X3:TC: Getting my fighter drones back?

rlpowell · Post by **rlpowell** » Sun, 10. Oct 10, 20:55

I've got a bunch of fighter drones for defense (because no-one will sell me the one weapon that my Baldric can use -_-, apparently trading doesn't up your race ranks very quickly).

When I use them, the only way I've found to get them back is to order them, one by one, to stop, and then run over them. This takes so long that I usually lose some to the timer.

Is there any other option here?

http://forum.egosoft.com/viewtopic.php?t=226623 will beam them to my hold, but it turns them into Mk2 drones (of what type? I don't know), which I consider cheating.

I can't find any other script for this. Help?

-Robin

Catra · Post by **Catra** » Sun, 10. Oct 10, 20:57

buy a TM and use that as a drone carrier.

Rapier · Post by **Rapier** » Sun, 10. Oct 10, 20:57

The only other way is to order them to dock at a ship with a fighter bay (then beam them back ship-to-ship); a TL or a TM will work if you have one.

RicoOcho · Post by **RicoOcho** » Mon, 11. Oct 10, 14:49

hmm imagine an M1 with a whole lot of MKII fighter drones...sounds kind of awesome...will it work?

burger2 · Post by **burger2** » Mon, 11. Oct 10, 16:00

Buy a cheap TM. Leave 1 docking bay open atleast. Fly/jump TM into sector where your drones are. From either your ships or the TM command console (which ever is in the sector with drones) go command console/broadcast to my ships in the sector/broadcast: sector: fighter drones/protect... and choose the TM for your drones to protect. Then jump out of sector to make the drone retrieval fast. The drones will disappear into the TM cargohold when they get near it if you are out of sector. If you stay in the same sector as your TM when retrieving drones it can get stuck or be really slow.

- doing passenger transport missions might help you get you rank up faster ?

clevider · Post by **clevider** » Mon, 11. Oct 10, 19:01

If you don't mind the modified tag, check out MARS by Gazz (one of the best mods available). With it, you hit the launch hotkey to launch and, with the drone targeted, hit the key again to cut its mission short and recall it. Otherwise, they automatically return when their mission is over.

rlpowell · Post by **rlpowell** » Tue, 12. Oct 10, 23:53

MARS is pretty great, although still a bit confusing. Thanks!

By "modified tag", you mean that saved games are marked when you use mods or something?

Doesn't bother me at all; I'm not comparing myself to anyone else here.

-Robin

clevider · Post by **clevider** » Wed, 13. Oct 10, 00:04

rlpowell wrote:MARS is pretty great, although still a bit confusing. Thanks!

By "modified tag", you mean that saved games are marked when you use mods or something?

Doesn't bother me at all; I'm not comparing myself to anyone else here.

-Robin

MARS is big, no doubt. Luckily you don't have to use any of the features. I generally only even have 3 of the hotkeys configured (launch, ignore target, and configure).

As for the "modified" tag, yes, that's pretty much all it does although I think it also disqualifies you from uploading your stats and thus from participating in some of the competitions they hold here on the boards occasionally. And maybe the Steam accomplishments -- not sure about this last one.