The Ultimate Guide for Everything! DON'T PANIC!

[Darshu]

To alleviate the need on the difficult Search function... I'll collate some information and links on this thread. Feel free to add if you're feeling generous. Perhaps a mod can sticky this.

First, we'll have help on the Core Plot quests. There are several guides on the Internet, but if you can't find them, here's my personal favorite:

http://www.the-commander.com/x2mainstorypart1.htm - an excellent walkthrough of all parts of the story. VERY comprehensive, WITH pictures!

http://argonopedia.ppcis.org/ - another excellent site, well designed, with more information on the X-series of games than you can shake a stick at! A must read.

Added by BurnIt!:
A great list of Tips and Tricks for playing the X games.
http://www.egosoft.com/x2/forum/viewtopic.php?t=15557 - All the gameplay tips you need are here!

Added by CBJ:
A guide for new players starting out.
http://www.egosoft.com/x2/forum/viewtopic.php?t=24733 - Have a good read.

Added by CBJ:
A guide on using Capital Ships by Tsar_of_Cows...
http://www.egosoft.com/x2/forum/viewtopic.php?t=48060
...and another on M6s by Damar Stiehl...
http://www.egosoft.com/x2/forum/viewtopic.php?t=48085
...and another, also on M6s, by rustamk...
http://www.egosoft.com/x2/forum/viewtopic.php?t=66807

Added by The_Abyss:
Sector Planner by LordSuch
Basically SectorPlanner makes it easier to spot those lucrative areas in the X Universe for building factories and then helps you keep track of your factories, their effect on the surrounding economy and most importantly the profit they are making for you.
http://www.egosoft.com/x2/forum/viewtopic.php?t=44238

Added by Darshu:
Factory Loops by jester688
This guide lays out in exacting detail how to start and chain factory loops to produce goods at little to no recurring cost. Very well done!
http://www.egosoft.com/x2/forum/viewtopic.php?t=45851

Next, the link that will take you to the extremely comprehensive and informative Commander's Space Station:

http://www.the-commander.com/ - go here, you need to.

Here is a map detailing all of the sectors in the game, minus "secret" or "unknown" sectors:

http://www.hrh1000.com/x2/pics/X2MapUnspoiled200.jpg - before you ask for the secret sectors, just look on your in-game map sometime, any sector that has an "unknown" sector adjacent to it will have a line going off in one of the cardinal directions, and there IS a corresponding jumpgate usually hidden in plain sight, as it were.

Next, a table that lists all the ships and their relevant stats:

http://th.klammer.bei.t-online.de/x2/x2ships.htm - if you have any questions about how to interpret these stats, read the manual or look at this post:

http://www.egosoft.com/x2/forum/viewtopic.php?t=22493 - my favorite!

Next we have THE Source for all your scripting needs:

http://x2source.com/scriptguide.php - lots of good stuff here, that can really improve the gameplay experience.

Here is a thread by UNCC's Omicron that has some nice advice on how to do that most important of things, GET MONEY!

http://www.egosoft.com/x2/forum/viewtopic.php?t=25999

Added by CBJ:
And another by Creston which seems to have been missed off the list until now.
http://www.egosoft.com/x2/forum/viewtopic.php?t=27148

Added by CBJ:
A guide to capturing ships by Al (the original capture guru).

http://www.egosoft.com/x2/forum/viewtopic.php?t=44104

Momaw's Guide to Mobile Mining.

http://www.egosoft.com/x2/forum/viewtop ... sc&start=0 - VERY comprehensive, you'll feel smarter for having read it.

Added by CBJ:
TD's Guide to mobile mining.

http://www.egosoft.com/x2/forum/viewtopic.php?t=32910
- Another great mining guide.

TD's Guide to the World of SPPs.

http://www.egosoft.com/x2/forum/viewtopic.php?t=25472 - EVERYTHING you need to know on how to setup your basic interstellar empire.


