Own fighter bailed out and some questions/sugestions

[DuckTales]

Hi everyone, I want to give a "heads up" since I couldn't find anywhere about this.

I am in DeVries playing the campaign on the Very Hard difficulty. Til now I simply rushed the campaign because I already knew about the PMC conflict.

Right now I am making a squad with all my claimed fighters and positioning them around Fervid Corona so they can be protected by the stations there. I received a message from a fighter under attack but ignored, just checked the Log to see if it wasn't destroyed and continued whatever I was doing.

Next time I was around there I noticed that one of my fighters wasn't with the others of his squad, it was just lying around somewhere near. Then I tried to order it to fly to near his squad but couldn't, then tried to comm the pilot without success, then looked at the ship details and noticed that the ship wasn't with a pilot but still was my property (although with 59% hull). I am not sure if this is a bug or a feature but if this is a feature I think this is awesome! (get a pilot with 5* in navigation and combat but 0* morale, it will be a beast flying and in combat but at the first scratch on his spaceship paint it will leave your asset lying there to be destroyed rsrs)

Tried to "call the pilot" back to Skunk without success, then tried to tell the new pilot to get in there but couldn't too, also there was no option to "claim", couldn't find any option to "unclaim" or "reclaim" it.

Then when I went to the "crew quarters" in the Skunk and told my pilot to "work elsewhere", chose the map and then the fighter. It worked like a charm.

After fiddling with it, I found completely counter intuitive the way to call back a pilot. I need to look the fighter "details" then open "Management", select the pilot, details, then select "Working On" and only then call him/her aboard.

Suggestion: I think it would be better if there was this option in the "comm chat".

Question: Is it possible to have only 5 extra crew? Can't I recruit and leave them anywhere else besides the Skunk?
I am trying to be ready to capping fighters and board capitals whenever possible, found an architect almost perfect that I want to use as soon as possible but til then, does he need to occupy a place in the skunk? Can't I leave him elsewhere?

[RAVEN.myst]

Hiya

This is the first time I've ever heard of such, and never seen it before myself. Unless it's a new undocumented change, or part of some mod that you may be running, I would assume one of two things: 1. you accidentally managed to recall that pilot (though given how convoluted that is, as you yourself pointed out, this is perhaps a bit unlikely); 2. a bug.

Regarding your question, in vanilla Rebirth, you can only carry around 5 crew, in the rear compartment of the malodorous one. In most cases, however, (but NOT with architects, note!) you can reassign crew between ships and stations (via the malodorous one), so you can in effect "store" a highly skilled character at a post in order to later assign to a more important job (of the same occupation, of course.) If you go the modding route, however, I'm aware that there is one that expands the capacity of that rear compartment considerably.

Btw, I agree that those options should also be available via the comms interface.

[DuckTales]

Thanks for the reply

I am not using any mods because I want to know how the vanilla is and I want to unlock the achievements.

I don't think that I recalled him accidentally because I spent at least 30 minutes trying to find the way to do it because of "how it is well hidden" rsrs

There is a entry in the Log that seems different from the others, which states: Maelchon was forced to flee after being attacked by REI Raiding Party Cennelath in Fervid Corona. Your ship is at Fervid Corona in Glaring Truth.

This message is right after the one informing that the ship was under attack: Maelchon is under attack. Location: Glaring Truth.

I recall that once happened that one of my ships got attacked and the pilot fled to another zone through the highway. When I looked at the map I saw it moving, then I ordered it to go back to his squad. Maybe it is the same fighter but I am not sure.

I must say that I spent a good amount of time because I captured a Katana and wanted to add it to the fighter fleet that I created but didn't succeed. Then noticed that I can't assign as a Leader a ship that is "smaller", as I was trying to add the Katana (which seems to be a "medium ship") to a squad whose leader was a Maelchon (a "small ship"). Then I needed to change the pilots from the ships because the Leader is a "perfect pilot" so he needed to fly the Katana (but for this I needed 2 spaces in the Skunk).

Anyway I think that a Maelchon is a better ship than a Katana and wanted that for my best pilot and Fighter Squad Leader, why can't I make it? Why can't I assign the Katanas under the Leadership of a Maelchon?

