Telescope

Download it from here.

Quick start as Hunter

• Copy the .oxp folder to the AddOns directory, hold down the Shift when start the game first time after copy.
• Buy Telescope and Gravity Scanner equipment or load the included savegame "Telescope demo.oolite-save". Witch Fuel Injectors, ECM, Fuel Scoops, Military Laser and Scanner Targeting Enhancement are used also in this guide.
• Undock (F1) to se the magnified target in top center position.
• Turn off your weapons with underscore (_) to show distant targets also.
• Turn your ship where you see the many brown lollipops on your IFF scanner. The Panorama targeting will countinually change the box to the most centered target.
• Use Injectors (i) to fly closer until you can see a Red ball which means visible ship with bounty. Do not hunt Yellow traders and Purple police ships if you want to remain in clean status.
• Choose your enemy for the strength of your ship: start with a small ship flying alone.
• Stop your fly when just arrive under 30km.
• Use Ctrl+arrow keys to put the target into the middle of the crosshairs to turn on the sniper ring which magnify the difference from the correct line-up.
• Turn on your weapons (_) and fire (a). You can try to hit and a stopped target will turning when successful, but if your target is too small then fly inside 25600km where the red target box indicate the correct line-up.
• Press ident (r) to lock the most centered target if there are more, another press will unlock it or lock another if more centered than the current target. In red alert will lock targets which target you only.
• Telescope can be primed (Shift+N) then activate (n) button will step to the next target, mode (b) steer your ship to the direction of the target.
• If a missile is coming then a Cyan ball warn you: start ECM (e), target it (t) and try to avoid (i) or shoot it (a).
• If you win and pilot is ejected then shot down the derelict ship to get the bounty, then fly after the small White balls and scoop the Escape Pod, metal fragments and cargo pods.
• Fly back to the station and dock to get the reward for the pilot and sell cargo (F8). Congratulations, you are richer. :)

Telescope Equipment

This OXP realize some of the requests for an extended scanner described in this topic.

Can determine the direction, distance, orientation and legal status of all visible ships. The detection range based on the size of the target, when the core game set it to isVisible.

For example you can see:

• Adder at 32 km,
• Viper and escort ships around 50 km,
• Anaconda, Boa, Cobra MkIII and Python about 100 km,
• Rock Hermit in almost 500 km (if not visible from the Main Station then fly around),
• Coriolis Station at 1000 km (right from the witchpoint).

Cost: 500.0 Cr.
Techlevel: 5

Visual targeting

The virtual model of the target ship is displayed and a console message show the name, range and direction. The direction marked by <^ or v> symbols to read faster than the Port Up or Down Starboard words. The ranges and directions calculated continually to help turn in line and see the decreasing range while travel to the target. The orientation of the model is equal with the target if you centered it and you can spin the model if turn around your ship. You can set the size of the model with the $TelescopeVSize variable in the Scripts/telescope.js.

Lightballs

Far targets get coloured lightball markers in the view and lollipops with darker colours near the edge of the scanner.

• Red: Hostile ship with bounty (pirates and thargoids),
• Pink: Tharglet until active and Drones with bounty in HardShips OXP,
• Yellow: Neutral ship with clean status (traders and co),
• Purple: Police,
• Cyan: Missile or Mine,
• Green: Buoy or Station,
• Blue: Wormhole (from Oolite v1.79),
• White: Cargo, Escape Pod or Delerict ship,
• Gray: last known position of a lost target (moved out of the telescope range),
• Orange: Gravity Scanner (see below) detected ship too far to be visible,
• Brown: Gravity Scanner detected ship under 130t mass (less dangerous, especially with ShipVersion OXP).

Beacons identified in the whole system due to the transmitted radio broadcasts. If a ship transmits beaconcode then detected anywhere but colored as a ship and turn to orange if too far to be visible.

The current target is marked with a gray "shadow" lollipop at the edge of the IFF scanner also to help determine the direction, especially at close range to avoid the scanner zooming.

