User:Norby

From Elite Wiki
Telescope is possibly Norby's most powerful oxp, showing distant objects and masslock borders.
For example, a distant ship is shown by the yellow dot on the upper left of the viewscreen, which corresponds to the yellow flag on the border of the scanner at 11 o'clock. Its masslock border starts on the top right at the s in "development version" and runs down and left around the viewscreen
ILS (Instrument Landing System) provides an alternative for docking with a station
EscortDeck attaches a Deck to your ship for carrying escorts which you control
EscortPack provides a range of escorts for your deck
Far Planets creates massive solar systems with missions to distant planets and refuelling stations en route
Towbar creates a new career choice in rescuing derelicts and sells the necessary equipment for this
Combat MFD (top left) provides detail on your and your target's status (top right shows Telescope's MFD)
Hardships creates armour covering for ships
SniperGun provides externally mounted sniper guns - above shows 3 mounted on a Krait
Norby's update of Star Destroyer adds in a flotilla of Tie Fighters and a factory for building them!
Andromeda A massive ship, too big to dock with a station
Boring but VITAL! LogEvents records expanded detail of what happened in your latest game to help track down problems!

Norby has made vital contributions to Oolite over the years. He made a concerted push to improve Oolite HUDs which fed through to the Vanilla game, as well as producing some massively important OXPs (Telescope, ILS, - and helping others with theirs (the fact that Life in the Frontier actually functions is a testament to the time and effort he spend polishing Beetle Bethlehem's magnum opus). He also devoted time and energy in experimenting with the game mechanics - see HardShips, ShipVersion & FarPlanets. He also experimented with massive ships - see his improvements to Star Destroyer. And his LogEvents is a crucial oxp for anybody trying to improve Oolite.

Norby's Introduction

First played Elite on Commodore +4 in 1987. This was the best game in my eyes at that time.

Found Oolite in Jan 2013 and enjoy not only the game but OXP programming also as a hobby which can give me the feeling of freedom. I hope the result will entertain my sons and you also. :)

My OXPs

New versions are available within the game and in OXZ list. Some old versions are in my box.

Activities

  • EscortDeck - Build up your personal escort fleet. (2592 downloads)
  • FarPlanets - reach very far planets with fast drives. (157 downloads)
  • Gallery - review models of encountered ships and find more in exhibitions. (9189 downloads)
  • Towbar - make money from derelict ships, earn high salvager rankings. (4751 downloads)

Ambience

  • Ambiences recommended by Norby - install many graphical packs for better look and feel. (3013 downloads)
  • Engine Sound - the tone of engine sound follow the speed of your ship (4014 downloads).
  • Freighter Convoys is a smaller, ambience-level variant of Convoys. (1467 downloads)
  • HD Backgrounds - Arrival reports show high-resolution background images. (5149 downloads)
  • Headlights - Tune the light level on the dark side of objects in space like you have powerful headlights. (3078 downloads)
  • Trails - NPC ships leaves condensation trails. (5670 downloads)

Dockables

Equipment

  • ILS - semi-automatic Instrument Landing System supports Injector speeds as well. (2091 downloads)
  • Laser Cooler - faster cooldown using energy, fuel and heating up your cabin. (2718 downloads)
  • Q-Charger - I made it awardable to NPC ships by ShipVersion OXP from v1.21. (3847 downloads)
  • Telescope - extended targeting and scanning features, auto steering, sniper ring and more. (4955 downloads)
  • SafetyCatch - prevent accidental Q-Bomb and other mine launches when using missiles. (7821 downloads)

HUD

  • Combat MFD - show many data of your ship and your target. (7587 downloads)
  • HUD Selector - help to choose your HUD from more possibilities. (4966 downloads)
  • NumericHUD - I updated many parts from v3.1 for my OXPs plus added MFDs and speedup. (2084 downloads)

