This mod introduces the Pilot Academy, allowing the Player to train pilots through simple trading while simultaneously improving relations with factions.
Features
- Intuitive UI: Easily manage all Academy operations.
- Pilot Training: Train pilots effectively using trade operations.
- Faction Relations: Improve the Player's standing with other factions through trade.
- Wing Organization: Organize the Player's trainees into Wings for efficient management.
- Goal Selection: Prioritize either pilot training or improving relations.
- Faction Limiting: Restrict training and relation-building activities to specific factions for each Wing.
- Researchable Upgrades:
- Expand to 9 Wings.
- Train pilots up to the 5-star rank.
- Automatically hire Cadets from selected factions.
- Automatically assign Trained Pilots to the Player's ships based on priority.
- The Academy currently only supports small (S-class) ships.
- Trades used for the training process are non-profitable and uses only one item of selected ware per transaction.
- X4: Foundations: Version 8.00HF3 or newer.
- UI Extensions and HUD: Version v8.0.4.0 or higher by kuertee.
- Available on Nexus Mods: UI Extensions and HUD
- Mod Support APIs: Version 1.95 or higher by SirNukes.
- Available on Steam: SirNukes Mod Support APIs
- Available on Nexus Mods: Mod Support APIs
This is a complex mod and may have undiscovered issues. Please report any problems on the Nexus Mods or Steam Workshop pages.
Installation
- Steam Workshop: Pilot Academy: Ranks and Relations
- Nexus Mods: Pilot Academy: Ranks and Relations
- After the Academy's location is set, the Player can create the first Wing.
- Once a Wing is created, any number of Wingmen can be added to it.
- Immediately after Wing creation, a special order will search for the best trade deal to increase rank and relations.
- After each sale, the ship pilot's current rank will be checked against the target level.
- If the rank is reached, the presence of Cadets at the Academy station will be checked, and the first available candidate will be transferred to the ship.
- If no Cadets are detected, the Auto Hire option will be checked. If enabled, a new Cadet will be hired for the ship, and the appropriate fee will be paid.
- If no Cadets are available and Auto Hire is disabled, the script will repeat these checks in 3 minutes.
- Otherwise, the Trained Pilot on the ship will be swapped with a Cadet and then moved to the Academy station.
- If the Assign option is not set to Manual, and the last assignment turn was finished at least 2 minutes ago, the Auto Assign procedure will be initiated.
- Based on the Assign setting, a ship with a pilot who has a lower rank (and is below the target rank level) will be selected.
- Please take in account: if crew is full, by default you will get a warning notification and the pilot swapping will not be performed. But if the option Auto fire less skilled crew member if crew is full is enabled, the less qualified crew member will be automatically dismissed to free up space for the new pilot transfer.
- If such a ship is found, the Trained Pilot will be assigned as its pilot, and the existing pilot will be transferred to the Academy station as a new Cadet.
- Every 3 minutes, the Auto Assign procedure will repeat to check for available Trained Pilots.
After installation, a new icon will appear on the left menu panel. Clicking it opens the Academy management window.
The Academy window has three types of tabs:
- Academy Settings
- Cadets and Pilots
- Wings management tabs, including Add New Wing
The Academy Settings tab includes controls for location, target skill level, auto-hiring, and auto-assigning Trained Pilots.
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The Academy uses an assigned Player-owned or other faction's station as living quarters for Cadets and Trained Pilots.
In the early game, when the Player may not own any stations, other factions' wharfs, shipyards, or trading stations can be used, depending on the Player's reputation with them.
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If the Player owns any stations, other factions' stations will not appear in the location list.
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At any time, the Player can reset the Academy location by pressing the button with the current station info. A new station can then be selected from the dropdown.
After pressing the Update button, the location will be changed, and Cadets and Trained Pilots will be moved to the new Academy station.
Auto Hire Cadets
After completing the appropriate research, the Player can enable the auto-hire feature.
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Auto Assign Trained Pilots
Once researched, the Player can enable auto-assign in the Academy interface. This allows the Player to set priorities for assigning pilots who have reached the target rank, based on ship role and size.
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Pilot will be assigned based on the selected priority:
- By ship purpose: The Player can prioritize ships based on their role, such as combat, trading, or mining.
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- By ship size: The Player can prioritize ships based on their size, from small to large or vice versa.
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But if the option Auto fire less skilled crew member if crew is full is enabled, the less qualified crew member will be automatically dismissed to free up space for the new pilot transfer.
