Wingmen

PaulB · Post by **PaulB** » Tue Apr 08, 2014 5:36 am

I've searched but I can't find any answers.

In the Inventory Console you can check on your ship's crew - their rating and what you are paying them.

Is there no way to see any status or info on any Wingmen you've hired - in particular how much you are paying them or anything???
I wold have thought there would have been something up under Orders on in the Inventory Console for Wingmen status.

Paul

picommander · Post by **picommander** » Tue Apr 08, 2014 6:46 am

I have not used any wingmen yet but as I understand you hire them once (and pay once, in space via trade offer). Dunno how long they stay with you though, if you dock or log out e.g.

[Edited on 8-4-2014 by picommander]

PaulB · Post by **PaulB** » Tue Apr 08, 2014 7:22 am

From post: 168657, Topic: tid=11325, author=picommander wrote:I have not used any wingmen yet but as I understand you hire them once (and pay once, in space via trade offer). Dunno how long they stay with you though, if you dock or log out e.g.

[Edited on 8-4-2014 by picommander]

I know that part - they do stay with you whether docked or exit the game.

I just assumed that if you hired them it would be like Crew and a recurring charge - I don't know - it's if a one time fee - well - that's great. After all - there is certainly enough things to drain your wallet

So if that's the case then there wouldn't be a need to check what they are being paid - except as a reminder - and if you hire them for $X amount when you have say $10mil - can you still hire them for the same price when you have $100mil or $10bil???

Those are the type questions I'd like to see covered in the Docs. I'm just not very keen on guesswork all the time.
One thing I read suggested hiring 15 wingmen at something like 63000 per. I can't see it. Not unless I'm going to war with all Vanari or Fed Navy at once.
I just want a few wingmen to help - not a whole navy dragging along behind me.
But I guess if one did hire 15 wingmen for a one time fee and sent them all to mining - one should be able to get rich fairly quick and sit back and watch. Would be a little interesting - but not that much fun.

I have a new suggestion for Vice if he reads this.
I have a bit of a time keeping track of the Wingmen. I think it would be great if your Wingmen had a Unique colored HUD icon (the square thinkgy with the ship name below it) - something that would be quite distinctive from the Red, Green, and Yellow - or perhaps a different shape and Green color since you are trying to hire Green colored Wingmen.

Paul

picommander · Post by **picommander** » Tue Apr 08, 2014 1:46 pm

I'm really glad you're here Paul cause you ask all the questions I otherwise had to ask myself!

Even with just trying to help I already find the interesting answers: http://www.starwraith.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=6864
including some interesting insights from Vice himself.
If you don't want to read it all by yourself, here's the part that should answer your question:

"They'll stay as your wingmen as long as you pay them, and they aren't destroyed. It isn't a one off payment, they expect to be paid again, and again, for their efforts.
Missions without wingmen are far from impossible. All you lack is practice and knowhow."

When it comes to different colors for wingmen, there's not much left that makes sense: blue would be hard to see on black background. Remains pink... but - seriously, pink?

Here's a concluding hint from myself: Google search is almost always better than forum search (in general, not just this forum)...

PaulB · Post by **PaulB** » Tue Apr 08, 2014 3:11 pm

From post: 168660, Topic: tid=11325, author=picommander wrote:I'm really glad you're here Paul cause you ask all the questions I otherwise had to ask myself!
Even with just trying to help I already find the interesting answers: http://www.starwraith.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=6864
including some interesting insights from Vice himself.
If you don't want to read it all by yourself, here's the part that should answer your question:

"They'll stay as your wingmen as long as you pay them, and they aren't destroyed. It isn't a one off payment, they expect to be paid again, and again, for their efforts.
Missions without wingmen are far from impossible. All you lack is practice and knowhow."

When it comes to different colors for wingmen, there's not much left that makes sense: blue would be hard to see on black background. Remains pink... but - seriously, pink?

