[MOD] Better piracy

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Alberto.Rota
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[MOD] Better piracy

Post by Alberto.Rota » Fri, 10. Apr 20, 07:54

Image
Compatibility
Compatible with 3.x, with and without Split vendetta.
Savegame friendly (Both adding and removal)

Description
This mod addresses several piracy gameplay-aspects in X4 that I really dislike.
If you want to force some S/M ship to bail or soften an L/XL ship before boarding, right-click it, choose "Harass" and follow the instructions.
Also, you can configure it as much as you want using the in-game menu.
Image

Major changes explanation
Replaced "Surrender!" dialog option by "Harass" contextual action.
Replaced the confusing and mostly random "Surrender!" dialog option by a more streamlined "Harass" contextual menu action.
If you want to force some S/M ship to bail, or soften an L/XL ship before boarding, right-click it and choose "Harass".
That will start a mission, follow the steps and the prize will be yours.

Create your own pirate gang.
Subordinates of the ship you are piloting will smartly participate in the "Harass operation", helping you while avoiding killing the target.
Tip: Use ships with a lot of shields and prefer high-shield/low-hull damage weapons for maximum effectiveness.

Create your own pirate imperium.
You will be able to instruct your most experienced pilots (3 stars or more) to do harass operations on their own, just assemble a small fleet and assing the Corsair default order to their leader.
Tip: The Argon trading station in Hatikvah's Choice I is usually full of HOP and ZIA traders (ARG/HAT will not protect nor care about them), that's a good spot to start.

Added a lot of config options to let you tune the piracy.
Added more than 20 configuration options to let you tune the mod to your likings.
A detailed explanation of all the changes done by this mod can be found in GitHub

Minor changes explanation
Please, check the GitHub page to get a full list of the minor changes done by this mod.

Credits
vx -> Author of True Capture, where a lot of inspiration was drawn.
Kevrlet -> Author of FixBailChance, where a lot of inspiration was drawn.
SirNukes -> Author of `SirNukes Mod Support APIs`.
Smashicons -> Author of the image used as Thumbnail (https://www.flaticon.es/autores/smashicons)
https://text2voice.org, https://twistedwave.com/online and https://voicechanger.io/ -> All of them used to create the custom dialog lines.

Download links Requirements
This mod requires "SirNukes Mod Support APIs" you can find it here: Changelog
Please, check the GitHub page to get a full changelog.
Last edited by Alberto.Rota on Sat, 16. May 20, 06:40, edited 18 times in total.

zedfactor
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Re: [MOD] Better piracy

Post by zedfactor » Fri, 10. Apr 20, 09:32

Really cool stuff! Much nicer take on bailing and claiming than vanilla. The amount of "abandon ship!" seems a bit excessive when there's a lot of crew though, haha. Possibly better as chance of feedback?

Sirilius
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Re: [MOD] Better piracy

Post by Sirilius » Fri, 10. Apr 20, 10:20

This is amazing.

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Shuulo
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Re: [MOD] Better piracy

Post by Shuulo » Fri, 10. Apr 20, 10:56

Nice work! Will this make NPC ships also bail in their own fights without player involvement?
and do you plan steam release?

It seems to also work fine with VRO, though VRO removes destruction of shield generators on capture/bailing there should be no conflict as your mod loads after VRO.

Alberto.Rota
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Re: [MOD] Better piracy

Post by Alberto.Rota » Fri, 10. Apr 20, 16:55

zedfactor wrote:
Fri, 10. Apr 20, 09:32
Really cool stuff! Much nicer take on bailing and claiming than vanilla. The amount of "abandon ship!" seems a bit excessive when there's a lot of crew though, haha. Possibly better as chance of feedback?
I absolutely agree with you, I've updated the mod to provide a more discrete, less annoying and more informative notification on the lower-right corner instead of everyone shouting every time "ABANDON SHIP!".

It looks like this:

Code: Select all

<numOfCrewBailing> crew member/s bailed out of:
<shipId> <shipName>
Let me know if you find any other improvement point ;)

Alberto.Rota
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Re: [MOD] Better piracy

Post by Alberto.Rota » Fri, 10. Apr 20, 17:09

Shuulo wrote:
Fri, 10. Apr 20, 10:56
Nice work! Will this make NPC ships also bail in their own fights without player involvement?
No changes there (Yet), that will end up with the whole universe full of abandoned ships if no clean-up mechanism is provided.
I've planned to add a new "Harass/Hijack/Seize" command for allies ship that will:
  • Make them engage in combat with a target without killing it.
  • Force the target to bail (How this will happen is not decided yet).
  • Use marines to claim the ship.
  • Order the newly claimed ship to dock to a pre-selected place
No promises here, just an idea.
Shuulo wrote:
Fri, 10. Apr 20, 10:56
do you plan steam release?
Yes, once I polish a few details.
Shuulo wrote:
Fri, 10. Apr 20, 10:56
It seems to also work fine with VRO, though VRO removes destruction of shield generators on capture/bailing there should be no conflict as your mod loads after VRO.
They should work together, mine only takes care of the damage done by retarded marines opening a hole in an empty ship, burning the weapons down, uninstalling the software and making cargo "disappear" instead of just opening the door and sitting down.

