[Script] TerraCorps Fleet Package

[Draakon]

This is XTM compatible, right?

[JackSlaughter]

Yes it's XTM compatible... to an extent.

Hey whats the deal with hating on the Trouble Maker, wasn't the original thing about the Trouble Maker that they gave you info on pirates, and once in awhile gave you information on sectors you didn't have.

Or, was that a different trait... like Pirate Connections or something.

[Erilaz]

4 pages later.... Wow It's been busy in here.

@Eledan

Code: Select all

$ship->set formation [Formation.XDelta]

IIRC it's under fly commands.


@All
TCFP-FCSMK3 is updated for TCFP v1.53b
Link is on the 1st page.
Thanks for all the work guys.

Back to the packing and prep for moving house... What is it with this time of year? Hmmm, cpilot report, tempting, temping.

[jumbled]

This is XTM compatible, right?

It is compatible with XTM insofar as to say the pilots can use XTM ships (all the ships still follow the usual M5/M4/M3...etc. specs), which is really the only issue I can see that would affect the scripts here. There are no conflicts with commands, that I can tell.

I use XTM and haven't had any related problems come up while running either an FBC or a TF. Some of my pilots use Terran and Otas fighters and a few use Otas and XTM Boron and Paranid M6's, among others!

Something we have done to help support XTM a little further (mostly eye candy) is when naming ships with pilots inside to show ship ID codes relating to the type of ship, both for vanilla and XTM types. The purpose of this is really just to tell at a glance what type of ship it is (in case you have so many, you forget who's flying what).

Hey whats the deal with hating on the Trouble Maker, wasn't the original thing about the Trouble Maker that they gave you info on pirates, and once in awhile gave you information on sectors you didn't have.

Or, was that a different trait... like Pirate Connections or something.

I believe you're thinking of "Well Connected" and finding new sectors. I only had this happen to me one time in the life of my game, long time ago now, but it was kinda nice to have. Not sure on the pirate info, but when looking at the current traitrun file, I don't see anything of that sort in there.

Trouble makers, previously, simply didn't rank up very high (maxxing out at around Ensign), and that was about all they did, as far as I know. Now they bring bad luck with them wherever they go. Look out!

[eladan]

@Erilaz - thanks.

Something we have done to help support XTM a little further (mostly eye candy) is when naming ships with pilots inside to show ship ID codes relating to the type of ship, both for vanilla and XTM types. The purpose of this is really just to tell at a glance what type of ship it is (in case you have so many, you forget who's flying what).

Which jumbled noted I'd managed to break in 1.53 (yep, another one.) I'll hopefully put out a fix (1.53c... ) this weekend.

I believe you're thinking of "Well Connected" and finding new sectors. I only had this happen to me one time in the life of my game, long time ago now, but it was kinda nice to have. Not sure on the pirate info, but when looking at the current traitrun file, I don't see anything of that sort in there.

Yup. Was never anything giving you info on pirates.

Again, traitrun was always an original part of the script. I don't know how or when I left it out... so this version is simply putting back what used to be there.

[jumbled]

I have a nagging question on my mind that's been stewing away for a while now...

As I'm going through scripts of one kind or another, I see commands being used which often look like this:

Code: Select all

 @ = [THIS] -> call script '!ship.cmd.movestation.std' :  object to land on=$station

But then I see in the menus another command that looks like this:

Code: Select all

 @ = [THIS] -> fly to station $station

I don't see where there can be any functional difference between the two, or am I missing something? Why, then, use the "call script" command and have to search through a long list of stuff when you can so simply use the "fly to station" (or "fly to homebase", or "fly to sector") command and accomplish the same thing, but with less hair-pulling on these menus and file lists?

Did the "fly to..." commands come with a later script editor version (and I missed the earlier version without those cmds), or is someone just "stuck" on a certain kind of cmd?

[eladan]

Using the movestation command does a few things. First, and most visibly, it gives the ship a destination and command, so that if you view it in, say, your property menu, you can see what it's doing. Also means that if you want to check for whether the ship is busy, it's easy, with the command set. It also implements a script solution to fly to the target sector. While I don't think the vanilla scripts would choose a different way than the internal algorithms, the possibility is there for it to use, say, the astar pathfinding algorithm to avoid dangerous sectors enroute.

[dminor]

I give cpilots a brutal make or break training. So It took me a bit to figure this one out. Split Fire has eaten a bout double the M5's Farham's Legend has. Is there some way to tell my pilots that flying into a planet's atmosphere is just down right suicidal?

[eladan]

Nope, 'fraid not. It's only an issue if you're in that sector though - Do you visit a lot?

[dminor]

Just to find out whats killing them. If it only happens IS, I can deal with that. Thanks for the info

[jumbled]

Using the movestation command does a few things. First, and most visibly, it gives the ship a destination and command, so that if you view it in, say, your property menu, you can see what it's doing. Also means that if you want to check for whether the ship is busy, it's easy, with the command set. It also implements a script solution to fly to the target sector. While I don't think the vanilla scripts would choose a different way than the internal algorithms, the possibility is there for it to use, say, the astar pathfinding algorithm to avoid dangerous sectors enroute.

Hmm, it's strange that they didn't make the "fly to..." stuff show up a command setting in the window. Seems like someone forgot something. IMO, it should do it, since it's supposed to be a handy way to tell a ship "go here", rather than picking out of a list of odd script files to tell a ship to move. Oh well...

