Abandoned Ship Spawner for AP (ASS-AP) v88 [AP][ALP]

[viking42]

Hi,

I found a nice big white ship, reported as abandonned by my drones. (mining base mobile)
But, it travels around at 13 to 54mps, how am i suppose to claim it? boarding (without pads) was also impossible due to the speed.
Any idea?

[DrBullwinkle]

I found a nice big white ship, reported as abandonned by my drones. (mining base mobile)
But, it travels around at 13 to 54mps, how am i suppose to claim it? boarding (without pads) was also impossible due to the speed.
Any idea?

What drones reported that the ship is abandoned? That is neither vanilla behavior nor one of my scripts.

Ships spawned by Abandoned Ship Spawner will have "(A.S.S.)" in their name.

There may be a few ships in the universe which appear to have no pilot but which have some orders (so that they travel somewhere). In at least some cases, these ships may be invulnerable and cannot be boarded. I have seen other threads suggest that these ships may be related to some mission and were not cleaned up at the end of the mission. I have two Mammoths in Savage Spur like that.

Since there is nothing that can be done with the ships, the best advice is to ignore them.

[Playbahnosh]

I think normally it is M6 or M7 and larger (?) that require some sort of claiming software

No special software necessary; TM, M6 and above are claimed by boarding them (with marines). TP, TS, and fighters can be claimed by spacewalk.

Only Kha'ak capital ships cannot be boarded by any vanilla technique (Salvage Claim Software can claim them).

Um, is this a deliberate change from vanilla? Last week I found an abandoned Corvette floating in my then "soon to be" home sector. I just floated up to it in EVA and claimed it like any other ships. It's M6 AND Khaak. I have no scripts or mods that influence derelicts, so it must be the vanilla way...

[DrBullwinkle]

is this a deliberate change from vanilla?

No change. My point was that Abandoned Ship Spawner makes no change to vanilla capture behavior.

I believe that the Kha'ak capital ships ships which require a script to capture are M7 and above, although I have not exhaustively tested.

[viking42]

Hi, its an ASS mobile mining base ship, in twisted skies.,
It travels at betwenn 14 and 54 mps

How am i suppose to capture?

[DrBullwinkle]

its an ASS mobile mining base ship, in twisted skies.,
It travels at between 14 and 54 mps

It says "(A.S.S.)" in the name of the ship? And it is moving?!

Does the ship have a pilot?

Which version of the game are you using?

This seems unusual.

How am i suppose to capture it with only my M6 and 5 mercenaries?

Assuming that the ship is not bugged in any other way, then you should be able to capture the ship with the same techniques that you would use to capture any other ship. With an M6, you are limited to spacewalk boarding (which is always challenging -- and fun!).

One trick that I have used successfully for boarding slow-moving TL's is to find a "weak spot" in the ship's defenses. By that I mean a place where you can fly your M6 without taking heavy fire. For a Mobile Mining Base, I would try directly underneath the ship, and close to its hull. Lower the TL's shields (under 3% should work for all ship types, although 1% is better). Wait until the ship is moving slowly, then launch your marines.

However, Terran ships are very difficult to board, especially via spacewalk. They have very thick hulls. You would need marines highly trained in Mechanical Skill... and even that may not be enough. Some Terran ships can only be boarded via pods (which help to penetrate the hull).

Then, after your marines get inside the TL, 5 marines may not be sufficient to capture a Terran ship because they have strong internal defenses. It would be easier to capture with 20 marines launched from a TP.

Also, spacewalk boarding is difficult under the best of circumstances. I use Improved Boarding for its hotkeys which simplify launching marines. Improved Boarding also gives your marines a small boost in speed, which can help them to catch a moving ship.

See my Marine Tips post for more boarding information.

Finally, if you want a shortcut that also fixes any potential bug in the ship, you could use Super Script Killer Hotkey (SSK) (for captured/boarded ships) on it. Note that SSK is intended to be used on ships AFTER you capture them. However, if you use SSK on a ship that does not have a pilot, then it will also capture the ship at the same time. This usage of SSK is an exploit, so do not over-use it. However, your report is about an unusual case that should not happen (moving A.S.S. ship).

Please let me know your results. I am curious about this ship!
.

