RocketShips

RocketShips OXP contain fast ships with egzotic technologies but an old package without warranty.

RocketShips OXP

The name of the ships come from the high top speed and the outer form which take after a rocket. There are 4 new ship class, each has a basic and an advanced (combat-optimized) type, so you can use 8 different RocketShip. Almost all of these used by pirates and police also, in all there are 20 ship version.

These ships can give a nice career: decide your way as a peaceful trader or a fighter, start with the proper RocketShip and enjoy the profit making by trade or fight. Get enough money for a next ship which help you better and do it again until you can buy the best ship. But if you want then you can start in an Escape Pod, then buy all RocketShips one after the other and end in a Pod also: the Uber Pod. :)

The rocket form give unexpected rolling ability to the small and medium RocketShips. The drawback is the absence of the side weapons, except the large brick-form ships which rolling slowly.

There are some RocketShips in all systems: traders attacked by pirates pursued by hunters and police ships. There are a good chance of a pirate ambush at witchpoint but decreasing by the stability of the government. Some police ship will help but less in bad systems, none in Anarchy.

New features of the RocketShips: RocketDrive, AutoFire, Malfunctions and Hard Armor (with HardShips OXP).

RocketDrive

The built-in RocketDrive can increase output to earn 1.5x speed, but only for a limited time. When setting speed over 2/3:

-RocketDrive consume more and more energy, first only slowing recharge but at high speed drain the banks too,
-Cabin Temp increasing by the heat of RocketDrive, too much heat can cause cargo or equipment damage,
-shields are overtaxed which cause depleting also.

If weapons are offline then shields can works normally at a cost of 1.5 times energy usage which consume less than the recharge of the shields. Useful for normal travel and flee. There are a shield guard function after Torus and Injector use: because these leave speed setting at maximum when turned off, RocketDrive start consume shields if weapons are online. In green alert laser weapons will be temporarily removed to save the shield over 80% of the maximum speed. You can get back your lasers by turning off weapons or slowing below 80%.

You can prefer only two from these three energy-consuming part of the ship in the same time:

-if you want high engine output and online weapons then your shield will drop,
-if you want high speed and full shield then you must leave your weapons without power,
-if you want weapons and shield then you must lower speed at least to the point where 
 recharge will be equal with the drain (70-80%, depends on the recharging abilities of the ship).

RocketDrive will be paused for 5 seconds every time when too hot or when the energy level reach the last bank. A free equipment help to set higher minimal energy level if you want to be sure to save more, for example in an unsafe system.

A feedback about RocketDrive is the Cabin Temp: when at the minimum RocketDrive is not working and the average of your real speed is at best half of the maximum, regardless from what speed meter suggest. During pause your speed drastically lowered to 2/3 of maxSpeed. If you use NumericHudv3 then speed meter still show desired speed which is not real anymore, please upgrade to v3.1. Other HUDs shows improperly the maximum speed value. If you lower the speed to some maintainable level (about 70%) normality will be restored as with Infinite Improbability Drive and you will travel still faster than with unreally high speed setting and often paused RocketDrive.

Cargo Bay Extension doubles the energy usage of RocketDrive, use only if really needed. Injectors and Torus Drive can benefit from RocketDrive without penalty due to the different technology. The short hyperspace countdown and better acceleration (thrust) also serve more intense gameplay and shorter travel times.

AutoFire

New AutoFire Laser types are available: Auto Pulse Laser, Hammer, Sniper and Sapper. These gives additional firepower but if the target is not hostile then need to hit the target first with the main laser to avoid unwanted fire. When marked then these weapons will shot again and again if the target enter the crosshairs within the maximum range of the AF laser. If Detectors OXP present and the energy display jump before the name then it means not only you scored the first hit but set the target to the AutoFire weapons which will fire again if can.

All of them operates a bit slower than the pulse mode to avoid heating and allow repeat for unlimited time. The types:

-Auto Pulse Laser is the weakest and medium ranged as the standard Pulse Laser,
-Hammer is the strongest but slowest and medium ranged also, because this is the AutoFire modification of the standard Mining Laser,
-Sniper has the longest range and strong as the original Military Laser but as slow as the Pulse,
-Sapper is a Shield Depleting Laser, 5 times more effective against shields but medium ranged only.