I especially like the "START $ship -> command" statement. Nothing says "user friendly" like the task of choosing cryptic mnemonics with an unknown number of ambiguous parameters.

[draffutt]

I attempt to start the fighter base commander and I received this in my personnal log entry ARRAY(TD-SPP, Unknown sector TF(Unknown Sector))

[oskari]

I attempt to start the fighter base commander and I received this in my personnal log entry ARRAY(TD-SPP, Unknown sector TF(Unknown Sector))

Same here.

[Dom Devore]

Just wanted to provide some feedback to you guys in relation to this specific thread.

As a person who had never heard about this script, it took some creative Google searches and browsing through the majority of this 100+ page thread to find out what this script even does. New players taking a look at this thread will have no idea what the script even does without a lot of effort to find out. A simple paragraph on the first page would help them (us) to know if it's something they would like.

[russbo]

Understand Dom, but the guys that are currently working this script actually had nothing to do with the original one. A gentleman by the name of Myros (I assume it's a guy) and a "dgwh" two years ago wrote a script to create combat pilots that gained experience with time. He then added a task force script to put these pilots into functioning task forces. The readme for the original scripts were based on Myros' personal website, neural something or other. Those readme pages are gone. Here's the links to some of those original scripts:

http://forum.egosoft.com/viewtopic.php? ... ht=cpilots
http://forum.egosoft.com/viewtopic.php? ... ht=cpilots

Jennsemen then came along and refined the scripts, adding some key features to them. We used Jennsemans refined scripts for awhile; the scripts functioned fairly well, with some issue with the fighter base commander.

Siath then came along and made some changes. Then, Eladan, and now, quite a few people are adding stuff to this. So, this thread is not the original; we're about four or five threads down the line from the original, which had the script's "story".

To think I was using Myro's version since the beginning... Damn, I"m showing my age.

Wish I had kept a copy of the original web site. Here's some information that I kept that you might find useful.

Rg. english german Pt. max. Ship
1 Cadet Kadett M5
2 Rookie Rekrut 30 M5-M4
3 Ensign Bootsmann 60 M5-M3+
4 Lieutenant Leutnant 100 M5-M3+
5 Lt Commander Kap. Leutnant 160 M5-M3+
6 Commander Kommandant 220 M5-M3+
7 Captain Korvettenkapit\'e4n 300 M5-M3+,M6,TL
8 Commodore Fregattenkapit\'e4n 500 M6,TL,M7
9 Rear Admiral Konteradmiral 800 M6,TL,M7,M2,M1
10 Vice Admiral Vizeadmiral 1200 M6,TL,M7,M2,M1
11 Admiral Admiral 1800 M6,TL,M7,M2,M1




Terracorps Fleet Package
------------------------

Original scripts by Myros, dwgh
Changes and additions by jensemann, siath70, eladan

version 1.49 (changes since 1.02b by eladan)
-------------------------------------------------

It should play happily with pilots from previous versions, in that it will upgrade them for this version. The reverse is NOT true - pilots from this version will behave very strangely if you use them with a previous version. You have been warned.

This readme is a work in progress. I've created it very quickly to try to document some of the changes I've made in this version as well as to give an introduction to the TFP. I expect to expand on it...

------------------

The Terracorps Fleet Package (TFP) is a collection of what was originally three separate script packages - Terracorp Combat Pilots (TCCP), Terracorp Combat Pilots Fleet Commands Addon (TCCPTF) (both by Myros,) and Fighter Base Commander (FBC) (by dwgh.) TFP attempts to consolidate the packages to allow them to work together in a more seamless manner. It is very much a work in progress, but is hopefully stable on releases.

Basically, the core of the package is the Terracorp Combat Pilots scripts. These scripts allow you to hire combat pilots for your M5 fighter craft, by selecting the command 'Hire Combat Pilot' from the special command menu on any M5 ship while it is docked (at a station OR a carrier. You must have Special Command Software Mk 1 and Fight Command Software Mk2 installed on the ship for the command to become available.) You will be charged a fee of 100,000 credits to integrate the pilot in the M5. The cost for integrating a pilot includes increasing speed, rudder and cargo on the M5 to their maximum values, so don't waste money doing this before hiring a pilot. New pilots (Cadets) may only fly M5 class ships, and will be unable to be transferred to any other class of ship. As pilots gain experience (by going on tours of duty/patrols and killing enemies) they will gain in rank, and be able to fly higher classes of ship, as well as improving their ship control. The rank a pilot may attain is limited by their personality. Average pilots, who will make up the bulk of your force, will at best reach captain rank. You will need to have pilots with certain special 'traits' in order to have higher ranking officers. The type of trait will likely give some indication of how high a rank they might achieve. *HINT* take care of your 'born leaders'...

When you have hired three combat pilots, you may start a tour of duty. To start a tour of duty, you select the command from the combat command menu on a combat pilots ship 'Combat Tour of Duty'. You must then select three combat pilots ships and the sector in which to conduct the tour. Combat tours last for two hours (ingame) during which the ships will patrol the sector and attack any enemies detected. At the end of the tour, the pilots will be given experience, and the leader of the patrol will gain some leadership. After several tours have been completed, your pilots may gain in rank. when this happens, you will notice that they will gain a small increase in speed and rudder on the ship they are flying. You also are now able to move your pilots to M4s if you so wish (but not M3s...yet.) You move pilots to a new ship by choosing the command 'Move Combat Pilot to New Ship' from the special command menu on the cpilots ship, which needs three inputs - the cpilots ship being moved from, the destination ship (must be empty of cpilots!) and a station for them to dock at for the exchange to take place. Moving a pilot to a new ship will cost 50,000 credits.

