Buying a ship and shields disappear!!

[stavros]

Should this be happening????

Everytime that i purchase a ship from a NPC in space and not from a shipyard, there are never any shields with it however when i target the ship before i buy it, the shields are there.

It's as if when the pilot bails out and leaves the ship for you, he takes the shields as well.

Anyone know why this is??

[OTAS Employee]

It happens to me too.
Perhaps the NPCs think, "Ah, he bought my ship, he can screw having my shields!"

[Carlo the Curious]

I that's normal (and probably 'as intended').

Off-hand, I don't think I've ever bought a second-hand ship with installed equipment.

[dillpickle]

I've noticed the shields dissapearing - weapons too (how do you fit them in a spacesuit??)

But have also bought second hand from shiyards (PTNI Headquarters seems articuarly good in my game.) where they've come with equipment, a Pelican with 3x200mj shields, phased repeater guns, mk II drones, jumpdrive and a couple of marines!!, also got an Osprey from there with max shields and full weapoms loadout at under book price.

Makes up for all the times I've got stung on these 'bargains'....

[BeidAmmikon]

I've just bought an Iguana with 2 shields on it... (X3:TC v1.4 vanilla) Therefore, it is not a rule. The ship stripping, that is

[gamer993]

could it be the more you pay the more you get? also what about hull damage?

[shireknight]

I must have brought almost 30 used ships by now and I don't remember ever buying one that had equipment already installed on it, Iv'e found ships that have had equipment on them like shields and weapons but I'm sure when I've brought them the ex-owner has always stripped them before leaving lol

[X-Warrior B AS]

To put it simple: when you buy a ship it is treated the very same way as when you capture it. So usually you end up with just a few cheap upgrades, but sometimes you may find shields or weapons intact.
That's how I view it anyway

[Chazzie]

If its part of the game balance I can understand it - but its a little odd don't you think that the pilot floats of with several tonnes of shielding equipment stashed in the 'backpack'!!

[Legionnaire]

Hes got an accomplice nearby with a TS and a transporter device, the pilot only makes his way towards the station while your watching then his pal picks him up and they set up the next scam.


That's why I always grab the pilot as well and sell em as slaves


Legionnaire

[pjknibbs]

If its part of the game balance I can understand it - but its a little odd don't you think that the pilot floats of with several tonnes of shielding equipment stashed in the 'backpack'!!

More likely he trips demolition charges so you don't get hold of the expensive shields and stuff. Leastways, that's the idea with normal bailing; when he's just sold you the ship that part is somewhat harder to justify!

[AjRyder]

If you get really cheap ships, which do come along I am storing mine up to recycle in my PHQ

[shireknight]

Ok I got proven a liar yesterday, I brought a second-hand Argon Military Transport and it came with 2x 200mj shields and 4 Marines in it's hold, one of which was pretty much trained up to the teeth.

Unfortunately I dropped a huge clanger as I had never heard of the ship before and as it was from a space station salesman and not a sector salesman I didn't have the chance check it out before buying it -I think you can guess what's coming.

The guy only wanted around 2.3 million for it and I thought hmm Magnetar sounds like an M6 so greedily snapped it up only to find to my horror that I could have brought my own one from a shipyard for 400'000.

I took it back to see if I could get a refund but the station was closed

[eladan]

Ok I got proven a liar yesterday, I brought a second-hand Argon Military Transport and it came with 2x 200mj shields and 4 Marines in it's hold, one of which was pretty much trained up to the teeth.

As with normal bails, there's a chance that some equipment (and cargo) will be left. You got lucky.

Not sure why this is still in tech support, as it seems to have moved into gameplay discussion... teleporting.

[philip_hughes]

If you have a fair idea on what the ship is worth then you can make a bit out of them.

picked up a discoverer for 1200. Sold for 30,000 once repaired.

Mercury super freighter for 120,000 sold for 300,000.

etc.

Don't understand why the pilot chooses to sell for under market value, then destroy equipment he could have gotten extra cash for.

[pelador]

I use a rule of thumb:

<= 85% Hull to make it worth while repairing if selling (Unless M6). If its an M5 in space think wether I need it as when the equipment stripping occurs it will no doubt make the price less than the ship return if selling, unless hull less than about 75%.

And the most important rule: Check the station price twice if its a Teladi advertising.

[shireknight]

And the most important rule: Check the station price twice if its a Teladi advertising.

LMAO.

I make quite a bit of cash buying M3's for around the 200'000 mark repairing them myself and flogging them for 1'000'000+

[VincentTH]

I really laugh at those suggesting this is a feature, and work as intended. It make no-sense w.r.t. immersion why the shields and equipments just disappear out of thin air. I can understand that when a pilot jump out of his ship, he set up destruction charge, but this is a sale of a ship. I surely will take the owner to court if he sets up destruction charge on his ship after selling me, under market or not.

It is just simply a matter of lazy programmer re-using the bail-ship-ownership transfer for the sale of the ship.

[perkint]

I don't buy many but on the ones I have, I have noticed a significantly higher chance (not sure - might even be every one) of getting the ship with equipment if it's docked when you buy it.

Tim

[NeverSnake]

I really laugh at those suggesting this is a feature, and work as intended. It make no-sense w.r.t. immersion why the shields and equipments just disappear out of thin air. I can understand that when a pilot jump out of his ship, he set up destruction charge, but this is a sale of a ship. I surely will take the owner to court if he sets up destruction charge on his ship after selling me, under market or not

Well there's clearly some sort of gateless jumpdrive sold somewhere that the player hasn't found yet so maybe the breakthrough in technology has also allowed for a longer range but freight-only transporter device, in which case what happens makes perfect sense.

I thought the equipment was pre-determined based on the price (with some variation so you could get ripped off), has someone tested it and found it to be randomly destroyed like bailing?