Without the CustomShields OXP there is no shield on the NPCs anyway so recommended to install it.

The Hammer and Sniper has Armour-Piercing ability if Hull Damage OXP installed: can negate the damage reducing effect of the Hard Armour.

The advanced RocketShips use these new secondary automatic weapons, but the basic types also benefit from the AutoFire spotting systems because the main forward laser also linked and can fire again after a hit without pressing the button again, but only if not overheated. This feature suppose extra sensors in the front hull so can not AutoFire to aft or sides.

The Target Autolock OXP can target a new attacker who hit you if no target set and mark your target with cyan-grey changing lollipop. The AutoFire computer watch nearby ships and if a ship targeted you and no target set then set to your target. If locked in either way then bring in front of you, the AutoFire start working even if your main laser is overheated and can not shot to mark it. If target set to somewhere else and a hostile or previously marked ship go to the front then the AutoFire weapons will fire regardless of your target box. In this way you can route your turrets to fire on an incoming missile (press Shift+T to set the target box to it) and continue to hunt a hostile ship.

To make compatible with mission objectives, AutoFire only can destroy missiles and mines. If hit a too weak ship then reduce the energy to 1 and force to launch the Escape Pod and a missile also. Then you can easily destroy the ship with the main laser which trigger the mission success, and if you scoop and transport the Escape Pod back to any Station then you can get insurance fee for the rescue. For safety sake the Pod will be awarded if not in the ship (without this you hit and hit again a sparking ship but never destroy it which is more annoying than an escaped pilot from a ship). The AutoFire intelligent enough to skip Stations, Escape Pods and unpiloted harmless objects.

Malfunctions

Taking enough damage (250) from the front 90 degree cone in short time cause AutoFire malfunction. Taking from side (not from front or aft cone) cause System malfunctions: do not get proper message from the energy level of the attacked ship and the speed of the malfunction restores are halved. Taking from aft 90 degree cone cause RocketDrive malfunction.

The restore bots can fix 8 points of damage (4 if System malfunction) in every seconds and will be ready in 30 seconds (if avoid to receiving more damage meantime). Every points of restore consume 1/4 energy points and paused if the energy level reach the last bank. The maximum drain is 6 points/sec if all parts needs restore in the same time.

Taking more damage after a malfunction will increase the restore time. Taking double amount (500) cause permanent damage which will be fixed in a Station only. Messages will tell the remaining time and the percent of the integrity. If dropped below 50% then do malfunction until reach 100% again, but if reach 0% then permanently damaged.

A good news is until these parts of the ship can take up damage (the side facing to the attacker not permanenetly damaged) then the main energy banks receive 25% less damage: a 100 points of aft damage reduce 100 points from the RocketDrive but do only 75 points energy damage. This acts like 125 points/side additional maximum energy of the ship.

Hard Armour

The advanced ships covered with orange armor tiles to deflect lasers and other attacks. This armor can reduce all hull damage by 10 energy points, so a Beam Laser do only 5 and not 15, a Military Laser hit 13 and not 23 to the Hard Armoured ship. Some large ships can reduce 15 or 20 if can hold the extra mass. Advanced pirate ships using dark armors with the same effect.

The RocketShips:

1. Rocket Miner

Ideal medium size ship to a new commander to get a quick start due to the good cargo space and the mining equipments. The large cargo provide more profit so less work time needed to buy a better ship. The ship form designed after a rocket but with blunt nose to reach the smallest spherical collisionradius with the largest cylinder diameter and cargo which can dock without rolling to give easy landing to the new pilots.

The almost flat nose can keep the collisionradius at the lowest value which given by the main part of the ship: 42m means 5655 m^2 targetable area. The Cobra MkIII has 73m which give 16620 m^2 due to the sphere form of the shields so 3 times larger when a pirate wants to hit.

Suggested to buy an Advanced Compass and change the target from the planet to the station after a hyperjump to arrive as near as possible when the torus drive turned off.

Equipped with a Mining Laser and a Fuel Scoop to make money from asteroids but this is not a combat ship, run away if attacked. Suggested to use in the secure governments only.

