[X3:AP] Outfitting my new ships is time consuming

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X-Me
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[X3:AP] Outfitting my new ships is time consuming

Post by X-Me » Sat, 3. Sep 16, 22:10

I like the game well enough, but one issue is surfacing more and more often.

Say that I buy 10 new TL ships, all going to become Traders. Naturally I'm going to outfit them all in the same way. Logic suggests that a method to satisfy this easily foreseeable Need exists, but I'm not finding it.
I can be dense, eh! Maybe I'm just missing the obvious. But would you kindly point it to me anyway?

So far I've been doing it the manual way: buy 1 ship, equip what you can at the shipyard, move the 1 ship around to collect the rest of the extensions/shields/weapons -OR- have another ship be there upfront with the spare parts needed.
It works for 1 ship... but it's a thorn in the butt for 10 ships.
Isn't there a way to tell to a ship to 'copy' the setup of another ship or something, so that she goes around and buys the stuff *autonomously*, and I get a nice notification when she's done?

Alan Phipps
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Post by Alan Phipps » Sat, 3. Sep 16, 22:43

There was an 'Equip ship like' command in X3TC that got your new ships equipped with trade items such as shields and guns etc by a 'supply ship' that went off and bought them. I think it was a bit fragile and had quirks such as not actually equipping things but just putting them into cargo. More on that TC command here and here.

There is this neat guide too. Another strategy is here.

I think X3AP still has that sort of template approach available and it may even have been improved over TC's version, although I haven't used it myself.
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RAVEN.myst
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Post by RAVEN.myst » Sun, 4. Sep 16, 03:26

Firstly, if you have anywhere up to 10 identical ships in a shipyard, then you can equip them all identically from the associated equipment dock (not all shipyards have them, though - for example, Heaven's Assertion and Grand Exchange have SYs but not EqDs.) The ships in question MUST be totally identical in terms of ship model AND all equipment AND cargo - so even if one of them has, say, 1 more or 1 less energy cell or something in cargo, it won't join in the collective equipping. In TC, you could only do this immediately upon purchasing a group of ships, but in AP they expanded this functionality so that, if you for example accidentally quit that screen when buying ships, you can go back in - or you can do it from scratch. When applicable, the shipyard will have an option of "Equip X ships at the same time", or something like that (just look for it in the SY's trade menu) and it includes both any available weapons/shields/missiles/ammo, and ship upgrades and equipment.

I'll give you an example: when playing as Terran, I will usually buy my freighters from Saturn SY because I can get jumpdrives near there. What I do then is as follows: I select how many ships I want, then I proceed immediately to give them all whatever upgrades I want (all speed, rudder, and cargo upgrades), as well as several items of ship equipment (fight comm soft 1 and a few others) - these are the ones offered by Saturn Research Station, which is the EqD associated with that SY. Sadly, the Orbital Defense Station in the same sector is not linked to the SY, which is a pity because it has a better selection of equipment, including the jumpdrive. So I send all my docked TP/TS ships to the ODS, and manually add in the several needed items for each one (when I buy in this sector, I normally don't buy more than 5 at a time because of this step.) I configure their JD autorefuel, and send them to the SPP for fuel. Now, that's the intro stuff out the way, what you're interested in comes next: I tell them all to dock at the shipyard at The Moon, because it is linked to a Military Base that has a complete equipment inventory (except jumpdrives, dammit!) - once all 4 or 5 ships have docked there, I select the "equip 5 ships at the same time" (or whatever the exact wording is) option, and fill up on whatever they all still need.

Another (shorter) example: let's say I'm playing as Argon or OTAS, and I buy Mistrals at OTAS SY - I then tell them to dock at either Light of Heart shipyard or the one at Argon Prime (if I have linked that one in using The Hub), and once they have all docked I issue the "equip X ships" command.

IMPORTANT: Shipyards have 5 docking ports for TP/TS/M6/M8 ships, so it's only really viable to do 5 at a time - if you send in more, they will gradually play musical docking ports with each other, with potentially chaotic results if they do so while you're trying to outfit them.

