Fleet not responding to command

marlowe221 · Post by **marlowe221** » Sun Jan 31, 2016 11:16 pm

A couple of things I have noticed, not sure if they are bugs or not.

1. Autopilot mishaps - when right clicking on a station and using autopilot to make multiple jumps to get there, autopilot will ram me into the side of the station every time regardless of my initial heading and velocity. And yes, this happens even when lining up the ship properly for smooth docking with the blue marks on the compass and the pitch ladder.

2. Mining mission - took a mining mission in Rucker to get a hold full of diamonds. I undocked from the station and jumped to the nearest asteroid field. The ship computer announced that I had failed the mission. What gives?

Post by **Marvin** » Mon Feb 01, 2016 1:11 am

1. When you engaged autopilot, did it turn to head directly at the station (which is what it should do) and, if so, did that mean it turned away from the blue compass marker?

2. Was the asteroid field in the same sector as the station or city where you accepted the contract? If not, as soon as you left the sector, you failed the contract.

Rubber Chicken · Post by **Rubber Chicken** » Mon Feb 01, 2016 1:23 am

1. Autopilot does not auto-dock as well. Also, if the nav marker is right-clicked to an object such as a station, the autopilot will attempt to directly reach the marker no matter what. Be careful of this when setting course to planets, stars, or asteroid fields. If you have a navigator, he might set a safe jump exit regarding planets and other dangerous objects, but I don't think he will do that for stations.

2. What Marv said.

Post by **Marvin** » Mon Feb 01, 2016 1:28 am

If you're at a distance less than or equal to your jump drive, you don't need to engage autopilot. Simply right-click on the station, turn to a blue triangle on the compass, set pitch to zero ... and engage the jump drive. But, if your target is out of range of your Fulcrum/Mantis, use autopilot until you're in range. Then set heading and pitch ... and jump.

Geek · Post by **Geek** » Mon Feb 01, 2016 1:36 am

OK, after installing the latest version there are a few things i notice in the shipyard :

- Federation and Alliance ships are now the same except for minor differences in speed/armor. Intended ?
- number of cores does not change energy level
- ship assembly display a single digit instead of correct values

marlowe221 · Post by **marlowe221** » Mon Feb 01, 2016 3:47 am

From post: 183985, Topic: tid=12248, author=Marvin wrote:1. When you engaged autopilot, did it turn to head directly at the station (which is what it should do) and, if so, did that mean it turned away from the blue compass marker?

2. Was the asteroid field in the same sector as the station or city where you accepted the contract? If not, as soon as you left the sector, you failed the contract.

1. Yes, it turned me away from my heading and attempted to plough me into the center of the station. I get why autopilot works the way it does with planets and asteroid fields, but if it's not going to throw you a bone when it comes to stations then I would question what the point of having autopilot is at all.

Sure, its useful when you're exploring for uncharted systems but new players aren't doing that. They are trying to get around the starting system with their C1 jump drives that only reach one sector - they are going to want to use autopilot a lot and as it is now it basically serves as a trap for n00bs. This series is awesome but it's also a bit on the opaque side. Having a ship system that is as likely to kill you or ram you into a station as it is to be helpful may not be a bug, but it might be worth examining as a design decision.

2. To my knowledge there are no asteroids in the same sector as Rucker station, which is where I accepted the contract. Since no nav point appeared on the map I went off toward the nearest asteroid field on the map. If you can't leave the sector where the job is accepted, it would be helpful if the contract informed you of that since it is very common for contracts to take you to other sectors in the system.

[Edited on 2-1-2016 by marlowe221]

[Edited on 2-1-2016 by marlowe221]

Post by **Marvin** » Mon Feb 01, 2016 4:55 am

No contracts take you to other sectors. And, as for the autopilot ... I argued that neither the autopilot nor jump drive should send you off in a direction not directly in line with your heading. But I was overruled when it came to the jump drive. Ergo, autopilot is for traveling distances beyond the range of your jump drive. And your jump drive is probably the first thing you upgrade. It's been that way since its invention ... which will be in about a thousand years from now.