[viking42]

Hi,

yes, a huge minig base ship. with A.S.S at the end of the name, no pilot at all, it moves constantly

i'm playing the latest AP, updated by steam

as for boarding, as the ship movers faster than spacewalk, it makes things difficult

[DrBullwinkle]

yes, a huge minig base ship. with A.S.S at the end of the name, no pilot at all, it moves constantly. i'm playing the latest AP, updated by steam

OK, that is unusual. Thank you for your report, and please let me know if you find any other moving A.S.S. ships.

as for boarding, as the ship movers faster than spacewalk, it makes things difficult

Yes, boarding is intentionally challenging. For me, it is the most fun that I have had in any space sim (which is saying a lot).


Your choices are:

• - Improve your boarding skills (Marine Tips).
  
  - Use Improved Boarding to make boarding easier. If you hate space-walking, then consider using the Boarding Transporter (which is much more reliable than space-walking).
  
  - Cheat (by mis-using SSK, or by using Salvage Claim Software or the Cheat Package).
  
  - Ignore the Mobile Mining Base until you have better boarding capabilities, then return later to board it. If you had an M7M and 30 marines, then boarding a Mobile Mining Base would be easy.

[Ashnag]

Hi

I'm using your mod, and i have to say it works well.
I wander if Xenon I can be spawned or not ?
Just asking because i got 2 K and no other xenon ship.

[DrBullwinkle]

I'm using your mod, and i have to say it works well.
I wander if Xenon I can be spawned or not ?

Thanks for the report, Ashnag!

Feature Number 1: "Added new AP Ships. All ship types can be created. Random types; random locations.

In other words, "yes".

The probability of any one ship being spawned is about once per month of 24x7 play. So it would be quicker to train up some marines and capture an I.

But A.S.S. will probably spawn one if you play long enough.

[viking42]

New sector, new ship,

I found a TL wooden ASS, as i was not able to claim it over spacewalk (option didnt appear when in combination)
I started to lower the shields to prepared a boarding.
But the ship went red and started to flee at 34mps


I ahcieved to capture a M8 ASS per simple claim earlier

[DrBullwinkle]

I started to lower the shields to prepared a boarding.
But the ship went red and started to flee at 34mps

That sounds like normal behavior, viking. I would not expect the ship to go far (unless you chase it).

That Woden (ATF M1) is one of the finest ships in the game... much much better than a Valhalla, in my experience. But it is also very difficult to board; second only to Xenon ships. It is definitely worthwhile to improve your boarding capability for that ship!

(It is also challenging to collect all of the weapons required for the Woden, as is true for all Terran and ATF capital ships. It is not impossible; it just requires some "Think" work.) (The scarcity of Terran weapons is certainly not "bugged" as erroneously claimed in many posts throughout the forum. In fact, it's fun to figure out ways to get the weapons you need for Terran ships!)

[viking42]

Hi,

I am getting better in caping ship, even if not yet successfull, but with the lack of AP plots it keeps me very busy

I can confirm that ALL the A.S.S capitals get red and start moving as soon as i try to lower their schields.
[/u]

[DrBullwinkle]

I am getting better in capping ships, even if not yet successful, but with the lack of AP plots it keeps me very busy

Good.

I recently posted a hacked version of Cycrow's excellent Improved Boarding (Bullwinkle's Hacked Version). Among other things, it makes spacewalking a little bit easier.

BTW, you can add plots to AP: Terran Conflict plots for Albion Prelude.

I can confirm that ALL the A.S.S capitals get red and start moving as soon as i try to lower their shields.

Yes, it is normal for a ship to move away when you shoot it.

It would be unusual for a ship without a pilot to be moving before you shoot it.

[Klord]

I got to try this man..."Super tuned abandoned ships" . Damn I didnt noticed this before !

[Nacroma]

Maybe some feedback on this one. After some time I found and captured a lot of ships spawned by A.S.S. I do not know if there is a probability routine which is controlling this, but I seem to get a lot of TP and TS ships out of it, some even two times. Some few M6, M7, TL, M2 and M1 were also encountered, as well as a few M3 and a M8 just starting some few days ago. However, I did not encounter any M4 or M5 yet.

