[X3TCv3.1] 2 Queries regarding Mob. Mining & Paranid Relations

[JAFA_NZ]

I just wanted to query a couple a couple of things I've noticed in 3.1, my game is Vanilla no matter what my stats over there (<<---) say.

1) When trying to IS Mobile Mine the Nividium remants from the 1st Asteroid on the Treasure Hunt, my TL seemed to be unable to collect the debris once it was broken down to near collectable size, it just flew threw them as if "Clipping" was disabled. This is a problem for me because running debris over with a Large, Ungainly ship is the quickest & easiest to break & collect rocks IS. (& I was planning to use this technique to clean up all the debris fields).

2) I'm at Paranid Priest Protectorate 2% & have been for a while, yet the Large Weapons Platform in Cardinal's Domain keeps killing any unmanned ships I send to or through the sector OOS (ok, I had an Adv. Sat killed by a Zeus, but the Weapons Platform has killed everything else). When I go IS, nothing shows as Enemy to me, nor does the platform shoot at me or mine.

Are these Features? Bugs? Consequences of having started the Treasure Hunt? Consequences of not having actually started the Hub? a fault with my install?

Help! Please.

[Lorric]

As for Paranid being mad at you: Press shift-C, check that "show as enemy if enemy to me" is set to Yes. Are they still friendly looking?

Also, have you had bad relations with the Paranid earlier? Sometimes the lasertowers and weapons platforms will stay red even if your rep goes up.

[JAFA_NZ]

I started as Poisoned Paranid, but completed that quest some hours ago.

I have the Paranid set as friendly, but also "Show as Enemy if Enemy to me", & nothing in Paranid space is showing as Red.

Also, the Platform in question didn't take me under fire when I was right under it's guns, or docking at the shipyard (Note: Hyperion Vanguard + Super Shipyard = OOS Undocking Only).

It's just my unmanned vessels (mainly Discoverer Haulers with Explorer s/w laying my satellite network) & satellites that get killed, & only in Cardinals.

I am thinking I may have to go after the Weapons Platform, but IIRC they're considered M1s, so I've been waiting until I got a "Retrieve Abandoned Ship" for an M8 or an M7M (I was saving up, but found it necessary to buy a TL ahead of schedule. OTOH "Why yes Mr Split Pilot, I certainly will return your abandoned Cobra for the handsome fee of 234,743Cr...")

[Alan Phipps]

Regarding mobile mining by ramming. The rocks formed when you break larger ones take a few seconds to reposition during which you cannot collect or break again. I think the collision boundary is only at the surface of the ship so once you are over them, they don't collect/break while inside the ship. You probably need repeated runs or static turns to keep collecting/breaking.

Also you may not ever clear those debris fields as the rock outcrops will respawn (both OOS and IS) if you completely break and collect them.

[JAFA_NZ]

Yeah, I considered the delay for reposition after the initial break, so I travelled between different clusters, meaning there were a few minutes between a group being broken & my coming back for the next attempt (when the "no clip" thing happened).

As for the respawn, I thought that was OOS only? Oh well, I'll see how far I can get before I decide I need Lucike's Prospector (which I believe does break respawn, or used to at least) to improve performance & give up on the rest of the achievements.

In the meantime, I suppose I'll let my "No rock respawn exploiting" plan fall by the wayside, though I might try collecting specified volumes then shooting them into oblivion, that might break the respawn too.

Thank you for your assistance Alan & Lorric.

[Alan Phipps]

Yes shooting to destruction breaks the respawn, as does ramming with a ship with no Ore Collector.

[Donziboy2]

Isnt there a vanilla safe mod out there that removes all the small rocks from the universe?

And what achiements are you speaking of JAFA?

[Alan Phipps]

I think that 'remove rocks' would be an unsigned script and therefore will make the game modified - unless someone knows better of course. I also think it now applies to the whole universe rather than just selectable sectors as was the case in X3R. That would kill all remote mining/collecting.

JAFA means that if he uses the 'Prospektor' mod his game will be modified and so he will not get any more Steam achievements.