[X3AP] Number & functions of NPC ships...

[Le Boron Chétif]

Hi everyone,

I'm curious about NPC ships...

1 - Is there a way to tell how many ships are in the game at any given time (via a script perhaps)?

2 - If so, is it possible to break it down per ship type, race etc.? (I'd like for instance to know which race has the largest fleet, the most capital ships etc)

3 - Is the number of NPC ships rather constant, i.e. do all destroyed NPC ships systematically respawn? Or does it fluctuate based on specific events (for instance, how does the Terran/Argon war affect the numbers)?

4 - What NPC ships actually serve a function? (The Rapid Response ones do obviously, but it seems like a majority are just there for immersion and don't influence either the economy or conflicts)

[Black_hole_suN]

1 and 2

IIRC, this is can be done via script but I don't know if there is an existing script/mod that does this.

3

Yes, the number of NPC ships flying in the universe is controlled by the jobs file and scripts used in the game. If one is destroyed there is a cooldown before a replacement ship is spawned. The cooldown varies depending on what ship was destroyed (ex. traders spawn fast but patrol ships has a long cooldown)

4

- Patrol ships patrol one or many sectors. They will destroy enemies they encounter especially when you are In Sector.
- The AI can sometimes launch an invasion to a sector using capital ships and several escorts to invade their enemies (ex. Argon invading Paranid Prime, Boron and Split battling in Faded Dreams/Contorted Dominion). It is unclear if these invasions are actually scripted or these ships are just part of Patrols going around and stumbled into their enemy's sector
- Traders are actually doing trade, they are just terrible at their job.
- Police ships scan the player ship for illegal cargo but i have never seen them scan other NPC ships. They also function as a sector patrol.
- Scout ships go around the universe ~~ though i dont know if they do something

[Le Boron Chétif]

Thanks a lot, that's useful. Hadn't realised there actually were patrols, I thought most combat ships were static or bound to a particular sector. How do you tell them apart, are they actually the ships that have 'military' in the name?

As for the count of all ships, well, if anyone thinks of an easy way to do this, I'd still be interested. Especially as my empire increases in size, I wonder at which point it's big enough that it can 'rival' with an entire race. For role playing purposes obviously, as I'm a most peaceful Boron.

[jlehtone]

First, there is the S&M to seek advice from. If you can find this, it could be a starting point / example.

Second, there is MSCI Reference documentation.

That said, the script commands definitely allow, for example:

Code: Select all

$foo =  get ship array: of race ATF class/type=M1
$bar =  get ship array: of race ATF class/type=Valhalla
$gaz =  get ship array: of race Boron class/type=null

There seem to be about 6700 ships of races A, B, E, P, S, and T, in total.


A song states:

Unless you are forty to one
Your force will soon be undone

[SirNukes]

Police ships scan the player ship for illegal cargo but i have never seen them scan other NPC ships. They also function as a sector patrol.

Scanning npc ships is what police ships spend most of their time doing (when not on space donut breaks). They are actually biased slightly against the player ship when picking scan targets.

[jlehtone]

4 - What NPC ships actually serve a function? (The Rapid Response ones do obviously, but it seems like a majority are just there for immersion and don't influence either the economy or conflicts)

This is mostly immersion, but ...

Look at the Local Stock Exchanges. Wares are listed there. As far as I can see, their "supply" is the count of items within the "market" of the Exchange, and the "demand" the total size of the stocks of the Stations. Not directly comparable.

The items include items in ships. (Which allows rather dubious future trading. Allegedly. ) A long section of wares is about those non-tradeable wares that NPC ships must hoard (and some generic missions have you fetch). Posters, Deuterium, Fuel, ...

Granted, stock fluctuations due to civilian NPC wandering around are not going to make you rich.

[DrSuperEvil]

Use X3 Editor2 to open the cat files and look at the Jobs.pck file in catalog 03. In there it lists all the non mission spawned ships. All ships are listed so you can tell that the Boron have the weaker RR fleet. NPC ships respawn after a timer if the respawn conditions are met (eg. the player has not killed all their shipyards).

The war sectors are different in that ships are spawned based on the war state after timers expire. Ships are spawned on the war state start, engage in a big battle during the main and then despawn when the war state changes. War states are based on the war points which the player can contribute to and are able to be predicted from the war announcement messages. What ships spawn during which state can be seen under the x3_universe_war.pck file in catalog 02.

Civilian ships are for the player to cap. Traders move goods around the universe. Supply TLs rebuild stations. Military patrols kill stuff. Police scan ships and defend sectors. Recon look for illegal stations.

[Le Boron Chétif]

Good to know, thanks all!