[SCRIPT] Bail Signal Extension: Higher Chance & Big Ship Bailing v1.10 (03/08/2007)

[voxol]

Bail Signal Extension
By Voxol.


[Update (17/08/2007): Please now use xfir01's 2.0+ version, located in a new thread]

Link: http://forum.egosoft.com/viewtopic.php?t=187811

As of now updates to this script have ceased by me and xfir01 has taken over the project in a new thread. The new version includes many new features, bugfixes and much much greater customizability. I will leave the link up here to the old version for legacy reasons, but v1.10 and below is now unsupported.


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Requirements: Cycrow's Salvage Claim Software - Available at Teladi Equipment Docks (required to claim big ships).

--Download--


With this plugin big ships will now bail and there is generally a higher probability of a ship's crew bailing.


[Note: A special thanks to xfir01 who has already fixed a number of bugs and has graciously offered to take over this project]


The benefit of Bail Signal Extension is that it is simple in function and transparent in operation, adds NPC vs. NPC bailing, and modifies the stock implementation as little as possible to achieve the desired effect. For a comprehensive 'first-person' capping experience I would suggest Unicap; for something more like a 'fix' to the stock method, try Bail Signal Extension...

As always, suggestions for improvements are most welcome.


Readme follows:

Code: Select all

===========================================
Name:		Bail Signal Extension
Version:	V1.10
Author:		Voxol
Updated:	04/08/2007
===========================================

Requirements:  Cycrow's Salvage Claim Software.


With this plugin installed pilots will have a higher probability of bailing from their ship, and the crew of larger ships may also bail, unlike the stock egosoft implementation.

As the name implies this is an extension of the current bail behaviour, nothing complex.  The reasoning is twofold.  Realistically, crew are much more likely to attempt to abandon ship before it is destroyed than in the stock game - it's a rare crew that would rather go down with the ship.  Secondly, realistically there is a chance that a critical component is damaged in a firefight leading to radiation leak, vented atmosphere, core meltdown, etc, so evacuation is the only option.


NOTES:

- There is a probability the crew will fight to the death, based on the ship's morale value.

- There is a probability the crew only abandoned ship because it was about to explode.  The more damage to the hull and the higher the crews fight skill, the more likely this is to happen.

- Big ships will also bail, however only a small portion of the crew will manage to get into space suits before it's too late.

- Ships attacked by other races may also bail.  You can make a living claiming ships after NPC vs. NPC battles.

- Player ships are valid candidates for bailing as well - you will have to reclaim your disabled ship once it is safe.

- Player, Xenon and Khaak ships do not have crew, but can still be disabled and captured.

- Equipment gets increasingly damaged as the ship sustains more hull damage before it is abandoned.

- Difficulty can be controled in the AL menu with:

 'Bail Signal Extension: Inrease Difficulty x1' - Affects amount of hull damage before bail, thus higher chance of explosion and more equipment damage.

 'Bail Signal Extension: Inrease Difficulty x2' - Affects chance of bail at all, as well as much more hull damage required.
   
 (Difficulty levels can be combined for extra difficulty)


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

Change log:
1.10 [Special thanks to xfir01]
- Full speed bug fixed.
- Bug in x1 difficulty fixed and difficulties rebalanced to suit.

1.9
- Fix for AL plugin misbehaviour.

1.8
- Attempted fix for possible full speed when attacking bug.
- Attempted fix for new installation unable to activate.

1.7
- Reworked difficulty levels.
- Fixed bug in equipment damage.
- Tidied AL plugins.

1.6
- Shifted difficulty down for everything except morale.

1.5
- AL toggle for Huge Ship bailing added.
- AL toggles for difficulty added.
- Minor bugs in stock signal calling fixed.

1.4
- Equipment damage now added.
- Flying away bug fixed.
- Failsafe time limit increased.

1.3
- Added AL plugin so bailing can be toggled on/off.
- UFOs will no longer bail.
- Minor bug in morale based chance of fighting to the death sorted.
- Amount of hull damage before bailing is now affected by ship fightskill.
- Ship explosion now linked to hull strength.
- Better signal compatibility.
- Various code tidying.

1.2
- Corrected bug preventing claiming via standard method.

1.1
- Corrected Pirate astronaut race.

1.0
- Initial release.

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

Technical:

Signal alteration: SIGNAL_ATTACKED.

Enjoy!

