[SCR] [X3:TC/AP] [v1.9.8.12] [03/23/14] Galaxy Explorer

Gyrehawk · Post by **Gyrehawk** » Sun, 4. Aug 13, 02:05

ok I am thinking that I am putting the files into the wrong place. I have extracted the two files to the following:

c:\program files)x86)\steam\steamapps\common\xe terran conflict\addons

please, correct me if this is wrong, which it must be as it still does not show t he menu etc. I apologixe for all the trouble I am causing.

Vayde · Post by **Vayde** » Sun, 4. Aug 13, 10:48

Hi Greyhawk,

when you say " I have extracted the two files to the following" do you mean folders instead?

You should be copying the unpacked scripts folder and t folder to the addon directory not just 2 files. Then just allow them to replace existing files during the copy process.

I've been using the script in several versions of AP and not had any bother, I play using the No Steam exe as I play a modified game and don't want it adjusted. Not sure if steam is altering your files before you try to play through each time.

Gyrehawk · Post by **Gyrehawk** » Sun, 4. Aug 13, 15:27

yes I copy/extract the script folder and the t folder into the above location. When I open the command area of my explorer ship I don't see any kind of menu. Maybe I am just not looking in the right place. Is there any manual or guide to using galaxy Explorer?

I have the navigation command software mk1, special command software, jumpdrive, and mineral scanner installed. I can not find any menu/config, or setup for the explorer. I reallly am lost here. If I am bothering you guys too much just say so and I will forget it.

DrBullwinkle · Post by **DrBullwinkle** » Sun, 4. Aug 13, 16:21

Look for "Additional Commands" on the ship's Command Console. It is not in the same place as other menus.

Gyrehawk · Post by **Gyrehawk** » Sun, 4. Aug 13, 17:24

under additional ship commands i see

slot 1: none
slot 2: none

when I click these i get two weapon choices. nothing about explorer

DrBullwinkle · Post by **DrBullwinkle** » Sun, 4. Aug 13, 21:42

Then the script is not installed properly.

Is this the first script that you are trying to install? Have you enabled the script editor?

Gyrehawk · Post by **Gyrehawk** » Sun, 4. Aug 13, 23:55

first script other than bonus pack. enable script editor???

DrBullwinkle · Post by **DrBullwinkle** » Mon, 5. Aug 13, 00:01

Yep. See "Activating the Script Editor" in the FAQ's.

There is a little pull-out sidebar on the left side of your browser that contains some important links, including "Support" and "FAQ's".

Gyrehawk · Post by **Gyrehawk** » Mon, 5. Aug 13, 00:07

ok I can do that. since you are being very helpful i will ask one more general question. tell me t o get lost if necessary. if the bonus pack, using Hephaistos Corp. – Station building service, at the end it asks me to select a position for first station. I can select the sector but then it goes to that sector and asks for a position. I thought i would just click on a spot in the sector with cursor but that does not seem to work. so, how do I select a specific position for it to start building?

DrBullwinkle · Post by **DrBullwinkle** » Mon, 5. Aug 13, 00:09

Ask in the correct thread and you will get a reply from the author.

Gyrehawk · Post by **Gyrehawk** » Mon, 5. Aug 13, 00:12

hmm...there is a bonuspack thread? i thought egosoft did it.

I think I found it. ty will see if I am right if i get an answer

Barleyman · Post by **Barleyman** » Tue, 3. Dec 13, 01:11

I just lost 2 M5 explorers back to back with XRM. It seems the threat avoidance is not quite foolproof. What happens is that when the scout arrives into restricted and/or hostile sector, they plot course out of the sector but then the "retreat" behavior kicks in that gets them killed. Apparently instead of doing a 360 and getting right back out of the gate they start trying to evade the warships converging into gate..

gnasirator · Post by **gnasirator** » Wed, 4. Dec 13, 22:40

Jeah, it is really difficult to foresee ALL possible situations/locations and cases. And as scripting basically just describes a finite state machine, there are some limitations to the outcome.

Because, how do you decide in a general way, when to send the explorers straight back into the gate they came from, even if the gate is guarded by heavily armed hostiles? And when to listen to the other thread's "advice" that there are hostiles in your way and that fleeing might be a good idea.
If you really wanted to calculate the optimal outcome of that situation, you'd have to do some serious number crunching.

And by the way: The fact, that you came here to complain that you just had lost two M5's shows me, that the script actually works really well

I'm glad, this is the only thing to complain about

Barleyman · Post by **Barleyman** » Thu, 5. Dec 13, 10:38

It was meant as more of an observation than a complaint as such. XRM makes the universe much more hostile so losing more robot ships is inevitable. Especially as xenos/pirates like to camp right next to the jump gate.

You wouldn't have a lot of time yourself to make a decision to get out of dodge in that situation. Autopiloting back out of the gate would get you killed for sure. As for decision-making, that'd have to be a hard-coded routine executed immediately after gating into a sector. Is there actually a way for the script to test range to hostiles?

