[SCRIPT] Dedicated Assistant Drones (DAD) V4.7 [03.05.2009]

pelador · Post by **pelador** » Tue, 3. Mar 09, 18:10

Deploy Spy Drone

Now consolidated into one package.

All drones: [ external image ]

Now includes regular MKI drones and their more secretive cousins the MK II drone.

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Overview:

With any ship equipped with:

Explorer Command Software
Special Command Software

and has the following wares:

Spy Drone

OR

Custom process:
Recon Drone
Computer Component

Cargo Bay Shielding (Required for MKII)

The ship can launch a drone that will fly to a chosen gate within the SAME sector and then on passing through the gate will fly to the centre of the sector (x:0, z:0) approximately 15km above the sector 0 point through that gate. Once there it will convert itself using the computer components into an advanced satallite after a very brief period.

To order a ship that is equipped to do so simply go to the Special Drones menu under special commands in the command console. Its a fairly intuitive process after that. Select gate. Then select wether to deploy a MKI or MKII drone.

Carefull use has to be applied with settings as enemies will still attack spy drones or deployed satallites if discovered.

MKII Spy drones are a little bit more secretive in getting to their destination. As a result all communications are lost and no details are recieved from its gravidar scanner to prevent possible detection. MKII Spy drones need 1 unit of Cargo bay shielding to be applied to the drone.

(Possible Boron Lore/History/flavouring to follow)

Historical link here.

pelador · Post by **pelador** » Tue, 3. Mar 09, 18:14

Deploy Mine Layer Drone

All Drones: [ external image ]

Now includes regular MKI drones and their more secretive cousins the MK II drone.

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Overview:

With any ship equipped with:

Explorer Command Software
Special Command Software

and has the following wares:

Mine Layer Drone (Ion)
or
Mine Layer Drone (Other)

OR

Custom process:
Recon Drone
Warheads x 6
Navigation Satallites x 6
Disruptor Missiles x 18 (Required for ion mines)

Cargo Bay Shielding (Required for MKII)

The ship can launch a drone that will fly to a chosen sector position and then on reaching its destination will convert to 6 mines in a 3d Cross (+) orientation a distance of 1km from the drone. Note: you still have to arm the mines manually.

To order a ship that is equipped to do so simply go to the command console of the ship as normal, select special, then you will see a new menu called Special Drones then select "Deploy Mine layer drone.". Its a fairly intuitive process after that. Select sector and position. Then select wether to launch a MKI or MKII Mine layer drone. Then the type of mine you wish to deploy: T = Tracker, S = Squash or I = Ion.

Carefull use has to be applied with using mines as they have no freind/foe discrimination once armed. And enemies will still attack drones or mines if discovered.

MKII Mine Layer drones are a little bit more secretive in getting to their destination. As a result all communications are lost and no details are recieved from its gravidar scanner to prevent possible detection. MKII drones need 1 unit of Cargo bay shielding to be applied to the drone.

(Possible Boron Lore/History/flavouring to follow)

Historical link here

pelador · Post by **pelador** » Tue, 3. Mar 09, 18:16

Deploy Advert Drone

All Drones: [ external image ]

"The Teladi have struck a partnership with Boron Drone engineers for their particular use".

Now with advertising earnings and bonus for station proximities.

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Overview:

With any ship equipped with:

Special Command Software
Best Selling Price Software

and has the following wares:

Advert Drone

OR

Custom process:
Freight Drone.
Teladianium x 100
Promotional Plates x 3

The ship can launch a drone that will fly to a chosen sector position and then on reaching its destination will convert to a navigational beacon from the drone.

To order a ship that is equipped to do so simply go to the command console of the ship as normal, select special, then you will see a new menu for drones, select this interface and then "Deploy Advert drone.". Its a fairly intuitive process after that. Select sector and position.

The advert beacon will gain credits every 5 minutes (game time) up to a limit of 1,000,000cr when the contract will expire. There is a bonus for setting them up in core sectors however then the contract has a limit of 5,000,000cr. New contracts are only issued to new beacons. The total earnings will be displayed on the beacon.