There is a command available 'Generate a Combat Report for this pilot' in the additional commands menu which will allow you to obtain a logbook entry which gives details of the pilots vital statistics such as experience and leadership.

The required ranks in order to move your pilot to higher ship classes are as follows:-

Cadet M5 only
Rookie M4
Ensign M3
Captain M6, TL (also need 25 leadership)
Commodore M7 (also need 35 leadership)
Rear Admiral M2, M1 (also need 50 leadership for M2, 75 leadership for M1)

Pilots up to Captain are freely able to transfer to any ship they are eligible for or lower (i.e. Captains may fly M5s M4s M3s M6s or TLs.) Once a pilot attains the rank of Commodore, they will only be allowed to fly capital class ships (M6 TL M7 M2 M1.)

Once a pilot reaches the rank of Commander, they won't be able to lead a patrol in friendly territory any more. You must start a patrol in enemy territory in order for them to gain experience.

If you would prefer not to micromanage your pilots, and you happen to own a station, you can start a Fighter Base Commander (FBC) on the station to handle the day to day tasks of training your pilots. On the station, in the command console, choose 'Hire Commander'. You need to select a shipyard for the FBC to use, enter a minimum amount of credits to leave in the station for its own operation (the FBC will use the stations credits until this amount is left,) and the name of the fighter base. Ensure that there are plenty of credits in the station - the FBC will use them to purchase ships and upgrades, and to hire and move pilots. You do not need to do anything beyond this. The FBC will hire a tender to trade for needed upgrades, and will purchase ships as needed. Note that the maximum number of ships of each class that the FBC will purchase is

M5s 9
M4s 6
M3s 3
TS 1 (FBC Tender)

This is only what the FBC will consider to be a full base, meaning that it won't try to buy any ships if it has the amount of each as above. You may still manually assign fighters to the base beyond the limits above, and the FBC will happily use them. If you don't want the FBC to purchase ANY ships, ensure that you assign the number of each ship above to the station before you start FBC. To assign ships for FBC to use, simply make the station their homebase. Unassigning ships is just as simple - remove their homebase.

The FBC will hire pilots for any available M5s and send them on patrol. Anytime three cpilots ships assigned to the station are free, they will form a patrol. By default, the sector to be patrolled is the sector the station is in, but if you'd like to have your cpilots patrol a different sector, you can do this by choosing 'Fighter Base Commander advanced options' from the station command menu on a station running FBC. Select the new sector, and you will get an incoming message to confirm whether to change the patrol sector. As your cpilots gain in rank, the FBC will move them to M4s and M3s as appropriate automatically. Note that the same restrictions apply as for the tour of duty - once they reach Commander they will no longer be automatically sent on missions unless your station is in hostile territory.

The FBC Tender will attempt to keep all FBC ships equipped with the best possible equipment. The ships will still currently go on patrol even with inadequate equipment though, so if you don't want this to happen, you will need to ensure they are fully equipped manually. (Work in progress.)

Note that all costs for integrating pilots and moving pilots to new ships are doubled when the FBC performs these tasks automatically.

The main element of the TFP is the fleet interface. Once your pilots reach the rank of Captain, they gain the ability to lead a task force. To start a task force, select the command 'Combat Pilots Task Force' from the special command menu on a combat pilots ship. If you then choose the same ship that you ran the command from, that pilot will assume command of a new task force. To join an existing task force, you run the same command, but choose an existing TF leader instead. If the ship you choose to start or join a task force is a carrier which has unassigned cpilots ships, those ships will also join the task force. Task forces have limits to the number of ships that may join them based on the leaders rank.

Captain 19
Commodore 28
Rear Admiral 37
Vice Admiral 55
Admiral no limit

You may not have any pilot join an existing TF who is of equal or greater rank than the leader. Your pilots will also not be able to gain in rank to be equal or greater than the rank of the leader. Bear this in mind as your pilots gain experience.

When starting a task force, it will start in standby mode. In order for a task force to begin conducting operations, it must be assigned an area of operations. You do this by choosing the command from the special menu 'Assign Sectors to Task Force'. When you do this, you must choose 5 sectors for the task force to monitor. You can choose to assign fewer sectors by selecting a sector multiple times. This will also give additional importance to that sector. You must select more than one sector though - choosing the same sector 5 times will cause the task force to resume standby mode. If you want to deactivate a task force without disbanding it, this is the way to do it. The task force will work best if given adjacent sectors for its control area.

Task force leaders will attempt to monitor the area assigned to them and respond to any threats which are detected. They will run regular scouting missions using up to 5 M5s attached to the task force, or if no M5s are available, will use other class ships. They will also run regular patrols through the sectors. If a threat is detected, the leader will analyse the danger of the threat and respond with appropriate force. The TF leader knows roughly the biggest threat his TF is capable of dealing with, and will seek further instructions if he encounters a force he considers to be beyond his capability.

You may manually order an assault on a particular sector by choosing the 'Taskforce Assault Sector' command from the combat menu on the TF leader's ship. The TF leader will not attempt to assess the enemy strength in the sector, but will order an all out assault on the sector using all of the TF assets.

If you have carriers assigned to your TF, if there are any empty fighters homebased to the carrier, any cpilots ship also assigned to the carrier will move to a higher shipclass automatically if eligible and a ship is available.

