Bullwinkle's List

[DrBullwinkle]

Bullwinkle's List

For a list of Scripts and Mods that I use in my own game, click here.



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Abandoned Ship Spawner for AP (ASS-AP)
Abandoned Ship Spawner for AP (ASS-AP)
[ external image ]
Abandoned Ship Spawner for AP (ASS-AP)
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Abandoned Ship Spawner creates the wrecks... Can you find them?

Nice Add-On for Abandoned Ship Detector (above).

This is CorbinBird's classic with some fresh new features:

• - Added new AP ships.
  - Some ships include bonus "extras" such as Repair Lasers, Marines, and Super-Tuned engines or rudder.
  - Includes Graxster's "Repair Ships" and "Repair All Ships in Sector" commands on the Trade Menu.
  - Cleanup of existing ships is configurable in the t file.
  - Will not remove vanilla ships.
  - New ship spawn time is now configurable in the t file. Default = 1.5 hour (slower spawn rate)
  - Ship name includes "(A.S.S.)" so that you can identify ships added by A.S.S.

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Better Globals
Better Globals (DrBullwinkle)
Mirror 1
Mirror 2

Features

• 500k Comm Range
• 200k Complex Hub Distance
• 20k Docking Computer
• 20k Transporter Device
• Larger storage at Equipment Docks

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Cargo Hunter
Cargo Hunter
[ external image ]


Features

• Artificial Life Plugin (ALP) Scans TL's throughout the galaxy for specific stations in cargo.
• Repeats scan every 5 minutes until it finds what you are looking for. (Turn off the ALP when not hunting.)
• By default, it searches for Incendiary Bomb Launcher Forges.
• Configure more station types in the language file.

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Cartel Shield Hacker
Updated for TC/AP

Cartel Shield Hacker

[ external image ]
Brought to you by Cartel-Inc. Your cargo is our business!


This is Moggy2's famous script, updated for TC/AP. A rare pirate device that allows you to steal cargo from other ships.

The Cartel Shield Hacker is a viable way for a privateer to obtain the equipment and weapons that he needs to play his game -- even if the entire Commonwealth hates him. On the other hand, obtaining wares can be a dangerous undertaking.

The device itself is sold only at pirate bases, and is usually out of stock at most bases. You will have to hunt for one of these rare (but valuable) hacking tools.

Using the device involves remaining *very* close to the target ship throughout the entire scanning process, during which time the ship may detect your scans and become hostile. The bigger the target the bigger the loot -- but bigger targets are also more dangerous!




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Combat Tricks OBS Enhancement

Combat Tricks OBS

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Improves the Opponent Balancing System (OBS):

• Increases combat challenge.
• Reduces lag at higher levels. More big enemies; fewer fighters at high ranks.
• Allows you to adjust the limits by changing values in the language (t) file.
• Gives M8's to Xenon and Kha'ak, and M7M's to Xenons.

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Detector
Detector
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Finds Abandoned Ships, Engine and Rudder Tunings, and Nividium Rock Clusters.

Detector gives a repeating, audible, "tick" when there is a "bonus" object of interest in the current sector. The sound changes to a "blip" when your ship is pointed in the general direction of the target. The blip repeats more frequently as you approach the target ship.

This makes hunting for abandoned ships, tuning kits, and Nividium more fun. It takes more work than simply finding them for you, but it is less painstaking than mapping an entire sector before you know whether or not there is anything to find.

Based on an idea proposed by X-Plorer and X2-Illuminatus in the "Metal Detector" thread and inspired by the the prototype "radar" in the Balance of Power Plot (X3:Terran Conflict).



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Drone Carrier Software 2
Drone Carrier Software 2 (DCS2) (featuring Balanced Mode).

[ external image ]
The drone carrier is the perfect solution to OOS patrols. It can take on any size enemy, is relatively quick, and manages its "fighters" by itself, with no need for constant management by the player.

DCS2 manufactures and equips real fighters, so that you can use them with your favorite carrier solution (such as CODEA or Anarkis Defense System). Or activate "Engage Enemies", and DCS2 will defend your stuff automatically. DCS2 also manufactures bomber drones to help with capital ships -- at a cost. Click the link for more details about DCS2.

