[X3R] Plot mission problem, Home of Light escort *SPOILER WARNING*

[Loosh]

Won the race and talked to that irritable priest. Then Ban Danna wanted me to escort a convoy heading out from Home of Light. Ok, no prob.. EXCEPT..!

The convoy consists of 3 Mammoths and numerous fighters. According to walkthroughs all I should need to do is to follow and protect the Mamms when they jump through gates. I talked to the convoy leader (that cute chick) and everything was going according to script, but in my game all they do is run around in circles instead of heading for any gate. Sometimes their speed exceeds 300+!! Yes, Mammoths zipping around at 300m/s!!! They keep running into asteroids. I came to the forum when the first one exploded.

Mammoths and other TLs have always been bugged or tricky at best in my game. A hired TL will for example not dock with a station if I am in sector. And this isn't something that happens in a few cases, but every time with any and all of the TLs. Instead of docking they will inch in an erratic fashion at the speed of 1 (yes, 1m/s), stop completely or head out at full speed in a random direction. As soon as I jump out of sector, the TL heads for the commanded station and docks nicely.

One TL in Family Rhy won't even do this, however. I can hire it and command it just fine, but after accepting my command, it does - nothing. Yes, nothing. Just sits there completely still. I tried IS and OOS, different commands, different destinations.. "Affirmative" the captain says, and then does nothing.

I am running X3R v2.5

{Added X3R to topic title to avoid confusion. - Nanook}

[pulzarokkit]

I don't remember how i have done it back then.
When the mission starts try and jump into Ore Belt and wait there for the TLs to come to you.

[Loosh]

Yeah, that's actually what I did. I thought that since other TLs get their act together when I am OOS, then maybe these ones will do the same. And they did. I waited in Argon Prime while they jumped to Ore Belt, and when I followed, the script of the mission took over and placed me in the turret cockpit.

But still, I would very much like to know what is bothering all TLs in my game..

[TTD]

Maybe when IS collision detection kicks in?

[Loosh]

Maybe when IS collision detection kicks in?

Maybe when IS collision detection kicks in.. what?

[TTD]

Maybe when IS collision detection kicks in?

Maybe when IS collision detection kicks in.. what?

Since you've been around the forums since 2004,I assumed you know that collision detection can have adverse effects on other ships while you are in sector.

The Aldrin sector in TC is a BIG example of that.
Ships will go where you want if you are not in sector with them,but be anywhere near the ships in question and they can waltz around the target and never dock.

[Loosh]

Sure, I know what (unwanted) effects collision detection has..
But I may be docked at a completely different station, and still TLs won't dock. And CD does not explain why a Mammoth accelerates to over 300m/s, slows down, turns, accelerates to 300m/s again and crashes into an asteroid.

At first I thought it was part of the mission. The first Mammoth headed straight for an asteroid cluster at 6 times its maximum speed and crashed. I thought there was a secret weapon or something inside the asteroids sucking the Mammoth in. But then the remaining two just continued flying around aimlessly, continuously accelerating, decelerating, turning etc.

I was nowhere near them. How could I be? My ship doesn't do 300m/s

[cj-spartacus]

Are you using vanilla or modded game? Maybe you've accidentally supercharged these mammoths? It's been ages since I played X3:R so I don't remember too much about the mission.

[xalien]

But I may be docked at a completely different station, and still TLs won't dock.

It doesn't matter that you're in a different station as long as you're in the same sector. It's not your charming personality that the TL tries to avoid, it's the station that it's trying to dock to.

[Loosh]

Cute
But still not satisfied. The TL doesn't have to be near the station either. In fact, it doesn't have to be near anything. It can be at the edge of the sector, and still it will act in the manner described earlier (head in a random direction, jerk around at 1m/s or sit still).

[xalien]

If you mean those plot TL's, the HoL is a pretty small sector tightly packed with stations and ships, and the fact that 3 huge ships need to fly in a formation (even a fairly loose one) doesn't help either.

The aggravating factor is that AI has no clue how to maneuver big ships, it tries to do that at full throttle which results in them flying in circles when all it wants to do is to move a few hundred meters to the side.

