[SCRIPT] Auto Debris Harvestor v2.01 by Nividium 10/20/2007 UPDATED

apricotslice · Post by **apricotslice** » Wed, 10. Oct 07, 13:21

no, it only works with a TS.

I tried it with a TL (scripted it in), and the result was pretty hilarious.

But the main drawback is that the script only does a single collection of dirt before it goes to deliver or sell it, meaning that the space on board a TL is not used.

The script uses 3600 of cargo space to move silicon, so a ship that has a lot more than that free, is somewhat wasted. Would suit a mercury with 4000 very well though.

Pogi · Post by **Pogi** » Wed, 10. Oct 07, 15:26

@apricotslice...What I have noticed using standard sized TS up to around 7000-9000 max, is that the speed of which this script moves material is very impressive...The 4/4 you mentioned, is really a good formula in my opinion, because it waits until the 1/4 e-cell load is down to 1/4 of that before going for cells again...My TS jump around "very" fast using this script and move lots of product..No need for a TL in my opinion...If you want to use a TL, you "can" assign a TL as homebase with Bunnies scripts.....There is also a script from voxol "salvage ext. commands" that you can then move the product off the TL with it. A bit slow because of its Best Sell search routine, but uses jump and transporter device to get the job done. the use of a TL in this script and modifying the script as well is not a good idea in my opinion..Might as well just use a utility to wipe the universe clean. Don't see the use or the fun in sucking the sector clean in one swipe..

.............Cheers

xxbluedragonxx · Post by **xxbluedragonxx** » Wed, 10. Oct 07, 15:35

Ohhhh I thought it fill the ship up with ore then it sells it so I thought it could work for TL too but I guess it doesn't then

Thanks for tip on ship size! Even with 10x demeter hauler (about 70k cargo total!) it still took some time to clear out Seizewell so I think the speed is just right. It is not too fast and also not too slow

apricotslice · Post by **apricotslice** » Wed, 10. Oct 07, 15:37

I'm all for 1 swipe

It would be a major job getting a TL to behave differently, and beyond my scripting ability.

But on the basis of this script and the 1way-2way delivery scripts, I've finally come up with a whole new strategy of playing the game, and started again from scratch

I put a HQ in Argon Prime, and 4 modded Discos doing dirt collection for it, with the HQ being my Superstore for selling from (another script to enable npc sales). For the first time, I'm going to build complexes that only produce product, and ship what they need from other complexes, with each complex in the race space it comes from. Dirt is the first step, which will then feed into a giant crystal complex feeding to a giant SPP complex,.....etc. Eventually leading to me making everything for ship construction. I've never done it this way before (since X2 anyway), so its a new challenge.

Incidently Nividium, you may not like me mucking around with your scripts, but I have to say as an ex-programmer, that they are about the best constructed scripts I've seen so far. And the first that actually use subroutines that I've seen. So a big thumbs up for great scripts.

apricotslice · Post by **apricotslice** » Fri, 12. Oct 07, 14:42

I had a good go at this today and overall am very happy with it.

The only issue I can see, is if you homebase it to a HQ, it will never gather anything except silicon, because unless the homebase runs out of space, the condition for rejecting silicon will never occur.

I've got about 10000 silicon in my Hq now (running 26 crystal fabs flat out), but zero Ore. I cleared out Ore Belt entirely, and got no ore, which just doesnt sound right.

Maybe it would be better for the player to select which dirt the ship is to collect ? Or is there a way of randomising it, so if the homebase wants all 3 sorts of dirt, the ship alternates which one it collects ?

Pogi · Post by **Pogi** » Fri, 12. Oct 07, 15:21

@Apricotslice...set up a "mining relay station" in between your HQ and the harvestors..assign the relay station to the harvestors as their HB..HB some TS to your HQ to transfer the ore/silicon/nividium from the mining relay station to your HQ (can use XAI script for repeat transfer)..Problem solved...Cheers

You can find the station here:

http://forum.egosoft.com/viewtopic.php?t=190539

apricotslice · Post by **apricotslice** » Fri, 12. Oct 07, 15:39

Great idea, but kinda negates my game plan.

