Drones will not dock

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Mightysword
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Post by Mightysword » Tue, 27. Sep 11, 18:35

I have a question about the freight drone. Is there a way to automate their process. So far I have to manually eject the drone, select trade->Buy->select Fab->select ware. After they get the goods, I have to issue the return home command. Seeing how they only carry 800 units of goods this is way more work than using a TS for saying like ... fill up a TL with ecell.

Am I missing something? And what is the repeat number input for anyway, I entered 10, but it doesn't seems to do anything.

Shadowofpeace
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Post by Shadowofpeace » Tue, 27. Sep 11, 18:36

Yes ture but what about the drones (fighters and freight) docking at my ship just like they dock at station. Now it is a pain trying to collect them by running into them. Is the a script or something that can make the happen again so they dock like M5-M3 class ship do on ship with hanger-bays free (Please Help)
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Nanook
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Post by Nanook » Tue, 27. Sep 11, 18:42

I've never had a problem with freight drones docking in my ships when I give them the 'Return Home' command. Occasionally, they may stop near my ship, but that's usually a collision detection problem and if I move my ship slightly, they'll resume docking. Also, I'm pretty sure freight drones don't land in the docking bays; they approach the rear of the ship and 'teleport' into the cargo bay. Although you do need a free docking bay for that to happen. That's my observation from using freight drones to collect loot when I'm flying my TM, anyway.
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Yes-trade Menu!

Post by David Howland » Tue, 27. Sep 11, 19:13

Yes Mightysword,
Go trade menu of parent ship, freight drone transfer is at the bottom of the list!
Last edited by David Howland on Tue, 27. Sep 11, 19:17, edited 1 time in total.
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Mightysword
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Post by Mightysword » Tue, 27. Sep 11, 19:16

oh alright, thanks. I'll try it out later.

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cmdnenad
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Post by cmdnenad » Wed, 28. Sep 11, 00:29

Mightysword wrote:I have a question about the freight drone. Is there a way to automate their process. So far I have to manually eject the drone, select trade->Buy->select Fab->select ware. After they get the goods, I have to issue the return home command. Seeing how they only carry 800 units of goods this is way more work than using a TS for saying like ... fill up a TL with ecell.
You can use Transfer freight via drones command from Trade menu, but it only works with your own station.

Shadowofpeace
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Post by Shadowofpeace » Wed, 28. Sep 11, 09:38

I've never had a problem with freight drones docking in my ships when I give them the 'Return Home' command. Occasionally, they may stop near my ship, but that's usually a collision detection problem and if I move my ship slightly, they'll resume docking. Also, I'm pretty sure freight drones don't land in the docking bays; they approach the rear of the ship and 'teleport' into the cargo bay. Although you do need a free docking bay for that to happen. That's my observation from using freight drones to collect loot when I'm flying my TM, anyway.
I understand what you are saying. But still dose not work. ppl keep saying that you need one free docking bay and free cargo space and they will auto dock. But this is not happening. They will not use the hanger bay so why ppl keeps saying you need if it not meant to do this?

So what i am saying is right they should be docking via hanger-bay and end up in cargo-bay even marine that are returning from boarding or that where extra ejected dock via hanger bay and end up in cargo-bay. so why is the freight drones and fighter done not dock automatically and why dose not my ship stop for the freight drone (even empty drones) coming back to unload and for fighter drone so they can dock. Can some please give me a clear answer. Have one spare hanger-bay, over 500 free cargo-bay and even manually stop my TM for them to dock and only freight drone try to enter ship through cargo-bay. But return home command dose not exist anymore for fighter drone even when telling them to follow or protect me they will not do. if you tell a fighter class sip to protect a station i will auto dock there. why not drone with ship. Never had problem with old x3tc v1.4 unmodified but v3.0 unmodified have these problems.

Thanks for your time.
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Patches!

