BUG: S/M Fabrication bay is not a DOCK

[thedavid]

The S/M Fabrication bay is not counted as being a dock for Boso's escape mission.

How to reproduce.

Have a character who does not own the blueprints for a dock. Save up 117 million credits and buy the S/M Fabrication bay.

Get the Boso Signal Leak and do the Anomaly Jump mission. Put down a satellite and resource probe. Sacrifice a ship to get the HQ. Once you get HQ ownership plan build. Attach the S/M Fabrication bay to the HQ. Spend 11 to 12 million building it. When it is finished land and access the elevator and see that you can get to your personal office.

Expected Behavior:
Boso should see that we were able to land and should say "no, it appears we are still locked out from direct access."

What actually happens:
Boso does not recognize that we were able to land. Instead you have to go to a faction representative, spend at least 300,000 on a dock blueprint and then spend even more building it.

I recognize that this is likely a rare problem, maybe not worth fixing. However, to make the game as complete as possible, it is a bug that should be fixed. I can't imagine it would be difficult.

Not tested:
Any piers
S/M Terran Fabrication bay
S/M Maintenance bay Terran or Argon
L Maintenance bay or Fabrication bay Terran or Argon
XL Maintenance bay or Fabrication bay Terran or Argon

Ideally all of these should allow the quest to progress so I can shoot at a Split.

[taztaz502]

The question is why are you building a wharf that you can't supply.

I wouldn't say this is a bug more like a very slight oversight if even that, Quest says to build a dock you should probably build a dock not a wharf.

[Nanook]

The question is why are you building a wharf that you can't supply....

Maybe because he wants to build a wharf instead of a dock? Saves having to deconstruct the dock later if he really wants to have the wharf instead. And who says he can't supply it? If he has the money and rep to buy the wharf blueprint, I'd bet he could supply it.

And since the wharf has all the functionality, and them some, of a dock, it should work. If you look on the map after occupying the HQ, you'll see that Boso's lab is not located on the dock, but in the structure of the HQ itself. So I see no reason that a wharf couldn't serve the same purpose as a dock to allow completion of the mission. Do you?

[chew-ie]

An interesting approach - spend hundreds of hours to be able to afford that blueprint and THEN do the "starting mission"

But yeah - should be looked into. Guess the devs didn't thought about someone delaying that quest for ages ^^.

[Nanook]

An interesting approach - spend hundreds of hours to be able to afford that blueprint and THEN do the "starting mission"

But yeah - should be looked into. Guess the devs didn't thought about someone delaying that quest for ages ^^.

Doesn't have to be delayed "for ages" if you start a Creative Custom game. You can give yourself all the credits, ships, stations, blueprints, etc., that you want at the start of the game and then do the PHQ questline.

[Raptor34]

Incidentally, does the game warn you if you build a station with a wharf but without a dock?
Btw note that faction wharves have no docks too.

[chew-ie]

An interesting approach - spend hundreds of hours to be able to afford that blueprint and THEN do the "starting mission"

But yeah - should be looked into. Guess the devs didn't thought about someone delaying that quest for ages ^^.

Doesn't have to be delayed "for ages" if you start a Creative Custom game. You can give yourself all the credits, ships, stations, blueprints, etc., that you want at the start of the game and then do the PHQ questline.

I never have enough credits for a wharf or shipyard blueprint - I've to add all those paintmods with an absurdly high number in order to (almost) never run out of them.

[BitByte]

The S/M Fabrication bay is not counted as being a dock for Boso's escape mission.

How to reproduce.

Have a character who does not own the blueprints for a dock. Save up 117 million credits and buy the S/M Fabrication bay.

Get the Boso Signal Leak and do the Anomaly Jump mission. Put down a satellite and resource probe. Sacrifice a ship to get the HQ. Once you get HQ ownership plan build. Attach the S/M Fabrication bay to the HQ. Spend 11 to 12 million building it. When it is finished land and access the elevator and see that you can get to your personal office.

Expected Behavior:
Boso should see that we were able to land and should say "no, it appears we are still locked out from direct access."

What actually happens:
Boso does not recognize that we were able to land. Instead you have to go to a faction representative, spend at least 300,000 on a dock blueprint and then spend even more building it.

I recognize that this is likely a rare problem, maybe not worth fixing. However, to make the game as complete as possible, it is a bug that should be fixed. I can't imagine it would be difficult.