In V1.3 the earnings have been changed, not increased by any factor on a comparable basis but they will earn different amounts around the previous figures. Between 750 cr and 1250cr. Limits are unchanged.

Hints:

1) Placing them within 10km of a factory (NPC or Own) will earn a potential bonus if the price of the product is below average, i.e. buyers are wanted.

2) NPC factories give a better bonus.

3) Core sectors still have a better base rate.

4) There is some randomness to it.

Note: as the values are small I'm interpreting the money to come from corporation sponsorships and other information aswell as focusing sales to the cheapest wares so funds come from a universal slush fund so to speak. Let me know if player fabs should give a bonus as I have made them and wether they should pay for the bonus? (But as there is no rewards as yet, other than the cash generation it would only be a balancing act with player accounting so not worth doing. Easier just to make the bonus 0 for own fabs if one shouldnt be paid).

Enemies will attack Advert drones and beacons which dont have any gravidar sensor range but they do allow best buy/best sell information to be relayed.

In V2.0 there is now a trade command on the console (Relay Navigation Beacon) in the console to communicate with the beacon (or any navigation beacon you own) if the ship is within 25km. The ship will require the Trading System Extension for this.

The resulting communications will allow the ship to download specific software from equipment docks and headquarters as applicable if within 10 sectors and install it. You will of course still have to pay for the upgrade.

The software selection is limited as it represents the software that is obscure. This initiative by the various suppliers is an attempt to help improve sales. The current list includes:

Best Buy Locator
Best Sell Locator
Trade Command Software MKIII
Explorer Command Software
Carrier Command Software

As a bonus it ignores relational issues in the availability of these software items as you are plugging into a subspace datastream through the gates that the beacons can decode. The suppliers being more concerned about sales.

(Possible Teladi Lore/History/flavouring to follow)

Historical link here

pelador · Post by **pelador** » Tue, 3. Mar 09, 18:17

Deploy Analysis Drone

All Drones: [ external image ]

Now with the improved MKII version.

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Overview:

With any ship equipped with:

Explorer Command Software
Special Command Software

and has the following equipment:

Analysis Drone.
Advanced Data Device (Required for MKII)

Other associated requirements:

Headquarters

The ship can launch a drone (on menu in special commands interface menu) at a ship in the same sector as the launching ship that will follow that "target" scanning it to then analyse and make schematic blueprints to be transfered to your HQ. However, if it loses scanning lock periodicaly it will cause anomolies in the scanning result causing potential errors, this usually happens when the distance goes beyond it's scanning range. On losing contact it will attempt to re-establish contact with the target ship and continue scans. Once a successful scan of a ship is completed the drone will attempt to fly back to the player HQ and transfer the schematic.

Only certain classes of ship can be scanned (M7, M6, M8, TM, TS, TP, M3, M4 and M5) and alien technology such as Xenon, Khaak and some others is not compatible for the scanning process.

The target ship also has to have a current maximum speed below 200m/s as any speeds greater than this cause anomolies in the scan. Also hull intergrity has to be above 87% in order to get a reliable scan. Cargo bay shielding on target ships will interfere with scan times.

Messages will be relayed for any aborted scan commands due to restrictions. (Note: Plot ships cannot be scanned).

A SINGLE scanning time is normally 6.4s for small fighters, double for M8, M3, TM, TS, TP, triple for M6 and quadruple for M7. This is associated with the size of the vessel and therefore the quantity to scan. But it takes multiple scans to complete an analysis. There are ways to reduce overall scanning periods on Analysis drones but I will let you discover those secrets yourself.

As blueprints are involved you obviously require a Headquarters to return them to, the drone will abort the launch without one.

You can only fit one Analysis drone per ship as it is technically considered an updgrade extension due to its complexity.

As much as freindly ships may only be a moderate challenge to these drones, dont expect the drones to last long in enemy territory.