Post by David Howland » Wed, 28. Sep 11, 12:26

Shadowofpeace it does not really matter to us whether the drones use the hangar or not, so I will not get hung up on it. Things would have been different if ES were willing to certify more upgrades but when they announced Rebirth they unfortunately said, there would be no more official upgrades to TC (and I presume all previous X games).
In this affair I note the old users of freight drones still have no problems but new F. drone users seem to be running into this problem. I think maybe on auto scripts the game engine may learn to use them! If players used the F. drones before recent patches, their engine may have learnt then what to do and retain the capability. During recent patches the engines learning ability may have been impaired therefore new F. drone users are picking up this problem. No doubt the establishment will claim this idea fanciful?
I am quite sure that 'stick in the muds' will continue to kid themselves that the failure of the Return command is a figment of our imaginations!
It matters little, unless ES can be made to change their minds on issuing further official patches for TC? So if we want to use F. drones in future we had better get used spending half an hour in a TL scooping them up.
I might even use my Aran for bulk cargo transport, at least I can use mistrals to unload it and will have plenty of time to take in the scenery!
Last edited by David Howland on Wed, 28. Sep 11, 14:10, edited 1 time in total.
The BANISHED RETURNS.
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Congratulations Egosoft on increasing memory usage from 2 to 3 Gb.
Bin playing X too long when Egosoft refuses to sell you their latest game?
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BDK
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Post by BDK » Wed, 28. Sep 11, 12:45

Mightysword wrote:I have a question about the freight drone. Is there a way to automate their process. So far I have to manually eject the drone, select trade->Buy->select Fab->select ware. After they get the goods, I have to issue the return home command. Seeing how they only carry 800 units of goods this is way more work than using a TS for saying like ... fill up a TL with ecell.

Am I missing something? And what is the repeat number input for anyway, I entered 10, but it doesn't seems to do anything.
Actually if you have a couple of freight drones and the TL is hovering pretty close to the e-cell factory, and in OOS, you can use them to fill up a TL in a matter of seconds. I forget which command it is because I haven't played for a while, however I used to do just that to fill up a TL if I were in a hurry. Much faster than using a TS that's for sure.

Edit: Already answered - I'm blind :shock:

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Post by Virtualaughing » Wed, 28. Sep 11, 15:34

Almost everything that can be done OOS is better to do it such way. best advise i can have
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Oos!

Post by David Howland » Wed, 28. Sep 11, 16:56

When my problem occurred I was OOS., I only entered the sector to clear up the mess.
The BANISHED RETURNS.
HEALTH WARNING! Steam Damages Freedom Of Speech!
Congratulations Egosoft on increasing memory usage from 2 to 3 Gb.
Bin playing X too long when Egosoft refuses to sell you their latest game?
The only steam I want is in my kettle! STEAM=GAME OVER.

Nanook
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Re: Patches!

Post by Nanook » Wed, 28. Sep 11, 19:18

David Howland wrote:...
In this affair I note the old users of freight drones still have no problems but new F. drone users seem to be running into this problem. I think maybe on auto scripts the game engine may learn to use them! If players used the F. drones before recent patches, their engine may have learnt then what to do and retain the capability. During recent patches the engines learning ability may have been impaired therefore new F. drone users are picking up this problem. No doubt the establishment will claim this idea fanciful?
Yes, this is fanciful. And simply not true. I have a clean, patched install of TC with saves only from that install. And so therefore, no "learning ability".
I am quite sure that 'stick in the muds' will continue to kid themselves that the failure of the Return command is a figment of our imaginations!...
I find this dismissive and slightly insulting. We're trying to help you figure out the issue, and you say this! :roll:

The fact is, it works for most people, even on brand new installs, so whatever issues you and Shadowofpeace have are unusual, and not the result of the game changing. All we can do is assure you that it works in our games, and try to resolve why it isn't in yours. But if you just want to just dismiss that help by calling us "stick in the muds", there's no point in us trying.
Have a great idea for the current or a future game? You can post it in the [L3+] Ideas forum.

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Mightysword
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Post by Mightysword » Wed, 28. Sep 11, 19:39

Ok this still doesn't work for me. Do you guys mean the fetch command "on the mammoth"? Since I don't see any. Or you mean the fetch command on the drone? I'm trying to load from an AI fab though, and I think that command is for my own fab only.

Nanook
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Post by Nanook » Wed, 28. Sep 11, 20:13

On NPC factories, I use the Buy Ware command. You can't 'fetch' from NPC's, AFAIK, because you have to pay them. To be honest, though, I've not tried the fetch command with NPC's, because I assumed that that's what the Buy command was for.
Have a great idea for the current or a future game? You can post it in the [L3+] Ideas forum.

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Mightysword
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Post by Mightysword » Wed, 28. Sep 11, 20:17

yes, but my problem is the buy command works like this. I have to tell the ship to buy, then manually tell them to go back, rise and repeat for each trip. Is there a way to tell them to like ... ok buy 20000 unit from this fab, continue till you're done?