The TF at any time will have up to 75% of its force out on scouting duty or patrols. Any ships newly returned from patrol will take a short time for rest and recovery before being available again for duty.

You cannot move a cpilot or a new ship or assign them to a new TF if they are currently a member of a TF. You must order the cpilot to leave the TF before they can do either function. The command to leave a task force is found on the special commands menu, 'Leave/Disband Task Force'. Running this command on a TF member will remove the cpilot from the TF. If run on the TF leader, the command will disband the entire TF.

To find out information about the TF, select the command on the Additional commands menu called 'Generate a Taskforce Report' from the TF leader. It will summarise how many ships of each category are available (scouts are M5s, escorts are M4s,M3s, and cap ships are M6s and larger.) and list all members of the TF with their current task. Running the same command on a TF member gives details of that particular ships TF status.

Please read the other readmes contained in this package for further information. If any information in those readmes conflicts with information here, the information contained in this readme should be correct.

MORE TO COME...


SUMMARY OF COMMANDS
-------------------

On any M5 with Special Command Software Mk1 and Fight Command Software Mk2:
Special Command Menu -
'Hire Combat Pilot' Integrate new combat pilot. Only while docked.

On any player owned station:
Station Commands menu -
'Hire Commander' Hire FBC. Needs shipyard, min cash, FB name.

Only on station running FBC:
Station Commands menu -
'Fighter Base Commander advanced options' Change FBC patrol sector.

Only on cpilots ships (i.e. after hiring pilot):
Special Command Menu -
'Move Combat Pilot to New Ship' Needs 3 inputs - ship source, destination, meeting station.
'Combat Pilots Task Force' Create or join a task force.
Combat Menu -
'Combat Tour of Duty' Choose 3 cpilots and a sector to patrol.
Additional Commands Menu -
'Generate a Combat Report for this Pilot' Logbook report detailing the cpilot's stats.

On cpilots ships if leader of TF:
Special Command Menu -
'Assign Sectors to Task Force' Assign 5 sector 'zone of control' to TF
'Leave/Disband Task Force' Disband entire task force.
Combat Menu -
'Taskforce Assault Sector' Order full scale attack on sector.
Additional Commands Menu -
'Generate a Taskforce Report' Summary of TF members and current tasks.

On cpilots ship if member of TF:
Special Command menu -
'Leave/Disband Task Force' Remove ship from TF.
Additional Commands Menu -
'Generate a Taskforce Report' Summary of current ship TF status.
}

[russbo]

OK, found them.

Here's the readme from the ORIGINAL Myros Combat Pilot script. Not the Task Force.

X3 Script
V1.4

Special thanks to the authors of the Patrol script and the universal trader scripts, I used these as the starting points for my work.

by Myros www.neuralstuidos.com


This script adds combat pilots for your fighting craft. They gain exp both slowly over time and through doing 'combat tours of duty'. As their rank increases they gain small bonuses to ship handling and speed. They also have a chance of being 'born' with a unique personality trait that adds to their abilities in small but interesting ways.

Basic script tech info:
COMMAND_TYPE_SPECIAL_48 (548 = Hire new combat pilot)
COMMAND_TYPE_SPECIAL_49 (549 = Move combat pilot to new ship)
COMMAND_TYPE_COMBAT_40 (340 = Start new tour of duty )
COMMAND_TYPE_SHIP_45 (1245 = Detailed stats report on pilot)


XML text files used:
448069.xml - basic text and setup info
448070.xml - custom names for pilots

Script FICTION backstory:

You were approached by a high ranking researcher from TerraCorp who took you aside and explained to you that they have been working on a secret project to increase pilot efficiency. They recently arrived at the stage where testing would begin on live subjects and While searching for likely candidates they were contacted by an underground group calling themselves "The Earth Fetish Union", who volunteered their whole organization for the project. While being a little odd they were without a doubt perfect candidates for the process ... dedicated, brave and a little crazy. The process is permanent, once a pilot has been 'integrated' into a space vessel they are no longer fully human, their nervous system is hard wired directly into all the ships systems leading to increased response times and performance of the ship. The end result is modular so it can be moved from one ship to a new one but these pilots can no longer walk, run, sleep or any of the behaviors we normally associate with our lives. They are the ship and the ship is them.

The researcher explains that the early tests were rather horrific, but they are now ready to enter phase 2 ... real combat testing. He let you know that if you wish to try these new pilots out you should bring an unoccupied M5 class fighter to Terracorp HQ in Home of Light. Due to the nature of underfunded research programs the process of integrating a new pilot into your ship will cost you 100,000 credits, the integration results in speed, rudder and cargo space all being increased to their normal maximum for the ship used so you can save some money by just bringing a basic model in. One result of the integration seems to be that they become obsessed with the number 3, perhaps because of the new '3 state' quantum CPUs we hard wired into their cortex. They work best in groups of 3, each supporting the other.




Command details:


All commands used by this script are color coded in a nice cyan color so you can tell them apart from normal commands.



1. Hire new pilot
This option will appear in the ships command menu under the 'special' category. It will only be visible on M5 class ships that have Special Command Software M1 and Fight Command Software Mk2 installed.

Only M5 ships may be used to integrate a new combat pilot, as they increase in rank they will be allowed to move up to larger ships (see the full rank details below.)
(*Special note - as of X3 1.3 there is a bug which means all argon discoverer (all variants) are classed as M4s instead of M5s see details below about fixing/workaround As of Cpilots 1.4 this fix is no longer needed. just park the disco at terraHQ in home of light and the techs there will fix the system problem for you (within 5 - 10 minutes)).



