Pilot Archive

A friend and I are grouped. I'm a tier 4 privateer [edit: RSF] and he's a Rebel.

He's doing a Tier 4 mission, and when the NPCs materialize, his Rebel allies are in yellow boxes and the TIE fighters and target ship are white, to me. I can't shoot them, even after they go aggressive -- I get the same buzz on every shot that I'd get if I were shooting at my group-mate.

The targets do turn red after they go aggressive, but my shots have no effect on them and their shots (and yes, they do shoot at me) have no effect on me.

What's going on here? I'm not a declared Imperial [in space, though I am Imperial on the ground] and I've had Imperial ships fire on me on many occasions in the past. We're grouped, so it's not kill-steal protection ... what is it? Bug? Some esoteric 'privateers can't help rebels' feature?

We've reproduced it consistently on 2 different missions, one in Endor and one in Dath. We've ungrouped and regrouped after the mission WP appears. Nothing works.

[Edit: Answer is in my subsequent post. It's the RSF mandate to 'keep a tight ship' around the Imps, applying automatically to my targeting system]

Message Edited by tom_guyette on 09-22-2005 02:15 AM

Sounds like you went RSF. RSF is unique in that its the only privateer squadron that is truly factionally aligned. In specific the Empire - which is to say they are the only Freelance squadron that can't hurt one faction.

Smugglers alliance is thought to be rebel aligned because you have to destroy the rebel vette for master, but the reality is in normal gameplay they are very much neutral (yellow to both factions), as is CorSec, who is also unique in that they acutally have a choice as to which faction to help for master.

---

Ducimus wrote:
Sounds like you went RSF. RSF is unique in that its the only privateer squadron that is truly factionally aligned. In specific the Empire - which is to say they are the only Freelance squadron that can't hurt one faction.

Smugglers alliance is thought to be rebel aligned because you have to destroy the rebel vette for master, but the reality is in normal gameplay they are very much neutral (yellow to both factions), as is CorSec, who is also unique in that they acutally have a choice as to which faction to help for master.

---

Just to point out that the original poster does not say which faction he belongs to on the ground. My experience is that for Smuggler's Alliance I could indeed shoot at Imperial ships as you say (due to SA being lightly rebel-aligned), however for the 'true neutral' Corsec faction I cannot fire on Imperial ships. The reason for this is, I believe,that I am an Imperial on the ground and did the Imperial ace mission (destroying the Corellian Corvette, not the Star Ravager).

I'm not sure whether the original poster is an Imperial on the ground, but I'd be willing to wager that he could be. If this is the case, ground faction does seem to play some role in determining which ships you can attack. Ironically the only squadron that has allowed me to fire on both Rebel and Imperial ships was Smuggler's Alliance.

Ground faction doesnt mean squat unless you go overt or go to DS. Ive gone farming Tie fighters for parts as a ground Imperial while in the Smugglers Alliance.


Where ground faction can catch up with you is the DS bug. IE, whichever faction you enter DS as, that factional alignment sticks to that ship in Kessle and DS. Only way to fix that is to redeed the ship.

Message Edited by Ducimus on 09-22-2005 01:39 AM

---

Ducimus wrote:
Ground faction doesnt mean squat unless you go overt or go to DS. Ive gone farming Tie fighters for parts as a ground Imperial while in the Smugglers Alliance.

---

Message Edited by Arrain on 09-22-2005 09:51 AM

Thanks, friends. Lots to answer here. Let me see if I can get it all:

- I'm RSF, and what the previous poster said about RSF not being able to fire on Imps makes perfect sense in light of the mission commander instructing me to 'run a tight ship' and to be very careful around the Imperials. Interesting to see targeting actually following the story arc. It just confirms what I've thought for a while -- the JtL designers were really thorough.

- On the ground I'm Imperial, though covert (sorry, "On Leave"). I've been able to fire on TIEs in the past as a ground-based Imperial in this exact state (including a tiny negative Rebel faction level and reasonably positive Imp), and in fact some of my old Smugglers Alliance missions required firing on Imps, but I have not been in a position to fire on TIEs since going RSF, even in non-scripted interactions, until this Rebel mission.

- The ship has been re-deeded since I was last in Kessel / Deep Space, so the issue about declared faction from deep space 'sticking' to me isn't involved in my situation. Interesting observation, though, and it's something I'll watch for.

Thank you ALL for the shockingly quick replies. I would say 'go to bed!' but I know full well there are SWG players on both sides of the pond.

Thanks, too, for the posts about poorly designed missions (e.g., 'what do I do once I get there' type posts). I've posted a couple myself and find them extremely useful.

Help like this gives me a reason to be glad I'm running through material that scores of other people have already run through. The uniqueness is a decent tradeoff for the assistance.

Even if you can't hurt the opponents, it sounds like you CAN help. As you said, they fire at you but do no damage ... so spray them as they approach and try to draw their fire.