Wingmen

A5PECT · Post by **A5PECT** » Sun, 19. Aug 07, 21:28

I mean... nay.

I'd just like to know how many of you here make use of wingmen. I use them all of the time. Most people complain about the AI's (lack) of flying ability, but I find if you use the right ships, they can really come in handy. I currently use 15 LX's (8xBPBE Main, 1xBPAC on each turret) and 6 Falcon Sentinels (8xAHEPT Main, 1xBPAC Turret). I keep them docked in a TL and jump them in when necessary (XI missions, Xenon Sector raids).

poppycock · Post by **poppycock** » Sun, 19. Aug 07, 21:33

I say Yay, they do have their uses on occasion, though I don't use them most of the time, I usually find the Hyperion or any M3+ self piloted is enough. They are good at distracting your opponents while you take care of a big target.

KipperTheFish · Post by **KipperTheFish** » Sun, 19. Aug 07, 22:18

Having them docked all the time untill the baddies turn up, in my opinion does not qualify them as wingmen. A wingman is a ship that is perminatly in-flight alongside you.
Having a flight of the size you describe would just leave a trail of nuts, bolts and other assorted bits of scrap behind you as the crash into each other every time you made a turn.

Rilder · Post by **Rilder** » Sun, 19. Aug 07, 23:29

Atm I wish I had a good flight of wingmen, my Buster is besieged in a trading dock in Elenas fortune, by a Pirate nova raider, a Nova and a harrier vanguard, damn that Nova raider would be a nice cap but eh, luckily if I undock they attack the station long enough for me to get redocked.

Though My idea of a flight is more like 4-5 ships on my wing.

ninjitsumonk · Post by **ninjitsumonk** » Mon, 20. Aug 07, 01:40

I tell ya what. Download ATO(attack target of...) by xaicorp. You will never use wingmen again.
If i'm "out and about" i normally have 2 Nova's on ATO with 4 buster ATO's each. They actually split and attack, properly.

Rilder · Post by **Rilder** » Mon, 20. Aug 07, 02:38

ninjitsumonk wrote:I tell ya what. Download ATO(attack target of...) by xaicorp. You will never use wingmen again.
If i'm "out and about" i normally have 2 Nova's on ATO with 4 buster ATO's each. They actually split and attack, properly.

Meh Im not gonna be modding my game at all, at least not untill I get totally pissed off at the game, the protect me command works quite well with my wingman and once I didn't even need to issue a command my Octopus jumped straight into battle.

Laar · Post by **Laar** » Mon, 20. Aug 07, 08:19

personally I don't use wingmen, the AI should be improved on this point. I don't get in trouble by flying a split wulfen (split M7 from roguey's mod) if I have some work (attacking many small targets/ picking up goods) to do, I use a Perseus proto (also from roguey's mod, a decent m3+, it goes 178, 8front lasers 2 rear, wunderfull steering and 150MJ military shields) and If I get in real trouble, I can call my hyperion to my aid, with two M7's it's hard to lose.

I tell ya what. Download ATO(attack target of...) by xaicorp. You will never use wingmen again.
If i'm "out and about" i normally have 2 Nova's on ATO with 4 buster ATO's each. They actually split and attack, properly.

Meh Im not gonna be modding my game at all, at least not untill I get totally pissed off at the game, the protect me command works quite well with my wingman and once I didn't even need to issue a command my Octopus jumped straight into battle.

it's not a real mod, it only adds the command attack target of, similar to the attack my target command, but with the possibility to change the ship.

fiksal · Post by **fiksal** » Mon, 20. Aug 07, 08:22

KloHunt3r wrote: I currently use 15 LX's (8xBPBE Main, 1xBPAC on each turret) and 6 Falcon Sentinels (8xAHEPT Main, 1xBPAC Turret). I keep them docked in a TL and jump them in when necessary (XI missions, Xenon Sector raids).

sure, LX with BPBEs and Falcon Sentinels should make perfect wingmen.
AI likes fast weapons and thick shields.

In my case: different assorted M3s, M4s, and a couple M6's make for bad wingmen.

Asmodesu · Post by **Asmodesu** » Mon, 20. Aug 07, 08:23

The only thing wingmen are good at is getting themselves killed. (And I loose creditsss)

Rilder · Post by **Rilder** » Mon, 20. Aug 07, 08:37

Laar wrote:
Meh Im not gonna be modding my game at all, at least not untill I get totally pissed off at the game, the protect me command works quite well with my wingman and once I didn't even need to issue a command my Octopus jumped straight into battle.
it's not a real mod, it only adds the command attack target of, similar to the attack my target command, but with the possibility to change the ship.

It changes the game, even slightly therefor is a modification of the game, aka a mod.

