problems with lasertowers

[cobra mk2]

I'm at the beginning of a DID game (4th try in 2 weeks) and im having problems with the other races lasertowers.

Ok, i start the game with bad rep with the split and paranid and some of their stations and ships are red.

I've managed to raise my rep with both races to the point that it is still low but it isn't 'minus'.
So now i can visit the core sectors, their ships don't try and kill me and their stations have mostly all turned blue.
My problem is with lasertowers belonging to the station who have turned blue because the lasertowers have remained red and to make it worse they always try and kill me when i get too close.

Not every lasertower is like this though and even the pirate ones are blue.
So i thought it might be a bug with red stations belonging to races with low rep, where the station turns blue when the rep goes up but somehow the lasertowers stay red and even though i'm no longer enemies with the race they attack me (i lost my longest DID game ever because of it).

I don't see an option in the comms to ask them to stop shooting, and in my last encounter i lost a jumpdrive, mineral scanner, freight scanner and rear turret.

These red lasertowers have been a feature in every gamestart i've begun lately and i'm finding them pretty frustrating.

It's been a very long time since i started a normal gamestart so i don't know if this is normal behaviour but i don't recall it being so.

So does this happen with other peoples games and is there a solution to it?

Do i maybe just have to wait and get that rep up even more with the race.

[Aragosnat]

Yeah. It is a known bug. There is a solution to it and I'll try and explain what others DiD to make them go blue without blowing it up and then hacking said station.

Take a ship while OOS and order it to fly it near to the LT and stop it without ship getting attacked. It should go blue within a bit to you might have to close the map window out and look again.

Otherwise blow it away yourself or get lucky and hope an enamy of that race gets attacked by it while IS or even OOS as they may destroy said LT for you. SETA in this situation can be a wonderful....

Edit: One can always get a patrol or protect station mission (not sure if all stations get that type) to hopefully get enimies to spawn and attack LT.

[cobra mk2]

There is actually between 5 and 10 lasertowers with this problem that i have found so far and they belong to either split or paranid.

Would i lose rep if i was to blow the laser tower up? I fancy fireing a couple of missiles at it from behind.
I would consider this method if the rep loss was minimal. ie about 30%

I've definetely got to get rid of them, at this part of my DID game i am using a TP to make money so they are pretty much instant death if i go anywhere near them.

[marksman021]

You could always call in another ship and order it to attack the laser tower with missiles (set missile fire probability to 100%) then before the missiles hit the tower, jump the other ship out. Make sure that you stay in the sector though. This will take out the tower, but when the other ship jumps out, the missiles are orphaned so will kill the tower without rep loss.

[cobra mk2]

I hope i dont sound like a knob but i don't like using exploits like that in the game and i don't really think it stands up to the ethos of DID.

but mind you it is a bug

[larrylo]

Just do more missions and when you return the lasertower will be friendly to you. That does mean you cannot wait in-sector for it to happen.

[cobra mk2]

It's been a couple of days now and there is still this particular lasertower in Cho's Defeat that stays red.

I've gained a couple of rep ranks so all the others have turned blue.
What's weird is that there are two lasertowers at this particular location and one has went blue and the other has stayed red.

This may be because the red one opened fire on me before and was infact the initial reason i started this topic.
What makes it particularily nippy is that i built a Silicone Mine there to help me with a plot so it's proving to be pretty stressful. On the one hand i dont want to lose my transporters and on the other, i dont want to lose rep with the Split who might take it out on my Mine as well as my transports.

I want to just go in and take it out swiftly but i just don't have the resources to mount that kind of attack at the moment. Those lasertowers have got some really good shields now so i would need to make sure i had enough firepower and shields and probably wait until i get a M6 or M8.
I'm also playing a DID remember so i couldn't afford to make a single mistake.

So can you help me out with some detailed suggestions? i.e what ships to use and what missile or loadout to have.
Or should i just wait until i gain another rep or two with them?

[marksman021]

I would try just using a firestorm or two and cover them with wasps or a similar swarm missile to distract the towers. So ship wise, anything that can mount those two missiles. I guess hornets or hammerheads would work as well as firestorms, too.

[Karmaticdamage]

What Aragosnat said will work. In fact you dont even need to have them fly up to the laser towers. Just jump a ship into the system while your not in the system and they will turn blue if your rep with that faction is positive. If they dont turn blue instantly just close and reopen the sector map. I go to war with the argon off and on and have to regularly re friend their laser towers once I fix my rep with them. I don't really consider it an exploit as its a bug that they don't turn back blue on their own when the station they belong to does.

