[Bonus Plugin] Commercial Agent

[George Jetson]

I have and issue that has cropped up with CAG and I was wondering if anyone else has seen it. I have JD equiped ships attached to my HQ with a range of 50, set to scrounge up weapons and shields.

Works well until they start to travel to stations where my race relationship isn't high enough to purchase the ware they were after. Then they just sit there, still with a buy command. Any ideas?

[Phier]

No clue what happened, everything was going fine, but now they are all on standbye while the factories are out of resources.

Making them leave the station and then turn it back on hasn't done anything.

Dismissing the pilot doesn't do anything either.

Its a bit of a game stopper right now.

Edit:No idea what happened but reinstalling the bonus pack fixed it.

[jlehtone]

Some file corruption perhaps?

Note: Forum rule 12 asks not to create new threads for questions about existing scripts. Since the problem is already solved, lets try to move this to <tossing coin between CAG and CLS>.

[Jaga_Telesin]

Is there a creative scripter that would like to do a bit of rewriting to this botched script and remove the first level (or start all traders at level 2)? Having it as it is is just idiotic (selling and buying require the same level of intelligence even for software), and the restriction puts a huge roadblock in for those of us using closed loop systems.

Yes I am aware there are ways around it, which require unnecessary "trainer" stations or other complexes to get the traders to an actual useful stage. However, I don't install additional scripts so that I can do even more micromanagement of my game, but instead less.

My current game for example, has one 20-station closed loop with zero needed resources, several intermediate products, and two final products. I can equip a CA and assign him, and he will happily sit at the dock all day doing absolutely nothing. Yep, really useful there.

It was a design flaw in my opinion to restrict selling to level 2 for a trader - it is every bit as important as buying. And to include this script "as-is" in the bonus pack is just as big a mistake, and a huge "whoops!" moment.

So, anyone have time and the interest to change this into what could be a great script, or is it doomed to be yet another micromanagement-fest and pain in the rear?

[Phier]

I love my CAG's.

Maybe they have an issue for your 20 stop super system, but for someone just looking to play the game at a basic level they are great and reduce my micro management quite a bit.

Glad it was in the bonus pack.

[Brinnie]

I have two commercial Agents, I would like them to keep more than 40 E.C., I am using the configuration command {2}{3}{X) where X is replaced with 400 for the Mercury and 800 for the Caiman SF , by they still only carry 40.

Am I doing something wrong?

[Jaga_Telesin]

I love my CAG's.

Maybe they have an issue for your 20 stop super system, but for someone just looking to play the game at a basic level they are great and reduce my micro management quite a bit.

Glad it was in the bonus pack.

To humor myself and prove something, I bought and setup a high tech single station to train some CAs on last night. I gave them fully equipped TP ships, and a restricted jump area of 7. I even equipped them with trade upgrades so they could receive training as often as possible.

I baby-sat them for the first three hours, until they all hit level 2. During that time I had to save them from random pirates on several occasions, as they simply didn't try to avoid them at all (like docking immediately).

This morning, after letting the game run for twelve hours continuously at normal speed, only one out of the five was still alive - all four others died at the hands of pirates or unknown ships, or while flying *through* pirate sectors.

In contrast, with my Satellite Limited MK3 (UT) script, I didn't loose even one Universal Trader that entire time. So my derogatory comment on the current state of this script stands from my perspective: not nearly useful enough, and far too needy in terms of micromanagement. Someone needs to beef it up quite a bit.

Net gains on purchasing those five TPs, equipping them, and letting them trade all night: -5,000,000 credits (as the factory still hasn't started producing on a continuous basis, and I lost four good ships). That's not a script I care to use in the future "as-is".

Still hopeful someone will take up the gauntlet and bring this script up to useable status, getting rid of bugs other people have posted, and increasing the usability of the Agents.

[jlehtone]

Am I doing something wrong?

Most likely candidate: remove Video Enhancement Goggles from your ships.