Flashman014 · Post by **Flashman014** » Mon Feb 01, 2016 6:43 am

Not to hijack the thread, but since we're on the topic of autopilot, why doesn't the navigator want to use jump gates? I set my waypoint for 5 sectors away, but the navigator, who is at 100% skill btw, want to make 700 jumps to get there?

As an aside, this was my 25th post, making me Lieutenant Jr. Grade! I'm moving up in the world!

[Edited on 2-1-2016 by Flashman014]

MiaZ · Post by **MiaZ** » Mon Feb 01, 2016 8:23 am

From post: 184013, Topic: tid=12248, author=Flashman014 wrote:Not to hijack the thread, but since we're on the topic of autopilot, why doesn't the navigator want to use jump gates? I set my waypoint for 5 sectors away, but the navigator, who is at 100% skill btw, want to make 700 jumps to get there?

As an aside, this was my 25th post, making me Lieutenant Jr. Grade! I'm moving up in the world!

[Edited on 2-1-2016 by Flashman014]

Sounds like your waypoint was 5 gate jumps away not 5 sectors.
5 sectors would have been 5 jumps with the starter jumpdrive.

Yea, navigators don't use gates.
I think they feel they are overqualified to use gates.

Flashman014 · Post by **Flashman014** » Mon Feb 01, 2016 9:01 am

I meant 5 systems, not sectors. I used the wrong vernacular there. Like, 5 major planetary systems away. Say, just about from Fauston to Pearl.

It's great that Navigators think they're good enough to not use jump gates, but if they want to be like that, they can pay for my fuel, not to mention my time. What I mean is, if a Navigator is really good at his job, he's going to take the most efficient and fastest route to the destination. I don't have time or fuel for 700 5-sector jumps.

Besides helping me not jump into a planet, what actual use do Navigators have? I'm smart enough to set my own waypoint outside the atmosphere. Can't they be smart enough to find the jump gate to the adjacent system? Just a gripe I have, I guess.

(I think I've fully hijacked the thread now, so if this is too off topic, I'll accept some moderator corrective action here.)

marlowe221 · Post by **marlowe221** » Mon Feb 01, 2016 12:58 pm

From post: 184008, Topic: tid=12248, author=Marvin wrote:No contracts take you to other sectors. And, as for the autopilot ... I argued that neither the autopilot nor jump drive should send you off in a direction not directly in line with your heading. But I was overruled when it came to the jump drive. Ergo, autopilot is for traveling distances beyond the range of your jump drive. And your jump drive is probably the first thing you upgrade. It's been that way since its invention ... which will be in about a thousand years from now.

Right - autopilot is for distances out of range of your jump drive. The problem is, when it comes to new players with a C1 drive, that's pretty much every jump they are going to make. Pretty much every jump in the starting quest line has you going to nav markers outside of your max jump range at the beginning of the game.

Oh well, the autopilot drove me crazy in EM and I guess it's going to drive me crazy in EL. I understand how it works but certainly disagree with the design decisions. Just like I did in EM, I will avoid using it at all costs. It just seems weird to me that we are saying, "Hey new player! Your ship has this feature that you should basically never use so... have fun with that!"

As to the contracts, I cannot fire the game up right now to verify this but I seem to recall leaving the sector the station was in to deliver goods to a capital ship or help a ship that is out of fuel....

[Edited on 2-1-2016 by marlowe221]

Post by **Marvin** » Mon Feb 01, 2016 4:53 pm

Three things I always do when starting a new profile (for testing ... and this happens a lot):

1. Buy a tractor beam.

2. Upgrade my jump drive.

3. Reconfigure my ship to increase cargo capacity.

Autopilot has its uses. It will point you toward a waypoint and will accelerate to maximum speed ... very handy when you're in a high-energy nebula or otherwise can't use your jumpdrive. It carries you across great distances ... allowing you to explore the galaxy (not required, I realize, if you never plan to wander past the gated star systems).

The navigator? Well, one of EM's more proficient modders created a program which almost allowed you to jump from gate to gate, hands off. But it was kind of complicated.

