9.0 BUG: Immortal Station - Modified Save

[nORb Dragon]

I decided to engage in a little space genocide in the name of good. In the process of implementing my idea, I came across a small problem. An immortal station that cannot be destroyed by a multi-fleet force consisting of three battleships, 84 destroyers, a handful of corvettes, and 200+ fighters.

The station's HP stays around 5% (500k+ HP), and at the slightest pause the station repairs itself. Externally ("visual signs"), the station appears to have 100% HP. Not a single module appears damaged or destroyed. I suspect that my ships are stubbornly ignoring some module of the station, which is actually still relatively intact, but due to the impossibility of understanding from "visual signs" what has been destroyed and what has not, I cannot destroy this module myself.

Save file - https://norbdragon.com/uploads/x4/20260 ... 001.xml.gz
Russian localization. Game is marked as modified.

The station is located in the Neptune (sector?), name - "ПИО Карборундовый завод I" (Russian localization). Player is on one of the ships that participates in the destruction of this immortal station.

[Tranxalive]

(Quoting for the notification.)

Hello. If your game is modified, then there isn't much we can do, as depending on the nature of the modification, it could be responsible for the issue, which in such cases we are not responsible for fixing it.

[nORb Dragon]

The nature of the modifications:
- increased rendering range of asteroids and stations;
- reconfigured Xenon fleet layout;
- ship skins available for sale from NPCs;
- additional logos for player.

There are no mods that radically change the game.

If the developer destroys this station, around which my four fleets are circling, without any problems after loading my save file, I'll take note. Maybe I'll just unpack the save and manually delete this station from the file.

For now, I suspect this station is marked "indestructible" due to its connection to the mission to unlock the station module. But I need either confirmation or disproof of this suspicion here.

This station really bothers me; I'm at war with PIO, planning 100% annihilation. I had no plans to make peace with them.

[CBJ]

Sorry, but the list of mods doesn't make any difference. First, we can't be necessarily load the save properly without the mods installed, and second we cannot waste developer time investigating a modified save where mods could well turn out to be causing the problem. You saying that the mods don't affect this doesn't mean it's necessarily true; mods can have side-effects that players, and sometimes even mod authors, aren't aware of.

If you can reproduce the problem in an unmodified game then we can take a look, otherwise you will have to investigate it yourself or take it up with the mods' author((s).

[nORb Dragon]

My opinion: the proposal to start a new game, invest 100+ hours of real time in it to develop to the level where you will have a fleet of sufficient strength to not only destroy station X, but also survive the defensive fleets of PIO in the system for that - is not adequate.

Could I get an answer to two questions?

1) Are there any stations in this game that are physically indestructible due to the game developers' design?

2) If the answer to the first question is "YES", where can I find a list of these stations and/or a suggestion for how to circumvent this restriction?


For now, I suspect this station is marked "indestructible" due to its connection to the mission to unlock the station module. But I need either confirmation or disproof of this suspicion here.

[CBJ]

Your savegame is modified by someone else's work. It's not a standard save and we have no definitive way of knowing whether the situation in it is a result of something we did, or something they did. We are not going to spend potentially spend hours of developer time setting up mods to be able to load your savegame and then analysing it, when the answer is quite likely to be that what you're seeing is a result of someone else's changes to the game.

When you Install mods for a game, you have to understand that you may no longer be able call upon the game's original developers for support. This is pretty standard, not just with games but across most industries. You modify things at your own risk.

Now, moving on, you're welcome to post in the Scripts and Modding forum, where there are plenty of players who may be willing and able to take a look.

[nORb Dragon]

Thank you very much for the detailed answers to my questions, which I have voiced several times above.

Spoiler

Show

For those who haven't been paying attention and haven't noticed, this game has immortal stations. And even ships. Even at the start of a new game.