New combat pilots may ONLY be hired while the ship is docked at terracorp HQ in Home of Light.



2. Combat Tour


Once a pilot is hired a new option will appear under you combat commands 'combat tour of duty'.


Selecting this option will ask you for 4 things - the leader, 1st wingman, 2nd wingman and tour sector, in that order. Normally the highest ranked pilot should be selected as lead ship, though if you accidently select a lower ranked pilot as lead they will automatically sort themselves out. At lower level ranks they can do these 'combat tours' in any sector. Great for getting them some experience and training your future fleet leaders. At higher ranks they will need to be sent to enemy territory to further their careers.

A 'tour of duty' lasts 2 hours (game time) and you will receive a message to your log book when its complete. The waypoints of the patrol route are automatically assigned in the sector you choose. In this initial release it is a standard 4 point route based on any gates in the sector with some randomization thrown in. With later version I will probably add a couple more route paths/patterns if they are needed.

The combat tour is pretty similar to the standard single sector patrol in X3, a couple of differences are

a. Fighters can be used
b. Squads gain exp faster while on a combat tour
c. Squads scan and engage while enroute to the assigned sector
d. Combat pilots can use their some small special abilities while on a combat tour

... and a few other small changes. You can have as many 3 man (or woman) squads running tours in a sector as you like, in fact running 3 squads at a time is a great way to keep a sector clean.



3. Move combat pilot to new ship


Once a pilot is hired a new option will appear under the specials category of your command interface, labeled 'move combat pilot to a new ship'. Selecting this will ask you for 3 options - the current ship, the ship you wish to move the pilot into and a station where they should meet, in that order. Pretty much the same method as moving a trader though I rewrote the processes to be a little 'safer' All standard combat software will be moved to the new ships if it is needed, and for safety shields will be moved over to the new ship if needed and the new ship has room for them. You will have to move and configure any weapons yourself after the move is complete as needed. (I didnt want to bloat the script up by going through every possible weapon, missile and ship combination ... so you have to do that yourself. Though maybe in a future version I'll add some new code to do it all for ya )



The move process transfers the pilot and any bonuses they have received over to the new ship, the new ship will automatically be brought up to the normal max for speed/rudder/cargo space before the pilot transfers. The cost is 50,000 credits to move a pilot from one ship to another ... this covers the cost of re-integrating the pilot and upgrading the ship interface. The ship a pilot can move to is limited by rank (see below). You cannot move a pilot into a ship that already has one ..trader or combat, and it is available for combat type ships only (i.e. no TS or TP class ships) (*See important note below regarding Universal Traders*)



4. Combat pilot report


When you hire a combat pilot a new option will appear under 'additional ship commands', to access the report go to your commands interface, scroll down past the normal top ones (ie navigation, combat, trade, special) and you'll see 2 blank slots under the heading 'additional ship commands' labeled "slot 1" and "slot 2", clicking on either one will open a new screen where you can select a custom command to run, the get report option will be available here (colored lovely cyan as usual ) You can safely run this at anytime as it wont interrupt what the ship is already assigned too. (The report will be given on the ship/pilot it is run from and sent to your standard log book).



On ranks and traits:

The rank structure is a modified version of the US navy style, feel free to change them to something else in the text file if you dont like From lowest to highest with the ships they can pilot (the higher rank can pilot all those below it also)

Ensign - M5 class fighters only

Lieutenant - M4 class fighters

Commander - M3 class fighters

Captain - M6 Cruiser and TL (I included the TL because many people use it as a type of command base anyway)

Vice Admiral - M2 and Carriers

Admiral - M1

To grow in rank the pilot should do combat tours, they will gain exp just from doing tours even if they dont fight anything. But of course the more kills they get while on a tour the more exp they get. The assigned leader of a tour (or the highest ranked pilot on a tour rather) will also gain 'leadership' xp ... which is important because the larger ships cannot be piloted without some leadership skill also. So make sure and cultivate some pilots by having them lead tours of equal or lesser ranked pilots.

Each pilot when hired also has a chance of having a bonus 'personality trait', a clue to what that trait is (if any) can be seen when you get a report sent to you (using the report button on their 'additional ship commands'). These can be anything from being a better leader or having criminal connections that can let them know of pirate activity, or the ability to repair their ship a little at times. These 'bonuses' are fairly minor and just meant to add a little flavor.

On names and age:


Each pilot gets a random name built from 448070.xml - basically I just went through the phone book and picked them ... because the underground faction these pilots come from are obsessed with all things related to the rumors, history and remnants of Earth they have all chosen names that they gleaned from their secret artifact archives ie a couple of moldy old newspapers preserved in a vacuum Feel free to go through that file and change the names to anything you like the 1st 90 or so are first names and the last 90 or so are last names (you'll see them marked at start and end)... just dont add any extras in there (unless you mod the script in-game to see more of course) but I figured around 10000 possible combination of names was plenty ;p

Pilots do age, they can die. They of course die if their ship blows up ;p But also as they get old ... they live a LONG time dont worry. The age listed on their reports sheet is their true age at start but because of the processes involved in hard-wiring them into the ship they age MUCH faster than normal ..so the age listed is their virtual age as their natural bodies degrade, they come with hardware that repairs and modifies tissue so they can live to be the virtual age of over 500.


