[X3TC] Return Ship spawned cop turned blue?

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lyonhaert
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Joined: Tue, 26. Dec 17, 15:46
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[X3TC] Return Ship spawned cop turned blue?

Post by lyonhaert » Mon, 15. Jan 18, 02:04

This was quite odd.

I had two Return Ship missions slightly overlapping at the time and I like to keep track of the police (and their individual demise) so I know when the ship isn't hot anymore. For each of these two, I ordered a slightly upgraded Disco to follow whichever of the police was the slowest - mainly because the first one spawned an M8 with 32 Tomahawks aboard and I wanted to see how that played out.

All the other M5/M4/M3s, of course, didn't make it through, but they stayed red and they stayed on task. But these two, an M8 and an M3 each pursuing a different ship, turned blue and stopped going after the stolen ships halfway between gates in Savage Spur. Then they'd wander a little bit and occasionally scuffle with Yaki (which didn't kill them yet, because maybe PBGs don't work OOS the same was as IS).

Anybody else every encounter pursuit-of-stolen-vehicle cops who got bored/distracted?

I wonder if it had anything to do with the Discos following them.

Bill Huntington
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Post by Bill Huntington » Mon, 15. Jan 18, 02:51

I've seen it happen when other ships got into it with them. Like they are the enemy now, not you. Since the Yaki are all over the place in Savage Spur, I'd expect it was them, perhaps with a missile, perhaps close combat. You might watch it over a few times from the last save you have before that. There's probably some different AI choices possible so the outcome might be different too.

I would have expected the whole group to do the same thing but each police ship would follow its own instructions. Some instructions would allow that.

And good hunting!
Bill in S.F., enjoying the game

lyonhaert
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Post by lyonhaert » Mon, 15. Jan 18, 04:22

Ah, so if the initial scuffle with the Yaki was enough to get the police to turn and fight, but not lethal to them, it could reset their orders.

Definitely going to keep an eye on that and experiment to see if the presence of the discos have any effect.

Timsup2nothin
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Post by Timsup2nothin » Mon, 15. Jan 18, 04:24

I'd have to jump in and splash the M8 in hopes it would leave me a box of Tomahawks in its will.
Trapper Tim's Guide to CLS 2

On Her Majesty's Secret Service-Dead is Dead, and he is DEAD

Not a DiD, so I guess it's a DiDn't, the story of my first try at AP
Part One, in progress

HEY! AP!! That's new!!!

lyonhaert
Posts: 55
Joined: Tue, 26. Dec 17, 15:46
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Post by lyonhaert » Mon, 15. Jan 18, 05:17

Timsup2nothin wrote:I'd have to jump in and splash the M8 in hopes it would leave me a box of Tomahawks in its will.
Once I had time to jump in personally investigate these guys, they wandered into another fight with Yaki and fell victim to PBGs. I didn't get close enough to scan to see how many 'hawks the M8 had left before dying, but he did leave behind several. I just wanted a chance at him to see if he'd bail.

Scores: Cobra, Cerberus, Kraken. The last two missions chained together: I picked up the mission for the Kraken in the sector where I claimed the Cerberus. I think I'm just going to start keeping these instead of selling them.

========================================

Tim, since it was with you I was discussing Kestrels and such, I figured I'd add this here. I didn't feel like it merited a new thread. I was doing experiments with maneuverability of M5s. The Kestrel has a lower 42rpm than the 54/64rpm of some others, but I could still whip it around 180° at full speed to enter a gate backwards if I used the arrow keys. Acceleration rates caught my attention - they were a bit more varied and turned out to be an interesting factor.

The Kestrel is known to have poor maneuverability along with it's high speed. Top speed and acceleration of a Teladi Kestrel are 605m/s and 165m/s², respectively. That means it takes 3.67s to make a full stop and covers 1.1km doing so. Top speed and acceleration of a Disco Raider are 440m/s and 191m/s²; respectively, which takes 2.3s for a full stop covering 505m.

These don't just affect full stop from full speed or vice-versa, but also how much time and distance it takes to complete the execution of a change in vector, including doing a 180° turn. The ride that momentarily was to be my new favorite ride for zipping around is the Jaguar Raider, with a top speed and acceleration of 596m/s and 384m/s², which takes a mere 1.55s for a full stop covering 463m. But then I realized its cargo class is S rather than M: it can't carry a jumpdrive or even a passenger. But I definitely see merit in the Disco Raider over the Kestrel now.

It also appears that each particular model keeps its top speed and acceleration proportional. So each variation of Discoverer has the same ratio of speed to acceleration, as do each variation of Jaguar, Harrier, etc.

