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[SCRIPT] BOF Drones Plus V2.00

Available courtesy of Xai Corp .zip includes .spk

Updated version of BOF Drones - with a plus...

Description:
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Only works on your own ship.

Define two hotkeys:-
- one to launch Drones
- one to retrieve Drones

Retrieve Drones requires a Transporter Device for best results.

Launch Drones launches 10 drones at time - default command is 'Protect me'.

Collect drones will send a command to all your drones, they will fly towards your ship. When in Transporter range they will be picked up. If you do not have a Transporter, they will stop near your ship for manual collection.


So far, it is just a small update to the previous version.


Now about that Plus....

Don't you just hate to see a waste of profits?

Just look at those fighter drones rushing around, even though the original ship is now dead - and they will die soon.. Don't you just yearn to give them a new home - such as your ship. I mean, you can't just leave all that money floating around, going to waste.

I have been annoyed by this for a long time - ever since I originally created my hotkey commands to Launch and Collect drones.

So I thought, and in seconds the answer came to me - I want them....

But the how has taken a bit longer. I have now developed a mutated virus that can be loaded into one of your own Fighter Drones. It then aims for the other fighter drones around, and "converts" them to be yours, and allows your ship to collect them - this is easier if you have a teleporter on board.

In keeping with my generosity, as shown in the other scripts that I have previously supplied, the software to do this is free - but I make a small charge for each drone "converted". This is all part of my cunning plan to get rich(er) - free software means that you will use it, a small charge means that you will use it often - and as we all know, every little helps make a lot.

"Nice, but how do I use it?" you ask...
Simple - just press the Collect Drones hotkey.

If none of your drones are around, a virus drone will be sent out, and it will 'convert' (subvert, steal etc.) any other drones around. The 'converted' drones will fly towards your ship, and be teleported aboard when in range. If you do not have a Transporter, they will just stop - awaiting manual collection.

The 'Conversion' fee - is just 200 Cr per drone - really cheap.

This 'conversion fee' is charged at the time of conversion (just in case they do not last long enough to be collected). This is called "profit protection" in some circles...

Uses:
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No t-files, no command slots.
- Nothing apart from two keys.

Installation:
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The .zip package contains the .spk version and the zipped files.
Install using Cycrow's Installer if you prefer the .spk version.
Or just copy the files to the \scripts folder.

Enjoy,
Boron - Ol Fh'art

Out of curiosity, does this plug-in also take out the limited life-span drones usually have?? Or does the life-span reset if they are re-collected?? Have to ask as there seems little point in gathering up the little blighters if they only a half-life left in them.

Well once they are in your cargo hold again they are effectively new, so deploying them again should give you the full time.

Hi crayolakidd,

I can not find any way of changing the lifespan via scripts, but - as Heretic66 pointed out - once in your cargo hold they are 'revitalised'. When next deployed, they start out at full strength.

The only difference is that you now have more of them (and I am a few credits richer)....

Boron - Ol Fh'art

I've noticed a small 'detail' with the Virus drone: It's not THERE!

Problem with fighter drones, is the way they use textures to be visible. Only when they are armed, do they have a visible texture.

This is the same weirdness the Kha'ak fighters have when they don't have guns loaded: their engine components are invisible. (this is a problem I have a mod fix for, which also brings back their invisible 'cockpit'. works with Cockpit Callback too)

Hi Jakesnake5,

I haven't noticed that - all the testing did not involve actually looking at the drone...... all I can put it down to is a side-effect of the Virus code - it makes the drone invisible... not a bad idea when you are steali .. erm, converting someone else's property ... I know, I will claim that it is a deliberate effect of the Virus code, yes, that sounds much better than an unexpected side-effect... Yup. that's it, it was all part of my cunning plan - high speed, but stealthed approach to the unsuspecting drones, conversion (and my payment), and then on to the next drone to be converted while sending the converted drone back to my ship...

I originally removed the armament to allow higher speed travel, now I will let everyone know that it was planned all along to make the drone invisible ... I wonder if I should charge more for this feature ... no, if it is too expensive, then people wouldn't use it....

So, Jakesnake5, you are seeing things (or rather, not seeing things) - it was all part of the grand design .. (this sounds like the Microsof... method of bug control)...

But really, thanks for that, as I said - in the testing I did not look at the drone, I never thought about the effect of removing the lasers, as I had never heard of that until your post.