Moving pilots from one ship to another is stressful ... be warned, there is a small chance they could die during the processes. The older a pilot is the higher this risk. It is a small risk but be aware of it when making your decisions ... like moving that 500 year old admiral with underworld connections into a brand new M1

That about covers the basics, here a few tech details -



*IMPORTANT NOTE ON M5s
(***** As of Combat Pilots 1.4 the fix below is no longer needed, just park your new discoverer at TerraCorp HQ in home of light, within 10 minutes the techs there will repair the system malfunction and you will be able to hire a pilot as usual)

Due to a game bug (unfixed as of 1.3) the argon discoverer is classified as an M4 even though the info says M5. This means the disco will not have the option 'hire new combat pilot' show up on their special commands menu. You have 3 options here to deal with this (well 4 really):


1. Just use all other race M5s to train up your new pilots.
2. MOD the game and fix the error yourself (not recommended hehe)
3. Wait for the good folks at Egosoft to fix it
4. I have included a separate zip file with this package called "cpilot_fixes.zip" inside it you will find one file called 'afix.for.discos.xml' If you really want to use discoverers for you new combat pilots you can put this script into your regular scripts folder (ie C:\Program Files\EGOSOFT\X3 REUNION\scripts or wherever you installed too)

Then once your in game buy a disco and move it out of the station into space. Open the script editor and you'll see the script at or near the top 'afix.for.discos'. Scroll down till its highlighted and press 'r' on your keyboard. A dialogue will pop-up asking you for a 'ship or station' click the button below where it says "null" click on the sector where your new disco is located and select it from the regular ship list. A new screen will pop up just showing the details of what you just selected, press enter and your done. You'll receive a little note to your log book telling you wether it worked or not, and if not what the problem was (ie you tried to convert a station instead ) Your disco is now able to hire a new combat pilot just like all the other M5s.

*IMPORTANT NOTE ON UNIVERSAL TRADERS (and some on sector patrols).


The UT scripts and sector patrols and this script all have one thing in common .... pilot names. But the standard 'move pilot' button that is in the game has no safeguards built in that checks if there is already a named pilot in the ship you wish a pilot to move into. This can result in you over-writing your lvl 25 UT with a lvl 5 one as there is no safety check done before moving pilots. A pretty bad omission IMO.

And it affects this script also because a UT or any regular ship that has been on a patrol using the patrol commands can move their 'generic' pilot into a ship with one of my new combat pilots and over-write their names. They cant destroy the data as I've made sure that is kept separate but the names will be changed. Perhaps thats why they didnt bother ..because 'its just a name' and for the most part with UTs etc nobody really knows or cares about what label the game stuck on their 'pilotname' slot. Part of why I made this mod was that I wanted the pilots of my combat craft to have a little more personality, I want to see them move up the ranks and become attached to some of them as they develop. So I find it unaceptable that any ship can simply just erase that name without checking first

For my new 'move combat pilot' button I of course built in the proper safeguards but the generic 'move pilot' button is from the Universal Trader script (which is excellent otherwise of course). So I have included a small 'fix' to the file that begins any move pilot command initiated by any UT or patrol ship that simply checks if there is already a pilot in there and if so exit.


The file is called "plugin.autotrade.movepilot.start.xml" and you can find it in the extra "cpilot_fixes.zip" file that came with this script. Just put that xml file in your 'scripts' folder, delete the file "plugin.autotrade.movepilot.start.pck" and your set (make a backup before you delete it of course).

Installation -

Unzip to a temp directory with the folder options on and copy the contents of 't' into the games 't' folder and the contents of the 'scripts' folder into the games 'scripts' folder. Start the game and if you already have the script editor turned on just select the 'reinit scripts' as usual.

Uninstalling - just delete all the files for plugin.cpilots. from the scripts folder and remove 448069.xml and 448070.xml from the 't' folder. Then get the file "setup.uninstal.cpilots.xml" from the cpilots_fixes.zip and place it in your scripts folder. Load your save game, go to the script editor and select 'reinit scripts', save your game again and your done. It takes around 15 - 20 minutes for all pilots to update their data and clear out, so just let the game run for a bit or play normaly.

IMPORTANT - Do NOT use the uninstal file found in fixes.zip unless you want to get rid of this cpilots mod, puting this file in the game sripts folder WILL kill all your pilots.

Of course this IS software we're talking about here So if your just testing this script out to see what its like ...

DO NOT SAVE OVER YOUR MAIN GAME ...

better to either start a new game just to try things out or make a new separate save after you install this while your testing it. Then just delete the files and go back to your main save game which will be good as new and without a trace of my script

If you have any comments or suggestions, feedback or bug reports please put them in the official X2/3 forum post where you downloaded this.

Enjoy,


Myros

Here's what I added to the autotrader move script if your interested:


001 * A simple check to prevent over-writing of pilots
002 if $move.to
003 $check.cpilot = $move.to -> get local variable: name='pilotname'
004 if $check.cpilot
005 return null
006 end
007 end

Version 1.3 - fixes to repair functions, improved shield assesment when moving ships, tweeked patrol routines and generaly gets this script ready for the task force addon.
Version 1.1 - finished up the advanced traits feedback, that makes this script 'complete' barring any bug reports.
Version 1.02 - Couple minor fixes to display names for current orders on 'move pilot' command
Version 1.01 - just a minor tweek to make in compatible with the Salavge Network Mod as that mod changes the name of TerraHQ in home of light.

Remember, some of this stuff has changed, with Jennsemans, Siath's, Eladan's, et al changes.

