Trapper Tim's Guide to CLS 2

[Tohron]

Something I can't seem to find an answer to - how do you buy experienced CLS pilots at Herron's Nebula? I was looking to obtain some to support my mobile mining operations, but couldn't find the option, and Google isn't helping.

[Zaitsev]

If memory serves you dock the ship in question at the trading station and activate CLS. A pilot will spawn, and if you're lucky you'll get an experienced one.

[Timsup2nothin]

If memory serves you dock the ship in question at the trading station and activate CLS. A pilot will spawn, and if you're lucky you'll get an experienced one.

This is correct, though you will always get an experienced pilot. If you are lucky you get a very experienced pilot, but you will usually get a courier or supplier.

[Tohron]

If memory serves you dock the ship in question at the trading station and activate CLS. A pilot will spawn, and if you're lucky you'll get an experienced one.

Ah, now that I checked Trader Settings, seems that's what I actually got - one of them actually started at Supplier. Thanks for the response!

[terryokc2]

If memory serves you dock the ship in question at the trading station and activate CLS. A pilot will spawn, and if you're lucky you'll get an experienced one.

This is correct, though you will always get an experienced pilot. If you are lucky you get a very experienced pilot, but you will usually get a courier or supplier.

I have managed to get several Cargo Messengers in my newest Humble Merchant start. In fact, I would hire a pilot...and if he wasn't Cargo Msgr, I'd fire him and hire another until I got one. Usually within 3 pilots.

[Fluff]

I'm trying to understand what's going on when a CLS 2 pilot is considering waypoints. For example, I know it skips 'unload' or 'sell' waypoints if it doesn't have the appropriate goods loaded. I think it does some sanity checking to make sure it can actually load or buy goods (the target station or ship has stock, the CLS freighter has enough room to receive stock) before doing 'load' or 'buy' waypoints. I think it always does 'fly to station' waypoints.

My question is concerning 'refuel jumpdrive' waypoints. If the CLS freighter has two 'refuel jumpdrive' waypoints (and nothing else), I could see it working in two different ways:
1) The freighter refuels at one. It recognizes that it is full on ecells for jump fuel, so it will now just idle since both the other waypoints are concerning jump fuel.
2) The freighter refuels and then jumps to the next waypoint. Now that it needs to refuel, it docks and refuels, and then jumps back. And then the cycle begins again.

I'm really hoping it works the first way, but I haven't been able to test it yet. Anyone else have knowledge to add concerning how CLS 2 pilots evaluate their waypoints?

[Kirlack]

I have a sneaking suspicion that it will follow the second set up. There might be a few mitigating circumstances though, such as minimum jump range and the distance between stations. I'll have to play with some of the settings to take a look.

Quick question of my own. Do CLS pilots go 'Idle' when there are enemy ships in either a sector they are currently in or in their destination sector?

[Fluff]

Quick question of my own. Do CLS pilots go 'Idle' when there are enemy ships in either a sector they are currently in or in their destination sector?

I'm pretty sure I've seen the behavior in both cases. When my PTNI Nostrop freighters start idling, I know I either need to check for pirates in PTNI or Xenon in Scale Plate Green. I've got a lot of freighter traffic in those sectors that completely stops when an enemy pops up in either sector. I'm not sure if CLS pilots idle if there are enemy ships in a sector that they will pass through to get to their destination, which isn't a problem if your CLS pilots are using jump drives.

[Timsup2nothin]

I have a sneaking suspicion that it will follow the second set up. There might be a few mitigating circumstances though, such as minimum jump range and the distance between stations. I'll have to play with some of the settings to take a look.

Quick question of my own. Do CLS pilots go 'Idle' when there are enemy ships in either a sector they are currently in or in their destination sector?

On the jump fuel question I have no idea. My solution is to give them one jump refueling stop and make sure they have enough fuel for the round trip. Please post how your experiments turn out.

As to idle pilots. Yes, it could be hostiles in the sector they are in or in the destination sector. The only thing I can recall that causes idle other than that is if they don't get paid. No money in the station account is a particularly nasty one because I've seen them stay idle even after money appears in the account. They frequently have to be manually restarted.

[psyclon]

I just tried setting 2 waypoints with only the refuel command - after the ship got to the first SPP and refueled it remained there on standby.

Here's another question - let's take the simplest possible job - load e-cells from point A, unload at point B up to X amount. After reaching point B the ship unloads up to X amount and returns to A with any remaining e-cells in the cargo bay. How do i tell it to stay at point B until it's out of e-cells and then go back to point A?

[Timsup2nothin]

I just tried setting 2 waypoints with only the refuel command - after the ship got to the first SPP and refueled it remained there on standby.

Good to know. Thanks.

[Kirlack]

As to idle pilots. Yes, it could be hostiles in the sector they are in or in the destination sector. The only thing I can recall that causes idle other than that is if they don't get paid. No money in the station account is a particularly nasty one because I've seen them stay idle even after money appears in the account. They frequently have to be manually restarted.

Well, it's definitely not a problem with the station account, that's pushing 4.4 million I'm guessing my two guys who point blank refused to get back to work had picked up some hostiles in their collection sector. I did some temporary re-rigging of their waypoints just in case, but they still wouldn't launch until the Pirates had vacated The Hole.

[Timsup2nothin]

As to idle pilots. Yes, it could be hostiles in the sector they are in or in the destination sector. The only thing I can recall that causes idle other than that is if they don't get paid. No money in the station account is a particularly nasty one because I've seen them stay idle even after money appears in the account. They frequently have to be manually restarted.