[Loosh]

Well, actually no I don't mean the plot mission TLs in HoL...
To make it simple, I have two distinct symptoms of something being royally F'd up with the TL behaviour.

1. Plot mission Mammoths flying around and around all over HoL and superspeeding regularly at over 300m/s and occasionally crashing
2. All other TLs accepting orders but failing to carry them out while I am IS, and instead
a) sitting still
b) jerking irratically at 1m/s
c) heading out in a random direction at full speed

Now, honestly, do these sound like collision detection malfunctions? I would agree with you that CD is probably to blame IF the TLs behaved like they had a goal, but an obstacle in the way and while avoiding this obstacle they would clumsily crash into something else. But my TLs behave like they have no purpose at all, no goal, no target station to dock to. They are not trying to reach any point in space. In fact, it's like they don't know what to do, so the captain spins the wheel and "Okay! That way, full speed ahead!" and he will keep going until my sensors can't detect him anymore.

[Loosh]

Are you using vanilla or modded game? Maybe you've accidentally supercharged these mammoths? It's been ages since I played X3:R so I don't remember too much about the mission.

Sry, missed this one between other messages.
I haven't added any mods, but I bought the version 2.0 of the retail game, which in itself is enhanced with scripts or add-ons that enhance game experience.. or whatever. Anyway, these give my game the **modified**-tag, even though I haven't modified anything myself.
So, not vanilla but not modified either

Anyway, I doubt the Mammoths are supercharged. I checked their ship details and all of them had the standard max speed of ~56m/s.

[Nanook]

Well, actually no I don't mean the plot mission TLs in HoL...
To make it simple, I have two distinct symptoms of something being royally F'd up with the TL behaviour.

1. Plot mission Mammoths flying around and around all over HoL and superspeeding regularly at over 300m/s and occasionally crashing
2. All other TLs accepting orders but failing to carry them out while I am IS, and instead
a) sitting still
b) jerking irratically at 1m/s
c) heading out in a random direction at full speed

Now, honestly, do these sound like collision detection malfunctions? ...

Yes, they do. And if you look at the info screen for those TL's, you'll probably find they do indeed have a goal. What you're probably seeing is them trying to find an appropriate path to their destination, and not being able to do so because either a) there's something a bit too close to that destination, or b) they're on the wrong side of, say, a shipyard and are having difficulties finding a path.

So it's a pathfinding, collision detection issue you're seeing. Being out of the sector when these things are going on is the only solution. That said, TC actually has made a major improvement in these areas, IMO, although issues do still exist. So you can rant about it, or you can just accept it and deal with it. Most of us do a bit of both.

[TTD]

I haven't added any mods, but I bought the version 2.0 of the retail game, which in itself is enhanced with scripts or add-ons that enhance game experience.. or whatever. Anyway, these give my game the **modified**-tag, even though I haven't modified anything myself.

This version should NOT cause the modified tag.At least I never had the modified until I added a mod. XTM was my favorite

edit
SNIP

[Nanook]

He's playing Reunion. Read the thread title.

[Loosh]

So it's a pathfinding, collision detection issue you're seeing. Being out of the sector when these things are going on is the only solution. That said, TC actually has made a major improvement in these areas, IMO, although issues do still exist. So you can rant about it, or you can just accept it and deal with it. Most of us do a bit of both.

Yarrr, time to rant I do not have, so... I guess deal with it?
Even if it means jumping OOS when I am supposed to be an escort
Oh look, I think I just ranted. Oops, sry.

[Nanook]

So it's a pathfinding, collision detection issue you're seeing. Being out of the sector when these things are going on is the only solution. That said, TC actually has made a major improvement in these areas, IMO, although issues do still exist. So you can rant about it, or you can just accept it and deal with it. Most of us do a bit of both.

Yarrr, time to rant I do not have, so... I guess deal with it?
Even if it means jumping OOS when I am supposed to be an escort
Oh look, I think I just ranted. Oops, sry.

There's really not much 'escorting' to be done in Home of Light anyway. The real action occurs in Ore Belt. So you're better off just getting there a bit ahead of time.