[SCRIPT] NPC Bailing Addon v1.7.8 [2010-09-21]

[SolarDark]

I'm getting the problem where some bailed ships don't get the claim option. What I have noticed with those ships is I still get the flashing red cross hair when tartgeting them (as you would when targeting over an enemy), but on claimable ships the cross is steady blue as normal or when targeting friendlies.

Additionaly I have set the bail rate to the lowest (10%) but I find it is very high, or they are bailing more than they should. I would like to be able to set it lower. I've only been running it for about 4 hours and already I'm finding 3 or 4 ships already floating around in most sectors I enter and I imagine it will only increase a lot more

[ThisIsHarsh]

I've had problems (especially on defend missions) with any ship that still has 'Pirate' in the name after the pilot had bailed. This was before I was running your script btw.

Hmm, interesting that it's a problem in stock game as well as with this script. Wonder why I've just never come across it... but this means at least that I *will* find this problem if I keep trying patrol/defend missions. Gonna have to spend a few *more* hours playtesting. Oh woe is me!

So is it only a few of the mission ships that have this problem, or all of them? Only ever Pirate ships, or other races as well?

I'm getting the problem where some bailed ships don't get the claim option. What I have noticed with those ships is I still get the flashing red cross hair when tartgeting them (as you would when targeting over an enemy), but on claimable ships the cross is steady blue as normal or when targeting friendlies.

Thanks for the feedback. I'm starting to get a common theme here. Again: is it only mission ships that have this problem? Is it all the mission ships or just a few of them? Is it only Pirate bailed ships or other races as well?

Additionaly I have set the bail rate to the lowest (10%) but I find it is very high, or they are bailing more than they should. I would like to be able to set it lower. I've only been running it for about 4 hours and already I'm finding 3 or 4 ships already floating around in most sectors I enter and I imagine it will only increase a lot more

Wow, that doesn't sound right. Were you running on 100% for a while before you switched down to 10%? - if so they could be left over from when the option was at 100%

The other thing I'd suggest for now is the Salvage commands and NPCs script linked in the OP. You can disable the commands if you want and just use the NPCs. If you set the 'NPC delay' option to a low number (the default is already quite low) then you will find even with 100% bail rate there aren't many claimable ships in the galaxy left over for you.

. . .


In general, you can use the 'Bail rate' option to modify how often you want ships that you attack to bail, then use the NPC salvagers to control how often you come across abandoned ships lying around in the galaxy.

(I'm starting to regret releasing them as seperate scripts now, since for balancing purposes they complement each other to the point of being practically required)

[dragonsblade71uk]

I will say that I have never had a problem capping and claiming ships from any missions.
I think that the pirate problem (Have no problem with Xenon/Yaki ships), could be a stock game issue. In my last game, half the race sectors became filled with Blue pirate ships. It has happened in every mission where Pirates are the attackers and ships have bailed!
I can confirm that Cycrows Salvage claim software works on them.

[ThisIsHarsh]

Thanks for the feedback dragonsblade71uk.

So can I conclude then that:

Only Pirate ships are ever unclaimable.

This only applies to defend/patrol mission Pirate ships.

The unclaimable abandoned Pirate ships still have their name qualified by the word 'Pirate' when betty speaks it.

Only some of the abandoned mission Pirate ships are unclaimable, not all of them.

[fishface60]

I've had Yaki and Xenon ships be unclaimable if that helps.

[Graxster]

Pirates are messed up in general in the stock game. I was playing yesterday and several things happened that shouldn't. As dragonsblade mentioned, lots of blue pirates in other race's sectors. When I ran across red pirates in a pirate sector and killed then, I kept getting messages to the effect, "The Pirate Nation thanks you for your help in eliminating... (etc)" *boggle*. And I saw several red pirates attacking a Pirate Base!

Also of note is that even the script commands don't work correctly regarding Pirate Race. I have a script to "change owner" that reads:
$race = $target -> get user input, type: Var/Race, title "select a Race"
$target -> set owner race to $race
When I run this, it pops up the race selection menu, and choosing any other race works fine to change the owner of a ship, but if I choose Pirates, it changes the race to a random race, like Boron, Paranid, etc..

Additionally I have set the bail rate to the lowest (10%) but I find it is very high, or they are bailing more than they should. I would like to be able to set it lower. I've only been running it for about 4 hours and already I'm finding 3 or 4 ships already floating around in most sectors I enter

When I installed this, it was defaulted to 100% bail rate. So it's possible that happened before you changed it. I had it set at 10% and using "find free ships" was getting practically nothing. Even at 20% I only saw maybe 4 ships in the entire universe in several hours. I now have it at 30%, and after several hours of playing I may have about 8 ships in the entire universe that are empty of pilots.

