Transcendence

Ships that were once friendly but have become hostile still must be targeted with the "F" key. This sometimes wastes valuable time, especially if there are many truly friendly ships close to the player (e.g. autons).

The auto missile defense also ignores all shots from these "friendly" enemies. However, it immediately targets stray shots if the firing ship is destroyed (which would seem to be unwanted behavior if it targets shots from destroyed allies as well).

Wait, weren't there some other posts after this?

If you accidently hit a friendly base or ship, any "guard" ship will return fire. But if you do not continue to fire on a friendly, they'll just cap a few pot-shots at you then return to base. Since they're initially considered friendly, they'll be green and will not change to red.
This does not hold true if the Syndikat has sent out a bounty on you. While the bounty ship will also be "green", it will continue to fire until either it gets destroyed, or you do...If it gets destroyed, another will take its place and will continue to do so until you either settle up with the boss or get taken out.

Keep in mind that if you use Autons, and if their fire hits a friendly, it counts the same as if you were the one who fired. What I do if I use Autons, is before I approach a friendly base, I'll hit "Q or C" and order the Autons to wait a good distance away from the base. Then, after I'm finished at the base I'll order the Autons to "Form Up" again. This method has practically eliminated accidental friendly fire.

I've also learned very quickly (to avoid hitting a friendly) that whenever an enemy approaches you while you're at a friendly base, to not engage them. Let the base and the guards deal with the enemy while you "park" over a planet or large asteroid until the battle is over, then go loot any wrecks.

And... disable the ICX before approaching a friendly base you plan to dock with so to avoid accidental friendly fire. When you see the auto missile defense fire at "stray shots" from a destroyed ship, be glad! As those stray shots are called "wreck ejecta" and do damage similar to a blast weapon.

If you accidently hit a friendly base or ship, any "guard" ship will return fire. But if you do not continue to fire on a friendly, they'll just cap a few pot-shots at you then return to base. Since they're initially considered friendly, they'll be green and will not change to red.
This does not hold true if the Syndikat has sent out a bounty on you. While the bounty ship will also be "green", it will continue to fire until either it gets destroyed, or you do...If it gets destroyed, another will take its place and will continue to do so until you either settle up with the boss or get taken out.

The bounty ship is the real problem. Also with guards that pursue you forever after you destroy their patron. When you hit a base and anger the guards, you know it. There's not a whole lot of potential for confusal. But when three green dots come out of your LRS (and there is a planet/battle in the way, so you don't notice they're shooting at you) you think 'friendly'.

I'd shange the dot whenever you cause someone to be angry enough that they won't cool down, like the Zulus do when you kill the smuggler transport.

It'd be nice if the LRS dots changed color-maybe orange or whatever, whenever a friendly or even a bounty targets you. As it is, you take your chances...maybe that's a good thing?
What'd really be nice is if the wrecks (friendly and enemy) in the LRS changed color-maybe blue or something when killed to segregate them from "live" ships.

It would also be nice to have a separate key to target wreaks and stations.

What'd really be nice is if the wrecks (friendly and enemy) in the LRS changed color-maybe blue or something when killed to segregate them from "live" ships.

I don't like this as much. They're ship shaped objects, and they could just have their power off, so your computer marks them "hostile".
It removes a lot of neat situations too.
Would you ever stumble onto an Abbasid base again, mistaking it for a cache? Would you ever get ambushed by pirates in a wreck field?

Ahh yes, very good point and I never thought about the Abbasid base and the several wrecks that are usually nearby. It would pinpoint the base in LRS if wrecks were a different color.

I'd appreciate a key or two for targetting mode selecction:

for "T"
- nearest target
- static targets (stations and turrets) first, then non-static targets (ships)
- non-static first, then static targets (*)

for "F"
- nearest target (*)
- static targets first, then non-static targets, then wrecks
- non-static targets, then static targets, then wrecks
- wrecks only

(*) current targetting mode AFAIK

and also a recomputation of "next" target after pressing the "T" of "F" key because it seems that this is calculated as a list after you press the key the first time so you end moving in circles when visiting a lot of wrecks because selection goes to the next item in the list instead of the nearest target to your current position.

The problem I see with targeting the bases first, then ships, is whenever you're around a colony of bases (think Dwarg.) You'd have to continuously hit the T key until all the bases in range are cycled through, and by the time you manage to target the ship that's hammering on you, it could be too late.
IMHO, I think F50's idea of having a seperate target key for stations and wrecks is the best solution.