I'm using this script with the stations within a HQ script, so my HQ is acting as a super-complex. The aim being to not have any stations at all other than the HQ and thus not needing any ships other than the debris gatherers and UT's.

The downside I can see, is that in having a ship ferrying dirt from the relay station to the HQ, the relay station is never going to be full of any product anyway.

But for a more normal game approach, yes, your suggestion would be perfect.

I'm pondering upsetting Nividium a lot further (hopefully not) by making 2 versions of the key scripts, one for silicon, the other for ore, and then having a second command for ore, and assigning the ship via its command to one or the other. Thats within my limited scripting ability, and would solve the problem, albiet doubling the number of ships I'd be using.

My modified Discos are proving absolutely perfect for the job

Pogi · Post by **Pogi** » Fri, 12. Oct 07, 15:48

the relay station is never going to be full of any product anyway.

I don't understand what you mean here? The relay station is just that, designed to relay minerals to another station. You can best sell off of it too if you want, but for your needs just set up several and adjust the price so your TS that are HB to you HQ buy stock from it and the HB TS on the relay sell to the HQ...You are never going to solve the problem with the minerals because your HQ has such a huge storage..the relay station will make sure you get supply of both ore and silicon as well as nividium..(use bunny for that).

apricotslice · Post by **apricotslice** » Fri, 12. Oct 07, 15:53

HB ?

I really didnt follow that sorry.

As far as I can see, using any station as a relay, would entail moving the dirt a lot slower than the gatherers can deliver it. But anything faster than a pack-snail is going to keep the relay station from ever filling up of its product. If it is slow enough to allow the station to fill up, then the gatherers will stop working while it is.

Pogi · Post by **Pogi** » Fri, 12. Oct 07, 17:10

HB=Homebase...the mining relay station is "standard" meaning that it only holds standard amount of minerals..It will empty every time one of your HB TS from your HQ go for a pickup...

apricotslice · Post by **apricotslice** » Sat, 13. Oct 07, 11:14

This is very odd.

I've been watching my ships. They definitely fill up with ore, they travel to my HQ, off load, and return to get more.

But the HQ always has ZERO stock of Ore ! ??????

For the life of me I cant work out why.

The scripts transfer silicon over no problem, but they lose all the ore.

Is this something to do with the HQ being the homebase ?

Nividium · Post by **Nividium** » Sat, 13. Oct 07, 12:19

Hi apricotslice,
The Headquarters does seem to behave dif than regular Factories. The Harvestors seem to work fine with regular type stations but you are correct in that the Harvestors are having a hard time dealing with the Headquarters for some reason. I did not do extensive testing with the Harvesters while having them use the Headquarters as their Homebase. I can see now that they do not perform well with the Headquarters and will udate the main post to reflect this problem. Thank you for bringing this to my attention apricotslice.

In the mean time, do what Pogi says, he knows alot about how to do good mining and how best to use scripts and resources and organize things way better than me, so listen to what he recommends ok apricotslice.

apricotslice · Post by **apricotslice** » Sat, 13. Oct 07, 12:26

I'm happy with the silicon even if the ore is going missing, and after all, they are clearing out all the useless roids for me and improving framerates.

So the script is well worth using anyway

xxbluedragonxx · Post by **xxbluedragonxx** » Sat, 13. Oct 07, 14:25

Have you got trade with other races Yes for your HQ? That could be why the ore is disappearing. Another reason could be your own UTs or CAGs could be taking the ore and selling it.

If you set trade with other races No then any CAG based there will only buy for it. You might want to turn on Trade Barrier (Commercial Agent) in the HQ commands. That will stop all other CAGs trading with it.

