[MOD] Manual Command Extension v0.20 (Updated : Jun 28, 2014)

[BlackRain]

I am glad you are taking on this task even though I know it must be difficult. Thanks for your hard work.

[swatti]

Im hoping to see a way to make cap-ships attack stuff on command or a stance to do so automaticly. Simple "fly within 1-2km" would do the trick.

Also, now late UFO had/has issue with ships boosting around madly. Avoid that ^^

[Mad_Joker]

Im hoping to see a way to make cap-ships attack stuff on command or a stance to do so automaticly. Simple "fly within 1-2km" would do the trick.

Also, now late UFO had/has issue with ships boosting around madly. Avoid that ^^

Yeah, I never quite managed to figure out what was causing it. But I'm glad to see that someone else took up the ideas UFO had, and even extended upon them. Let's see where this goes.

[BlackRain]

Berserk I am not sure the escort command is working correctly on small ships, or maybe something is interfering with it. I gave 5 small ships the escort me command and they just sit there and don't move.


edit --- When I was in a different zone and ordered them to escort me, they started moving. I don't know what the issue is.

[BlackRain]

I don't think the escort me command is working or something is messing with it. I flew to a sector that had enemy ships and they followed me through the superhighway to that sector but when the enemy was firing on them or me, they just sat there and died, they did not defend themselves.



Edit--- is this script interfering with the stock escort script? Even when my ships are just following me (without giving any commands) they don't protect me.

[IRaven]

Yeah i am getting a lot of DeBug Log Errors from this mod. especially one from your move.escort replace.

[Berserk Knight]

Sorry about the escort command working up.
That one wan't exactly up to "usable" standards, as the stock escort scripts were simply not made for use by the player.
(I put it in there to work as a "placeholder" at best. Sadly, looks like it's not up to that standard either.)


*Updates on the current progress.

My new escort scripts themselves are nearly ready.
- Escort formations and break/engage distances have been implemented, and are confirmed to work as intended within the same zone and until the battle begins.
(I'm still checking/tweaking the "regroup" behavior after battle/zone change.)
- I still need to work on recalling the escorts back.

New attack/combat movement scripts is on the list of things to do after this release.
- I'm using mostly stock scripts right now, and you just can't update the scripts with new priority targets without simply restarting the script completely. The new targets it found with it's gravidar? Reset as well. (No wonder UFO just built everything from scratch...)

Fleet scripts haven't been made yet. (The work should be mostly "copy finished escort script" followed by "modify a few lines in said script" so not that big of a job once escort is finished.)

Targeting system currently working more or less as planned.
- Enemy Xenon ships can not be targeted. (Totally expected behavior. Unable to work around this one yet.)

One of the side-effects of all the new stuff is that most commands now need 4 or 5 inputs after opening comms.
- If you manage to remember where all the commands are, it takes around 5 sec, but if not, it may take a while to get used to.


Created something I call the "BK Universal Comm Menu" system.
- The "targeting" system for MCE would have caused major issues with other mods that require a comm menu slot, such as Euclid's Auto Trader.
(There's only ONE slot left for non-squad ships in vanilla.)
- I said "would have" because this system is able to expand that single free comm menu slot *indefinitely* as long as mods use the new comm menu instead of the original slot.
(Requirements are simple : one "setup" cue to register your comm menus, and one "handler" cue to catch the result and relay it to your main handler.)
- Ah, right. This one's standalone, independent from MCE.


Edit : Added some pics of new formations.

[clj]

All of the other commands I have tried are working, fortunately, or else the whole game would be completely unplayable. Regrettably, my ships ignore the "Move to me" command, at least if they are in the same zone I am. The notification appears on my screen, and says "order acknowledged", and "moving to [the current zone]", but the ships do nothing, at least if I am in the same zone they are. Is anyone else having this problem?

[Berserk Knight]

MCE 0.15 is out.

Please delete the ManualCommandExtension folder before installing MCE 0.15, as some of the old files are not needed.

*** New features ***
Changes to previously implemented commands
- Some of them can now be issued with other ships as targets. (Instead of just "move to my position and hold" you can also issue a "move to that ship's position and hold" too.)
- Most of them had their scripts modified to handle various situations and work properly.

Align to Target
- Orders the ship to point directly at the target.

Move Forward
- Orders the ship to move straight forward a certain distance. (You get to set the distance in multiples of 5km, up to 25km.)

Attack Target
- Orders the ship to attack the target. It will not be available if the target is one of your own.

Escort Commands
- Has options for formations and break/engage distances.
- Break distance can be 0 ("do not break formation") for capitals.
- Sub-formations are available for fighters escorting capitals.

Fleet Commands (Still a bit experimental. Haven't been able to test much.)
- Basically "Escort Commands" with a built-in system to give simple orders to the escorted ship without needing to find and call said ship everytime.

Targeting system
- Comm menu based targeting system.
- Currently can not target Xenon ships, due to not being able to open comms with them. (If you own them either through mods or editing, you should be able to open comms and target them.)

Mass Selection/Commands
- Add/remove single or multiple ships to the selection at once, and give certain orders to the entire selection in one go. (The number of orders available are currently extremely limited. This was planned for later, but kinda got rushed to help me test the Escort and Fleet commands...)
- Currently limited to "Join/Leave Squad", "Escort Me/Target/This", and "Join Fleet". (As I said, extemely limited...)


*Experimental!* Trade Option for traders/miners under Station Managers
(Completely experimental. Use at your own risk, or at least after saving the game. Couldn't get around to testing this one.)
- Limit trade to wares currently in the cargo hold. (At least, that's what it's supposed to do.)
- Reset the trade limit. (This one shouldn't cause problems.)