Ravenlord's Guide to Capturing the Xenon K - added by Abyss

All you need to know about the various methods to get your hands on some serious Xenon weaponry


Lastly, the ultimate source for everything:

http://www.egosoft.com/x2/forum/search.php

Added by CBJ:
Search function not working?
http://www.egosoft.com/x2/forum/viewtopic.php?t=36751
Someone has kindly indexed some of the top topics!

Oh and as CBJ pointed out, an excellent post that lists pretty much ALL of the FAQ most encountered on this forum:

http://www.egosoft.com/x2/forum/viewtopic.php?t=32121

Now some general hints and tips:

-You currently cannot drop a mining fab on the Nividium roids. They can only be harveted with a mining kit and ore collector.

-The only ship that can dock with an M6 corvette is an M5 scout, most people generally prefer the Teladi Harrier for this.

-ALL fabs can make profit, SPPs simply do it the fastest. There are several good posts regarding the economy already going past 5 pages each...

-You CAN capture the ultra fast pirate ships that attack you in the "Transport the Boron" mission. It takes some doing though, your best bet is to get some Goner insurance and mount an APSG on the rear turret.

-You CAN buy every fab in the game, except for Shipyards and Wharf/Docks. There are also some unique stations, like the Boron Research Station that are not buildable.
1.4 - Now you can build Trade Stations and EQ Docks, there have been a few posts as to their usefulness, but they are currently best used as a resource drop-off, centralized HQ, and refueling station (EQ) for M6s.

-When hiring a TL for station deployment, all commands have to go through its Captain. Simply move within 8km, comm the ship and ask to speak to the captain.

-Advanced Sattelites do NOT have a video feed, this was a manual errata. The only difference is scanning range, and if you download the excellent ASEWS script from X2scripting, the advanced navsats will alert you to anyone Khaak incursions in a sector.

-Questions about scripts are best answered in the Scripting forum. Official scripts as of now are all executables, simply double-click to install. Non-official scripts/mods all have different install procedures, you MUST read the "Readme" files for in/uninstall directions.

-If you ask questions on the forum, for god's sake register your copy. Only fools do not, as this prevents them from getting OFFICIAL patches. There is no downside, and Egosoft does not ask for any marketing data. Without the "tickydisk" most people will make fun of or at least refuse to help you.

-Combat in a sector when you are not present is called Out Of Sector Combat, or OOS. The game does not render any sector except for the one you are in, which means ALL OOS combat is handled mathematically by the game, unless you watch it remotely via the sector map. Watching remotely can improve your odds of winning. And, unless you have patch 1.2 installed, the Khaak will cream you!

-Capturing ships takes effort and patience. You CANNOT capture anything above an M3 fighter, M6s and above are flagged "not capturable." There are various methods to use, look at our little guild post "the UNCC" for more information on a proven method.
1.4 - UNCC is now kind of defunct, so go to Al's capturing guide. M6 escorts in assassination missions are rumored to be capturable, but I have not yet personally been able to do so. Xenon M2s ARE capturable, but ONLY if they are spawned in a "Transport but watch out for Xenon" mission, and you need to be Combat Ranked at Ace of Aces 1st Grade.

-To switch ships, you either need to eject and fly to the other ship in your spacesuit while in space, have both ships at the same station and use the command "change ship" in the station menu, or be within 5km and use the Goner Transporter device.

-To collect bounties when killing pirates, khaak, and xenon, a few conditions must be met. First, you need to purchase a Police License from a given race's Trading Station. Second, you must be in a sector owned by a race to collect the bounty (i.e. hunting in Unknown or pirate controlled areas will net you nothing). Third, if you even accidentally shoot a neutral target in a firefight (such as a trade ship or some other sector defender) you instantly lose your police license. To check if you've lost a police license, go to your Personal Information screen. After a race's name under the race rating listing, there should be a bracketed l: [L]
1.4 - Your police license now will not be lost after the first shot of friendly fire, but it still only takes a few stray shots and its revoked.