Not tested:
Any piers
S/M Terran Fabrication bay
S/M Maintenance bay Terran or Argon
L Maintenance bay or Fabrication bay Terran or Argon
XL Maintenance bay or Fabrication bay Terran or Argon

Ideally all of these should allow the quest to progress so I can shoot at a Split.

Submit report to TechSupport forum where you describe the issue, how to reproduce it and upload non-modified save file which devs can then use. That way you get your issue for devs attention.
If you provide this kind of message like here (without save) to TechSupport they will only request non-modified save and case ends there until you do that.

Incidentally, does the game warn you if you build a station with a wharf but without a dock?
Btw note that faction wharves have no docks too.

Game will warn you if you build any station without dock (also if pier dock is missing). Message is shown in build mode.

[Raptor34]

Incidentally, does the game warn you if you build a station with a wharf but without a dock?
Btw note that faction wharves have no docks too.

Game will warn you if you build any station without dock (also if pier dock is missing). Message is shown in build mode.

Which means that the game already does not recognize a wharf as a valid dock site? Despite NPC wharves already doing that?

[BitByte]

Which means that the game already does not recognize a wharf as a valid dock site? Despite NPC wharves already doing that?

I tested with my LT game using new plot. When adding S/M fabrication bay missing dock message dissapears but missing pier dock stays.
If adding L or XL fabrication bay it won't remove missing pier dock message.
So S/M fabrication bay is detected as dock in 7.10hf3.

[Raptor34]

Which means that the game already does not recognize a wharf as a valid dock site? Despite NPC wharves already doing that?

I tested with my LT game using new plot. When adding S/M fabrication bay missing dock message dissapears but missing pier dock stays.
If adding L or XL fabrication bay it won't remove missing pier dock message.
So S/M fabrication bay is detected as dock in 7.10hf3.

About what I expected going by how the factions build their stations.
Thanks.

[Nanook]

An interesting approach - spend hundreds of hours to be able to afford that blueprint and THEN do the "starting mission"

But yeah - should be looked into. Guess the devs didn't thought about someone delaying that quest for ages ^^.

Doesn't have to be delayed "for ages" if you start a Creative Custom game. You can give yourself all the credits, ships, stations, blueprints, etc., that you want at the start of the game and then do the PHQ questline.

I never have enough credits for a wharf or shipyard blueprint - I've to add all those paintmods with an absurdly high number in order to (almost) never run out of them.

When you play a Creative Custom game, it's always marked as "modified". So I'm not bothered by that tag and add a little mod that allows me to buy unlimited paintjobs at all the local station traders. (I personally think the stinginess of the game regarding paintjobs is ridiculous. But that's a discussion for another thread. )

[BitByte]

An interesting approach - spend hundreds of hours to be able to afford that blueprint and THEN do the "starting mission"

But yeah - should be looked into. Guess the devs didn't thought about someone delaying that quest for ages ^^.

Doesn't have to be delayed "for ages" if you start a Creative Custom game. You can give yourself all the credits, ships, stations, blueprints, etc., that you want at the start of the game and then do the PHQ questline.

I think 1 key question here is when creative custom game option came to X4 or was it part of it since 1.0?
As that could explain why mission requirements haven't been updated (like devs have done for some other missions after game release) and as S/M fabrication bay (like other fab and maintenance bays) is primary concidered as "build" category module not as "dock" category (when looking from build mode and encyclopedia).

[GCU Grey Area]

I think 1 key question here is when creative custom game option came to X4 or was it part of it since 1.0?

If I recall correctly custom starts were introduced in 4.10.

[thedavid]

What I did to get this was I started a budget game. My budget is maxed out because I have 10,000 hours in this game and I've done just about everything at least once.

Base game, no DLC, no Mods.

I set myself up with mats for EMP bombs. I got a good price at game start of 129,700 for them and ended up with 845 million. This is very easy to replicate.

I headed to Argon Rep and I got the wharf blueprint. Also the shipyards and maintenance bays while I was there.

I went to Black Hole Sun and waited until Boso sent me an email because apparently there's something wrong with me that my brain insists that I have to get that email or I haven't had the full experience.

I get the signal lead and Boso says he placed the device on a nearby DOCKING AREA. That docking area happened to be the maintenance bay in Black Hole Sun.

Ok. But I was saying there was a bug with the wharf not maintenance bay. Ok. Roll it back.