Here's a concluding hint from myself: Google search is almost always better than forum search (in general, not just this forum)...

Yeah that's why I said a different shape at the end - I figured a different color might not help as much - but I've made custom changes to the images for the Hud folder and they stand out much better now for me - each Square as a little G in the corner for the greens and Y for yellows and R for reds and I made the Green a bit brighter and the Yellow a lot brighter and the Red brighter and a tad orange.
I did the same (colorwise) for radar blips but the blips are so small it only helps a little (at least on the Laptop's monitor).

I did see that post but it's by another user and not Vice.
Vice told me yesterday to take what I read here - especially in older post - and that one was form 2010 - with a grain of salt.
So I'm not sure that's accurate about the pay for Wingmen.

Paul

[Edited on 4-8-2014 by PaulB]

picommander · Post by **picommander** » Tue Apr 08, 2014 3:14 pm

I got it as first hit on top of all with "Evochron mercenary hire wingman" but then I'm just lucky (sometimes).

Post by **Marvin** » Tue Apr 08, 2014 3:38 pm

I can understand your confusion about wingmen. If you DL Arvoch Alliance and play the demo, you can see how Vice handled wingmen in that game. But, unlike Mercenary, wingmen in Alliance are integral to the game's missions. So much so that it can become cumbersome trying to keep them alive (after all, it's you're responsibility as flight leader).

In Mercenary, you hire one or more mercenaries (and/or navy pilots) and pay them accordingly. They will remain with you until you enter a war zone. If you want assistance in a war zone, you need to hire pilots who are already in the war zone. That being said, don't look for your hired crew too soon if you use a jumpgate ... they will appear eventually but not 'till they've checked on the conditions at your new destination.

PaulB · Post by **PaulB** » Tue Apr 08, 2014 3:49 pm

From post: 168668, Topic: tid=11325, author=Marvin wrote:I can understand your confusion about wingmen. If you DL Arvoch Alliance and play the demo, you can see how Vice handled wingmen in that game. But, unlike Mercenary, wingmen in Alliance are integral to the game's missions. So much so that it can become cumbersome trying to keep them alive (after all, it's you're responsibility as flight leader).

In Mercenary, you hire one or more mercenaries (and/or navy pilots) and pay them accordingly. They will remain with you until you enter a war zone. If you want assistance in a war zone, you need to hire pilots who are already in the war zone. That being said, don't look for your hired crew too soon if you use a jumpgate ... they will appear eventually but not 'till they've checked on the conditions at your new destination.

Really? Is that what you've found out by trying? Cause I can't find much info other that suggestions to hire 15.

Actually my thought was to hire 2 or 3 for doing waypoint missions.

I think it's Talison that is the tamest (if i can use that word) of the warzones? That's the only one I would contemplate going to. I don't care a lot about military rank excepy I would like to have some - but not at the expense (as I've asid elsewere) of losing my civvie ship crew - and I gather in the hotter warzones you need a mil frame - and I figured that if I ever tried I might could get by with my Mammoth in Talison WZ???

Paul

Post by **Marvin** » Tue Apr 08, 2014 4:02 pm

With enough experience and the proper configuration, you can successfully employ a Mammoth in Talison Conflict ... by yourself. Why? Well, mainly because the Vonari do most of their fighting without the assistance of a cruiser ... your only enemy being bombers and interceptors. You might want to increase your IDS multiplier though ... the Vonari have faster ships, making combat a bit more difficult. Normally, I'd suggest doing those contracts in MP, with other pilots ... but, having just completed single-player testing in the Sierra War Zone with a much smaller civilian ship, I'm beginning to wonder if the Navy AI are more capable of taking down the Vonari in SP.

PaulB · Post by **PaulB** » Tue Apr 08, 2014 4:17 pm

What is the Form on the right side of the Compass?

And what's the difference between just heading somewhere and clicking (formup???) in the Orders?