While I am totally aware of the fact that it is probably totally random, I wonder about this occurence. This gave me also an idea for future versions: You could add an option, whether it be in the t file or in an in game menu, for selecting certain ship types to not spawn at all. Starting a new game, one could erase all capital ships from the script for a certain amount of time to just find "useful" ship types. Or some kind of "probability menu", so one could adjust the M5 spawn probablity to e.g. 50% and M1 to 1%. Another idea would be a scaling spawning probability - ship types will only spawn if there are ships of the same category already in the properties of the player.

Finally, you know it already, but: Great and fun plugin, thanks a lot.

[DrBullwinkle]

Great and fun plugin, thanks a lot.

Nice ideas, and thanks for the feedback, Nacroma.

As you have observed, some ship types are far more common than others. The probability of a TS is 30x that of an M0. TP's are 10x more common. Transports are great for making UT's, but more variety could be fun.

Interestingly, M4's and M5's are as rare as M0's. And, yes, that seems a bit odd to me, too.

I can make the probabilities adjustable in the t file, and I like your idea of dynamic probabilities even more. The former is fairly easy to do; the latter will require some thought about the exact method of weighting classes.

Should there be a small chance of a player finding a better ship than they already have (and greater chance of finding a class that they already possess)? Or should there be no chance at all of finding a larger class than already owned?

Great ideas! I will see what I can do with them.
.

[Nacroma]

Nice ideas, and thanks for the feedback, Nacroma.

As you have observed, some ship types are far more common than others. The probability of a TS is 30x that of an M0. TP's are 10x more common. Transports are great for making UT's, but more variety could be fun.

Interestingly, M4's and M5's are as rare as M0's. And, yes, that seems a bit odd to me, too.

Well, after (or even WHILE) writing this, I already thought: Hey, there are probably more different TS ships in the game than - let's say - TM's (never seen them, too), so that's maybe the miracle's solution - except for the lack of small ships.

I can make the probabilities adjustable in the t file, and I like your idea of dynamic probabilities even more. The former is fairly easy to do; the latter will require some thought about the exact method of weighting classes.

Should there be a small chance of a player finding a better ship than they already have (and greater chance of finding a class that they already possess)? Or should there be no chance at all of finding a larger class than already owned?

Great ideas! I will see what I can do with them.

I guess, a very small chance for a ship one class above the player's best one is a nice idea. It's like getting rare items in Action-RPGs. Thinking of rare, maybe you could even divide the ships in purchasable and non-purchasable ships. Though I don't know how to actually treat this difference in the end. My first priority in using this plugin at the beginning was the chance for really rare ships not sold by anyone or even USED - my primary TL - a mobile Pirate Base Freighter - comes to mind.

There are really ships I'm hoping for every time like the Heavy Centaur Prototype or the Hyperion.

Oh, another idea, derived from your Detector plugin: Is it possible für A.S.S. to spawn tuning crates? I kinda used all of the existent ones for my Astraios, now 205 m/s. If I want to change ships at some point, it would be a bother to never get those tuning crates back. Unfortunately, I was unable to find super tuned ships yet - or at least, not significantly overtuned. Then again, this plugin is for ships, so this idea does not fit here anyway.

[DrBullwinkle]

divide the ships in purchasable and non-purchasable ships. ...

chance for really rare ships not sold by anyone or even USED ... a mobile Pirate Base Freighter comes to mind.

ships I'm hoping for every time like the Heavy Centaur Prototype or the Hyperion.

Is it possible für A.S.S. to spawn tuning crates?

Wow, more great ideas; thanks.

I have actually doubled the probability of some very rare ships (including the Mobile Pirate Base and some M0's). But I could do more with this idea.

Tuning crates are another excellent idea. I am currently using Pandora Tunings and Lucike's Apollo in addition to AP's vanilla tuning crates. The result is not at all over-powered, in my experience. I could easily do something similar without requiring those other scripts.

As you say, the super-tuned ships are not highly super-tuned. I had a hard time figuring out the right balance there, but spawning tuning crates is perhaps a better solution.

You have given me a lot of work to do... but I like it.

[Nicoman35]

Doc, may I suggest making this TC compatible (if it is not too time consuming and you're in a mood for it)?