bikertaz Posted February 3, 2005 Report Share Posted February 3, 2005 I know this topic has been visited in previous posts, but I was not sure if it had been completely resolved. - Mining drone deployed on Earth (somewhere up in Siberia). - Shuttle RTB's and CC leaves Earth space to patrol Alpha Centauri region. - Return to Earth, I zoom in to region where mining drone was deployed, try to zoom to "Support Crafts" and no drone appears in the list. - Knowing it should be there, I tried deploying a shuttle anyway to retrieve it. Says it can't find it. - Go to Tactical->Loadout->SC2->Drone2, and it says that it's current location is on Earth and it is 100% full. I assume this is a case where the drone ran through the surface mesh and is now inverted somewhere in the region. Is there a way to either retrieve it or destroy it so that I can buy another? Or am I just SOL for what I assume was deploying on bad terrain? I have game saves available. I also apologize for my somewhat empty system profile. I plan to remedy that tonight. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bikertaz Posted February 3, 2005 Author Report Share Posted February 3, 2005 Oh, forgot to mention. I am running v2.00.19 patched version. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Supreme Cmdr Posted February 3, 2005 Report Share Posted February 3, 2005 Thats not the current version now is it? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bikertaz Posted February 5, 2005 Author Report Share Posted February 5, 2005 OK. I updated to v2.00.20 and still have the same problem. I hadn't updated previously because the VCF did not indicate that it addressed this topic between RC19 and RC20, and since I have dialup at home, I put off the update. Aside from that, am I stuck with a missing drone? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Charles Lindsey Posted February 5, 2005 Report Share Posted February 5, 2005 You could try going to tacops, click Earth, Observe, zoom down a couple levels (I would suggest clicking a base or city region so you can get a feel for the zoom level), right click the mouse and hold, tilt the map, then pan around to see if you can locate the TTD of the drone. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
scydiver Posted February 5, 2005 Report Share Posted February 5, 2005 You could try to fly into the area with your AE as a pilot and "manually" locate it by switching between targets, but, due to the radar limitations, that may not work, especially, if the drone was there for too long and might have wondered outside the mission zone. Also, in TACOPS try to zoom in slightly above the ground level then pan the camera parallel to the surface, point it, for example, north and start playing with different filter options, when done point it NE then E and so on around the clock. It looks like you've got yourself a real SAR mission. By the time you're done with all the options the drone will wear itself out and eventually self-destruct so you could buy a new one. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Supreme Cmdr Posted February 5, 2005 Report Share Posted February 5, 2005 quote:Originally posted by bikertaz: OK. I updated to v2.00.20 and still have the same problem. I hadn't updated previously because the VCF did not indicate that it addressed this topic between RC19 and RC20, and since I have dialup at home, I put off the update. Aside from that, am I stuck with a missing drone? If its not a bug or hasn't been fixed, it won't appear in the VCF. Just because you write it up, doesn't make it a bug until it can be 100% reproduced. Drones don't get lost. They are either destroyed or out of range. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marvin Posted February 5, 2005 Report Share Posted February 5, 2005 As long as you know which planet it's on, there are two ways to retrieve a "lost" mining drone: 1. Go down to the planet yourself, in an empty shuttle. Land anywhere. Select the option to retrieve the appropriate drone. 2. Put a pilot in an empty shuttle. Set two waypoints for anywhere on the planet. Orders for the first waypoint should be to continue on to the second waypoint. Orders for the second waypoint should be to retrieve the appropriate drone. Using either of those methods, you can attempt to retrieve the drone without ever actually targeting it. If they don't work, you're pretty much out of luck. You're probably on the wrong planet. If not, nuke the planet out of existence and see if it destroys the drone at the same time. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Severian Posted February 5, 2005 Report Share Posted February 5, 2005 bikertaz... I just had the same problem. I've had them wander out of range before and you just do what Chavik and Skydive give as solutions. In my case this time, I go to the planet view > zoom > support units... and it only shows 3 drones (knowing *&^% well I put 4 here). Next I check Tactical computer > Loadout > SC > 1 > drone > select drone 1 from pulldown... it shows DEPLOYED, 100%, MOON-02-FULL. I have tried twice to retrieve mdrone1 to no avail. Even if I try to extract with myself as pilot of shuttle, when I select DRONE > EXTRACT... it only shows DRN-2, DRN-3, DRN-4 (and again, according to TAC COMPUTER, the drone is on Moon-02.) and before you get defensive SC... We're not saying it is faulty programming -- glitches happen once in a while. We're just looking for possible solutions to retrieve, destroy/replace the $$#@% thing. quote:By the time you're done with all the options the drone will wear itself out and eventually self-destructHow long does it take before it self-destructs? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Severian Posted February 5, 2005 Report Share Posted February 5, 2005 Tried to edit, but I took too long... This precise problem was posted HERE ... but have not run accross a way to fix it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Supreme Cmdr Posted February 6, 2005 Report Share Posted February 6, 2005 quote:Originally posted by Severian: and before you get defensive SC... We're not saying it is faulty programming -- glitches happen once in a while. We're just looking for possible solutions to retrieve, destroy/replace the $$#@% thing. You really do think I care about whether or not you think I'm being defensive? You're kidding me, right? Here's the deal, if its a bug and can be reproduced by one of my guys - or myself - then we'll look into it. Considering that n00bs to the game have NO clue what they're doing for the first, oh, six months, I don't usually pay attention to the call of the wolf because its been proven time and time again around here, thats its a bloody waste of time. If you're on the SAME planet or moon as the drone - AND you are within range of it, you will be able to extract it. Its THAT simple. