[SCR] [X3AP] Drone Mining and Trading System v1.2.2 [UPDATED 11/08/2014]

Tiber Septim · Post by **Tiber Septim** » Sat, 23. Aug 14, 09:33

Hey, I gotta say, I am in love with this script, one little issue, my TL is dropping energy cells, its 200mj shield that came with it when i brought it and a few of its weapons when it drops off the current load of minerals

zanzal · Post by **zanzal** » Sun, 12. Oct 14, 03:49

Hey guys, it has been awhile since I checked in. I've updated the version to 1.1.4 and applied a fix to prevent the DroneMiner from unloading its e-cells (oops). It will still unload weapons that it can't equip. Why it would unload an equipped shield I am not sure, but I put in an extra few lines to make sure it won't do that.

A few comments on the previous requests:

1. Terran Keris drones - I can't do this right now, the changes are too extensive. I'd break something for sure. If I get back into playing X3:AP any time soon I'll definitely add this.

2. TL wandering into war zones / blacklisting. Same with the black list, if I pick up the game again I'll put one in. I did update the instructions a while back to recommend setting the Friend Foe settings on your TL such that it will avoid hostile factions. If you are friends with both Argon and Terrans, you could probably address this a little bit by turning off "Use Missiles" and setting one of the factions to enemy.

Also, setting Terran to enemy on the Drone Miner ship if you don't have Terran Jumpgates is probably a good choice.

Your miner TLs really don't need weapons since they should jump away in most cases when being attacked by hostiles. Though there are cases where they can't because they are out of jump fuel or they die in a single oos combat turn.

Midnightknight · Post by **Midnightknight** » Mon, 27. Oct 14, 05:54

Hi,

I tryed this on my Aran in unfocused JD sector and the menu simply don't shows up. M1 are excluded from being able to use it? Cause it says any carrier, or am i doing something wrong?

zanzal · Post by **zanzal** » Mon, 27. Oct 14, 06:13

This script is meant to be super automated so it may have issues operating in UFJD sectors. I'd proceed with caution.

First, make sure your Aran has Trade Command Software Mk3 installed or you shouldn't even see the command as an option in the Trade menu. If that fixes the issue then test the command first outside of UFJD space.

Make sure you have at least 1 Freight Drone loaded into your Aran's cargo bay. Then do a test run and let your Aran load itself up with the requisite wares. If you want to manually equip your Aran the menu screen lists the wares that are needed by the script to run. If you don't supply every wanted and needed ware then the first thing the command will do when you activate it is go and buy things.. That would be a problem in UFJD space since it couldn't return. But if you solve some of these issues before hand it *might* work in UFJD space.

Are you playing XRM, Vanilla or something else? If you still have problems let me know and I'll test it on the Aran. I'll also play around with it in UFJD space in the next week or so and see how it performs.

Midnightknight · Post by **Midnightknight** » Mon, 27. Oct 14, 06:22

Things are solved i bought the MK3 or at least tryied without having MK1 in it to it didn't worked. For the rest all seem fine, i needeed some MK2 drones too for it leting me mine and it seem to work in UFJ as longs as you order him to collect and wait.

zanzal · Post by **zanzal** » Tue, 28. Oct 14, 05:25

Version 1.2 released - Adds Mk3 Blacklist Manager (from the bonus pack) integration and option to use Keris or Fighter Drone Mk2.

Nemesis_87 · Post by **Nemesis_87** » Tue, 4. Nov 14, 14:50

Quick question

How do i get my TL to bust big Roids? i have it set to blow them up upto 19 yield and the ship is equipped with mining drills, But when it goes to a roid it wants to blow up it does nothing and just flys around it. Is there a certain setting the turrets must be set to? because i tried a few but no success.

Any help would be appriciated

Edit: I play XRM and my TL is the mobile mining ship which has 4 front turrets with drills and 2 on the top turret

zanzal · Post by **zanzal** » Wed, 5. Nov 14, 02:26

Hello Nemesis,

The reason why your TL is having problems has to do with in-sector navigation issues. The TL wants to get up close and personal with the asteroid so it can fire the guns, but to do that it has to get close to the asteroid and the game forces the TL to move away to avoid collision before it gets close enough to fire.

For best results don't be in sector with your TL. If you really want to watch it then consider observing these rules:

1. Make sure the mobile drilling system is in the front turret only. Don't ever mount one on the sides, top, bottom, or the back it just makes it 10x worse.
2. Don't press SETA to make the TL do it faster. It often makes it worse not better.
3. If your TL can use Hornet missiles then Give your TL a few of them and take away the mobile drilling system. Keep in mind though that there could be collateral damage if the TL fires the missile and something is in the way.

zanzal · Post by **zanzal** » Wed, 5. Nov 14, 03:31

NEW Add On Script Available:

Better Mineral Scanner - Improves the player's mineral scanner to be more useful

Did you ever want to start a new game building your empire up starting as a mineral prospector? This is the script you need to make use of that mineral scanner. The script sets up a hotkey you can use to activate the mineral scanner automatically as you approach roids and it automatically targets debris of the selected kind. Just use the hot key to cycle through the mineral types to the mineral you are looking for. Then as you fly around if you approach a debris field and your ship has no active target then the target will automatically switch to the nearest matching debris within mineral scanner range.

