Playing Oolite
==============

What is it?
-----------
Oolite is a space sim game, written for Mac OS X in Objective C using
Cocoa and OpenGL. It has been ported to Linux and GNUstep.

It was written by Giles Williams in response to the withdrawal of 
Elite - The New Kind from the internet. Although inspired by the work of 
Christian Pinder, following David Braben and Ian Bell, the work is an 
independent interpretation and expansion of the original game.

Oolite is designed as a small game that is easy for users to pick up 
and expand upon. Almost every aspect of the game can be modified using 
simple, free graphics packages and text-editors.

The game and source-code are offered for free under a Creative Commons 
License. One of Giles's priorities for development was to separate the game 
engine from the game materials (graphics, models, AI, text-strings etc.).

How to play it
--------------
If you've not heard of Elite (what rock have you been hiding under since
1984?), Oolite works in pretty much the same way. You trade to make money -
in the meantime fighting off pirates who want to steal your cargo.
To increase your profit (and lessen your chances of dying) you may need
to spend that money on ship upgrades, or perhaps a larger ship.
Or...you may decide to become a pirate yourself! Or you may decide to
be a bounty hunter - picking off the pirates to earn the bounty on their
heads. Your combat rating reflects your skill as a combat pilot - it
goes from Harmess through to Elite.

Watch out if you choose the piracy route - if you get caught by the Police
Vipers, they will show no mercy.

If you're good, you may from time to time get a special mission...

For more information and tutorials, please see the FAQ and First Flight
tutorial at http://oolite.aegidian.org - especially the First Flight
Tutorial.

CONTROLS
========

Game control
------------
F2          Game control menu (load, save, fullscreen etc.) - only when docked
P           Pause game
Shift-Esc   Quit game

In-flight controls
------------------
Arrow keys     Roll and pitch
W              Increase thrust
S              Decrease thrust
Z              Change scanner zoom level (from 1:1 to 5:1)
D              Jettison cargo
\              Switch Advanced Space Compass mode
-              View communications log
C              Docking computer (full sequence)
Shift-D        Docking computer (instant)
Shift-C        Docking comupter (active target)
I              Engage Witch-Space Fuel Injectors
J              Activate Hyperspeed (High speed transit through space)
H              Activate Hyperdrive (jump to another star system)
G              Activate galactic hyperdrive
1              Front view
2              Aft view
3              Port view
4              Starboard view

Blowing stuff up
----------------
A              Fire laser
T              Arm missile/Q bomb
M              Fire missile/Q bomb
U              Unarm missile/Q bomb
Y              Cycle available missiles/Q bombs
Tab            Launch energy bomb

Preventing self from being blown up
-----------------------------------
R              Activate ID computer
E              Activate ECM
Esc            Launch escape capsule
0              Activate cloaking device

Finding your way around, trade and equipment
--------------------------------------------
Either the number key or F-key listed below:
1              Launch from dock (only while docked)
2              Load/Save game and game options (only while docked)
3              Buy equipment (only while docked)
3 twice        Buy ship (only while docked)
5              Current status
5 twice        Manifest screen
6              Local chart
6 twice        Galactic chart
7              Planet information
8              Marketplace (trade only when docked)
8 twice        Courier marketplace (only when docked)

Need more?
==========
So you don't have enough with the basic game? There are a number of
Expansion Packs at the Oosat website:

http://capnhack.com/hosting/oolite/Oolite/OoSat.html

To install an OXP, put the OXP in the Oolite top-level directory
(i.e. /usr/local/Oolite if you installed system-wide, or $HOME/Oolite
if you installed in your home directory). Next time you run
Oolite, the OXP will be loaded.

Caution: if you save a game after buying a ship that was in an OXP,
if you subsequently remove the OXP, that commander file will be rendered
useless!