This is automated carrier software that really delivers on the "automated" part. It's single purpose is to assist you in your pursuit of Peace through superior firepower.




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Emergency Jump
Emergency Jump
[ external image ]
More reliable emergency jumping based on settings in your ship's Command Console.



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Free Jump for AI's (works for Player, Universal Traders, and other AI's)
Free Jump for AI's
[ external image ]

Better jumping for your AI traders and explorers. Helps to keep them safe, and reduces wandering into enemy sectors.

Includes Free Jump hotkey and command for the player ship.



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Freight Drone Transfer (capital ships can buy/sell with drones)
Freight Drone Transfer
Mirror 1
Mirror 2
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Allows capital ships to buy and sell wares at stations that do not allow capital ship docking. The drones are turbo-charged and work much better than vanilla freight drones. Makes TL's useful for TRADE missions, and allows M1/M2/M7 to purchase energy directly from Solar Power Plants.

This update improves reliability and speed of freight drones substantially.



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Improved Boarding (Bullwinkle's Hacked Version)

[ external image ]

Improved Boarding (Bullwinkle's Hacked Version)

Features

• Hotkey(s) to launch marines (instead of cumbersome menus).
• More reliable spacewalking.
• Doubled Transporter distance because some ships are too large for the original values.
• Good for X3TC or X3AP.
• Experimental Version: Reduced price and reputation requirements for the Boarding Transporter (because you may want it earlier in the game).
• Experimental Version: New custom ware handling should be compatible with all games. (Probably.) (Maybe.)

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Logain Industries Capital Ship Energy Cell Generator (CSecG) v2

Logain Industries Capital Ship Energy Cell Generator (CSecG)

Eliminate the need for Energy Cells in your transports (or any player-owned ship). This improves survivability of traders (Mk3, CAG, CLS, EST, etc).

My update includes the following new features:

• Removes the custom ware which does not work correctly in some/many games.
• Works on any ship class.
• Defaults to "On". Reduces number of clicks required to outfit many ships.
• Improved defaults to number of cells generated on various ship classes.

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Long Range Cargo Scanner (for Jump Beacons)

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Long Range Cargo Scanner

Scans ships throughout the galaxy for Jump Beacons in cargo.



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Marine Repairs (and Training) v2
Marine Repairs (and Training) v2
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Your marines will repair the ship that they are on, any ship docked to the ship that they are on, or any station or complex that they are docked to.

While repairing, your marines will receive training for their non-fight skills (or you can include fight skill by changing the setting in the t file).

Repairs for stations and large ships are much faster now. Configurable costs have been added to compensate. Full repairs are still less expensive than a shipyard. If Microchips or Hull Plating are available, then they will be consumed first; before credits. Optionally, resource-only mode (no credits) can be set in the t file.

The pricing factors are all configurable in the t file, in case you want to fine-tune Marine Repairs (and Training). You can even make repairs "free" if you prefer.




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Mission Briefing Fix
Mission Briefing Fix

Provides enhanced mission briefings for several generic missions offered at stations. Tells you target race for combat missions; ware size and space requirements for transport missions.

This version may be vanilla friendly.




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Mission Director (MD)

• Xenon Graveyard mission (Shady Business; AP 3.0, with Eldyranx3)

This is by far the best mission I've done in a long time. Congratulations to those that conceived it. Inspired

I'd love to see more of this kind of event in vanilla, the detector, clever use of hull plating and sat navs.

• Combat Tricks (OBS Enhancement)

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Mobile Mining Mk2 (MM Mk2)
Mobile Mining Mk2
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Enhances Mobile Mining in several ways:

• - Mobile Mining is now safe when the player is In Sector (IS).
  - Ships pause for shield recovery when necessary.
  - Damaged ships go to shipyard or homebase for repairs.
  - Miners unload at homebase then resume mining.
  - Homebase can be any capital ship (including M7, M1, M2, M0).
  - Adds Wing Mining command to the Special Menu of properly-equipped wings.
  - You can mine Nividium.