Some notes on the usage:

1. Use it to zero in on a specific mineral you are looking for. FYI the mineral scanner range is equal to the default scanner range. So it may work better in XRM or a Vanilla modded to rebalance ranges.

2. It will not switch targets if your currently targetting something else. So make sure you deselect any active targets before sweeping a debris field looking for minerals. This prevents it from interfering with combat or other gameplay while it is on.

3. It also helps with collecting the specified mineral if you have a transporter device and ore collector installed. You still have to get really close to the debris, but you shouldn't have to run into the rock, a very close flyby will work.

4. The scan asteroid sound effect only seems to work in XRM.. sorry, no idea why that is.

5. Automatically turns off if you change ships and defaults to being off until it is turned on. That's just the way it works.

NOTE: The add ons don't really have any dependancy on the Drone Miner so you can use them separately if you want.

Nemesis_87 · Post by **Nemesis_87** » Wed, 5. Nov 14, 09:24

Cheers for the response, Il give it a try shortly

Nemesis_87 · Post by **Nemesis_87** » Wed, 5. Nov 14, 11:01

Ok, going OOS seemed to work but no luck IS yet, no matter but i seemed to have got a far worse issue now

I went OOS and it blew up the nvidium rock, At first it deployed its drones liek normal and started collecting fine, but all of a sudden all the freight drones just started flying further away from the TL. The entire sector had over 100 freight drones just flying into the middle of no were until they basicaly ran out of power and died. First time this has happened since i started using mobile mining and it seems to do it in this sector all the time now

any suggestions?

Edit: THis happened when i went OOS then went IS after the roid was blown up. So far when i stay OOS it seems fine which is weird seeing most of my mining i have done is IS with no problems

Edit 2: Ok, even OOS it has similar issue. Basicaly everything is ok with when the cutting drones are in action along side the freight drones. But once they have done there job and go back the frieght drones stop collecting. I was watching from OOS and they just flew around the TL not collecting. even tried stop mining and recall drones but they never responded. THen i went IS and every drone started flying further away from the TL like before.

I am in Unknown sector 16-18. There is a Pirate base far away in the system with 4 laser towers.

Edit 3: DOH!!!! i think i sorted it haha, My TL has 5 docking slots which include TS docking, unlike before the ship had no ships docked, but this time i docked 5 TS ships for extra cargo space. Should have realised that the freight drones are classed as ships once out of the cargo bay and were unable to dock due to full hanger. So i created and solved a problem lol

Maybe a few tips from my past couple of posts could go on the main page for a bit more information to prevent daft mistakes like this

zanzal · Post by **zanzal** » Thu, 6. Nov 14, 07:57

Okay, your suggestion is implemented. There is now a tips section. Feel free to suggest additional advice. No spoilers though.

I'll test out the IS roid busting this week. Last I tried it I didn't have too many problems, but maybe something has changed.

Nemesis_87 · Post by **Nemesis_87** » Thu, 6. Nov 14, 09:52

Cheers, such a great mod which I only found by luck

malyen777 · Post by **malyen777** » Thu, 6. Nov 14, 14:03

Wow.... Only just discovered this mod, but so far it seems amazing! Everything I was looking for to finish off the X3 Experience. Seams to work nicely with AP.... Awesome! Many thanks!

Nemesis_87 · Post by **Nemesis_87** » Thu, 6. Nov 14, 17:27

Tell ya what, i know this mod plays well with XRM, But i highly recommend playing it with XRM´s advanced universe. Basicaly it makes it so jumping to systems is limited seeing the jump gates cant be locked on with the jumpdrive. Onlyjump beacons which are in certain systems can be used with the jump drive.

So a mobile fleet becomes an essential

zanzal · Post by **zanzal** » Sat, 8. Nov 14, 09:31

I identified a really nasty lock up bug in that got introduced in 1.1.4. If you have 1.1.4 or higher installed then please update to 1.2.2 as soon as possible. My apologies for any lost progress this may have caused anyone.

malyen777 · Post by **malyen777** » Sat, 8. Nov 14, 23:19

Thanks for that. I have not had the problem yet, but I have updated to be safe.

Cheers for the warning..

Nemesis_87 · Post by **Nemesis_87** » Sat, 8. Nov 14, 23:55

Lol I'm still using 1.1.2 (didn't notice updates) so updating is just a simple update or need to delete previous version ect?

zanzal · Post by **zanzal** » Sun, 9. Nov 14, 01:20

For the plugin manager:

Updating should be a matter of removing the old package using the plugin manager and close the plugin manager. Then add the new package and close the plugin manager.

For manual install:

If you are not using the plugin manager then there is no uninstall at all. The new files overwrite the old files.

Nemesis_87 · Post by **Nemesis_87** » Sun, 9. Nov 14, 20:58

Did manual install, seems to work well with the keris drones, now I have several TL ships going round on a mining loop. It's quite impressive

egosoft.com

egosoft.com

[SCR] [X3AP] Drone Mining and Trading System v1.2.2 [UPDATED 11/08/2014]