Keeping my Wingman in the air

[Pac Bane]

Hi

I'm running the XRM modification and I'm piloting a Paranid M6 Hyperion - she's a lovely bird with 2 docking slots for fighters. So I picked up a Terran M4-Chikyu to fly with me and dock when jumping. Here's when things get awkward. I want the Chikyu to 'fly with me' - not 'dock at me'. The reason I want him to fly with me, is because if he's docked and I'm doing a steady 244m/s, when he undocks to engage enemies, he is immediately destroyed by my Hyperion's wings smashing through him.

No matter what command I give the Chikyu (wings/wingman/protect me/follow me/engage my enemy/etc) he will always land on me and never stay 'in the air'. Short of populating the 2 x docking slots with cheap M5's (and defeating the option to jump with the Chkiyu) how can I keep the Chikyu from trying to dock?

[Martin Head]

Have you got him Homebased to the Hyperion? Because I think that can make them land, and only launch if you are attacked.

[Pac Bane]

I believe his homebase was empty. I will double-check though.

[Bill Huntington]

To accomplish what you want, you could Change Ship into your Chikyu, then Change Ship to Hype, with two quick commands.

I tried to use a Wingman in combat a long time ago, and found I spent a lot time getting it to do very little, when I needed every second to focus on the combat in front of me. Final analysis: better to do it yourself in your personal ship. Then they crash on docking, at stations, at gates, and often don't do what's ordered, and even when they do, they're slow at it.

There are plenty of things to with those two slots. I carry a Kestral and an M3+.

[sithneverdiealone]

There are plenty of things to with those two slots. I carry a Kestral and an M3+.

me too, a Kestrel and a Enhanced Kea full of EBC ammo(I load heavy on missiles AND run EBC in the forward turrets)

[Pac Bane]

Ah...so I should escort the Hyperion whilst flying the Chikyu and switch when the Chikyu would engage the enemy naturally.

[Sirrobert]

You could try using the mod Bounce

[Pac Bane]

I checked the home base setting and it makes no difference either way.

I also have bounced already installed and activated but it hasn't got time to 'bounce' the ship away before it's destroyed.

So I guess the upshot is that there doesn't seem to be a way of keeping a wingman from docking unless it's piloted by the player.

[ancienthighway]

For a different approach to the problem:

If you can get a TM tuned to match the speed of the Hyperion, base your "wingmen" on it. You could set those fighters up as a wing rather than wingmen and then have it protect the Hyperion, attack it's target, or what ever you need them to do. Fighters launch from a TM perpendicular to the TM, and there's no "fins" to get caught on.

The fighter wing should also match the Hyperion's speed or be faster to be effective in the role.

[Monkeyfister]

Has anyone actually ever used the Wingman option? I tried it out years ago, and was never impressed with it for the OP's reasons, and the slow to respond issues.

I don't see a purpose for the command. They just crash into me, or stuff-- especially when I forget they are there.

I just tell a fighter to Protect Me, or Attack... and it does the job just fine.

Then again, in my Hyperion, I don't really use fighters to protect me.

I have an Aamon Prototype and a Fujin docked to it, but their only really used for Sat deployment and Salvage collection.

I DO think the key to success when using the Hyperion the way OP wants, is to have your tenant ships run FASTER than the Hype, or slow down before launch.

I also find Fujin doesn't crash as much if, at docking, I am turned away from it. Faster ships like to crash into the bow a lot.