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Occupy Wall Street (and Stop the Stock Exchange)
Occupy Wall Street (and Stop the Stock Exchange)
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Description
Simple change to AP Stock Exchange scripts which stops the Stock Exchange. No more annoying popups when you enter a stock exchange; no more tempation to exploit your way to fame and fortune.




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Organic Boron Hulls
Organic Boron Hulls
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- Boron ship hulls self-repair over time (as you know they should).
- This is not a "freebie" to overpower your fleet. Enemies heal four times faster!
- Repair speeds are configurable in the t file.




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Pandora Tuning Ejector
[ external image ]
Ejects Pandora Tunings from current ship so that you can collect them in another ship. Allows you to change your mind about which ship you want to overtune.
Pandora Tuning Ejector



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Passenger to Marine
Passenger to Marine
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Q) What do you do with ejected pilots that you pick up after you force them to bail out of their ships?

A) Conscript them into your marine force!

Adds an item to the Piracy menu: Convert Passenger to Marine.



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Performance Tips
List of mods and techniques for improving performance in your game:
Performance Tips




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Relationship Fixer

a.fix.all.relations.

Small utility to correct rep problems throughout the universe. Save before using, then run from the Script Editor.

• Note that it will also wipe out any existing hate flags, so save before running it, then check out the universe before you save again.

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Repair Ships Command
Repair Ships Command
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Adds two commands to the Special Menu: Repair Ship and Repair Ships in Sector. For use with mods that add repair lasers, such as XRM or ASS-AP.

Requires:

• Special Command Software
• Navigation Command Software
• A repair ship with one or more repair lasers mounted
• XRM players can use Quantum Repair Laser

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RRF Attack Player Only (for AP)
RRF Attack Player Only

Tired of RRF ships "poaching" your kills and interfering with your missions? Or wasting cpu by attacking other races, who don't really care? This package makes minor adjustments to RRF so that it will attack only player-owned assets.

For AP Only. Changes: plugin.rrf.monitor.4.signal.
See link for installation/uninstallation instructions.




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Salvage Cleaner
Salvage Cleaner
Artificial Life Plugin (ALP) Cleans up (removes) floating ware salvage and ejected astronauts.

Makes salvage game more challenging. (Does not remove marines or Pandora tunings (engine tuning and rudder optimization).)



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Signal_Targeted (with Emergency Jump)
Signal_Targeted (with Emergency Jump)
Library version available for script writers
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Signal_Targeted alerts you when your ships have been *targeted*... which is often a few vital seconds before they are *attacked*. This gives you a better chance to rescue them.

New! Emergency Jump feature automatically jumps the attacked ship to a nearby (random) sector.



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Slipstream Drive 2
Slipstream Drive 2
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Features

• Travel long distances in a short burst of very high speed (thousands of kps).
• Steering Disabled; acceleration and deceleration are slow. You can rotate your ship while in Slipstream, but it will continue to move in the same direction that you began with.
• Because of the slow deceleration, you have to plan in advance, and turn off the Slipstream well before you reach your destination.
• Be careful about objects in the path of your slipstream. You could re-enter normal space inside of a gate or asteroid!
• Nearby objects may cause your ship to "bounce" out of slipstream. If that happens, you may go off course. Possibly far off course.
• Laser power is reduced to zero while in the Slipstream, and Shield energy is greatly reduced (the amount depends on the class of the ship). Laser and Shields continue to remain low during the cool down period after the drive stops.

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Space Suit Survival Kit (with Ejector Seat)
Space Suit Survival Kit (with Ejector Seat)
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• - Faster jet pack gives you a chance to escape from combat. Use strafe keys to avoid enemy fire (WASD).
  - SETA and Vision Enhancement Goggles.
  - Trading System Extension. Buy a new ship (and have it come pick you up).
  - Mineral Scanner and Freight Scanner (Do missions if you cannot afford a new ship). Remember your 2 hour Oxygen supply!
  - Transporter Device and Docking Computer.
  - A Meatsteak Cahoona and a flask of Space Fuel, in case you get hungry.