Well, it's definitely not a problem with the station account, that's pushing 4.4 million I'm guessing my two guys who point blank refused to get back to work had picked up some hostiles in their collection sector. I did some temporary re-rigging of their waypoints just in case, but they still wouldn't launch until the Pirates had vacated The Hole.

Yeah, they definitely don't like pirates.

Which reminds me of a little known use for CLS...Kha'ak scanning.

Put CLS on a ship, and give it a 'fly to station' waypoint in a sector you are wondering about where your assets give you a pretty good view of the sector. If he won't go there is a very good chance that Kha'ak clusters are lurking outside the central area. If he sets off, stop him and try another sector.

[Fluff]

Here's another question - let's take the simplest possible job - load e-cells from point A, unload at point B up to X amount. After reaching point B the ship unloads up to X amount and returns to A with any remaining e-cells in the cargo bay. How do i tell it to stay at point B until it's out of e-cells and then go back to point A?

I think you can accomplish this by setting the deliver tolerance (or whatever it's called; it's in the supply settings) to 100%. Then it's just a question of which station you want it to idle at. If you want it to idle at A, you're good to go with those waypoints. If you want it to idle at B, give it a 'fly to station' waypoint before the 'unload'.

[terryokc2]

As to idle pilots. Yes, it could be hostiles in the sector they are in or in the destination sector. The only thing I can recall that causes idle other than that is if they don't get paid. No money in the station account is a particularly nasty one because I've seen them stay idle even after money appears in the account. They frequently have to be manually restarted.

Well, it's definitely not a problem with the station account, that's pushing 4.4 million I'm guessing my two guys who point blank refused to get back to work had picked up some hostiles in their collection sector. I did some temporary re-rigging of their waypoints just in case, but they still wouldn't launch until the Pirates had vacated The Hole.

Yeah, they definitely don't like pirates.

Which reminds me of a little known use for CLS...Kha'ak scanning.

Put CLS on a ship, and give it a 'fly to station' waypoint in a sector you are wondering about where your assets give you a pretty good view of the sector. If he won't go there is a very good chance that Kha'ak clusters are lurking outside the central area. If he sets off, stop him and try another sector.

Quickie question on this, but...wouldn't said CLS pilot need to be Forwarding Agent or Logistician in order for this to be true? I thought that I read they won't check the radio network until this point. No?

[Timsup2nothin]

Here's another question - let's take the simplest possible job - load e-cells from point A, unload at point B up to X amount. After reaching point B the ship unloads up to X amount and returns to A with any remaining e-cells in the cargo bay. How do i tell it to stay at point B until it's out of e-cells and then go back to point A?

I think you can accomplish this by setting the deliver tolerance (or whatever it's called; it's in the supply settings) to 100%. Then it's just a question of which station you want it to idle at. If you want it to idle at A, you're good to go with those waypoints. If you want it to idle at B, give it a 'fly to station' waypoint before the 'unload'.

To do what Fluff wants you set the 'Minimum delivery amount for collecting' to 100%. That way the ship will not return to the loading point until it is completely empty. I would use 90 or 95% though because the ship's shields and/or jump fuel might interfere with the full 100%, I'm not sure on that. Something else to experiment with.

[Fluff]

To do what Fluff wants you set the 'Minimum delivery amount for collecting' to 100%. That way the ship will not return to the loading point until it is completely empty. I would use 90 or 95% though because the ship's shields and/or jump fuel might interfere with the full 100%, I'm not sure on that. Something else to experiment with.

Yeah, I've messed with this. It depends on how much cargo the pilot is expecting to unload. If you set the cargo amount manually, it's not a problem. If you reserve jump fuel and have the shields on the ship before using the "maximum cargo space" option when creating the waypoint, I'm pretty sure it will take those into consideration. There's only a problem when setting up the pilot before loading on shields or reserving jump fuel; the waypoint will want more cargo than it can hold.

[Timsup2nothin]

To do what Fluff wants you set the 'Minimum delivery amount for collecting' to 100%. That way the ship will not return to the loading point until it is completely empty. I would use 90 or 95% though because the ship's shields and/or jump fuel might interfere with the full 100%, I'm not sure on that. Something else to experiment with.

Yeah, I've messed with this. It depends on how much cargo the pilot is expecting to unload. If you set the cargo amount manually, it's not a problem. If you reserve jump fuel and have the shields on the ship before using the "maximum cargo space" option when creating the waypoint, I'm pretty sure it will take those into consideration. There's only a problem when setting up the pilot before loading on shields or reserving jump fuel; the waypoint will want more cargo than it can hold.

Fluff, your other option is an 'overflow tank'. Dock a big hulk ship with a single waypoint to unload to your station. Change your delivering ship's unload waypoint to an unload max cargo, then add an unload max cargo to the overflow tank right after. The overflow tank will feed the second load into the station while the transport goes to refill. Of course the overflow tank would eventually fill up too, but you can draw from it with a freighter that sells the overage without worrying that it will short your station.

[psyclon]

set the 'Minimum delivery amount for collecting' to 100%.

If i set this, the ship stays at point B and unloads its cargo until point A has enough resources to meet the requirement of the waypoint (in this case - 8000 e-cells). If point A already has the necessary resources upon arrival at point B, the ship does not wait at all and returns with any freight, which has not been unloaded due to the "up to" condition.

[Timsup2nothin]

set the 'Minimum delivery amount for collecting' to 100%.

If i set this, the ship stays at point B and unloads its cargo until point A has enough resources to meet the requirement of the waypoint (in this case - 8000 e-cells). If point A already has the necessary resources upon arrival at point B, the ship does not wait at all and returns with any freight, which has not been unloaded due to the "up to" condition.

Hmmmm. That doesn't work, which puts us back at the overflow tank solution.