Why are cargo drones still so bad at picking up cargo?

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LameFox
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Why are cargo drones still so bad at picking up cargo?

Post by LameFox » Sat, 25. Jun 22, 16:57

When I tell a large ship to pick up cargo it is genuinely more likely the cargo will despawn than be picked up. They launch the drones from SO FAR AWAY and the drones themselves are barely mobile. Some L ships would be more useful in this regard if they ran it over themselves!

Why do these continue to be so bad? Is it intentional? Why can they even be told to pick up cargo if it's just going to disappear?
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dtpsprt
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Re: Why are cargo drones still so bad at picking up cargo?

Post by dtpsprt » Sat, 25. Jun 22, 19:00

To begin with, the distance has to do with the distance that the ship gets out of Traveldrive (or so I think), which in itself is HUGE...
Next, the time that loot despawns is surely minimal and should have already be increased, maybe by a factor of 2 or even 3 (IMHO)...
To top it all, never forget the horrible (in any sence) piloting AI that would, most surely, make the drones manoeuver to take position before taking in the cargo...
There you have it in a nutshell
And no, don't expect any of this to change. These are Egosoft's choices and I personally, have never see them go back (forget about apologising, the apologies for the delay in Online Functionality excluded but irrelevant in this case)...

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Re: Why are cargo drones still so bad at picking up cargo?

Post by LameFox » Sat, 25. Jun 22, 19:41

Sometimes the ships don't even fly at all first! Today I told one to pick up cargo in Heretic's End, and the cargo was roughly the same distance from the ship that the two (active) gates are from each other... and it just launched a drone right there. Absolutely no hope of success.
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Prophet1
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Re: Why are cargo drones still so bad at picking up cargo?

Post by Prophet1 » Sun, 26. Jun 22, 17:25

Sometimes you just have to get lucky and plan the pickup correctly.

I was sitting in my Asgard in Two Grand when a Xenon I came through the Fires of Defeat gate. I was on the other side of the sector, traveled over and took out the I, but not before it blew up some hauler with 1056 smart chips. I also had a Raptor in sector. I had the Raptor fly close and ordered it to scoop the smart chips. It launched the cargo drone which traveled over to the chips and picked up the whole drop. I had given the Raptor a get supplies command beforehand, and it just happened to be travelling through to Open Market and it needed the smart chips anyway.

I rarely get a good pickup this easy, and like the folks above, have gone back to check a ship getting a drop to find it didn't get anything.

You have to park your ship doing the pickup close to the drop and then give the command to pickup because at the drone's speed of 58m/s it's going to take a long time otherwise. Always "Remove all orders" first if necessary. If you order a ship to get a drop from a long distance, or sectors away, you'll mostly come up empty handed.
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Duncaroos
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Re: Why are cargo drones still so bad at picking up cargo?

Post by Duncaroos » Sun, 26. Jun 22, 18:20

I miss the X3 days where your fighter drones would rush over and collect cargo using the M.A.R.S mod. Super fast as you would expect small crafts to be. I miss that mod so much :cry:
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Falcrack
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Re: Why are cargo drones still so bad at picking up cargo?

Post by Falcrack » Sun, 26. Jun 22, 22:34

We need cargo drones that zip out at 500-1000 m/s to quickly collect cargo. Or for NPC piloted ships to simply use the container magnet.

dtpsprt
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Re: Why are cargo drones still so bad at picking up cargo?

Post by dtpsprt » Mon, 27. Jun 22, 00:19

Falcrack wrote:
Sun, 26. Jun 22, 22:34
We need cargo drones that zip out at 500-1000 m/s to quickly collect cargo. Or for NPC piloted ships to simply use the container magnet.
The drones are not piloted, so they are (obviously) based on the piloting AI at 0 stars(!!!). If they go at 500-1000 m/s they'll most probably break and turn two sectors away. The container magnet is a "player quirk" (it's never listed as equipment), so NPCs can not use it.

LameFox
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Re: Why are cargo drones still so bad at picking up cargo?

Post by LameFox » Mon, 27. Jun 22, 07:03

Falcrack wrote:
Sun, 26. Jun 22, 22:34
We need cargo drones that zip out at 500-1000 m/s to quickly collect cargo. Or for NPC piloted ships to simply use the container magnet.
Going faster would be nice. At the very least the ships need to launch them at a much lower range to be effective.
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NightmareNight91
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Re: Why are cargo drones still so bad at picking up cargo?

Post by NightmareNight91 » Mon, 27. Jun 22, 17:15

Just make cargo drones faster, it would make them useful, I don't even bother putting them on L ships unless its a trader.

Scoob
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Re: Why are cargo drones still so bad at picking up cargo?

Post by Scoob » Mon, 27. Jun 22, 17:57

Yep, I've reported this a number of times. The collection behaviour is much (really, a lot) improved, but ships still deploy the cargo drones from too far away. We're required to order the ship to position its self close, *then* give the collect all order. At least all the cargo drones don't chase the *same* items any more, then all fly back and dock even though they collected nothing.

dtpsprt
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Re: Why are cargo drones still so bad at picking up cargo?

Post by dtpsprt » Mon, 27. Jun 22, 18:42

Scoob wrote:
Mon, 27. Jun 22, 17:57
Yep, I've reported this a number of times. The collection behaviour is much (really, a lot) improved, but ships still deploy the cargo drones from too far away. We're required to order the ship to position its self close, *then* give the collect all order. At least all the cargo drones don't chase the *same* items any more, then all fly back and dock even though they collected nothing.
There, you see? There is hope... Probably in the 2030 version of X4 Hotfix5 it will be totally solved!!! :lol: :lol: :lol:

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Re: Why are cargo drones still so bad at picking up cargo?

Post by -=SiR KiLLaLoT=- » Mon, 27. Jun 22, 20:49

Cargo drones should have a travel mode for long distances...
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dtpsprt
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Re: Why are cargo drones still so bad at picking up cargo?

Post by dtpsprt » Mon, 27. Jun 22, 21:02

-=SiR KiLLaLoT=- wrote:
Mon, 27. Jun 22, 20:49
Cargo drones should have a travel mode for long distances...
Yup!!! And shields against stray shots when collecting stuff in the middle of a battlefield... If you don't add a ""virtual bar" in the wishlist for the Drone AI (not even NPC) I will!!!

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oddible
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Re: Why are cargo drones still so bad at picking up cargo?

Post by oddible » Tue, 28. Jun 22, 04:25

Y'all do know that when your ship drops out of travel drive and deploys is directly related to captain stars on that ship right?

LameFox
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Re: Why are cargo drones still so bad at picking up cargo?

Post by LameFox » Tue, 28. Jun 22, 04:44

Are you suggesting we are supposed to need highly trained captains to pick up boxes before they evaporate? :?
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Re: Why are cargo drones still so bad at picking up cargo?

Post by Alan Phipps » Tue, 28. Jun 22, 09:45

No, you just need a highly skilled captain to know where the ship's reverse thrust control is. :D
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