Ejector Seat

• - Automatically ejects you when your ship is heavily damaged. (Probably)
  - Any ships docked to the player ship are automatically undocked and sent to safety.
  - Any marines on the player ship are put into escape pod(s) and sent to safety.

Space Suit Mod (Optional)

• - Adds multiple Repair Lasers to Space Suit (number of Repair Lasers is configurable in t file).
  - Adds ability to mount a shield on your Space Suit.

[ external image ]
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Stop Player Ship When Loading Saved Game
Stop Player Ship When Loading Saved Game
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Stops the player ship when loading a saved game.



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Stop, Thief!
Stop, Thief!
[ external image ]

Features

• For Return Stolen Ship Missions.
• Hotkey slightly improves chance of capturing stolen (small) ships. (Fighters and TS/TP/M8 )
• You capture the usual way... shoot the ship until the pilot bails.
• Works by progressively lowering the target pilot's morale as you slowly damage his ship.
• If the stolen ship is targeted by an enemy missile during your capture attempt, then you will get a chance to shoot the missile before it destroys your mission objective. Your HUD will automatically target the incoming missile and you will hear a missile alert klaxon.

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Super Script Killer (SSK) (for captured/boarded ships)
Super Script Killer (SSK) (for captured/boarded ships)
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Ever have a ship disappear after you capped it? Or attack your friends when you are not watching?

This Hotkey fixes ships with runaway scripts resulting from boarding or capture.

Based on idea from LV's RRF thread.



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Turret On/Off Hotkey (Missiles Only version)
Turret On/Off Hotkey (Missiles Only version)

Update to the Bonus Pack hotkey.

Instead of turning turrets off completely, it sets them to "Missiles Only" mode. That way, the turrets will continue to defend your ship against missiles, but will not attack enemy ships.

Also added support for SMART Turrets and MARS.


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Teleporter
Teleporter
[ external image ]

Hotkey teleports astronauts within range (including marines and plot characters).

May be expanded to include other objects in the future.




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Upgrade Kits for TC/AP, with Equipment Packs
Upgrade Kits for TC/AP, with Equipment Packs
[ external image ]
Carry spare jump drives (and other equipment) with you.

LV's classic Jump Drive kits; extended into Upgrade Kits, ported to AP, and with Equipment Packs added.

This is a good way to field-equip your fleet when you have dozens of ships.

Upgrade Kits are also a terrific way to repair equipment damage from combat.

The Jump Drive kit is ideal for "Return Ship" missions. And by "ideal" I mean "cheat".

If you want to change the included Equipment Packs, you can edit the lists in plugin.deliver.jd.getlists.



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Where is My Stuff?
Where is My Stuff?

Hotkey displays list of wares that you own (on any ship).
Select a ware: Pops up list of ships that contain that ware.
List is ordered by number of wares on the ship.

History
-------
v2 (2014-04-14)
* Move hotkey to setup.HotKeys if it exists.



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TrainPilot
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[ external image ]
Cheat: Instantly trains your pilots, including Universal Traders and Pilot Union pilots. This script template is simple and well-documented, so you can change whether you want your pilots partially trained (enough to use a jump drive) or fully trained. No user interface, but can be installed to work automatically for Pilot Union. Includes instructions for automatically training Universal Traders. (Some scripting required - Very Easy).



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Add Your Custom Ship to Shipyards
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[ external image ]
This is a script template that you can easily modify to add your custom ship (or ships) to shipyards. (Light scripting required - Very Easy):

1) Install the .spk
2) Edit plugin.BW.add.your.ship.to.shipyards.
3) Change $ship and $race as you like.
4) Save your changes. Save your game. Reload game (to re-read scripts).
5) Run the script manually from the Script Editor. (Highlight the script, press "r", then press Enter repeatedly to step through the prompts).

Includes an Uninstall script (which you must also edit).

Note that the Cheat Package does the same thing, and has a user interface. I made this script because somebody asked for the script code for how to do it in their own scripts. I put it in a .spk as a demonstration. If all you want to do is to add your ship to a shipyard, then use the Cheat Package.

Based on Apricot-PHQ-MO-in-Boron-Shipyards by Apricotslice.



