To Catch a Thargoid OXP

[Thargoid]

Yes, I can finally release my first OXP! And for those who are wondering, that is actually a true statement as this is the one I was originally working on before the other 26+ of them got in the way. It requires Oolite v1.74, and will not work under 1.73.x or lower.

Anyway to finally introduce To Catch a Thargoid (or TCAT for short), a new mission and ships OXP set in G3 (as usual). It is a follow-up to the trunk "Thargoid Plans" mission, and is the revenge of the bugs.

To be considered for the mission, the player must have at least 1500 kills and to have completed Thargoid Plans successfully. If these conditions are met, then during your travels around G3 you may be offered the task.

The mission is in three stages, of increasing difficulty. Expect some detective work, plus at least two decent firefights with some of the bugs latest weaponry and ships. To help you the Galactic Navy also has some new arms of its own in the form of the feared Raptor anti-Thargoid frigates. These guys are also tasked with the mission, and will help you out as long as you don't laser-etch their tails.

The OXP adds some of the ships specifically for the mission, but a selection from both sides (including the Raptors) are added to the general mix. The scripting is designed to disable the mission parts once it is complete to limit system impact - so it can be left in to continue to gain assistance from the Raptors in alien combat, and also to see a wider variety of enemy craft.

- = = Download TCAT here = = -

[DaddyHoggy]

Bravo oh-green-one, I admire your resolve, commitment and perseverance!

[pagroove]

Nice one T! Don't have enough kills yet but when I have I try it out

[Thargoid]

OK, time for the first bugfix of the 1.74 OXPs. Small glitch in the TCAT scripting stopping the rather important base station from being spawned, which is a little embarassing when you need to go there for the mission! (Note to self, using 1 mission variable for two entirely separate purposes is a little too economic and not a very good idea!).

Anyway new version 1.01 with it corrected is uploaded and available. If you upgrade to this one and you still don't see the naval station, you may need to reset things. To do that, make a back-up copy of your save game, open the original in a suitable text editor, find the line:

<key>mission_TCAT_mission</key>

If the line below it says <string>OFFER</string>, then you're good to go (you just need to fly around a bit). If it says <string>BRIEFING_1</string> then change it to <string>OFFER</string> (or delete both lines completely) and the mission should be re-offered after a bit of flying about G3.

[Eric Walch]

Anyway new version 1.01 with it corrected is uploaded and available. If you upgrade to this one and you still don't see the naval station, you may need to reset things.

Its not a question of If, you won't see the new station when you started with 1.00.

Find the line:

Code: Select all

missionVariables.TCAT_navalStatus = "false"

And change it to:

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missionVariables.TCAT_navalStatus = "ALIVE"

It would have been nicer if the new version would have corrected this bug in the save-file itself.. hint...

Than another problem: the station is only added when entering from an other system, not when starting from a saved game
So you might need to jump out and back in first to get that station.

[Thargoid]

OK, now having seen and understood the AI recursion errors in the logs, plus one or two other small items I've updated TCAT to 1.03. This should be the final update I hope!

Also made the endgame mission somewhat tougher, after some feedback that it was too easy for players with cloaks. Well it won't be any more

Download from here from box or here from boxcn

[Thargoid]

Minor update to fix a little omission in the shipdata.plist that partially de-fanged the Raptors and one or two other ships. Download from the links in the sig or via the wiki as normal.

For those who don't want to download the whole thing again, the updated shipdata.plist is here. Instructions are in the zip file, but just overwrite the shipdata.plist in the OXP's Config folder with the one in the zip file and restart Oolite holding shift until the spinning Cobbie appears.

[tonyhippy]

Talking of catching Thargoids, I finally bagged me an invader with a salvage missile!! I noticed that if you meet a Thargoid carrier and destroy it with a Quirium mine it will spit out some invaders before it explodes, but presumably the crew are dead as the ships are dormant and just tumble along together. My Commander Ruthungus in his sexy Dragon M was lucky enough to be carrying a Salvage missile (If only he'd had two!) and it actually worked! Had to fight like billy-oh to protect his salvage until it reached the Space Dredger, but earned a significant four-figure paycheque! Lovely! Next time two missiles.....

[Thargoid]

Neither of those are from TCAT.

