Wait...I need 9 Mercs of Lvl 15-25?!

[ConAir]

Okay, I just built my first own full station - welcome to the ConAir 964 permanent Astrox Imperium station (any chance to rename your self-built stations btw?) - totally awesome.

So, in order to actually have any use of the millions I put into building this permanent FULL station, I have to hire 9 Mercs for unlocking each of the 9 Station Services...okay, fine, gonna spend mo' money - but wait, requirement: Merc Lvl 15 to Lvl 25 for each 'role' to be filled?

The max. Merc Lvl I found for hire was Lvl 6 - how would I even begin to find 9(!) at Lvl 15 or train them through missions for filling those roles...or let's say 27(!) Mercs for 3 built FULL permanent Stations..

Spending time to level up 27 Mercs for 3 stations does not make sense - I need Employees for office jobs - not building a Blackwater mercenary legion. I'd even hire a headhunter for a fee to find them but hiring a Lvl 6 should be enough for an office job, imho.

Is there any way to solve these Merc 'minimum requirement' skill level? - what am I missing?

[Daering]

Originally posted by ConAir:

Okay, I just built my first own full station - welcome to the ConAir 964 permanent Astrox Imperium station (any chance to rename your self-built stations btw?) - totally awesome.

Rename your station:

First, make backup of your Pilot save from the main menu

1. Open Notepad++ (i just assume you have this or another good text redactor)
2. Hit Ctrl+H and go to [Find in FIles] tab
3. In Find what: enter the old name of the station you want to rename
4. In Replace with: enter the cool new name of your station
5. In Filters: make sure it shows *.txt
6. In Directory, browse to ...\Steam\steamapps\common\Astrox Imperium\Astrox Imperium_Data\MOD\saves
7. Hit [Replace in Files] button
8. Done

Add custom Station image to your own Station

1. Make some cool 512x256 .png image that you would like to see in your station instead of the current generic one.
2. Rename it cool_new_image.png, my_station_logo.png, .... whatever, just don't use empty space in the name.
3. Drop it inside the
.....\Astrox Imperium\Astrox Imperium_Data\MOD\stations\images folder
4. Go to
....\Astrox Imperium\Astrox Imperium_Data\MOD\saves\YOURPILOTNAME\stations
open your station.txt file (usually at the bottom of the list, with a slightly diffrent naming than other files, and change STATION;icon; line with the name of your cool_new_image.png
5. Done

[nobrien]

all of that info has been there for months long before it was up for sale if you dont bother reading any of it before you buy it then you are a fool and have no cause to complain about any of it .

[ConAir]

I am 'daering' to say, that has been very helpful and I'll try it out - Thank you!

Any idea about the '9 Merc Lvl 15-25' issue for a FULL Player-Owned-Station issue?

[ConAir]

Originally posted by nobrien:

all of that info has been there for months long before it was up for sale if you dont bother reading any of it before you buy it then you are a fool and have no cause to complain about any of it .

I beg your pardon?

[nobrien]

Originally posted by ConAir:

Originally posted by nobrien:

all of that info has been there for months long before it was up for sale if you dont bother reading any of it before you buy it then you are a fool and have no cause to complain about any of it .

I beg your pardon?

all the information about the player stations you asked is in the forum and dlc page before you buy it :}

[ConAir]

I had read about in the forum how to build a station and that Mercs are needed for the player-owned stations but I found nowhere the info that you cannot hire Mercs with the required skill level (15-25) anywhere - which makes for example building 3 FULL station nearly impossible as training / skilling up 27 Mercs is just not feasible - which in turn limits the game's potential.

With Daering's above post about editing certain items in the game save, like player-owned Station names, maybe there is a way to fix also the requirement level for Mercs for stations.

[Daering]

Originally posted by ConAir:

I am 'daering' to say, that has been very helpful and I'll try it out - Thank you!

Any idea about the '9 Merc Lvl 15-25' issue for a FULL Player-Owned-Station issue?

I wouldn't call it issue, maybe an inconvenience or not well fleshed out or completely balanced mechanic.

My main issue with the way you interact with the mercs lies somewhere else and i brought this up years and years ago and that is:

The skill to command certain number of Mercs counts toward all Mercs, both active and those that you have left inside a Station. If you have that Command skill maxed, you can't have more than 10 Mercs, no matter if they are active, flying with you, risking their lives or sitting inside the station, being completely useless.

And i suggested very simple solution - make the max count of that skill counts only towards all currently active Mercs. If the Player is willing to pay full salary for more than 10 Mercs, just keeping the extra Mercs inside a Station for that time he may need them - why not?

The Command Skill will still have its restrictions (toward balancing, for example, knowing that you can't have more than 10 active Mercs at a time) but the rest will be a matter of Players decision - will he be willing to pay extra credits for the convenience to have full squad of miners or fighters and ability to switch between them is there is a such need or just prepare the next batch of "office rats" for his next Station.

[Daering]

Originally posted by ConAir:

With Daering's above post about editing certain items in the game save, like player-owned Station names, maybe there is a way to fix also the requirement level for Mercs for stations.

