'FIGHT': This is how quick all Xenon can be destroyed.

[Omni-Orb]

When CoH came along the Asgards were extremely helpful, especially when used personally, but upsetting the Terrans and grabbing their property was not an option for my overall plans, so again building rep and getting blueprints to build them became a side track to finally squishing Xenon.

Asgards are pretty much a gamebreaker when it comes to combat. I recently tried for the first time to do trading and station building with a terran start, and in 3 days played i was building asgards really quick and had 4 billion credits, and i guess if i wanted to the combat part of the game would be too easy by then with a fleet of 10 or more asgards. It didnt take me a year of gametime it took me a few days and a bit of SETA.

[alt3rn1ty]

~ It didnt take me a year of gametime it took me a few days and a bit of SETA.

Yeah that's something else I can't use, SETA being too fast in this game (and not having any settings to adjust it) causes too much script lag on my machine, which further causes random ship losses I would not otherwise experience in normal game time, and other problems with trading that I would not experience without SETA upsetting what is a bit of a balancing act for my games economy and amount of ships / stations I can allow myself without affecting the games performance.
In my experience the Xenon are aggressive enough to be a major concern versus what I can produce in response, in normal game time, and without using third party mods. So ideas of upping the Xenon's aggressiveness as alluded to in these topics is really a bad idea for players in my situation and how the game has progressed.

[Omni-Orb]

So ideas of upping the Xenon's aggressiveness as alluded to in these topics is really a bad idea for players in my situation and how the game has progressed.

They dont need to be more agressive, just more difficult to detroy. As it is now, i can with a single asgard destroy all the xenon in the universe, go behind enemy lines and destroy their ship production. If anything they should have bigger fleets and focus more on defending their own sectors.

[capitalduty]

""

You are no supposed to board Asgards with rookie marines...something went wrong there, also I can imagine terran retaliation to this action to be massive for a beginner player.

[Omni-Orb]

You are no supposed to board Asgards with rookie marines...something went wrong there, also I can imagine terran retaliation to this action to be massive for a beginner player.

Actually im not sure why it is this way however it doesnt decrease reputation with terrans. If all we do is board something without firing on it then we take no reputation loss.

[Omni-Orb]

Would be nice with some more opinions on this topic since i think it is important for the combat gameplay aspect.

[MarcusInVR]

Read the report... also in for about two days on my very first playthrough. Have done literally nothing to drive out the Xenon, I am busy building my first station, and exploring all sectors. Now I feel like I am doing it wrong

(Side note: I can maybe play 1 or 2 hours max per day)

[Omni-Orb]

Read the report... also in for about two days on my very first playthrough. Have done literally nothing to drive out the Xenon, I am busy building my first station, and exploring all sectors. Now I feel like I am doing it wrong

(Side note: I can maybe play 1 or 2 hours max per day)

There really is no wrong way to play this game. The playthrough was made after around 1700hours of X4 game experience, mostly as a showcase of one aspect and direction in the open "sandbox" game universe. And that was 1700 hours of having fun while learning much (and far from everything) of what the game can teach.

[GCU Grey Area]

Personally consider the Xenon a precious resource that needs to be conserved. Would never even consider wiping them out, they're too useful. Other factions pay quite well for me to destroy Xenon ships & stations for them. They'll sometimes also throw in a high end weapon mod to sweeten the deal. Can't do that if I destroy them all in the first few days of a new game.

Instead if I want someone to fight I pick on one of the other factions instead, often whoever is considered an enemy by the faction from which my character originates (e.g. if playing as an Argon my enemies often include HOP, ZYA, etc). Find them more fun to fight because there's no automatic range advantage for my ships (they have destroyers with long range main guns & L Plasma turrets too) & unlike the Xenon they know how to use missiles. Terrans can be particularly fun to fight due to all the Asgards being in the enemy fleet & capable of wiping out my capitals with a single shot.

[EGO_Aut]

Entering/capture ships is broken and feels like cheating.

There should be a war declaration of the faction owner, at least by mil. ships.

[Omni-Orb]

Entering/capture ships is broken and feels like cheating.

There should be a war declaration of the faction owner, at least by mil. ships.

That wouldnt do much against boarding the intervention core Asgards
since they are mostly far behind their escort and outside terran sectors.
It might make boarding the Asgards after the first one slightly more difficult,
although by then it should be easy to swarm them with too many trade ships for bording
and to destroy their support because of the player power from the first capture.
They do become hostile once the boarding starts, although not always all of them,
but by then there isnt much they can do against tactically well launched boarding pods.

