Problem starting a universe trader - Resolved, shield upgrade necessary.

siddham · Post by **siddham** » Wed, 18. Apr 18, 14:53

I am Unable to get the Start Universe Trader command to activate on any of my sector traders
The pilots seem to be level 10
That is, there is a (10) following their name on the ship

For example...
I have a Mercury TS with a pilot - Senior Paymaster (10)
Trade Commands 1 & 2 & 3
Fight Commands 1 & 2
Trading Extension
Jumpdrive
Special Command
Navigation Command
Duplex Scanner

What am I doing wrong?

Thanks

Post by **X2-Illuminatus** » Wed, 18. Apr 18, 15:22

If this is X3: Reunion, then the TS ship needs at least one 25 MJ shield.

Post by **Ketraar** » Wed, 18. Apr 18, 15:24

From the Wiki

The Universe Trader is only available after certain conditions are met:

Trade Command Software MK3
Ship type M3, M6, TS, TP, or TM
Not personal ship
Pilot level 8 or higher (as shown in the pilot name for the ship)

If all the conditions are met then the command should be available.

MFG

Ketraar

Edit: Also what X2 said...

Sinxar · Post by **Sinxar** » Wed, 18. Apr 18, 15:37

Check their cargo, is it full? Did you dock him first?

siddham · Post by **siddham** » Wed, 18. Apr 18, 16:41

I am playing X3 Reunion

All the conditions you list seem to be met

It is an Argon Mercury which I believe is a TS
It is not my personal ship
The pilot's name is followed by (10) a senior paytmaster
It has the Mk3 software
It has three 25Mj shields
It does not have a full cargo
It is docked at a Cahoona fab in Home of Light

It does have a homebase set - is that significant?

NewtSoup · Post by **NewtSoup** » Wed, 18. Apr 18, 17:36

It might,

If it has a home base set and that station has no funds it won't be able to trade as it will be using the stations funds rather than the global account.

siddham · Post by **siddham** » Wed, 18. Apr 18, 17:42

I was able - after a google search - to delete the homebase
The Start UT command is still greyed out
I have tried undocking and doing it in open space - no joy

I am trying any permutations I can think of...

Stumped

Thanks for taking the time to respond

Post by **Alan Phipps** » Wed, 18. Apr 18, 18:29

Just a faint chance, but get the ship undocked and then issue it the command 'none' to clear any residual orders from any previous life it may have had. Now try the UT command again.

Also make sure your pilot is not a level 10 CAG/CLS pilot. Those functions' pilot levels don't count towards Mk3 Trader ST/UT (nor vice versa and changing functions between them starts your pilot from scratch again; changing an experienced pilot between CAG and CLS is OK though). Your Mk 3 trading pilot has to earn his levels as a Sector Trader before qualifying for UT.

siddham · Post by **siddham** » Wed, 18. Apr 18, 19:20

The pilot was trained as a Sector Trader
The ship does not have CLS software

I undocked and cleared the homebase and issued the 'none' command
But the UT command is still greyed out

I tried resetting him as a Sector Trader - which was accepted
But still the UT command is greyed out

I am completely stumped

It says he is a level 10 pilot and I seem to have all the requirements
but the command is not active
so something is either amiss or missing...

Does he have to have weapons?
Guides I read often say not to give them weapons so they wont try to fight it out

How can one distinguish what kind of pilot training he has?
Is there a way

Thanks for suggestions

siddham · Post by **siddham** » Wed, 18. Apr 18, 19:28

I have 4 Sector Traders, all Argon Mercs, which have Senior Paymaster pilots and none of them have an active UT command
- it's greyed out in all cases

Very frustrating

I began this game in 2016 on the X-treme start and gave up on it after a couple of months because the going was so slow.
At that time I did not even have enough money or rank to buy a Nova.
I uninstalled the game and kept the save

I reinstalled some weeks ago and continued with the save....
Could that be it?
Did something change in the meantime?
Was there an update?

Post by **Alan Phipps** » Wed, 18. Apr 18, 19:50

Was your game back in 2016 vanilla, and is your current install vanilla too?

The last X3:R update was 2.5 in Dec 2007. Is your game updated/patched to v 2.5?

If from Steam, have you verified the gamefiles cache? If from DVD you can download and install the Patch 1.0-2.5 from here over the top of your current game install to maybe correct any issues with your gamefiles. It might be worth checking that you have the correct/current Bonus Pack installed too.

If after all these checks and no change such that your UTs are still broken then you might have to consider a fresh gamestart.

siddham · Post by **siddham** » Wed, 18. Apr 18, 20:19

That's what I thought - the recent X3 update was only for TC & AP

I'm 99% sure it was with the Bonus Pack installed
And I have it installed this time too
I've always known about the BP and there is no reason I would have knowingly played without it
I didn't use any mods either since I like to uplink to the rankings just to track progress

Recently on two occasions Sector Traders suddenly alerted me - Incoming Message
They were just parked in a Fab in their sector
So I just restarted them as Sector Traders
Is there any significance in that?
Why would a ST alert or contact me?

Maybe i just have to accept it wont work and play on without UTs
My goal is to complete the storyline and move on to TC
I already completed the plots in BtF and X2
I just hope that if it is some kind of save or game corruption issue I will still be able to complete the storyline

Post by **Alan Phipps** » Wed, 18. Apr 18, 20:21

Doing the verify/patch install might just fix your UTs ....

It cannot hurt - unless you were/are modded.

If you are saying you got blank incoming messages from your STs, then that sounds like an old ship naming issue - such as not being allowed to have square brackets in the ship names.

siddham · Post by **siddham** » Wed, 18. Apr 18, 20:23

Playing a Steam install this time and previously and Steam validates the files as ok

Post by **Ketraar** » Wed, 18. Apr 18, 20:24

Since this is Reunion I went and digged (dug?) a bit around and found this

For Universe traders:

Fight Command Software MKI

Fight Command Software MKII

At least 25MJ of shielding - can be made up of 5*5MJ if you cant get 25MJ shields, but I'd recommend getting the maximum that your TS can hold as soon as possible, there's a lot of time and credits invested in a UT

Hope that helps

MFG

Ketraar

Post by **Alan Phipps** » Wed, 18. Apr 18, 20:28

Heh, you only need to dig as far as the FAQs.

siddham · Post by **siddham** » Wed, 18. Apr 18, 21:16

This very embarrassing
Mea culpa

I dont know how I managed this but I did....
I was sure I had bought 25Mj shields - but somehow I had bought 5Mj shields

I am sorry for wasting your time
But thank you all so much for trying to help - much appreciated

Post by **Ketraar** » Wed, 18. Apr 18, 21:44

Been there done that.

Glad it worked out in the end.

MFG

Ketraar

Post by **Alan Phipps** » Wed, 18. Apr 18, 21:57

Great to hear you can now play the game properly (with UTs).

Actually remembering what shields you had fitted back in 2006 would have been a great feat of memory in any circumstances.

siddham · Post by **siddham** » Wed, 18. Apr 18, 23:27

Thanks guys - I appreciate you didn't just roast me

egosoft.com

egosoft.com

Problem starting a universe trader - Resolved, shield upgrade necessary.

Problem starting a universe trader - Resolved, shield upgrade necessary.