Analysis drones can be viewed as "bothersome" to ships and especially moreso to races who require licences for scanning ability as a result any single scan attempt will now naturally incur a 1% chance of provoking a hostile reaction from the target ship. This changes if sector ownerships and legal conditions are as follows (note this is dependant on the sector the drone is in at the time of the scan, not the target ship):

Race - Bothersome %

Terran - 2%
ATF - 5%
Main Race without licence 10%

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MKII details: the launch process requires a selection between MKI and MKII drones. MKII drones have to be equipped with an Advanced Data Device for the extra processing power and data storage. They operate in no different way from their MKI counterparts except that with the MKII you can target M1, M2 and TL class vessels.

Scan times and amounts are more for these larger ships.

See how to get your hands on an "Advanced Data Device" below.

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So how can I get an Analysis Drone I hear you say?

"You have to engineer them"

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Engineer Analysis Drone

With any ship fitted with:

Navigation Command Software MKI
Special Command Software

and has the following wares:

Recon Drone x 5
Microchips x 50
Computer Components x 100
Adv Sat x 50
Quantum tubes x 20
Tractor Beam x 2

Other associated requirements:

A ship to build it on preferably with marines who have good engineering

(Total Cargo = 610, Wares Total Avg cost = 3,246,316cr, Re-sale approx 2.3k cr)

On a ship with the above requirements you can order (Special Drones Interface in special commands) part of the crew and any marines on board to begin canabalising the above wares to retro-fit an Analysis Drone. The larger the ship the more crew can get involved, in order of involvement from crew, with highest first: (TL, M1, M2, M7, TM then others). And the more marines the better. The engineering skill of marines has a direct correlation to how effective their contribution is.

During the build cycle you will notice the ships shield will suddenly deplete. Don't worry this is only the constructors using energy from the shield generators to supply work equipment, and the impact will reduce over time. They recharge still during these periodic energy transfers but the amount the shields reduce to can be a useful indicator as to the progress of the engineering.

The engineering process can be lengthy dependant on type of ship and number of marines (and their skill) on board. Note, if you remove marines during build process this will impact the rate at which the engineering progresses. Also docking at stations will reduce engineering production as the shields cannot recharge without drawing energy from the station which isn't viewed favourably.

The engineering process also produces "waste" as a result of all the left over parts from the canabalisation process which will be deposited into the ships cargo hold.
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Required for Analysis Drone MKII

Engineer Advanced Data Device

With any ship fitted with:

Navigation Command Software MKI
Special Command Software

Wares required:

Microchips x 25
Computer Components x 50
Crystals x 25
Nividium x 100
Software Signature Scrambler

(Total Cargo = 600, Wares Total Avg cost = 2,992,196 cr, Re-sale approx 2.3k cr)

The process is exactly the same as engineering an analysis drone. However less time is involved to engineer Advanced Data Devices.

However you will notice it uses Nividium and crystals, these are combined with regular technology to create a crystal matrix capable of capturing data into a 3 dimensional holographic array that exist in a subspace time compressed state thus allow the device to slip time by a small amount and therefore record data in time aswell as physical dimensions. As a result this significantly increases the storage capabilty. It also uses the Software Signature Scrambler in this way for the detailed calculations using quantum mechanics which is transfered to the device in the process.

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(Possible Boron Lore/History/flavouring to follow)

Historical link here

pelador · Post by **pelador** » Tue, 3. Mar 09, 18:19

Deploy EMP Drone

All Drones: [ external image ]

Here is a link to the design spreadsheet in Excel 2007 format.

If you dont have that software here is a link to a free viewer from Microsoft.
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Overview:

With any ship equipped with:

Fight Command Software MKII
Special Command Software

and has the following wares:

EMP Drone

OR

Custom process:
Recon Drone
Ion Disruptor
Ion Mine

Cargo Bay Shielding (Required for MKII)

Other associated requirements:

E-cells to charge the drone

With a ship with the above requirements it can launch an EMP drone to attack a particular ship. To do so go to the fight area of the command console and under special you will find the Special Drones interface the option to Deploy EMP Drone is there. The command orders are as follows:

1. Select ship
2. Select either MKI (1) or MKII (2).
3. Select wether safe (1) or fire and forget (2).
4. Select number of e-cells to charge the drone with (from 500 - 800).