Flashman014 · Post by **Flashman014** » Wed Feb 03, 2016 8:42 am

Here's a strange one for you: I left my game on an extended pause (ESC menu), so long, in fact, that my computer fell asleep (about 2 hours, while we watched a movie (Alien in case you're wondering)). When I came back, everything seemed to be fine except one thing - in the menu screens, some letters seem to be missing from many words, including names of locations on the map screen (planets, stations, nebulae, everything). I especially noticed that when I opened the ESC menu again and hovered over my options, the "i" would disappear as I hovered over things like "Exit," "Settings/Options," etc. Weird, but I thought you'd like to hear about it.

Flashman014 · Post by **Flashman014** » Wed Feb 03, 2016 9:35 am

Another bug maybe? I traded in my nice Centurion ship for the first model of military ships, the Pulsar. After doing so, I seem to have lost a lot of my Civilian ranks, dropping from 116 (Competent) down to 38 (Novice). I was under the impression that Civilian ranks can't be lost once they're gained. Am I wrong in this?

Deep Thought · Post by **Deep Thought** » Wed Feb 03, 2016 11:15 am

Think i have a bug

Landed on planet city & entered the city so i could use the shipyard after finishing in the shipyard i looked for a mission to do
Found a Collect flying animal mission as soon as i clicked accept the mission failed!

I Noticed that my ship was redocking @ the docking ring!

I think the problem is when you leave the city you are automaticaly redocked at the docking ring with the inventory menu open & that counts as leaving the station & returning with empty cargo bays

workaround Only accept missions when Docked at the Ring

Post by **Marvin** » Wed Feb 03, 2016 6:22 pm

If you're near the ring (or still inside a space station), do not open your Inventory Console if you've just accepted a contract. Because you will activate the docking mechanism. You cannot get around this by pressing Alt-F3 (default) to disable auto-docking ... because even manual docking is activated by pressing F3. And, when you dock, you're expected to have the required cargo with you. So ... wait until you're clear of the docking ring/bay before opening the Inventory Console.

Post by **Marvin** » Wed Feb 03, 2016 6:24 pm

From post: 184309, Topic: tid=12248, author=Flashman014 wrote:Another bug maybe? I traded in my nice Centurion ship for the first model of military ships, the Pulsar. After doing so, I seem to have lost a lot of my Civilian ranks, dropping from 116 (Competent) down to 38 (Novice). I was under the impression that Civilian ranks can't be lost once they're gained. Am I wrong in this?

Your first mistake was in trading the Centurion. Other than that, unless you forgot to save your profile before swapping ships, it sounds like a bug.

Post by **Vice** » Wed Feb 03, 2016 6:38 pm

Your civilian rating can drop significantly when going from a civilian frame to a military frame (depending on which frame you switch to and what the other factors in your rating calculation are at the time). Your civilian rating is based on not only your wealth and track record, but also the ship you fly. Your capabilities for civilian objectives (or any for that matter) can decrease when you switch to an entry level military frame from a mid or high spec civilian frame, so the rating can decrease. The change may be more dramatic if you don't have as much of a positive contract record and/or wealth level. The civilian rating will be more stable and less prone to significant changes the more you build up a positive contract track record and wealth basis.

The military rank is a raw value of missions completed, so it won't bounce around based on changing player/ship conditions.

Deep Thought · Post by **Deep Thought** » Wed Feb 03, 2016 6:41 pm

From post: 184361, Topic: tid=12248, author=Marvin wrote:If you're near the ring (or still inside a space station), do not open your Inventory Console if you've just accepted a contract. Because you will activate the docking mechanism. You cannot get around this by pressing Alt-F3 (default) to disable auto-docking ... because even manual docking is activated by pressing F3. And, when you dock, you're expected to have the required cargo with you. So ... wait until you're clear of the docking ring/bay before opening the Inventory Console.