I tested this again though I already knew the outcome. After getting the blueprints from the Argon Rep I just stayed at the Argon wharf and got the signal leak. Again Boso says he placed the device on a nearby DOCKING AREA. This docking area happened to be the wharf.

So yeah, I know bringing this up seems like "first world problems" but I mean, it is a bug. It's like when you get to the top of the mountain in a game that the devs overlooked because they couldn't imagine anyone actually going up there. With enough creative players and enough time, we'll find these things. Now, the question is whether the devs decide to fix it or leave it as is since it's not unreasonable for the player to have to go and get a dock blueprint.

[BitByte]

What I did to get this was I started a budget game. My budget is maxed out because I have 10,000 hours in this game and I've done just about everything at least once.

Base game, no DLC, no Mods.

I set myself up with mats for EMP bombs. I got a good price at game start of 129,700 for them and ended up with 845 million. This is very easy to replicate.

I headed to Argon Rep and I got the wharf blueprint. Also the shipyards and maintenance bays while I was there.

I went to Black Hole Sun and waited until Boso sent me an email because apparently there's something wrong with me that my brain insists that I have to get that email or I haven't had the full experience.

I get the signal lead and Boso says he placed the device on a nearby DOCKING AREA. That docking area happened to be the maintenance bay in Black Hole Sun.

Ok. But I was saying there was a bug with the wharf not maintenance bay. Ok. Roll it back.

I tested this again though I already knew the outcome. After getting the blueprints from the Argon Rep I just stayed at the Argon wharf and got the signal leak. Again Boso says he placed the device on a nearby DOCKING AREA. This docking area happened to be the wharf.

So yeah, I know bringing this up seems like "first world problems" but I mean, it is a bug. It's like when you get to the top of the mountain in a game that the devs overlooked because they couldn't imagine anyone actually going up there. With enough creative players and enough time, we'll find these things. Now, the question is whether the devs decide to fix it or leave it as is since it's not unreasonable for the player to have to go and get a dock blueprint.

Create save where S/M fabrication bay is already built to your PHQ and do things so far that next thing what happens would be Boso says it's not valid docking area.
Then upload that save to reputable sharing site where it can be downloaded without logins and fill the TechSupport report where you include link to that save.

[TheDeliveryMan]

I don't think this is a bug. The mission does not ask for some way to dock at the HQ, it asks for a module of type "Dock Module". Fabrication/Maintenance Bays are of type "Build Module", that's something different. This is consistent with generic station build missions.

[Raptor34]

I don't think this is a bug. The mission does not ask for some way to dock at the HQ, it asks for a module of type "Dock Module". Fabrication/Maintenance Bays are of type "Build Module", that's something different. This is consistent with generic station build missions.

And yet as you can see from BitByte's test above, the station construction menu does acknowledge the S/M fab module as a dock. So while generic station build missions do not accept them, I don't think the HQ not accepting it is intended.

[jlehtone]

I don't think this is a bug. The mission does not ask for some way to dock at the HQ, it asks for a module of type "Dock Module". Fabrication/Maintenance Bays are of type "Build Module", that's something different. This is consistent with generic station build missions.

And yet as you can see from BitByte's test above, the station construction menu does acknowledge the S/M fab module as a dock. So while generic station build missions do not accept them, I don't think the HQ not accepting it is intended.

Early in the game I did build stations for NPC. Being a penny-pincher I ignored the "the plan has no Pier" in the construction menu. I cannot trade with those NPC stations with L freighters (and thus they tend to have the "Best buy/sell" offers to inconvenience me).

In other words, the construction menu's warnings do say: "if you leave the plan as is, then S/M/L ships cannot trade with this station".
Btw, you can plan a station, where M and L, but no S can dock. Does the construction menu warn about that? If not, then that is a bug.


The missions do want specific things (even when they make no sense -- see the fixed loadout Fleet Assemblies). If a mission requests Dock Module, then it does. Being able to dock at the station afterwards is a bonus side-effect.

[Nanook]

...
The missions do want specific things (even when they make no sense -- see the fixed loadout Fleet Assemblies). If a mission requests Dock Module, then it does. Being able to dock at the station afterwards is a bonus side-effect.

I've never had a station build mission that didn't require a dock. Most do not require a pier though I do tend to install one anyway. Helps increase the mission reward.