Bill Huntington
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Post by Bill Huntington » Mon, 15. Jan 18, 10:25

A note, lyonhaert. The ship you use to follow can easily become a target for the police. Their first target is the ship they lost. If that's in a SY or a station, they'll take another target if one is available and appropriate. And there your ship is with you the thief.

I can't remember them taking out a satellite.
Bill in S.F., enjoying the game

lyonhaert
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Joined: Tue, 26. Dec 17, 15:46
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Post by lyonhaert » Mon, 15. Jan 18, 17:46

Bill Huntington wrote:A note, lyonhaert. The ship you use to follow can easily become a target for the police. Their first target is the ship they lost. If that's in a SY or a station, they'll take another target if one is available and appropriate. And there your ship is with you the thief.

I can't remember them taking out a satellite.
Interesting. Sounds like something for me to test. I wonder what the criteria is for "appropriate", or if they'll turn neutral after offing the nearby disco.

Most of the time the stolen ships sit outside the north gate of Weaver's Tempest. The only time I docked so far was one of the early thefts when not as many Yaki had spawned yet, it seems, and the cops spawned in a closer sector and managed to get to Senator's Badlands in more of a group (now, if it's too close, I jump the ship farther away before the cops spawn so they spread out). Docked the ship at the Yaki SY, the cops turned around and headed for the north gate. Then I undocked to make them turn around again to give the Yaki time to deal with them.

Timsup2nothin
Posts: 4690
Joined: Thu, 22. Jan 09, 17:49

Post by Timsup2nothin » Mon, 15. Jan 18, 19:54

I've never seen cops from a return ship mission do anything other than defend themselves (poorly) and lurk around waiting for the stolen ship to undock. Never seen them attack anything that didn't attack them first.

On the other; Disco Raider is good, Advanced Disco is better. It is unquestionably my M5 of choice.
Trapper Tim's Guide to CLS 2

On Her Majesty's Secret Service-Dead is Dead, and he is DEAD

Not a DiD, so I guess it's a DiDn't, the story of my first try at AP
Part One, in progress

HEY! AP!! That's new!!!

Bill Huntington
Posts: 2493
Joined: Mon, 2. Feb 09, 17:34
x3tc

More

Post by Bill Huntington » Mon, 15. Jan 18, 21:00

For many months stealing ships from Return Ship was my favorite activity. Even later they were extra training for marines in Boarding operations. Now I know how many good boarding targets there are.

The police don't usually attack a SY if the stolen ship is there. They just wait for it. Once I parked it in a Yaki station that was smaller than a SY. I'd built it for them. The police attacked the station and destroyed the station and the stolen ship that was still docked there. It was in Senator's Badlands so I thought the Yaki would show up before that happened.

The police have attacked my personal ship a number of times if I was in the sector and the stolen ship was docked. I believe that they've also attacked traders of mine that were there at the time.
Bill in S.F., enjoying the game

Timsup2nothin
Posts: 4690
Joined: Thu, 22. Jan 09, 17:49

Re: More

Post by Timsup2nothin » Mon, 15. Jan 18, 23:36

Bill Huntington wrote:For many months stealing ships from Return Ship was my favorite activity. Even later they were extra training for marines in Boarding operations. Now I know how many good boarding targets there are.

The police don't usually attack a SY if the stolen ship is there. They just wait for it. Once I parked it in a Yaki station that was smaller than a SY. I'd built it for them. The police attacked the station and destroyed the station and the stolen ship that was still docked there. It was in Senator's Badlands so I thought the Yaki would show up before that happened.

The police have attacked my personal ship a number of times if I was in the sector and the stolen ship was docked. I believe that they've also attacked traders of mine that were there at the time.
Wow.

I find the cops from return ship missions to be incredibly annoying, but just because they are stupid. I dock the stolen ship at a regular station, usually the one closest to the gate unless it is an M& and absolutely has to go to a SY or EqD. Then when I get around to it and can take the rep hit I fly in in my personal ship and kill them.

What annoys me is that this batch of cops will usually have dispersed around the sector and will float around like so many pinatas. They don't respond as I wipe out their mates. They don't even say "hmmmm, this guy has already taken out half of the task force that I am part of and is now maneuvering up behind me." They just loaf along until my opening salvo has blown three quarters of their shields off.

Your game seems to spawn a smarter breed of cops than mine does.
Trapper Tim's Guide to CLS 2

On Her Majesty's Secret Service-Dead is Dead, and he is DEAD

Not a DiD, so I guess it's a DiDn't, the story of my first try at AP
Part One, in progress

HEY! AP!! That's new!!!

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