[script] Universe Explorers v2.4.0: Update Sep 5

CaptainRAVE · Post by **CaptainRAVE** » Fri, 29. May 09, 09:03

lrd99 wrote:
7ate9tin11s wrote: Popular request is popular...my concern is that there will be no real way to keep the pilots history intact with the pilot. Perhaps they keep their local vars, I will test it out, but no guarentees.
I'm looking forward to try it.
Even CAGs have now their ejection seats.

Yes, I want this feature more and more. I have lost 3 explorers (level 7) from wandering into Xenon sectors!!! Very annoying. My highest is still level 8...wish he would level up quicker to be able to start scanning asteroids!!!

7ate9tin11s · Post by **7ate9tin11s** » Fri, 29. May 09, 13:07

CaptainRAVE wrote: Yes, I want this feature more and more. I have lost 3 explorers (level 7) from wandering into Xenon sectors!!! Very annoying. My highest is still level 8...wish he would level up quicker to be able to start scanning asteroids!!!

Pilot ejection will happen in 2.2...but for now grab the 2.1 update that I will be posting momentarily

lrd99 · Post by **lrd99** » Fri, 29. May 09, 13:43

Weekend will not be wasted!

thunderai · Post by **thunderai** » Fri, 29. May 09, 15:17

Mine went into yaki territory and got wasted. I cried for him... so sad.

7ate9tin11s · Post by **7ate9tin11s** » Fri, 29. May 09, 15:25

thunderai wrote:Mine went into yaki territory and got wasted. I cried for him... so sad.

Yeah, it is a good idea to set Yaki to Foe on your explorers (The explorers will not explore sectors owned by enemy races). I usually have pirates, xenon, khaak, and yaki as foe in a neutral game like the terran start. Other starts require different setups

xiriod · Post by **xiriod** » Fri, 29. May 09, 15:47

I will try the updated one later. My explorer is now lvl 10, and he still does some bad scouting though. There's at least 3 sectors he just entered and roamed around a little the went back. Thus not discovering the South gate for example so he could venture forward.

EDIT: Well, looking at the archive I wonder. There are three files missing compared to the previous release.

scripts\al.plugin.ux.xml
scripts\plugin.ux.option.adv.satellites.xml
scripts\plugin.ux.option.nav.satellites.xml

Is this the way you intended? I thought the al-file was essential for example

Also, if files are no longer needed it is good to let us know so we can delete them

So I will wait for your reply before I try it, so I know you were sober when you packed them

7ate9tin11s · Post by **7ate9tin11s** » Fri, 29. May 09, 20:11

xiriod wrote:I will try the updated one later. My explorer is now lvl 10, and he still does some bad scouting though. There's at least 3 sectors he just entered and roamed around a little the went back. Thus not discovering the South gate for example so he could venture forward.

EDIT: Well, looking at the archive I wonder. There are three files missing compared to the previous release.

scripts\al.plugin.ux.xml
scripts\plugin.ux.option.adv.satellites.xml
scripts\plugin.ux.option.nav.satellites.xml

Is this the way you intended? I thought the al-file was essential for example Also, if files are no longer needed it is good to let us know so we can delete them So I will wait for your reply before I try it, so I know you were sober when you packed them

Yes, you can delete them, the AL options are no longer used and have been rolled into the menu. Though keeping them will not do any harm either (besides a little bit of memory used...and the thought of having something useless running).

CaptainRAVE · Post by **CaptainRAVE** » Fri, 29. May 09, 21:16

7ate9tin11s wrote:
xiriod wrote:I will try the updated one later. My explorer is now lvl 10, and he still does some bad scouting though. There's at least 3 sectors he just entered and roamed around a little the went back. Thus not discovering the South gate for example so he could venture forward.

EDIT: Well, looking at the archive I wonder. There are three files missing compared to the previous release.

scripts\al.plugin.ux.xml
scripts\plugin.ux.option.adv.satellites.xml
scripts\plugin.ux.option.nav.satellites.xml

Is this the way you intended? I thought the al-file was essential for example Also, if files are no longer needed it is good to let us know so we can delete them So I will wait for your reply before I try it, so I know you were sober when you packed them
Yes, you can delete them, the AL options are no longer used and have been rolled into the menu. Though keeping them will not do any harm either (besides a little bit of memory used...and the thought of having something useless running).