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zMissionTweak Repack for TC/AP
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[ external image ]
ZMissionTweak v1.2c (Repack) - Adjust Generic Mission Durations and Rewards For X3 - Terran Conflict and Albion Prelude

In response to requests on the forum, I repacked Kvalyr's MD script (ZMissionTweak) so that it can be installed with the Plugin Manager. It will now work for X3TC and X3AP.

I also removed mdfiles so that it will work correctly with AP v2.0. The original could disable the Hub and PHQ plots.

I removed the signatures as well, just in case they might cause any trouble.

Finally, I changed the installation procedure. Hopefully it will be a bit simpler. There is now only a single set of files to install. By default, mission time is doubled and rewards are doubled. As always, you can change the multipliers in ZMissionTweakMults.xml.



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Quantico Special Marine Base
Quantico Special Marine Base (Main Page)
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[ external image ]
Adds a single Special Marine Base where you can hire highly-trained marines. Similar to a Military Outpost. Actual training amounts are randomized, so you can choose between "bargain" marines and more advanced marines. A few are 5-star in all skills, although 4x100 "SEALs" are very rare.



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Marine Training and Boarding Tips for Newbie Pirates
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Marine Tips



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And let's not forget....
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Scripts and Mods that I use in my own game
Scripts and Mods that I use in my own game




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Combat Tricks: How to Increase Combat Difficulty (Guide)
Combat Tricks: How to Increase Combat Difficulty (Guide)




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Ship Tricks: Mini Guides for Modding Ships Without a 3D Modeling Tool
Ship Tricks: Mini Guides for Modding Ships Without a 3D Modeling Tool
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Includes video tutorials where appropriate, as well as pictures and copy-and-paste code snippets.

[DrBullwinkle]

Scripts and Mods that I use in my own game

As you always recommend interesting mods, what sort of mod list do you typically play with?

This is a frequently-asked question, so I will try to give a robust answer that can be referenced in the future.


Downloadable Mods
I use mostly scripts, and only a few small mods.

Mods that I always use:

• Ringless Gate Mod
  
  Complex "Cocktail"
  • Complex Cleaner (or Complex Cleaner Re-Packed for Plugin Manager)
  • TCM Tubeless Complex Mod - a.k.a. more performant complex tubes
  • Advanced Complex Hub Mk2 (Zeron-mk7) or Advanced Complex Hub (Saetan)
  • Optional: Increase SG_MAX_DISTANCE_BUILDCOMPLEX;500000; // was: 20000 in types\Globals (or addon\types\Globals for AP).

A mod that I will use in my next game:

• Terran Conflict Plots for Albion Prelude (dillpickle)

(Personal-use mods are at the end of this post.)



Scripts
There are too many fine scripts for me to list all that are interesting. Part of the fun of X3 is the search for scripts. It is similar to the in-game search for ships, weapons, equipment, and upgrades; except that the real-life search for scripts never ends. The extensibility of X3 is a large part of the reason that it can be played for hundreds or thousands of hours, rather than the few dozen hours for which most games are interesting.

An excellent starting point for any search is Teleth's List: Streamlining X3 with ease of use modifications.

I start each game as mostly vanilla, and then I add scripts when I have a specific problem that I want to solve. So the scripts that I use vary from game to game.


Some of my favorite scripts:

• - Of course, I use most of the scripts on this thread (Bullwinkle's List):
  • Marine Repairs and Training
    
    Combat Tricks OBS (Opponent Balancing System -- makes stronger enemies)
    
    Detector
    
    Drone Carrier Software 2 (DCS2)
    
    Abandoned Ship Spawner for AP (ASS-AP)
    
    Free Jump for AI's
    
    Mobile Mining Mk2
    
    Super Script Killer Hotkey (SSK) (for captured/boarded ships)
    
    Upgrade Kits for TC/AP, with Equipment Packs
    
    TrainPilot
    
    Quantico Special Marine Base (Main Page)
  
  
  
  Other Favorites:
  
  - Salvage Insurance Contract
  
  - Docking Lockup Fix
  
  - Safe Undocking/Jumping
  
  - Universal Best Buys Locator
  
  - MK3 Improvement Reloaded or OK Traders
  
  - Improved Boarding or Improved Boarding (Bullwinkle's Hacked Version)
  
  - Turret On/Off Hotkey
  
  - Station Camper
  
  - Turbo Booster
  
  - Weapon Select Extension (WSE) update for 12 guns (I use this for main guns only)
  
  - Galaxy Explorer

Mods that I make for my personal game
I do not use the larger full-replacement mods because the ones I have looked at break the plots or the balance of the game (or both). I know that some people are happy to play without plots, and that's great. It just isn't my cup of tea.

