What the....? Marines won't board M7m

[humanhead]

Playing X3 that I got from Steam...just passed 1B credits and yet I'm still a complete n00b and dumbass apparently.

I have a M7M (Minotaur). When I look at freight there it has a section for people and 0/20 Marines. I have a Bioscanner, Freight Scanner, and pretty much every other piece of software/equipment for sale. I have plenty of boarding pods.

I just got my marines trained to where I want (for the capture portion of the Goner Temple plot, loaded a few in my M6 Vidar and went to transfer them over to the Minotaur...nothing. Can't buy new Marines from a Military Outpost....I can see them for sale and their ranks, etc, but No Marines for You!

What on earth can I be missing here? Please help, I've invested all kinds of time into this thing and this latest is extremely disheartening....

[tbowen]

Very quickly there are two possibilities:
1. No cargo life support system. That seems unlikely since CLS is usually included with M7Ms.
2. No space--you may have over-loaded on missiles, e-cells, etc. Each Marine requires 6 units of cargo space (iirc).

[Darkhymn]

Cargo Lifesupport System.

[humanhead]

Yup, no CLS, and yup I'm a dumbass. Thanks for the replies.

A ship that costs 50M and no CLS? It boggles the mind....

[StarSword]

Yup, no CLS, and yup I'm a dumbass. Thanks for the replies.

A ship that costs 50M and no CLS? It boggles the mind....

Stuff like that makes me wonder if any ships in X3 actually have crew aboard apart from the pilot.

[quoick]

Yup, no CLS, and yup I'm a dumbass. Thanks for the replies.

A ship that costs 50M and no CLS? It boggles the mind....

Yeah it is pretty stupid. The Sirokos is an M7M that can only carry marines and fire Boarding pods yet it doesn't come with CLS IIRC.

[tbowen]

Yes, I just assumed M7Ms would have CLS as built in equipment like TS seems to have trade Mk1 built in.

[David Howland]

This is it you see, its how we look at it!
Because we get focused on the new feature of boarding we forget the prime basic use of an M7M is as Missile Frigate. Ships only come with the most basic essential Eq. installed and in this case fight commands are more essential to the ships prime function!
Having said that, as M7Ms and TPs are built by all races the CLS should be available at all Eq. Docks.

[devilsad]

This is it you see, its how we look at it!
Because we get focused on the new feature of boarding we forget the prime basic use of an M7M is as Missile Frigate. Ships only come with the most basic essential Eq. installed and in this case fight commands are more essential to the ships prime function!
Having said that, as M7Ms and TPs are built by all races the CLS should be available at all Eq. Docks.

Personally it never made sense to me that you need to stuff marines in the cargo hold on these big ships. They don't have a lounge or sleeping pods or anything? The marines just sit on a cargo crate playing the harmonica while you fly around the universe? And how does it work with the cargo expansion/subspace compression technology? I thought that was the reasoning behind TPs having fixed cargo hold sizes, as it made no sense to use cargo compression on passengers. CLS is sold by the pirates so they could transport slaves, which makes sense as they wouldn't care too much about the comfort of slaves.. but who would agree to be transported in the belly of a TS, wedged between racks of ecells and shrunk to 1/2 size?

Hopefully it will be a bit more realistic in X Rebirth

[David Howland]

Well kids have to tempted in from their film and tv experiences.
Come on you must have watched it, the gang of special ops guys, our hero leading them sat on crates smoking their last fag, in the oversized cargo plane or chopper, just begging to be shot out out of the sky. Who indeed would agree to it? Well amazingly enough there were marines dropped under such conditions in the second world war and vietnam.
You say but they launch from such large ships, well if your target is a nice powerful M2 you need tubes large enough to launch pods you need shields to withstand whatever the M2 and its escorts throw at you and be able to throw similar missiles back at them to give your pods half a chance to breach the hull. I do not think the average TP is up to the job, could be wrong though!
Of course you could always sneak up in an invisible (sorry cloaked) craft and get Scotty to beam the men (sorry personnel) aboard, very realistic, where would the fun be in that? Well I reckon it might be right up Harry Potters street, got a wand anyone?

[devilsad]

There's a world of difference between a group of marines sitting in a half-empty cargo plane for the short time that they're travelling to their mission, and a group of marines sitting in a cargo plane filled to the roof while it flies all over the world for weeks doing other missions, delivering cargo and overseeing building projects.
It also amuses me that I can fit 5 passengers in my Kestrel plus shield and weapons.. where exactly do they sit? In the thruster tubes? Strapped to the outside?
Handling passengers/marines as a type of cargo was probably the easiest way to add them, but it does kind of grate against the logic of the earlier design choices.

[David Howland]

Yes devisad,
Thats why anyone with money and self respect insist on a TP, only the desparate or under military contract travel in CLS, the word Titanic comes to mind.
So the next time you are taking a bunch of young marines to a mission of uncertainty and danger you just make sure Betty makes em a cupa char!
If we paid those guys they would be worth every credit.

[tbowen]

This is it you see, its how we look at it!
Because we get focused on the new feature of boarding we forget the prime basic use of an M7M is as Missile Frigate. Ships only come with the most basic essential Eq. installed and in this case fight commands are more essential to the ships prime function!

Nice, and on the money. I was thinking of the M7M as a boarding ship and not as a missile frigate. Good call.

[Infekted]

Basically a normal cargo hold would be unpressurised and unheated.
Basically not a very nice place to chill out without a space suit.
So you add cargo life support to make it habitable.

But what boggles my head is that its a software upgrade and consumes no cargo space at all... Isn't that a bit wierd? I wish my house heating was like that!

[brucewarren]

Maybe all it does is enable the ships AI to turn off the cargo compression
field over a given area to prevent the guys getting squished.

They still have their suits after all. That would explain why ditching it kills
them instantly.

[Infekted]

I suppose they could be in their suits all the, but wouldn't that mean they wouldn't run out fo air after 2 hours? Unless they are literally plugged in all the time whilst in the cargo bay.

If thats the case, I seriously wouldn't wanna be one of those guys... In a suit permanently and don't even get paid? Brutality...

[brucewarren]

Well otherwise your boarding operation would be delayed until the guys
suited up. This way they can go as soon as they unhook their O2 feed.
With one marine per O2 pipe attachment it explains why you can only
carry a limited number per ship.

It also explains why they like boarding so much. It's a chance to stretch
their legs/tentacles.

Given that

a) as you point out they don't get paid
b) they are bought and sold like cargo
c) most captains consider them expendible

I reckon they are some sort of high level slave, welded into their suits
when they leave the pirate station or "training facility" you bought them at.

[Infekted]

If thats the case I am somewhat scared of a mutiny!