wingman crashing into things a real downer

[adecoy]

any way to fix it?

ive had them crash into everything from jumpgates to myself to stations, any way i can keep this from happening? it puts a real damper on fun when you have to go buy new million dollar ships, and then run around equipping them, only for them to crash into the next gate

i tend to enjoy using fast wingmen, is there any way to make them follow about a km behind you or more?

[pjknibbs]

i tend to enjoy using fast wingmen, is there any way to make them follow about a km behind you or more?

Well, that's probably your problem--using wingmen that are significantly faster than yourself is never a good idea. When they're flying in formation with you they're supposed to match speed, which they can do OK so long as you're flying in a straight line--they get confused when you start manoeuvring, though.

[adecoy]

i tend to enjoy using fast wingmen, is there any way to make them follow about a km behind you or more?

Well, that's probably your problem--using wingmen that are significantly faster than yourself is never a good idea. When they're flying in formation with you they're supposed to match speed, which they can do OK so long as you're flying in a straight line--they get confused when you start manoeuvring, though.

ah, makes sense, i just wish that my ships wouldent crash into things, they are expensive.

its frustrating to try and work with other fighters to try to tackle something logically

[Stratovarius]

I've had this issue, to the point where M3s will blow themselves up going through gates.

What I do is just tell them to dock at the nearest station to the portal while I'm on my way there, then when I'm close, order them all back to protecting me. It keeps them spread out for the gate jump, and less likely to perform stupid crashing exercises. Either that or order them on ahead through gates.

[adecoy]

I've had this issue, to the point where M3s will blow themselves up going through gates.

What I do is just tell them to dock at the nearest station to the portal while I'm on my way there, then when I'm close, order them all back to protecting me. It keeps them spread out for the gate jump, and less likely to perform stupid crashing exercises. Either that or order them on ahead through gates.

this is a shame, it really takes away from the game for the npcs to have problems like this

[Tenlar Scarflame]

How many wingmen are you using? If there's a whole bunch of them they'll more often have problems. In my piratical days I'd generally tote 2-4 wingmen around, variegated M3's and M3+'s, and they wouldn't usually have problems. If I ever have more wingmen than that, I'm generally flying a carrier.

At least they can't crash into each OTHER a la the release version... I lost two busters that way

[adecoy]

How many wingmen are you using? If there's a whole bunch of them they'll more often have problems. In my piratical days I'd generally tote 2-4 wingmen around, variegated M3's and M3+'s, and they wouldn't usually have problems. If I ever have more wingmen than that, I'm generally flying a carrier.

At least they can't crash into each OTHER a la the release version... I lost two busters that way

just two wingman, but they move at 500 im using the "flight leader" start provided by XTM so the two ships i was given to assist me are quite fast.

just trying out all the different formations they crashed into each other, and another time i lost one docking, not to mention an immeasurable amount of close calls, what i dont understand is how in games like wing commander, or other similar games, when you have wingman the first thing that comes to mind is not "gee i hope i dont loose my wingman to this asteroid field" but in this game its constantly an issue because it can happen any time, i saw a thread in the modders forum about removing collision on wingman, maby that would help? i know on some space games when a frendly gets too close to another friendly, or a non hostile object they come to a complete halt, and take no damage, can this be done in this game?

[Carl Sumner]

The "Follow" commands are set up for ships that have about the same speed. If you use smaller ships, don't tune their speed so high. It works best if the followers are just a little faster than the leader.

The AI code is not so good, but AI code is really hard to get right. And when you do get it right, it usually drops the fps too much.

There is a way to make some of the ships fly farther out, and that is to set them to follow a "lead" wingman instead of your ship. Then only have the lead follow you.

Or just order the lead to attack what you want, or whatever, and don't have him protect you at all.

[Riggs0]

are you using them as wingman in the command consule or just having them follow you around? I have not had that problem as much as it sounds that you have. I do not use wingmen in the first place though when I have I do not make them offical wingmen in command console just when grouping them together. I hope this makes sense.

[Carl Sumner]

are you using them as wingman in the command consule or just having them follow you around? I have not had that problem as much as it sounds that you have. I do not use wingmen in the first place though when I have I do not make them offical wingmen in command console just when grouping them together. I hope this makes sense.

There are two different meanings of "wingman":

The first is a ship using any variation of the "follow" command, such as "protect me". This can be used with any ship as the leader.

The second is a ship that has the "Wingman" switch set in it's command menu. This causes it to respond to special hotkeys for commands. Don't set this for any ships, except your own personal wingmen. And don't forget to turn it off if the ship is given a different assignment.

[stooper88]

The second is a ship that has the "Wingman" switch set in it's command menu. This causes it to respond to special hotkeys for commands. Don't set this for any ships, except your own personal wingmen. And don't forget to turn it off if the ship is given a different assignment.

This last bit of advise is absolutely crucial. Any ships that are marked as (personal) "Wingman" will obey wingman orders from any sector in the universe. Wingmen hotkey commands apply to all wingmen in all sectors, not just the one you're in.

Hence, if you invoke a wingmen protect me command and one of your ships 12 sectors away is a wingman, it will attempt to fly to your sector to comply with the command, passing through pirate and xenon sectors alike in order to reach you.

[adecoy]

is there any way to reduce collision damage? make it like one or zero damage?

[Roderick Gibson]

Don't know if this will work for everyone, but worked for me.

I often used to fly with 4 mixed wing men, real wing men, Wingmam set in the command section for the ship. Had 1 PNR, 1 Nova (not pirate), 1 buster and 1 pirate buster, I flew a Mamba, I know "why not fly the PNR", well I just liked the Mamba, felt right the nova and PNR just did not feel as good.


After battles, I would set the wingmen onto idle, fly about 2km towards where I wanted to go, the order them to follow me and used autopilot. On autopilot we all slowed down to the speed of the slowest, with them strung out behind me Never lost one through a gate or on docking that way.

The tip on removing thw W if you do not have that ship with you is VITAL, lost a few that way as they tried to get to me to "protect" from 10 secors away, as some had jumpdrives and some not so I took the jumpdrives ones with me to do something meaning to come back for the others later. Leave the W on and leave them behind, they will die, unless they are hypes or something like that.

[stealthkill321]

Guys, whilst on this topic, what are all the formations in the vanilla game, some are obvious such as pyramid would be a reverse V, but where would the ships be located in the other formations?

I like to use wingmen if i'm not out capping (so they dont blow up my newly acquired abandoned ships!) on normal business as a kind of security force, if I need to engage in some heavy combat or defensive posture quickly I think formations could be useful, or at least fun.

cheers