Balance is a more complicated issue. The vanilla game is professionally balanced, and EgoSoft have done a good job with it. The small adjustments in Albion Prelude are excellent, IMHO.

Strategy games are balanced by using "balancing equations" which ensure that ships and weapons are not usually overpowered. Part of the fun is finding "outliers", which are the few ships and weapons that are intentionally overpowered. Usually they have some other limitation. For example, Terran ships tend to be the strongest in the game, but it takes some "think" work to get weapons for them.

The full-replacement mods that I have taken a close look at tend to be haphazardly unbalanced. For some reason, the authors thought that they could re-balance the game without using equations. The result tends to be chaotic and inconsistent. It spoils the fun of the strategy game... at least it does so for me.

Also, the tendency to try to make ships and weapons faster runs into limitations of the game engine. It is not a good tradeoff (for me).

More importantly, making all weapons faster removes much of the "skill" from good piloting. With vanilla balance, piloting skill can be improved through practice, resulting in the ability to dispatch increasingly-challenging enemies. This is a major factor in the fun of the combat game. When most of the lasers and missiles hit nearly instantly, there is no time for the pilot to "fly better". Fast weapons look cool for the first few minutes that you use them. After that, they spoil a lot of the fun.

Finally, I am not a fan of adding extra stuff to the game that is not important. The game already has too many ships, lasers, and missile types. To add more seems absurd.

(Don't get me wrong: Some of the full replacement mods are brilliant; often offering excellent eye candy and, sometimes, stronger enemies. Those things are terrific, but I am unwilling to sacrifice the balance of the game in order to have them. Your mileage may vary!)

So I prefer to start with the vanilla balance, then make specific (small) changes that suit my personal style. These changes may or may not be interesting to anyone else.

Most of the mods that I make to the game are to reduce the (tedious) burden of logistics later in the game. However, logistics are an important part of the fun early in the game, so I try not to ruin the early-game balance.


Mods that I make for my personal game

• - I use the OBS mod I posted in Combat Tricks. It increases combat challenge for missions that use OBS (Opponent Balancing System) as much as you like (difficulty is player-adjustable).
  
  - In TC, I remove ammunition requirement from all lasers. (Solves a bug that sometimes causes ammunition-equipped ships to not fire OOS.) This bug has been fixed in AP.
  
  - Make Boarding Pods fragmentation type so that they are effective against MARS-equipped enemies.
  
  - Double cargo space for ships M6 and above. (Simplifies logistics later in the game.)
  
  - Triple cargo space for Falcon Haulers. (Same)
  
  - For rapid-firing lasers, I triple the bullet damage and cut re-fire rate to one third. (This greatly reduces the number of projectiles in the sky, which boosts performance.)
  
  - Increase damage for Mass Driver in AP due to thicker hulls.
  
  - Increase docking bays and speed of Deimos. (I prefer frigates over carriers and destroyers for most of the game, but it is hard to choose a frigate. The Deimos is the best-balanced frigate, although it is too slow to use as a personal ship, so I fix that. I also give it more docking bays because I would use a Panther if the Panther had ISR's for main guns.) (I have experimented with adding docking bays to a Tiger or adding main guns to a Panther, but the Deimos mod is easier. And the Deimos is prettier. I figure its slightly-lighter weaponry is fair tradeoff since I buff the speed and docking bays.)
  