Downloaded and ready to go. Great work!!!

Edit: Working like a charm! Great satellite coverage and great for levelling them up! Keep up the good work!

lrd99 · Post by **lrd99** » Mon, 1. Jun 09, 07:14

I've been using this script for the whole weekend and noticed that Explorer relatively poor in finding gates. Even a close one may left undiscovered. So I had to manually target AI to a point close to a possible gate (and map it) and then give an order to explore.

This is the only disadvantage i've found so far. Great script! Thanks again, 7ate9tin11s.

(I've been using mode with only one satellite per sector)

xiriod · Post by **xiriod** » Mon, 1. Jun 09, 17:57

My explorer is now lvl17, so he should be experienced

He still misses gates though, as mentioned. And deployment of satellites are a little ad-hoc when you want them to cover all things in a sector, but I can get used to that.

But, when I changed ships for him the blue text did not follow so he's all green now in his description. Minor thing though

I also upgraded the script to use M3s, as I think a higher level explorer should be able to

7ate9tin11s · Post by **7ate9tin11s** » Mon, 1. Jun 09, 18:54

I have 3 ideas for the gate problems:

1. A menu adjustment that lets you force the explorers to increase their search range by 5%, 10%, 15%, 20%
2. A higher level gate finding routine where explorers will follow traders they notice going towards the edge of known territory.
3. Determining the sector visability via script, if possible, and letting explorers plot seen objects at extreme ranges like you can using direct targeting in clear sectors.

Well, option 1 will be quite easy to implement...the others i may have to play with for a bit

KyoZed · Post by **KyoZed** » Thu, 4. Jun 09, 16:19

The download link doesnt seem to be working, site saying file not valid. Anyone have an alternate download site? thx

CaptainRAVE · Post by **CaptainRAVE** » Thu, 4. Jun 09, 21:38

Universe Explorers v2.1.0.zip

http://myfreefilehosting.com/f/f54710f46b_0.2MB

One bug I found. Two universe explorers entered a sector, found enemies and placed a nav beacon. They then retreated to an unknown sector...since the sector was a dead end they just sat there unable to move.

Also, my explorers never go past level 9!!!

xiriod · Post by **xiriod** » Thu, 4. Jun 09, 21:49

My explorer became 17th lvl, but he kept on entering Xenon sectors to scan asteroids even though I set them to hostile. So he died....

I guess that's a bug

EDIT: Second one died to the same thing, they keep going in to Enemy sectors....

7ate9tin11s · Post by **7ate9tin11s** » Tue, 9. Jun 09, 06:07

Finally getting a little time to work on this some more...

So far for the next version I have fixed terran sector interaction problems and added a shared exploration database. The database lets your explorers know the last time a sector was explored so they can re-scan it to find new stations if more than 24 hours has passed. This also allows explorers to explore sectors which the player visited but may not have found everything in.

I've also adjust the searching system to be based on the farthest away known gate in a system instead of whatever gate was used to enter the system.

No work on the pilot ejection yet though, still considering the best method to use for recovery:
1. You buy a ship with exploration software and it will have a command to pick up a pilot making that ship theirs.
2. The explorer just orders a ship from a nearby shipyard of the same type ejected from, the ship will then come and pick them up (Kinda expensive!)
3. Some other method as of yet undertermined.

I am leaning towards 1 with 2 being an option in the config screen for those with no money worries

Perhaps I should just write a universal pilot recovery script the I and others can use (ie the scripters just specify the local var(s) to keep and the script to call once recovery is done).

xiriod · Post by **xiriod** » Tue, 9. Jun 09, 09:27

7ate9tin11s wrote:Finally getting a little time to work on this some more...

So far for the next version I have fixed terran sector interaction problems and added a shared exploration database. The database lets your explorers know the last time a sector was explored so they can re-scan it to find new stations if more than 24 hours has passed. This also allows explorers to explore sectors which the player visited but may not have found everything in.