Always turn off weapons to save shield and buy an Energy Unit to extend the time of the RocketDrive speed. Some poor pirates use the hardened version of this ship with red colored laser.

2. Rocket Fighter (advanced Runner)

Fast small escort ship, designed to reach as little hull size as possible to minimize the aimable area. This means that almost all laser fire miss it! Also means that very hard to hit if it is your enemy. Weak if attacked by Missiles so equipped with ECM and Escape Pod by default.

The small size give high pitch rates, but the tiny inner space cause drawbacks:

-Beam forward laser (Military Laser will not fittable),
-no missiles,
-no Hyperdrive, but can use wormholes opened by other ships (suggested to buy a wormhole scanner),
-no Injectors but the engine is fast and the Torus Drive is working also if no ship in radar range,
-no Fuel Scoop and no cargo but can carry parcels and valuables,
-can not fit Energy Unit, Shield Boosters and Capacitors (from Shield Equalizer+Capacitors OXP),
-can not fit IronHide Armour nor any equipment from HardShips OXP,
-no Docking Computer but this extra small ship can dock easily.

Usable to transport valuables and fight in the unstable sectors where the smallness is profitable. The new commanders can sit into this ship right after the start if prefer instant action. The pirates and the police also like this ship.

3. Rocket Runner (unarmed fighter)

Small lightning fast unarmed travel vehicle. Developed from the successful Rocket Fighter on alternative way to make a small trader. The idea is why fight with the pirates if can left behind using the injected RocketDrive and go to dock in seconds. The combat systems removed to make room to the Cargo, Fuel Scoop and Injectors. The cargo is enough to travel three person and the cabin safe can hold additional 500kg valuables, these bring money in short time.

4. Rocket Gunship

This is the heavy version of the smallest combat ship with dual engine and other extensions:

-Beam forward laser (Military Laser still not fittable),
-Auto Pulse Laser fire once in every second if the previously attacked target lined up and within 12500m,
-Hard Armour if HardShips OXP present,
-Injectors to travel faster (oh yeah! - this is what you will say when earned enough money in a Fighter to buy a Gunship and hit the "i" button).

Hyperdrive, Galactic Drive, missiles and cargo still not available but no equipment restrictions due to over 30t mass can get anything except special ones which need large ships (over 130t, like Heavy and Mining Railgun, Large Dish, Military IronHide Armour and Naval Shield Booster).

5. Rocket Frigate (advanced Miner)

Fast and strong combat ship with good equipment, energy and cargo capacity. Designed to a stand-alone hunter with good combat abilities. Can use any equipment due to the mass of the hull is more than 130t.

Added 2 Hammer Laser to give high first punch within half-scanner range (12500m) but need 3 seconds to recharge. These requires weapon mounts in sub-entities over the hull, which are missing from the basic Miner. The turrets of all RocketShips placed inside of the main shields (other ships hold outside by default).

Equipped with a Military Scanner Filter which can detect ships using Military Jammer. If you ever wonder why your Advanced Scanner can not lock on some farout ships then this is the solution.

Available a +5t cargo bay extension, but the RocketDrive will drain double energy if fitted.

The Frigate often used by pirates and security guards who do not get official licenses to drive a Viper. A skilled user can earn more success with this ship than with a Viper Mk II.

6. Rocket Freighter

This ship designed to the fastest and largest freighter which can fit into the normal docks and Rock Hermits also. The brick form of the dock caused the simple outlook of the ship, but the cargo space counts more than the fashion. Can really improve the efficiency of a transport driver, but need defenders if attacked.

This is not a combat ship to keep the cost in reasonable range, but the aft Laser with 2-2 side and 2 aft Ball Turrets can help to survive during run. Turrets fire within 6000m, but the slow bullets will miss the target if turn away enough fast. The RocketDrive help to earn the speed of a medium ship, but not enough fast and usable only for too short time to escape from rapid attackers. Beware from the Pirate Freighters equipped with orange lasers, these piloted by very skilled bad guys!

