To get the npc's to use bats and bots, look in the modding for beginners section, think its page 1, a good tutorial by Chips if i remember right

For the shields: This is very simple but takes a lot of time. There are two ways.
a) You change the regen rate of the npc shield so it is the same as at the buyable shields.
b) You change every single loadout so that the npcs use the buyable shields.

B is the best that way you can loot the shields.

"It doesn’t matter what universe you’re from. That’s got to hurt!"

Page 1 either the 4th of 5th post by Chips. If you combine this with changing thier shields and powerplants to the player version, you will have a more challenging game.

**shuffles of with a new headache**

One thing for the nanobots: If you have got the Freelancer: TNG mod you can look in its files. In this mod npcs are using nanobots (And if you want this you can also look for the shield batteries)

I know this one's old, but I've got an additional question to this topic. How can I increase the count of batts/bots they use? They seem to use only one each time I shoot their shield offline. In this way I have to hit them up to 30 times in some cases, and that sucks. I want them to restore their shield and repair their hull completely, like the player must do. Does anyone have a solution for this?

I don't want to increase *_repair_at_damage_percent because there should be a chance to kill them before they use batts/bots, without increasing the delays. That's not possible when their hull is at 80% or so.

I think it's hardcoded that they'll only use one at a time. I haven't found a way around it.