Ring Racer OXP

Overview

Welcome one and all to the Corporate States Ring Racer League!

This OXP adds a new sub-game to Oolite v1.74 or later, that of ring racing. Entry is available at any Corporate State system in Galaxy 1 for commanders with a suitably sporty ship equipped with an Advanced Space Compass and Fuel Injectors.

Once the entrance fee (2,000₢) is paid and a license obtained, the Ring Racer courses become available. The first race is in the Zaonce system, and there are 9 other courses spread around the galaxy. The location of the next one is updated on the ships manifest screen (F5-F5) once a course is completed, and is also marked on the ships long range chart. The racers fastest course time is also noted on the manifest screen, so Commanders can have best bragging rights at their favourite space bar.

To attempt a course, once the license is bought and you have flown to the correct system, you must fly to the course. This is marked by a buoy with a beacon "Q" on the ASC, and is normally found out beyond the witchpoint in the opposite direction to the main planet of the system. For variation there are two types of race. The first is a standard linear race, with the rings in a rough line leading on from the course buoy. The second is a sphere race, where all 10 rings can be found within a 20km radius sphere of the buoy. In both cases the course consists of 10 rings, which can be flown through in any order. The timer begins when you fly through the first ring, and ends once all 10 rings have been successfully navigated. Each race can last up to a maximum of 15 minutes.

Active rings are marked by green flashing lights and show with a green and yellow marker on the ships scanner. Once the ring has been successfully traversed the flashers turn red, and the scanner marker goes yellow.

Happy racing Commander!

Lore

Racing was in the past a widely popular sport, but the outbreak of the Thargoid war severely crippled the supporter following and racing industry for years to come. With younger generations however, their lack of memory of the time when Thargoids were more than legend has faded, and subsequently a more blasé and bravado attitude among youth has blossomed. This has lead to a revival of a new, yet bolder, thrill-seeking culture. Sun-diving and Hognose Tugship pilot harrassment are fairly 'tame' activities typical of pubescent BoyRacer snob punks, compared to the feats of a true daredevil racer. To earn star cred, the limits constantly have to be pushed further.

When the drafting ceased, and corporate sponsors again dared to invest in the sport, scores of young fearless heroes stood ready to again make racing big-business, which was finally symbolized by the rebirth of the Galactic Racing Federation (GRF).

Team Zorg announces its arrival

Racing comes in a wide range of classes and levels of profit and exposure. It's not every racer that have the choice or funds to compete with the shiny latest racing models, but must start at the grassroots level of the Minor League "farmer circuits" by no-budget tinkering in local ship-workshops, predominantly on old decrepit corpses of Adders, Mambas and Sidewinders, looking to turn them into homemade LM-devouring deathtraps.

At the highest level, League One, manufacturers and corporate sponsored teams frequently turn out new racer model prototypes, and constantly seek to improve the established class ships, by unscrupulously exploiting any clause in the laws as arbitrated by the GRF.

Fans of the sport predominantly follow their heroes through magazines like What Spaceship? and LightSpeed! keeping them abreast of the most recent custom modifications and bestbuy comparisons of all the racing models, as well as via the GRF controlled SimulCast events. Considerable gambling interest is also generated down to the lowest level, both officially organized and illegal.

From Racers

Requirements

This OXP requires at least test version 1.74 of Oolite.

Download

• Downloadable through the in-game Expansions Manager
• Ring Racer v1.21 can be downloaded from Box.Net by clicking on the link.
  
• Racing Rings by Aegidian works with older versions of Oolite and was the basis for Ring Racer.

Links

• Thargoid's OXP page.