  - I make several changes to globals. (Some are extracted from "Signal Boost" and "500k Comm Range" mods.) (Comments are after "/" symbol):

  Code: Select all

  // Satellites and Freight Scanner ranges:
  SG_SCANNER_RANGE_SATELLITE;17500000;            // Signal Boost was 11000000
  SG_SCANNER_RANGE_SATELLITE2;25000000;           // Signal Boost Was 17500000
  SG_SCANNER_RANGE_STATION;16000000;               // Signal Boost was 5000000
  SG_SCANNER_RANGE_ORBITALLASER;12000000;          // Signal Boost was 1250000
  SG_SCANNER_RANGE_FREIGHTSCANNER;500000000;	// Signal Boost was 2000000
  
  // Hub
  SG_GATE_REALIGNMENT_WAIT;900;			// (BW: Was 7200) time between linking
  
  // Ranges
  SG_MAX_DISTANCE_COMM;500000;			// largest Terran station ca 25km diameter, 12.5km radius // 500k Comm Range was 25000
  SG_MAX_DISTANCE_BEAMING;10000;			// transporter device BW: Was 5,000
  SG_MAX_VERTEXDIST_DOCKCOMPUTER;8000;	// distance to nearest vertex of station BW: Was 4,000
  SG_MAX_DISTANCE_BUILDCOMPLEX;500000;		// distance between selected factories BW: Was 20,000
  

[DrBullwinkle]

Reserved 2

[DrBullwinkle]

Reserved 3

[joelR]

Good idea. A lot of good scripts/mods get lost on these forums.

Thanks.

[Sorkvild]

Quantico Special Marine Base

What kind of marines this base has to offer? Five star in fighting or übermarines with five stars in everything?

[DrBullwinkle]

The marine base offers a random distribution of trainings. However, they all have more training than you would find at a normal Military Outpost. The amount of training varies, as does the cost of hiring the marine. It would be rare to find a 4x100 "SEAL", although a few are 5-stars in all skills.

The current pricing adds extra cost for the most highly trained marines. I have been experimenting with the pricing module, which may change in the future.

It is a very simple script to try; just install it and read the startup message that tells you where the base is located. Go to the base, and shop.

[Sorkvild]

Hiring? Does it mean they return to base after certain period of time?

[DrBullwinkle]

Hiring? Does it mean they return to base after certain period of time?

No, that is just my preference of terms. You "buy" a meatsteak cahoona. You "hire" a marine. Or "recruit" a marine; although "hire" has the connotation of payment.

Anyway, it is just like the way that you hire a marine at a Military Outpost. The difference is that the marines have more training.

[Sorkvild]

I like the idea, time to test it! Works for TC as well ?

[DrBullwinkle]

Works for TC as well ?

Yes, both TC and AP.

(Although you should punch yourself for asking. )

[Sorkvild]

Its really confusing with these similar games. usually scripts work with both games, although some may not ...

[DrBullwinkle]

I would say that all scripts work for both TC and AP.

(except for a very few that do not, and those are usually clearly described.)

[Aegyen]

I am happy to see you are working with the drone carrier script, I wasn't sure, and hadn't gotten as far as working with them yet, what i was going to do about those. I knew the script as it stood, wouldn't work for me, so I am happy to see you working with it.

[DrBullwinkle]

Yeah, the drone carrier is the perfect solution to OOS patrols. It can take on any size enemy, is relatively quick (on a Griffon), and manages its "fighters" by itself, with no need for constant management by the player.

My current hack is crude but effective. And by "effective" I mean that it can kill a fleet with multiple Xenon J's, K's, and escorts. The drone carriers rarely die OOS, unless a Q gets too close.

My vision for the future is more "realistic" drone carrier software. Simpler than LSDC, and without the quirks/bugs. I want it to have different capability IS vs. OOS, because my primary goal is an effective OOS patrol ship. In-Sector, I do not want a Griffon to be able to overpower a Raptor (which it can now easily do).

(Description Updated)

[LordGaara]

Nice list Doc!

I want to ask some silly questions, to which I expect some smart answers.

