Pod auto-piloted to EWS probe

apathos · Post by **apathos** » Sat Sep 23, 2006 5:12 am

. . . and 3 or four of us were podded. I switched to F3 to see where I was going, and I noticed after a few seconds that all 3 or 4 of us were stopped. I noticed my a-p was still on, but I was not moving. Waited to make sure. Moved my view to the side to make sure I was not moving on z-axis, confirmed. I then noticed what I had auto-targeted upon being podded (and I believe the others did, too) was a regular EWS probe from our team.

We were Technoflux, they were BIOS. It was NOT a beacon probe. I checked twice. (this all took just a few seconds) About that time I noticed the other pods move off somewhere else. All of us had been sitting completely still, 5 to 10 seconds off the auto-pilot from being podded.

If it had been just me, I would have assumed I just did something to target the probe. But there were 3 or 4 of us sitting within just a few meters of this EWS probe, having auto-piloted there, and not moving.

Is this an old bug? New bug? Not a bug? If I just saw it wrong, then ok. But I double and triple checked all these things. I am confident of what I saw, but I have no way to prove it. I can't remember who was there with me. I think Factoid was one, but I'm not sure of that part at all.

Somebody tell me I'm not crazy! I mean, more crazy than I already know about!

Post by **FreeBeer** » Sat Sep 23, 2006 5:15 am

Had something similar to me tonight, too. Was podded, AP was on to go to base, as per usual. No movement. It took me a few seconds to realise I wasn't going anywhere. Had to hit P to turn off AP, then BP to re-affirm autopilot again.

jess_i_74 · Post by **jess_i_74** » Sat Sep 23, 2006 5:17 am

AP will occasionally pilot you to a probe if you hit b - p and then the beacon/sanctuary it was piloting you to is destroyed.

Maybe this doesn't apply, but I've had it happen to me before.

jgbaxter · Post by **jgbaxter** » Sat Sep 23, 2006 5:50 am

I think this usually happens, if your sanc/rp is destroyed you target a probe.

Post by **pkk** » Sat Sep 23, 2006 8:16 am

jgbaxter wrote:QUOTE (jgbaxter @ Sep 23 2006, 07:50 AM) I think this usually happens, if your sanc/rp is destroyed you target a probe.

That's a very old "bug", looks like almost nobody did notice that. /wink.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid=";)" border="0" alt="wink.gif" />

apathos · Post by **apathos** » Sat Sep 23, 2006 11:58 am

Can this be fixed? Is it worth fixing? Should I post this somewhere to get it put on a list? I know I'm relatively new, but in a year's time I've never heard of this.

Thanks for the fast answers though. At least I can have a small bit of peace-of-mind.

Da_Muck · Post by **Da_Muck** » Sat Sep 23, 2006 7:30 pm

Yup, thats what would have happened, I've had it happen to me more than once, except I was paying attention and saw it happen.

Terralthra · Post by **Terralthra** » Sun Sep 24, 2006 12:34 am

apathos wrote:QUOTE (apathos @ Sep 23 2006, 09:58 PM) Can this be fixed? Is it worth fixing? Should I post this somewhere to get it put on a list? I know I'm relatively new, but in a year's time I've never heard of this.

Thanks for the fast answers though. At least I can have a small bit of peace-of-mind.

I'm not going to post the relevent code here, but it has to do with the heuristic targeting model. If the currently targetted entity dies, be it utility, fighter, base, or asteroid, the targeter will select as the next target the closest target of the same "class": utl, roid, probe, piloted craft, base, etc. Only if there are no entities of the appropriate class does it target something of a different class, according to certain rules. Accordingly, when autopiloting to a Sanctuary/Rescue Probe/Beacon (class: probe) and it dies, your targeter switches to the next closest probe.

"Fixing" this is....

Complicated..

NightRychune · Post by **NightRychune** » Sun Sep 24, 2006 2:26 am

If it ain't broke, don't fix it. Learn to pay attention.

apathos · Post by **apathos** » Sun Sep 24, 2006 2:37 am

Terralthra wrote:QUOTE (Terralthra @ Sep 23 2006, 08:34 PM) I'm not going to post the relevent code here, but it has to do with the heuristic targeting model. If the currently targetted entity dies, be it utility, fighter, base, or asteroid, the targeter will select as the next target the closest target of the same "class": utl, roid, probe, piloted craft, base, etc. Only if there are no entities of the appropriate class does it target something of a different class, according to certain rules. Accordingly, when autopiloting to a Sanctuary/Rescue Probe/Beacon (class: probe) and it dies, your targeter switches to the next closest probe.

"Fixing" this is....

Complicated..

No problem. At least now I know its cause/remedy, and it makes sense. Thank you all for the help.