5.10 BUG: Ship followed by pods, unable to use travel mode - Devs on the case.

[Omni-Orb]

Version 5.10. English. Windows 11.
Unmodified.
DLC:All
Game start: The Accomplished Scientist
DXdiag: https://easyupload.io/44ka66
Save: https://easyupload.io/4twqj5
Screenshot: https://i.postimg.cc/Y0JsY2Rd/20220917044144-1.jpg
The screenshot is of one of many pods that follow the ship around preventing travel drive.
There are many maybe ca 30. There is a cloud of them around the ship.
This has happened before I can probably replicate it if I try.
It happens when I do "Fly by boarding" of too many ships in a row with the same ship.
I boarded 7 ships with that Asgard and when it finally stopped for a while these pods reached the ship.
The pods seem to belong to the factions whos ships i boarded, cause i get negative reputation if i destroy them.
I am unable to target the pods. They are easy to see in the savegame if zoomed out because they have lights that blink.
Edit: Some of the pods seem to be player owned and acting like repair drones, i could destroy them without reputation loss.

[Omni-Orb]

I wrote down ca what i did and when because I was doing a "speedrun", I thought I could add it to this post maybe its helpful.

Game version 5.10
DLC:All
Unmodified.
Game start: Accomplished Scientist
Goal: "complete the game speedrun"-Combat version (Collect all blueprints, complete all missions, terraform all planets and destroy all)

The first 30minutes:
Started the game by capturing the abandoned paranid capital ship and sold it to the highest bidder for ca 7 million Cr.
Then i bought 19 'ides vanguard' "boarding" ships from Argon Prime. I refitted the Nodan starting ship with a 'Police Scanner', my standard 'Combat Engine Mk3' and 2 'Pulse Laser Mk2'.
I sent the ides to the sector patrol 'Colossus' and 'Nomad' and started boarding them and sold the ides before they were destroyed.
Then i started searching for the 'Intervention Corps Asgard' and found it in The Void while slowly shooting it one time with one pulse laser before it could fully charge its travel drive,
to keep it from escaping too far or going into enemy territory.

30-55minutes:
I completed the capture of the 'Colossus' and the 'Nomad' and sold them back to the 'Argon' for ca 32 million cr.
Bought 19 'Ides Vanguard' "boarding" ships, 20 'Tern Vanguard' "boarding" ships and 31 'Pegasus Vanguard' "Exploration" ships. while doing this i was shooting the
'Intervention Corps Asgard' without causing it to become hostile to prevent its travel drive from charging.
Sent 18 Tern Vanguard over to board the 'Intervention Corps Asgard'. And sold them back to the Teladi after the boarding pods hit their target.
Sending the 'Pegasus Vanguard' to explore sectors as they complete construction.

55Minutes-1hour 28minutes:
Changed the engines to 'Travel Engine Mk3' on the 'Nodan' Completed the research mission for 'Basic Engine Mods' and started the research.
Failed the first boarding attempt and sent the rest of the "boarding" ships to the 'Intervention Corps Asgard'.
After the boarding pods hit the target i sold the ships back the shipyards i bought them from all except 1 'Tern Vanguard' that was lost.
Changed back to my standard 'Combat Engine Mk3'. Completed the research mission for 'Basic Chassis Mod'.
Completed boarding the 'Intervention Corps Asgard'.

1hour 28minutes-2hours 03minutes:
Reordered all the 'Pegasus Vanguard' "Explorers" to explore new sectors and more thoroughly explore the sectors they are in.
Completed the mission 'The Hatikvah Endeavour'. Bought 'storage' blueprints from the Teladi and all 'other' from the Teladi and Paranid.
Refitted the 'Asgard' for boarding purposes.
Changed my main ship from a 'Nodan' to a fully outfitted 'Pegasus Vanguard' to use in combination with the Asgard.
Starting boarding operations on whatever targets are valuable for money and empire use.
Started "Fly by boarding" 'PAR Patrol Carrier Zeus E', 'TEL construction vessel Albatross Sentinel',
'PAR High-Tech Freighter Helios E' and stopped at a TEL equipment dock to restock marines twice.

2hours 03minutes-2hours 45minutes:
Started traveling to Split space in the Asgard to capture the Raptor.
Successfully captured 'Helios E' and 'Albatross sentinel' and sent them to equpment docks.
Failed boarding 'Zeus E' so i bought 6 'Demeter Vanguard' for boarding purposes to board the 'Zeus E' again.
Fully explored 30 sectors so far. Started following construction vessels and other XL ships with the idle Pegasus for boarding purposes.
Money down at 50,000Cr before getting back up to 5 million Cr again from the Albatross refit.
Started "Fly by boarding" 2'ZYA Patrol Carrier Raptor' and 'ZYA Construction Vessel Elephant' while supplying marines to the Asgard from the Albatross.