Yes i have autodock enabled. The problem is if your LANDED not DOCKED when you accept the mission it will automaticaly fail as accepting the mission acts as if you have just pressed the launch button & with autodock enabled the game will redock you at the ring Failling the mission with no chance to leave the station

I have taken these mission when just docked & they work as expected

[Edited on 2-3-2016 by Deep Thought]

Post by **Marvin** » Wed Feb 03, 2016 6:45 pm

If you're having trouble because of auto-docking, disable it and remember not to press F3 until you're well clear of a docking bay.

As for civilian reputation decreasing when joining the military ... you learn something new every day.

Post by **Vice** » Wed Feb 03, 2016 6:49 pm

Yes i have autodock enabled. The problem is if your LANDED not DOCKED when you accept the mission it will automaticaly fail as accepting the mission acts as if you have just pressed the launch button & with autodock enabled the game will redock you at the ring Failling the mission with no chance to leave the station

I have taken these mission when just docked & they work as expected

Yes, that is an issue. The next update will require the player be in their ship at a city before being allowed to accept contracts planet side.

Post by **Marvin** » Wed Feb 03, 2016 6:59 pm

From post: 184370, Topic: tid=12248, author=Vice wrote:Yes, that is an issue. The next update will require the player be in their ship at a city before being allowed to accept contracts planet side.

Ratz. There goes the option of working as a team ... one at the space station and one at the city. I'd get a "collect oxygen" contract at the station (unavailable at the city) and my counterpart in the city would collect and deliver. Not what I'd consider a bug.

Flashman014 · Post by **Flashman014** » Wed Feb 03, 2016 7:09 pm

From post: 184362, Topic: tid=12248, author=Marvin wrote: Your first mistake was in trading the Centurion. Other than that, unless you forgot to save your profile before swapping ships, it sounds like a bug.

Oh, I still have the Centurion. It's in a hanger on Pearl. I made enough money with it to buy a new one, then go trade that for the military ship. I think it's kind of a bummer that I got my rank so high, made enough money to buy and outfit two really awesome ships, then it drops back down to nothing when I decide to sell one, even though I have another waiting for me in dry dock. Do I become less competent because I decided to drive around my beater car instead of my Porche? That doesn't make a lot of sense to me.

Post by **Vice** » Wed Feb 03, 2016 7:18 pm

I provided some information on how the civilian rating is established above and it can be affected by what you fly, more so when your rating is based less on contract performance and wealth.

Do I become less competent because I decided to drive around my beater car instead of my Porche?

If you are expected to race either one, yes, your potential results will be less effective in the beater car. It's all about the context, which also applies in this game. In addition, the more your track record (no pun intended) is based on your contract performance and wealth, the less of an impact the type of ship you fly will have on your rating.

If we apply this to your analogy, you could say that the more race wins you get on your record, the less it will matter what kind of car you drive when people evaluate your win potential (ie rating).

Flashman014 · Post by **Flashman014** » Wed Feb 03, 2016 7:31 pm

From post: 184378, Topic: tid=12248, author=Vice wrote: I provided some information on how the civilian rating is established above and it can be affected by what you fly, more so when your rating is based less on contract performance and wealth.

Do I become less competent because I decided to drive around my beater car instead of my Porche?
If you are expected to race either one, yes, your potential results will be less effective in the beater car. It's all about the context, which also applies in this game. In addition, the more your track record (no pun intended) is based on your contract performance and wealth, the less of an impact the type of ship you fly will have on your rating.

If we apply this to your analogy, you could say that the more race wins you get on your record, the less it will matter what kind of car you drive when people evaluate your win potential (ie rating).

So, if I'm understanding this correctly, civilian rating is based on what other "people" (read as: Joe Public, A.I.) think about me? If that's the case, I suppose I understand that if no one knows I have a Ferrari in the garage at home, they judge me on the Pinto I drive to work. I haven't done a ton of contracts (about 40 with 2-3 fails), so I guess that won't do a lot for my Popularity (Civilian) rank. I made most of my money in mining/trade runs. I think I understand now. I was a little shocked when it dropped so dramatically, but Vice, you have a magic way of making these things make sense. Thanks!:D