Random mines from nowhere and fighters killing each other?

[AlekMance]

So recently I've been having this odd problem with my fighters. Shortly after arriving in a hostile sector, I launch them and tell them to attack some target, usually a large one. However, recently I've found they've been getting destroyed really easily, but when I check to see what destroyed them, I tend to see some unusual messages. There are of course one or two that say that a fighter was destroyed by the ship they were attacking, but the majority seem to say that it either was killed by another one of my fighters or, oddly enough, a mine. The first is probably a problem with the autopilot and the fact that I'm launching a group of 65 fighters at once, though I've never seen the issue quite as pronounced before. When I played a month or two ago, my fighters were doing fine in those numbers. Now it seems like they're more of a threat to themselves than enemy ships are. The second, however, has me stumped. I've even taken the time to check the sector for mines using the cheat mod before launching my fighters and even used it to check the ships I sent them to attack before they attacked. I also checked my own ships to make sure I hadn't somehow given one of them some mines. I did it again just a few minutes ago against a missile frigate. I am certain that there were no mines aboard that frigate, nor were there any aboard the ships near it, yet somehow over a dozen of my fighters were killed by Ion and SQUASH mines before they destroyed it. The ship was a Boron Kraken, my ships are all fully equipped Fenrirs, and I'm playing Albion Prelude.

So I guess my question is, has anyone else encountered something like this? Is it normal for ships to just spawn mines at will? If so, this is the first time I've seen it happen. I will say that it could possibly be a result of the numerous mods I have installed, but I do not recall any of them mentioning adding mine capability to commonwealth AI ships.

[Snafu_X3]

I've even taken the time to check the sector for mines using the cheat mod before launching my fighters and even used it to check the ships I sent them to attack before they attacked. I also checked my own ships to make sure I hadn't somehow given one of them some mines. I did it again just a few minutes ago against a missile frigate. I am certain that there were no mines aboard that frigate, nor were there any aboard the ships near it, yet somehow over a dozen of my fighters were killed by Ion and SQUASH mines before they destroyed it. The ship was a Boron Kraken, my ships are all fully equipped Fenrirs, and I'm playing Albion Prelude.

Which sector, or are both your attempts in different sectors?

[AlekMance]

Which sector, or are both your attempts in different sectors?

Today I recreated it in Ocean of Fantasy a couple times, though I think I may have done it in another sector or two before. It also might only be happening when I attack Krakens or other M7M ships, but I haven't exactly tested it thoroughly. They are also ships that jump in when I begin attacking stations in the area, not ships that were already there, or at least they were today.

[Snafu_X3]

Sounds like an AP-specific 'problem' - I'll leave it to those players, sorry

[Alan Phipps]

I believe that when the player or something else kills an RRF script bomber it releases mines in sphere around it to simulate an area effect of the bomber blowing up. If that effect is in X3AP version RRF scripts then that would be the answer.

[AlekMance]

Interesting. I don't recall ever installing the RRF plugin, but, sure enough, the files are in my X3 directory. I find this odd, but with how many mods I've installed I guess it's not unheard of.

Also, is it normal for fighters to kill each other as much as they do? I sent 65 fighters into fight a capital ship just now and of the 20 or so that were destroyed, 9 were destroyed by another one of my fighters. I don't know if they're shooting at each other or just running into each other, but this amount of self-damage seems very unusual to me.

[Alan Phipps]

RRF is incorporated into the vanilla X3AP game.

Edit for your Edit: Since this is all IS, I would hazard that these are a mix of collisions and friendly fire. Each actual collision could mean the potential loss of 2 fighters, especially if they are already on low shields or damaged. It is very possible that they are also wandering into each others' lines of fire, especially if you are using area weapons like PBG etc. The enemy could be stripping their shields and slowing them down with your friendly fire just finishing them off with that final bullet.

[AlekMance]

RRF is incorporated into the vanilla X3AP game.

I guess that answers that question. I might just have to stick with the big ships then.