Trapper Tim's Guide to CLS 2

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Kirlack
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Post by Kirlack » Thu, 14. Mar 13, 08:27

You can submit the guide to Graphil to be added to the guides sticky Tim. Either PM him and ask or ask him in the thread. Also, it might be worth your while making a thread with links to all your CLS related threads, for easier reference.

Timsup2nothin
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Post by Timsup2nothin » Thu, 14. Mar 13, 15:18

Shaevar wrote:Excellent guide! I see there was a lot of effort into making it and it is much appreciated! :D

If i might make a suggestion though, I think your guide will benefit greatly from having somes..titles or headlines between the differents sections. It would make it easier to find a specific information once you go back to reading it. Sorry if it ain't clear, english is not my first language.
I tried to keep the detailed parts with how the commands work in green and the more discussion/theory parts in white to help with that. I figured the color change worked sort of like a headline.
Kirlack wrote:You can submit the guide to Graphil to be added to the guides sticky Tim. Either PM him and ask or ask him in the thread. Also, it might be worth your while making a thread with links to all your CLS related threads, for easier reference.
:) I was thinking this guide was the 'distilled' version and figured the other threads would make their way into history. I'll edit in some references at the end of this one though, since it doesn't go into monopoly networks.

@All...

I appreciate all the support. I think Kirlack is on target that getting added to the guide list is more appropriate than a sticky...if all the good guides had sticky's there would be multiple pages of sticky's. I'll check with Graphil.
Trapper Tim's Guide to CLS 2

On Her Majesty's Secret Service-Dead is Dead, and he is DEAD

Not a DiD, so I guess it's a DiDn't, the story of my first try at AP
Part One, in progress

HEY! AP!! That's new!!!

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DrBullwinkle
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Post by DrBullwinkle » Thu, 14. Mar 13, 15:36

Just a thought on readability: You have some great ideas, Tim, and clearly a lot of experience. But reading those walls of text is tedious. A little bit of formatting would go a long way toward improving readability.
  • Bold tags are great for emphasizing important points (or main points).
  • Size tags are great for headings.
  • (You probably already know that you can quote a post to see the tags used.)

    (I use autohotkey macros to simplify adding bbcode. However, the formatting buttons work -- although you might have to copy and paste them to put them in the correct position.)


Anyway, thanks for posting some great info!

Timsup2nothin
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Post by Timsup2nothin » Thu, 14. Mar 13, 15:59

DrBullwinkle wrote:Just a thought on readability: You have some great ideas, Tim, and clearly a lot of experience. But reading those walls of text is tedious. A little bit of formatting would go a long way toward improving readability.
  • Bold tags are great for emphasizing important points (or main points).
  • Size tags are great for headings.
  • (You probably already know that you can quote a post to see the tags used.)

    (I use autohotkey macros to simplify adding bbcode. However, the formatting buttons work -- although you might have to copy and paste them to put them in the correct position.)


Anyway, thanks for posting some great info!
I'm never quite sure what's important. When I read guides I find that about half the time I know most of what is actually being covered but I learn something from some tangent comment that is made in passing. Of course that tangent comment often doesn't have any supporting explanation and I end up researching and flailing about, but I figure that's what guides are for.

I try to put in enough humor to break up the tedium though...and you'll notice I apologized in advance for the giant wall of text. :)
Trapper Tim's Guide to CLS 2

On Her Majesty's Secret Service-Dead is Dead, and he is DEAD

Not a DiD, so I guess it's a DiDn't, the story of my first try at AP
Part One, in progress

HEY! AP!! That's new!!!

Fluff
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Post by Fluff » Thu, 14. Mar 13, 17:43

I like it a lot. Echoing some of the other suggestions, I'd use something other than color for emphasis or when changing from command-speak to theory-speak. Personally, I'd use a quote box for the command-speak sections; it both visually breaks up the text and it isn't color-dependent. Bold would be good for the other emphasized areas.

And for sure, add a link to TGIWC as a large-scale practical example.

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Tohron
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Post by Tohron » Fri, 15. Mar 13, 21:30

Something I can't seem to find an answer to - how do you buy experienced CLS pilots at Herron's Nebula? I was looking to obtain some to support my mobile mining operations, but couldn't find the option, and Google isn't helping.

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Zaitsev
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Post by Zaitsev » Fri, 15. Mar 13, 21:33

If memory serves you dock the ship in question at the trading station and activate CLS. A pilot will spawn, and if you're lucky you'll get an experienced one.
I'm sorry, I can't hear you over the sound of how awesome I am :D

DiDs:
Eye of the storm Completed
Eye of the storm - book 2 Inactive
Black Sun - Completed
Endgame - Completed

Timsup2nothin
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Post by Timsup2nothin » Fri, 15. Mar 13, 21:53

Zaitsev wrote:If memory serves you dock the ship in question at the trading station and activate CLS. A pilot will spawn, and if you're lucky you'll get an experienced one.
This is correct, though you will always get an experienced pilot. If you are lucky you get a very experienced pilot, but you will usually get a courier or supplier.
Trapper Tim's Guide to CLS 2

On Her Majesty's Secret Service-Dead is Dead, and he is DEAD

Not a DiD, so I guess it's a DiDn't, the story of my first try at AP
Part One, in progress

HEY! AP!! That's new!!!

