Hey all, I remember times when I'd follow a damaged Patrol Vessel back to its base and it'd repair. Good game mechanic that. It meant however, that when I went for the planet's PV, I'd be there to kill it and take it's bits. In a recent game start - Reforged Eden - I started on a small island inside Zerax territory, next to a significant shielded POI and several little defence POI's. If that wasn't yikes enough, there was also a Patrol Vessel circling. Anyway, I've been surviving, barely, and got to the point where I had some Turrets up, primarily to defend against regular base attacks - if you can call three troop transports and three heavy drones "regular" lol - but then of course the PV shows up. The three basic Minigun turrets were set to just target Turrets on CV and that's what they did, eventually taking out any turrets that could actually shoot me. It wasn't easy, I lost a turret despite being there repairing them as they took fire - only a T1 Multi-Tool though, so I was out-DPS'd. So, success! PV is effectively neutered, but is still seemingly doing its regular patrol. For a number of hours now, it's flown around toothless, unable to do any damage. I could likely build a light SV up to the task of taking it out right now. However, I had sorta expected it to go get repairs, so they not do that any more? Thought: I know playfield seeds can be fickle things, perhaps no PV base spawned on this playfield? I cannot confirm nor deny that currently - large planet, lots left to explore and my best vessel is a barely adequate HV lol. Has anyone recently experienced a planetary Patrol Vessel head back to base for repairs?
Well, I don't know how things work with large mods but, in the vanilla game, I did notice that there's two ways of spawning PVs now. One is the usual planet vessel base setup where the PV is linked to a specific PV base, the other way simply spawns PVs on their own. As far as I can tell, major factions (maybe only Zirax) still use the method with a PV linked to a PV base. All other factions use the method where PVs spawn individually without a PV base, since most factions do not have PV base blueprints of their own. Maybe the scenario/mod you're playing uses the individual PV spawn method for Zirax as well? If there's no PV base on the planet, then its likely that it uses the individual spawn method. I use the PV base method for my custom scenario but, I haven't done enough testing yet to confirm if PVs still return to base for repairs. I will make some observations and report back if you haven't found an answer yet.
In prior RE games, the PV base has been present. I've not found it yet in this fresh start, but the starting planet is large. It's also very densely populated by the Zerax as well as Talon and Polaris. Of course, if the PV base happens not to be present in my particular instance - unexpected - that would explain things. However, it would be nice to hear if anyone does see a PV going for repairs. To be honest though, if that PV was going off for repairs every time I stripped its weapons, it'd be a lot more challenging. My two bases - I needed to build one just for defence as I ran out of CPU with no way to build an extender - are pushed by the regular Base assaults currently, so a CV taking pot-shots would be a bit much lol.
I'll do some test runs later this evening, PVs that go back for repairs is something I want in my scenario so I have to check if it still works that way. I like filling my playfields with PVs, they're terrifyingly fun to deal with. And the fact that they go back to base for repairs is a good mechanic indeed.
Thanks, I'd appreciate you checking. I like the extra danger they offer, got bucket loads of that this time with my spawn in point being where it was lol.
They still head back to base for repairs, although it didn't return to base when I followed it at a distance. I tossed a few more missiles at it and left, then got the "AI vessel regenerating" message a few minutes later. Looked at the map and saw it was at its base, went to check and there it was patched up to full spec again. Damaged PVs seem to immediately RTB for repairs if you move out of render distance but may just dawdle around if you don't. Depends on the damage done, I suppose.
Thanks for testing. Perhaps this planet's seed is indeed missing the required PV base then. I've looked, but I've not found it. Also, I wonder if there's any particular threshold of damage that triggered the "return for repairs" logic? I've stripped most of the turrets and dented a few blocks, which I'd have thought would be enough, but perhaps damage to Engines or other systems is needed too? It's the Ocean planet start, proving really rather challenging mostly due to RNG. I mean, I spawned in, just off the shore of a medium-sized island. However, that island, and much of the surrounding waters, are Zerax territory and there are several POI's present. A base built here - underground mostly - triggers a "level 2" base attack, which is actually hard to fend off. I need to move locations so I can work on a CV in peace. I've already tagged various wrecks that have much of what I need, it's just the logistics of transporting it all that's tiresome.
Planets that spawn standalone PVs without a base is not uncommon in the game so it could be one of them. It would probably still respawn if you destroy it, they do in vanilla. If there is a PV base hiding somewhere on the planet, then there should be a "PlanetVesselBaseSetup" in the playfield.yaml. Could be differently named in RE though. I also just shot off the turrets and observed it, could be that those last few missiles I fired at it was enough to pass the damage threshold. They did take out some components judging by the explosions.
I suspect you're right and there's no PV Base present, hence the behaviour I'm seeing. Once I'm a bit more established, I'll see if I can make it retreat and follow it. If not, it's just loot As I'm only using Minigun turrets, they don't have AoE, so little chance of doing "Bonus" damage so to speak.
Minigun turrets are underrated. They may be very 20th century but, ammo is cheap to produce by the bucketloads (with only magnesium sometimes not available on the starting world) and they're still the best anti-infantry solution. And they don't mess up the landscape like their bigger brothers do either. They're the pencil among all the space pens... They don't. But PVs that are linked to a base use the base for repairs, which is a nice feature to have. It makes enemies and threats more dynamic.
Minigun ammo, at least in Reforged Eden, just needs Steel Plate (Iron), Copper Ingots and Nitrocellulose (wood) - I didn't think Magnesium had been used in the vanilla recipe for ages now.
Yeah, sorry, in vanilla you actually only need steel plate and nitrocellulose, its the extra flak turret I usually put on my smaller bases that need the magnesium.