Anyway, I think that it is annoying to be able to carry only 5 crew and don't have anywhere to "store" the good ones that I find. It only detracts from the fun turning into a chore crewing capitals, fighters and stations.

There are even missions that I need to transport people and they count to the limit of 5!

Edit: some text fix

[RodentofDoom]

The more crew mod doesn't negate achievements, at least it hasn't for me.

To me it's not really any different from the 50! marines that are invisibly camping out back there between boarding ops.

[Sparky Sparkycorp]

I imagine the Marines are just cute little fighting robots

...It would explain why it takes so long to overpower 3 crew!

[RAVEN.myst]

I imagine the Marines are just cute little fighting robots

...It would explain why it takes so long to overpower 3 crew!

LOL! I tend to think of them as inflatable dolls with waterpistols...


@DuckTales: maybe that mysterious pilot didn't actually desert, but rather had a heart attack when attacked - did your replacement pilot complain about having to shove a corpse out the way? Hmmm, this is getting a bit dark... heheheh

[Nanook]

There's another option for storing crew/employees. The Capital Ship Bridge mod allows you to dump as many crew on a capital ship as you want, and you can even walk around and talk to them if you get bored.

[DuckTales]

Thanks for all your replies and sorry for my rant about the "squad leader". I got angry because I lost a good chunk of time til I figured it out. There is no clue anywhere about this limitation and at first this isn't even needed.

I will try those mods then. Do you know which (if any) negates achievements and how can I know?

I find it difficult to give orders to my squads, it is quite cumbersome: the "comm chat" and the options are clunky and every time I access it I need to hear and watch the animation while my Skunk becomes completely unresponsive.

Thinking about using it: https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/ ... =552011927

How I wished to have a hotkey to broadcast to my squad or ALL ships in the zone to "Withdraw from Battle" and "Attack All Enemies in Zone"...

[RAVEN.myst]

...the "comm chat" and the options are clunky and every time I access it I need to hear and watch the animation while my Skunk becomes completely unresponsive.

This has been a constant and considerable source of frustration for me, and other people too, from what I've read, and despite it being complained about quite extensively, this behaviour has never been addressed in any of the game's numerous patches. There are times when this inability to walk and chew gum (well, listen and work ship controls) at the same time can be circumvented by using some hotkeys (you can try your 'interact' key and your 'ability menu' key, primarily), but this is rather cumbersome, as frustrating paralysis is then merely replaced by tedious keypressing - and in many situations none of the "workarounds" actually work, in any case. (By the way, in a semi-related vein, if you ever need to dismiss text cluttering your radar rather than waiting for it to leave on its own, you can use your radar mode-switch hotkey to accomplish this - of course, this is again annoyingly laborious, but sometimes still quite handy.)

As for mods, sorry, I can't answer anything about those, as I never use any, myself.

[DuckTales]

I usually don't use any mods too and want to play the vanilla first before trying any, but I am finding those things quite frustrating...

I can try some "workarounds" for the crew management but I can't find any about those dialogues. I try pressing F or T but most of the time it don't work. (as you said)

When I dock anywhere I need to wait Yisha "finish her line" completely paralized... When I give a squad an order I need to hear what they have to say while adrift in space, what on "Very Hard" means death most of the time...

When someone "pops" on the radar I want to see its shield and hull, maybe its place in "the universe" and probably plot a course to them but for it I need to travel through the inefficient "comm chat tree", listening to what they have to say while unable to defend myself. Then when they finally go away (usually after some time blocking any information that I needed from the radar) I can't simply go into log and see easily and exactly who and where came the distress signal from...

Man, I just noticed that on Wing Commander (SNES - 1990) I was able to issue orders to my wingman and others pilots, even taunt the Kilrathi, using my joystick in an easier and more responsive way than in X:R T_T

[Nanook]

...
Man, I just noticed that on Wing Commander (SNES - 1990) I was able to issue orders to my wingman and others pilots, even taunt the Kilrathi, using my joystick in an easier and more responsive way than in X:R T_T

As you could with every X game prior to Rebirth, too. Or at least you could dismiss any dialog instantly and get on with blowing up pirates. Rebirth is definitely an anomaly. Too bad it's never been, and probably won't be, fixed.

