[MOD] [TC/AP] X3 Rebalance Mod (XRM) - Total conversion - v1.30d (02.12.13)

paulwheeler · Post by **paulwheeler** » Wed, 11. Dec 13, 13:53

The bonus package is fine with the XRM, although I always recommend installing the stand alone versions of the scripts as the bonus pack is out of date.

DHSkully · Post by **DHSkully** » Wed, 11. Dec 13, 14:15

paulwheeler wrote:The bonus packages are fine with the XRM, although I always recommend installing the stand alone versions of the scripts as the bonus pack is out of date.

Nice one Paul. Thanks for the heads up.

Trip_Fantastic · Post by **Trip_Fantastic** » Wed, 11. Dec 13, 17:55

paulwheeler wrote: If youre playing AP, then the missile turret behaviour is vanilla. In TC the XRM uses Litcube's missile boat script.

paulwheeler wrote: Litcube and I discussed what to do with the barrage command. I cant remember exactly what the problem was, but I decided the only course of action to keep the playing field between the player and the ai level was to remove it all together.

I completely agree re: barrage being untenable as originally implemented, i.e. in a way that allowed the player to spam the command.

That said, I'm trying to get a handle on how M7Ms behave in XRM and since I never played vanilla AP (played lots of TC, heavily modded, then took a long break from the franchise), I'm not sure I can tell vanilla behavior from modded behavior, especially since it seems like AP just absorbed some of the more popular scripts out there and is more of a community project than an egosoft product

In any event, right now, my M7Ms seem to do the following (with turrets set to attack my target, hammers and flails on board):
1. Shoot hammers only, never flails, even when I specifically change to flails (either remotely or by transporting to the M7M and doing it manually).
2. Shoot a number of missiles proportionate the class of the enemy ship, with larger ships receiving a bigger broadside.
3. This one I'm not sure about, but my G appears to consider turret position vis-a-vis enemy when deciding how many missiles to shoot i.e. with an enemy to the right, it will initially only shoot 6 missiles from the right turret, even when that enemy is an M2.

2 seems like a useful thing, 3 seems kind of weird since they're tracking missiles, and 1 seems kind of borked (unless the idea is that I bring to M7Ms to each fight, each loaded with only one kind of missile)
I guess I'm wondering if this is all working as intended and I just need to shut up and drive or if something is off.

cjm3fl · Post by **cjm3fl** » Wed, 11. Dec 13, 18:37

Similar things are observed with M7M's come up in XRM-TC.
They will fire only Hammers until there are none left in the cargo hold, then they will switch to Flails.

@1a) The "turret launches" (which are different from the "missile bay" and cannot be loaded by the player) seem to load Hammers, first. The Player has no control over what missiles load into the "turret launchers".

1b) The only way I can fire Flails is if I'm flying the ship myself and have them loaded in the "missile bay"...and manually fire them.
Another way to fire Flails...have them as the only missile aboard the M7M. Not a very good idea as the Flail is a single-warhead missile in XRM, so doesn't carry the overwhelming punch they did in vanilla.

@2) Yes, the number fired is related to size of target ship. Also the "rate" of fire has been reduced some in XRM...more time between volleys fired.
I like that M7M's aren't the "I Win" ships they used to be, but if "played" properly can be a very effective support/escort ship.

@3) don't know about this. Only Xenon ships I have ever owned are "launch-sized" fighters and bombers (M, L, LX, and R). To me 'G' are only good for target practice!

ColManiac · Post by **ColManiac** » Wed, 11. Dec 13, 20:04

Treasure hunt quest,

I am on the part where you have to find something, I have the coordinates the clue was :- Jarren Gisler, 10/5/44.

I am at the sector location, I used the auto pilot and entered in this exact line 10,5,44

I arrived at the location but dont see anything, I went to the treasure hunt walkthrough but all it says is what I have done and not what is there, or what I am looking for.

What am I looking for?
Thanks.

P.S all my scripts are in the right place

cjm3fl · Post by **cjm3fl** » Wed, 11. Dec 13, 20:30

If you don't mind a huge plot spoiler(s), look here...
http://roguey.co.uk/x3tc/help/spike/treasure1.php

Ramedzes · Post by **Ramedzes** » Wed, 11. Dec 13, 21:00

What mods or ship packs wud be compatible with this mod?(with minimum compability harm) Is there a mod that combines alot of ships(ship mods-packs) together??

