X3TC Freight Drones ? vanishing?

masterw3 · Post by **masterw3** » Fri, 14. Nov 08, 22:04

i found a factory with Freight Drones for $25,000.
i ejected one, and it gives me the option to load it with cargo, up to 800 units, and automatically tells it to follow me, sweet for a 25,000 investment...
so i load one up with 50 e-cells and send it off to a station, walk out of the room, come back, it's gone...
not at the station, e-cells not returned, etc.
so i eject another, put a sattelite on it...
and when i'm getting ready to tell it where to go, it vanishes...

so.. what's up with these? am i missing something?
would be nice to drag them along behind you with wares in tow...
unless they keep vanishing on you.. and at 25k each too...

kunfoosed...

is there a prticular usage of these so they do not dissappear? i'm lost.

drone factory found in

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Ceo's Sprite

Aetius · Post by **Aetius** » Fri, 14. Nov 08, 22:15

That's pretty odd. I just tested them and they run for just over an hour of game time, so I doubt they're running out of batteries...

delray · Post by **delray** » Fri, 14. Nov 08, 22:52

Maybe they crash into something (like your ship)?

xavierd · Post by **xavierd** » Fri, 14. Nov 08, 23:08

like fighter drones, freight drones have 'energy'. once the energy runs out, they pop. keep some in your cap ships for trading with stations they can't dock at. launch them, tell them to dock at station you want to trade with. load them up with whatever and order them to return to your ship. they'll revert to cargo and anything they were carrying will be put into your hold

em3e3 · Post by **em3e3** » Fri, 14. Nov 08, 23:22

They use about 1% of their energy per minute or so. The % remaining is displayed in the ship stats. I posted some more info here:

http://forum.egosoft.com/viewtopic.php?p=2609316

masterw3 · Post by **masterw3** » Sat, 15. Nov 08, 01:08

very useful info, thanks

my question is now this...

is there any way to increase the duration of these vessels?

i think my issue is trying to send them too far... a shame you lose your freigth too.. would be better if it just dropped the freight into space...
"whoopsy, sent that one too far .. better go fetch the goods..."

instead of "WHAT ?!?? my wares!!! that was 300,000 $ !!!!" ARGH!.. hahah
the seta might have depleted the energy in a blink of an eye...
that could be it.. i was trying to use them wrong.. thought i could drag it along as extra cargo...
whoopsy

em3e3 · Post by **em3e3** » Sat, 15. Nov 08, 03:59

You can only get about 1-2 sectors distance, or 2-3 stations within one sector before the freight drone needs to dock with your ship. And it's energy depletes even when it is docked in stations.

DocIceT · Post by **DocIceT** » Sat, 15. Nov 08, 07:26

If it dries out in the station will it pop and vanish there or be stuck in the dock forever?
Can you charge up energy by putting some e-cells into it?

masterw3 · Post by **masterw3** » Sat, 15. Nov 08, 21:35

e-cells will not recharge it.. but that's a nice idea.. i wonder if you could add a script that,

if power < 10%
then if e-cells in freight > 0
e-cells in cargo = e-cells in cargo - 1
power level = 100%
end if
end if

when power level reaches 10% or less, take 1 e-cell and recharge...
as long as it's got Energy to burn, it will last..
i think that's "fair"

good idea u got there guy...