Drone Carrier Software (DCS) v1.31 (2012-05-17)

[DrBullwinkle]

I know who your avatar is. I wonder who else also knows....

I would think that many people on this forum recognize Captain Chode of Starship Bob ("R" version -- Viewer discretion advised). Or they should.

He is the ultimate Privateer.

I could not find a good picture of the original Bullwinkle... I guess that would require searching the historical archives.

[CKYRules]

So i just started playing X3TC again and was using your DCS in my xenon sectors, works like a charm. I have one question though as i havent seen it happen yet, will the drones eventually dock at the vessel the launched from once all enemy threats are delt with?

[DrBullwinkle]

works like a charm.

Glad to hear it!

will the drones eventually dock at the vessel they launched from once all enemy threats are dealt with?

Sure.

I'm not sure that I understand the point of patrolling *inside* a Xenon sector. Others have done it as a joke/test, but it should work just fine.

And, yes, the drones dock at the carrier when done with their missions.
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[ThommoHawk]

^ about drones docking oos: just want to mention in vanilla (AP) drones will dock with a carrier ship (any ship which can dock fighters and has carrier command software installed). Sometimes I manually eject drones to assist in an oos battle after which i command them to 'follow' and viola! they dock back to the carrier. iirc in TC they also did this on their own without my having to issue the 'follow' command. in this way they seem to behave like fighters. Edit: I have not tried it with non-carriers (like TSs etc) and wonder if it is the software or the ship type itself with determines this function..?

[CKYRules]

I'm not sure that I understand the point of patrolling *inside* a Xenon sector. Others have done it as a joke/test, but it should work just fine.

Im patroling the xenon sectors that i have claimed with lazcorps system claim. I eradicated the Xenon and started taking over their sectors and as you know the respawn every so often. [/quote]

[DrBullwinkle]

Im patroling the xenon sectors that i have claimed with lazcorps system claim.

Yes, that makes sense. DCS should be excellent in that role.

For a single sector, I find "Defend Sector" to be more effective than actually patrolling the sector. The drone carrier will stay near the center of the sector until it detects enemy threats, and will return to the center after eliminating them.
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[CKYRules]

Okay ill give that a try, because right now ive got a single m7 in my captured Xenon sectors set to patrol that sector. Ill switch them to defend and see how it works

[Troubleshooter11]

Like your Marine Repairs script, i find this one interesting but run into the same 'issue', which is preferring to spend a few resources to build drones insted of your ship just requiring credits.

That makes this nitpicker ask the same question as in the marine repairs thread: Is there any chance you could be interested in making an option to use resources insted of credits? Either tech resources, or base minerals you can get from Mobile Mining.

[DrBullwinkle]

Is there any chance you could be interested in making an option to use resources instead of credits?

Maybe Nividium for a future version of DCS. MAYBE. And it would be an optional replacement for credits, rather than a requirement.

Two of the main design goals for DCS are that it should be reliable and automated. The idea is that you can start DCS on your patrol ship, then more or less forget about it until it runs into serious trouble.

Although it is possible to resupply combat ships, the logistics of doing so are complicated and far from reliable. If you want complicated and unreliable, then try CODEA.

In a future version of DCS, drones will be much more expensive, and will have tighter controls on numbers of launches. When we add those features, we may consider Nividium as an optional resource (instead of credits).

The reason for Nividium, rather than other resources, is that Nividium is not easy to sell or consume. There is an intentional "gap" in the consumption of Nividium, which could be filled by scripts that can consume it as an optional resource.

Other resources do not need such help. To consume other resources is something that has already been done, in many other scripts, and throughout the vanilla game.

[lich83]

It looks great, any preliminary ETA?

[DrBullwinkle]

It looks great, any preliminary ETA?

DCS is available now. The link is on the first page of this thread, at the top. Right under the title.

The planned "Balanced Mode" requires a full rewrite of DCS, so it is a more significant job. Status is "in progress" and ETA is "when it is done".

However, DCS is popular as it is. And, the more I use it, the more I think that Balanced Mode may not be so important. In order for DCS to be reliable in a heavily combat-tweaked game, it must be a bit overpowered when OOS.

Apricotslice said that "reliable and hard to kill" is the way that it should work. Perhaps he was right about that.
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[lich83]

Ok, I will use it as it is in my next game:)

[Ranom]

Fiddled around with this mod tonight as I was curious what it could do. Some notes:
Played on XRM, the rest of the mods shouldn't make a different
Used the Hub sector as the test, set to two different Xenon-Xenon gates and one Xenon-pirate.

