What's up with the Constellation?

General discussion about anything related to Transcendence.
Post Reply
User avatar
Alandra
Commonwealth Pilot
Commonwealth Pilot
Posts: 56
Joined: Fri Dec 07, 2018 9:06 am
Location: Seattle
Contact:

I... just don't get what's going on with this ship.

If I'm understanding correctly, I'm supposed to be able to replace anything on my autons in the bay, so long as it falls within their power and weight limits. However, the only thing I'm actually able to swap out is armor. I cannot replace their weapons, shields, or devices. All three of these give the message: "You can remove your _____ and replace it with a _____. Unfortunately, we cannot remove your _____."

Judging from old forum posts (on this thread: https://forums.kronosaur.com/viewtopic. ... ion#p67251) others have not had this problem. Perhaps it's unique to 1.8b4?

Even armor swapping works strangely. The stock configuration on several autons includes armor that is supposedly too heavy for them to be wearing.

Squadron commands for autons are also troublesome. I cannot order them all to return to the bay at once, as I ought to be able to do. Instead I have to select each one individually and give the order many times.

I'm up to Saint Kat's, where I just got some battle autons, so things are looking up. However, I have trouble imagining these autons working at all once I get 5 or 6 systems further, particularly without being able to modify them. And as far as I know, these are the best models available from auton dealers.

My impulse is to forget about the autons as a main strategy and try to play more like a freighter, but that would mean giving up the gimmick. It looks like autons are a lot more viable in Elemental Shift, so perhaps making a new game when that beta comes out would make more sense than continuing this one?

One other minor point which I've seen brought up before: a short-ranged blast weapon is a strange choice for this ship. If it's going to start with a level 4 omni weapon, I would make it a Partisan turret.
Curious about real-life aliens? www.antareanjourneys.com
relanat
Militia Captain
Militia Captain
Posts: 941
Joined: Tue Nov 05, 2013 9:56 am

The device swap thing is a bug. Same as the 'BM cant swap better devices 1.8b4' Ministry ticket.

You can install a device but not replace one. eg, the TX3 can have a weapon or collimator installed because it has an empty slot but you can't then replace that installed device.

Probably caused by a small code change in 1.8b4.

There are a heap of auton improvement ideas around. You will see an improved auton bay but it takes a lot of time to rewrite, test and release the code. Often other code needs to be rewitten as well to add features. An example would be to use the dock service screens for the auton device changes. All the dock service screens would need modification to allow objects other than the playership to use them. And there are quite a few of those screens. So it takes time. But, like 1.8 vs 1.7, the result will be excellent and worth it.

NMS has released a heap of auton improving mods. I recommend giving them a try. They are really good.
Stupid code. Do what I want, not what I typed in!
NMS
Militia Captain
Militia Captain
Posts: 569
Joined: Tue Mar 05, 2013 8:26 am

Thanks, relanat. But nearly all the changes to the auton bay my mods made are in the current betas of the core game now. Maybe I'll take a look at why it's not working in this release. The way armor limits are defined has changed recently, and some armors were rebalanced, so some autons may need to switch armor types or have their limits changed. But it sounds like that's not the main problem.

I think currently squadron commands have to be hard-coded in the engine, so only formation and common commands appear. But it could probably be changed to show all commands any wingman can accept. My mod Com Groups helps with this, allowing you to send any command to all your combat or non-combat wingmen and autons.

The Moskva 11 is only level 3, so it needs a significant drawback to compensate for having omni and blast damage.The RK15 is way too strong for a starting weapon. Since I improved AI aiming, the Defender auton you start with is pretty good against enemy gunships and the Moskva 11 is decent against stations, as long as they're not too dangerous to get close. But since the Constellation has better turning than a freighter, maybe the level 3 non-omni AK15 would be better.
User avatar
Alandra
Commonwealth Pilot
Commonwealth Pilot
Posts: 56
Joined: Fri Dec 07, 2018 9:06 am
Location: Seattle
Contact:

Thanks for the feedback. It looks like the device swap bug is mostly fixed in the 1.8 release, and I'm continuing this game. However, when I gave one of my battle autons my Class V deflector, it was somehow changed into a monopole deflector screen! Meaning that its old shield was swapped out into my cargo hold, but the auton is wearing another copy of its factory shield instead of the Class V.
Curious about real-life aliens? www.antareanjourneys.com
User avatar
Song
Fleet Admiral
Fleet Admiral
Posts: 2801
Joined: Mon Aug 17, 2009 4:27 am

It may be a problem with some code not updating correctly...I've run into issues with other systems where some things get locked in when the game is created, rather than updating with the code.
Mischievous local moderator. She/Her pronouns.
Post Reply