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Tohron
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Post by Tohron » Sat, 16. Mar 13, 00:36

Zaitsev wrote:If memory serves you dock the ship in question at the trading station and activate CLS. A pilot will spawn, and if you're lucky you'll get an experienced one.
Ah, now that I checked Trader Settings, seems that's what I actually got - one of them actually started at Supplier. Thanks for the response!

terryokc2
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Post by terryokc2 » Sat, 16. Mar 13, 04:00

Timsup2nothin wrote:
Zaitsev wrote:If memory serves you dock the ship in question at the trading station and activate CLS. A pilot will spawn, and if you're lucky you'll get an experienced one.
This is correct, though you will always get an experienced pilot. If you are lucky you get a very experienced pilot, but you will usually get a courier or supplier.
I have managed to get several Cargo Messengers in my newest Humble Merchant start. In fact, I would hire a pilot...and if he wasn't Cargo Msgr, I'd fire him and hire another until I got one. Usually within 3 pilots. ;)

Fluff
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Post by Fluff » Mon, 25. Mar 13, 14:53

I'm trying to understand what's going on when a CLS 2 pilot is considering waypoints. For example, I know it skips 'unload' or 'sell' waypoints if it doesn't have the appropriate goods loaded. I think it does some sanity checking to make sure it can actually load or buy goods (the target station or ship has stock, the CLS freighter has enough room to receive stock) before doing 'load' or 'buy' waypoints. I think it always does 'fly to station' waypoints.

My question is concerning 'refuel jumpdrive' waypoints. If the CLS freighter has two 'refuel jumpdrive' waypoints (and nothing else), I could see it working in two different ways:
1) The freighter refuels at one. It recognizes that it is full on ecells for jump fuel, so it will now just idle since both the other waypoints are concerning jump fuel.
2) The freighter refuels and then jumps to the next waypoint. Now that it needs to refuel, it docks and refuels, and then jumps back. And then the cycle begins again.

I'm really hoping it works the first way, but I haven't been able to test it yet. Anyone else have knowledge to add concerning how CLS 2 pilots evaluate their waypoints?

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Kirlack
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Post by Kirlack » Mon, 25. Mar 13, 15:07

I have a sneaking suspicion that it will follow the second set up. There might be a few mitigating circumstances though, such as minimum jump range and the distance between stations. I'll have to play with some of the settings to take a look.

Quick question of my own. Do CLS pilots go 'Idle' when there are enemy ships in either a sector they are currently in or in their destination sector?

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Post by Fluff » Mon, 25. Mar 13, 15:17

Kirlack wrote:Quick question of my own. Do CLS pilots go 'Idle' when there are enemy ships in either a sector they are currently in or in their destination sector?
I'm pretty sure I've seen the behavior in both cases. When my PTNI Nostrop freighters start idling, I know I either need to check for pirates in PTNI or Xenon in Scale Plate Green. I've got a lot of freighter traffic in those sectors that completely stops when an enemy pops up in either sector. I'm not sure if CLS pilots idle if there are enemy ships in a sector that they will pass through to get to their destination, which isn't a problem if your CLS pilots are using jump drives.

Timsup2nothin
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Post by Timsup2nothin » Mon, 25. Mar 13, 15:21

Kirlack wrote:I have a sneaking suspicion that it will follow the second set up. There might be a few mitigating circumstances though, such as minimum jump range and the distance between stations. I'll have to play with some of the settings to take a look.

Quick question of my own. Do CLS pilots go 'Idle' when there are enemy ships in either a sector they are currently in or in their destination sector?
On the jump fuel question I have no idea. My solution is to give them one jump refueling stop and make sure they have enough fuel for the round trip. Please post how your experiments turn out.

As to idle pilots. Yes, it could be hostiles in the sector they are in or in the destination sector. The only thing I can recall that causes idle other than that is if they don't get paid. No money in the station account is a particularly nasty one because I've seen them stay idle even after money appears in the account. They frequently have to be manually restarted.
Trapper Tim's Guide to CLS 2

On Her Majesty's Secret Service-Dead is Dead, and he is DEAD

Not a DiD, so I guess it's a DiDn't, the story of my first try at AP
Part One, in progress

HEY! AP!! That's new!!!

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psyclon
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Post by psyclon » Mon, 25. Mar 13, 15:30

I just tried setting 2 waypoints with only the refuel command - after the ship got to the first SPP and refueled it remained there on standby.