Reido · Post by **Reido** » Wed, 11. Dec 13, 21:17

Trip_Fantastic wrote:1. Shoot hammers only, never flails, even when I specifically change to flails (either remotely or by transporting to the M7M and doing it manually).
2. Shoot a number of missiles proportionate the class of the enemy ship, with larger ships receiving a bigger broadside.
3. This one I'm not sure about, but my G appears to consider turret position vis-a-vis enemy when deciding how many missiles to shoot i.e. with an enemy to the right, it will initially only shoot 6 missiles from the right turret, even when that enemy is an M2.

1&2 are what I've observed while trying to use M7M's as well and I've never bothered flying one myself so I can't tell you if 3 is normal or not.

I gave up trying to use missile frigates long ago as they're MUCH more trouble then they're worth for me. I appreciate the fact that they now work for the NPC's and that they're not the sector clearing monsters they used to be but they need so much attention from the player during fleet operations to try and get them in the right position so that the path of it's missiles don't wipe out my own ships or friendly ships or stations, and even after all that sometimes they just sit there doing nothing or spit out one missile at a time occasionally so it's usually just a whole lot less hassle to bring an extra M2 or a couple of M7's for a fleet battle. Then there's the huge infrastructure needed to feed these things with missiles and the logistics of keeping them stocked. I guess if you're flying the ship yourself or treat it as the centerpiece of your fleet like a carrier then the extra "work" involved would be considered part of the game like all the extra steps involved in running a carrier based fleet.

Anyway, I guess that's my morning warmup, time to finish my coffee

Reido

Reido · Post by **Reido** » Wed, 11. Dec 13, 21:25

ColManiac wrote:Treasure hunt quest,

I am on the part where you have to find something, I have the coordinates the clue was :- Jarren Gisler, 10/5/44.

I am at the sector location, I used the auto pilot and entered in this exact line 10,5,44

I arrived at the location but dont see anything, I went to the treasure hunt walkthrough but all it says is what I have done and not what is there, or what I am looking for.

What am I looking for?
Thanks.

Sector coordinates in X games are 2 dimensional i.e. Kingdom end is (0,0)

Also keep in mind that because of the extra sectors added in XRM that any sector coordinates given in the plots refer to the vanilla map and may not correspond to the same sector when playing the plots in XRM unless someone has edited them to be XRM compatible.

Reido

Ragemaster9999 · Post by **Ragemaster9999** » Wed, 11. Dec 13, 21:32

Anyone got any tips for keeping satellite alive? I place advanced satellites all over the place and the npcs always kill them within a few minutes. Is there a mod /script to make them less detectable, or a way I can place them so they wont get attacked?

Reido · Post by **Reido** » Wed, 11. Dec 13, 21:35

Ramedzes wrote:What mods or ship packs wud be compatible with this mod?(with minimum compability harm) Is there a mod that combines alot of ships(ship mods-packs) together??

Ships in XSP format cannot be added via the Plugin Manager and any mod that adds ships will break XRM unless you merge the files manually.The only way to add extra ships to XRM is to do it manually (merging Tfiles, dummies, turrets...etc).

There's already over 400 ships in XRM now and they've all been balanced to the point that every ship has a purpose and is useful as opposed to vanilla where some are "I win" ships and some were almost totally useless for anything.

If you think some ship needs a few changes to it's specs then you can install X3 Editor 2 and edit the Tships file and edit ships to suit your own style or preferences.

Reido

Reido · Post by **Reido** » Wed, 11. Dec 13, 21:40

Ragemaster9999 wrote:Anyone got any tips for keeping satellite alive? I place advanced satellites all over the place and the npcs always kill them within a few minutes. Is there a mod /script to make them less detectable, or a way I can place them so they wont get attacked?

You could edit the 'globals.txt' file (either with X3 Editor 2 or with the Plugin Manager) to extend the range of the satellites and then put them 30k or more above or below the ecliptic, that's generally far enough away to keep them alive for quite a while in 'hot' sectors.