If the target is closer than 1000m then the lightball will be removed due to ships almost cover the ball and cargoes is enough large to detect with your eyes, but the shadow lollipop still remain. You can set the minimum distance with the $TelescopeVMarkMinDist variable in the Scripts/telescope.js.

Targets within the range of the Military Laser (30km) marked with a larger ball and normal (not darker) colored lollipop. You can use this feature to determine where you can open fire exactly if the target is enough large to be chance to hit.

You can disable the lighballs of the ships with set $TelescopeLightBalls to false, but non-ships with Blue, Cyan, Gray, Green and White colours will be remain to help find these. Auto targeting functions still can lock far targets, seems to be an empty box but the ship are in.

You can restrict lighballs in Red Alert into 10-30km if set $TelescopeRedAlertLimiter to true to save a few CPU time but it is worth it on slow computers only.

Sniper ring

If you almost lined up with your target who is between 10 and 30km then a ring will appear. The move of this ring magnify the variance of the correct line-up to help fine aim. You can hit if the target box of the Scanner Targeting Enhancement switch to red.

Snipers can use the distances between 25.6 and 30km to fire before the enemy can see the attacker on the scanner. It was possible without Telescope also, but the size of the ball give another help to know when run the target out of the range and the ring can help to hit without red box which is working in the normal scanner range only.

If you think this is a cheat then fire only when the target can see you also or set the $TelescopeSniperRange variable to 25600 which will shorten the appear of the ring and the largest ball (but no way to shorten the range of the Military Laser).

Auto steering

With primed Telescope (Shift+N) the mode button ("b") turn on the auto-steering: if your ship fly in line (not turning) then turn to the most centered target, but stop instantly if you touch the controls and before the correct line-up so will not aim instead of you.

The activate button ("n") can steer to the nearest lightball-marked target which is useful to pick up cargo from the near field which need scanner zooming to find them. Now you can press activate instead of zoom, locate, turn and unzoom.

In Red Alert the activate/mode buttons steer to the nearest/most centered attacker. You can disable this by turning off the weapons, in this case you can lock and steer to any nearest/most centered target regardless from the alert condition.

Auto scanning

Telescope check new targets in every second and perform autoscan if found one: simple light sensors can see new dots in the whole sky without energy usage but must zoom with the main scope to determine the ship type which need 2 energy points. The autoscan can be turned off if the $TelescopeAutoScan set to false in the telescope.js but usually worth the cost to get new informations sooner.

Far target locking

You can lock far targets also which is not in the normal scanner. The distance showed before the name of the ship with Scanner Targeting Enhancement due to the the second line show the range of the virtual marker only (which is always near the edge of the IFF Scanner). Must to use this workaround because the core game do not allow to lock targets out of the normal scanner so the locked marker seems to be the lock of the target (can fix in the core only).

If you can not see a ship then the ship maybe destroyed, jumped, flyed farther than the visible range or has Military Scanner Jammer and you has not Jammer Filter so can not get target lock.

When fly too far and lost the target then the telescope rename it to Lost target until next scan.

Keypress functions

The ident button ("r") got a new feature from Telescope: can lock the most centered target even if not in the screen. Next press will unlock it if the most centered target is the same else lock the new target. In Red Alert will not narrow the locking to the attackers to can lock any target.

Works only if was a locked target before due to triggered by the shipTargetLost event and sometimes if no target then not called. Press "r" again or get something into the crosshair or use equipment buttons to lock a target.

If you turn off the weapons with the underscore button ("_") then a scan happen and you enter to the "Navigation Mode" where autolock help to see through targets (named to Panorama targeting): continually relock to the most centered target. This button is choosed to avoid unwanted fire if you have turrets. In Red Alert you can lock any target and see far targets if turn this mode on. The ident button can turn off and on Panorama targeting in Navigation Mode.

If more equipment buttons will be available then stepping forward and backward in the target list will be possible. The list contains hostiles first if any, then all ships in normal scanner (25.6km), then Cargo and Escape Pods, then after all near items show ships which is not in the normal scanner.

