Abandoned Ship Spawner for AP (ASS-AP) v88 [AP][ALP]

[Vayde]

Hi Dr B, on average, how many ships per 90 min cycle does it spawn when set to default?

[DrBullwinkle]

how many ships per 90 min cycle does it spawn when set to default?

One ship per cycle, until you reach the maximum.

Then, depending on the settings, spawning will either stop until you claim a ship, or one ship will be removed for every ship added.

[Barklight]

Loving this package! My first trophy was a REAL gem. A few hours after a game start, I stumbled over a Yaki Shuyo M1 Carrier up in Kingdom End. I *might* have giggled like a schoolboy when I ran around collecting the stuff I needed to claim it. 3 hours of "Well frak, now I need to go get all the CODEA scripts" later, the thing is my fleet's pride and joy. And a lot of people who aren't with the Argon kinda hate me. Now if only I could find some capital-class weapons for the darn thing, XRM's re-balance and re-distribution of those makes it kinda tricky

All that being said, THANK YOU. Love it.

Only thing I am curious about - XRM adds the OTAS Maintenance Pod ships, which have the built in "Quantum Pulse Repair Laser" item as, well, basically a repair laser hyped up on 100KG of cocaine. Would it be difficult to add this item to the inventory-check of ships for the Repair Ship... and Repair All Ships in Sector... commands? I can try and rummage around the package and find a way to do it, but if you already know where to look it'd be awesome if you share

Edit: Not sure if I'm gonna be able to even try to get this done on my own, been so long I can't remember what I need to do to edit the stuff. Extracted the spk package with Package Explorer and when I try to open the xml files in notepad++ I get gibberish, or in X3 Editor 2 I get nothing at all. I'll have to wait and see if someone more up to date on the how-to's replies

[DrBullwinkle]

THANK YOU. Love it. ...

Would it be difficult to add [XRM's "Quantum Pulse Repair Laser"] to the inventory-check of ships for the Repair Ship... and Repair All Ships in Sector... commands?

I am glad that you like it, Barklight! And thank you for making the first report that Abandoned Ship Spawner works correctly with XRM.

Since I do not use XRM, you (and other XRM players) will have to test v88 and let me know whether it works correctly.

Regarding editing scripts, you cannot do it with a text editor. X3 scripts require the in-game script editor or Exscriptor.



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Update:

Abandoned Ship Spawner for AP (ASS-AP)
[ external image ]

[ external image ] <-- v88 Beta Adds support for XRM's Quantum Pulse Repair Laser (Probably) (Barklight)

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[Barklight]

Great, thanks for the quick reply!

So far it's working with XRM with no problems. The log file also shows continual new entries for spawns. I might suggest adding a time stamp of some sort (real time or in game time) just as a reference for reading it.

I am testing the update you just put up and it appears to be working, the additional repair commands are useable for the maintenance pod ships now. Thanks!

Edit: Yep, verified working. Just claimed a Nova and commanded the maintenance pod to repair it, and it did so. Now I just need to figure out how to add a "Repair X, then return home" command to redock it when done

<3!

[viking42]

Hi,

I found a nice big white ship, reported as abandonned by my drones. (mining base mobile)
But, it travels around at 13 to 54mps, how am i suppose to claim it? boarding (without pads) was also impossible due to the speed.
Any idea?

[DrBullwinkle]

I found a nice big white ship, reported as abandonned by my drones. (mining base mobile)
But, it travels around at 13 to 54mps, how am i suppose to claim it? boarding (without pads) was also impossible due to the speed.
Any idea?

What drones reported that the ship is abandoned? That is neither vanilla behavior nor one of my scripts.

Ships spawned by Abandoned Ship Spawner will have "(A.S.S.)" in their name.

There may be a few ships in the universe which appear to have no pilot but which have some orders (so that they travel somewhere). In at least some cases, these ships may be invulnerable and cannot be boarded. I have seen other threads suggest that these ships may be related to some mission and were not cleaned up at the end of the mission. I have two Mammoths in Savage Spur like that.

Since there is nothing that can be done with the ships, the best advice is to ignore them.

[Playbahnosh]

I think normally it is M6 or M7 and larger (?) that require some sort of claiming software

No special software necessary; TM, M6 and above are claimed by boarding them (with marines). TP, TS, and fighters can be claimed by spacewalk.

Only Kha'ak capital ships cannot be boarded by any vanilla technique (Salvage Claim Software can claim them).

Um, is this a deliberate change from vanilla? Last week I found an abandoned Corvette floating in my then "soon to be" home sector. I just floated up to it in EVA and claimed it like any other ships. It's M6 AND Khaak. I have no scripts or mods that influence derelicts, so it must be the vanilla way...

[DrBullwinkle]

is this a deliberate change from vanilla?

No change. My point was that Abandoned Ship Spawner makes no change to vanilla capture behavior.

I believe that the Kha'ak capital ships ships which require a script to capture are M7 and above, although I have not exhaustively tested.

[viking42]

Hi, its an ASS mobile mining base ship, in twisted skies.,
It travels at betwenn 14 and 54 mps

How am i suppose to capture?

[DrBullwinkle]

its an ASS mobile mining base ship, in twisted skies.,
It travels at between 14 and 54 mps

It says "(A.S.S.)" in the name of the ship? And it is moving?!

Does the ship have a pilot?

Which version of the game are you using?

This seems unusual.

How am i suppose to capture it with only my M6 and 5 mercenaries?