7. Rocket Cruiser (advanced Freighter)

Strong combat ship with large cargo to satisfy the requests of Rocket Freighter drivers. The main goal is to defend itself from any threats, including Thargoids. But because the best defense is a good offense, the ship equipped with as many technology as possible:

-2 Sniper Lasers with 30000m range and 1 shot/second,
-2 Main Turrets facing forward with high power and armor but slow recharge,
-6 Ball Turrets around the ship,
-16 missile pylons,
-4 times denser hull than a light ship so can simply ram into the enemies,
-16 energy banks with very fast recharge rate,
-still contains large cargo space, but not as large as the Freighter.

The result is stronger than the Navy Transport due to not mass-produced but singly made and fine adjusted. Some police chief use this ship also with cyan colored laser. Due to the most advanced security systems currently there are no pirates with this ship (fortunately). Costly, but this is the dream ship of all traders.

8. Rocket Corvette (advanced Gunship)

Very fast, small and strong combat ship, but very high priced and small cargo. The cost is represent not only a Gunship hull but also the salary of many scientists and technologist to research, design and build miniaturized equipments to reach higher performance in smaller place. Also must pay high wages to some adventurer who can acquire the very rare Navy equipments. The result is awesome: equal or better than a Frigate in all combat parameter, but due to the small size much harder to hit. Advantages:

-2 Sappers (install CustomShields OXP to enjoy the shield-depleting ability),
-2 Strong Turrets with 7500m range,
-8 missiles,
-12 energy banks,
-energy and shields extensions from the Navy.

Simply the best RocketShip if cargo space is not important.

9. Rocket Base

Many rocket engines has enough power together to move a lightened Station. Can not dock due to the size but can link and trade using instant autodock button (shift-C) within aegis range. Can refill the fuel tank from the store which was used previuosly for the market. The fuel reserves are unlimited but every refill costs 20 credits to cover the resupply from a Station someday.

Some Rocket Base was stolen, camofulaged to black and serving as a mobile home of bad guys which can be the most strong known enemy.

Suggested ship sets:

Trader career: Miner - Runner - Freighter - Cruiser - Base.
Fighter career: Fighter - Gunship - Frigate - Cruiser - Corvette.

RocketShips order by cost:

                Cost	Size(m)	RSpeed	AutFire	Turret	Cargo	Pitch	Roll	Missile	EBanks	Rech.	ShBoost	ShEnh	ScFilt
Rocket Miner	100000	55x72	450	-	-	60+15	1	3	-	4	4	-	-	-
Rocket Fighter	100000	9x19	750	-	-	-	2	4.6	-	2	2	-	-	-
Rocket Runner	200000	9x19	750	-	-	10	2	4.6	-	2	2	-	-	-
Rocket Gunship	400000	19x19	600	2Pulse	-	-	1.5	3	-	3	3	-	-	-

Rocket Frigate	600000	55x72	450	2Hammer	-	60+15	1	3	8	8	4	Yes	-	-
Rocket Freightr	1000000	135x238	300	-	6Ball	750	0.5	1	8	8	4	Yes	-	-
Rocket Cruiser	4000000	135x245	300	2Sniper	2Ma+6Ba	500	0.5	1	16	16	5	Yes	Yes	Yes
Rocket Corvette	8000000	19x19	600	2Sapper	2Strong	10	1.5	3	8	12	4	Yes	Yes	Yes
Rocket Base	40M	924x972	100	-	-	5000	0.2	0.2	16	150	24	Yes	Yes	Yes

AutoFire Lasers:

	Power	Pause	Power/s	Range	Energy usage/shot
Pulse	15	1	15	12500	1.5
Hammer	50	2	25	12500	5
Sniper	23	1	23	30000	2.3
Sapper	15/75	1	15/75	15000	5

Turrets:

	Power	Pause	Power/s	PwHrd/s	Range	Armor	Color
Mini	10	0.5	20	0	4000	128	Gray	(used by pirates)
Ball	15	0.5	30	10	5000	256	Yellow
Strong	40	1	40	30	7500	512	Orange
Main	100	2	50	45	7500	768	Orange

Dependencies: Oolite v1.77 or later. Numeric HUD v3.1 OXP due to tested with this HUD only, others (including the original) working also but show less and not supported. If you use another HUD and get visual problems (for example can not see the 16 energy banks of a Cruiser) then please fix it yourself.