Gravity Scanner Equipment

Extend the detection range of the Telescope using mass detector scaled by the third power of the distance: the mass of the target in kg must be larger than d*d*d/100 where d is the distance in km.

Detection of the player ships and the Hard versions in HardShips OXP:

		t	km	Hard t	km
Adder   	11	52	23	66
Moray    	40	79	81	100
Cobra Mk I	47	84	94	106
Fer-de-Lance	51	86	102	108
Asp     	59	90	118	114
Cobra Mk III	186	132	371	167
Boa     	192	134	385	169
Phyton  	222	141	445	177
Anaconda	430	175	1289	253

Beacons detected in the whole system and Rock Hermits usually also (from 900km).

Gravity scanner works only when you turn off your weapons with underscore ("_") button, else visible targets displayed only. You can define a more comfortable key in the Oolite/oolite.app/Resources/Config/keyconfig.plist file.

Featuring auto-relock which contiunually change your target to the most centered target, so the box will jumping during you turn your ship to help browse the many targets. The ident ("r") button can lock the same target only in this mode, can not step to the second centered target.

Gravity scan consume 8 energy points (visual scan use 2 only). You can hear the sound of the Gravity Scanner when scanning which is remind to the energy usage also.

Orange and Brown lollipops and lightballs marks the detected targets out of the visible range. Brown if the ship is under 130t mass which means small ships, usually escorts - avoid Oranges and target single Browns until your ship is not very strong. The mass usually can not tell about a ship is pirate or not, colored identification need visual contact.

If you see a lighter ball then there are two or more ship in the same place. The smallest orange and brown ball means the target is farther than 150km, these get dark orange and dark brown lollipops.

Gravity Scanner can not determine the orientation. If the target is not visible then the view position of the visual model will be fixed from the top.

The activate ("n") and mode ("b") button of the Gravity Scanner is not the same with the Telescope, but usable as to step forward and back in the list and always steer to the target (except if you comment out the Steer() lines from the gravscannereq.js). If you want to lock an on-screen target without steer then you can still use the ident button ("r"). New scan happen if you step over the end of the list or when you turn off your weapons.

When the core game provide more equipment buttons then a direct scan button can be assigned (maybe Ctrl+n). Another new equipment button (maybe Ctrl+b) planned to turn off the visual model of the target ship.

You can prime and use buttons of the Telescope equipment also due to the target list is the same and contains all detected target regardless of what equipment is primed.

No passive gravity sensors so AutoScan will happen only if a new target arrive into the visible range. When you undock or arrive to a new system then telescope scan performed automatically but if you want to scan the final frontier then you must turn off your weapons.

Cost: 10000.0 Cr.
Techlevel: 5

Large Dish Equipment

Detect ships from double range, for example Anaconda at 700km which is more than the usual witchpoint-planet distance.

Ships over 1000t (Hard Anaconda and big OXP ships) can use the hull mass to refine the gravity signals to reach 4 times range than without Large Dish.

Need Gravity Scanner, it is a big piece of metal alone. Can fit into ships over 130t mass only (Cobra III and co.) due to the size.

Fast CPU can draw many (around 100) targets without relevant FPS drop, slow systems draw it also but with drop (tested on Intel Atom netbook). In this case turn on Gravity targets if needed only and turn off when reached Telescope range.

There are a maximum of detection at 1000km regardless from the bonuses to avoid extreme situations which sometimes can cause bugs. Show maximum the nearest 99 targets only to save CPU and avoid serious FPS drops in systems with many ships.

This is not a primable equipment (there are no buttons on the pure alloy) and a passive extension so will not increase the energy usage of the scan.

Cost: 5000.0 Cr.
Techlevel: 5

Technical Informations

Depending on Oolite v1.77. No shaders needed.

Instructions

Unzip the file, and then move the folder named ".oxp" into the AddOns directory of your Oolite installation. Savegame included: put the "Telescope demo.oolite-save" file into the oolite-saves directory any load it.