The drone will then attempt to get within a desired range (varies with ship sizes) and then use the e-cells to detonate causing a powefull electromagnetic pulse and ion burst within a 10km radius. Which will not discriminate between freind or foe. The safe mode checks to see any of your own ships are within the blast radius and if found will detonate harmlessly.

The potential of the blast to effect in terms of a % can be calculated as follows:

%Potential = ((K x Ecells) / (R^2)) / S.

K is a constant associated with the energy co-efficient and is 2,500,000.
Ecells is number of e-cells.
R is the radius in metres from EMP burst to target(s).
S is the effected ship(s) shielding in MJ.

A graph and calculations are allready provided in the above design spreadsheet.

The %Potential is then the chance for various systems to be "zapped". These include shields, missiles, installed equipment, installed upgrades and any tech wares. (Note: it doesnt at moment sufficiently discriminate some pre-installed systems). And each individual type is checked to see if it is effected. It also has a similar potential to set shield energy and laser energy to 0, but they will still recharge. Weapons systems seem unaffected by this new experimental weapon as this is due to them being used to rapid changes in fluctuating energy use.

So far the experiments of this tactical weapon has been limited, and findings show that whilst extremely effective against smaller ships. The shielding on vessels that are M7 and above tend to use provide sufficient protection and is extremely unlikley to effect them. M6 are somewhere in between. Boron Scientists are interested in feedback from its use.

This is not a secret weapon, leaks have provided to others the nature of the weapon and as such is frowned upon with its use and any effects to neutral affilications is viewed unfavourable. However, the MKII version can be used to conceal the weapons owner resulting in no associatied loss of influence. The MKII as a result can also be used to attack enemy targets where the MKI would be simply "dealt with" and is the military option.

(Possible Boron Lore/History/flavouring to follow)

Historical link here

pelador · Post by **pelador** » Tue, 3. Mar 09, 18:21

Deploy Jump Drone

All Drones: [ external image ]

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Overview:

With any ship equipped with:

Special Command Software
Navigation Command Software

and has the following wares:

Jump Drone

OR

Custom process:
Freight Drone.
Advanced Satallite
Cartography Chip

The ship can launch a drone that will fly to a chosen sector position and then on reaching its destination will convert to a jump beacon from the drone.

To order a ship that is equipped to do so simply go to the command console of the ship as normal, select special, then you will see a new menu for drones, select this interface and then "Deploy Jump drone.". Its a fairly intuitive process after that. Select sector and position.

The Jump beacon once deployed can be jumped to using the same interface using command Jump to Shortcut beacon.

A ship needs to be equipped with a jumpdrive of course, but the beacons focus allows for a fixed use of energy cells based on ship class:

M1, M2 = 150 e-cells
TL, M7 = 100 e-cells
M6 = 75 e-cells
M4, M5 = 30 e-cells
Others = 50 e-cells

The beacon is one way and isnt included in the automatic jump processes.

You can only have one beacon active at a time, such then when a new one is deployed the old one will shut down and self-destruct.

When jumping, ships arrive in the centre of the sector where the beacon is deployed.

(Possible Lore/History/flavouring to follow)

Historical link here

pelador · Post by **pelador** » Tue, 3. Mar 09, 18:24

Following LV's advice I have merged the info threads in this thread and the others will be locked with historical references. Thus limiting this development to just the one thread.