[cobra mk2]

What Aragosnat said will work. In fact you dont even need to have them fly up to the laser towers. Just jump a ship into the system while your not in the system and they will turn blue if your rep with that faction is positive. If they dont turn blue instantly just close and reopen the sector map. I go to war with the argon off and on and have to regularly re friend their laser towers once I fix my rep with them. I don't really consider it an exploit as its a bug that they don't turn back blue on their own when the station they belong to does.

this sounds like the cheapest option and like you its a bug not an exploit.
I can't remember coming across it before though.
thanks all.

[cobra mk2]

uh oh!....

i sent the nearest ship that wasnt busy to do a fly-by of the lasertower and the lasertower destroyed. I has even uninstalled all of its lasers so as not to provoke it.

This in hindsight proved to be total stupidity as the ship i used waa my most heavily armed fighter worth about 4 million credits.

I have a feeling this is going to escalate as my request for reparations will undoubtedly fall on deaf ears.

[Aragosnat]

uh oh!....

i sent the nearest ship that wasnt busy to do a fly-by of the lasertower and the lasertower destroyed. I has even uninstalled all of its lasers so as not to provoke it.

This in hindsight proved to be total stupidity as the ship i used waa my most heavily armed fighter worth about 4 million credits.

I have a feeling this is going to escalate as my request for reparations will undoubtedly fall on deaf ears.

Uhm. Should have also made sure none where an board to as well as stopping well before getting into fire range for OOS. I usually ignore LT areas that are red. as I know sooner or later another ship will come back and take it out.

Or if you are feeling lucky you can always use another race's TM type ships that they hate and hide behind them as sooner or later a will have had enough and launch its fighters. Just make sure you have at least four 25MJ shields. Enimy to that race TS's my launch fighter drones to do the work too.

[cobra mk2]

Or if you are feeling lucky you can always use another race's TM type ships that they hate and hide behind them as sooner or later a will have had enough and launch its fighters. Just make sure you have at least four 25MJ shields. Enimy to that race TS's my launch fighter drones to do the work too.

I actually really like the sound of that and if it weren't for the fact that it's a DID game i would give it a try.
However i need to carefully think about my chances of survival and any action that can be accomplished by a safer method has to be put on the 'probably not' list.

In this current game i am trying to avoid combat if possible so progress is pretty slow and money is tight (the most money ive ever had at once is 2.5m). Sooner or later though, i'm going to have enough cash for a Frigate or two and then things will get a little more interesting in Split sectors.

p.s. just to rub more salt in the wound, there are two Split recon scout ships that fly about Omicron Lyrae and they are still red.
Usually red ships give you the option to comm them and say "sorry, weapons fire in error" but these ones don't so they've always been red.
So anyway, while my back was turned they decided to fly up and destroy my Adv. Sattelite in Omicron Lyrae.
i mean, come on!!!...
They are definately trying to provoke some kind of reaction and for that they will have to wait... until i can do the hub plot

[Aragosnat]

Or if you are feeling lucky you can always use another race's TM type ships that they hate and hide behind them as sooner or later a will have had enough and launch its fighters. Just make sure you have at least four 25MJ shields. Enimy to that race TS's my launch fighter drones to do the work too.

I actually really like the sound of that and if it weren't for the fact that it's a DID game i would give it a try.
However i need to carefully think about my chances of survival and any action that can be accomplished by a safer method has to be put on the 'probably not' list.

In this current game i am trying to avoid combat if possible so progress is pretty slow and money is tight (the most money ive ever had at once is 2.5m). Sooner or later though, i'm going to have enough cash for a Frigate or two and then things will get a little more interesting in Split sectors.

p.s. just to rub more salt in the wound, there are two Split recon scout ships that fly about Omicron Lyrae and they are still red.
Usually red ships give you the option to comm them and say "sorry, weapons fire in error" but these ones don't so they've always been red.
So anyway, while my back was turned they decided to fly up and destroy my Adv. Sattelite in Omicron Lyrae.
i mean, come on!!!...
They are definately trying to provoke some kind of reaction and for that they will have to wait... until i can do the hub plot

Those would be for OFF and yeah they never seem to go blue till someone namely a Xenon patrol blows them away. And you should be able to play around with LTs in an M6 as those things have enough shields to last a while. Plus stay at the farthest range where they actually shoot at you should help some.

[Snafu_X3]

You've never stated which game you're playing, & nothing I can see in your messages makes it clear. In TC the LTs do not follow their homestation's allegiance, so you'll have to find some other way of dealing with them (this is a known game 'feature'); in AP (with the 'TC Plots' mod) they will (mostly) turn blue by using methods as given in the first few suggestions