Mechanics

  • Convoys - Freighters can fly in large groups, fugitive convoy leaders worth high bounties. (527 downloads)
  • Convoy leaders without bounty labels - Just less marked, but the bounty is the same. (199 downloads)
  • HardShips - all ship get 6 side armour, Hard ships get Hard Armour, new defensive equipments and Drones. (1856 downloads)
  • Missile Booster - Give higher initial speed to missiles as a fix of launching problems. (1988 downloads)
  • ReverseControl - you can aim in the aft and side views as in the front view. (1026 downloads)
  • SellAll - sell all cargo with one keypress and can sell to an alternative customer if the market is full. (1382 downloads)
  • ShipVersion - all ship get version numbers, NPCs get extra equipments scaled with the version. (1002 downloads)
  • TorusToSun - reach the Sun and other places faster. (2548 downloads)
  • VariableMasslock - based on ship mass from Adder at 17km to Anaconda at 26km. In addition asteroids turn off Torus when needed to prevent impact. (2740 downloads)

Misc

  • Display reputation - I added parcel reputation into the original OXP in v1.2. (10032 downloads)
  • LogEvents - write messages into Latest.log using all event handlers to help debugging OXPs and review battles. (6943 downloads)
  • Ship Storage Helper - I continued Capt Murphy's work on saving and restoring ships. (7741 downloads)
  • TimeControl - Time Acceleration with Injectors and Torus, stop in Red alert and near a Wormhole. (1285 downloads)

Missions

  • The Collector - find the rich man and do the jobs he offer. The story is affected by your choices. (9497 downloads)

Ships

  • Andromeda - very large ship with decent cargo capacity and rare extensions. (4455 downloads)
  • Carriers - build up your personal fleet and take with you on your Carrier. (3132 downloads)
  • EscortPack - Escort ships, escpecially useful with EscortDeck. (2128 downloads)
  • MinerCobra - 75t cargo, miner laser and scoop in change of less energy, recharge and missile pylons. (6322 downloads)
  • Star Destroyer - 72 TIE Fighters and 30 turrets defend this mobile base. (1876 downloads)

Weapons

  • Eco Lasers - developed for separated multiple laser mounts with low energy usage. (1541 downloads)
  • Fighters - Tiny ships launch from your cargo space and give help in combat. (693 downloads)
  • Gatling Laser - Fast and strong weapon with built-in cooler. (2879 downloads)
  • Laser Cannons - powerful short range shots and derelict ship makers for large ships. (1717 downloads)
  • Multiple Lasers - allow to use multiple forwad laser mounts in many core and OXP ships. (1567 downloads)
  • Separated Lasers - multiple lasers without multiple heat if mounted far from each other. (1236 downloads)
  • Sniper Gun - next step after Military Laser, outside of the hull for better cooldown. (1244 downloads)

Best of my works

Based on feedbacks in the forum I think these are the most wanted packages:

Combat MFD
Gallery
HUDSelector
ILS Instrument Landing System
ReverseControl
ShipVersion
Telescope
TheCollector
TorusToSun
Towbar
Trails

My obsolete OXPs

I do not recommend to use these in regular games.

  • Detectors - show your energy on the HUD and more target informations. (174 downloads)
  • HardBase - one of the biggest playable entities with a huge cargo capacity and almost no agility. (53 downloads)
  • HudRequests - tech demo and requests to make dynamic HUDs and a mini-game to earn highscores. (98 downloads)
Download: File:HUDRequests 1.1.oxp.zip


I like more than 300 OXPs in total so before the OXZ era I made an OXP Collection but now you can use my recommendation packs. There are many small but good OXP which you probably missed if you do not spend hours reading through both the OXP List and the OXZ list. I have therefore made OXP collections for different player levels.

Recommended OXPs

My "must have" list is useful for most players imho.

My favorites for advanced players are listed in this post.

The following collections are able to install many addons in one step.

Addons for Beginners

Addons_for_Beginners.oxz contain dependency links to install the following packages designed for new players. Please comment it in the forum. (downloaded 10668 times)

Ambience Collection
AutoRefuel
Combat Simulator
ETT Homing Beacon
Miner Cobra
Neo-Docklights
Lave Academy
Target Autolock
Tionisla Reporter
Traffic Control
Reverse Control
Ring Racer
Safety Catch
Start Advice
The Collector
Welcome Mat

BB thread (2015-17)

Addons for Competent Commanders

Nice OXPs since 2012.