For UTs and Station Manager ships or other traders of yours as far as I know they ignore the "trade with other races" settings so the only way you can stop them taking anything from the HQ is to adjust the HQ prices so they have a higher chance of getting a better deal elsewhere. The HQ prices are both a "sell" price AND a "buy" price from my understandings!

xxbluedragonxx · Post by **xxbluedragonxx** » Sat, 13. Oct 07, 14:30

On a related note I noticed this behaviour: I have my fleet of 15 mining ships now cleaning up Home of Light. My HQ is in Seizewell. I have noticed they are more often going to the HQ and dropping off ore there. They have no home base.

They are also roaming really far. One ship I saw it trying to sell to a Drone Fab in Wastelands which is on the other side of the universe. The Drone Fab was full of silicon when the miner arrived there so it idled a bit and then jumped to another sector nearby to try to sell there using up even more energy cells. It had a cargo bay of 71 silicon.

I plan on moving the fleet further south to Paranid space soon specifically to mine Savage Spur as I blew up a number of low yield asteroids in there manually. Then the fleet can collect the rocks. This should be even further away from my HQ but I think they will still do the same and travel all across the universe?

Any way to limit the distance they go or preferably not keep going to the HQ or player docks or some such?

Another suggestion is it possible to have them collect as much as they can in their cargo bay then try to sell? Currently they pick up a small amount then jump and try to sell and then jump back which seems more inefficient since the amount they picked up could be any number up to 300 (so the full cargo space is never used on anything bigger than a Demeter Miner anyway)

xxbluedragonxx · Post by **xxbluedragonxx** » Sat, 13. Oct 07, 15:16

Ok I got an idea

sorry for the multiple posts but I wanted to seperate them out a bit.

So I think this one would help a lot of the HQ and roaming traders: make use of the transporter device so if you assign homebase as a TL they will transport their cargo into the TL if it has room! If not they go idle and wait until there is room.

I think this would be the most elegant solution and provide the best option for a mining operation.

A TL as the "mobile base". A fleet of mining ships. You could assign the TL as the home base. The miners will then deposit their cargo at the TL using their transporter device (since they all have one anyway!)

This would have the benefit of a truly mobile operation. You could jump the TL and the fleet to a sector and keep them all in the same place. Maybe use a CLS ship to take wares from the TL to sell.

And if you use LV's beamdock script you could even dock the miners at the TL and then move the whole operation anywhere you want! I think this would be a more logical mobile mining operation with the TL functioning as the mobile base and it having a tender which sells or ships the freight someplace. No more HQ issues either! Just assign the miners to the TL and they will never go to the HQ or roam all over the place

apricotslice · Post by **apricotslice** » Sat, 13. Oct 07, 15:23

I'm not using any cags, stations managers or anything, and there is only 1 UT, and it hasnt been on that side of the universe for some time now.

I've sat there and watched the ships dock and undock, with the hq details screen up, and the ore doesnt even flash on and off.

xxbluedragonxx · Post by **xxbluedragonxx** » Sat, 13. Oct 07, 15:29

That must be some bug if you use a HQ as a homebase. My fleet has no homebase and they deposit ore just fine (but it depends on the prices elsewhere!) Well I hope Nividium can fix it though the TL homebase/transporter wares might help

Can you tell I'd really really like that feature?

apricotslice · Post by **apricotslice** » Sat, 13. Oct 07, 15:31

I've actually gone back to the defualt mode of no homebase, so they just sell wherever its needed. 4 ships are making very nice money doing it.

And Ore Belt now looks like somone hoovered it

Funnily enough, CBSW is taking a lot longer to clear.

Pogi · Post by **Pogi** » Sat, 13. Oct 07, 16:06

@Apricotslice...If you have a bunch of stations inside your HQ and any of them are using ore for production..They will take the ore instantly for their use...One post I read of yours somewhere you had 20+ stations in your HQ..Ore has a larger storage at these stations while silicon does not. So naturally your ore will disappear from stock before you can even see it stocked..