"Offending ship targeted. Moving to intercept"

[st3f]

These were the last words of the plice viper as he flew straight into the navigation beacon in front of the space station.

Now he could have meant me. I was being quite offensive, having just offloaded a cargo hold full to the gills of narcotics (it was sooo cheap officer I couldn't resist), but if that was the case why wasn't he flying after me... or did he really think that the nav beacon had perpetrated some crime.

[TedJ]

Well, if he'd meant you then you would have gone condition red and he'd show up flashing red/blue on the scanner. Could be looking at a random AI glitch I guess... which might explain a couple of occasions where the n-beacon has disappeared while I'm enroute to the station.

Cops is stoopid, I guess...

[st3f]

I don't remember the flashing lollipop in the scanner so I guess it must have been that nav beacon that he was after, then. Bad nav beacon. Naughty nav beacon.

[Selezen]

You have to keep an eye on those nav beacons. Occasionally the installed personality can get a bit bored and try its hand at other things. It was probably impersonating a trader and was going through the cargo lists.

It might even have accessed the credit system and bought itself some Acturan Megaweed...

Seriously, I've noticed this behaviour in some of the AIs, most notably the escort and patrol AIs that I used to base the Krait patrols in the TOGY on. When the AI changes or switched to a new section, the ship often just flies straight forward for a bit before reacting to the commands in the AI. This is what makes the Kraits in TOGY smack into the beacons.

[TedJ]

...When the AI changes or switched to a new section, the ship often just flies straight forward for a bit before reacting to the commands in the AI. This is what makes the Kraits in TOGY smack into the beacons.

"Looks like a fish, moves like a fish... steers like a cow."