-G

[ThisIsHarsh]

Pirates are messed up in general in the stock game. I was playing yesterday and several things happened that shouldn't. As dragonsblade mentioned, lots of blue pirates in other race's sectors. When I ran across red pirates in a pirate sector and killed then, I kept getting messages to the effect, "The Pirate Nation thanks you for your help in eliminating... (etc)" *boggle*. And I saw several red pirates attacking a Pirate Base!

LOL! Not seen any of that myself, but I'm too weak to play in pirate sectors just yet. I wonder if there are Pirate 'corporations' like for the main races, and that's why they attack one-another sometimes?

Also of note is that even the script commands don't work correctly regarding Pirate Race. I have a script to "change owner" that reads:
$race = $target -> get user input, type: Var/Race, title "select a Race"
$target -> set owner race to $race
When I run this, it pops up the race selection menu, and choosing any other race works fine to change the owner of a ship, but if I choose Pirates, it changes the race to a random race, like Boron, Paranid, etc..

Ah, this is straightforward. When you spawn a Pirate ship it is automatically set with 'pirate cover state' to TRUE. There is a script command under 'Fly commands' to change cover state. I don't think it defaulted to true in X3R like it does in X3TC, but can't quite remember.

When I installed this, it was defaulted to 100% bail rate. So it's possible that happened before you changed it. I had it set at 10% and using "find free ships" was getting practically nothing. Even at 20% I only saw maybe 4 ships in the entire universe in several hours. I now have it at 30%, and after several hours of playing I may have about 8 ships in the entire universe that are empty of pilots.

Ahah! I was hoping someone would actually report what settings they used and what effect it had for them in game, very informative, thanks!

[ThisIsHarsh]

I've had Yaki and Xenon ships be unclaimable if that helps.

Thanks for the feedback. I'll revise my conclusion then to:

Unclaimable problem only applies to defend/patrol mission ships.

The unclaimable abandoned ships still have their name qualified by the race name when Betty speaks it.

Only some of the abandoned mission ships are unclaimable, not all of them.


..............

[Jasper Carrot]

ThisIsHarsh
I have noticed there are ship in the universe which state they do not have a pilot yet they are busy doing what ever they want, flying around/trading etc ... these ships are unclaimable because they are moving.
To back this up if you force a ship to bail and the instant it bails try to claim it (while its still moving) betty rejects the command ... the ship MUST be stationary.

This is probably of no help to you and may just complicate the issue but I dont have any of the problems everyone else has posted ... everything I had found with no pilot and is stationary is claimable.

Just an idea but in X3R a capped ship (with turrets) would not allow you to install new guns at times ... residual script activity on the turrets or something like that.

Do you think it is possible with "some" ships that TC still sees the ship as being owned ... residual owner activity???

[WangzoR]

Ive found its not only mission ships, i had a Mammoth bail from npc fire, it had no pilot however it was still moving and unclaimable, could this be because not all the crew bail? i then manually made the ship bail and then it was fine

[Knight of the Kingdom]

Your link, eit is broken! When I go the site and hit download I get a URL Incorrect Message...and McAfee's yelling at me about Trojans, and I know quite a bit about comps, and trust McAfee, whats up?

[ThisIsHarsh]

I have noticed there are ship in the universe which state they do not have a pilot yet they are busy doing what ever they want, flying around/trading etc ... these ships are unclaimable because they are moving.
To back this up if you force a ship to bail and the instant it bails try to claim it (while its still moving) betty rejects the command ... the ship MUST be stationary.

Hmm, interesting. I can forcibly disable the turrets and stop the ship from ever moving. However, it is a strange behaviour since the script command should be the same as if you made the pilot eject the 'normal' way. When you saw these 'No Pilot' ships, were there fighters/freighters amongst them, or were they all big ships?

This is probably of no help to you and may just complicate the issue but I dont have any of the problems everyone else has posted ... everything I had found with no pilot and is stationary is claimable.

Actually that's quite a great help to me, I thought I was going crazy not being able to experience the problems other people report.

Ive found its not only mission ships, i had a Mammoth bail from npc fire, it had no pilot however it was still moving and unclaimable, could this be because not all the crew bail? i then manually
made the ship bail and then it was fine

Well this is interesting. By 'manually made the ship bail' what do you mean exactly? You mean you fired on it and it bailed? Or you used a script/cheat to force it to bail?