Don't they follow me in either case? They seem to - what little I played with them last night.

The Form on the right of Compass I click and it sent me whirling around. Don't see it listed in the Instructions.

Paul

picommander · Post by **picommander** » Tue Apr 08, 2014 4:18 pm

@ Marvin:
From my short experiences with military quests (during the main quest, I believe it also was at Sierra WZ) I remember a lot of contracts where both military and Vonary cruiser were involved. But in all these contracts I found that you can "play" with the existing military vessels (no need to actually "hire" some) whilst maintaining a small domination of the military fighters.

[Edited on 8-4-2014 by picommander]

Busch · Post by **Busch** » Tue Apr 08, 2014 10:00 pm

In all CZ's & WZ's, the 'principle pilot' (insert here: the pilot who accepts an offered mission.), can/may order the AI/NPC Navy pukes to do battle, via the drop-down 'Order' menu. Or, they can/may order anything else on the Order menu as long as that accepted/active mission runs. Once a pilot attains Commodore rank, they may order about the AI/NPC Navy pukes without regard to the 'principle pilot', who may have accepted the mission. [Both 'options' work really well in MP-space doing co-op war zone missions.] The AI/NPC Navy pukes are as much on the hunt for the Vonari, as the Vonari (and the other Bad Guys) are also on the hunt for you and yours. By hanging back a little and ordering/supporting the Navy AI/NPC pukes as wingmen, I've seen them successfully take on a Von cap ship, after all the 'little fleas' had been picked off the 'camel'. 'Twas a righteous bust!

Post by **Marvin** » Tue Apr 08, 2014 10:05 pm

The FORM option to the right of the HUD compass will place you in formation with whatever ship you have locked up ... assuming your target is not hostile. Depending on your alignment with the target, clicking on FORM could send you spinning around as your Nav computer looks to find who it is you've locked up.

picommander · Post by **picommander** » Tue Apr 08, 2014 10:14 pm

Sorry for being a little OT but is it possible to "bribe" hostile (red, below 50%) AI pilots and does it make sense at all regarding reputation?

Post by **Marvin** » Wed Apr 09, 2014 12:48 am

Bribing used to be a serious part of the game ... but maybe that was the previous incarnation (Legends). Somebody else might know more.

picommander · Post by **picommander** » Wed Apr 09, 2014 1:26 am

Technically it seems possible, just lost a million this way. But I guess to move something into the right direction I'd spend a LOT more, this did nothing at all.

All these experiments are fun but not exactly apt to my wealth LOL I'm down to 2 Million again. Maybe I'll come to an MP server and "roleplay" a derelict while collecting some bucks there

Btw, I miss something like an indicator for "match speed" to show if it's still active or not, or have I overlooked something? After a while it's getting obvious, but up until then it can be quite a nuisance.

Edit: No crap I was wrong. The miner didn't take the money (just compared my last profiles) but at least I got the option. You need to be very fast to bribe someone who is fighting you at the same time...

[Edited on 9-4-2014 by picommander]

Edit:
Just found an old thread about bribing, Maarschalk seems to be the specialist for bribing:
http://www.starwraith.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=5889

[Edited on 9-4-2014 by picommander]

PaulB · Post by **PaulB** » Wed Apr 09, 2014 2:02 am

From post: 168692, Topic: tid=11325, author=picommander wrote:Technically it seems possible, just lost a million this way. But I guess to move something into the right direction I'd spend a LOT more, this did nothing at all. All these experiments are fun but not exactly apt to my wealth LOL I'm down to 2 Million again. Maybe I'll come to an MP server and "roleplay" a derelict while collecting some bucks there

Btw, I miss something like an indicator for "match speed" to show if it's still active or not, or have I overlooked something? After a while it's getting obvious, but up until then it can be quite a nuisance.

Edit: No crap I was wrong. The miner didn't take the money (just compared my last profiles) but at least I got the option. You need to be very fast to bribe someone who is fighting you at the same time...