One of those M5s got killed by heading for a gate through some bad guys in the middle. I suppose "go around" behavior would be kinda complicated to script. I could see plotting intermediate waypoints with an offset causing oscillation..

..

I had an explorer with a mineral scanner freeze until I gave it a manual move order and restarted explorer script. Just cancelling and restarting the script didn't work. Other than that I've not seen any bugs.

gnasirator · Post by **gnasirator** » Thu, 5. Dec 13, 22:08

Sorry, I didn't mean to offend you

I alway appreciate new input!

So back to the script: actually, yes it is possible to measure the distance to a hostile ship. That's exactly, how the fleeing script works. Simple reason why the explorer didn't dodge the hostile ship while he was on his was to the gate is, that I didn't bother to implement a recursive dodging routine. This is kind of a one-shot thing. As soon as an explorer gets too close to an enemy, he picks the gate which is closest to an extrapolation of the opposite route to the enemy. And there he goes, hoping not to encounter even more trouble on his way.

Example:
. . . . . N

. . . . . . . . . o
E . . . . x . . . . . W

. . . . . S

In this case, x is the explorer, o the enemy. If the enemy comes too close to the explorer and (is a xenon/khaak, OR has him targeted) the explorer gets the direction to the enemy, inverts it and extrapolates it. Here, this would draw a line to the south-eastern corner, being slightly closer to the east gate. Hence, the explorer flies to the east gate.

Maybe some parallel task is possible with a more advanced dodging script checking the distance and direction to the closest thread and if getting too close, calculates the nearest position outside of the enemies' reach while still aiming roughly into the previous direction. If the explorer is faster than the enemy, this would make sense and gradually bring him around the enemy. As soon as he made it to the other side, the old task has to be reactivated.
It is even possible to do this with only one waypoint, as the other ship's speed is known. So basically draw two circles, one around the explorer and one around the enemy with the explorer's radiuses being:

Code: Select all

explorer's_speed * K

and the enemy's:

Code: Select all

enemy's_speed * K + safety distance

. Now increase K for both circles until the circle of the enemy is completely inside of the circle of the enemy. The waypoint now is the intersection of the tangent from the explorer to the enemies circle.
Feel free to program this

About the asteroid freeze: no idea where that comes from. Hope it was a single event and didn't happen anymore.

DrBullwinkle · Post by **DrBullwinkle** » Thu, 5. Dec 13, 23:28

Another problem with evasion near a gate is the combination of collision detection and vanilla enemy avoidance. It is not possible to make a script that will reliably enter a gate while enemies are nearby.

The main problem that Barleyman is having is that M5's do not have jumpdrives in XRM. A fast M6 might make a better explorer in XRM.

Or, you know, like a Boreas or something that can take a beating.

Barleyman · Post by **Barleyman** » Fri, 6. Dec 13, 01:43

DrBullwinkle wrote:Another problem with evasion near a gate is the combination of collision detection and vanilla enemy avoidance. It is not possible to make a script that will reliably enter a gate while enemies are nearby.

OOS that might not be a proble, tho. And robot explorer exists out of sector most of the time.

Another scripting trick necessary beyond "how far" would be "is bad guy between me and the gate". That especially goes into territory of fuzzy logic.

Kadatherion · Post by **Kadatherion** » Fri, 6. Dec 13, 03:30

DrBullwinkle wrote: A fast M6 might make a better explorer in XRM.

Indeed. Quite fittingly, in XRM the best explorer is the Truelight Seeker. Almost as fast as a Springblossom, shielded as an heavy combat M6, with all the cargo space for a buttload of satellites so it doesn't have to waste time buying them often.
In my previous XRM game my Truelight Seeker from the Goner Witness start mapped the whole universe (Lost Colony's ~50 additional sectors included) alone, without ever be in any danger.

adrianx · Post by **adrianx** » Fri, 6. Dec 13, 14:15

Kadatherion wrote:
DrBullwinkle wrote: Indeed. Quite fittingly, in XRM the best explorer is the Truelight Seeker. Almost as fast as a Springblossom, shielded as an heavy combat M6, with all the cargo space for a buttload of satellites so it doesn't have to waste time buying them often.
A (presuambly) cheaper alternative which IIRC is fast and reasonably shielded for an M3 is the Goner Ranger. I have several in my current game thanks to Bail Extension and some M5s running Galaxy Explorer; of course, as noted above, the M5s don't work as well without the jumpdrive.

Lakz · Post by **Lakz** » Thu, 12. Dec 13, 05:54

Any difference between this script and 7ate9tin11s's Universe Explorers?

egosoft.com

egosoft.com

[SCR] [X3:TC/AP] [v1.9.8.12] [03/23/14] Galaxy Explorer