Trading Ships

Ben Gunn · Post by **Ben Gunn** » Thu, 26. Feb 15, 13:43

Have trading ships as universe traders which deploys fighter drones which they restock when attacked. Question One would they use missiles in defence if I supplied them to the ship? I also use ships to buy specific raw materials for my stations which appear to be more vulnerable as they do not have any fighter drones or missiles. Question Two would they use fighter drones or missiles in defence if I supplied them to the ships? Ta

Echofinder · Post by **Echofinder** » Thu, 26. Feb 15, 13:50

Missiles to attack? No, they just run away.
Mosquito missile defense does not work OoS.
Traders will deploy fighter drones and run away when attacked.

Ben Gunn · Post by **Ben Gunn** » Thu, 26. Feb 15, 15:32

Ok so traders only use the fighter drones and do a runner. How about the ships you use just to replenish raw materials in the factories where you use the best buy command would they deploy fighter drones, if they had them, if attacked?

Sabrina Bergin · Post by **Sabrina Bergin** » Thu, 26. Feb 15, 17:09

Same answer Ben Gunn.

Post by **Nanook** » Thu, 26. Feb 15, 20:14

But be aware that CAG, CLS and Universe Trader pilots will all independently buy mosquito missiles and fighter drones when they get to a certain level in their training. You can't prevent this except by limiting their training. Only the generic best buy/sell traders don't do this.

ancienthighway · Post by **ancienthighway** » Thu, 26. Feb 15, 21:27

Actually it can be prevented, along with the trip to buy a jump drive, by equipping the traders with drives, drones and missiles when setting up the new route.

Post by **Nanook** » Thu, 26. Feb 15, 22:46

The point I was trying to make is that missiles and drones are going to be added whether the player wants them or not. This was in response to the comment that MDM missiles aren't used OOS.

ancienthighway · Post by **ancienthighway** » Fri, 27. Feb 15, 00:07

Exactly. So rather than waiting for the pilot level to reach the point they will interrupt trade route and goes who knows where to find the drones or drives he needs, equip them from the start and keep the trader on task. I can't count the number of traders I lost trying to slow boat through Xenon or Pirate sectors while attempting to upgrade their ship.

Solomon Short · Post by **Solomon Short** » Fri, 27. Feb 15, 02:54

I believe that the Missile & Drone behaviours are related to the installation of the "Fight Command Software" packages, unfortunately the Bonus Pack guide doesn't mention the specifics of what the Fight software changes, & I don't recall ever reading the entirety of the threads related to Lucikes' various scripts.

So if you leave the fight software off, I don't think you'll have to worry about the missiles & drones.

Ben Gunn · Post by **Ben Gunn** » Fri, 27. Feb 15, 17:08

Thanks guys I think I have got the general drift.

Monkeyfister · Post by **Monkeyfister** » Thu, 5. Mar 15, 00:32

To pile-on with the majority...

You really don't want to give your automated Traders any weapons at all, aside from the drones they will buy and use on their own, as long as you let them take Training to figure it out.

Their tendency is to launch drones and flee, by Jumpdrive if possible, or to fly to the nearest station to dock. Missiles and lasers only make them want to try and defend/fight.

I'd advocate against even an IRE in the rear turret set to MD Only. All it does is make the Trader tarry in place, when it should be running away, and saving your profitsss.

Post by **Nanook** » Thu, 5. Mar 15, 01:14

Monkeyfister wrote:...Missiles and lasers only make them want to try and defend/fight....

This is a myth perpetrated back as far as X2. The scripts for traders don't allow them to actually attack. What they do is try to evade, and only then when IS. OOS, they always drop drones and flee or jump, depending on their equipment. However, they will use their turret weapons against attacking enemies while they're in the process of jumping/fleeing. So while not too useful, giving them weapons won't hurt their chances of survival.

ancienthighway · Post by **ancienthighway** » Thu, 5. Mar 15, 01:56

How one outfits their traders varies from one player to the next. I tend to think of transports as disposable assets. If they can jump out great, but if they find a Q, they have no hope. In that respect, I put the bare minimum of upgrades on the ship. Speed and turning, required software for CLS1, CLS2, CAG, or UT. They may or may not get a duplex scanner. I give them drones and mosquitoes so their trading isn't interrupted.

There was a time in a previous series of games where every ship got everything. I was under the false impression that doing so would allow any ship to change tasks instantly and I could jump in the cockpit of any ship and have no impediments to my game. But I only every flew maybe half a dozen ships, and the same ones everytime. And never a transport unless the plot required it.

pjknibbs · Post by **pjknibbs** » Thu, 5. Mar 15, 09:32

Nanook wrote: This is a myth perpetrated back as far as X2.

To some extent it wasn't a myth in early patches of X2 (or was it X-Tension? I forget). Traders assigned to stations *would* stand and fight if they had guns equipped. However, this was fixed a long, long time ago, and even if it hadn't been, Mk 3 traders never, ever exhibited that behaviour in the first place.

I think it's maybe still going the rounds because people see reports that one of their Mk3 traders was destroyed and ask, "Why didn't it drop drones and bug out?"--without considering that it probably *did* do that, but whatever was attacking it destroyed it before the jumpdrive countdown could finish. Plenty of ships in the game with the power to do that, after all.

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Trading Ships

Trading Ships