2hours 45minutes-3hours 27minutes: Completed boarding one of the raptors and failed boarding on the other. Started boarding the second raptor again.
Completed boarding on the Elephant. Sold all the ships in the Raptor except a 'Dragon', and a 'Chimera' with 'Combat Engine Mk4'.
Successfully boarded 2 'ZYA Construction Vessel Elephant'. bough 'L Storage' modules from 'Antigone Republic'
Ordered the Helios to gather station building supply for the Headquarters and ordered all the captured ships to refit.
Failed at boarding the raptor for a third time.

[dtpsprt]

I'd suggest leaving the Asgard in your Pegasus and go on a different sector (as it will take it out of high attention. Then it will be able to traveldrive to you or any other section you want. Join it again after it gets there.

I don't think this is a bug per se... you just managed to put yourself in an "unimaginable" position. I was reading with wide eeys at what you did!!!

[Omni-Orb]

I'd suggest leaving the Asgard in your Pegasus and go on a different sector (as it will take it out of high attention. Then it will be able to traveldrive to you or any other section you want. Join it again after it gets there.

I don't think this is a bug per se... you just managed to put yourself in an "unimaginable" position. I was reading with wide eeys at what you did!!!

I can move the ship around in travel drive from out of sector, and then teleport into it again and keep driving, however if I stop with the ship for a while the pods catch up to it.
I was thinking I could try to move it to the hazard zone in 'The Void', however I keep executing fly by boarding, so I guess it's going to keep happening.

And also, what i do is pause the game, and transfer crew to the Asgard from another ship in an equipment dock, sometimes while the Asgard is under 1KM close to a ship that getting boarded and in the same pause launch the pods. So, it's a transfer of crew and a boarding from equipment dock to docked ship, to Asgard in a different sector, then as boarding pods to the target ship, in one pause, maybe it is what puts stress on the game to make it break, specifically the crew system.
"Fly by Boarding'" is that i have travel drive on and pause the game while ca 1 KM from a ship I want to board, hopefully a ship that travels under 100MS and also in front of the said ship, then I launch the pods while travel drive is on and stop ca 10-15 KM from the target ship to let the pods reach the target ship while in 'High Attention', while charging travel drive again to continue to a different ship for a chain boarding spree. The launched pods usually aren't destroyed, even against well-armed and escorted ships like a Raptor, their fleet and the target ship usually doesn't get the time they need to react to what is happening before all the pods have reached the target.

[Omni-Orb]

Is there more information you want or need? Do you know how to fix it? Can you fix it? Is it being worked on? Is it a priority at all?
And obviously thank you for your time and helping with this BUG. Hopefully my speedrun attempts get better if this is fixed,

[j.harshaw]

Do you mean Asgard MWM-030? The ship you're on?

I'm not seeing any boarding pods around it. I am, however, seeing crew transfer pods approaching it to dock. Did you order some crew transfers shortly before your save?

Note that the pods I am seeing do not match your description. For one thing, they belong to your faction. Asking if these are the pods you mean. Not even sure I'm looking at the right ship.

[j.harshaw]

And also, what i do is pause the game, and transfer crew to the Asgard from another ship in an equipment dock

Just spotted this, and it is consistent with what I'm seeing. Ordering crew transfer will launch several pods from the source to the destination. These pods will attempt to dock at the destination. Number of pods depends on number of crew transferred.

[Omni-Orb]

And also, what i do is pause the game, and transfer crew to the Asgard from another ship in an equipment dock

Just spotted this, and it is consistent with what I'm seeing. Ordering crew transfer will launch several pods from the source to the destination. These pods will attempt to dock at the destination. Number of pods depends on number of crew transferred.

Are you saying they should and or will dock with the ship they are trying to get to if there is space for it? I had full crews on the Asgard most of the time.
I never knew pods where being lunched to transfer crew, is it the meaning that it is like this or is it the bug? They always transferred mostly instant for me.
Cause it seems confusing since some have the behavior like a repair drone.

[Alan Phipps]

Only captains/pilots for your ships insta-transfer. All other crew travel 'notionally' using an appropriate time delay for arrival if you are OOS/low attention to them, and using transfer pods that have to dock appropriately if you are IS/high attention to them. That's not a bug but more represents what you ordered to happen.