Immortal stations at the START of a new game (no mods, start as a shrimp assistant):

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Avarice IV:           Tidebreak (CIV)
Earth:                Torus Aeternal Segment #34 (ownerless)
Eighteen Billion:     Woodworm Scrubs (MIN)
Unknown System:       Eye of Beholder (ownerless)
Tharka's Ravine XXIV: Hall of Judgement (ZYA)

Immortal ships at the START of a new game (no mods, start as a shrimp assistant):

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Antigone Memorial:                B (ownerless)
Barren Shores:                    2x Sturgeon (BOR)
Black Hole Sun IV:                The Last Scrap (RIP)
CEO's Doubt:                      Elite Sport (ownerless)
Freedom's Reach:                  Kestrel Sport (ownerless)
Getsu Fune:                       Odachi (ownerless)
Heart of Acrimony I The Boneyard: Ravenous Wight (FRF)
Heretic's End:                    Wayfinder (ALI) + 3x Minotaur Vanguard (ALI) + Heron E (TEL)
Heretic's End:                    Cutlass (ownerless)
Mists of Artemis:                 Sapporo (ownerless)
Moo-Kye's Revenge:                Theseus Sport (ownerless)
Moo-Kye's Revenge:                Unknown Ship (XEN)
Nopileos' Fortune II:             F (ownerless)
Tharka's Cascade XV:              H (ownerless)
Windfall I Union Summit:          Acradian Endeavour (CIV) + Golden Flea (CIV)
Windfall III The Hoard:           Erlking (VIG)
Windfall IV Aurora's Dream:       Everlasting Joy (CIV)

"(ownerless)" ships are unowned ships floating in space without an owner or pilot. If we exclude these player-captured ships, we get the following list:

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Barren Shores:                    2x Sturgeon (BOR) <- for exploratory mission to the Boron Kingdom, waiting for the player on the other side of the gate
Black Hole Sun IV:                The Last Scrap (RIP) <- waiting for the player to show a scripted animation of the scrap metal collector leaving for the gate
Heart of Acrimony I The Boneyard: Ravenous Wight (FRF) <- flagship for the mission to start split civil war
Heretic's End:                    Wayfinder (ALI) + 3x Minotaur Vanguard (ALI) + Heron E (TEL) <- exploratory mission to the Boron Kingdom
Moo-Kye's Revenge:                Unknown Ship (XEN) <- "frozen" Xenon mothership for crisis mission
Windfall I Union Summit:          Acradian Endeavour (CIV) + Golden Flea (CIV) <- Maestro + Ace
Windfall III The Hoard:           Erlking (VIG)
Windfall IV Aurora's Dream:       Everlasting Joy (CIV) <- I suspect this is a ship designed to show scripted animations to the player during their first flight past the casino

After I (presumably) completed all the existing mission chains in my other game session (with mods), where I started as a split of free families, I was left with indestructible stations:

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Avarice IV:           Tidebreak (CIV)
Earth:                Torus Aeternal Segment #34 (ownerless)
Eighteen Billion:     Woodworm Scrubs (MIN)
Leap of Faith:        Eye of Beholder (ownerless)
Neptune:              Silicon Carbide Mill I (PIO)
Savage Spur I:        Pirate Base (YAK)

And list of immortal ships:

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Cardinal's Domain:      Unknown Ship (XEN) <- Xenon mothership for crisis mission
Duke's Awakening II:    Nova Vanguard <- pilot "Эбби Уист" (russian localization), I have no idea why the ship is immortal
Ianamus Zura IV:        Kestrel Sentinel (CIV) <- NPC Myrna Rae, was used for the Hyperion unlock mission
Sanctuary of Darkness:  Wayfinder (ALI) + 3x Minotaur Vanguard (ALI) <- war used for exploratory mission to the Boron Kingdom
Turquoise Sea IX:       Perseus Vanguard <- pilot "Келманчигттаб" (russian localization), I have no idea why the ship is immortal
Windfall III The Hoard: J.P. Morgan's Knife (CIV) <- NPC Dagobas Lahubasis Yorilos III, was used for missions of Avarice on RIP/VIG and the twins

I assume that the game, as the game progresses, places a block on stations and ships if a new mission is launched on them. Let's say, to get a blueprint for a station module, you need to complete a mission assigned to a random station in the Neptune sector?

Are triggers triggered after completing missions that supposedly remove this block? But, as I understand it, these triggers are working sloppily somewhere. Or they've been forgotten altogether. As a result: the map contains indestructible ships and stations, even after completing the missions associated with them.


Finally, I would like to thank the game developers once again for giving me such a detailed answer to my modest questions. I don't know what I would have done without you.

PS:

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<hull min="XXXX" />