Found out something interesting... If you set the script to on, the carrier can, in fact, be docked while still wrecking everything around it. A docked M6 with the script running also did the same thing from the safety of my M1.

While connecting the gates, I saw the drones engage and destroy three xenon capital ships (with escort) simultaneously. It seems like drones, once they finish their kill, are reassigned to the carrier's target (guessing), which doesn't function while it's docked, so they just fly around until they run out of energy, regardless of remaining enemies. They're also not limited by radar. Neither are issues, really, but worth mentioning.

Drones did have SLIGHT issues catching quicker (~225m/s+) ships while docked, but as most XRM ships are significantly faster than vanilla, so that's easily forgivable. And by some, I mean some of the M4-M5 patrols that got lucky on what gates they were crossing. The overwhelming majority were, fast or not, slaughtered. In a normal sector, I suspect this could be safely ignored.

As said in the OP, you CAN get the carrier killed easily if you try by having it go toe to toe with capital ships, but that's to be expected. Tried using half shielded elephant, and sure enough, it died.

All and all, I'm loving the script. It's not that I view myself as a cheap player, but I truly loathe OOS defense. Having a fleet take significant losses to an invasion I could safely handle with half the firepower, which of course only gets worse if you don't instantly replace the losses? Just... not fun, and way too expensive, both in time and money. This really helps with that. Thanks a bunch for making it. I'll be looking forward to see what the balanced version ends up looking like.

( Sorry, bit longer than I meant for it to be. )

If anyone's still reading, remember I said Xenon-Xenon sectors and a pirate/xenon dead end sector was used? It was downright depressing how many traders were apparently still flying through deep Xenon space to buy some damn BoFu.

[DrBullwinkle]

I'm glad you like DCS, Ranom!

The drone behavior that you describe is normal (other than launching them while docked). If XRM drones cannot catch XRM ships, then that would be a balance issue to take up on the XRM thread. However, speed is rarely a major obstacle in X games since enemies normally fly TOWARDS your ships (in order to attack them).

As you say, DCS is particularly good at OOS patrol and sector defense. That is the primary role for which it was created.

If you are having trouble with traders in hostile territory, then take a look at Mk3 Optimization Reloaded. Among other things, it solves most of the vanilla problems with traders dying from stupid AI.

Thanks for the comments.

[zlobsic]

Can any1 post link to ZIP archive of this please?) My plugin manager got critical errors everytime i try to open .spk.

[DrBullwinkle]

If the Plugin Manager works for other .spks, then you probably just have a bad download. Try downloading again.

If the PM crashes for other .spks, then post in the PM thread.

When the PM is installed correctly, you should be able to right-click on the .spk and "Extract to .zip" if you really want a zip archive (although that should be unnecessary).

[UnexplainedBeeping]

I wanted to make a small suggestion.

Integrate a menu to choose how many and which types of fighter drones the carrier buys/builds/uses. This could be especially useful when you do add a cost to the drones, and someone wishes to provide drones they are manufacturing. Perhaps even saved per ship or save game so you can adjust for your liking/manufacturing.

Flavor of drones aside: the script is quite brutal. I've had issues with xenon constantly coming out into zyarth's dominion. Not any more Thanks for all your hard work.

[DrBullwinkle]

choose how many and which types of fighter drones the carrier buys/builds/uses.

It could happen in a future version. Thanks.

the script is quite brutal. I've had issues with xenon constantly coming out into zyarth's dominion. Not any more Thanks for all your hard work.

I'm glad you like it, and thank you for the report, Beeping!

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[TouchMyNipple]

Maybe start "balancing" by adding a control switch, that lets you chose, how many drones are able to be launched (maybe limit drones per target). And anpther menu that lets you setup the suply chain (required / optional resources, ammount of credits consumed per drone if no resources were availible, myabe decide wich resources you need - i'd be using at least 3-4 types of components as a payment for overpoerability) and that could make things have sense - you can still use an ZOMGOP version but if you want a chelenge you will need a factory complex to suply your ship and a trade line. Something like that.

[DrBullwinkle]

[Description of LSDC...]

What you describe is LSDC by Logain Abler. DCS is designed to overcome several shortcomings of LSDC.

I am in favor of adding additional challenge if it does not break the primary goal, which is reliable OOS patrol. If you can think of a way to add resource requirements without disabling the drone carrier if it runs out of supplies, then I would consider it.

In any case, balancing DCS is more complex than this. It requires a full rewrite, and different behavior In-Sector versus Out Of Sector. For OOS, the best balancing technique that I can think of is to make the drones very expensive.

Thanks for making suggestions!

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