[GCU Grey Area]

Better solution to the easy boarding of Asgards (etc) might be to scale the number & quality of defending marines to the value of the ship. At present they're often mostly empty & the few marines they do have are often of poor quality. An Asgard defended by say a couple of hundred elite marines might be somewhat more difficult to steal & essentially immune to the sort of cheesy endless waves of untrained cannon fodder tactics that are often recommended. Would still be potentially boardable, but only after a player had invested a significant amount of time & resources into training their marines.

[EGO_Aut]

Entering/capture ships is broken and feels like cheating.

There should be a war declaration of the faction owner, at least by mil. ships.

That wouldnt do much against boarding the intervention core Asgards
since they are mostly far behind their escort and outside terran sectors.
It might make boarding the Asgards after the first one slightly more difficult,
although by then it should be easy to swarm them with too many trade ships for bording
and to destroy their support because of the player power from the first capture.
They do become hostile once the boarding starts, although not always all of them,
but by then there isnt much they can do against tactically well launched boarding pods.

There is a exploit when you do it without aggro, the ship your boarding will not get red and will not shoot at you and no standing loss.

Btw. if TER/or any other faction would get in war with you, it could be interesting for your assets.

[jlehtone]

Btw. if TER/or any other faction would get in war with you, it could be interesting for your assets.

Alas, this thread did start with "faction can be quickly wiped out". That does apply.
I had hostile status with TER long before this screenshot.
Now I have restored PIO status from -30 to friendly: map today.
It's been over 150 hours since last time TER has XL in Asteroid Belt.

Granted, the TER relation did sink while I transferred their Asgards and Tokyo's into my assets. Nothing cheesy about it; kill all elements and escorts. In the last PIO Osakas there were at least some almost Elites, or even an Elite or two. Obviously not enough.

If current game has better crews in Asgards, that affects only new playthroughs. For a playthrough that already has Asgard(s) full of trained marines, that is just fun.

The problem is that no faction can get in war with the player without the player knowing. When competent player starts a war, the faction has already lost.

For same reason wiping the Xenon out is shortsighted. Explosions can be fun, but it is like tossing a lot of sand out of the sandbox; you end up playing what little is left in the box.

[dtpsprt]

...........................
For same reason wiping the Xenon out is shortsighted. Explosions can be fun, but it is like tossing a lot of sand out of the sandbox; you end up playing what little is left in the box.

Actually with the exception of TER/PIO all other factions are needed for game economic ballance. It's unfortunate IMHO that TER/PIO had to be diversified from classic production, most obviously (again IMHO) due to needing less Stations/Modules to produce everything they need, thus enabling the game to actually function (before the changes made in V5.00/5.10).

Xenon bring harmony and equilibrium in the game's economy and along with the faction's petty squabbles make for an interesting enough game/Universe so, yes, they have to be "preserved". The only factions a player can completely wipe out with none or neglectable effect on the game's economy are the PIO/TER. Besides, with ToA, there is another battleship for those who love aukwardly slow and unmanoeuverable ships with BFGs and, of course, during their total anihilation, the player can just cap whatever interests him/her and even steal or buy their blueprints before starting the war against them.

In my curent playthrough I started with basic X4, when that Universe is totally explored and I'm fed up with it I plan to "expand" it with the Split and after that go straight to ToA totally leaving the TER/PIO in their misery and obscurity (don't know if it, spossible nut it should be and I'll try...

[Omni-Orb]

...........................
For same reason wiping the Xenon out is shortsighted. Explosions can be fun, but it is like tossing a lot of sand out of the sandbox; you end up playing what little is left in the box.

Xenon bring harmony and equilibrium in the game's economy and along with the faction's petty squabbles make for an interesting enough game/Universe so, yes, they have to be "preserved".

In my perfect combat way id have the xenon be indestructible or near indestructible. Its like the police and military in gta games, it would be way less fun if they wherent there anymore.
Planets should be taken more into consideration for ship creation,
they could have shipyards and wharfs on the surface incorporated in the terraforming structures part of the game
Making ships in the sectors of the planets occupied by a faction.
And also a way of destroying it. An example beeing the terraforming structure way or similar 'minigame'

[Diroc]

TER Asgard should be filled with 3 stars marines to protect itself. It is way too easy to board an Asgard comparing to build one.