Assuming that the ship is not bugged in any other way, then you should be able to capture the ship with the same techniques that you would use to capture any other ship. With an M6, you are limited to spacewalk boarding (which is always challenging -- and fun!).

One trick that I have used successfully for boarding slow-moving TL's is to find a "weak spot" in the ship's defenses. By that I mean a place where you can fly your M6 without taking heavy fire. For a Mobile Mining Base, I would try directly underneath the ship, and close to its hull. Lower the TL's shields (under 3% should work for all ship types, although 1% is better). Wait until the ship is moving slowly, then launch your marines.

However, Terran ships are very difficult to board, especially via spacewalk. They have very thick hulls. You would need marines highly trained in Mechanical Skill... and even that may not be enough. Some Terran ships can only be boarded via pods (which help to penetrate the hull).

Then, after your marines get inside the TL, 5 marines may not be sufficient to capture a Terran ship because they have strong internal defenses. It would be easier to capture with 20 marines launched from a TP.

Also, spacewalk boarding is difficult under the best of circumstances. I use Improved Boarding for its hotkeys which simplify launching marines. Improved Boarding also gives your marines a small boost in speed, which can help them to catch a moving ship.

See my Marine Tips post for more boarding information.

Finally, if you want a shortcut that also fixes any potential bug in the ship, you could use Super Script Killer Hotkey (SSK) (for captured/boarded ships) on it. Note that SSK is intended to be used on ships AFTER you capture them. However, if you use SSK on a ship that does not have a pilot, then it will also capture the ship at the same time. This usage of SSK is an exploit, so do not over-use it. However, your report is about an unusual case that should not happen (moving A.S.S. ship).

Please let me know your results. I am curious about this ship!
.

[viking42]

Hi,

yes, a huge minig base ship. with A.S.S at the end of the name, no pilot at all, it moves constantly

i'm playing the latest AP, updated by steam

as for boarding, as the ship movers faster than spacewalk, it makes things difficult

[DrBullwinkle]

yes, a huge minig base ship. with A.S.S at the end of the name, no pilot at all, it moves constantly. i'm playing the latest AP, updated by steam

OK, that is unusual. Thank you for your report, and please let me know if you find any other moving A.S.S. ships.

as for boarding, as the ship movers faster than spacewalk, it makes things difficult

Yes, boarding is intentionally challenging. For me, it is the most fun that I have had in any space sim (which is saying a lot).


Your choices are:

• - Improve your boarding skills (Marine Tips).
  
  - Use Improved Boarding to make boarding easier. If you hate space-walking, then consider using the Boarding Transporter (which is much more reliable than space-walking).
  
  - Cheat (by mis-using SSK, or by using Salvage Claim Software or the Cheat Package).
  
  - Ignore the Mobile Mining Base until you have better boarding capabilities, then return later to board it. If you had an M7M and 30 marines, then boarding a Mobile Mining Base would be easy.

[Ashnag]

Hi

I'm using your mod, and i have to say it works well.
I wander if Xenon I can be spawned or not ?
Just asking because i got 2 K and no other xenon ship.

[DrBullwinkle]

I'm using your mod, and i have to say it works well.
I wander if Xenon I can be spawned or not ?

Thanks for the report, Ashnag!

Feature Number 1: "Added new AP Ships. All ship types can be created. Random types; random locations.

In other words, "yes".

The probability of any one ship being spawned is about once per month of 24x7 play. So it would be quicker to train up some marines and capture an I.

But A.S.S. will probably spawn one if you play long enough.

[viking42]

New sector, new ship,

I found a TL wooden ASS, as i was not able to claim it over spacewalk (option didnt appear when in combination)
I started to lower the shields to prepared a boarding.
But the ship went red and started to flee at 34mps


I ahcieved to capture a M8 ASS per simple claim earlier

[DrBullwinkle]

I started to lower the shields to prepared a boarding.
But the ship went red and started to flee at 34mps

That sounds like normal behavior, viking. I would not expect the ship to go far (unless you chase it).

That Woden (ATF M1) is one of the finest ships in the game... much much better than a Valhalla, in my experience. But it is also very difficult to board; second only to Xenon ships. It is definitely worthwhile to improve your boarding capability for that ship!

(It is also challenging to collect all of the weapons required for the Woden, as is true for all Terran and ATF capital ships. It is not impossible; it just requires some "Think" work.) (The scarcity of Terran weapons is certainly not "bugged" as erroneously claimed in many posts throughout the forum. In fact, it's fun to figure out ways to get the weapons you need for Terran ships!)

[viking42]

Hi,

I am getting better in caping ship, even if not yet successfull, but with the lack of AP plots it keeps me very busy

I can confirm that ALL the A.S.S capitals get red and start moving as soon as i try to lower their schields.
[/u]

[DrBullwinkle]

I am getting better in capping ships, even if not yet successful, but with the lack of AP plots it keeps me very busy

Good.

I recently posted a hacked version of Cycrow's excellent Improved Boarding (Bullwinkle's Hacked Version). Among other things, it makes spacewalking a little bit easier.

BTW, you can add plots to AP: Terran Conflict plots for Albion Prelude.

I can confirm that ALL the A.S.S capitals get red and start moving as soon as i try to lower their shields.

Yes, it is normal for a ship to move away when you shoot it.

It would be unusual for a ship without a pilot to be moving before you shoot it.

[Klord]

I got to try this man..."Super tuned abandoned ships" . Damn I didnt noticed this before !