X3TC 2.5 - Number of decks on TMs and M6s

[Carlo the Curious]

From a quick & dirty script and pivot table:

Code: Select all

Class                         Decks
M1                            5
M2                            5
M7                            4
M6                            3
M8                            2
M3                            0
M4                            0
M5                            0
TL                            5
TM                            2
TP                            0
TS                            0
Advanced Satellite            0
Astronaut                     0
Beacon                        0
Fighter Drone                 0
Fighter Drone MKII            0
Freight Drone                 0
Goner Ship                    0
Ion Mine                      0
Jump Beacon                   0
Keris                         0
Kha'ak Cluster                0
Lasertower                    0
Matter/Anti-Matter Mine       0
Navigation Relay Satellite    0
null                          0
Pirate TS                     0
Spacefly                      0
SQUASH Mine                   0
Tracker Mine                  0
UFO                           0

The ships were newly created in 2.5.

[LeSash]

Cheers, Carlo

M8 - 2

M8s have decks? What for?

[RyuKazuha]

Cheers, Carlo

M8 - 2

M8s have decks? What for?

Separate toilet?

[Carlo the Curious]

M8s have decks? What for?

Pizza storage!

Possibly at some stage they were going to be boardable. Or it's just a typo somewhere .

[VincentTH]

M8s have decks? What for?

Pizza storage!

Possibly at some stage they were going to be boardable. Or it's just a typo somewhere .

A dev once said that M8 was initially meant to be a large ship, i.e. boardable. Then they changed their mind, and make it a "small" ship class, i.e. bailable. That's why M8 are easy to get bailed in v1.01. Then the devs changed their mind again, and in v2.x, they make M8 not available in Station Defense mission.

On a side note, in 2.5, can you make an M8 bail? (I have never had an Angel or an M8 bail for me in 2.x).

[LeSash]

On a side note, in 2.5, can you make an M8 bail? (I have never had an Angel or an M8 bail for me in 2.x).

I have never managed to make an M8 bail. They always jump out on me .
But then, I only tried 4 or 5 times and then I got two retrieve M8 missions in a row. Two Gladiators suffice for the time being

The only Angel I've seen in my game is the one with the Escort Hydra in tow. Tried to make it bail very early in the game in an undershielded M4 without realising the Hydra was there. Result: <-- me

EDIT: spellcheck

[Geek]

They bail but rarely. AFAIK the only M8s you will encounter are military escorts. All Military pilots have high morale values, thus reducing their chance to give up.

[Alan Phipps]

OK, back onto this vanilla 2.5 number of decks issue for TM/M6 that is bugging me. Last night I went back to capturing newly-spawned TMs and M6s just to confirm and yes I still have the reverse deck figures compared with LeSash although I have been patched to vanilla 2.5 since it came out. I do though recall something discussed in the Tech Sp or S&M forum that said that the game creates a ready-access cache of often run routines and look-up tables that survives reloads and game reboots. The aim of this is to speed up loading and look-up times.

The issue was that this cache needed to be manually flushed or a reinstall or new game start undertaken in order to replace it. It was given as the reason why some in-game corruptions survived reloads and gamefile fixes and why sometimes mods, scripts and gamefile edits did not immediately have the effects that were expected.

Given that I have never needed to reinstall my vanilla game since early version 1.xx and that all my game restarts since have been in totally separately copied and modified game folders such as for when I completed the Transcend II plots, I wonder if that cache is the reason that I am still playing with 'old' deck figures in vanilla? I also wonder what other patch changes I might have thereby missed! Any gurus available to comment?

[LeSash]

@ Alan Phipps:
This seems to be becoming a technical rather than an empirical "tell me how it is in your game" question.

However, it seems quite relevant, especially with a next patch coming up at some point. Maybe this could be moved (or split) to the Tech Support forum, or Alan could post a new thread there? (and post a linkt to it here?)

[Alan Phipps]

I'm not sure I totally agree there since this is entirely about the substance of your intial post. There is nothing wrong with my PC or game set up (unless it is a Vista x64 OS inherent caching issue) and I have used the game and patches exactly as intended. The fact that others have contradicted the decks numbers issue in 2.5 means that I am far from alone. I think that this is a more general game/patching issue of relevance to all TC players (at least those with Vista) and not just limited to those experiencing system problems who would access the Tech Sp forum. Anyway, the Moderators will surely decide if a split/move is necessary and I am happy as ever to go with their decision.

[Nanook]

@ Alan Phipps:
This seems to be becoming a technical rather than an empirical "tell me how it is in your game" question.

However, it seems quite relevant, especially with a next patch coming up at some point. Maybe this could be moved (or split) to the Tech Support forum, or Alan could post a new thread there? (and post a linkt to it here?)

This isn't really a technical issue, per se, since nothings actually broken. And Alan is probably right and a simple reinstall of the game would probably 'fix' the issue. Not that it really needs fixing unless he prefers the new configurations. And even so, it would best be brought up in the L3+ Beta Testing forum, not in Tech Support.

@Alan Phipps: I have reinstalled since patch 2.5. That was about the time I upgraded XP to Win 7. So that's probably why I'm seeing the changes and you're not.

[LeSash]

I didn't mean to imply that Alan Phipps observations are due to hardware problems. As I said in the OP, I have heard Alan's observations from several other players.

The reason I suggested the Tech forum is Alan Phipps' comment:

I do though recall something discussed in the Tech Sp or S&M forum that said that the game creates a ready-access cache of often run routines and look-up tables that survives reloads and game reboots. The aim of this is to speed up loading and look-up times.

The issue was that this cache needed to be manually flushed or a reinstall or new game start undertaken in order to replace it. It was given as the reason why some in-game corruptions survived reloads and gamefile fixes and why sometimes mods, scripts and gamefile edits did not immediately have the effects that were expected.

I thought that if this issue has something to do with flushing ready-access caches, we might get more help in the Tech forum. However, if I misunderstood what the tech forum is for, I apologise. After all, the last time i seriously worked with the insides of hard- or software was when I learned basic in highschool on a CBM with Hercules monochrome graphics (yes, that was nigh on 20 years ago )

Back on topic: If the full implementation of a patch may require a reinstall, would this affect safegames, or would one also have to start a completely new game?

[Alan Phipps]

Thanks Nanook and LeSash - I wasn't getting at all waspish - I just don't like not understanding why my 'vanilla' is different! You know the more I think on it, the more I think that it was a 'frequently used' programs/routines cache created by the OS that was being discussed rather than a cache created purely by and for the game. So maybe it is just a Vista idiosyncrasy rather than a game feature that is the issue - I really don't know. Maybe an OS refresh is the real answer.

One day I'll reinstall and repatch the vanilla game and see what happens, but not just now as I am at a critical phase of getting toward my blueprint collection target. My other concern is what else I might have in-game that plays as if incorrectly patched for the same reasons (whatever they are) as for the ship decks. (It also undermines my confidence and that of others in any advice I may give or have given on these forums.)

[Carlo the Curious]

You know the more I think on it, the more I think that it was a 'frequently used' programs/routines cache created by the OS that was being discussed rather than a cache created purely by and for the game. So maybe it is just a Vista idiosyncrasy rather than a game feature that is the issue - I really don't know. Maybe an OS refresh is the real answer.

Do you mean Prefetch? iirc, that's just an index of frequently used segments rather than an actual cache.

I'm also using Vista (64 bit Home Premium). The install I used was patched all the way from 1.0.1, and I think the saved game was from 1.2.