@Jaga_Telesin: Set one CLS2 ship with four waypoints:
1. wait in station A
2. wait in station B
3. wait in station C
4. wait in station D
You can choose whatever route you wish, preferably a safe one. Move pilot when "ready", and restart. IMO, if one has resources to build a closed complex, one has resources to train pilots too.

[Jaga_Telesin]

IMO, if one has resources to build a closed complex, one has resources to train pilots too.

I'll try your waypoint suggestion and see what the result is - thanks for offering a useful tip.

However, while the comment you made above may be technically correct, it invalidates the usefulness of the script in that it actually increases the level of micromanagement needed to train CAs up and make them useful.

Personally I wouldn't care about the problems at all, if all the tips/tricks and necessary procedures were included in a readme file, so that users didn't have to go digging on the internet and reading (and posting in) 20+ page threads to figure out workarounds to circumvent poor script design decisions.

And when all is said and done and I have fully trained CAs, will they avoid enemies like my UTs do, or will they die without making profit as my experiences dictate? I guess that remains to be seen..

[Nanook]

...
To humor myself and prove something, I bought and setup a high tech single station to train some CAs on last night. I gave them fully equipped TP ships, and a restricted jump area of 7. I even equipped them with trade upgrades so they could receive training as often as possible.

I baby-sat them for the first three hours, until they all hit level 2. During that time I had to save them from random pirates on several occasions, as they simply didn't try to avoid them at all (like docking immediately).

This morning, after letting the game run for twelve hours continuously at normal speed, only one out of the five was still alive - all four others died at the hands of pirates or unknown ships, or while flying *through* pirate sectors.....

So, you set them up for failure from the very beginning by giving them a jump range of 7, and you blame the script??? Beginning CAG's are just that, beginners. You don't simply kick them out into the cold universe and expect them to survive. You train them by limiting their range to 1 or maybe 2 jumps, tops, and wait until they can use jumpdrives before you set them loose. Once they can jump, they're far superior to normal UT's in survivability.

[Jaga_Telesin]

So, you set them up for failure from the very beginning by giving them a jump range of 7, and you blame the script??? Beginning CAG's are just that, beginners. You don't simply kick them out into the cold universe and expect them to survive. You train them by limiting their range to 1 or maybe 2 jumps, tops, and wait until they can use jumpdrives before you set them loose. Once they can jump, they're far superior to normal UT's in survivability.

Not possible. The sector I have as a homebase (and in which I have my closed loops, all my factories for that matter) is Avarice, which is a mere three jumps from pirate territory. If I set the jump range on 2, they would never find the resources the factory I assigned them to needs.

So you are saying then, that to make a CA useful, they need to be trained up on specific types of factories (gathering only common resources), in safe, high security sectors only, far away from any possibility of harassment. That sounds to me like something which requires an investment of time, energy, and resources just to train up so that they can then start working on real tasks. That means an investment of 1m or so on a factory in the right safe sector, that serves little purpose other than training CAs. Their ships get purchased and equipped somewhere else, your main factories/complexes are somewhere else, and all the profit is somewhere else - and yet they get sent to training school.

When Egosoft designed the Sector Trader -> Universe Trader, they did it right. A sector trader can actually make you profit while learning how to trade goods for you, and they can do it all in one protected sector. When they get good enough, they can branch out and work with multiple sectors. They never go to "school" and waste your credits needing special facilities to train at. That is one of the glaring design problems that I see right now with the script, and it stems from them not being able to sell products, nor use a jumpdrive (or dock quickly) to get out of trouble. i.e. there is a way to protect Sector traders, but no way to protect CAs unless you buy and setup special facilities for them to use.

Anyhow, enough ranting. The problem is well supported by others using the script. How many times in this thread alone have people complained about them not doing anything for one reason or another - simply because they cannot sell. And I proved that their longevity is hazardous and short to say the least, because they cannot be protected like other traders (Sect/UT) can. That is, unless you are willing to assign several fighters to each until they can use their jumpdrives. But there again - more micromanagement.

