User:Fritz
Playing C-64 Elite since 1985 and Oolite (PC) since July 2015.
I won't watch the talk page too closely, so better contact me in the forum.
My ship
After using a Cobra Mk III for some time I decided that I didn't really like it. I didn't like its outer shape, and - even more important - its cargo capacity was to small to use for the mix of cargo, passenger, and pirate hunting business I like to play. With two or three passenger cabins fitted, the remaining space was much too small!
I had always liked the looks of the Python, even in the original Elite game, and it's definitely more beautiful than a Boa or an Anaconda. It also looks kind of badass, while the other freighters look like what they are: big, pointy containers with engines fitted. While the Anaconda does have some elegance, both Boa types are really fat and ugly.
So if I wanted a freighter, it would have to be a Python! But standard Pythons are slow - too slow, especially for picking up cargo pods and wreckage. And I lost too much real world time on the final approach to stations and during mass locks.
So, after I had earned and bought all the military equipment available, I decided to sell the Cobra and modify a Python by reducing its cargo space to 75 t. The remaining space was used to fit engines and equipment that enabled speed and energy recharge rate of a Cobra Mk III. I didn't change thrust, pitch or roll rates, so it gives a nice feeling of being heavier - it needs around 750 m to stop from full speed!
Currently I have 4 passenger cabins fitted, and the remaining cargo space of 55 t is enough in most situations.
For fairness, I have added the same ship for NPCs, mostly appearing in the role of a "heavy" assassin. And - compared to an Asp Mk II - it is really heavy and always equipped with two military lasers! I've made some texture variants too, and I'll probably release it as an OXP some day.
Currently installed OXPs
- Aliens
- Communications Pack A
- Company Freighters (own project, not released yet)
- Cylon Raider Mark 1 (modified, I made my first OXP tinkering experiments with this one)
- Display reputation (modified text)
- Engine Sound FG (own OXP, similar but significantly different to Engine Sound)
- Escort Contracts (released a new version in December 2015)
- Griff's alloys and wreckage
- Griff's alternative Cobra Mk III
- LogEvents
- Missile Booster (because I'm flying a Python)
- Randomshipnames (strongly modified to something I call "Shortershipnames")
- ReverseControl
- Sensible Sun
- Station Ads
- Synchronised Torus (own OXP)
Work in progress
- Company Freighters: Includes several new textures and ship naming schemes for trading companies.
- Shortershipnames: Technically based on the Randomshipnames OXP, but with a completely different naming logic, giving shorter names that are usually more easy to memorize and don't use so much time when used with Communications Pack A and e-speak. And you can't tell the intentions of the pilot from them...
- Python Gunship: The ship I'm currently flying, a modified Python. Will include some texture variants.
- Damage handling: Just an idea at the moment, discussed in the forum.