Conflicts: Start Choices OXP was the source of the new game screen. To insert new menu items RocketShips OXP included all ships from the Start Choices 1.3 and disabled the original script, but if a new Start Choices will arrive then it will not shown until somebody port the changes into the RocketShips OXP.

Bundled OXPs into one zip file with the RocketShips to reach at least the normal functionality: -CustomShields OXP to award shields to the NPC ships, this give more balanced gameplay to an experienced pilot. The included Fuel leak support turned off in the bundle (too often happen from a marginal damage, preferred the Hull Damage OXP to do the same with more reality). Blown panels also turned off due to possible unreal money making if scoop and sell many panels from your ship. In addition if somebody make real Thargoid shields then can enjoy more the advantage of the Sapper. :)

-Detectors OXP to show important ship data in the target box (for example energy, armour, shield and speed) and detect the largest RocketShips in the whole system with an advanced scanner equipment.

-HardShips OXP to enjoy the Armour-Piercing ability of Hammer and Sniper and sometimes get Fuel Leak. :)

-Numeric HUD OXP v3.1 to show the exact values of the capacitors, speed, energy, etc. with RocketDrive support.

-Q-Charger OXP v1.21 to surely left behind the pirates but with extreme energy usage - full RocketDrive plus the Q-Charger consume really much together, but nobody can say that isn't fun to catch a WonderWorm with a freighter which holding 800t cargo at least for a few seconds.

-Shield Capacitors OXP for a small bonus to you and more to NPCs with high versions, equipped to costly player ships by default.

-Ship Versions OXP to give recharge and other bonuses to all ships based on the version number shown after the ship names.

-Target Autolock OXP v1.13 to avoid the "where is my attacker?" question and help AutoFire to shot immediately when the target comes into the crosshairs.

Recommended OXPs:

-Armoury OXP to get more missile types and countermeasures.
-AsteroidStorm OXP to make Mining more profitable and watching nice graphics.
-Breakable Standard Equipments OXPs to make more reality.
-Bullet Drive to use Torus as in original Elite: when enganged can not change the direction.
-Cargo wrecks teaser OXP for more scoopable cargo pods.
-Flight Log OXP to track your activities.
-Gates OXP to jump from the witchpoint to the main station in the boring stable systems.
-Hired Guns OXP mainly for traders to hire defender ships for some money.
-IronHide OXP to get extra armour, NPCs will get also if HardShips present.
-Missile Analyser OXP to get the proper name an a lock on if launched.
-Ore Processor OXP to make more money from asteroids.
-Pirate coves OXP to can do something more as a fighter.
-Planetary Compass OXP to found all planets in the system
-Pods OXP for still more scoopable cargo pods.
-Police Scanner OXP to see pirates colored in scanner.
-Q-Bomb Detector OXP to flee from the big bang in time.
-Railgun OXP if you still want more weapons.
-Realistic Damage OXP to sometime get destroyed equipments not only damaged.
-RepairBots OXP to fix damaged equipments in-flight.
-Shield Cycler OXP to transfer the shield power from forward to aft or reverse (requires Cabal Common Library and OXPConfig which also bundled).
-Ship Storage Helper OXP an alternate way to save the ship before check the version of a new one in the Shipyard Screen. Use if another (not bundled) OXP cause problems with the default method and supported by this OXP.
-Skilled_NPCs OXP to avoid the suicide flee-only-in-straight-line pilots, configurable to your skill.
-SniperLock OXP to stay lined-up with distant targets.
-SunSkimmerPod OXP to faster collect fuel from the Sun (without travel to the Sun and back).
-Talkative Compass OXP to avoid confusion if more target use the same letter in the compass.
-Telescope OXP to make cargo pod searching easier.
-ToughGuys OXP Level 2 (Apocalypse) for stronger pirates. Choose level 3 only if you want to fight against outnumbered enemy.
-Weapon-Rotator OXP to help mining with easy switch between Military and Mining laser.
-Welcome Mat OXP to get useful informations about the system entered.