I suppose that I will have to update everything to explain the cunning use of the invisibility code segment in the Virus code - but why, let the user find out on his own, I don't want to give away all of my secrets....

How's that for thinking on the hoof?

Boron - Ol Fh'art

hmmm...


Problem: you found a bug...

Action taken: bug zapper installed

Result: problem fixed...


Thier is that better now?...now LEAVE my stealth drones alone...

B-O'F wrote:How's that for thinking on the hoof?

Ever thought of being a politician, B-O'F?

Hi eladan,

As a pirate, I am too honest to be a politician......

Enough said?

@defiant1: It was not a bug, it was a 'feechur', rather a nice one actually...


Boron - Ol Fh'art

it was mor of a joke

like

Problem: mouse in cockpit

Action taken: cat installed

(ie the mouse that is part of the PC)

I kind of gave up on fighter drones as I always thought they were a waste of cash. You have revitalized my interest in these little automatons of distraction (or destruction). Now I have to change my player ship to something with more cargo space to carry and....clean up drones as I quite often find myself running to the aid of transports whose only defense is a small fleet of drones. A small reward for saving his life is only fair right

yea...I just reciently had to upgrade to a argon collossis (the Argon One ship) just so i could store all my drones...and thats not counting the 4 support TL/TS that have thier bays full of drones...(yea they are my support carriers just incase my flag ship needs some more backup...

Hi digdug83,

Have you tried converting the drones, and then politely (?) requesting the rest of his cargo (he asks in all innocence) .. even more lucrative.. and I'm sure that the liberated drones would be pleased to assist you... their way of saying 'thank you' for being converted....


Hi defiant1,

Keep up the good work, it all helps swell the coffers of the 'Help make the Ol Fh'art richer fund' - I promise that the money will not be wasted (he says, crossing fingers)...

Boron - Ol Fh'art

awww crud...now I need to buy another argon mammoth or what ever its called...oh well...just another day in liberating drones...hehehe

Hi defiant1,

It sounds like a one man crusade to liberate all the drones in the universe - can I suggest a slight improvement? Sell them to the Trade Docks, the poor saps will buy them - and you can liberate them again, and sell them ... ad nauseum. You get the sales money, I get the convert fee, and we are all happier and richer.. This is the sort of good cause that I like - the help me get richer part, I mean (and that part sounds like a politician - oh dear).

Boron - Ol Fh'art

oh hell...why dont we get into the business together? I liberate the drones and you get the converting proffits and I sell them for more and we just make a cycle (and a monoply)...hehehehehe...but yea ive already did that...I had to get a second collossis to store them so i could get them to places to sell them off...unfortunatly I got to buy four (4) more of them super freighters to have enough room for transporting them to the traiding stations...annoying, yes, but its worth all the proffitsssss im makeing...plus our coffers of cash will grow thanks to the poor saps...errrrr...i mean pilots....


EDIT: uhhhh Bo'F...looks like a few boreon just got a nerf twenty times the size of thier orca....oh well least I got one shiney new orca out of the last raid...(woulda taken both but I guess I can settle for one...) hey least its more storage space...

Hi defiant1,

Haven't you realised, we are already in business together. You have all the fun of finding drones to be liberated, and selling them. I, meanwhile, have to sit in my LX Luxury Cruiser, surrounded by my hand picked staff, and count the money obtained from each conversion.

Yours is the much more energetic role, mine is simply the more boring - just counting money, oh the indignities of getting older.

Thanks darling secretary, do you think that will keep the po.. O.K, I stopped dictating after 'older' .. just post the first two paragraphs.. and sign it as usual..

Boron - Ol Fh'art

Hehehe....

I just created a great combat tactic for those who like to try to capture traders ships, but hate those little nuisances the Weapons Dealers tend to carry around in such large numbers, and throw at YOU for scratching their paint job.

Always carry 1 drone, so when they get feisty, you can send it out to 'recover' the attackers, leaving the trader going "WTF!?!?!?!" as you continue to peg away at him.

ahhhh...thank you...besure to send the drones my way so i may continue makin my profitssssss larger and keep us [me and BOF] happy ....ah the sweet small of fresh drones in the morning...I love the smell...

Even better, the fresh smell of creditssss at any time... heavenly...

Boron - Ol Fh'art