[TC] Plot Mission Balance : Operation Final Fury

[Pan0pticon]

Just got into this mission today. X3:TC, Steam User. Spoilers ahead!

I'm on the part where

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You need to escort the Teladi freighter convoy through the Unknown sector, and I get jumped by Kha'ak. No biggy, that was expected.

What was unexpected was the fact that 10 clusters immediatly jumped in, followed by another several! I could not count the number of them, because my system went slideshow with over 150 ships engaged in close term battle, with no friendly ships around to lend a hand. This did not go well.

I think these ships are directly related to the mission, as I had seen Kha'ak randomly wandering the sector, but these spawns were jumped in right enxt to the convoy route. It was like a Xenon sector in X3:R, but with Kha'ak.

Any suggestions to...um...kill over 150 ships? In an M3?

Aside of that, great game

[Painman]

Unlike X3:R, an M3 will only get you so far in this game. You'll have to seriously consider battle fleet actions, or at the very least, pilot a Corvette/Frigate for many of the advanced combat missions.

Welcome to the new world.

[Visidan]

Haha yeah I just got up to this bit in my Vidar M6. I'm not sure having a fleet would help either, since mission fails if the

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puny freighters die.

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http://d.imagehost.org/view/0773/x3screen00009.gif

[Visidan]

Okay I finished the mission, probably the one of the hardest missions in the game so far.

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I suggest an M6 with tons of missiles and salvage insurance, stick close to the convoy, never leave them since the Kha'ak love to jump 10km near them with clusters/m3/m4/m5 and M6's. Shoot and ram the M6, shoot missiles at the clusters, usually they all die aslong as you hit them before they seperate then target the M3's, then mop up the rest.

repeat about 10 times

Fun though!

[Pan0pticon]

Yeah Visidan, that screenie was pretty close to mine too. I tried fleet actions with some M6's I had... *ahem* acquired. Didn't go too well. Lost the M6's (1 Vidar, 2 Osprey) AND the freighters.

For a Hard rated mission with a payout of ONLY 30k...wtf?

Glad to see that you got it. I'll try filling the sector with M4/M5 class vessels to try to draw some fire...thanks for the tips.

[dalin80]

i like the ship name


the khaak tried to the flood the sector... i lost.


my current plan is a taskforce of several m6's protected by plenty of fast m5's 'cannon fodder squadron' and plenty of fighter drones and missiles for all.


its going to be messy...

[Pan0pticon]

Well, I tried this about 20 more times, and...hmm.

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The last attempt, I spent a solid hour locked into combat. I was lucky enough to have a Titan and a Cerberus jump in (finally) to lend a hand. I killed meself 7 Corvettes, 72 Fighters, 32 Intercepters, and over 300 Scouts. Some fight that was.

Other odd performances too. One of the freighters peeled off north and rammed itself to death on an ore mine, all by itself. The others refused, simply REFUSED to dock at the gate. I had installed the cheat package after the 15th attampt, and after several minutes of them getting cold feet, I warped them to the other side. Upon entering the sector, it froze.

I simply have no idea how to handle this MENACE of a mission.

Best of luck to everyone else![/spoiler]

[Creston]

Egosoft's Modus Operandi for TC : Fights against 300 ships at once are FUN!



Creston

[Prownilo]

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The fight is actually (relatively) easy if you manage to do it perfect from the start, one screw up can have horrible consequesnces.

Trick is to follow the convoy, Have an M7 or something similiar with Flak cannons of some sort in the main laser bay, when you see the clusers spawn, immediatly head for them, and fire a front load of Flak into their face before they break up. Concentrate on the clusters as if a single one manages to break, you're pretty much boned. Reason for this is that the scouts will fly off and attack the freighters, who will go into evade mode, splitting up the convoy from the rest, pretty soon you have clusters spawning next to one freighter, and more next to another, 20 km's away, by which time they are pretty much breaking up and causing even more chaos.

If you manage to keep the clusters under control, the corvettes aren't too hard, especially if you have some other ships that you use to deal with them.

The important thing is that you shouldn't have fighters flying around doing their own thing simply because a single shot will break a cluster, so if that shot isn't you firing a front load of flak, or at least a large missile, then all hell will break loose, For this reason you need to keep your wing on a tight leash.

Even if *everything* goes perfectly, it still gets pretty hectic, specially at the south gate and the freighters seem to be perfectly content to wait in line for 10 mins whilst wave after wave spawn right next to them.

[Visidan]

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The others refused, simply REFUSED to dock at the gate.

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As soon as the convoy gets to the gate, savegame and fly through it. If they die on the other side just reload untill they get through. In sector they get confused by the million hostiles flying about

Even if *everything* goes perfectly, it still gets pretty hectic, specially at the south gate and the freighters seem to be perfectly content to wait in line for 10 mins whilst wave after wave spawn right next to them.

Going perfectly pretty much means a cluster never breaking, I much prefer an m6 spawn

Also, lucky people guess what happens a few missions down the road

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Another convoy escort! This time its 4 mercury TS ships ughhhhhh

[Pan0pticon]

Visidan: Blech. Not again.

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I did manage to finish it, though. It was really easy. I jumped in, got the convoy rolling, and then left the sector. A few fights happened, but no massive waves of extreme death, and definitely no convoy casualties. Your mileage may vary .

And, when reentering the sector afterward...I ran into an unclaimed Kha'ak Corvette! I thought those weren't bailable, and anyways, shouldn't have bailed for the AI. It had 5x200MJ shields, but no Kyons. Some luck there, eh? Now I have to get this monster puppy outfitted. Good thing I've got more kha'ak fights ahead...

[zooze]

Okay I'm struggling with this mission also, but I'm sure I'll get there eventually

Question, what do you actually get for completing this mission?

[Carlo the Curious]

Nothing in particular, as far as I know - credits, rep, and no kha'ak respawns (I think). Possibly a gamestart unlock?

[doomlord]

Get a thresher with flaks, put all turrets at attack my target mode and sit tight amidst the convoy and cycle through closest enemy. Check the map now and then and take out fighters and corvettes first. Easy that way.

The only thing ya gotta do is positioning you ship into a perfect kill position for your flaks. With some practice you will notice which angle kills a ship the fastest when in flak range:)

[fecks]

Get a buch of hornet missiles and try and pop the clusters before they break up. A cluster only takes one missile and it takes all the scouts with it.

Now you just have to worry about the corvettes

[DamianB]

I prefer Minotaur for the escort missions, nothing can kill khaak as quick as hundreds of flail barrage missiles. Ofcourse missiles&torpedos production complex is needed.
As far always 1 transporter manage to reach destination.