The pirate RocketShips are already strong so other strong custom ship OXPs does not included in the bundles, but if it is still not enough hard for you then install ship OXPs like Blitzspears OXP with high recharges to get even more advanced enemies. After you spent many hours to choose and test ships, you can and please publish your selection as a Strong Ships Bundle. :)

Ship designers: You can attach AutoFire and RocketDrive to any ship in your shipdata.plist if set script="rocketships.js" and increase the maxSpeed value also. But the suggested new maximum is less than the double of the original speed due to the long time maintainable speed is around 70%. The length of the exhaust flame is doubled in all rocketships: set the last (6.) value in the exhaust array to 2.0. Set thrust to maxspeed/10, it is about the double of the usual. Set density to 2 if there are Hard Armour on board, 3 if HA XV, 4 if HA XX.

Instructions: Unzip the file, move all folders named ".oxp" into the AddOns directory of your Oolite installation. Then press the shift key before click on the Oolite start icon and hold down until the game started.

License: This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike License version 3.0 If you are re-using any piece of this OXP, please let me know by sending an e-mail to norbylite@gmail.com .

Utilities: 3D models maded with Wings3D. Textures maded with GIMP. Sounds maded with Audacity. Scripts maded with Internal Editor of Krusader. :)

Thanks to the community for: Feedbacks by Oolite Forum members. Main program by the core programmer team. Mini Turret model from Ardvark OXP by Mandoman. Programming instructions by all Wiki writers. Recommended and bundled OXPs by its authors. Start menu from Start Choices OXP by Mika Spara.

Changelog:

2013.12.04. v0.84- Compatible with Gallery OXP (ship conditions in rocketshipoffer.js)
2013.11.04. v0.83- Removed shield saving in yellow alert to keep lasers online.
2013.11.01. v0.82- Follow changes in Telescope OXP: Gravity Scanner removed from ships under 130t.
2013.09.30. v0.81- Reduced max.speeds, recharges and turrets.
2013.06.10. v0.8 - Small ships got larger models.
2013.05.16. v0.7 - RocketDrive and AutoFire sounds added.
                   QCharger powerup and down sound can be disabled by ShortQChargerSound = true in rocketmenu.js to be quieter.
                   Short RocketDrive sounds added, set ShortRDSound = true to mechanical engine instead of natural noise.
                   Rocket Base and Pirate Base added.
2013.04.20. v0.6 - AutoFire and RocketDrive malfunction added.
                   Sniper Laser with the range of the Military Laser but pulse mode only.
                   Shield-depleting Sapper, the best AutoFire Laser if CustomShields present.
                   Main Turrets to Cruiser.
                   Overheat can cause internal damage.
                   Turrets protected by the shields of the ship.
                   Simple RocketShip models.
                   Rocket Armor added to ships textured with orange tiles.
                   Rocket versions of the original player ships added.
                   Hardest start level added if you want to start in an Escape pod.
2013.03.24. v0.5 - RocketDrive support with advice messages.
                   Reduced pitch and roll rates.
                   Frigate and Freighter price raised.
                   Mini and Strong Turrets added. Get warning messages when a turret received hits or gone.
                   Message show the energy of the target after hit.
                   Hammer Laser and Auto Pulse Laser added, the shot currently invisible but send a message if hit.
2013.03.18. v0.4 - Ball Turrets added to the big ships.
                   Lower techlevels based on ship cost and lower chances in shipyard.
                   Removed pre-installed missiles from the default equipments.
                   Test drive added to the start menu.
                   All ships start without fuel, set StartFuel = 7 in rocketmenu.js if you want.
                   Set 3 level zoom camera (key v).
2013.03.16. v0.3 - Gunship and Runner added, 3x RocketDrive deleted.
2013.03.11. v0.2 - RocketDrive added, many tweak in ship data.
2013.02.15. v0.1 - First RocketShips data and readme files to save the ideas.

Quick Facts

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Version	Released	License	Features	Category	Author(s)	Feedback
0.84	2013-12-04	CC BY-NC-SA 3	Career with fast ships and autofire weapons	Ships OXPs	Norby	[norbylite at gmail]