Could a moderator please therefore lock the following threads:

http://forum.egosoft.com/viewtopic.php?t=237038
http://forum.egosoft.com/viewtopic.php?t=237283
http://forum.egosoft.com/viewtopic.php?t=237294
http://forum.egosoft.com/viewtopic.php?t=237532
http://forum.egosoft.com/viewtopic.php?t=238036
http://forum.egosoft.com/viewtopic.php?t=238451

semiliterate · Post by **semiliterate** » Tue, 3. Mar 09, 19:03

i meant, in a specific example:

collect wares on m2
run command
target m5
jump/fly m5 to sector
jump ships to m5
time expires, m5 loses jump beacon properties

pelador · Post by **pelador** » Tue, 3. Mar 09, 19:09

Continued from Jump Drone thread ......

semiliterate wrote:i meant, in a specific example:

collect wares on m2
run command
target m5
jump/fly m5 to sector
jump ships to m5
time expires, m5 loses jump beacon properties

Novel idea, in theory its possible, as one extra global variable for a temporary ship task should cover it I think. I'll have to think about it a little.

semiliterate · Post by **semiliterate** » Tue, 3. Mar 09, 19:11

i mainly thought of it because it saves using either a ware or an extra command slot, the only other alternatives i could see.

pelador · Post by **pelador** » Tue, 3. Mar 09, 19:35

Yeah, it isnt really the technical constraints that are impeding me, it's more the implications of having a mobile jump beacon and what that means in terms of gameplay. Lots of balance considerations to consider perhaps, though as temporary I imagine it reduces impact somewhat.

semiliterate · Post by **semiliterate** » Tue, 3. Mar 09, 19:47

i was figuring a short time limit, making it only practical for use in nearby sectors - maybe limit it to m5s too, because their jump range means no deploying on the other side of the universe.

pelador · Post by **pelador** » Tue, 3. Mar 09, 19:56

I'm struggling to find a logical answer (justify it with a plausable reason) why only M5's though and limited jump range isnt really an advantage over normal jumping when using the shortcut method.

I think best take some time to consider it more fully.

semiliterate · Post by **semiliterate** » Tue, 3. Mar 09, 20:00

pffft, justifying it's easy. jumping is a gravitational phenomenon, right? try generating a specialised jump field like this from anything bigger than a navigational beacon or M5 and its own mass causes it to collapse into itself.

the other things, though, are problems.

K-64 · Post by **K-64** » Tue, 3. Mar 09, 20:10

It could be put onto larger ships, although the energy that it generates would cause catastrophic damage to the inside of the ship as the projection range would be much larger than in an M5, and the energy consumption would rise would rise exponentially rather than multiplied.

could be an explanation

pelador · Post by **pelador** » Wed, 4. Mar 09, 14:04

Deploy Build/Constructor Drones

All Drones: [ external image ]

"The Argon have struck a partnership with Boron Drone engineers for aid in constructing defence platforms".

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Deploy Build Drone

Overview:

With any ship equipped with:

Special Command Software

and has the following wares:

Build Drone

OR

Custom process:
Freight Drone.
Navigation Satallite (not advanced)

The ship can launch a drone that will fly to a chosen sector position and then on reaching its destination will convert to a navigational beacon from the drone.

To order a ship that is equipped to do so simply go to the command console of the ship as normal, select special, then you will see a new menu for drones, select this interface and then "Deploy Build drone.". Its a fairly intuitive process after that. Select sector and position.

This JUST deploys a hazard warning becon to others as to where you intend to construct your defence platform.

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Deploy Constructor Drones: Orbital Weapons Platform (OWP)

Overview:

With any ship equipped with:

Special Command Software

and has the following wares:

For Small OWP:

Constructor Drones x 4

OR

Custom process:
Freight Drone x 4
Teladianium x 400
Computer Components x 160
Microchips x 56
Quantum Tubes x 40
Adv. Nav Satallites x 40

Construction Equipment x 4 (additional to drone requirements)

Associated needs:

A construction beacon to work on

For Medium OWP double the number of resources required.

For Large OWP quadruple the resources.

Again using the drones interface you will see on the menu a selection for Deploy Small OWP , Medium OWP or Large OWP constructors. So with a ship that has the above requirements met this instructs a team of drones to transport the neccesary resources to the beacon to then convert into a Orbital weapons platform (OWP). You simply need to select the construction beacon.