[Rhelok]

Won't this clutter the universe with astronauts? Won't these astronauts die because they may be too far from a station?

[voxol]

Won't this clutter the universe with astronauts? Won't these astronauts die because they may be too far from a station?

A little bit and no. Border sectors and pirate sectors you will often find astronauts buzzzing around, but not many at all. The nature of OOS combat means there is less chance of bailing OOS, cant do anything about that. Astronauts head to the nearest friendly station, generally not that far away.

EDIT: Also there are not many astronauts that bail from big ships - after all, how many crew members have the opportunity to get into a space suit and beam themselves into space before the atmosphere vents, or radiation leaks, or the ship explodes.

[DarkSeraven]

Hey, this is a brilliant idea

I have a slight problem tho, I cant capture any of the ships which the NPC's make bail . At the moment I am getting really close then using a script to change their ownership. Havent captured any ships myself yet, not lucky

I have xtended 0.7 installed so could this be a problem? And my other scripts are:
Advanced jumpdrive
Salvage claim software
medusa rapid fire system
Yaki armarda
pirate guild
race responce fleets

Am not sure if any of these would affect it, maybe it is Xtended which is causing a problem.

Thank you, great idea tho

[Blinki1984]

Finally This is what I was dreaming about since X3 started.

It was kind of anoying that the AI only abandoned his ship when he was attacked by the player him self.

Now It is how it should be

Outstanding

[voxol]

Hey, this is a brilliant idea

I have a slight problem tho, I cant capture any of the ships which the NPC's make bail . At the moment I am getting really close then using a script to change their ownership. Havent captured any ships myself yet, not lucky

Yeah you've hit upon a... err.. completely intentional feature there. The ships can only be claimed using Cycrow's Salvage Claim Software, not by the usual methods... because, err, they are damaged and need special software to... ah sod it.

(On a completely unrelated note: if anyone savvy wants to check out the scripts and tell me what it is I'm doing wrong so you cant claim the normal way, I would be most grateful)

[Blinki1984]

Jup this needs to be fixed, especially since Cycrow's Salvage Claim Software
is only available at a later periode of the game

[Cycrow]

(On a completely unrelated note: if anyone savvy wants to check out the scripts and tell me what it is I'm doing wrong so you cant claim the normal way, I would be most grateful)

the only thing ur doing wrong is that your not egosoft.
claiming large ships is a hardcoded limitation that can only be got around by egosoft editing the core code, which they did to make ships like the K claimable.

its y most scripts and mods that make these ships available will have my SOSMk2 or Salvage claim software built in

[X2-Eliah]

Just a random question: Does this work with :
XTM 0.7
XFP latest version
Roguey's mod

I'm sure a lot of people want to know this, so I ask for all three biggest mods..

[Dragondoom01]

I once read that astronauts take up spaces in stations. Is this true? And if so how long do they stay in the station? Forever? That might be a problem...

[X2-Eliah]

Nah, that issue was fixed in an egosoft patch (1.3 or 1.4, don't know which one), so it will definately not be a problem..

[Dragondoom01]

ok, must have not gotten the memo Thanks for correcting me!

To OP- What are the requirements for player owned ship bailing? Like below a certain percentage of health? Other factors?

[X2-Eliah]

Owkay, did a little playing, it seems to work fine with XTM, except for the fact that the astronauts that bail are all enemies, and I do not think it was intended that way.. If it was, could you please fix that, because

1) This renders the "target nearest enemy" hotkey unusable

2) The pilot/captain of a ship can have basically two choices: either go down with the ship, or eject and turn neutral, because he has just admitted his defeat and there is no point in further ..ehm.. enemy-ing.. (can't come up with a word, sorry).

3) an astronaut should have the basic priority to get to a station asap before oxygen runs out. If he is still choosing to be an enemy of the winner ship, he will get blasted by turrets, thus die. If he chooses to die, why did he bail?

4)The player takes a race rep hit when killing these enemy astronauts. SInce the turrets of a ship can do this for him, basically maintaining race rep is really hard, because you get less rep for killing enemy ships anyway, and now this..

Well, because of those reasons I believe astronauts that eject should not show as enemies... Any comments/objections ?

EDIT: It seems only pirates are ejecting with the I prefix, being hostile..
But i encountered a mojor issue- the ships from XI missions bail! And the only way to finish the mission is to kill all bailed ships aswell.
Although those ships are not supposed to bail, i don't mind- less guns shooting at me.