Alberto.Rota
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Re: [MOD] Better piracy

Post by Alberto.Rota » Fri, 10. Apr 20, 23:57

UPDATED!
By default, nobody cared about piracy, you could hijack 1000 ships in front of them and you will still be their best friend.
Now, piracy is a crime, and if you do it enough, people will consider you a criminal.

zedfactor
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Re: [MOD] Better piracy

Post by zedfactor » Sat, 11. Apr 20, 00:25

Loving this more and more.

Suggestion: Bringing back "Abandon ship!" but only once at the start of crew abandoning... or maybe once as the pilot is close to bailing. Don't know what would make more sense. In addition to the text cues that is.

Max Bain
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Re: [MOD] Better piracy

Post by Max Bain » Sat, 11. Apr 20, 00:46

I must say I never used bailing ships in vanilla because it felt like exploiting, but your mod sounds very well designed and balanced. Maybe I become a pirate now :D
XR Ship Pack (adds several ships from XR) Link
Weapon Pack (adds several new weapons) Link
Economy Overhaul (expands the X4 economy with many new buildings) Link
X4 Editor (view stats of objects and make your own mod within a few clicks) Link

Alberto.Rota
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Re: [MOD] Better piracy

Post by Alberto.Rota » Sat, 11. Apr 20, 00:57

The mod is also available in SteamWorkshop now: https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/ ... 2056100433

Drake
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Re: [MOD] Better piracy

Post by Drake » Sat, 11. Apr 20, 04:41

As I mentioned in my thread, I love the idea of this mod but I have an issue where a Mamba and an ASP I just captured will not accept command to move or do anything.

Drake
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Re: [MOD] Better piracy

Post by Drake » Sat, 11. Apr 20, 07:05

Quick video I made to show it:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HGNz1pbS7vs

Alberto.Rota
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Re: [MOD] Better piracy

Post by Alberto.Rota » Sat, 11. Apr 20, 08:31

Drake wrote:
Sat, 11. Apr 20, 07:05
Quick video I made to show it:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HGNz1pbS7vs
Wow... Awesome report!
One of the reasons I did "Better piracy" is because I was facing similar issues with both "True capture" and "Fix bail logic" in 3.x
In the video, I see that you seem to have at least one if not all of them, so it seems to be a collision between boarding/claiming related mods.

Can you please repeat your test under the following conditions:
  • Only boarding related mod installed is "Better piracy" -> It should work like charm.
  • "Better piracy" is not installed, but the rest of your boarding related mods are -> Let me know how it goes.
  • "Better piracy" and "True capture" installed -> Let me know how it goes.
  • "Better piracy" and "Fix bail logic" installed -> Let me know how it goes.
My general advice is:
Use "Better piracy" as the only boarding/claiming related mod, and if you miss any feature, ask for it, but avoid mixing mods that are meant to solve/improve the same area of the game, since they will likely collide.

Drake
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Re: [MOD] Better piracy

Post by Drake » Sat, 11. Apr 20, 08:47

Alberto.Rota wrote:
Sat, 11. Apr 20, 08:31
Drake wrote:
Sat, 11. Apr 20, 07:05
Quick video I made to show it:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HGNz1pbS7vs
Wow... Awesome report!
One of the reasons I did "Better piracy" is because I was facing similar issues with both "True capture" and "Fix bail logic" in 3.x
In the video, I see that you seem to have at least one if not all of them, so it seems to be a collision between boarding/claiming related mods.

Can you please repeat your test under the following conditions:
  • Only boarding related mod installed is "Better piracy" -> It should work like charm.
  • "Better piracy" is not installed, but the rest of your boarding related mods are -> Let me know how it goes.
  • "Better piracy" and "True capture" installed -> Let me know how it goes.
  • "Better piracy" and "Fix bail logic" installed -> Let me know how it goes.
My general advice is:
Use "Better piracy" as the only boarding/claiming related mod, and if you miss any feature, ask for it, but avoid mixing mods that are meant to solve/improve the same area of the game, since they will likely collide.
Thank you for the reply, great of you to get back so fast. I am only using your mod right now just to rule out any conflicts. I did open up better bail, true capture, and variety and rebalance (that mod also affects components not self destructing so I was trying to see a common denominator) to see how that aimod part that prevents things blowing up works because my gut tells me that the issue is there somehow but I am a programming moron that has zero clue so I don't know what to really look for.