Cadets and Pilots
This tab displays a list of the Player's Cadets and Trained Pilots. Initially, both lists will be empty.
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The Player can manually hire Cadets in two ways:
- From the global Personnel Management screen.
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- From the crew tab of the Player's existing ships.
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It will take some time to transfer Cadets from their original location, and they will be grayed out while in transit.
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If auto-assign is not used, Trained Pilots will return to the Academy.
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Wings
All training functionality of the Academy is based on Wings. Each Wing can contain any number of Wingmen. The Player must select one ship as a Wing Leader and then add any number of direct subordinates with the Mimic directive.
Initially, the Player can manage 3 Wings. To increase the number of available Wings, the Player must complete the appropriate research.
To start, open the Add New Wing tab.
Add New Wing
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First, the Player must select a Primary Goal for the Wing:
- Increase Rank: Work with any faction to complete as many trade runs as possible in a given time.
- Gain Reputation: Focus on deals with specific factions to increase reputation with them.
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Since the market situation is not static, the Wing Commander must re-check market data to be most effective. The Player can set a value from 5 minutes to one hour.
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The main part of Wing creation is selecting the Wing Leader. Use the appropriate dropdown, which will display all unassigned S-class ships, sorted by their pilots' ranks.
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Simply press the Create button to finalize the Wing creation process.
Wing Management Tab
Immediately after Wing creation, the current tab focus will switch to the newly created Wing. The first one will be Alpha.
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The Player can add any number of Wingmen to an existing Wing at any time on the appropriate Wing... tab using the Add Wingman dropdown.
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The Player can use the standard I key (or another, depending on key binding settings) to open the Information window if a Wing Leader or Wingman is selected on the Wing tab.
The same action is available via the Context Menu.
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The previously mentioned researchable upgrades are available in the standard Research interface under the Pilot Academy RnR group:
- Pilot Academy. Five wings: Extends the Academy capacity to support five wings.
- Pilot Academy. Nine wings: Extends the Academy capacity to support nine wings.
- Pilot Academy. 3-star pilots: Allows training of 3-star pilots in the Academy.
- Pilot Academy. 4-star pilots: Allows training of 4-star pilots in the Academy.
- Pilot Academy. 5-star pilots: Allows training of 5-star pilots in the Academy.
- Pilot Academy. Auto hire: Adds the ability to automate Cadet hiring from desired factions.
- Pilot Academy. Auto assign: Adds the ability to automate pilot assignment to ships outside the Academy.
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An options menu is available via the Extension Options menu.
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- Enable / disable the notifications in the Notification Ticker and Logbook.
- Set the debug level for the mod. By default, it is set to No debug.
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Several notifications are implemented to keep the Player informed about important events related to Academy operations. They will be shown in the standard notifications area (ticker) and in the Logbook, if appropriate settings are enabled.
There are examples of texts and notifications screenshots:
- When a pilot has finished training and reached the target rank: "Pilot %s has reached the target skill level %s."
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- When no free Cadets are available at the academy to replace a trained pilot: "No free cadets available for pilots swapping!"
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- If a new Cadet is hired: "Cadet %s has been hired for %s {1001,101}."
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- If there is no free space on a ship to transfer a Cadet: "No free crew capacity on %s to do pilot swapping!"
- When a new Cadet is assigned to a Wing: "Cadet %s assigned as pilot on %s."
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- When a Trained Pilot is moved back to the academy: "Pilot %s has been moved back to Academy. You can now assign them to any new task."
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- With Auto Assign, when a Trained Pilot arrives on a new ship: "Pilot %s has been transferred on %s."
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- An then on pilots swapping: "Pilot %s assigned as pilot on %s."
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- After moving the "old" one to the Academy, the Player will be notified with: "Pilot %s appointed as new Academy cadet."
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- In case of errors in Cadet and Trained Pilot transfers and swaps, several warning messages will be displayed:
- "Can't perform pilot swapping on %s! Please do it manually!"
- "Can't return pilot %s to the Academy! Please do it manually!"
- "No free capacity at Academy to return pilot %s! Please resolve it!"
- "Can't move new pilot %s to %s!"
- And hopefully, this warning will not be displayed: "Can't assign Academy training order on wing %s with leader ship %s! Please report the issue!"
- Author: Chem O`Dun, on Nexus Mods and Steam Workshop
- "X4: Foundations" is a trademark of Egosoft.