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About this mod
Create civilian fleets to help manage traders and miners. Now extends from Mimic/Assist to function. Obsolete for game version v7.00+ with caveats; please see description.
- Requirements
- Permissions and credits
- Mirrors
- Changelogs
- Donations
Civilian Fleets
Managing your civilian ships has never been easier.
What are "Civilian Fleets"?
"Civilian Fleets" are fleets that are formed to fulfill civilian objectives, as opposed to the vanilla fleets (previously "wings"), where they fulfill military objectives and actually do battle. They are a good way of managing your trading and mining ships by grouping ships together in your GUI.
With the introduction of "fleet groups" in X4 v3.0 and the very handy introduction of "Mimic" assignment in X4 4.0, the term "Civilian Fleets" has entered mainstream usage. Here in this mod, it refers to civilian ships working together under the same civilian commander with the "Mimic/Assist" assignment. This mod detects such assignment and simply applies more persistent assignment to those civilian subordinates.
The introduction of Mimic/Assist in X4 4.0 is welcome, and this mod will rest upon that feature till the end of days.
Why use Civilian Fleets (Mimicry Extension)? Why not just Mimic?
It is simple. If you use this mod to set up civilian fleets, then even when your fleet leader dies, your other civilian ships can still operate with their own copy of the original order ("deep copy"). If you simply use the vanilla Mimic, then you should notice that when the fleet leader dies, fleet subordinates are left with no one to copy from ("shallow copy"), and so everybody just stops.
What Civilian Fleets are Available?
There are a number of civilian fleets available, but I like to categorize them into a few logical groups. Note that everything is already included in the same main file, no need to download anything extra (except the other mods of course).
The Core Group
All the things related to vanilla X4: Foundations.
The Core+ Group
All the things related to a slightly-modified X4: Foundations.
The TaterTrade Group
The alternative traders from the revived TaterTrade project .
The Mules Group
The once-again-revived Mules from the Mules Supply and Warehouses Extended mod, now happily receives one extra Mule member. Their Mx numbering is omitted for simplicity.
Newly-formed civilian fleets will be named in the format of "Civilian XX YY @ ZZ", where "XX" represents a number, "YY" represents the fleet type as described above, and "@ ZZ" represents the name of the anchor space (can be a space station or a sector-hexagon) of the civilian fleet leader, if the space exists. Note that the "@ ZZ" part can be hidden in the Extension Options menu by the trusty SirNukes' Mod Support APIs.
Fleet names are automatically updated to reflect their current fleet order. This can be useful when e.g. you decide to convert your AutoTrade fleet into e.g. TaterTrade fleet. The fleet name will be updated eventually.
You have the option to disable fleet auto-renaming. Configure this by going to the Extension Options created by SirNukes Mod Support API mod.
Fleet numbers (the XX in the above-mentioned name format) are remembered and maintained. A new mechanism is implemented such that each member of the civilian fleet remembers which fleet they belong to. Once a ship is assigned to e.g. Civilian Fleet 6, they will remember their CF6 status and use that to maintain the name of Civilian Fleet 6 when the previous CF6 commander is lost, until they themselves are reassigned. This eliminates the previous hassle where old civilian fleets who just lost their leader would be considered as a new fleet and got a new fleet number out of the blue. This does NOT relate to or affect the usual order syncing.
What Civilian Fleets are NOT Available?
Everything listed here will never be inside this mod (unless things changed so drastically), because others have made effort to mimic what this mod does. Let's try not to reinvent the wheel.
The Other Exploration Group
There is an underlying non-trivial organization behind the exploration fleets of AnotherExplorerV2, so I rather not mess with them.
The Random Group
A group of three related mods banded together, they offer quick trading/mining solutions.
The Reactive Group
Local security forces from the Reaction Forces mod.
And possibly several others
It seems there are more and more mods that adds custom default behaviors. We can't really track them all now, so let's just say, if they are not in this list, they are probably unsupported. Still, read their descriptions to be sure.
How to Form Civilian Fleets?
It's simple and intuitive. With Update v4.0 available, it is even much more simple and even more intuitive.