[Omni-Orb]

Only captains/pilots for your ships insta-transfer. All other crew travel 'notionally' using an appropriate time delay for arrival if you are OOS/low attention to them, and using transfer pods that have to dock appropriately if you are IS/high attention to them. That's not a bug but more represents what you ordered to happen.

This is not true all of the time from my perspective, most of the time crew transfers happen instant, especially when transferring to a ship, then boarding.

I tried emptying the crew from the ship that was surrounded by pods, it didn't help. The pods are still in a swarm around the ship and wont dock.

They belong to different factions aswell not the player, and i cant target them.

This is for sure a BUG.

[Omni-Orb]

Do you mean Asgard MWM-030? The ship you're on?

I'm not seeing any boarding pods around it. I am, however, seeing crew transfer pods approaching it to dock. Did you order some crew transfers shortly before your save?

Note that the pods I am seeing do not match your description. For one thing, they belong to your faction. Asking if these are the pods you mean. Not even sure I'm looking at the right ship.

I didn't see this post until now. Yes it is the Asgard MWM-030. I don't know what pods they are since they are Un targetable.
Yes i ordered a bunch of crew transfers during the time i was in control of the Asgard, doing fly by boarding, several times over 10 times i guess without leaving the ship.
When I use SHIFT+D to fast travel (Not teleport) to a ship that is docked on the Asgard then I see 10 "Escape Pod" as a target to fast travel to, however when I loaded the save again they weren't there.
Example one time I loaded and went to change ship I see these escape pods as targets to fast travel (Not teleport):
Escape Pod ERE-913
Escape Pod PXE-814
Escape Pod RGA-218
Escape Pod KIM-471
Escape Pod WER-549
Escape Pod ZMR-851
Escape Pod VIC-696
Escape Pod XQZ-843
Escape Pod PZD-082
Escape Pod GGF-427

Another time I load the save these pods are the target to fast travel to after a minute:
Escape Pod HRV-489
Escape Pod KDT-619
Escape Pod GYF-690
Escape Pod TJD-129
Escape Pod PZM-190
Escape Pod QVi-994
Escape Pod CRX-768
Escape Pod ZOB-419
Escape Pod BJB-756
Escape Pod XWY-638

I lose reputation with ZYA and TEL when some of the pods around the Asgard MWM-030 are destroyed, not all of them.
And if they are transfer pods that want to dock, they aren't docking, they won't even dock after I empty the ship of crew.

One time i loaded the save and emptied the crew from the ship, some of them actually dissapeared but didnt leave any crew in the asgard.

[Alan Phipps]

Ah, I may have spotted at least one problem in one of your replies above:
"most of the time crew transfers happen instant, especially when transferring to a ship, then boarding"

No, the transfer is not as instant as you think yet you can still order the boarding operation before the marine transfer is complete - but that is when problems arise.

[Omni-Orb]

Ah, I may have spotted at least one problem in one of your replies above:
"most of the time crew transfers happen instant, especially when transferring to a ship, then boarding"

No, the transfer is not as instant as you think yet you can still order the boarding operation before the marine transfer is complete - but that is when problems arise.

I haven't had this specific problem before, however the whole crew transfer, pod and repair drone system seems to need a fix and seems to be closely interconnected within the same system.
Anyway, this is the X4 foundations, and it is our dear new creation, we do what we can do improve and fix it.
X is already good and based on how good it already is I'm very excited for the new secret project you are working on
Im a big fan of this project
The soul of this project is dear to me Egosoft
'Credence follows stars'

[Omni-Orb]

Is there something more I can help with to get this BUG fixed?
Should I replicate the BUG in a new save game?

[j.harshaw]

It isn't a bug. As mentioned above, you triggered a lot of crew transfers which caused a lot of pods to launch and those pods are now trying to dock.

[j.harshaw]

We may get an improvement to the travel mode mechanic when in a situation like this, but can't promise if or when.

[Omni-Orb]

We may get an improvement to the travel mode mechanic when in a situation like this, but can't promise if or when.

Good cause the same thing happens with repair drones active and can lead to being destroyed.
Thanks for listening.

[Omni-Orb]

The bug is that they have no purpose. I'm playing now and it doesn't matter if they dock or not. Most of them don't even try to dock if the ship is immobile waiting for them. They belong to a different faction, and crew transfers happen instantaneously over whatever distances. the system is for sure bothered by a bug, its easy to see when crew transferring in masse to the same ship repeatedly. These so called crew transfer pods are purposeless other than being annoying and preventing travel drive. I don't understand why they are there when crew transfer is instantaneously across the whole universe. They dont give the ships crew at all even if they dock.