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

[ThisIsHarsh]

@KloHunt3r: Thanks for the info - a slightly bigger issue than I first thought, then. Could it be as reported on the Salvage commands & NPCs thread, that the ship they are trying to claim isn't actually abandoned, so they move to claim it but veer away when they fail?

@Graxter: Let me know the results of any experiences modifying the sciripts. If they look promising then at the very least I can add an option to include your ideas. Gotta love the config menu.

[SIKY]

hi !!

i am back with my problem of claimed a ship and a M7 patrol turn red...

i have controlled the friend/foe of my ship and of the claimed ship, nothing was bad, the two ship was in friendly setting with Argon race.

i had this problem another time

like the fist time it was when i claim a TS, and like the first time the ship who came ennemy was a M7, but in Boron' sector.... strange !
only one TS give me that, the 3 other i have claimed + some fighters don't give me any problem
i cain't explain that... oh, it was with v1.4, i have install v1.5 this evening
perhaps it will be good now.....

[kipstafoo]

Yeah, I'm seeing the 'unclaimable ship' issue as well. As a test, I cranked up the bail % to 100 for small and large ships. I did an easy station defense mission in which a 1/2 dozen pirate fighters came in, with a centaur and osprey. The centaur and osprey bailed as did 2 fighters, but nothing was claimable. I knocked down the shields in the osprey and sent in marines and was able to cap it (loosing 3 of 5 marines) but I was hoping when they bailed I'd actually get them.

And yes, 100% is lame but it was a test to confirm what I had seen before

[ThisIsHarsh]

@SIKY: Any chance of a savegame just before you claim the ship that turns the patrol ship red?

@kipstafoo: Similarly, any chance of a savegame when you experience this issue? Also, if you use Salvage Claim Software you will be able to cap bailed big ships without using marines.

[KRM398]

I'm sure you heard this from nuts who tryed to load this in a hurry before, but here it comes..I got all the scripts loaded through Cycrows installer, went in and turned the CCM on in scripts on my ship..set the hotkey, but now when I hit it, nothing. No configurations or any lists, went back to desktop and checked, all scripts have been installed and are working, but no configuration on the hotkey. Ok, I give what did I do wrong?lol

[kipstafoo]

@ThisIsHarsh: I'll try this. Right now I borked up my system trying to get the Salvage Claim Software running. It dies at like 97% installation, which doesn't appear to be an uncommon issue based on the SCS thread.

[ThisIsHarsh]

I'm sure you heard this from nuts who tryed to load this in a hurry before, but here it comes..I got all the scripts loaded through Cycrows installer, went in and turned the CCM on in scripts on my ship..set the hotkey, but now when I hit it, nothing. No configurations or any lists, went back to desktop and checked, all scripts have been installed and are working, but no configuration on the hotkey. Ok, I give what did I do wrong?lol

You are probably better asking about this in the Community Configuration Menu thread. I'm not sure what you mean by "went in and turned the CCM on in scripts on my ship". You should only need to go into the controls->interface game menu to set the hotkey.

[ThisIsHarsh]

@ThisIsHarsh: I'll try this. Right now I borked up my system trying to get the Salvage Claim Software running. It dies at like 97% installation, which doesn't appear to be an uncommon issue based on the SCS thread.

Yeah I had this problem once or twice during my many attempts to get Salvage Claim Software working. I thought the new Plugin Manager sorted this problem out, though. My only advice is to completely uninstall then reinstall from scratch everything to do with SCS in the correct order. And of course to ask around in the Salvage Claim Software thread.

[kipstafoo]

Ok, did the save/load thing. No problems. When the game reloaded the bailed ships were in their same state as before.

