?'s About transporters,shuttles and marines

[marshb63]

First this is going to be a game i'll be playing long after X2 goes to the grave.

Combined Arms and Logistics have long facinated me and this game has it in spades!

My first comments are about transported troops vs shuttle deployed troops. Why dont the transported troops SAD (or SEAD) like the shuttle marines? I find that I have to go FPS and have them escort me as a work around.

My next comment may be a bug concerning shuttles that deploy marines then land vs shuttles that deploy than return to the CC. Shuttles that return to CC seem to unflag somthing in the marines because I can no longer get them to RTB.

In fact, when I toggle RTB they get flagged as evac instead and wont respond to commmands to revert back to SAD or SEAD (similer to transporter marines above). Even the transporter dos'nt recognise them as evac so I lose the deployed team. I think I tried to go FPS to get them back but could'nt get them into the PLV.

Any Ideas?

p.s. using latest correctly installed patches.

[Supreme Cmdr]

All NPC units have SAD by default - except that transported troops will SAD+HALT when deployed. Why? because then you won't have to chase after them after transporting them if you wanted them to do something else.

SAD is not the same as ESCORT

You can't RTB marines if their platform [shuttle] no longer exists. Where are they to RTB to if the shuttle that deployed them is back aboard the CC?

Since they don't have a valid platform to RTB to, they will flag themselves for EVAC so you can either send down another shuttle or use the transporter to extract them.

[marshb63]

As always I'm impressed by the fact that the developer answers these posts.

Sorry but even after proofing my post I'm still to vague.

The transported troops wont SAD or SEAD I can only give them specific targets to attack before they will move or go FSP than give the escort command to get them moving (and fighting). Maybe

I'm reading to much into this and I'm cofusing myself.

As for the marines I try to get to RTB after the Shuttle returns to CC I do send the Shuttle back with command to extract ( i get the 5 min countdown to dust off) but the marins wont RTB. instead they get flagged with evac and hold (forever). No matter what I do I cant get them back on board the CC via whatever means of transport.

[marshb63]

"All NPC units have SAD by default - except that transported troops will SAD+HALT when deployed. Why? because then you won't have to chase after them after transporting them if you wanted them to do something else." - SC

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Thanks for the clarification, I was getting confused by the fact that shuttle troops don't halt automatically after deploying. However I can't get transported troops to continue there SAD order, when i hold the cursor over them I can see what order there supposed to be following but they just hold. Or, unlike the shuttle troops do they need to be micromanaged? ie given a specific target to attack, which I can still do.

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"Since they don't have a valid platform to RTB to, they will flag themselves for EVAC so you can either send down another shuttle or use the transporter to extract them." - SC

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Again I can't get them to RTB via shuttle or EVAC via transporter after the original shuttle has returned to the CC. Also I verified that I can get the troops into PLV but the TOM says "You can't give this marine orders". (This last also happens after the shuttle returns to CC, before this happens the PLV and TOM work normally.)

[Supreme Cmdr]

quote:

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Originally posted by marshb63:

The transported troops wont SAD or SEAD I can only give them specific targets to attack before they will move or go FSP than give the escort command to get them moving (and fighting). Maybe

I'm reading to much into this and I'm cofusing myself.

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Thats how it works. They await orders. You give them orders. They do it.

quote:

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As for the marines I try to get to RTB after the Shuttle returns to CC I do send the Shuttle back with command to extract ( i get the 5 min countdown to dust off) but the marins wont RTB. instead they get flagged with evac and hold (forever). No matter what I do I cant get them back on board the CC via whatever means of transport.

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It works. Please read the manual and the manual addendum PDF file. Extracting personnel is a no-brainer and I'm not going to waste time typing it all up again.

[marshb63]

I apologise if this thread seems very noob but I have played this series before (BCMG). I've have read the manuals, addendums, web posts.

Never had this prob before. My system is up to spec with latest drivers, directx, and patches (20000 + 20017)

I have a screenshot showing a marine with the evac symbol over him, a shuttle ready for dustoff in the background, and the tacops menu open to transporter showing the evac button yellowed out. The CC is not in Hyperspace, its planetside in the mzone with the marine.

I am a noob about posting on websites and writing in general (shoot I don't even write my Mom; thats what phones are for) so I know my messages are probably not specific enough.

Please be patient with me.

I dont know how to attach the screenie to this post but I can email it to you if you like.

Send me an email and I'll send back the screenshot.

Thank you for your patience.

[Spindoktor]

marsh,

The best answer to your questions will be answered from YOU playing the game. If you think you have found a bug, don't bother. The game is very mature and I don't think you can discover any mysteries the SC hasn't come across.

The game has many variables that we can't always explain. Chalk it up to realism. The game would be pretty boring if you could always predict how it (AI) reacts to various scenarios, right? Keep playing the game, it one day all make some sense you thats when you will know you are no longer a noob.

[marshb63]

Thanks for the reply spindoktor but I'm going to restate my case one more time and hopfully more succinctly before I declare defeat and go back to BCMG because I can assure you that this isn't a problem in that game.

Transported marines: When I click on a marine the orders menu pops up and this is what works and what dosn't work

GO TO - this command works

DEFEND - this command works

ESCORT - this command works

ATTACK - this command works

SAD - does not work; marine doesn't move.

SEAD - same thing

RTB - this command works

EVAC - this command works

(Thanks SC for clarifiying transported marines hold right after arrival for ease of selection but I still like how the marines off the shuttles immediatly hustle for the nearest bad guys. )

Marines Shuttled to the surfice: All of the above commands work provided that the shuttle that brought them to the surface is not allowed to return to the CC. However if the shuttle is allowed to return to the CC...

GO TO - this command works

DEFEND - this command works

ESCORT - this command works

ATTACK - this command works

SAD - stops working; marine stops moving

SEAD - stops working; marine stops moving

RTB even with the return of the original shuttle parked right next to the marine he will not embark

EVAC stops working (Evac button in TACOPS will stay red).

After rereading my previous posts I know I didn't articulate the problems very well and I apologise.

I agree with spindoktor that this most likely is not a bug but either a bad install (I've reinstalled severl times; no luck. Or a bad retail disk.) or there is an unknown problem with my machine/drivers.

As I've said before this is not the end of the world for me because I can always fall back on BCMG.

Thank you Spindoktor.

Supreme Commander I look forword to 2006 and BCG.

[Wolfheart]

quote:

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Originally posted by marshb63:

and the tacops menu open to transporter showing the evac button yellowed out. The CC is not in Hyperspace, its planetside in the mzone with the marine.

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You can only use the transporter in *space*.

I have no idea about other problems but marines not executing orders correctly is usually a sign of low ai level.

[scydiver]

quote:

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However if the shuttle is allowed to return to the CC...

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My one acted even more weird. After I leveled the base to the ground I sent the shuttle to pick up the ground team it came back emptyhanded and got destroyed already ON BOARD while i was setting new waypoints to give it another try - I don't know what the hell it extracted from there (or maybe Resnig got mad at it for not airlifting the team and lobbed a grenade inside ). Anyway, all the marines on the ground became listed in the TACTICAL - CREW as "dead" although they were very much alive and hopping around the ruins of the base. But I was able to recruit new ones at the station - not much of a loss afterall - the ones on the ground were pretty dumb on an AI training mission. They only survived because I was providing fire support (babysitting )with my PTAs hovering 12 km away and 10 000 ft AGL

I also noticed that in TACTICAL - CREW marines' assignment was stated as "EARTH" while their physical location was stated as "SHUTTLE1". Maybe that had something to do with the problem.