Aliens
Ambiences recommended by Norby
Anarchies Facelift
APRIL
Black Monk Monastery
Breakable Life Support System
Bullet Drive
BuoyRepair
CustomShields
DeepSpacePirates
EnergyBomb
Escort Contracts
Feudal States
Friend or Foe
Galactic Navy Additions
GalTech Escape Pods
Griff Industries
Hired Guns
Illegal Goods Tweak
ILS Instrument Landing System
In-System Market Restore
In-System Taxi
Laser Mount Switching System
Life in the Frontier
Market Inquirer
New Cargoes
NumericHUD
Ore Processor
Pirate Coves
Planetfall
Povray Planets
Quirium Cascade Mine Detector
Random Hits
Rescue Stations
ShieldCycler
Skilled NPCs
Sonoran
Stations for Extra Planets
Superhub
Superhub for Extra Planets
Taxi Galactica
Tionisla Orbital Graveyard
Torus To Sun
Total Patrol
Trident Down
UPS Courier
Variable Masslock
Vector
WildShips
Xeptatl's Sword
ZygoCinematicSky&Nebulas


Ambience Collection

Ambience_Collection.oxz contain dependency links to install the following ambience and similar packs in one step for better look and feel without changing the gameplay. Aimed to be suitable for all commanders. (downloaded 10583 times)

Asteroid_Storm
BetterBuoys
BackGroundSet
BGS Soundset by P.A. Groove
Cabal Common Library
Camera Drones
Captain Solo's Good Fortune
Combat MFD
Commanders Log
Communications Pack A
Contracted Goods Reminder
Delightful Docking
Display reputation
Email System
Explorers' Club
Extracts from the Tre Clan
Famous Planets
Fireworks
Flight Log
Freighter Convoys
Gallery
Griff Station Bundle
HD Backgrounds
HD Backgrounds Image Pack A
HD Backgrounds Image Pack B
Headlights
HUDSelector
Hyperradio
Icesteroids
LogEvents
MarketObserver
MFD - CommsLog
MFD - Manifest
MFD - Navigation]
Randomshipnames
Random Player/Ship Name
Satellites
Snoopers
Ship Respray
Ship Storage Helper
Ship's Library
Ship's Library Book - Mutabilis
Ship's Library Book - Status Quo
System Features Rings
System Features Sunspots
TrackerCam
Trails
Trophy Collector
OXPConfig

Ambiences recommended by Norby

For at least Competent commanders Ambiences_recommended_by_Norby.oxz contain dependency links to install the following ambience and similar packs in one step for better look and feel. Beginners should use the Ambience Collection only. (downloaded 3013 times)

Additional Planets
Ambience Collection
Docking Fees
Escort_Formations
Headlights
MFD - BroadcastComms
Planetary Compass
Realistic Stars
Start Choices

Documents

My Documents folder filled with Elite-related writings:

  • Board Games
  • Fictions
  • Oolite keys and galaxy maps
  • Paper Models of Oolite ships
  • Quaternion calculator
  • Shader tutorial

OXP Collections (2013-17)

  • Norby's collection of OXP's - mostly from 2013/14, many predate Oolite v.1.79: over 7 pages of lists: another Treasure Trove!
King Cobra HUD (Norby's Collection)
Isis HUD: see Isis Interstellar
vamp reduxed improved engine flame: see Isis Interstellar
spectre: Isis Interstellar's Vampire Mk V, a secret military vessel fighting Thargoids in witch space. By Killer Wolf, last updated in 2011.
phantom: a trader/fighter from Isis Interstellar with external missiles. By Killer Wolf, last updated in 2011.
Cobra IV: Isis Interstellar's successor to the Cobra MkIII, available in trader and fighter variants. By Killer Wolf, last updated in 2011.
SothisTC Mr Troomp's trading centres
Wasps adds formation flying wasps, queen wasps, and wasp nests
Isis Interstellar
Diamondback: see Isis Interstellar
Werewolf: see Isis Interstellar
Venom: see Isis Interstellar
Vamp3a: see Isis Interstellar
Nuit Space Station OXP
King Cobra


Enjoy!


Norby