[SIKY]

@SIKY: Any chance of a savegame just before you claim the ship that turns the patrol ship red

i will try this, thanks ThisIsHarsh

[KRM398]

Well, many people are having trouble getting SCS to run, but thats not your problem here. I got this in and I assume its running ok..havnt capped anything with it yet, but will be trying more now that I know bigger ships are possible. Heres a suggestion..you have added many variables except one...the off chance that rather than surrender, the pilot will attempt to flee..it shoud be a slim chance probably equal to capture, but still allowing the majority of the time under all cercumstances, for them to fight to the death. An example might be: 80% chance to die,10 % chance to surrender, and a 10 % chance they run, or jump away. It would add a bit more realism, but even at the last moment, when they try to escape, a properly added hit would force them into surrender, their last hope..just a thought, like I said not meant to be a sure fire escape, more like a desperate last chance before surrender, and rare.

[Graxster]

An interesting side note on Big/Huge ship bailing being turned on: I found an Orbital Weapons Platform with no pilot.

-G

[KRM398]

Now THAT is ineresting...I found a Disco floating after a herd of Yakis came running through a sector..not as nice, but how are you going to fly that now that you have it?? lol..I didnt know a defence platform had any pilot to begin with, might just be a bug..

[ThisIsHarsh]

An interesting side note on Big/Huge ship bailing being turned on: I found an Orbital Weapons Platform with no pilot.

I did notice this when testing the NPC salvagers. Not sure what I decided in the end. Either I decided that OWPs have crew, therefore bail like any ship, or not, therefore this is a bug. Certainly I remember making sure the NPC salvagers don't try to salvage OWPs, as that really doesn't make much sense.

Should I disable for OWPs do you think? I've not tried, but isn't there a way to move them if you cap them? Tractor beam? or maybe a TL can pick them up like in XTM?

[ThisIsHarsh]

@KRM398: Making ships flee is a very good idea and I would like to see that in the game. But IMO it would be part of a more generalised "AI upgrade pack" to include e.g. patrols and pirates only taking on groups of enemies they think they could beat (makes no sense a single M5 trying to attack a squadron of M3s). There are many instances where fight-or-flight behaviour should be implemented, besides just when bailing.

[KRM398]

I've actually seen this in game..even X-R..fight a patrol of pirates and sometimes a lone Harrier is left after the bigger fighter are gone, and it will run away. Saw it on a few ocasions where the smaller craft was the last one and ran through a gate to escape.

[Kragma]

Firstly thanks for all your hard work - a great script that imo adds a more viable combat element to the economy.

One thing I have noticed about bail rates is that with this script enabled I am capping ships very easily now - to the extent that I think it may be a little game-breaking.

Personal ship is currently a M3 susanowa raider with x8 PAC's and NPC bail settings are default 60% for small ships, big ships cappable is on but I am testing on 40% and 20% bail rates and huge ships are off.

Reasoning is that Huge ships would rather self destruct / go down fighting than let their technology fall into enemy hands, which forces the player to go through boarding actions to take them down - this helps keep an element of end-game to the combat side.

I found that at the default setting for the big ships (60%), I was capping M6's pretty much every time and started to feel like I was cheating - so going to see what happens at the lower settings to make sure I keep good longevity.

Does anybody have an idea what the vanilla bail rate is for big ships? I still want to be able to cap them but want the difficulty to be at the right level.

[KRM398]

In vanilla, big and medium ships can NOT be capped by combat. Only boarding partys can get them. I set the big and huge ships to 50%..that does NOT mean they cap 50% of the time..the odds are like 6% chance, so even an M1 can have a captain on board that might decide to live other than die fighting, its just rare. I sugfgest setting everything to 50% and play a little while, if it seems too easy, you can reset in gmae in a second, just get it to where you like it.

[Graxster]

Ok, here's the skinny on Orbital Weapons Platforms:

• They are classed as ships, but have a top speed of zero.
• You can tow them with tractor beams.
• You can not tow them through jump gates.
• You can transfer a jumpdrive, energy cells, and Navigation Command Software MK1 to them and order them to jump to a sector.
• You then have to use a tractor beam to move them around the target sector.

I wouldn't write specific code to exclude OWP's from bailing. It's kinda cool, and they'll make decent guardians to set up next to a player factory/complex.

-Grax

[corhen]

so, we now have a way to get a decent defense from these.

wonder, if they don't bail on the first assault, you can attack again for a different result?

also, does anyone know if you can capture by Boarding?