What exactly does "Add Your Custom Ship to Shipyards" do? Except the obvious thing that the title states I mean. Installs a script to edited in-game via SE? Or needs to be edited beforehand?
I need to add main guns to a/some ships but I am scared shitless that I'll mess up.
I am using XRM+AP btw. Dont know if it even possible to edit ships.
I tried installing some .xsp ships, which have the properties I need, via the Plugin Manager and failed bigtime. Either X won't start at all, or I get the "corrupted savegame" message.
So, any tips?

Thanks in advance,
Martin

[DrBullwinkle]

What exactly does "Add Your Custom Ship to Shipyards" do? Except the obvious thing that the title states I mean. Installs a script to edited in-game via SE? Or needs to be edited beforehand?

The easiest way is to install the script ,then edit with the Script Editor. (Instructions Updated in Original Post.) If you make no changes, the default behavior is to add the Advanced Spacesuit to Teladi shipyards. (Before somebody asks: No, it will not replace your normal spacesuit with the Advanced Spacesuit. It is a do-nothing place-holder rather than a real, usable, ship).

Remember that the Cheat Package does the same thing, and has a user interface. I made this script because somebody asked for the script code for how to do it in their own scripts.

If you open the package with the Plugin Manger, it will display the Description before you install.

I need to add main guns to a/some ships but I am scared shitless that I'll mess up.

Before you begin editing anything, Back up your:

• - .cats (in the addon folder for AP)
  - .dats (in the addon folder for AP)
  - objects folder
  - types folder (in the addon folder for AP)
  - Saved Games
  
  (If you have more disk space than confidence in your Windows-fu, you can simply back up your entire game folder and entire documents\EgoSoft folders.)

Your saved games are linked to your mods, so back them both up at the same time.

Then, if you run into any problems, you can restore your original game from backup.

Do one thing at a time, then test. Do not move on to another step until the first step is working.

If you run into to trouble, just ask. Somebody will give you a hand. Probably.

I am using XRM+AP btw. Dont know if it even possible to edit ships.

Yes, editing XRM ships is the same as any other ships that are installed in your game, either in .cat files or directly on the hard drive.

Note that .xsp ships are slightly different, and require some extra care/knowledge to handle properly. ESPECIALLY in AP.

I tried installing some .xsp ships, which have the properties I need, via the Plugin Manager and failed bigtime. Either X won't start at all, or I get the "corrupted savegame" message. So, any tips?

Well, you could read the last few pages of the Plugin Manager thread, in which several users describe a bug with installing .xsp ships into AP with the Plugin Manager. Cycrow has confirmed the bug, but has not had time to fix it. One user posted a possible workaround, although I have not tried it.

The PM works fine with TC and .xsp ships. The trouble is only with AP.

Because of the bug, it will probably be easier for you to modify your own ships than it will be to install .xsp ships.

When you become familiar with how the pieces fit together, you may be able to extract files from a .xsp and install them manually. Maybe.

Hope that helps!

[LordGaara]

Thanks for the tips.
Throughout your posts in this forum, I have concluded that you try to teach people something instead of doing it for them. And that's just selfish - you want to get all the credit when the padawan surpasses his master!

By the way I didnt just post here to whine about it, I have read all I could find on the matter ( despite the dead guide links), watched your tutorials and read relevant topics.

So up to here:
Installed the .spk, dont know if Advanced spacesuit is added, I have started a new game yesterday and no teladi SY is in sight so far. Couldnt find the script to edit in SE tho. What's the name?
I would first try to edit an existing ship, seems easier for a start.

Cheers

[Aegyen]

I like that part.. maybe.. It took me one or 8 tries to extract, and get everything where it needs to go, so don't feel bad, when at first, it doesn't succeed.. I never did get the JuanBio Whitestar to show up..

Anywho, for you, Dr Bullwinkle...

I see you are a fan of Lucike's scripts as well... By chance, do you happen to have translated t-files for Satellite and Laser Tower service, and the newish DOBAG scripts?..

Otherwise, it's back to the slow and painful process of Google transalting it, and figuring out why it all looks funny, until I get all the context right..

[EmperorJon]

You're more than welcome to find an update any of my older stuff, by the way, that I never really did much with. Like the Goner Shipyard, Achievement Guild, etc. I'm sure some of it must be out there SOMEWHERE.