Albion Prelude - station placement

Klo_Kla · Post by **Klo_Kla** » Tue, 11. Mar 14, 18:12

Hi,
I decided to try Albion prelude after Reunion and TC. In TC and Reunion I would use NumPad keys to move station in the map view prior final construction. The single key stroke was moving station by exactly 50 meters. Good planing and little practice allowed building beautiful megacomplexes. I tried to build the first complex in Albion prelude last night.

NumPad keys now move stations by less then 50m - in fact the distance by which single key stroke moves station seems to be random. This fully breaks complex construction, as I can not space stations precisely and evenly anymore. Is it possible to make AP station placement as it was in TC and Reunion? Or may be there is a new trick to place station at precise distance from each other?

Lone Jedi · Post by **Lone Jedi** » Wed, 12. Mar 14, 09:33

You can use the squares and gridlines in the minimap as measurement.

BTW I just stack all stations of a complex in exactly the same spot, in order to avoid fps drops. No beautiful complexes can make up for single digit fps IS.

builder680 · Post by **builder680** » Wed, 12. Mar 14, 10:17

Lone Jedi,

When zoomed out, the grid is ineffective in obtaining the precision needed for perfect complexes. When zoomed in, the lines comprising the grids move as you move your cursor with the NumPad.

For Klo_Kla's purpose, the grid is therefore useless.

Klo_Kla,

If you're not averse to modding your game, Factory Complex Constructor allows placement precision to the meter.

DiArmada · Post by **DiArmada** » Wed, 12. Mar 14, 10:52

when using an advanced satellite it's not too hard to do.
I've built a nice grid of 144 stations, all in neat rows.

TTD · Post by **TTD** » Wed, 12. Mar 14, 11:21

I have built many complexes.
My biggest was in TC
The best looking was in Reunion.I do not remember ever using the single keypress method of placement.

But I must admit that in vanilla, it is not easy for me to produce a cube shapes complex using the two 2d sector maps.,even when using multiple ships to get the viewing angles.

We will never get a 3D sector map,except through modding, so I muddle through as best I can.

There is of course Hephaestus Corp in the Bonus pack,which I have used to some extent.
If you are modded,uninstall HC and use the latest version.Instructions on uninstalling is in the mod thread. iirc.

I am glad that so many more players use the single point method of "complexing", since I promoted it in my story tutorial.
It does not work in earlier games to TC, but it's fine in TC/AP, as long as you are quick enough.
The main problem in previous versions was collision detection, but since TC, this is turned off for the stations/complex, once connection is made.

Lone Jedi · Post by **Lone Jedi** » Wed, 12. Mar 14, 12:12

TTD wrote:I have built many complexes.
My biggest was in TC
The best looking was in Reunion.I do not remember ever using the single keypress method of placement.

But I must admit that in vanilla, it is not easy for me to produce a cube shapes complex using the two 2d sector maps.,even when using multiple ships to get the viewing angles.

We will never get a 3D sector map,except through modding, so I muddle through as best I can.

There is of course Hephaestus Corp in the Bonus pack,which I have used to some extent.
If you are modded,uninstall HC and use the latest version.Instructions on uninstalling is in the mod thread. iirc.

I am glad that so many more players use the single point method of "complexing", since I promoted it in my story tutorial.
It does not work in earlier games to TC, but it's fine in TC/AP, as long as you are quick enough.
The main problem in previous versions was collision detection, but since TC, this is turned off for the stations/complex, once connection is made.

Sorry I didn't read your tutorial. Did you invent that?

TTD · Post by **TTD** » Wed, 12. Mar 14, 13:30

You can look it up in the Creative universe Forum.

I did not invent it, par se, but I promoted it and investigated it, as there were so many that said it could not work.

http://forum.egosoft.com/viewtopic.php? ... highlight=

page 13...direct link on first page

Klo_Kla · Post by **Klo_Kla** » Thu, 13. Mar 14, 06:51

Thanks guys.
buildcer680 is right, grid is not effective. My method is quite simple - place first station wherever you pleased, then use it as an anchor to place other stations. NumKeys allow to do it in 50m increments with infinite precision. Infiniteeee....... precisssiiion...... I love my anal-retentive complexes. I think they are beautiful

Tnx TDD, I know about dropping all stations in a single-spot trick - btw it also works in Reunion especially if you spend most time OSS - but that defeats the purpose - It takes away joy (and frustration) of complex building. Also these compressed mega-complexes do not look huge and impressive:)

I think I should try the bonus pack:) Afterburner on Boron Arrow was fun in Reunion:). I started playing Reunion again, until I can solve AP complex construction problem.

I am not averse to modding, what exact mods should I try?

jlehtone · Post by **jlehtone** » Thu, 13. Mar 14, 17:12

The 50m precision was wonderful in X3R, but already on that game I lost it.

I did change from PS/2 to USB keyboard, and then it was almost impossible to get less than 150m steps; one step was still 50m, but single keypress generated 3-4. There are technical differences that could explain some of that. However, reverting to PS/2 did not really help; the PC got several upgrades too. So hardware changes, probably software changes, and definitely bigger ingame empire somehow resulted in haphazardness.

I did look at the coordinates, but sufficiently far from center (>100km) the rounding hides the truth.

I did not pay attention in X3TC any more, nor didn't build much.

Klo_Kla · Post by **Klo_Kla** » Fri, 14. Mar 14, 06:14

jlehtone,

Yep, you have to have fast fingers

It may require few attempts to get that 50m step. BTW, you do not need precision all the time, just for the final few moves before you drop the station. First two moves to figure out exact position (if you father then 10 km from sector centrer) and last one to get into desired position.

I saw no practical differences between various keyboards as well as between various installs, OSes and hardware configs. In theory USB keyboard could be more challenging but I never saw the difference. However, I do have fast fingers:)

I still desperately wait for placing stations precisely at intended positions in AP. Ready to build Flail complex in Preachers Void but can not make myself to build spaghetti plex. Playing Reunion meantime

Emperors mines are ideal for raidin Boron and Paranid ships