If you follow the instructions and download the little upgrade script, all your "Hired Gunnery Crew" wares will be deleted - this ware isn't used any more. You will be credited with the money. You will, unfortunately, have to find enough crew to man your turrets though.
What effect will installing this plugin have on AI ships?
All M1 and M2 ships owned by the Argon, Teladi, Boron, Xenon, and Khaak will be running upgraded turret commands after installing this plugin. This plugin will make them harder to defeat.
The Argon, Boron, and Teladi ships run the upgraded commands due to the story of how they were developed. The Split and Paranid, being gnerally antagonistic towards the Argon, do not get the upgrades. The Xenon and Khaak get the upgraded commands as an out-of-character update, simply to make them more of a challenge.
What about M6 corvettes?
You the player can use the gunnery crews commands, or even buy an AEGIS upgrade for corvettes (though, at six times the price of a corvette, you probably won't consider it cost effective to buy an AEGIS Weapon System for one).
None of the AI M6 class corvettes run the new turret commands because of this plugin. They use the standard, stock "Turret: Attack Enemies" command.
Will this plugin change out-of-sector combat?
No. The game engine suspends all turret tasks when a ship is out-of-sector.
Is the AEGIS upgrade required in order to use gunnery crews?
No. The "Gunnery Crews: Action Stations" command, which is the main gunnery crews command, is available without buying any upgrade. All that is needed are enough crew.
The AEGIS upgrade will make the "Action Stations" command more efficient at shooting down fighters, but will have little effect when in combat against a capital ship.
Isn't the AEGIS Weapon System upgrade a little expensive?
As mentioned above, it's not required in order to use gunnery crew. It's an optional component. It makes your ship better able to engage large numbers of fighters and shoot down incoming missiles (see the next question & answer). It will make a Titan about twice as effective against fighters. How much would another Titan cost? The real benefit of the AEGIS system is to concentrate combat power. Two ships are always more difficult to coordinate than one.
The AEGIS system also makes available the command "Gunnery Crews: Maximize Captures". Capture a single Xenon K, certainly no more than two, and it will have paid for itself.
In summary, yes, it's very expensive. But at some point, you have to ask yourself... what else do I have to spend my money on?
What exactly does AEGIS give me?
- Without AEGIS, gunnery crews pick the player ship's target, and the turret can't shoot that, then pick whatever target comes up. With AEGIS, a turret prioritizes all the targets it could possibly shoot at and picks the one that is the highest threat.
- Without AEGIS a turret will shoot down incoming missiles whenever it is not engaging a ship. That is, whenever it looks for a new target, it will first shoot down any missiles it sees. With AEGIS, a turret gets the ability to interrupt an engagement against a ship whenever it sees a dangerous missile (dangerous is defined as any missile powerful enough to reduce the ship's current shield levels by 5% or more), shoot it down, then resume engaging the ship immediately.
- Without AEGIS, turrets essentially work independantly of each other. They will all first try to attack the ship's overall target, but after that, they work alone. With AEGIS, the turrets will coordinate with each other. Two turrets will avoid engaging the same M4/M5 target, but will work together to attack the same M3/M2/M1. Thus, fire is concentrated when attacking difficult targets, and spread out when attacking easy ones.
- Without AEGIS, turrets track (turn) at the speed of whatever weapon is mounted in them. With AEGIS, the lightest weapon that a turret can mount is switched to when the turret is tracking, thus cutting down tracking time by up to 1000%.
There will be passenger transports flying through Argon space carrying Military Personnel. Follow them. Once they land, some of their passengers will be available as the "Military Personnel" ware on the station. You can then buy (hire) them.
Is there any easier way to find the military transports?
If you have your own Equipment Dock, you can access a report through the dock's command console that will give you the location of all military transports currently operating.
Why does it cost so much to operate a ship with gunnery crew?
The Gunnery Crews commands are completely useless for out-of-sector combat. They give you in-sector benefits only. As such, you don't need to use the Gunnery Crews commands on patrol ships. Just ships you will be taking with you into battle.
The maximum cost to operate a ship is 270,000 credits per hour (half that if you don't have an AEGIS upgrade). This is approximately the profit from two or three solar power plants if you operate your ship at "Action Stations" continuously.
Modern warships don't go around continuously at action stations. Besides crew fatigue, one reason is the cost. If cost is a factor, then only run the Gunnery Crews commands when you are going to go into a serious battle. Get involved in the moment. Preparing for combat, you give the order to go to action stations. Makes things sort of cool, if you ask me.
Why do all the Boron, Teladi, and Argon ships have gunnery crew too?
They are generally friendly with the Argon, who (according to the fiction surrounding this upgrade) invented the Gunnery Crew training.
In balance terms, the AI ships were always way too weak. This helps give them more challenge.
What about the Khaak? Aren't they way to powerful now?
That's a matter of opinion. I can still take out a Khaak Destrroyer one on one with a Gunnery Crew equipped Titan. Without the gunnery crew script installed, I could hardly ever take out a Khaak Destroyer with a Titan. So, this plugin does make the Khaak harder, but things are still much the same as the were before. A Titan without Gunnery Crews can't take out a Khaak Destroyer without gunnery crews. A Titan with Gunnery Crews can take out a Khaak Destroyer with gunnery crews.
Yes, but what about attacking a Khaak Destroyer with multiple friendly destroyers. Say, with five Teladi Phoenix. Before this upgrade I could take out a Khaak Destroyer that way without losing any ships. Now I lose two or more.
First of all, this is arguably not a bad thing. Once you get to the point where you are pushing Khaak Destroyers around with impunity, what else is there left to do in the game? This plugin makes Khaak Destoryers harder, absolutely. The question remains, is this a bad thing?
That being said, with some setup, you can take out a Khaak Destroyer without losses. If you approach a Khaak Destroyer with any number of destroyers from the rear, and you are going to lose some. Doesn't matter if your destroyers have Gunnery Crews, doesn't matter if they have the corbomite device. Some are dead. Especially if they are slow behemoths like the Teladi Phoenix.
First you must get the Destroyer's attention, or maneuver so that you are in its flight path. Spread out your fleet a little. You want one ship in front, and one each to either side, above, and below. You want to converge your fleet on the enemy at approximately the same time - timing is important. If you have your approach angles set up right, you'll split the enemy's fire across multiple ships. If you are approaching generally from the target's front, you will also close to effective weapons range very quickly. This will allow your ships' Gamma HEPTs to get into range and take out the target faster.
I have used this approach successfully. It works. There are probably other tactics and strategies that work too.
The point is, this plugin changes the dynamics. Simply ordering a bunch of ships to go attack a Khaak Destroyert isn't good enough any more. You have to fight smart. The tactics you need to use must change as the dynamics change.
Can I read the documentation for the plugin without installing it first?
Sure.
Why are the colours in this FAQ so bright?
Two answers:
- So it's easy to tell the difference between a question and an answer.
- To bug ticaki