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

psyclon · Post by **psyclon** » Fri, 5. Apr 13, 12:17

Hi!

After a long search i finally found my first A.S.S. ship - a Cobra in Gaian Star. I read that big ships cannot just be claimed, but have to be boarded. As far as i know, the equipment in a boarded ship is randomized - so what's the chance to actually get repair lasers and tuning?

DrBullwinkle · Post by **DrBullwinkle** » Fri, 5. Apr 13, 18:34

That's a great question, Psycon!

Let me know what you experience when you try it (scan the ship first to see what it is carrying).

modisch · Post by **modisch** » Sun, 7. Apr 13, 02:11

I've only boarded to A.S.S. ships so far, both M6s. Both lost all of their equipment but retained some upgrades. One had no tunings after being captured while the other had some tunings, but not overturned (wasn't prior to boarding, anyways).

You can claim big/hugeships using the Salvage Command Software.

Personally, I only use SCS claim for fighters, doing what I could do anyways with a mildly tedious spacewalk. I have very little experience boarding so I'm using the A.S.S. ships as practice.

-m

DrBullwinkle · Post by **DrBullwinkle** » Sun, 7. Apr 13, 02:18

Thanks for the report, modsich.

Since most spawned ships can simply be claimed during a spacewalk, I had not thought about the equipment on larger ships. I will have to take that into account in the next version.

Probably the simplest solution (that will work with all scripts) would be to spawn equipment bonuses separately.

Yes, ASS-AP ships are perfect for boarding practice!

Vayde · Post by **Vayde** » Sun, 2. Jun 13, 13:02

Hi Dr B,

I've been scanning all the ships that spawn with this script and the other day an M7 Tern Sentinel, popped into existence. As always this needs to be boarded and can't just be claimed via space walk.

However the scan revealed it had the Software signature scrambler on board, what luck says I, a rare bit of kit for my nefarious deeds ;p

It also made me think that if it can spawn rare software, what are the odds of catching one of the spawned ships with CLS software Mk 1 or Mk2 on board. With my new Terran start in AP using the Terran Revitalisation Project, this software is sadly, a bit to time consuming for a fledgeling fleet to get hold of.

As always thanks for giving TC and AP hours and hours of extended game play.

Vayde

DrBullwinkle · Post by **DrBullwinkle** » Sun, 2. Jun 13, 13:13

Nice find, Vayde!

Now all you have to do is capture the ship with the software intact.

(I may do something about that problem, too, someday.)

Vayde wrote:if it can spawn rare software, what are the odds of catching one of the spawned ships with CLS software Mk 1 or Mk2 on board. With my new Terran start in AP ... this software is sadly, a bit too time consuming to get hold of.

Wow, there is no CLS2 in Terran Space?! You should have told Eldyran before AP 3.0 was released! He got most of his Terran revitalization stuff built into the vanilla game.

But, yeah, I could add more software goodies; good idea! I probably need to solve the capture problem first, though. I will put it on the list.

Thanks for the report, Vayde.

Vayde · Post by **Vayde** » Sun, 2. Jun 13, 14:17

CLS software is an Argon only sold item. I've just used Scorps map to check out my 2 day old universe and I've found it for sale at the,

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Paranid Communications facility in Priest Pity.

Can't ever remember seeing it there before. I'm going to start a vanilla game and check again.

There's nothing wrong with having to board an M7 or M6 that the script deploys. That for me is how it should be. However watching the ship disappear when the clean up kicks in, but before your marines are ready, does bring another level of tension and excitement to the game

DrBullwinkle · Post by **DrBullwinkle** » Sun, 2. Jun 13, 22:32

Vayde wrote:There's nothing wrong with having to board an M7 or M6 that the script spawns. That for me is how it should be.

Have you had any problem with wares disappearing after the boarding operation? That is what I meant about the "capture problem". It is something that I did not think about when I started putting wares on the abandoned ships.

If the wares remain after boarding, then no problem... it is just something that I am concerned about.

However watching the ship disappear when the clean up kicks in, but before your marines are ready, does bring another level of tension and excitement to the game

Haha! Yep, there is nothing like seeing an abandoned Megalodon on your first day of a new game... knowing that you could never assemble a marine team in time to board it.

But I think that is a good thing. You would not want it to be too easy.

Mythrantar · Post by **Mythrantar** » Sat, 8. Jun 13, 23:24

I just had my first big ship spawn today (A Ryu in Saturn 3), in my XRM-AP DiD game. The rage for not being able to capture it was great (new game so no marines yet), but fits my DiD game perfectly. Thanks Dr. B!

