Thinking for example of Dr Nil and others.

JazHaz wrote:

Would it be a nice idea to commerate some of the past great contributors to Oolite with a memorial in the graveyard? Thinking for example of Dr Nil and others.

Wouldn't a memorial be for dead people?