Packing

[aclockworkmonkey]

What is the optimal packing list at the start of the game?  I remember playing OP1 years ago and remember this was crucial and a little difficult.

A

[Lysol]

I go with
20 food/support
1 solar power sat
2 recievers
Geo penatrator
Interstellar probe..

Comm sat maybe and then fit everything else you can.

[White Claw]

It depends slightly on how you want to play the game. You don't NEED a comm sat, but it's definitely helpful.

I agree with the above list and I usually bump up the number of colonists. (Again, it depends on what kind of game I feel like playing.) If you bump up the number of colonists, make sure you have more landers.

You don't need more than one of each kind of probe. (If you cheat and use my planet lookup table, you can save some cost from the interstellar probes too.) You also don't need the orbital observer unless you really want to be able to see where the rebel colony landed.

I like to take the solar power setup too. I actually wish you could do without the tokamak, but it won't let you. It does provide you with plenty of power though. (BTW: One solar sat powers two arrays.)

[Falciform]

Once you take the solar power satellite and array you're set on power for the rest of the game.  Personally, I think that's sort of ridiculous, but the "random disasters" don't ever touch either piece.  If you bump up the passengers, only take three colony transports and cargo transports.  The rebels will only take one and you still get two, so you don't lose any colonists.

[White Claw]

I hadn't tired the three transports thing. Although it took me a while playing before I realized that two colonist landers and one cargo lander wasn't enough when I bumped up to 200 colonists and a bunch of food/life support. I guess they just all stayed on the starship in orbit and burned up on reentry...    

[Flameoftheabyss]

Hmm, what supplies do the Rebel Colony take away?

1 solar power sat
2 recievers

I never tried bringing more than 1 solar receiver, but if you bring more, will the Rebel Colony get away with half of it?

If you bump up the passengers, only take three colony transports and cargo transports.  The rebels will only take one and you still get two, so you don't lose any colonists

Does that mean I take 200 colonists and get 100 on the divide, while the Rebels get only 50 due to having only 1 Colonist Lander?

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And what about Food and Life Support? And do they also get used up while the colonists are still in orbit?

And about the Geo Penetrator... does it have any other purpose apart from determining the maximum depth and estimated mining sites? Pretty useless information anyway, since i've already recorded these things.  

Also, what the heck is the ULBI Probe for? I can't seem to be able to use it. I'm guessing it's pretty useless though.

So far, as a new OP1 gamer, i've found out that the Orbital Observer is totally useless to me, since the Rebel Colony gets abandoned in about 100 turns or so anyway.

Lastly, what does the Cargo Lander actually carry? Food and Life Support? Also how much can it carry anyway?

[Falciform]

Exactly.  You get 100 colonists while the rebel colony gets 50 (or maybe 100, who knows).  

Food and life support get used up while in orbit.  I still haven't figured out a happy medium for how much to take versus how long you can leave them in orbit.  They always start complaining and dying regardless of what I do.

The geo penetrator gives you extra mine locations, I'm pretty sure.  And mine depth.

The ULBI probe is the one you send off before you actually launch your ship.  It gives you extra data on the planets in the solar system you chose.  If you don't send it, the planets just have a bunch of question marks beside the different information topics.

Yeah, the orbital observer is kinda worthless, but I always take it.  Why?  Because I would take it if I were actually sending a ship to a new solar system.  Other than that, nope.

I have no idea what the cargo lander is good for.  You have to have it to get your junk down to the surface, whatever that junk may be. heh  I also always did three cargo landers, although that was probably overkill.

[White Claw]

The actual amounts that can be carried by the cargo containers is listed in the manual (I don't remember off hand.) Each lander can only carry 50 colonists. I THINK the cargo containers carry 25 units of stuff each. (If you remember, each thing takes up a different number of units of space.) They might carry more, I can't remember exactly. Cargo landers bring down your food, air, equipment, etc... If you don't have enough cargo landers, your solor receiver and other things will magically disappear.

Whatever the number of colonists you take, you get half and the rebels get half. You also split the landers. I don't know if there's any way to check about the 100/50 split with three landers, but my guess is that the computer gets 100 colonists (since it cheats other ways too).

Geopenetrators will map out more of the mining sites for you so you don't have to explore so much. If you don't take any, you'll be missing information after you land (but you can make that info up later). ULBI is a waste of weight if you use a cheater sheet (like I posted here)

Yes, because the computer sucks, the orbital observer is also a waste. I do like the comm sat though because it saves me a lot after I land. (Don't have all the vechicle restrictions)

I do believe food/air get used up in orbit, but I think it's at a reduced rate. I think it's something like 10:1 compared to normal (I think 10 units of food will last 10 turns for 100 colonists). But I'm also thinking that it might not start getting used untill a few turns after you get started. (i.e. it takes a few turns for colonists to "wake up"). Don't quote me on any of this because I can't strictly remember and I'm not at my home comp right now.

EDIT (leeor_net): fixing broken links