[Bonus Plugin] Group Management System (GMS)

[Phier]

Lets ignore FCS Mk3 (which probably does make a difference) and think how vanilla AI works:

* You have ships on "Protect Me". You are hit. All of them will do "Attack that enemy until it is dead" subroutine.
* You have one ship on "Protect Me". You are hit. That ship will do "Attack that enemy until it is dead" subroutine.
* Ship is running "Attack target of .." (offered by GMS). When the "leader" does "Attack that target until it is dead", this ship will do the same.
* You have a Group. Its members run "Attack target of leader". Leader runs "Protect Me" (given via GHK or whatever). You are hit. All of the group will do "Attack that enemy until it is dead" subroutine.

Group members revert to following their leader if their command becomes "None". Ship on "Protect .." continues to do so until told otherwise. Commands like "Dock at .." and "Fly to sector/position" do complete/end when done and then ships do "None". Anyway, it is better to treat the group like one ship, and only give commands to the leader.


But, as said these were vanilla, check that FCS Mk3 documentation on how you get most out of it.

I figured out a work around or me.

I'm going to use GMS for autonomous groups and FM3 for my personal wing.

Using FM3 once I land in the carrier my wing lands too, still following my M3. If I then order them with the FM3 commands to dock, they launch/autodock (with docking computers) and now are officially following the carrier. So now I can go off in my M3 solo, but if I need them I can just order them to protect me and they launch from the carrier and come to me.

GMS will be for pretty much any fighter wing that I don't fly in.

[Scraphound]

Okay, what if I make a group and later on down the road I want to reinforce it? Do I just create the group again, give it the same name and details, and include the extra ships, or is there another way?

[Gedman]

is there anyway to disband a group?

i've been trying for hours but whenever i think ive split it up it just reforms

[SecondAcc]

is there anyway to disband a group?

i've been trying for hours but whenever i think ive split it up it just reforms

Change the name to -u

[Enuo]

Im using xtended, and the full bonus script pack, and for some reason i cant get groups to obey any of my hot keyed commands.

I tried several different hotkeys, for select group 1, and ghk attack all enemies.

Heres what i do, starting from scratch ships in system having command none, and no additional ship commands running, and not part of a group.

I go to ship, orders, general, setup group, fleet name: Red, fleet number: 1 ships to assign: 10, object class: ship

It says autopilot activated, and all the ships in system say theyre: Red(1) shipclass and all their orders are set to defending my ship Red(1) Titan Lead

When i use my hotkeys, to attack all enemies, my own ship Red(1) Titan Lead accepts the command and autopilots off to attack all enemies. all other ships are still on default protect my titan lead.

However, if i go to ship, orders, general, and select, This group attack leader's target, all the ships in the group switch to attack my target. Its like the hotkeys section is what its completely ignoring. Am i supposed to hear something when i hit the select group 1 hotkey? all i hear after hitting that, then attack all, is command accepted and only my ship the lead ship, charges off to attack.

[jlehtone]

The hotkey commands go only to the leader(s). The rest of the Group will always protect/attack_same leader.

One exception though. Try the "Group Launch Missile" key.

[The Rogue Trader]

I have several carriers on sector patrol all brimming with fighters.......
EG> A Split Python with 20 M3+, 20 M3, 10 M4 and 10 M5's.
How do I set it up so the M3+ and M3 attack target of leader and have the M4 and 5's protect. All fighters are homebased to the carrier (this was done the long way before they left the shipyard).
Step by step instructions would be greatly appreciated.

Also do the ships deploy when the carrier is attacked when OOS ?

[Brisos]

I am hunting in the Ceo's Doubt area (lots of pirates) and am constantly running out of ecells. I am in a capped Pirate Nova with 2 busters and one pirate falcon as wingmen.

The closest SPP is pretty far away and I use my jumpdrive a LOT when fighting big groups of Xenons/pirates.

1)Are there any mods helping with the resupplying of ecells so that I do not have to dock my wingmen ONE at a time at an SPP to buy ecells for each? Or a way to do this in game (with group commands maybe)?

2)Any mod out there makes it so BBS/trade stations/Eq. docks will cell eCells?

[jlehtone]

Group Management System does do "refuel" whenever the group docks into SPP/Carrier.

Another vanilla option is to invest into a freighter with Transporter Device (and possibly Fleet Support Software). You call it when you need it. A freighter is also very handy to have around if you "find" loot.

And you can occasionally barter for ECells at Trading Stations.

[Brisos]

About the Group management thing. I created a group and I think I did it correctly since it changed my name and all my other 3 ships' names to include the group's name. My ship says "Lead" at the end.

I went to an SPP and bought ecells. I took off and checked my other ships, but their ecell cargo was still empty.

Do I need to enable their resupply via a command?

[moggy2]

the resupply doesn't happen the moment the ship lands, it could take up to a couple of minutes before they do it. Save your game, check the BBS, have a quick browse through your property list and after all that they should be ready to go.

[Brisos]

Ok I think I got it. Basically I am first to land and I need to wait for all my ships to dock at the SPP for them to restock. Makes sense too -.-

[Nataku02]

Sup! For some reason the GHK doesnt work im running X3 2.5 plus bonuspack 3.107 but no matter what i try it doesnt work please help

[hairyhermit]

Could you please write and re-write some more documentation for this perhaps with screenshots. It is not very clear how it works.

[jlehtone]

I doubt the author will rewrite, hasn't been very active on the forum lately, and probably focuses on the X3TC, if at all.

The discussion within this thread should reveal some details that are not in the main description.


But how about you describing what you think the script is doing? Perhaps then we can fill in the rest.

[hairyhermit]

I'd like to set the levels of resupply for my ships, they keep automatically filling up with hundreds of units of energy when I want to add a few weapons.
Don't see that in there, also getting hotkeys working was a pain, does TC improve on the unit/wingmen management interface at all? If it does I might just quit Reunion before I get any further and move right to TC.

Also, shouldn't ships from one group jump with/after other ships they are set to escort? It seems they are loaded up with fuel and if I (who am in a seperate group) jump, group #2 does not jump to follow. They fly the long way.

[jlehtone]

Adding weapons is not there, because the author probably assumes the user to form groups from equipped ships. Adding weapons is a one time operation. The FSUP script does that beautifully.

Resupplying missiles ... there is a separate unsigned script from XaiCorp that lets you say how many missiles the ships attempt to load at the same time as they load fuel.

No idea what the X3TC does. It boasts with something.

So you have told the leader of a group to follow you? And you jump by pressing "Shift-J"? Or via command console of your ship (Navigation / Jump to ..)? No followers jump if you do use the manual "Shift-J".

[Prism]

How can I stop a group? I can't tell any of them to stop what they are doing. If I make them dock, they immediately undock to go back to following the leader. This is VERY frustrating because I usually can't upgrade the ship fast enough before it leaves the station. I can tell the leader to dock at they will follow, but often the leader will undock and then resume "Attack all enemies". I'm guessing the station is getting full and it is booting the leader out.

Edit: Ok, I found a solution. I have to turn off GMS on each ship. Doing this for 60 ships will be great fun. I assume there is no way to mass turn it off.

[jlehtone]

The group name input can also take several options that make specifying the name easier:
* -unset or -u. This option disbands the group. The group parameters are removed from the ships in the group and the names are reset to their names before they became part of a group.

[Prism]

The group name input can also take several options that make specifying the name easier:
* -unset or -u. This option disbands the group. The group parameters are removed from the ships in the group and the names are reset to their names before they became part of a group.

Can't believe I missed that. Thanks!