-Another issue that pops up frequently is that of race relations, especially in guilds like UNCC who make it a habit of liberating cowardly pilots of their fine ships. Basically, ANY interaction with a race in THEIR sector will change your rep. Destroying Khaak/Xenon/Pirates in a race's sector will improve your rating, conversely, destroying a race's ships will have a negative effect. Capturing a race's ships (i.e. the Nova) has a lesser impact, especially if you DON'T shoot the pilot. Anytime you or one of your ships trades with an NPC station, your respective rating will go up, as will a NPC trader buying something from one of your fabs. A beneficial side effect of the Trade MK3 Software is that it makes hundreds of trades in a single sector, and this can skyrocket your rating. Put a Manta with TradeMk3 in each race's home sectors, and you can capture all day!
1.4 - Now, Assassination missions ONLY improve your rep, I've never seen a race rank drop since 1.4 even if I slaughter the escorts. With either the UT or Xai Galaxy Trader, your trading fleet of Boron Dolphins can easily pwn the X-Universe...

Feel free to add. If all else fails, ask on the forums, but remember to give the Search function a chance, or scroll through the first few pages even. There's a lot of helpful information on this forum right now.

1.4 - BTW, I'll try to update, but my job and R/L has kind of taken over my free time.

[VincentTH]

The map is incomplete BTW,

Spoiler

Show

it lacks the Unknown sector NW of Getsu Fune,

and Interlands should be Interworld.

[Redjack]

The map is incomplete BTW,

Spoiler

Show

it lacks the Unknown sector NW of Getsu Fune,

and Interlands should be Interworld.

The whole point of that map is that it has no hidden stuff on it.

Anyways, just so this post isn't a complete waste, I have a couple of contributions to the FAQ list that I see asked every day..

The hotkey for the Jumpdrive is Shift+J. It consumes energy cells. The amount used per sector depends on the size of your ship.

No, you can't win the lottery.

Khaak pilots never surrender, so you can't capture their ships.

[Gaderath]

anyone new to this game should add this to favorites, its hardly been online and i have used this more than another single source. its great, thx darshu!

[Argonaught.]

Next, a table that lists all the ships and their relevant stats:

http://th.klammer.bei.t-online.de/x2/x2ships.htm - if you have any questions about how to interpret these stats, read the manual or look at this post:

This is a good table...and I salute the guy who made it...but I must point out that the Table is limited and incomplete......this is the reason I spent hours collecting the information that's not listed in Alcs table.

The one I created has way more in the way of information that Newbie and Older XGamers alike would be looking for.

I'm blowing my own horn as I feel the work I put in deserves a mention somewhere.

Why bother putting a Guide together if it's not going to include the next best version of a File/list?
If someone creates a shiptable that blasts mine out of the water I'll accept it, praise their work and move on.

*feeling slightly put out*

[Pugz]

I'm adding a massive section to my site on X² including guides maps ship tables trading tables everything. So I'll add the link here when it's done.

[Darshu]

Hey don't feel bad Argonaught, I was just including links I had.

I do have your Ship Table, its great. I just didn't know if you'd want me to "host" it as it were.

Hey everyone, you should check Argonaught's ship table out!

Unfortunately, I don't think it will make a lick of difference. In the 12 hours or so since I posted this originally, I still have seen at least five new threads created, asking the very questions this post was intended to answer.

I guess my brother had it right when I asked him WTF? He said "is there a way to be notified when someone responds to your post? Then why would anyone spend THEIR time looking for something when they can be notified when someone else makes the effort again to answer their question while they are surfing pr0n or cooking or something?"

Maybe one of the mods SHOULD put a USE THE SEARCH FUNCTION OR CHECK STICKYS FIRST thread at the top of the page. I don't think its rude, I've seen other forums that have them. And since the EU version is out and the forums are being merged, most likely the forum will be deluged with repetitive questions, pushing all interesting stuff off the front page. Who knows, maybe the Europeans will be more considerate and at least have a cursory look at the FAQs and stickies, but from past experience with forum newbs, I doubt it.