Note: non-Civ-Fleet Mimic is not affected, through they may have the side effect of getting frequent updates of their parameters, which should be good in most cases.
Newly-assigned ships utilize the vanilla "Mimic" assignment, but receives corresponding default orders copied from their commanders instead. This should make the entire fleet still function even when the commander suddenly dies.
You can also nest civilian fleets too, i.e., assign trader B to trader A, and then assign trader C to trader B, so in the end, you will have something like A -> B -> C hierarchy. But unless you really need it, you should assign everybody to be under the same leader to reduce redundancy and management pain.
With Update v3.0, you can also assign Traders to belong to different fleet groups too, like you can have an Alpha Trade Group, a Beta Trade Group, and a Kappa Trade Group. Perhaps you may want to organize your civilian fleet members by e.g. ship types. But then, ultimately, since they are all taking commands from the same commander and therefore have the same civilian command, this may be less ideal than having everyone under the same group.
Can I Change the Details of the Civilian Fleets?
Sure! Members of a civilian fleet regularly synchronizes their default behaviors with their leader.
Behavior sync occurs when a Civ-Fleet member begins executing their docking script (the "init" part).
Order sync will also trigger fleet auto-renaming; this is explained above, and can be disabled.
Can I Remove This Mod Safely?
Yes! But notice the following:
Can I View the Source Code?
Sure. I always want to open source my stuff, so to reduce the risk of me losing the files. They are available here: https://github.com/Vectorial1024/v1024_civilian_fleets
Oh No! The Mod Won't Load!
When in doubt, disable, remove and reinstall.
Previously this mod should have been installed at the game's /extension folder but not the user documents' /extension folder due to it being a UI mod, but with this mod now relying on X4 4.0 Mimic, the UI part is gone, so perhaps there is no difference in where the mod is installed.
A separate, older version of this mod is available for users who are still using Update v2.6 of X4. Check the Files tab fore more details.
Thanks to EgoSoft Forums user Nyito for helping out with the debugging in Win7, there are no longer any problems when using this mod in an Win7 environment.
Important Note on X4 v4.0 transition: I have re-enabled the legacy assignment buttons as a way of transitioning your older CivFleet fleets to the latest Mimicry Extension fleets. Just assign a new ship to the fleet in question using the "Trade for/Mine for" buttons, and the assignment group will be updated to use Mimic. (Of course, the other way of setting the fleet group to Mimic also works.)
The Trusty Fallback Mode...?
No more fallback mode! It all started when Right Click API breaking after every game update was still a thing, but with this mod now relying on X4 v4.0 and with Mimic assignment available to all ships, the criteria to trigger the Fallback Mode has become impossible. As such the entire Fallback Mode has been disabled and removed from the mod.
Concluding Notes
I would like to thank some people in my journey in making this mod. Further details are at the Credits section above.
And, that's all. May fortune favor you!
TaterTrade fleet: uses TaterTrade default behavior ("TaterTrade" AI-script)
Managing your civilian ships has never been easier.
- An update to the currently-broken mod Mining Trading Fleet
- Steam release available in case you need it; check the Mirrors section above.
- Since v2.00: requires SirNukes Mod Support API
- Since v3.00: no longer requires Right Click API!
- Since v5.00: now extends vanilla Mimic feature! We have come a long way.
- Since X4 v7.00: mod obsolete due to vanilla X4 7.00 Mimic improvements; for more info and what to do next, please read the Closing Thoughts file
What are "Civilian Fleets"?
"Civilian Fleets" are fleets that are formed to fulfill civilian objectives, as opposed to the vanilla fleets (previously "wings"), where they fulfill military objectives and actually do battle. They are a good way of managing your trading and mining ships by grouping ships together in your GUI.
With the introduction of "fleet groups" in X4 v3.0 and the very handy introduction of "Mimic" assignment in X4 4.0, the term "Civilian Fleets" has entered mainstream usage. Here in this mod, it refers to civilian ships working together under the same civilian commander with the "Mimic/Assist" assignment. This mod detects such assignment and simply applies more persistent assignment to those civilian subordinates.
