RocketShips

RocketShips OXP contain fast ships with exotic technologies but is an old package without warranty!

RocketShips OXP

The name of the ships comes from the high top speed and the outer shape which resembles a rocket. There are 4 new ship classes, each with a basic and an advanced (combat-optimized) type, so you can use 8 different RocketShips. Almost all of these used by pirates and police also, in all there are 20 ship versions.

These ships can give one a nice career: choose your path as a peaceful trader or a fighter, start with the appropriate RocketShip and enjoy the profits made by trade or combat. Get enough money for another ship which helps 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 with the large brick-form ships which roll slowly.

There are some RocketShips in all systems: traders attacked by pirates pursued by hunters and police ships. There is a good chance of a pirate ambush at witchpoint (decreasing with the stability of the government). Some police ships will help but there will be fewer in bad systems, and none in an Anarchy.

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

RocketDrive

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

-RocketDrive consumes more and more energy, first only slowing your recharge but at high speed draining the energy banks too,
-Cabin Temp increasing due to the heat of the RocketDrive - too much heat can cause cargo or equipment damage,
-shields are overtaxed which causes depletion.

If weapons are offline then shields can work normally at a cost of 1.5 times energy usage (which consumes less than the recharge rate of the shields). Useful for normal travel and escaping combat. There is a shield guard function following the use of Torus and Fuel Injectors: because these leave the speed setting at maximum when turned off, RocketDrive starts consuming the shields if weapons are still online. In green alert laser weapons will be temporarily placed off-line to save the shield when over 80% of the maximum speed. You can get back your lasers by toggling weapons on/off - or slowing below 80%.

You can choose only two from these three energy-consuming part of the ship at 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 your speed at least to the point where the energy
 recharge will be equal with the drain (70-80%, depending on the recharging abilities of the ship).

RocketDrive will be paused for 5 seconds each time when it overheats or when the energy level sinks to the last energy bank. Free equipment helps to set a higher minimal energy level if you want to be sure to reserve more energy, for example in an unsafe system.

Useful feedback about RocketDrive is the Cabin Temperature: when at the minimum CT RocketDrive is not working and the average of your real speed is at best half of the maximum, regardless of what the speed meter suggests. During pause your speed drastically lowers to 2/3 of maxSpeed. If you use NumericHud v3 then the speed meter still shows a desired speed which is not real anymore, please upgrade to v3.1. Other HUDs shows an improper maximum speed value. If you lower the speed to some maintainable level (about 70%) normality will be restored as with the 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 AF (AutoFire) Laser types are available: Auto Pulse Laser, Hammer, Sniper and Sapper. These give additional firepower. If the target is not hostile then one needs to hit the target first with the main laser to avoid unwanted fire. One the target is marked, these weapons will shot again and again once the target enters the crosshairs within the maximum range of the AF laser. If Detectors OXP is present and the energy display jumps 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 it can.

All of them operate a bit slower than the pulse mode to avoid heating and allow repeating for an unlimited time.

The types:

-Auto Pulse Laser is the weakest and is medium-ranged (like the standard Pulse Laser),
-Hammer is the strongest but slowest and medium-ranged also (this is the AutoFire modification of the standard Mining Laser),
-Sniper has the longest range and strong as the original Military Laser but is 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 will be no shield on the NPCs anyway (so you are recommended to install it).

The Hammer and Sniper have Armour-Piercing ability if Hull Damage OXP is installed: and 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 is also linked and can fire again after a hit without pressing the button again (only if not overheated). This feature presupposes extra sensors in the front hull so one cannot AutoFire from the aft or the sides.

The Target Autolock OXP can target a new attacker who hits you if no target is set and will mark your target with a cyan/grey changing lollipop. The AutoFire computer watches nearby ships: if a ship targets you and you have no target set then that ship will be set to your target. If locked in either way then bring in front of you, the AutoFire starts working even if your main laser is overheated and can not shoot to mark it. If your current target is set to somewhere else and then a hostile or previously marked ship moves to your front then the AutoFire weapons will fire regardless of your target box. In this way you can direct your turrets to fire on an incoming missile (press Shift+T to set the target box on it) while continuing to hunt a hostile ship.

To ensure compatibility with mission objectives, AutoFire can only destroy missiles and mines. For example, if AF hits an enfeebled ship then the energy is reduced to 1 to force the launch of an Escape Pod and a missile also. Then you can easily destroy the ship with the main laser which triggers your mission's success, and if you scoop and transport the Escape Pod back to any Station, you can also collect an insurance fee for the rescue! For safety's sake the Pod will be awarded even if it is not in the ship (otherwise you hit and hit again a sparking ship but you never destroy it - which is more annoying than a dealing with an escaped pilot from that ship). The AutoFire is intelligent enough to ignore Stations, Escape Pods and unpiloted harmless objects.