I've also adjust the searching system to be based on the farthest away known gate in a system instead of whatever gate was used to enter the system.

No work on the pilot ejection yet though, still considering the best method to use for recovery:
1. You buy a ship with exploration software and it will have a command to pick up a pilot making that ship theirs.
2. The explorer just orders a ship from a nearby shipyard of the same type ejected from, the ship will then come and pick them up (Kinda expensive!)
3. Some other method as of yet undertermined.

I am leaning towards 1 with 2 being an option in the config screen for those with no money worries

Perhaps I should just write a universal pilot recovery script the I and others can use (ie the scripters just specify the local var(s) to keep and the script to call once recovery is done).

If the pilot ejects in a system with no stations, he can send you a signal to pick him up personally.

Also, please make it so that they do not enter sectors that we have set to Enemy. I always lose my explorers in Xenon sectors. They enter, even though it is set to Enemy and gets confused, attacked and die.

Otherwise setting a race to Enemy has no impact

7ate9tin11s · Post by **7ate9tin11s** » Tue, 9. Jun 09, 10:50

It is not that they will not enter a sector that is set to enemy, it is that they will enter it, notice it is enemy, and exit asap. Sadly, when completely unwatched sectors only refresh every 10 to 30 seconds or so, thus there is enough time for an attack round to happen if the gate is camped.

I guess I can make them cheat and peek through the gate before entering (ie set sector to known before running move to sector command) so they really never enter enemy sectors, but that is a bit unrealistic and would further reduce the risks of exploring.

Oh, been playing with Gazz's OOS rebalance scripts...they are murder on explorers ><;;;

I've also been using Teladi Kestrals as my explorers now with wonderful results, the mix of 600 speed and medium cargo makes for a great explorer, just remember to sell the weapons off before you start them as explorers are utter cowards.

xiriod · Post by **xiriod** » Tue, 9. Jun 09, 11:07

7ate9tin11s wrote:It is not that they will not enter a sector that is set to enemy, it is that they will enter it, notice it is enemy, and exit asap. Sadly, when completely unwatched sectors only refresh every 10 to 30 seconds or so, thus there is enough time for an attack round to happen if the gate is camped.

I guess I can make them cheat and peek through the gate before entering (ie set sector to known before running move to sector command) so they really never enter enemy sectors, but that is a bit unrealistic and would further reduce the risks of exploring.

It would be nice for them to follow orders though

If I hire a guy and tell him not to enter my enemy's territory I expect him to follow protocol. But if he's a noob he could get confused with the orders and such. But after reaching level 7 for example he remembers not to enter Enemy territory.

I have lost two high level explorers this way, and that kind of sucks..... Now most of the territories are explored, but there are still a lot of asteroids to be scanned. When they start at lvl1 now, they mostly fly around not knowing what to do.

Also, now that most territory is explored I have to turn of placement of satellites. As they started to put new satellites next to the old ones, which is a bit redundant

lrd99 · Post by **lrd99** » Wed, 10. Jun 09, 15:15

7ate9tin11s wrote: No work on the pilot ejection yet though, still considering the best method to use for recovery:
1. You buy a ship with exploration software and it will have a command to pick up a pilot making that ship theirs.
2. The explorer just orders a ship from a nearby shipyard of the same type ejected from, the ship will then come and pick them up (Kinda expensive!)
3. Some other method as of yet undertermined.

I am leaning towards 1 with 2 being an option in the config screen for those with no money worries

It would be nice to have a config option "#1/#2/Ask player". #2 should be costly (maybe x2-x5 compare to #1). As for third option... it may be something like "Should I call for labor union help, or just wait for rescue?"

CaptainRAVE · Post by **CaptainRAVE** » Thu, 11. Jun 09, 23:32

Two questions:

Does this work with version 2.1?

When can we expect an update? e.g. keeping our explorers out of enemy sectors!

egosoft.com

egosoft.com

[script] Universe Explorers v2.4.0: Update Sep 5