I don't think that NPC-ships actually travel between systems (It would take a lot of memory to do so) They just enter the jump-gate and then vanish

I have found that this trick fails often enough that I don't bother with it anymore. I just wait my turn. If the area is hot, I either fly around evading or I deal with the hostiles first. If there's a trick to getting this trick to work... I'm all ears.

i dunno, but i think u can jump the queue so to speak, by being right on top of the gate... mabe not i dunno... also, the npc ships DO jump trhu, if ur right behind them u can see them going away from the gate and towards a lane or cruising out... same w/ lanes... follow a ship and ull catch up with them at the next stop

Did somebody say my name?
-Gamma Wing
It's the dreaded G-Man[![![![!
-Moose

I don't think I was clear in my description.

You can convoy from wp to wp and this helps with some companionship defence with escort fighters and other freighters (as if the npcs would shoot them first, heh).

Now when you jump to other systems (and yes, the npcs convoys DO do this), and you join up with them (that 3 ship icon option on the top of the screen), you will link up and follow them, BUT if you try to go thru the jump gate in this formation, you get booted out of the formation just as you hit the gate and start to jump.

I was wondering if anyone knew why this was the case and IF there was a work-around. Convoying is not a end-all, be-all safety net, but IF there is a convoy heading you the direction you are, no reason not to link up for the better protection when you are simply a freighter/trader.

Hope that's a better explanation. Anyone have any thoughts?

Thanks

Hi all, this is my first post here at TFL, great site!

About formation, i know in multiplayer that when a form with a buddy and pass throu a jump gate, i have to re-click formation with my buddy.

But i havent notice if the NPC that jump throu the jump gate re-appear on the other side.

Mc1csmo, no I got it the first time. I am talking about jump gates as well. I have in the past gotten this to work but it's not very reliable. Last few times I have tried it I get the broken formation as well and no jump. Very annoying. One time, I heard the "formation lost" thing and my ship started to turn away but still got sucked into the jump. So it seems you have to be in just the right position relative to the gate when the others jump or you will be left behind.

Gotya, well I'm working on other things to improve my factions (just about anyone NOT a cop hates me, I got to frag some cops or someone to balance things out, I simply can't leave an airlock w/o getting swarmed and that means I can't go trader. Can't hack it at my level and credit value for stuff. That's why I was hoping to tag along on some convoys, to help out. Seems I need to work on factions a while first.

Xenons seem to be just the thing, everyone hates em it appears.

The only NPCs I have been able to follow into new systems have been people in the story.

In general, I only expect to be able to follow a convoy for intra-system traffic.

ER

Definitive answer: The AI ships do not go through jump gates. For all their talk about heading from sector to sector, they actually just vanish when they hit the jump gate. Maybe they respawn on the opposite end and start all over again, I don't know. If you joined formation and tried to go through the jumpgate with a group, even though you lost formation, I assume you went through after them? Notice that they weren't on the other side, even though you were only a second or two behind? Trains aren't that fast.

It's little issues like that which worry me at night as I'm trying to fall off to sleep. What happened to the dynamic universe where the pirate AI would recognize heavily trafficked trade lanes and lay ambushes? What happened to the increased police patrols that sprang up on said routes after the crime rate sky-rocketed? Why, exactly, am I bothering to host a persistent world server if nothing is going to change? Is the game's shallowness hidden behind a thinly veiled illusion of freighter chatter discussing waypoints and distant destinations?

I personally find that the transports and whatnot I meet at jumpholes end up inducing Freelancer's own version of road rage, particularly when *I* am clearly the one in front of the damn gate FIRST, and yet I'm being told to WAIT?!?

So far, 4 freighters and 16 transports have fallen victim to road rage. 2 players have also died as a result of my habit of barreling at the jumpgate guns blazing. It's becoming a bit of local lore on the server.

If they don't actually jump, how come you can see them get interrupted when travelling through a trade lane? Perhaps they just disappear from the screen but are still considered to be travelling. Notice the same thing if I follow a convoy, they disappear in front of me, but if it's interrupted or when we get to the other side, they pop out just ahead of me.

Lets just call this a bug.

Using F4 to join formation with NPCs doesn't mean you've joined their group. You're just following them around. The jump gate knows you don't have clearance to pass through and being with NPCs doesn't change that. As far as the gate and the NPCs are concerned you're not part of their group. It's like when your big brother's friends come over, and your mom makes them be nice to you and you think they're your friends too, but when they go do something fun you don't get to go because they don't really like you.

Let's get those missiles ready to destroy the universe!!

It's much more fun blowing up convoys anyway