I disagree completely.
The problem with this is the Asgard Raids. Wiping out the Xenon, often is not warranted or wanted. I would be OK with this if there was an option to turn off Asgard Raids.
The Xenon perform a function similar to an apex predator in an ecosystem. (Though they are rather pathetic in this regard due to resource nerfs and need to be buffed up as per OP) The point is they drain resources from all the other races by removing ships and stations. This keeps the universe from going stagnant.

It takes a lot of work to bring some balance to the Universe. Asgard Raids should have an off switch (In options) that does not require an excessive amount of resources or the sacrificing of all standing with Terrans.
Boarding as is, though time consuming, fits this need early until other options can be leveraged later.

The Xenon, if you know how to deal with them, aren't really a threat and they serve a purpose.

Prior to CoH, there were a lot of complaints about the Xenon.

Egosoft's solution was to add a ship that, in function, resembles the Death Star from Star Wars and have it hunt down the Xenon.
If left un-checked, the Terran Asgard raids will eventually exterminate the Xenon without player intervention.

Not everyone is OK with that.

When I board an Asgard raid ship, it's not because I want a "Cheap Asgard" it's because the consequences of the raids are unacceptable and preserving Terran standing is desired.

If you need a challenge boarding an Asgard, use a(1) Dragon Raider. It's possible with the right equipment and even without upgrades (Though, obviously, they help) if you are good with heat management.

[jlehtone]

When I board an Asgard raid ship, it's not because I want a "Cheap Asgard" it's because the consequences of the raids are unacceptable and preserving Terran standing is desired.

If you need a challenge boarding an Asgard, use a(1) Dragon Raider. It's possible with the right equipment and even without upgrades (Though, obviously, they help) if you are good with heat management.

Hear, hear

I can't recall whether my motive with first Asgard was more of protecting my flock (Xenon) from that wolf than obtaining a new ship to collection, but I had Dragon Raider (and no mods). The beast was already in Xenon sector and Xenon had handled most of the escorts. My job was to diligently burn the engine and turrets away. Several times. Neither can I remember how the marines were delivered, but most probably in up to four Cobras. (It wasn't my first day in the X-Universe.) The real fun did start after the ship was green; couple hours to keep Xenon K's away from the sitting duck, while its engine was being mended. There were no explosions back then ...

[flywlyx]

When I board an Asgard raid ship, it's not because I want a "Cheap Asgard" it's because the consequences of the raids are unacceptable and preserving Terran standing is desired.

If you need a challenge boarding an Asgard, use a(1) Dragon Raider. It's possible with the right equipment and even without upgrades (Though, obviously, they help) if you are good with heat management.

You can disarm an Asgard by disabling all of its turrets and it won't have any consequences. Xenon will finish the rest of the job.
There are many ways to prevent TER from sending out Asgards(block their shipyard, hack their storage, etc), and easy boarding is definitely the worst "balancing" method.

[Diroc]

When I board an Asgard raid ship, it's not because I want a "Cheap Asgard" it's because the consequences of the raids are unacceptable and preserving Terran standing is desired.

If you need a challenge boarding an Asgard, use a(1) Dragon Raider. It's possible with the right equipment and even without upgrades (Though, obviously, they help) if you are good with heat management.

Hear, hear

I can't recall whether my motive with first Asgard was more of protecting my flock (Xenon) from that wolf than obtaining a new ship to collection, but I had Dragon Raider (and no mods). The beast was already in Xenon sector and Xenon had handled most of the escorts. My job was to diligently burn the engine and turrets away. Several times. Neither can I remember how the marines were delivered, but most probably in up to four Cobras. (It wasn't my first day in the X-Universe.) The real fun did start after the ship was green; couple hours to keep Xenon K's away from the sitting duck, while its engine was being mended. There were no explosions back then ...

Just to clarify, I was referring to JUST a Dragon Raider in the challenge. No other additional ships and no destruction of surface elements.

You can disarm an Asgard by disabling all of its turrets and it won't have any consequences. Xenon will finish the rest of the job.
There are many ways to prevent TER from sending out Asgards(block their shipyard, hack their storage, etc), and easy boarding is definitely the worst "balancing" method.

Destruction of Terran Property (Ie surface elements such as turrets) has consequences.

Blocking the shipyard and hacking storage is gated behind access to their shipyard and is Terran Faction dependent.

An option to disable the raids as a radio box start parameter makes the most sense I think.