[russbo]

Here's the readme from Myros's Task Force script add on, which made the combat pilots function within the realm of task forces:

Basic script tech info:
COMMAND_TYPE_SPECIAL_45 (545 = Assign sectors to task force)
COMMAND_TYPE_SPECIAL_46 (546 = Join or form a task force)
COMMAND_TYPE_SPECIAL_47 (547 = Leave or disband a task force)
COMMAND_TYPE_COMBAT_41 (341 = Player called task force sector assualt )
COMMAND_TYPE_SHIP_46 (1246 = Task force report .... individual or whole force)


XML text files used:
448071.xml - basic text and setup info



Command details:


All commands used by this script are color coded in a nice cyan color so you can tell them apart from normal commands.


1. Combat Pilots Task Force - Join a task force or form a new task force
This option will appear under the 'special' commands area for all combat pilots. When you use this command a pop-up will show asking you to pick a ship (well, you have to pick the sector first then the a ship from the list). The ship you select is telling the game which task force you want to join so you must pick the leader of a task force. You can easily spot the leader of a task force because after the ship name will appear something like (TF -1 Ldr) ... that would tell you that the ship in question is the leader of taskforce 1.

To start a new task force you simply have the ship choose itself as the leader. A pilot must be ranked Captain or above to start a task force. See details below about task force sizes etc

To change a taskforce the pilot must first leave the one he/she is in using the 'leave' command (see below).

There is an optional file included called 'aa.taskforce.cheat" - if you want to check out this script and dont have any pilots of high enough rank this script can be run from the script editor (just like the disco fix) it will give a boost to a pilot so that they will gain a couple of promotions within 15 - 20 minutes. This cheat can only be used twice but it will give you the chance to get a TF started.


2. Leave/Disband a Task Force - leave current task force or disband whole task force


Once a pilot has joined or formed a new task force a new command button will appear in the 'special' command section. If a task force leader uses this button it will disband the entire task force, if a task force member uses this command it will remove just their own ship from the task force.


3. Assign sectors to a Task Force - give a task force leader a 'sphere of influence'


Once a pilot is made the leader of a new task force a new command option will appear under the 'special' commands section. Clicking this will pop-up the usual screen and you get to select 5 sectors. These sectors will be the area that the task force leader will view as his/her theatre of operations. No operations will be conducted outside of this area unless the player orders a full assault on a different sector (see below for full details and tips on assinging sectors.)

The first sector you choose will be considered the 'home' of the taskforce ... this will be it's base of operations that all tasks get launched from, and the sector it will return too after an assault is complete.

To change a task force's assigned area just redo this command from the leader.

To remove all sectors from a task force (putting it on standby) simply use this command and select the same sector 5 times.

If you want to limit the area to less than 5 sectors just select a sector more than once, same if you want to give one sector a more important 'value' to the task force ... just select the one (or two) that you want the task force to concentrate on more than once.


QUICK TIP - If your just starting a new task force dont give the leaders any sectors untill you have assigned him a decent amount of ships. A task force with 4 ships wont last long Also for training task forces only give them a 3 sector area (ie assign the home sector 3 times plus 2 other sectors close by) This will keep the training TF in a smaller more protected area.

The only sector in the main areas that cannot be assigned to a TF is Argon Prime. For a training TF try Kingdom End or Paranid Prime.

4. Task Force Assault - player given full force sector attack


When a task force has been established the leader will have a new command option appear under the 'combat' area. Choosing this button will ask you for a sector, the sector you choose will be given to the task force as a assault target. This gives the player the power to over-ride whatever the task force is currently doing, recall all its forces and execute and all out attack on the chosen sector. This is a very powerful command and should be considered your all or nothing 'alpha-strike'. The task force leader will not evaluate wether his force can survive or not they will just simply follow orders - scrambling all fighters, escorts and capital ships into 1 - 3 main attack groups and heading out to battle. (Its very fun to watch by the way )


5. Task Force Report - sends a report to the players logbook with details on the task force

When a task force has been established all members will have a new command option appear under the 'additional ship commands' area. If this button is used from a task force leader it will return a detailed report on the entire force, if it is used from a ship not the leader it will just return a report on the pilot telling you what task force they are in and their current job.


On Task Force sizes and types:

Task force size is dependant on the rank for the leader as follows

Captain - can command a task force of 19 ships (their own ship plus 18 others)

Vice Admiral - can command a task force of 55 ships (their own ship plus 54 others)

Admiral - no limits.

The ships you assign to it will govern the role the task force plays.
ie if you give a task force commander only18 new pilots in M5 fighters they could be considered a training force. The commander will train these new recruits for you and wont do any learge scale attacks (unless the task force is under attack).
Or you may give them a good but light mix and they could be used for basic station and rear area sector patrols.
Or you could give them lots of firepower and assign them to the front lines.

The choise is yours, the task force commander has the ability to evaluate their own strength and act accordingly.
Just be sure to assign them sectors appropriate to the role you want them to play.

QUICK TIP - M3 fighters should be the main bulk of any task force. Include M5s for recon work. M4s while to slow for recon jobs dont last long in the true fighter role. You can use them in any TF but they are best used in training TFs to get your pilots trained up till they can fly M3s.