Reido

Ragemaster9999 · Post by **Ragemaster9999** » Wed, 11. Dec 13, 21:43

Reido wrote:
Ragemaster9999 wrote:Anyone got any tips for keeping satellite alive? I place advanced satellites all over the place and the npcs always kill them within a few minutes. Is there a mod /script to make them less detectable, or a way I can place them so they wont get attacked?
You could edit the 'globals.txt' file (either with X3 Editor 2 or with the Plugin Manager) to extend the range of the satellites and then put them 30k or more above or below the ecliptic, that's generally far enough away to keep them alive for quite a while in 'hot' sectors.

Reido

Yeah, but that involves flying out way into the void. Im not sure why the AI prioritize the targetting of satalites so well. You would think it would remain undetected especially in a debris field.

Reido · Post by **Reido** » Wed, 11. Dec 13, 21:58

@Ragemaster9999

You could try looking here:

http://forum.egosoft.com/viewtopic.php?t=216690

Scroll down to "Information Gathering" and checkout some of the threads relating to satellites, maybe one of those has a 'stealth' option. I do seem to remember a script that did that but It was a long time ago but it's probably buried here in the forum somewhere. Try using Google to search the forum it's MUCH better than the forums own quasi-search function

Reido

imperium3 · Post by **imperium3** » Wed, 11. Dec 13, 22:04

Some feedback on the Mass Driver:

I don't really know how to feel about this weapon. On the one hand, it's intensely annoying when the AI turns up with it, because they only need to get one good pass on you and you're crippled for the whole combat. But on the other, I put some in the Nova I "obtained" for a plot mission and they really suck because the huge energy demand drains the batteries in seconds, before you can inflict any decent damage. Normally I rock up with EMPCs and they're far more effective against any target because the damage advantage massively outweighs the cost of having to strip the shields, except against capital ships.

Am I missing the point of them, or could they perhaps use a little tweaking? Perhaps lower both the damage and energy use?

DrBullwinkle · Post by **DrBullwinkle** » Thu, 12. Dec 13, 01:14

ColManiac wrote:Treasure hunt quest,

I am on the part where you have to find something, I have the coordinates the clue was :- Jarren Gisler, 10/5/44.

I am at the sector location, I used the auto pilot and entered in this exact line 10,5,44

Man, I really pulled my hair out over the same thing in Treasure Hunt.

The plot gives some coordinate clues in x,y,z format. However, the in-game sector map is x,z,y.

It has something to do with the way that graphic artists think... not like mathematicians and scientists.

Etyneo · Post by **Etyneo** » Thu, 12. Dec 13, 02:41

Anyone know of a way to use Freight Drones to buy/sell stuff at stations that a TL can't dock at due to its size?

DrBullwinkle · Post by **DrBullwinkle** » Thu, 12. Dec 13, 03:46

Sure. Use the Transfer Freight via Drones command (on the Trade Menu).

The vanilla command has some problems, though. The drones are very slow. If you are In-Sector, then collision avoidance causes them to take approximately forever to dock. If you are OOS then they may time out before they return to your ship (if you can even do it OOS... it has been a long time since I used the vanilla command). It is possible that the vanilla command works only with your own stations.

So Tim-O made Transfer Freight via Drones which improves on these problems by giving the drones Docking Computers and allowing them to work over longer ranges, including at NPC stations. It is awesome.

Of course, I further enhanced the reliability for my own game by increasing the speed of the drones and increasing the range of their docking computers. I tried to post my version on XDownloads, but the site does not appear to be accepting new files right now. If you "watch" Tim-O's thread, then I will try to post my version there when I can (click the "Watch this thread" button at the top-right of the page while you are logged in).

EDIT:
Freight Drone Transfer v08

cjm3fl · Post by **cjm3fl** » Thu, 12. Dec 13, 03:49

Freight Drones can act like TS's for limited trade purposes.
Eject one, use your transporter to load cargo onto it then send it to a (nearby) Station to sell. They can purchase goods also.

Freight Drones can't be left alone. They have a time limit that they can be away from their 'parent ship'. Once time is up they are destroyed.

If you are in a ship that can dock fighters then the Freight Drone should dock when you order it to return.
If you can't, or it won't just order it to "stop" then go run it over like you do cargo pods floating in space.
The Drone and it's cargo will be transferred to your cargo bay.

Sgt Doom · Post by **Sgt Doom** » Thu, 12. Dec 13, 11:46

Do research stations spawn completely randomly, or are there certain conditions for their spawning? It's gotten rather annoying for me to save up money for something at a research station, only for it to have disappeared by the time I get back.