[Edited on 9-4-2014 by picommander]

Edit:
Just found an old thread about bribing, Maarschalk seems to be the specialist for bribing:
http://www.starwraith.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=5889

[Edited on 9-4-2014 by picommander]

This is in the Instructions HTM file that comes with the EM game:
"You may bribe other ships to alter your reputation in a system or to avoid a risky fight"

Presumably it's current info.

Paul

picommander · Post by **picommander** » Wed Apr 09, 2014 2:04 am

Yep, just tried again and this time it worked: bribed a red miner to yellow (with 1000000). Didn't change my general reputation to miners in that system though. Need to find another method, this seems too expensive.

PaulB · Post by **PaulB** » Wed Apr 09, 2014 11:36 am

From post: 168694, Topic: tid=11325, author=picommander wrote:Yep, just tried again and this time it worked: bribed a red miner to yellow (with 1000000). Didn't change my general reputation to miners in that system though. Need to find another method, this seems too expensive.

Only way I've seen (in Sapphire) is enough clearing asteroids Contracts for them to improve their Rating - so logic says it's doing enough Miner Contracts (or other faction's) - as far as i can see.
I haven't seen that the simpler contracts (retreive, inspect, deliver to ship) seem to have much effect - maybe you have to do TONS of them.
My Navy in Sapphire has stayed at 71%, my Energy has increased from about 80 or 80 to (I think it's) 85, and my Miners has increase from lower 80's to higher 80's.
I don't do Solar cleaning (I don't do windows), I don't to Timed Races (I've NEVER completed one in a Sentinel nor Mammoth nor Starmaster - all with Wings C13 and trying the best I could). I can barely, beat an AI Race in my Mammoth - so I seldom do those because if I should fail it's going to decrease the Loyalty of my Crew members - so why do it for what little gain there is in it.

What I wish is that I could find a driver/program or better yet a good quality Gamepad (I'm using an Xbox 360) that would let you adjust deadband and sensitivity individually for each analog stick.
I'm constantly over-correcting my yaw/pitch/roll - and it's hard as heck just to get Roll and Pitch zeroed - and that's with the Joystick Options Sensitivity set to Low.

Paul

Capt_Caveman · Post by **Capt_Caveman** » Wed Apr 09, 2014 1:41 pm

From post: 168692, Topic: tid=11325, author=picommander wrote:Btw, I miss something like an indicator for "match speed" to show if it's still active or not, or have I overlooked something? After a while it's getting obvious, but up until then it can be quite a nuisance.

look at your "set" vel indicator on the hud.
there will be an "M" in the readout when match speed is active

picommander · Post by **picommander** » Wed Apr 09, 2014 2:31 pm

From post: 168700, Topic: tid=11325, author=PaulB wrote:
From post: 168694, Topic: tid=11325, author=picommander wrote:Yep, just tried again and this time it worked: bribed a red miner to yellow (with 1000000). Didn't change my general reputation to miners in that system though. Need to find another method, this seems too expensive.
Only way I've seen (in Sapphire) is enough clearing asteroids Contracts for them to improve their Rating - so logic says it's doing enough Miner Contracts (or other faction's) - as far as i can see.
I haven't seen that the simpler contracts (retreive, inspect, deliver to ship) seem to have much effect - maybe you have to do TONS of them.
[...]

I'm in Pearl where the situation is quite different. No simple contracts here: no clearing, no solar panel cleaning, no delivery contracts (with the exception of Guild and Rebels but those I want to drain). This whole project wasn't probably the brightest idea, meanwhile I'm under the impression that it would have been much easier to turn my reputation here if I had worked for Rebels and Guild in the first place (but when I started I was still under the influence of false (outdated) infos regarding global reputation). Even now Guild and Rebels offer the wider variety of contracts.