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bikertaz Posted February 6, 2005 Author Report Share Posted February 6, 2005 Note that nowhere in my previous posts did I suggest this is a bug. I knew about the previous issues with drones from other posts so I wanted to bring the topic under discussion to try to find out if it was my experience level or a game issue. Thanks for the suggestions. I'll give those a try. By the way, is there somewhere that indicates how close you need to be to a drone to find it? By the way, I did try several times to land a shuttle and extract the drone without targeting it. My shuttle pilot just tells me the drone isn't there. And while I am a n00b at UC, I did play BC3K quite a bit several years ago. I feel I do know my way around the game reasonably well since the general scheme of things hasn't changed. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bikertaz Posted February 6, 2005 Author Report Share Posted February 6, 2005 OK, I tried out the suggestions posted above with no luck. I zoomed TACOPS down near the surface and panned 360 degrees while looking at the horizon. All I ever see are 2 bases, one TER/MIL and the other TER/INS (perhaps I'm not at the correct zoom level). I tried manually piloting a shuttle down with the same result. I even droned around for quite a while looking to see if I could find it. It still shows up in TACTICAL as deployed and on Earth. Guess I'm out of luck. I was looking for a reason to re-start anyway, so I'll take the easy way out and bail. Thanks for the help guys. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Supreme Cmdr Posted February 6, 2005 Report Share Posted February 6, 2005 Fine. Send the saved game files to [email protected] If its not a bug, well, you'll see. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bikertaz Posted February 7, 2005 Author Report Share Posted February 7, 2005 OK, I'll try to send them tonight after I get home from work. One thought that occurred to me: it seems like most of the people that have had this happen were deploying multiple mining drones in one region. I had 2 deployed, and was able to extract 1. Not sure if that might have something to do with it. I'm prepared to face the wrath of the SC if I did do something stupid. I appreciate you taking time to address this though. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Supreme Cmdr Posted February 7, 2005 Report Share Posted February 7, 2005 Just make sure that when you send the file, you send in a 100% accurate description of the problem, where you THINK the drones are (planet, moon etc) or the email will be deleted. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Viking_II Posted March 4, 2005 Report Share Posted March 4, 2005 I have also lost a drone. I accept that I MUST be in range to pick it up and I have/am continuing to try the 2 methods mentioned above to locate the drone. SAR while I go. My question is this.. How long before the drone self-destructs? Any help would be greatly appreciated. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Supreme Cmdr Posted March 4, 2005 Report Share Posted March 4, 2005 If the drone is not in the 3D world, then it has been destroyed due to terrain damage. The Tactical computer is just not updating the state to destroyed and I was actually looking into that today. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Viking_II Posted March 4, 2005 Report Share Posted March 4, 2005 Thanks, I'll be on the lookout for the next patch and just be patient. I have 3 that still work and I keep them on priority list just to be sure I don't "misplace" them. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
6case Posted March 25, 2005 Report Share Posted March 25, 2005 n00b, and first time posting. I'm up to 2 MIA mining drones. They were on the priority list and after recovering next drone, poof, they were gone. I tried the above methods for finding the first missing drone, but no joy. I don't mind buying new drones, but I can't load them till the others go away. Right now there are 2 big fat drones at 100% just waiting for an extract. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Supreme Cmdr Posted March 25, 2005 Report Share Posted March 25, 2005 quote:Originally posted by 6case: n00b, and first time posting. I'm up to 2 MIA mining drones. Then you're not running the latest version. And if you are, you are using a previous game in which they were already lost. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
6case Posted March 26, 2005 Report Share Posted March 26, 2005 No, and no. UC n00b, but not at gaming. After installation I immediately updated using the two patches supplied by the 3000AD website. I have V2.00.27 installed, and I ran through the tutorial. The I started in ROAM to get a feel for the different space craft, and get some cash mining. My SOP is extract DRN X, unload DRN X, deploy DRN X, target DRN X, and make DRN X priority. Following next DRN targeting the previous drone was already missing. Additionally, I am up to three missing drones. At that point I ended that character, but I have the saved game for the 2 missing drones on Moon-Deimos. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Supreme Cmdr Posted March 26, 2005 Report Share Posted March 26, 2005 Drones don't go missing. They get destroyed, just like regular units. If you have the saved game, send it to [email protected] (be 100% CERTAIN to send in the correct files; there is an entire topic about how to do this) and let me take a look see. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
6case Posted March 26, 2005 Report Share Posted March 26, 2005 I have sent the requested files. I appreciate the fact that the president answers the posts. Thanks. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Supreme Cmdr Posted March 27, 2005 Report Share Posted March 27, 2005 I didn't receive any files; so I have no clue where you sent them. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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