Here's another question - let's take the simplest possible job - load e-cells from point A, unload at point B up to X amount. After reaching point B the ship unloads up to X amount and returns to A with any remaining e-cells in the cargo bay. How do i tell it to stay at point B until it's out of e-cells and then go back to point A?
Last edited by psyclon on Mon, 25. Mar 13, 15:42, edited 1 time in total.

Timsup2nothin
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Post by Timsup2nothin » Mon, 25. Mar 13, 15:38

psyclon wrote:I just tried setting 2 waypoints with only the refuel command - after the ship got to the first SPP and refueled it remained there on standby.
Good to know. Thanks.
Trapper Tim's Guide to CLS 2

On Her Majesty's Secret Service-Dead is Dead, and he is DEAD

Not a DiD, so I guess it's a DiDn't, the story of my first try at AP
Part One, in progress

HEY! AP!! That's new!!!

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Kirlack
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Post by Kirlack » Mon, 25. Mar 13, 15:38

Timsup2nothin wrote:As to idle pilots. Yes, it could be hostiles in the sector they are in or in the destination sector. The only thing I can recall that causes idle other than that is if they don't get paid. No money in the station account is a particularly nasty one because I've seen them stay idle even after money appears in the account. They frequently have to be manually restarted.
Well, it's definitely not a problem with the station account, that's pushing 4.4 million ;) I'm guessing my two guys who point blank refused to get back to work had picked up some hostiles in their collection sector. I did some temporary re-rigging of their waypoints just in case, but they still wouldn't launch until the Pirates had vacated The Hole.

Timsup2nothin
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Post by Timsup2nothin » Mon, 25. Mar 13, 15:53

Kirlack wrote:
Timsup2nothin wrote:As to idle pilots. Yes, it could be hostiles in the sector they are in or in the destination sector. The only thing I can recall that causes idle other than that is if they don't get paid. No money in the station account is a particularly nasty one because I've seen them stay idle even after money appears in the account. They frequently have to be manually restarted.
Well, it's definitely not a problem with the station account, that's pushing 4.4 million ;) I'm guessing my two guys who point blank refused to get back to work had picked up some hostiles in their collection sector. I did some temporary re-rigging of their waypoints just in case, but they still wouldn't launch until the Pirates had vacated The Hole.
Yeah, they definitely don't like pirates.

Which reminds me of a little known use for CLS...Kha'ak scanning.

Put CLS on a ship, and give it a 'fly to station' waypoint in a sector you are wondering about where your assets give you a pretty good view of the sector. If he won't go there is a very good chance that Kha'ak clusters are lurking outside the central area. If he sets off, stop him and try another sector.
Trapper Tim's Guide to CLS 2

On Her Majesty's Secret Service-Dead is Dead, and he is DEAD

Not a DiD, so I guess it's a DiDn't, the story of my first try at AP
Part One, in progress

HEY! AP!! That's new!!!

Fluff
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x3tc

Post by Fluff » Mon, 25. Mar 13, 16:07

psyclon wrote:Here's another question - let's take the simplest possible job - load e-cells from point A, unload at point B up to X amount. After reaching point B the ship unloads up to X amount and returns to A with any remaining e-cells in the cargo bay. How do i tell it to stay at point B until it's out of e-cells and then go back to point A?
I think you can accomplish this by setting the deliver tolerance (or whatever it's called; it's in the supply settings) to 100%. Then it's just a question of which station you want it to idle at. If you want it to idle at A, you're good to go with those waypoints. If you want it to idle at B, give it a 'fly to station' waypoint before the 'unload'.

terryokc2
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Post by terryokc2 » Mon, 25. Mar 13, 17:03

Timsup2nothin wrote:
Kirlack wrote:
Timsup2nothin wrote:As to idle pilots. Yes, it could be hostiles in the sector they are in or in the destination sector. The only thing I can recall that causes idle other than that is if they don't get paid. No money in the station account is a particularly nasty one because I've seen them stay idle even after money appears in the account. They frequently have to be manually restarted.
Well, it's definitely not a problem with the station account, that's pushing 4.4 million ;) I'm guessing my two guys who point blank refused to get back to work had picked up some hostiles in their collection sector. I did some temporary re-rigging of their waypoints just in case, but they still wouldn't launch until the Pirates had vacated The Hole.
Yeah, they definitely don't like pirates.

Which reminds me of a little known use for CLS...Kha'ak scanning.

Put CLS on a ship, and give it a 'fly to station' waypoint in a sector you are wondering about where your assets give you a pretty good view of the sector. If he won't go there is a very good chance that Kha'ak clusters are lurking outside the central area. If he sets off, stop him and try another sector.
Quickie question on this, but...wouldn't said CLS pilot need to be Forwarding Agent or Logistician in order for this to be true? I thought that I read they won't check the radio network until this point. No?

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