The introduction of Mimic/Assist in X4 4.0 is welcome, and this mod will rest upon that feature till the end of days.
Why use Civilian Fleets (Mimicry Extension)? Why not just Mimic?
It is simple. If you use this mod to set up civilian fleets, then even when your fleet leader dies, your other civilian ships can still operate with their own copy of the original order ("deep copy"). If you simply use the vanilla Mimic, then you should notice that when the fleet leader dies, fleet subordinates are left with no one to copy from ("shallow copy"), and so everybody just stops.
What Civilian Fleets are Available?
There are a number of civilian fleets available, but I like to categorize them into a few logical groups. Note that everything is already included in the same main file, no need to download anything extra (except the other mods of course).
The Core Group
All the things related to vanilla X4: Foundations.
- Trading fleet: uses AutoTrade default behavior, but (since X4 v5.00) recognizes Local AutoTrade, etc. ("TradeRoutine" AI-script)
- Mining fleet: uses AutoMine default behavior, but recognizes Sector AutoMine, etc. ("MiningRoutine" AI-script)
- Distribution fleet: uses Distribute Wares/Fill Storage default behavior ("Middleman" AI-script)
- Salvager Fleet: uses AutoSalvage default behavior (new since X4 v5.00, since mod v6.00; "SalvageRoutine" AI-script)
The Core+ Group
All the things related to a slightly-modified X4: Foundations.
- Mining fleet: also recognizes Sanity Sector Miner default behavior (make sure you also get their compatibility patch from their side too!)
The TaterTrade Group
The alternative traders from the revived TaterTrade project .
- TaterTrade fleet: uses TaterTrade default behavior ("TaterTrade" AI-script)
- DeadTater fleet: uses DeadTater default behavior ("DeadTater" AI-script)
The Mules Group
The once-again-revived Mules from the Mules Supply and Warehouses Extended mod, now happily receives one extra Mule member. Their Mx numbering is omitted for simplicity.
- Station Mule fleet: uses StationMule default behavior ("StationMule" AI-script)
- Distribution Mule fleet: uses DistriMule default behavior ("DistriMule" AI-script)
- Travel Mule fleet: uses TravelMule default behavior ("TravelMule" AI-script)
- Supply Mule fleet: uses SupplyMule default behavior ("SupplyMule" AI-script)
Newly-formed civilian fleets will be named in the format of "Civilian XX YY @ ZZ", where "XX" represents a number, "YY" represents the fleet type as described above, and "@ ZZ" represents the name of the anchor space (can be a space station or a sector-hexagon) of the civilian fleet leader, if the space exists. Note that the "@ ZZ" part can be hidden in the Extension Options menu by the trusty SirNukes' Mod Support APIs.
Fleet names are automatically updated to reflect their current fleet order. This can be useful when e.g. you decide to convert your AutoTrade fleet into e.g. TaterTrade fleet. The fleet name will be updated eventually.
You have the option to disable fleet auto-renaming. Configure this by going to the Extension Options created by SirNukes Mod Support API mod.
Fleet numbers (the XX in the above-mentioned name format) are remembered and maintained. A new mechanism is implemented such that each member of the civilian fleet remembers which fleet they belong to. Once a ship is assigned to e.g. Civilian Fleet 6, they will remember their CF6 status and use that to maintain the name of Civilian Fleet 6 when the previous CF6 commander is lost, until they themselves are reassigned. This eliminates the previous hassle where old civilian fleets who just lost their leader would be considered as a new fleet and got a new fleet number out of the blue. This does NOT relate to or affect the usual order syncing.
What Civilian Fleets are NOT Available?
Everything listed here will never be inside this mod (unless things changed so drastically), because others have made effort to mimic what this mod does. Let's try not to reinvent the wheel.
The Other Exploration Group
There is an underlying non-trivial organization behind the exploration fleets of AnotherExplorerV2, so I rather not mess with them.
- AnotherExplorerV2 fleet
- AnotherExplorerV3 fleet (it seems they have updated their mod to be V3, but still we will not touch them)
The Random Group
A group of three related mods banded together, they offer quick trading/mining solutions.