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Post by Nanook » Wed, 28. Sep 11, 20:29

I haven't done it myself; my freight drone usage usually consists of collecting loot or doing one-shot buys from a factory. I have read where others have done what you want, but I don't know the exact commands they used. So I believe it is possible.
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StarSword
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Post by StarSword » Wed, 28. Sep 11, 21:46

I've always had problems getting freight drones to transfer cargo to my Panther. The only time it ever worked was when I was OOS in the X-shuttle while giving the Transfer Freight command.

But the funny thing is, it works fine for my TL fleet, even if I give the order IS. I think the "return" code is buggy only when the originating ship has the player aboard at the time the order is given.
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Shadowofpeace
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Re: Patches!

Post by Shadowofpeace » Thu, 29. Sep 11, 02:20

David Howland wrote:Shadowofpeace it does not really matter to us whether the drones use the hangar or not, so I will not get hung up on it. Things would have been different if ES were willing to certify more upgrades but when they announced Rebirth they unfortunately said, there would be no more official upgrades to TC (and I presume all previous X games).
In this affair I note the old users of freight drones still have no problems but new F. drone users seem to be running into this problem. I think maybe on auto scripts the game engine may learn to use them! If players used the F. drones before recent patches, their engine may have learnt then what to do and retain the capability. During recent patches the engines learning ability may have been impaired therefore new F. drone users are picking up this problem. No doubt the establishment will claim this idea fanciful?
I am quite sure that 'stick in the muds' will continue to kid themselves that the failure of the Return command is a figment of our imaginations!
It matters little, unless ES can be made to change their minds on issuing further official patches for TC? So if we want to use F. drones in future we had better get used spending half an hour in a TL scooping them up.
I might even use my Aran for bulk cargo transport, at least I can use mistrals to unload it and will have plenty of time to take in the scenery!
When I buy a game and i dose one thing and i get changed and it will not be made to do what i did before then i get unhappy. For a few reason.

1. The principle of it. I do not expect something that once worked or did something one way. To be changed or removed unless in is not working. General get fix first then if cannot be fix then maybe remove or change the way it dose.
2. If the F. Drone try and use the back of the ship to enter the cargo-bay to enter ship but running in to cargo with the front of your ship and it ends up in the cargo-bay then why do not the F. Drone just enter the ship form any area of the ship. They classed as cargo just commendable and portable.
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Post by Vyrebird » Thu, 29. Sep 11, 03:50

StarSword wrote:But the funny thing is, it works fine for my TL fleet, even if I give the order IS. I think the "return" code is buggy only when the originating ship has the player aboard at the time the order is given.
That sounds plausible to me. My main use of freight drones is to restock TLs remotely (IS or OOS) using the Trade->'Transfer Freight via Drones', and it's worked just fine nearly all of the time. The two memorable exceptions were when I was trying to restock the Boreas I was piloting, and when I was trying to restock the Elephant I was piloting. The Boreas can be explained by the lack of docking bays, but the Elephant would require something more - and 'script does not cooperate with a player in the ship at time of ordering' would fit.

David Howland
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X Development!

Post by David Howland » Thu, 29. Sep 11, 11:05

Shadowofpeace,
You mention your preference for games that work and continue the same.
X games until Rebirth have not been like that. X games have been much improved after release by mods and scripts not developed by ES but by the Devs comunity. These patches selected released by ES improve the game mightily but there are sometimes minor impairments caused by patches which often can be corrected by later patches except ES took the unprecedented step on announcing Rebirth that patches for TC are ended!
It has begun to look like Rebirth has been designed for a future release on a console. Although the devs community have been promised future involvement on Rebirth it is difficult to see how this can work the same for a console game, which has to be perfect on release and not change until the next release? So you may find Rebirth more to your taste!
Vyrebird,
The IS thing does not work with my Elephant experience as I was OOS when the problem occurred and when I gave the return command which was ignored for half an hour before I jumped IS in my Hyperion, to collect them manually and transfer them back onto my Elephant!
The BANISHED RETURNS.
HEALTH WARNING! Steam Damages Freedom Of Speech!
Congratulations Egosoft on increasing memory usage from 2 to 3 Gb.
Bin playing X too long when Egosoft refuses to sell you their latest game?
The only steam I want is in my kettle! STEAM=GAME OVER.

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