Important Note: Wether you are using bought wares or a custom process the required number of construction equipment is still required for the process in addition to the drones requirements.

It is constructed with only shielding as equipment (approximatley 500m for SOWP and 1km for MOWP or LOWP vertically above the beacon), but you can transfer shields, weapons, systems and missiles to the OWP like any other ship to ship transfer with a transporter device. The OWP can be given settings just like regular ships. A screen print of the empty OWPs ready for equipping are below:

Small:
[ external image ]

Medium:
[ external image ]

Large:
[ external image ]

The beacon manages the process so as long as you have the right number of freight drones with the required resources in total within them within a range of 1km of the beacon, it will be able to project manage the construction. Useful in case any or all constructor drones are lost. In the case of a complete team being lost you can re-issue a new construction command to the beacon.

Overall this makes the average construction cost of a "naked" SOWP aproximatley 1,850,000 cr, with a cargo requirement in total of about 2,650 units for the custom process. (MOWP x 2, LOWP x 4)

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(Possible Argon Lore/History/flavouring to follow)

pelador · Post by **pelador** » Wed, 4. Mar 09, 14:06

New version V3.1 updated.

Build/Contructors Drones added. Details above.

Resources for Jump drones modified. Teladianium swapped out for an Advanced Satallite.

Some script improvements to other Drones (no changes in operation or design, just scripting methods).

pelador · Post by **pelador** » Wed, 4. Mar 09, 19:17

I've just checked an alternative website to check the stats of the SOWP:

http://eng.x3tc.ru/x3_tc_ships/x3-ship. ... TA0OTAyMTE

And looking at its cost I think I may have underpriced it somewhat? Apologies, I was using a spreadsheet that didn't have the cost included and assumed they wouldn't be so expensive. Though the effectiveness of defence platforms (especially OOS) currently may not justify this price.

As a result I may intend to modify the process:

1) Change the resources required to:

Teladianium 400
Microchips 80
Computer Comps. 160
Qauntum tubes 40
Adv. Satallites 40
Freight Drones 4

Including the beacon costs this gives an average cost of 2,171,420 cr and a cargo of 2698.

2) Another option is to include a one time cash payment to make them licensed in owned sectors? But no idea as to how much this should really be.

3) A combination of the above.

Thoughts? Alternatives?

pelador · Post by **pelador** » Wed, 4. Mar 09, 20:29

Revision V3.2 Small Orbital platforms resource requirements increased. Details in thread.

Apologies for the quick revision, I should have planned better. (I chose option 1 above for now.)

pelador · Post by **pelador** » Fri, 6. Mar 09, 12:14

Deploy Hacking Drone

All Drones: [ external image ]

"With some back handers and dodgy dealing Dukes has managed to modify the Drones tech for use."

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Overview:

With any ship equipped with:

System Override Software
Special Command Software

and has the following wares:

Hacking Drone

OR

Custom process:
Recon Drone
Tractor beam
Hacking chip
Cargo Bay Shielding

(Average cost = 810,116 cr and cargo 54)

The ship can launch a retro fitted drone that will fly to a chosen sector and then move to within 3km of its target station. There it will attempt to interface with the station computers to change the relations you have with it to neutral. Note due to version control and security procedures in the hacking chips there is a 5% chance that the station will have upgraded its security protocols and the hack attempt will fail as a result.

To order a ship that is equipped to do so simply go to the command console of the ship as normal, select special, then you will see a new menu called Special Drones then select "Deploy Hacking drone.". Its a fairly intuitive process after that. Select hostile station.

Hacking drones are secretive by default in getting to their destination. As a result all communications are lost and no details are recieved from its gravidar scanner to prevent possible detection.

(Possible Dukes Lore/History/flavouring to follow)

[SCRIPT] Dedicated Assistant Drones (DAD) V4.7 [03.05.2009]

Spy Drones Details