Good hunting! :)

Oh, PS: as Alan also indicated, there is another way to use a (usually freighter) ship to equip other ships to imitate a "template" ship. For this, you need the Supply Command Software (available from many equipment docks, including Argon and Terran, as well as some of the other races, I forget which.) Also as Alan points out, this process can be a little tricky - you may find that it's actually more hassle than to do things the other way I described (the Supply Command Software was released when the multi-ship equipping option at shipyards did not yet exist in its present form, so then this command was useful. The software still has, however, some other commands that are VERY handy, such as the ability to rearm or refuel an entire group or wing without having to dock your ships anywhere, and the freighter will even go and buy what it doesn't have on hand, if necessary - but I digress.)
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ancienthighway
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Post by ancienthighway » Sun, 4. Sep 16, 03:43

You can equip multiple identical ships at the same time, not just when you buy them but any time.

Buy 2 to 10 Mercury transports in Argon Prime and equip them how you want. Fly to the shipyard in King's Landing and get triplex scanners for all with one purchase. Fly to the shipyard in Seizewell and get the Best Buy and Best Sell software, and if you are so inclined, the Mk3 trading software. You could even fly to Paranid Prime and get a docking computer for all, but unless you are flying the ship or are using a script that allows the AI to use it when you are in sector, it's a waste of money.

I think jumpdrives and transporters are the only upgrades that have to be bought individually.

RAVEN.myst
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Post by RAVEN.myst » Sun, 4. Sep 16, 04:22

ancienthighway wrote:I think jumpdrives and transporters are the only upgrades that have to be bought individually.
There is one place only that I can think of to buy JDs on several ships at once: Legend's Home, either shipyard, as they are both linked to the OTAS HQ. Anywhere else, as you say, they have to be equipped individually, as nowhere else are they sold at a dock that is linked to a shipyard (that I can think of, offhand, at 04h20am)

When moving freighter-sized from one shipyard to another for race-specific equipment (such as in ancienthighway's example), it's best to do so in lots of 5 or fewer, as shipyards have 5 docking ports for that size, so any excess float around outside the SY, then they more or less randomly dock and undock in a sort of game of musical docking clamps.

PS: Triplex scanners at King's Landing? :P I didn't know they had that sort of tech in Game of Thrones / A Song of Ice and Fire ;) (Couldn't resist! I guess you're also susceptible to ~4am brain-melt :D )
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X-Me
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Post by X-Me » Tue, 6. Sep 16, 01:27

Hi,
thanks to everyone for the responses. I've read them all, and more.

In fact, hopping from topic to topic I found this from CBJ: X3: Albion Prelude - A Survival Guide.
In the Equipping Ships section there are 2 links, one of which is Loadouts.

I don't fully understand what he talks about, probably because I haven't seen this 'Player Headquarters' station he mentions, but I gather that I'll get one of them if I play through the Albion Prelude plot -- am I right?
Even so, however, will the PHQ allow me to outfit my ships with any weapons/shields/extensions combo that I decide? :-/
Will I get to specify which wares the PHQ makes available for my ships?

ancienthighway
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Post by ancienthighway » Tue, 6. Sep 16, 01:52

RAVEN.myst wrote: PS: Triplex scanners at King's Landing? :P I didn't know they had that sort of tech in Game of Thrones / A Song of Ice and Fire ;) (Couldn't resist! I guess you're also susceptible to ~4am brain-melt :D )
Winter is here.

RAVEN.myst
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Post by RAVEN.myst » Tue, 6. Sep 16, 02:24

X-Me wrote:I don't fully understand what he talks about, probably because I haven't seen this 'Player Headquarters' station he mentions, but I gather that I'll get one of them if I play through the Albion Prelude plot -- am I right?
Even so, however, will the PHQ allow me to outfit my ships with any weapons/shields/extensions combo that I decide? :-/
Will I get to specify which wares the PHQ makes available for my ships?
Yes, you get the player HQ station after completing
Spoiler
Show
the Headquarters Plot (how about that!) if playing a Commonwealth character, or the Terran Albion Prelude Plot if playing a Terran character.
As for what sorts of things you can equip there: lasers, shields, missiles, ammo, energy cells - all good (though ECs and ammo aren't included in the Loadout functionality - but the PHQ can stock and provide them.) Unfortunately, the PHQ does not stock ships upgrades or equipment (as in scanners, VEGs, jumpdrives, command extension softwares, ore collectors, etc.)

ancienthighway wrote:
RAVEN.myst wrote: PS: Triplex scanners at King's Landing? :P I didn't know they had that sort of tech in Game of Thrones / A Song of Ice and Fire ;) (Couldn't resist! I guess you're also susceptible to ~4am brain-melt :D )
Winter is here.
Ah... brain-freeze, then :D
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