[RAVEN.myst]

Man, I just noticed that on Wing Commander (SNES - 1990) I was able to issue orders to my wingman and others pilots, even taunt the Kilrathi, using my joystick in an easier and more responsive way than in X:R T_T

As you could with every X game prior to Rebirth, too. Or at least you could dismiss any dialog instantly and get on with blowing up pirates. Rebirth is definitely an anomaly. Too bad it's never been, and probably won't be, fixed.

Agreed. Well, at least we can hope (and not unreasonably optimistically) that the feedback in this regard is being taken into account for X4. *holding thumbs* (or replace with *fingers crossed* or whatever silly superstitious ritualistic gesture applies in the reader's region )

[UniTrader]

As you could with every X game prior to Rebirth, too. Or at least you could dismiss any dialog instantly and get on with blowing up pirates. Rebirth is definitely an anomaly. Too bad it's never been, and probably won't be, fixed.

i wonder which dialog you refer to? might be interesting for me to know for reference, because any (Menu) Dialogue i made so far always aborted instantly with [Del] and iirc this is also true for all Vanilla Dialogues/Menus (except they are actively defined as non-cancelable, which is afaik only done in Plot Missions)


Edit: Quote fixed - Sparky

[DuckTales]

1 - Most if not all the dialogues inside the stations (even the Yisha requesting to dock).

2 - Most if not all the orders you give to the captains/pilots in space (come to my position, hold position, leave battle, fly to position etc). When they start the answer (soon after you choose) it can't be interrupted with Del, F, T or any key, and the Skunk becomes unresponsive til they finish "their line".

Besides, when you choose "any option" and then "(back)" you turn your head to the right, losing then the sight on anything you had, and it keeps like this til you close the "comm chat". It is extremely irritating.

Edit:

3 - The Skunk also becomes unresponsive during any whole dialogue from the Bulletin Board (Enter -> 3 -> 2), which also can't be interrupted with Del, F or T. (including the ones you find on the "blobs" just outside stations)

[RAVEN.myst]

Besides, when you choose "any option" and then "(back)" you turn your head to the right, losing then the sight on anything you had, and it keeps like this til you close the "comm chat". It is extremely irritating.

Something you may find helpful here - although I forget the exact names of the settings in question, you can disable the whole look over to the right and pop up a large interface thing to a small and nigh-instantaneous HUD - it helps considerably, as at least it cuts out the time overhead involved in swivelling the view to and fro.

3 - The Skunk also becomes unresponsive during any whole dialogue from the Bulletin Board (Enter -> 3 -> 2), which also can't be interrupted with Del, F or T. (including the ones you find on the "blobs" just outside stations)

Indeed, and to compound the silliness here, if turning down a mission DEL actually DOESN'T take the user all the way out as it does (most) anywhere else, but instead only takes the user back out one level, same as ESC - inexplicably inconsistent and, again, annoyingly frustratingly time-consuming.

[DuckTales]

I am not sure if you are talking about the Game Settings option "Menu", where you select "HUD" because it is this way, so I don't "turn" to look at the consoles at all, except that in this case Ren turns his head to the right where there is no console, there is only his co-pilot who is staring back at him.

[RAVEN.myst]

I am not sure if you are talking about the Game Settings option "Menu", where you select "HUD" because it is this way, so I don't "turn" to look at the consoles at all, except that in this case Ren turns his head to the right where there is no console, there is only his co-pilot who is staring back at him.

Ah, so you're referring to parts of the plot where this happens - yes, that's most infuriating, especially for a first or second play-through. One example is when approaching Crystal Castle for the first time and there's some stuff going on, and Annoyisha rivets the player's view to herself while the Skank is more than likely busy flying straight at the station, and likely to bounce off it before the player gets to regain control of the ship...

[DuckTales]

Not only the plot scenes but anytime when you comm a captain or any other crew away, choose an option and then choose "(6) Back" it happens too, and stay this way til you close the comm.

The most annoying til now "plot related" was when using the Trojan URV on the PMC station, as I am on "Very Hard", when I finish scanning the last spot, all the PMC vehicles from the sector come chasing hot after me, and then, for no reason Ren turns his head to right to see Annoyisha spin on her chair and speak something, meanwhile I lose completely the skunk controls. I died many times since I had only the starting shields.