Anaconda: is it worth the upgrade?

[Kaks]

I see, that means in order to fix the hired guns 'dedication to the job' we'll need the AI to periodically check if the target has become a derelict, & stop attacking if that's the case... it looks like more work for Thargoid!

[Eric Walch]

I see, that means in order to fix the hired guns 'dedication to the job' we'll need the AI to periodically check if the target has become a derelict, & stop attacking if that's the case... it looks like more work for Thargoid!

Not only Hired guns, but all ships will continue attacking a ship that became a derelict. e.g. pirates and police.

That makes drifting derelict ships rather rare. Only when the attacker is interrupted by something else (like being shot himself), it will leave a derelict behind.

For pirates its logic they continue because they don't want the ship inactive, but they want the content itself. For a police it would be logic to stop after an ejection as they want the criminal and not the vessel. Maybe Oolite should send a "OTHER_PILOT_EJECTED" to all ships that were targeting this ship on ejecting a pilot? That would give an AI a handle to react on this.

[Thargoid]

There's already a friendly fire check in the AI/JS, I can adjust things there to check for derelicts too.

But the tweak was based on what Switeck posted, of them flying in and then attacking. They won't do that now, as the flying in is done under one part of the AI (coming to scanner range of the player ship) which then hands over to finding the player's hostiles (where the code modification above is made). So it would have stopped the reported case I think.

Agreed it won't stop them attacking a ship if the pilot ejects from it, but that's a slightly different case (but still perhaps one worth considering).

[Cmdr James]

Wouldnt a better fix be to have derelicts removed from the escort group by oolite core, and have a standard signal sent when this occurs so that all groups behave better?

[Thargoid]

Not sure what escort group removal would achieve?

It may be useful to have an AI command to check if a target is derelict (or is unpiloted).

I would say also it would make sense for a derelict not to be able to set a target (as there's by definition no-one to do the targetting) but I guess that would screw up the Salvage missile as it couldn't then target a station to fly to.

If the current fix isn't enough then I can add a derelict check into the "friendly fire" check that's already in there, which will certainly stop the hired guns shooting at them. But as Eric says it may be better to do something a little more global, so I'll hold-off for now making any further tweaks.

[Cmdr Wyvern]

If making profit from hauling the big contracts is how you roll, then an Anaconda might be the right choice - as long as you steer clear of the dangerous systems, because an Anaconda really can't fight back worth a damn.

If you want to haul the big contract loads anywhere you please, including anarchist's vacation spots and Bug nests, then a Kirin is the best choice. Kirins are battle cruisers with a vast hold, and are armed to dole out a lot of pain.

...Says the Lizard who captained a Kirin through an all-or-nothing Thargoid invasion.