[Blinki1984]

There must be a way to make at least the small ships claimable manually.

I was recently starting a new career, and already had multiple situations, of pilots leaving their ships, but regretfully couldn't take advantage of it.

If only the old fashion get out claim and get in way would work.

Where to get the Salvage Claim Software ??? I am using XTM

[X2-Eliah]

JUst find it on the script & mod sticky, I'm too lazy to post the link now..
Besides, it isn't clear wether this or SCS is fully XTM compatible, but so far i had no other problems..

[Blinki1984]

I am not looking for the skript, but the station within the game, that sells it.

Regarding the price it will take quite a time until I can make use of it.

I really need some cheap solution for the early game

Here is what I was thinking about:

Salvage software light :

Prize : ca 20000
Range: 20 -40
This software is only able to claim light ships

[voxol]

Phew, OK, biggest immediate response to a script I've ever got:

- It should be compatible with all mods, no worries.

- Salvage Claim Software is available at Pirate bases, according to the SCS thread (EDIT: correction, System Override MKII available at Pirate bases, Salvage Claim is available at Teladi EQs - cheers X2-Eliah). Personally I just make up my own 'custom start' and give myself the SCS from the beginning, not ideal. I agree it should cost less, or there should be a 'lite' version, especially as the standard System Override Software with Software Signature Scrambler does similar job and IIRC costs a *lot* less.

- Astronauts dont take up any space in stations, once they get there they join the general population

- Player ships have exactly the same bail conditions as NPC ships (although dont have pilots).

- Yes, pirate astronauts stay as pirate (enemy). I did it for two reasons: (a) So you can still get the notoriety boost by killing them, since it can be hard to do if the ships are bailing on you and killing the astonauts/ships actually looses rep! (b) So the local police patrols will still hunt the pirates down. I am 50/50 on changing this though, so keep the comments coming. EDIT: Changed in v1.1.

- @Cycrow (and anyone else in the know): I understand the big ships claiming issue, however for some reason you cant even claim small ships the normal way with my script, even though I appear to be doing everything correctly. Any suggestions most appreciated. Or this can remain as a 'completely intentional feature'.

- And yes, another potential issue to look out for is mission critical ships bailing (e.g. XI mission), which must still be destroyed for the mission to complete. If anyone has any suggestions on this one, I would be most grateful.

[X2-Eliah]

- Yes, pirate astronauts stay as pirate (enemy). I did it for two reasons: (a) So you can still get the notoriety boost by killing them, since it can be hard to do if the ships are bailing on you and killing the astonauts/ships actually looses rep! (b) So the local police patrols will still hunt the pirates down. I am 50/50 on changing this though, so keep the comments coming.

Well, see, this is the thing- when you kill a pirate astronaut, you lose reputation.. no gain, well, a negative gain actually, so it basically just disturbs the reputation gain even more-so.. So you can not get notoriety boost with hostile astronauts.

And for SCS, well, I read in the readme that it is in all good teladi EQ docks, (and in my game it is), the SOS MK2 is not the same thing, but costs and does as much, also by cycrow, is the one available in PB.

[voxol]

Well, see, this is the thing- when you kill a pirate astronaut, you lose reputation.. no gain, well, a negative gain actually, so it basically just disturbs the reputation gain even more-so.. So you can not get notoriety boost with hostile astronauts.

Ah interesting, should have done more homework on that. Do you mean you lose rep with the race whose sector you're in? Or just lose rep with the pirates and no rep gained with the race?

And for SCS, well, I read in the readme that it is in all good teladi EQ docks, (and in my game it is), the SOS MK2 is not the same thing, but costs and does as much, also by cycrow, is the one available in PB.

OK, my mistake, should have read further into the SCS thread. I'll edit the OP.

Cheers for the info.

[X2-Eliah]

I mean I lose the rep with the race in whom sector i killed the astronaut..
For instance, I was at argon Fed. protector at 58%, killed two Pirate Harriers, third bailed, killed Astronaut, now rep. is 57%.. Or I am at goner sceptic 50%, kill one (or was it two) pirate astronauts in their sector, and now I am Goner absent (something similar) 47%, and betty says that I have lost reputation.

Perhaps it is hardcoded in the game that astronaut killing is bad? Not really sure on it.. Anywho, I will definately do some more research on my own, see how various races react on this..