Settings in Scripts/telescope.js

• $TelescopeAutoScan = true; //check continually for new isVisible isPiloted target and scan if found

Scanning use a very little energy if a new target arrived but you strongly need this to avoid often scan manually.

• $TelescopeAutoLock = 1; //if no target and something in crosshairs with max. this degree diff., 1=lightball size, 0=off

AutoLock is set to 1 degree (size of a lightball) and lock only if no current target to make it similar with the original ident function plus can lock far targets also. Disabled if set to 0 but in this case you can lock targets in 25.6km only.

• $TelescopeGravLock = 20; //gravity scanner relock in this degree cone (0-180, 20=about the screen)

Panorama targeting offer auto-relock to the most centered target during manual turning and can be switched on or off in-game frist with the weapons and second with the ident button when you see gravity targets. Disabled if set it to 0 but it is not recommended due to in this case you can not lock far targets, so set it to 1 degree at least, or simply use the ident button in-game to reduce it to the level of the AutoLock and leave the possibility to turn it on again.

• $TelescopeIdentLock = 180; //if ident pressed or target lost then lock in this degree (0-180, 180=the whole sphere)

Can lock the most centered target even if behind you if set it to 180 and the second press will unlock it so you can clear the visual model when not needed. If set it to 1 then the locking radius reduced to the size of a lightball so can do unlock only. Note the AutoLock will relock in 0.25 second if the target centered exactly, in this case turn a bit before unlock.

Red Alert is an exception where the IdentLock target hostiles only (who target you) to help find attackers. Can be override with AutoLock and GravLock, so if you unlock the current target and point exactly to another then the AutoLock will target it regardless from the hostile status, or if you point it and turn weapons quickly off and on again then lock it regardless from you has lock on another target (but not too quickly, the timed function need max. 0.25 second to lock).

• $TelescopeLightBalls = true; //turn on or off the lightball markers of the ships

Non-ships with Blue, Cyan, Gray, Green and White colours will be remain to help find these. Auto targeting functions still can lock far targets, the targeted ship are in an empty box.

• $TelescopeRedAlertLimiter = false; //a bit more FPS in dogfight if true but show all marks with weapons off only

• $TelescopeRing = true; //show a ring around the visual target

• $TelescopeShowVisualQuestionMark = false; //if a ship has no visual model in effecdata.plist show a big "?" model

• $TelescopeShowVisualStation = true; //show or not show the 3D model of the targeted station

• $TelescopeShowVisualTarget = true; //show the 3D model of the target (except stations if VisualStation is false)

• $TelescopeSniperMinRange = 10000; //meters, show sniper ring if the target is over this distance

• $TelescopeSniperRange = 30000; //meters, if the target is inside then show sniper ring and large lightball

Can set it to to 25600 if you want to shorten the appear of the sniper ring in the name of the fair play.

• $TelescopeThargoids = false; //you will get aliens right after undock to test Telescope

• $TelescopeVMarkMinDist = 1000; //meters, if the target is inside then remove the lightball marker

• $TelescopeVSize = 0.5; //size of the visual target (between 0.1 and 1, default: 0.5)

• $TelescopeVZoomSize = 0.7; //zoomed size of the visual target (between VSize and 1, default: 0.7)

Script_info support

OXP makers can alter the detection of any objects in shipdata.plist to avoid reveal mission secrets.

Stations with non-standard roles and ships with the word "stealth" within dataKey or role are detected in normal scanner range only. Must specify "telescope" script_info key to detect it farther to stay compatible with the existing OXPs, for example Rescue Stations.oxp, Stealth.oxp and Vector.oxp.

Standard Station roles: "station", "coriolis", "dodo", "dodec", "dodecahedron", "ico", "icosa", "icosahedron" and "rockhermit".

Hiding ships need "stealth" role or set telescope = 0; in script_info.

script_info = {
	telescope = 0;
};

• 0: detected within normal scanner only as without telescope.
• 1: detected in visible range only (due to gravity scanner can see a ship with 1kg mass from 2km only).
• Positive integer: give new mass to the ship in kg which can increase or decrease the gravity detection.
• Negative integer: will be substracted from the ship.mass in kg to reduce gravity detection.