I wasn't asking for a debate, honestly. Tips like what jlehtone posted are helpful. What would be even more helpful is someone who knows how to script for X3, actually taking time to correct these problems for users of the script.

[Magius]

Maybe this can help you

http://forum.egosoft.com/viewtopic.php?t=110417

http://forum.egosoft.com/viewtopic.php?t=171317

[Jaga_Telesin]

Maybe this can help you

http://forum.egosoft.com/viewtopic.php?t=110417

http://forum.egosoft.com/viewtopic.php?t=171317

Unfortunately Station Trader is no longer supported or being updated, or I would give it a serious look.

Not sure how I missed that Com Agent Trainer script, as I've visited his page before. Probably had the "deer in the headlights" syndrome after reading up on stuff the last three weeks and glazed over it. Thank you very much for pointing it out Magius - it is a kick butt script to help accelerate CAs to their first promotion. Thumbs up and kudos.

A moderator might even want to annotate the primary post for this script with a link to that as an optional (unsupported) package, to relieve some angst with the CAs.

[Brinnie]

Thanks for the tip.


1- Do you know if the Video Enhancement Goggles have the same effect on all auto-traders?


2- If the answer to the above question is yes, what is the best way to remove the Goggles from 10 + ships.

[Carlo the Curious]

1. CAG, CLS1 and CLS2. Not sure, but probably ESTs as well.
2. Eject them into space!

[Brinnie]

1. CAG, CLS1 and CLS2. Not sure, but probably ESTs as well.
2. Eject them into space!

1- OK that settles it no more Goggles for the traders.

2- Thanks for that, you've problably saved me a long tedious exercise, I was going to transfer them to captured ships one by one.
I'll go target practicing on them after ejecting them.


---

I used to equip all traders with the Goggles, i mistakenly thought it was a requirement for the essential "Navigational Override System".

[Brinnie]

>> Carlo the Curious.



Thanks, your advice seems to have fixed my CAGs.
In a few days they made over 20.000.000 cr for my small complex.

Reason why I am posting is that the command -0,0,0- doesn' t seem to work anymore, I mean although it's accepted and it returns a message , the message isn't that informative, it just says something like:

Currently piloting your ship.


Is it possible that in my attemps to get the CAGs to carry a custom amount of ECs I might have changed some settings?


- I 'm using the -0,0,0- command to find out the current settings for the CAGs, that is the correct command , isn't it?

- Is there another way to find out the info?
Should I reset the CAGs to rectify any changes I might have made?

Cheers.

[Karlfrans]

Uh, I'm trying to use this with the Dock Ware Manager, but when I start the CAG it's on standby all the time, even though I've placed satelites in the nearby sectors. Anyone else who have had this problem?

[Carlo the Curious]

Is it possible that in my attemps to get the CAGs to carry a custom amount of ECs I might have changed some settings?

Hmm, maybe. Resetting them might work I guess, I've not seen the report be truncated like that though so I'm not sure.

Uh, I'm trying to use this with the Dock Ware Manager, but when I start the CAG it's on standby all the time, even though I've placed satelites in the nearby sectors. Anyone else who have had this problem?

What level CAG, and what kind of station/complex?

L1 CAGs won't sell, so if there are no resources needed they'll do nothing. They also need to be a certain level to work for a dock, or to trade in intermediate products. Enemy activity can also cause them to go to standby.

[Brinnie]

Carlo the curious >>

Before jlehtone's and your advice about the Video Goggles I entered all sorts in the command config to try to fix the amount of ECs carried, maybe I said something rude and 2 of my 4 CAGs wont talk to me anymore.

I have used input {3}{0}{0) to reset but it has had no effect.
I could try to change homebase > restart > change back > restart again,
incidentally is that the way to assign a CAG to another complex and would it loose its rank if I assigned it to another base?