My current situation in Pearl is: Energy 100% (never got a single contract, must be from killing Guild pilots exclusively), Navy 100%, Guild 0%, Rebels something in the low 40%. So far so good but - Miners stuck at 45% for quite a while. The only Miner contracts I get are simple killing contracts, something in the range between 6 and 12 enemies. But even after 3 such contracts my reputation doesn't seem to move anymore so if that isn't an option I have no other choice than going the bribing route. Miners don't seem to care at all when killing Rebels or Guild pilots out of contracts.

Thanks Capt. for the hint with the M, guess I'll need some new reading glasses.

Capt_Caveman · Post by **Capt_Caveman** » Wed Apr 09, 2014 2:55 pm

I HAVE glasses and still overlook it sometimes

Post by **Marvin** » Wed Apr 09, 2014 3:07 pm

Pearl is a tough nut ... in some respects, tougher than any of the war zones. Most pilots work their way up from a Fair system to a Moderate one before tackling one as hostile as Pearl. And, of course, if you use the same profile for multiplayer, trying to increase your reputation (with the law-abiding factions ... not the rebels of guild) can be even more difficult.

picommander · Post by **picommander** » Wed Apr 09, 2014 3:24 pm

From post: 168706, Topic: tid=11325, author=Marvin wrote:... Most pilots work their way up from a Fair system to a Moderate one before tackling one as hostile as Pearl.

Would this help? In my understanding local reputations don't have any global effect anymore (though seemed to be the case in the past).

From post: 168706, Topic: tid=11325, author=Marvin wrote: And, of course, if you use the same profile for multiplayer, trying to increase your reputation (with the law-abiding factions ... not the rebels of guild) can be even more difficult.

Not quite sure if I understand this (never played MP so far thus I have no clue). Would you mind to elaborate?

PaulB · Post by **PaulB** » Wed Apr 09, 2014 3:45 pm

From post: 168703, Topic: tid=11325, author=picommander wrote:
From post: 168700, Topic: tid=11325, author=PaulB wrote:
From post: 168694, Topic: tid=11325, author=picommander wrote:Yep, just tried again and this time it worked: bribed a red miner to yellow (with 1000000). Didn't change my general reputation to miners in that system though. Need to find another method, this seems too expensive.
Only way I've seen (in Sapphire) is enough clearing asteroids Contracts for them to improve their Rating - so logic says it's doing enough Miner Contracts (or other faction's) - as far as i can see.
I haven't seen that the simpler contracts (retreive, inspect, deliver to ship) seem to have much effect - maybe you have to do TONS of them.
[...]
I'm in Pearl where the situation is quite different. No simple contracts here: no clearing, no solar panel cleaning, no delivery contracts (with the exception of Guild and Rebels but those I want to drain). This whole project wasn't probably the brightest idea, meanwhile I'm under the impression that it would have been much easier to turn my reputation here if I had worked for Rebels and Guild in the first place (but when I started I was still under the influence of false (outdated) infos regarding global reputation). Even now Guild and Rebels offer the wider variety of contracts.

My current situation in Pearl is: Energy 100% (never got a single contract, must be from killing Guild pilots exclusively), Navy 100%, Guild 0%, Rebels something in the low 40%. So far so good but - Miners stuck at 45% for quite a while. The only Miner contracts I get are simple killing contracts, something in the range between 6 and 12 enemies. But even after 3 such contracts my reputation doesn't seem to move anymore so if that isn't an option I have no other choice than going the bribing route. Miners don't seem to care at all when killing Rebels or Guild pilots out of contracts.

Thanks Capt. for the hint with the M, guess I'll need some new reading glasses.

How many kills (guild, rebels, whatever) did you have to do to achieve those ratings? Did you do it via Contracts or via just killing them on your own or both methods?
What were your Navy, Energy, Miners starting ratings in Pearl before you started your campaign? Because they by-god hate me there - I think my Navy, Energy are in the 30's or something like that.

Paul

[Edited on 4-9-2014 by PaulB]