If this key is not placed at all then get the normal detection. Objects with disabled detection (0) not detected when arrived into visible range (need scanner range), but once detected then tracked over scanner range while in visible range until next scan (small help and save performance).

Problems

• If you do not see the model of a ship (or see a question mark if enabled) then you probably installed a custom ship OXP. The core game currently do not support to make visual effects from ships directly, but there is a workaround: copy the Config/shipdata.plist files in your OXPs to effectdata.plist or insert into the full contents if exists to avoid overwrite.
• If the model still not appear and the definition of the ship using like_ship then copy the model = "filename.dat"; from the original ship into the section of this ship. Original cobras arrived after I do this only.
• If a custom ship use shaders with uniforms then you may see errors in the log but the visual target usually appear with less detail (need several core improvements to fix properly). To avoid the errors you can try commenting out the referred lines with // from the effectdata.plist or replace the inputs with fix numbers based on the wiki. For example the Griff Boa ( http://wiki.alioth.net/index.php/Griff_Boa ) is included in the effectdata.plist file of the Telescope OXP.
• If you ride a custom ship and the visual target is misaligned (not in the top center position) then copy the view_position values from your shipdata.plist into the $ShipLibViewPosition array in Scripts/shiplib.js . From Oolite v1.79 the player.ship.viewPositionForward property solve this.
• Opened wormholes are not targetable. You can put a box around it but the script receive an empty target only. Can not get a pointer from the list of allShips nor allVisualEffects in v1.77 but from v1.79 there is an isWormhole flag.
• If a ship fly over a station then the lightball hide behind the station. To solve this need resizeable flashers which will be available from Oolite v1.79 only.
• Right after undock or hyperjump the first ident press can not target the most centered ship, only the second press. The first is not call any event, so you must press "r" again.
• Distant targets write double message when locked, sometime the first show the name of the previous target. This seems to be a problem in the core game (tried to log it but only one log line created). Simply ignore the first message.

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 at gmail.com.

ScanSound source: http://soundbible.com/878-Martian-Scanner.html

Changelog

2013.07.20. v0.9  Activate steer to the nearest target or to the nearest attacker in Red Alert.
                  Mode lock and steer to the most centered target or attacker in Red Alert.
                  Large lightballs added, show within $TelescopeSniperMinRange (10km).
                  Added telescope script_info key and hide custom Stations, thanks to Svengali.
                  Added $TelescopeThargoids if you want a test in instant action.
                  Fixed $TelescopeRedAlertLimiter, thanks to Solonar. 
2013.07.17. v0.86 Gravity Scanner cost increased, repair discounted.
                  Tharglet get small pink lightball until active.
2013.07.16. v0.85 Debug version to Duggan and Solonar with many Tharglets and without crash.
2013.07.15. v0.84 Internal updates to avoid timeLimit.
2013.07.15. v0.83 Gravity Scanner range reduced and made another performance improvements.
2013.07.14. v0.82 Added $TelescopeGravLock and $TelescopeIdentLock sensitivity in degree.
                  Added $TelescopeShowVisualStation and $TelescopeShowVisualQuestionMark.
                  Added is_external_dependency = yes; to griff boa, thanks to Svengali.
                  Bugfixes and preformance improvements.
                  Can lock asteroids in crosshairs with ident press.
2013.07.11. v0.81 Added $TelescopeAutoLock, if 0 then must manually lock targets as before.
2013.06.17. v0.8  Lightballs and shadow lollipop added.
2013.06.10. v0.7  Visual targeting and Auto steering added.
2013.05.05. v0.6  Minor fixes.
2013.04.08. v0.5  First working version.
2013.03.31. v0.1  First test files.

Download Telescope OXP from here.

Quick Facts

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Version	Released	License	Features	Category	Author(s)	Feedback
0.9	2013-07-20	CC-BY-SA 3	extended targeting and scanning	Equipment OXPs	Norby	BB-Link