But be sure we now have your ID logged in our database as a kill-on-sight target for all hives

[Commander McLane]

But be sure we now have your ID logged in our database as a kill-on-sight target for all hives

...which is exactly what you also did with everybody else, so what?

[Mauiby de Fug]

Well, I've had a similar problem to the one I encountered in Stealth, only this time I think a bit of saved game editing was be necessary to fix it!

I'd scooped enough so that I was recalled to the Naval Intelligence Base, where sirens went off and I was warned about the imminent threat. Not wanting to have to do all this again, I saved my game, and then headed off to tackle the armada.

I saw a large ship thing over by the witchpoint, and headed over there. I met some thargoids on the way, engaged them in battle, and killed myself by not looking where I was flying.

However, on reloading the saved game, I couldn't find the ship anywhere.

Looking through the code in TCAT_missionScript.js, I see that the ships are only added to the system upon docking with the base with missionVariables.TCAT_mission taking the value of "CAUGHT". However, I saved my game a few switches later, so my value is "ARMADA".

Thing is, it seems you have to kill this ship to progress (judging from what I found bouncing from one script file to another), and it's a little tricky to do so if it doesn't exist!

I've changed the value in my save game file to "CAUGHT", and it does now appear. Next challenge is to kill it!

I happened to save my game using the SaveAnywhere oxp. I don't do this too often as it takes a long time to set up the system when you load, so I only tend to use it if I haven't saved in a while and am nowhere near the main station in a system, or if something important has happened. And seeing as progressing in a mission falls into the latter category, I saved! 'Twould be my assumption that the same issue would occur if I had trekked all the way to the main system to save, though.

Anyway, save game file edited, now time to continue!

[Mauiby de Fug]

Ye gods, that was a tough one!

I have to say I've enjoyed this mission! Heading back to the Intelligence base to debrief and report on a successful mission! Though this popped up in my log file:

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[ai.error.recursion]: ***** ERROR: AI reactToMessage: recursion in AI TCAT_armadaAI.plist, state HEAD_FOR_STATION, aborting. It is not valid to call reactToMessage: FOO in state FOO.
[script.javaScript.context.destroy]: Destroying JS context.
[script.javaScript.context.destroy]: Destroying JS context.
[script.javaScript.context.destroy]: Destroying JS context.
[script.javaScript.context.destroy]: Destroying JS context.
[script.javaScript.context.destroy]: Destroying JS context.
[script.javaScript.context.destroy]: Destroying JS context.
[script.javaScript.context.destroy]: Destroying JS context.
[script.javaScript.context.destroy]: Destroying JS context.
[script.javaScript.context.destroy]: Destroying JS context.
[script.javaScript.context.destroy]: Destroying JS context.
[script.javaScript.context.destroy]: Destroying JS context.
[script.javaScript.context.destroy]: Destroying JS context.
[script.javaScript.context.destroy]: Destroying JS context.
[script.javaScript.context.destroy]: Destroying JS context.
[script.javaScript.context.destroy]: Destroying JS context.
[script.javaScript.context.destroy]: Destroying JS context.
[script.javaScript.context.destroy]: Destroying JS context.
[script.javaScript.context.destroy]: Destroying JS context.
[script.javaScript.context.destroy]: Destroying JS context.
[script.javaScript.context.destroy]: Destroying JS context.
[script.javaScript.context.destroy]: Destroying JS context.
[script.javaScript.context.destroy]: Destroying JS context.
[script.javaScript.context.destroy]: Destroying JS context.
[script.javaScript.context.destroy]: Destroying JS context.
[script.javaScript.context.destroy]: Destroying JS context.
[script.javaScript.context.destroy]: Destroying JS context.

To say this then repeats a few times is an understatement. This starts at line 544 in my file and ends at line 6694.

[Thargoid]

Damn I thought I'd caught all those AI recursion situations. Looks like I missed one.

Both problems should be quite simple to fix - will look at it when I'm healthy again (currently down with man-flu).

[Smivs]

... when I'm healthy again (currently down with man-flu bug-flu).

There, fixed that for you.
(Get well soon)

[Thargoid]

OK, I've just updated the OXP to v1.05. Small adjustment in the code to try and ensure the Mantis appears when it should, and also perhaps to get rid of the AI recursion error (although that's really just a log file nuisance).