Malfunctions

Taking enough damage (250) from the front 90 degree cone in a short time causes AutoFire malfunction. Taking enough damage from the side (not from front or aft cone) causes System malfunctions: one no longer gets a proper message about the energy level of the attacked ship and the speed of the malfunction restoral is halved. Taking enough damage from the aft 90 degree cone causes RocketDrive malfunction.

The restore bots can fix 8 points of damage (4 if the System malfunctions) in every second and will be ready in 30 seconds (if one avoids receiving more damage in the meantime). Every point of restoration consumes 1/4 energy points and the restoration is paused if the energy level sinks to the last energy bank. The maximum drain is 6 points/sec if all parts needs restoration at the same time.

Taking more damage after a malfunction will increase the restoration time. Taking double the damage amount (500) causes permanent damage which can be fixed in a Station only. Messages will tell both the remaining time and the percent of the integrity. If integrity drops below 50% then there will be malfunction until it reaches 100% again, but if it drops to 0% then it will be permanently damaged.

Good news is that until these parts of the ship can take up damage (the side facing to the attacker not permanently damaged) then the main energy banks receive 25% less damage: 100 points of aft damage depletes 100 points from the RocketDrive but does 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 armour-tiles deflect lasers and other attacks. This armour can reduce all hull damage by 10 energy points: so a Beam Laser does only 5 and not 15, and a Military Laser does only 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 use a dark armour with a similar effect.

The RocketShips:

1. Rocket Miner

An ideal medium-sized ship for a new commander to get a quick mining start (good cargo space and extra mining equipment). The large cargo provides more profit - so less work time will be needed to buy a better ship. The ship form is designed like a rocket but with a blunt nose to reach the smallest spherical collision radius with the largest cylinder diameter and cargo which can dock without rolling (to afford an easy landing for new pilots).

The almost flat nose can keep the collision radius at the lowest value which is given by the main part of the ship: 42m means 5655 m^2 targetable area. The The Cobra MkIII has 73m (which gives a 16620 m^2 due to the spherical form of the shields) so this is 3 times larger for a pirate who tries to hit it!

The pilot is recommended 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.

Extra mining Equipment: Equipped with a Mining Laser and a Fuel Scoop (to make money from asteroids).

This is not a combat ship: it is advisable to run away if attacked. Recommended for use within the solar systems of secure governments only.

Always turn off the weapons to save the shields. One can buy an Energy Unit to extend the duration of the RocketDrive speed. Some poor pirates use a hardened version of this ship with a red-colored laser.

2. Rocket Fighter (advanced runner)

A fast small escort ship, designed with as little hull size as possible to minimize the targetable area. This means that almost all laser fire misses it! It also means that it is very hard to hit if it is your enemy! Weak if attacked by Missiles - so equipped with ECM and an Escape Pod by default.

The small size gives high pitch rates, but the tiny inner space causes drawbacks:

-Beam forward laser (Military Laser will not be fittable),
-no missiles,
-no Hyperdrive, but can use wormholes opened by other ships (one is recommended to buy a wormhole scanner),
-no Injectors but the engine is fast (and the Torus Drive works as well if no ship is in radar range),
-no Fuel Scoop and no cargo - but can still carry parcels and light 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 docks easily.

Usable to transport valuables and to fight in the unstable government sectors (where the small size is advantageous). 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 as an alternative way to make a small trader. Why fight with the pirates if can leave them behind using the injected RocketDrive - and then dock within seconds? The combat systems are removed to make room for the Cargo, the Fuel Scoop and the Fuel Injectors. The cargo-space is enough to carry three people, and the cabin safe can hold an additional 500kg of valuables, thus earning money in a short time.

4. Rocket Gunship

This is the heavy version of the smallest combat ship with dual engines 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 having earned enough money in a Fighter to buy this Gunship when you hit the "i" button).

Hyperdrive, Galactic Drive, missiles and cargo still not available. But there are no major equipment restrictions due to the gunship massing over 30t. One can get anything except special items which need large ships over 130t (like the Heavy and Mining Railguns, Large Dish, Military IronHide Armour and Naval Shield Booster - and of course the Military Laser mentioned above).

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.

Recommendend OXPs to reach the normal functionality of RocketShips: -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.

Other 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]