Yes, there is

Go to
...\MOD\objects\
and make backup of
service_manager_database.txt
Then open that file (with notepad++, right :) )
and change the value related to:
5 LEVEL REQ

While you are there, you can inspect also the fee and the pay rate, if you feel they are unreasonable

[Daering]

I would agree that the level requirement is too high, that's why we have Merc level multiplier boosted in Sandbox setting by default up to 161% or something.

But i still thing this is not unreasonable requirement, if we approach this with some attention to details.
For example, in eXperiment mod i made that all low level/low tier Pilot/Ships gaining level at increase rate, almost double than the rate at which the best Ships/Pilot gain level. Ant this very problem you mentioned is one of the reasons for that , The problem is that you have to keep half of your best pilots while running around with low level pilots in order to boost them enough to use them for Station Personal instead of your Top Guns

Combining that with the suggestion to have max Mercs count only toward the active Mercs and the rest is a a matter of simple balance issue instead of problem with the system/mechanic itself

[ConAir]

@Daering:

I went into the 'saves' folder and then my playername's subfolder - in that one again is the 'stations' folder with apparently all stations and their specifics in the game. So, I had the epiphany to look at the very last station file of the 100+ files as I built my 1st player-owned station after I explored and visited all normal systems with their stations...lo and behold, I actually found my self-build station. In the sector_xxx_station_xxxx.txt file, line 24 all the station's service are listed - naturally, set to false.

If the limitation(s) around player-owned stations is 1: The amount of Mercs in total and 2: The Merc Skill Lvl (15-25) which doesn't make sense for an office job, maybe changing the value in the above mentioned .txt file is the workaround.

[Daering]

That service_manager_database.txt is a file that is located in main /MOD folder and making any changes there will affect all games, not just the current pilot. It is not game breaking and it may be obvious for someone, but i just thought i had to mention this if anyone is not aware.

So.. if you feel like you need to make changes there - go for it. It will affect all of your saves.

About editing the station Services right away from False to True - if i personally have to do it, i would prefer to do it in a more subtle way just to stay on the safe side. I would just drop the level req to 1, hire bunch of cheap low level Mercs and assign them via Station interface, in order for all log entries to take place. When i will revert the level req. changes back to normal a more reasonable level. :) That would be my preferred way.

[nobrien]

all conair posts seem to point to the way he wants to play any game he has the way he wants to play them regardless of any other players who dont agree ,

if he can read any of the information about what games are about or what you can or not do in them he dont seem to care and just calls them buggy cause they wont change anything to suit him .}

[Daering]

Originally posted by nobrien:

all conair posts seem to point to the way he wants to play any game he has the way he wants to play them regardless of any other players who dont agree ,

Isn't that the way we all play our single player games, including you? We all play them the way we like them - some abide by the rules, some prefer more leisure way. Again - including you. This is the way!

Originally posted by nobrien:

if he can read any of the information about what games are about or what you can or not do in them he dont seem to care and just calls them buggy cause they wont change anything to suit him .}

Well, that's the reason i decided to answer you - this is where you got it wrong. At no point he refer this as "buggy" game - not in a direct way anyway. And i can't get that impression even if i drop my level of "forum awareness" to zero. Otherwise i would be the one to confront him first, not helping him in a series of post.

*edit - I am not defending him, btw, I was just amazed how you manage to find a way to drop this bomb in a otherwise a very friendly and helpful conversation

[ConAir]

@Daering:

I have no idea with what foot nobrien got up today but it had to be the wrong one.

I fell in love with AI the moment I started it a bit over a week ago and it's probably one of the best EA games I played in a long time - and nowhere I said anything about a buggy game.
A bug was the malfuctioning bookmark system that came with 146 and which momo is adressing, for example.

Having a galaxy with 10 or more FULL player-owned POS would be well possible and it is just being limited by the Mercs skill level - which is an existing limitation (albeit an arbitrary one).

Anyway, I thank you for your continued replies and exchange of thoughts around the game.

[ConAir]

Originally posted by Daering:

That service_manager_database.txt is a file that is located in main /MOD folder and making any changes there will affect all games, not just the current pilot. It is not game breaking and it may be obvious for someone, but i just thought i had to mention this if anyone is not aware.

So.. if you feel like you need to make changes there - go for it. It will affect all of your saves.

About editing the station Services right away from False to True - if i personally have to do it, i would prefer to do it in a more subtle way just to stay on the safe side. I would just drop the level req to 1, hire bunch of cheap low level Mercs and assign them via Station interface, in order for all log entries to take place. When i will revert the level req. changes back to normal a more reasonable level. :) That would be my preferred way.

Interestingly, that was my 1st thought as well :-) - I wanted to drop all Merc requirements for station desk job to Lvl6 - but I did not know where to look for it. Ultimately, the change to Lvl 6 would not even need to be 'universal' for all stations but only for the ones I built myself.

But I understand now that your approach to set it 'universal' is the more 'elegant' way to make the change. Would that also be found/done in the service_manager_database.txt file?