Masslock Reimagined

Redspear's 4th Masslock-solving OXP

Overview

Masslocks without this mod

• Masslocks interrupt torus drive use
• Torus drive only reusable once masslock escaped
• Masslock clearances can take upwards of five minutes without steering around them
• Slower ships can get trapped in traffic jams if staying on lane, making them less attractive and faster NPC vessels problematic

Masslocks with this mod

• Masslocks interrupt torus drive use
• Torus drive reusable after a short delay
• Masslock clearances can take less than a minute
• Ship speed is no longer critical in determining masslock clearance

How it Works

Initial Masslock

The player is masslocked as normal as the torus drive begins to recalibrate around the new masslocking bodies.

Masslock Neutralisation

After a short period the player receives the message, "Torus Drive Online", as the existing masslock is temporarily removed.

Masslock Escape

There is now a short window for the player to re-employ the torus drive before "Mass-Lock Sensitivity Restored" and thye torus drive requires further recalibration.

Masslock Dominance

The following factors prevent the torus drive from overpowering a masslock.

Gravity wells of stars and planets

Aegis of station

Taking fire

Current Settings

30 seconds before torus drive is back online (almost certainly too short but good for testing)

10 seconds before masslock sensitivity returns (perhaps slightly too long but starts from masslock release rather than torus engagement)

Torus Drive Online

Mass-Lock Sensitivity Restored

Gravity Well Influence Detected

Download

From the in-game Expansions Manager or from here: File:Oolite.oxp.redspear.masslock reimagined.oxz

Version History

• v1.2 fixed a bug with combat overrides not resetting

avoid taking fire for 60 seconds and you can torus out of there

removed 'escape window' (it was too short for convenience but also too long not to risk skipping other encounters)

instead a scanner check function makes sure you escape current/overlapping masslocks only

• v1.1 Minor tweaks to masslock sensitivity returning and torus drive status reports.
• v1.0 Original release

Links

• BB Thread (2022)
• Author: Redspear
• Masslock

Other oxp's with similar effects

• Masslock Compensator (Redspear, 2018)
• Power To Engines (Redspear, 2019)
• Variable Masslock (Norby, 2015)

Note that Redspear's three older oxp's are compatible with each other!

Redspear's summary of his four Masslock OXP's (from the BB)

Power To Engines

Speedboost (150%) when weapons offline

Useful for escaping faster opponents (if they did same then they wouldn't be able to shoot)

Helps reduce duration of masslocks

Masslock Compensator

Speedboost (200%) when masslocked but cancelled by red alert

No benefit for combat

Significant reduction of time spent in masslock

Traffic Redistributer

Adjusts traffic to increase frequency of slower traders (and so that the 'best' courier ships aren't also the most common)

Station bound traffic becomes easier to overtake because it's usually slower

Pirates, hunters and police are unaffected

Masslock Reimagined

Masslock lasts for a fixed duration rather than until scanner is clear

No speed changes to either player or average encountered NPC

Taking fire negates the effect but possible to dodge your way out of a masslock without being the faster ship

Likely to make Masslock Compensators obsolete if it develops as I hope

Gameplay and Balance indicator