One thing to note maybe, is that for large ships the crew abandoning ship takes a few seconds before the captain finally bails. The bigger the ship the more crew and the longer this takes. Perhaps you didn't give it long enough to complete the bailing process?

[ThisIsHarsh]

Your link, eit is broken! When I go the site and hit download I get a URL Incorrect Message...and McAfee's yelling at me about Trojans, and I know quite a bit about comps, and trust McAfee, whats up?

Hmm, OK, well the link works fine for me and 402 other people so far. HyperFileShare is a trustworthy host. What you describe to me sounds like you have some spyware/virus on your PC... do a full scan asap.

[Jasper Carrot]

I have noticed there are ship in the universe which state they do not have a pilot yet they are busy doing what ever they want, flying around/trading etc ... these ships are unclaimable because they are moving.
To back this up if you force a ship to bail and the instant it bails try to claim it (while its still moving) betty rejects the command ... the ship MUST be stationary.

Hmm, interesting. I can forcibly disable the turrets and stop the ship from ever moving. However, it is a strange behaviour since the script command should be the same as if you made the pilot eject the 'normal' way. When you saw these 'No Pilot' ships, were there fighters/freighters amongst them, or were they all big ships?

I have only come across a couple and they are fighters. One is in um.. Omicron Lyre and its called something like Merc Nova or something like that, in the system map it does not have a race extension E.G. usally (A/B/S/P)M3xxxx its just M3xxxx. It is completely unowned when you view the ship info but its still doing something. I could not tell you if this ship was ever attacked by something as it was already there when I first entered OL. I probably wouldnt worry about those ships since all I was getting at was to let everyone know to wait till the bailed ship comes to a complete stop before trying to claim it.

Just so you know there were unowned ships in X3R as well doing the same thing. These however were claimable moving or not but that is probably something to do with the Salvage Claim Software and not your script.

Oh just to clarify the inability to claim moving ships. Once a moving ship has bailed they do slow down and eventually stop. At this point they are claimable

[Jasper Carrot]

Ive found its not only mission ships, i had a Mammoth bail from npc fire, it had no pilot however it was still moving and unclaimable, could this be because not all the crew bail? i then manually made the ship bail and then it was fine

Does the ship start to slow down after bailing?? Remember it could still be moving due to its forward momentum. Once its completely stopped try claiming it again.

[Khaak_Slayer]

Is it possible that the ships that are un-claimable actually aren't assigned a pilot from the get-go? When they bail, no pilot actually ejects, there's no space-suit. They also don't respond to comms, (probably unrelated).

Anyway, so if they are forced to bail, but no one can actually do so, could that cause the problem?

[Jasper Carrot]

Is it possible that the ships that are un-claimable actually aren't assigned a pilot from the get-go? When they bail, no pilot actually ejects, there's no space-suit. They also don't respond to comms, (probably unrelated).

Anyway, so if they are forced to bail, but no one can actually do so, could that cause the problem?

In X3R there were ships (mainly M5's) which had no owners/pilots but they were claimable provided you could keep up with them and activate Salvage Claim Software before they were out of range.
These ships could be seen not long into a new game so its possible unpiloted ships are present from the get go in TC too.

My understanding is TC is Reunion just made differently. If these unpiloted ships in Reunion didnt cause a problem (and they never did for me) I dont see how spawned ships without a pilot in TC could be a problem but I'm no expert.. just making comparisions.

[Heretic666]

Is it possible that the ships that are un-claimable actually aren't assigned a pilot from the get-go? When they bail, no pilot actually ejects, there's no space-suit. They also don't respond to comms, (probably unrelated).

Anyway, so if they are forced to bail, but no one can actually do so, could that cause the problem?

That's a good point, whenever I get a ship that I can't claim, there is NEVER a space suit from it. It just turns blue and stops (like when you cap a Xenon ship)

[Knight of the Kingdom]

Your link, eit is broken! When I go the site and hit download I get a URL Incorrect Message...and McAfee's yelling at me about Trojans, and I know quite a bit about comps, and trust McAfee, whats up?

Hmm, OK, well the link works fine for me and 402 other people so far. HyperFileShare is a trustworthy host. What you describe to me sounds like you have some spyware/virus on your PC... do a full scan asap.

I scan obsessivley actually, so no, I don't; but seriously, either the page fails to load or HyperFileShare say that the URL is incorrect.

[Khaak_Slayer]

Here you go, i temporarily uploaded it somewhere else for you

http://www.filedropper.com/npcbailingaddon-v14-31102008