Okay - making permanent shield bats? No idea what you mean, if its make it so you can mount them - you are meaning making a power generator then - not permanent shield bats. Reason is because shield bats and nano bots are hardcoded commands - hence ini lines for the max amount of each being mounable. You cannot create custom ones at all - it won't work...........
If you try to make custom versions - they can no longer be bought and used - but mount in the hold instead. No - it doesn't have an effect.

For the other thing, you can increase scan chance, BUT you cannot make them scan without attacking. If they are hostile, they will attack regardless of if you tell em to scan. If they are not hostile, they will scan you. faction_prop.ini file:

make sure the faction you want to do the scanning has this below them:
scan_for_cargo = commodity_oxygen, 0
scan_for_cargo = commodity_pharm, 0
scan_for_cargo = commodity_water, 0
scan_announce = false
scan_chance = 0.300000
Change scan_chance to 1.000 for garunteed, and you can make scan_anncounce true if you like - but i wouldn't *(means they will tell you they will scan cargo).

Next you need to add EVERY commodity that they will be interested in. Yes, EVERY single one that you want (so all), and the ones that are more valuable, or you want them to take first - give that number a 2 instead (its like a preference number of commodities, 0, 1, 2 - with 2 being taken first.
ie:
scan_for_cargo = commodity_water, 2
scan_for_cargo = commodity_pharm, 0

Now water would be taken over pharmaceuticals.

The answer is NO - there is no thing that will make all pirates demand cargo first (even if hostile) as the game is not made that way. Yes - there are limits on what can be done, so you cannot effect some things..........this and the nano bots being one of them. Your power useage for shield bats - check by using them first - cause some commands just don't work like you think they will

Thanks for the clear reply. I was hoping that I'd missed something - there are only 1200 ini files lol. I'll check out your tips on the scanning cargo thing regarding NPC behavior and see if I can come up with anything.

Just to make sure I was being clear myself, I wanted to put a small number of shield batteries on each ship, but have them:
1. not be consumed when used,
2. have a delay before reuse, and
3. make them non-sellable items.

I can modify the shield rebuild time, amount and power drain to mimic an emergency recharge effect though, so it's not a huge issue.

The NPC thing is a more bigger question. Right now, Junkers and Hogosha, which are at about -40 faction (white), have demanded my goods, which pops the "Drop Cargo Yes/No" screen. If I don't give it up, the screen times out and they turn red and attack. But, if I flee successfully without shooting, their faction does not change negatively toward me (that I've noticed, anyways).

I'm trying to make that the default pirate faction behavior in my mod- they will all be white to players (barely), but they will *always* demand the cargo and start shooting if you don't give it up.
So I need to know if I can:
Get them to pop the cargo question every time (I will reference your scanning cargo behavior to see if I can figure this out)
Shorten the timeout on the Drop Cargo Yes/No screen (it's too long, you can easily escape with the slowest of ships).

I know the factions are changed when you fight back and the changes are saved with the game, but I'll cross the faction resetting bridge when I come to it.
Thanks again for your reply!
Tred
(p.s. hope someone likes the mod when it's done. Harder, but fairer- much more like the WC gameplay of old

Hmm, did you notice that SHIP HULLS are considered GOODS? Let's see what happens when you make them scan for that lol....

hmm, illegal ships, guns, equipment, nice idea.

especially with the guns/equipment - some faction wouldnt like alien tech for example.

nice idea.

Fjord

---------------------------------
Excelcia forever
www.excelcia.org/forum

lol - old idea more like...........

By the way, it's WORKING Tonight, I got scanned and challenged by every pirate group I passed. Every one that I let the timeout expire on changed to red and came after me. Oh, and I never got scanned when they were in a battle elsewhere, though I expected to. Bonus? lol....However, when I hit Cancel on the Drop Cargo window, they stayed white? not intended behavior- maybe I need to refresh the inis with the SDK, FL has been a little crashy lately.

About the "illegal" ships etc, that's not a bad idea, but it's not what I'm currently after. Right now I just want the pirates to act like frickin pirates, not mass murderers lol. You can pop into the middle of a battle between the police and the pirates (which has to be a max opposing faction), with fat juicy cargo trains running through the middle of it, and watch the ENTIRE pirate force break off battle and come straight for you without a word of warning! That's just bs, especially when it's a faction you have never fired a shot at, or any of their friends either.
So the baddie faction needs to stay just barely this side of red so that they stay in battle when you come by. But, if they catch you alone somewhere, heck yeah they should come for you. So I'm trying to use the scan as the control mechanism.
Thanks for your interest and advice!
Tred