[clj]

This is some amazing work! I am extremely excited about the new features you have added. I am using this mod already. It does seem to have a minor issue, in that the notification that comes up to tell the player that a ship has completed an order doesn't ever seem to go away, and it prevents the player from ever seeing any other notifications, or info about a targeted ship, or anything else that is normally displayed there. :/ It could be that it is interacting in unexpected way with another mod, but I have checked that none of my other mods modify any of the files that MCE does...

[Informer]

Good job, for this great mod

[astaldion]

Thanks for keep working on this great mod, without it i could impossibly play X-Rebirth ever again!

But i have a little question. Do you remember the neat little XR mod "improved fleets"? It was just very useful to get confirmations of your move/escort/trade orders and after having completed these.

I am not sure, if this would be too much work, but maybe you could look into the mod and find out, if it would be too much work to update it as well and integrate it into your mod.

[BlackRain]

Curious if any news on this? Can't wait for more features and such.

[Berserk Knight]

Sorry. Reaper of Souls happened. Progress temporarily halted.


Updates on what I've got right now. (Things that were done before RoS launch.)

Added a new way of selecting targets through the Universe Menu.
(BK Universal Comm Menu will also be updated for this.)
Select a target from a list that is sorted by size - S, M, L, XL, and Structure. XS left out on purpose.
(Yes, you can target stations, jump beacons, and gates. Order your ships to go through the gate before you when the PMC attempts to put up quarantine.)

Internal modifications to the MCE commands so the regular commands also work for Fleet Command and Mass Command as well.

2 new "Missions" that track your MCE Target and MCE Mass Selection. (No more guessing what it was after some time. Also doubles as cleanup when said target is destroyed.)

[astaldion]

Could you at least release a small compatibility patch? I think all the escort, attack, follow and prob. some other commands aren't working anymore.

Yesterday i managed to order my arawn to attack a xenon K, but it took a lot of "move forwards", "move to target", "allign to target" commands, until it did.

[BlackRain]

I am having a problem with the fleet commands. When I order the admiral of the fleet to go to another sector (where he needs to use his jumpdrive) the capital ships in the fleet do not follow the lead ship, they just sit in the same zone they were in.

[Wana]

Just curious, does anyone of you are encountering "ships sliding" when a capital group lands in a zone ?

My ships are part of a main battle fleet, (so they're should be in formation)
and when the commander comes to me, followers start sliding like in UFO mod.

it does not happen if they're ordered to move separately.

[Berserk Knight]

Not into farming for gear too much, so the "Reaper of Souls" situation will be ending shortly.

Could you at least release a small compatibility patch? I think all the escort, attack, follow and prob. some other commands aren't working anymore.

Yesterday i managed to order my arawn to attack a xenon K, but it took a lot of "move forwards", "move to target", "allign to target" commands, until it did.

I am having a problem with the fleet commands. When I order the admiral of the fleet to go to another sector (where he needs to use his jumpdrive) the capital ships in the fleet do not follow the lead ship, they just sit in the same zone they were in.

Will look into it.

Just curious, does anyone of you are encountering "ships sliding" when a capital group lands in a zone ?

My ships are part of a main battle fleet, (so they're should be in formation)
and when the commander comes to me, followers start sliding like in UFO mod.

it does not happen if they're ordered to move separately.

That's a little problem I've got left over from trying to get the entire group to move "in formation" as much as possible when in sector.
(Otherwise, the escorts arrive at least a minute late from getting to THEIR exit points in the zone after the escorted ship moves out.)

They shouldn't be boosting once they get in escort range though... :/
(Unless the escorted ship just started boosting again for whatever reason.)

[Informer]

Not into farming for gear too much, so the "Reaper of Souls" situation will be ending shortly.

Could you at least release a small compatibility patch? I think all the escort, attack, follow and prob. some other commands aren't working anymore.

Yesterday i managed to order my arawn to attack a xenon K, but it took a lot of "move forwards", "move to target", "allign to target" commands, until it did.

I am having a problem with the fleet commands. When I order the admiral of the fleet to go to another sector (where he needs to use his jumpdrive) the capital ships in the fleet do not follow the lead ship, they just sit in the same zone they were in.

Will look into it.

Just curious, does anyone of you are encountering "ships sliding" when a capital group lands in a zone ?

My ships are part of a main battle fleet, (so they're should be in formation)
and when the commander comes to me, followers start sliding like in UFO mod.

it does not happen if they're ordered to move separately.

That's a little problem I've got left over from trying to get the entire group to move "in formation" as much as possible when in sector.
(Otherwise, the escorts arrive at least a minute late from getting to THEIR exit points in the zone after the escorted ship moves out.)

They shouldn't be boosting once they get in escort range though... :/
(Unless the escorted ship just started boosting again for whatever reason.)

Big thanks.

[Berserk Knight]

Trying some stuff with how the fleet follows the fleet commander.
- When moving to the commander for the first time, they move regularly.
- When moving through gates, all ships move like normal.
- When the commander moves to a different sector, all capitals jump immediately, skipping jump drive charging. The logic is that the commander would've prepped the entire fleet for jump prior to actually jumping by providing jump coordinates and syncing their jump countdowns or whatever.
- When the commander moves to a different sector, all fighters are teleported to the fleet commander. The logic is that there would've been some way for the fighters to dock on the capitals before the jump occurs.
(It can take up to 0.5 sec for the fighters to move. That "random" delay had to be put in because "teleporting" 20 fighters at the exact same moment apparantly crashes the game.)

The above are currently working more or less as planned. This next one...I'm still trying to get it right.
- When moving between zones, ships will (hopefully) stay in formation during transit and NOT goof off somewhere.


Also, I believe the attack commands aren't "working" mainly because the scripts are coded to ignore all targets beyond 5.5km.
Added some lines so the ships try to fly within 5km of the target before executing the "attack" script.


...Back to testing.