I was hunting transport ships and I found that they now have wingmen! Great but I destroyed then all and only got cargo, no experience, no nation improvement. I killed other types of bots in the sector and got experience so I think it is a bug with the new bots. This has happened to me in many different sectors in the NT

It looks like you only get credit for killing harder bots. I noticed that I didn't get credit for easy bots but I do for harder bots. I assue that the threshold between "easy" and "hard" depends on your combat level. (I should test this with a new character.)

I hope that's not the case... cause I don't get any XP for killing the Huge Overseer bots.

EDIT: Actually I take that back. I hope it is the case and we have to take missions instead of just mindlessly killing bot after bot. (And by missions I mean PvP missions ; )

I capped a couple of Transports in Odia (as well as a few of their Defender escorts) and I got XP for all.

OK, [pulls out notes] I'm only level 4 combat so getting xp is important to me. I've been bumped to the advanced combat missions and I feel like they aren't working the same as the beginner. In the beginner mission I got the base xp and then a bonus when I completed the task (10, 20, 30, bot and so on). However, in the advanced mission I killed the requested bots and I didn't always get the base xp. In my recent attempt (I can't survive the sector I found with Guardian-17 bots) I killed 7 bots on the list and another 10 smaller bots who got in my way. During the mission I got the base xp for the 1st bot on the list I killed and for the 4th bot. None for bots 2, 3, 5, 6 and 7. I also didn't get any xp for the smaller bots I smooshed.

Regarding Klox's observation- {edit}
Without taking a mission
I did a small study and found inconsistant data.

I visted 3 sectors in Arta C and killed the bots I found there.
in I-11 I killed Siepos Transports and DenTek Collectors, I earned no xp for any of the kills. I visited J-13 and killed DenTek (Drone II?) and Orun (Drone I?) and I earned the xp for both types of kills. I then visited I-13 and killed Artemis, Orun and DenTek, I only earned xp for the DenTek kills.

Maybe bot specific? I killed Milanar Transports and Arklan Guardians.

She's getting exp for certain bots in certain sectors but none for the same bots in other sectors. It seems to be bot AND sector specific.

I just tested this and pretty much got the same results. I killed a Seipos Transport in Arta C (can't remember the sector) and it didn't even register as a kill under my mission screen. Possibly a lag issue?

Additional Data
Dau- K-9 Killed 3 Axia Transport, 13 Orun, got xp for 5 of the bots, all Orun (CP-1175r, CJ-8434m, XC-4959c, DD-7114m, CD-4182m)
Dau- L-6 Killed 3 Kannik, 6 Orun, xp for only 2 of the Orun
Dau- M-2 Killed 2 Kannik, got xp for both

And the list grows, I'll have to wait for Ray to go into work tonight to see if this can be resolved.

"OK, [pulls out notes]..."

You're taking notes? Wow, that's dedication. I just killed a few bots and declared it a new feature. I didn't know the test would have trick questions.

I think I need to go "study" some more...

Ray gets annoyed if I wake him up to ask him to troubleshoot the game for me so I have to take notes so I remember exactly what's happening and to give him a through bug report.

And I'm a scientist so doing experiments and looking for patterns is fun to me.

I did a little "experimenting" myself in Itan H-10, and yes, made some notes.
I killed 38 Orun Collectors and received credit for 18.
I killed 15 DenTec Collectors and received credit for all of them.
I killed 7 Fennus Observers and received credit for none.
I killed 7 Axia Transports (they blow up really good!) and received credit for none.

Something strange going on...

Ok, found and fixed the bug, it'll be in the next server-side reset.

Bots that fly in squadrons don't give skill points. Go figure. :) If you can find any loners flying around, those will still give you a reward.

Where oh where are these fabled Arklan Guardians hiding RelayeR?

Didn't you hear? RelayeR has a cartography business on the side. You can buy maps to all the locations of all the mysterious wonders of the Vendetta universe, and I'm sure you can buy directions to those bots.