- Random Trading fleet (from RandomTrade)
- Random Mining fleet (from RandomMine)
- Random Supply fleet (from RandomSupply)
The Reactive Group
Local security forces from the Reaction Forces mod.
- Reactive fleet
And possibly several others
It seems there are more and more mods that adds custom default behaviors. We can't really track them all now, so let's just say, if they are not in this list, they are probably unsupported. Still, read their descriptions to be sure.
How to Form Civilian Fleets?
It's simple and intuitive. With Update v4.0 available, it is even much more simple and even more intuitive.
- Set and confirm the default behavior of the fleet leader; the default behavior of the fleet leader will be applied to other members of the civilian fleet
- Select and assign your other ships as "Mimic" role (refer to the attached pic above)
- Setup complete
- Forget about the fleet
- ???
- Profit.
Note: non-Civ-Fleet Mimic is not affected, through they may have the side effect of getting frequent updates of their parameters, which should be good in most cases.
Newly-assigned ships utilize the vanilla "Mimic" assignment, but receives corresponding default orders copied from their commanders instead. This should make the entire fleet still function even when the commander suddenly dies.
You can also nest civilian fleets too, i.e., assign trader B to trader A, and then assign trader C to trader B, so in the end, you will have something like A -> B -> C hierarchy. But unless you really need it, you should assign everybody to be under the same leader to reduce redundancy and management pain.
With Update v3.0, you can also assign Traders to belong to different fleet groups too, like you can have an Alpha Trade Group, a Beta Trade Group, and a Kappa Trade Group. Perhaps you may want to organize your civilian fleet members by e.g. ship types. But then, ultimately, since they are all taking commands from the same commander and therefore have the same civilian command, this may be less ideal than having everyone under the same group.
Can I Change the Details of the Civilian Fleets?
Sure! Members of a civilian fleet regularly synchronizes their default behaviors with their leader.
Behavior sync occurs when a Civ-Fleet member begins executing their docking script (the "init" part).
- Ships first obtain orders from their commanders (if exists)
- Ships then broadcast their updated orders to subordinates (if exists)
Order sync will also trigger fleet auto-renaming; this is explained above, and can be disabled.
Can I Remove This Mod Safely?
Yes! But notice the following:
- Civilian fleet leaders will NOT lose existing civilian default orders
- Civilian fleet subordinates will fall back to vanilla Mimic default behavior and lose their custom default behavior
Can I View the Source Code?
Sure. I always want to open source my stuff, so to reduce the risk of me losing the files. They are available here: https://github.com/Vectorial1024/v1024_civilian_fleets
Oh No! The Mod Won't Load!
When in doubt, disable, remove and reinstall.
Previously this mod should have been installed at the game's /extension folder but not the user documents' /extension folder due to it being a UI mod, but with this mod now relying on X4 4.0 Mimic, the UI part is gone, so perhaps there is no difference in where the mod is installed.
A separate, older version of this mod is available for users who are still using Update v2.6 of X4. Check the Files tab fore more details.
Thanks to EgoSoft Forums user Nyito for helping out with the debugging in Win7, there are no longer any problems when using this mod in an Win7 environment.
Important Note on X4 v4.0 transition: I have re-enabled the legacy assignment buttons as a way of transitioning your older CivFleet fleets to the latest Mimicry Extension fleets. Just assign a new ship to the fleet in question using the "Trade for/Mine for" buttons, and the assignment group will be updated to use Mimic. (Of course, the other way of setting the fleet group to Mimic also works.)
The Trusty Fallback Mode...?
No more fallback mode! It all started when Right Click API breaking after every game update was still a thing, but with this mod now relying on X4 v4.0 and with Mimic assignment available to all ships, the criteria to trigger the Fallback Mode has become impossible. As such the entire Fallback Mode has been disabled and removed from the mod.
Concluding Notes
I would like to thank some people in my journey in making this mod. Further details are at the Credits section above.
And, that's all. May fortune favor you!
TaterTrade fleet: uses TaterTrade default behavior ("TaterTrade" AI-script)