The ship type your leader is in can play an important role also. The best ship for a leader is a M1 carrier, when a leader has one of these badboys all fighters will dock and launch from the 'mother ship' as they go about their jobs. This keeps them well protected and out of harms ways when not on duty. If you cant afford a M1 yet then a good replacement is a TL cargo ship. It cant carry as many fighters but does the same job if needed. With a M1 they task force will act a true carrier task force launching and recalling fighters and a constant basis. Without a carrier type ship as the leader the taskforce members will just hang around home sector and protect the leader (unless their off on assigned duty of course).

On Sectors and 'sphere of influence':


How you select sectors can be very important, there is no limit as to how far the sectors can be appart but if the sectors are spread out the task force will have a very hard time responding to anything going on. It takes time to organize and launch operations and if a sector is a long ways off the situation may well have changed before the group gets there. Likewise if a taskforce has its squads spread to far out they may not be able to get back in time to help with any major rising threats.

The ideal sector assignment is like this:

(Image and info available on the html version at http://www.neuralstudios.com/work/cpilo ... force.html )



Having it setup like this will allow the commander to easily move forces around as needed. Thats the ideal but of course you dont HAVE to do things this way, and its not possible in some regions but just keep this in mind when setting up a task force operations area.

Also note that the areas of 2 or more task forces can overlap, this can be a great way to make sure certain sectors are especialy well patroled and defended.


On Task Force Jobs:

So you have your task force up and running and your wondering exactly what will the commander do? Well he has a number of possible roles that can be given out to his squads.

1. Recon - scouting. All M5s assigned to a task force are considered scouts. They will be sent out into sectors just to recon things and given reports back ot the mother ship. This info is very important as its used by the commander to evaluate threats and sector danger levels. You should always have at least 5 M5s in a task force, more is better so that the commander always has replacements and back-ups. The scout ship will not actively engage enemies.

2. Patrols - recon in force. M4s and M3s will be assigned this role. Basic 3 ship squads will patrol 3 sectors from within the task force area. If possible the commander will maintain 3 patrol groups on duty at all times, and will increase this if he feels its needed. A task force must have plenty of M4s and M3s to keep this up ... its a high danger job and the losses can be high as they are often the first responders to any threat. The will actively hunt and engage all enemies as well as provide recon intel back to the mother ship.

3. Trader escorts - if the commander notices a trader belonging to the player in his area he may assign 1 or 2 fighters as a short term escort. The escort will not seek out enemies but will respond to any attacks on the trader, any traders found will also have their scanners tied into the mother ships 'net' while they are in the task force area. This is a low priority job, if the commander is low on ships he will not assign any trader escorts.

4. Attack runs - M4s, M3s, M6s and Heavy Capital ships. If any threat is detected the commander will evaluate and assign a 'danger level' to a sector, he will then put together a force that he judges will counter that threat.

5. Sector Assaults - if the commader judges that the danger level in a sector is at or above his own full fleet strength he may call a "Task Force Assault" just like the player can. The commader will recall all forces, launch all fighters ..organize 1 - 3 battle groups and head into the fray.

If there are other jobs you would like to see your task forces do that arent covered here please post the suggestion in the Egosoft forum post where you read about this script. It may get inluded in a future version.


*** Update There are now safety techs based in TerraCorp HQ in home of light, if any ship is having problems ... like pilot not getting promoted or anything odd just park them at that station for 10 minutes or so. The techs there will run a systems check and repair any software problems they find.

Installation -

Unzip to a temp directory with the folder options on and copy the contents of 't' into the games 't' folder and the contents of the 'scripts' folder into the games 'scripts' folder. Start the game and if you already have the script editor turned on just select the 'reinit scripts' as usual.
As was mentioned above please make sure you have my original Combat Pilots script installed and running BEFORE you install this. This is not a stand-alone script .... it wont break your game having this installed without the original .... it just wont do anything


Uninstalling - The important thing here is to disband ALL task forces before uninstalling. Use the disband button from the leaders control panel, this will clean out all (taskforce) data from his and all the taskforce members ships. Once you disband all task forces you can then safely delete all files called "addon.cpilots.TF" and "setup.taskforce" and the text XML file from the 't' folder. Just dont delete any of the regular cpilot script files (they all have the 'plugin' prefix) if you just want to delete this addon and leave the original script running. The original script has its own uninstal method which you shoudl review here.


Of course this IS software we're talking about here So if your just testing this script out to see what its like ...

DO NOT SAVE OVER YOUR MAIN GAME ...

better to either start a new game just to try things out or make a new separate save after you install this while your testing it. Then just delete the files and go back to your main save game which will be good as new and without a trace of my script

If you have any comments or suggestions, feedback or bug reports please put them in the official X2/3 forum post where you downloaded this.

Enjoy,


Myros

As a good compliment to this script I also recommend Xai's fleet support script, which you can find in the main X3 script/moding forum. They work nicely together.

I've been playing this game for far too long....

[draffutt]

I attempt to start the fighter base commander and I received this in my personnal log entry ARRAY(TD-SPP, Unknown sector TF(Unknown Sector))

also when i preassign my ships to the station (homebase as said in readme) it says when i assigned my base name; my station name will remain unchanged. now it addes my base name to the station and the commander doesn't use any of the ships i have preassigned to the base.

[Dom Devore]

Thanks for the info Russbo. It certainly helps.

[Meros]

Hyas, here we are again with a litle problem.
My "born leader" rear-admirals wont rank up any further although they have anough xp to be full blown admirals.
Their max rank is 11 but stuck at 9, have tried collosus, Titan and some other races m1 and m2's, but the only thing i keep hearing is they need a bigger ship .

Could this be an XTM related problem?