It is not bad at all because you can still board, take manual command, get up, clear all commands for the ai, and then the ai acts fine. The only issue is maybe in a fire fight the ship would be a sitting duck, but you could argue the pilot is unlocking final protocols or something but at least you can unstuck the ship. Just need to figure out why it flags the ship as player owned but becomes stuck under ai control until you take the helm and direct control. No idea how hard this would be but maybe a combat teleport (if you have it unlocked via research) to the ship right after capture and you hop in the pilot seat quick to 'take command' after the marines do their thing.

Final request, is it possible to add the script that scales ship size to the people bailing? Not sure which one of the mods did it but it was nice to see more than 3 bail at a time, but you have done a damn fine job so thinking it really is not an issue especially with SETA.

Please keep this up, we need more piracy mods and this is really great! Let me know how I can help and I will continue to report back any odd behavior and follow what you asked.

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StoneLegionYT
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Re: [MOD] Better piracy

Post by StoneLegionYT » Sat, 11. Apr 20, 09:58

Thank you I'm adding this now :) Sounds like a lot of fun.

Alberto.Rota
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Re: [MOD] Better piracy

Post by Alberto.Rota » Sat, 11. Apr 20, 10:17

Drake wrote:
Sat, 11. Apr 20, 08:47
Final request, is it possible to add the script that scales ship size to the people bailing? Not sure which one of the mods did it but it was nice to see more than 3 bail at a time, but you have done a damn fine job so thinking it really is not an issue especially with SETA.
For ships with a lot of crew, instead of shooting them down (Max 3 crew bailing at a time), hold your fire and ask him to "Surrender!".
Successful "Surrender!" will force ALL the crew to bail, not just 1-3 members.

So the optimal strategy is:
  • Scan the ship, high morale pilots with a lot of crew will be far harder to capture, choose your targets carefully.
  • Bring shields down (Max. 20%, the lower the better.)
  • Damage hull as much as possible without killing it (To "motivate" them, the lower the better, max effect at 1% hull)
  • Keep your ship in the best shape possible (Seeing you unscratched and with full shields, while they are on the ruin, will further motivate them to bail)
  • If there is still crew in:
    • If there are only a few crewmembers left -> Motivate them with light fire (Ion weapons are the best since they will "motivate" without killing)
    • If there are a LOT of crewmembers left -> Hold your fire, open comms channel (Be persistent), and "politely" ask them to "Surrender!" (Be persistent), not being under enemy fire will allow them to organize a proper evacuation that will put everyone outside in a momment
  • Be ready to be reported to the nearest station/police, piracy is a crime!
  • Claim the ship with marines and GTFO
That's it ;)

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StoneLegionYT
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Re: [MOD] Better piracy

Post by StoneLegionYT » Sat, 11. Apr 20, 10:29

Alberto.Rota wrote:
Sat, 11. Apr 20, 10:17
Be ready to be reported to the nearest station/police, piracy is a crime!
I'm not all into how X4 works for crimes. But what if your with a faction does not have police or allied to said ships, etc? Just making sure it sort of follows it I had to be jacking Argon ships and have the split pissed off hehe

Alberto.Rota
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Re: [MOD] Better piracy

Post by Alberto.Rota » Sat, 11. Apr 20, 10:36

Kane Hart wrote:
Sat, 11. Apr 20, 10:29
But what if your with a faction does not have police or allied to said ships, etc?
Sooo... what happens if you commit a crime in the middle of nowhere without witnesses?
Then you are a lucky man ;)

The reputation lost logic is the same as boarding an L/XL size ship (Smaller lost, but the same logic).

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StoneLegionYT
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Re: [MOD] Better piracy

Post by StoneLegionYT » Sat, 11. Apr 20, 10:48

Alberto.Rota wrote:
Sat, 11. Apr 20, 10:36
Kane Hart wrote:
Sat, 11. Apr 20, 10:29
But what if your with a faction does not have police or allied to said ships, etc?
Sooo... what happens if you commit a crime in the middle of nowhere without witnesses?
Then you are a lucky man ;)

The reputation lost logic is the same as boarding an L/XL size ship (Smaller lost, but the same logic).
Cool thanks :) Just making sure haha. I never actually done piracy really before I just felt it was lame and honestly visitors kept giving me their ships for free anyways lol

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Axeface
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Re: [MOD] Better piracy

Post by Axeface » Sat, 11. Apr 20, 15:43

Sounds really cool. Especially like the 'surrender!' causing rep loss feature, this works all the time? Like when I see a battle and tell random damaged friendly ships to surrender? (That always annoyed me that there was no rep loss).
Questions, if im understanding correctly its not possible to cap S or M ships without rep loss with this mod (when far away from stations/other ships)? Is capturing overall much faster/easier with it?

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