I modified mine to spawn up to 10 ships at a time, every 5 hours (I run SETA 500x so that's 1 hour in realtime), and I enabled cleanup for 10 ships. I am trying to keep them rare so they are true prizes when found, and to reduce the likelihood of finding a cap ship (then it would be a true "Whoah!" moment).

cryptonite1 · Post by **cryptonite1** » Mon, 10. Jun 13, 20:25

hey umm... everything seems to work right, about the spawning and stuff, but how do I clain a M6? like i cant clain it by spacewalking? is it suppose to be like that? that i have to use marines? or is this a bug?

I found the M6 with the detector, and there is a (A. S. S.) after its name..

Vayde · Post by **Vayde** » Mon, 10. Jun 13, 21:04

M6 class ships and above can't be claimed without boarding them, unless you use one of the modified claim software scripts available on these boards.

DrBullwinkle · Post by **DrBullwinkle** » Tue, 11. Jun 13, 01:34

Yes, although I think there is more to the story, which is what causes confusion.

As Vayde says, normally M6-class and above require marines, except in the case of Return Abandoned Ship missions. Apparently these are an exception to the normal rule, and can be claimed by spacewalking up to them as you might with a smaller ship.

The ability to claim a big ship is a feature of MD (used to make generic missions) but I do not have it available in MSCI scripts. So, yes, use marines. Or Salvage Claim Software.

@Vayde: I was able to confirm that there is an issue with keeping equipment on the ship after boarding. The best solution that I have to that problem is to spawn the bonus equipment as crates floating near the abandoned ship (rather than in the abandoned ship). I have it on my list to add in the future.

Vayde · Post by **Vayde** » Tue, 11. Jun 13, 20:26

Thanks for that update.

I have tried saving at the hacking point when testing but that seems a bit late in the day. The ship still has random wares from those that were originally on board. This for me is not a bad thing, as the randomness makes the game more realistic.

I never save during boarding any more and prefer to let digital fate decide the outcome.

Mythrantar · Post by **Mythrantar** » Thu, 13. Jun 13, 22:44

Hello, good doctor!

Is there a way I can force a clean-up of all currently A.S.S. ship in the universe and "reset" the spawning. I modified the "t" file (cleanup, spawn # etc) but I am not sure if the changes have taken effect so I wanted to confirm.

Thanks!

DrBullwinkle · Post by **DrBullwinkle** » Fri, 14. Jun 13, 03:57

Changing your t file would be the way to force a respawn.

You may be able to check your log file. I do not recall whether logging is enabled in the released version. If it is, then you will see created ships listed there:

%USERPROFILE%\Documents\Egosoft\X3AP\log07300.txt

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You can update the log manually by running lib.bw.detector.count from the Script Editor. Select TRUE for LogFoundShips. That will write the log file for all abandoned ships in the current universe (including those spawned by ASS-AP).

Note that this will also expose vanilla abandoned ships, so it could be a spoiler.

EDIT: @Vayde: Just a gentle reminder -- I would like your feedback on the email that I sent you regarding your request for rare wares.

Mythrantar · Post by **Mythrantar** » Fri, 14. Jun 13, 04:48

OK, something is off then. Here are my test parameters:
- Cleanup time = 10 min
- Max spawned ships = 10
- Ships spawned before cleanup = 10

I waited 12 in-game minutes and ran the log (by the way, it enabled by default). I still got the same amount of spawned ships as before making the changes above. I edited both 7300-L099 and 7300-L044. Am I doing something wrong?

DrBullwinkle · Post by **DrBullwinkle** » Fri, 14. Jun 13, 05:10

You only need to edit the -L044 file (assuming that you are playing an English game). The -L089/99 files are just documentation -- they have no function other than to give you a visual reference when you view the folder in Windows Explorer.

The log does not clear itself automatically, so you may be seeing the old ships. There will not be any new ships until one spawns, of course.

Delete the old ships from the log, save, then watch the log for new ships.

Note to self: In the next version, allow the player to force a re-spawn by toggling the AL Plugin Off and On again.

Mythrantar · Post by **Mythrantar** » Fri, 14. Jun 13, 05:17

There is something off for sure: I had a Ryu spawned in Saturn 3. After changing the settings in the t file, it's still there. Thanks for clarifying about L099 though. Since the contents where exactly the same, I was playing it safe.

DrBullwinkle · Post by **DrBullwinkle** » Fri, 14. Jun 13, 05:23

Mythrantar wrote:I had a Ryu spawned in Saturn 3. After changing the settings in the t file, it's still there.

That is normal. Cleanups do not happen until after a new spawn. Even then, the cleanups are random, so you never know when your Ryu will vanish.

Mythrantar · Post by **Mythrantar** » Fri, 14. Jun 13, 05:30

OK, that makes sense (I thought each respawn wave wiped all previously spawned ships and replaced them with a new set). So, if I want to clean up all the currently spawned ships (25) so I can activate my personal preference (max of 10 ships at a time), what would be the best way?

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