Akula87 · Post by **Akula87** » Mon, 20. Aug 07, 09:43

Well all the trading commands (UT, ST), some fight commands (?), the "bonus pack" (Afterburner, remote transfer, etc) and most of the Bali Gi updates (version 3.x.x) are scripts that were ultimately developed by the community which have been bundled together by Egosoft in one convenient package for the consumer. In this game there is no neat line distinguishing mod/ script from “vanilla” unless you arbitrarily decide that anything which did not come with whatever version of your game is a "script"... Two or three years ago what you are using now in your "vanilla" game would be considered an ad-hoc script... IMO people miss out a lot when they refuse to try scripts and mods and when they inevitably become too annoyed to continue playing it they most likely will not think about re-installing it and downloading those "mods" to make it even better (or even "playable" in some people's eyes). I know from personal experience.

Rilder · Post by **Rilder** » Mon, 20. Aug 07, 10:01

Akula87 wrote:*wall of text*

I just don't wanna mod my game, don't need to go wall of text on me...

Besides, from personal experiance people with modded games tend to get way to attached to there mods and think that anyone playing vanilla are idiots, morons or just plain insane... I still get in fights with Rome-Total realism fan-boiz since im a Europa barborum fan-boy, (RTR and europa barborum are mods for Rome:total war.)

Unless I find a game thats totally unplayable without mods I'l stick with officially sanctioned/tested releases. I haven't even thought about installing the bonus package yet, a couple of the stuff looks overpowered.

philip_hughes · Post by **philip_hughes** » Mon, 20. Aug 07, 10:10

Wingmen are essentially mop up aids for me. They scoop the goodies left when I clear sectors.

Best ones are LX's as they are fast, turreted and well shielded. They can go about their business in a xenon sextor given enough numbers. I like that because if you use a freighter to mop up and a k orj jumps in, its bye bye freighty. The LX's can swarm in and cause problems a plenty for even the best of ships.

jlehtone · Post by **jlehtone** » Mon, 20. Aug 07, 10:14

Bonuspack includes a script called Group Management System (GMS). The GMS does provide ATO too. But you don't need even the Bonuspack to make ATO. The stock game command "Attack my target" makes the commanded ship (A) to ATO of the ship (B) you fly when you give that command. And A will continue to Attack Target of B even if you transfer to some other ship. I did set a Carrierful of fighter wings using the stock commands and I'm very happy that I can now use GMS to do the same thing much more easy.

Bonuspack is considered to be part of the unmodified vanilla game. X3 version 2.0.x does not even have some of its stock commands (eg 'Move pilot') without the installation of Bonuspack.

So do I use wingmen in the strict sense? No. Definitely not. I fly alone. But I have fighter (and even M6) groups, which I summon into battle if needed and tell to fight on their own. They do not follow me or protect me. I might squash bugs from their tail now and then. Thus, I do use wingmen in the broader meaning of the word. Definitely do.

Akula87 · Post by **Akula87** » Mon, 20. Aug 07, 10:29

"I just don't wanna mod my game..."

It's just an exercise in futility to argue against such unadulterated logic as that. Whatever man, it's your game. *shrug*

ninjitsumonk · Post by **ninjitsumonk** » Mon, 20. Aug 07, 10:51

Okay lets make sure things stay civil.
But I must add, seeing as there is no way that people can see you're game stats so having a little ***modified*** tag is not really an expence compared to the amount of good all the scripts in s&m will give you.

Carlo the Curious · Post by **Carlo the Curious** » Mon, 20. Aug 07, 11:02

It's not compulsory to modify your game.

If someone wants to play vanilla, then what's the problem?

Rilder · Post by **Rilder** » Mon, 20. Aug 07, 11:19

Carlo the Curious wrote:It's not compulsory to modify your game.

If someone wants to play vanilla, then what's the problem?

Yea I wasn't talking down modding or anything, frankly its a single player game, so you can make a m5 be able to carry capital sized weapons and a fleet of m3s in its hold for all I care, I was just stating I didn't want to change the stock game, yea I might be missing out on some stuff but that stuff isn't vital to the playability of the game.

alt3rn1ty · Post by **alt3rn1ty** » Mon, 20. Aug 07, 15:21

I voted Nay for Vanilla X3 wingmen, but I am currently using them after installing this..

http://forum.egosoft.com/viewtopic.php?t=176241

Fighter Control Software MK3 - Its rather good, check out the vid - But from reading about the upcoming new 1.16 release and potential uninstall/reinstallation problems (The programmer is working on it just now), probably best to hang on a bit for the release of the new version.

Also only have a few ships with it installed, its a CPU hog, thousands of calculations per second... runs fine on my aging athlon 64 3400 with a couple of wingmen.

deankenpachi · Post by **deankenpachi** » Mon, 20. Aug 07, 15:46

Yay... but they sometimes will crush to nearest object..

Wingmen

Wingmen

Wingmen

Re: Wingmen