[Argonaught.]

I see you suffering from "Extremely slow forum syndrome due to new members influx" due to you 3 repeated posts

I have no problem of folk hosting links to the shiptable....even if it's uploaded and linked from there own webspace (it would make it harder to update) but it's there for everyone to use......just link my name to it is all I ask.

The search function is bigtime broken and should be removed from the board until it's fixed.

PS;
Did you get the fixed version of the shiptable? My first draft was a disaster in file size (2mb), but it's now fixed and slimmer at 95kb.

[Hachiman]

Definitely a much needed sticky,save us from the 'those nasty triangles keep bumping into me and blowing me up,what can I do about it?' posts.....You don't mind answering the odd one but hundreds of the little buggers?.............Also need to get a few more hamsters on the job.

Neat avatar Darshu btw,nice Kesa Giri

[giskard]

Good idea Darshu

Here is some starting tips I just posted to help players get past the early game quickly without using in game loop holes or giving away too much of the plot.

http://www.egosoft.com/x2/forum/viewtopic.php?t=23822

The Commander's site at

www.the-commander.com

is a definite must read for new players too.
CJ has been running his X site for as long as I can remember and its always been a hub for fans who need more information.

Giskard

[Darshu]

Alright, here's some more tips:

-Possibly the easiest way to setup fabs, in the early game is to go with food fabs. Across the X-Universe, there is a MAJOR food shortage. Especially in Paranid sectors. If you look in a stations details (u) a lot of times food fabs will either A: have no stock available, or B: have some stock but none of its necessary food resource, such as Argnu Beef for Meatsteak Cahoona fabs.

This makes it easy to fill "niches" throughout the sectors to increase productivity whilst turning a tidy profit. Using the FATE script commands, downloadable at X2Scripting, its possible to setup several fabs, with only 1 Manta assigned to each, since the FATE commands can both buy and sell depending on what the fab needs.

A good example is Spring of Belief. Three SPPs with lots of extra energy (read: low cost to buy) two Soyeries constantly out of Soya Beans. Solution: set two Soya Farms in the sector, have one Manta at each factory assigned to FATE Auto Buy and Sell, then every once in a while check on them to download your profitssss! There's a shipyard two jumps away in Cardinal's Domain.

While the economy is definitely skewed so that SPPs provide the MOST profit per unit time, unless you're prepared to invest a lot of resources in making sure they ALWAYS have crystals, it can sometimes be hard to keep them operating, and it can be difficult to turn profits in areas with a high concentration of SPPs already established by NPCs. Also, "niche" markets are generally smaller operations, and less likely to suffer from Khaak incursions. Especially if there's a cap ship or corvette patrolling the sector.

[Darshu]

-To pickup cargo in space, such as missiles and spaceweed hehe, simply fly towards the container, at around 100 m hit the "o" key to open your cargo bay, and fly over it at between 50 and 100 m/s. Same procedure for spacefly harvesting, but you need the collector (purchased at Split Trading Ports), and an Ion Disruptor to "stun" them first.

-Be aware that carrying certain goods, such as Spaceweed and Spacefuel will cause you to be attacked if you don't jettison it, when you're "scanned" by local police ships.

-There are several scripts that I find indispensable when playing. These are downloadable from X2Scripting.com. They are:

-FATE Trading Commands
-XaiCorp Remote Jumpdrive Commands
-Get.Ware (for setting up fab chains the EASY way)
-ASEWS (causes Adv. Navsats to provide a warning anytime a Khaak enters its scanning range)
-Add Osprey - purchaseable at the Teladi Sipyard in Seizewell.

[Darshu]

-To be able to land at Paranid and Split sectors, you first have to "make a name for yourself." The quick and dirty way is to find any sector they own which has some pirates in it, and blast em! Once you've moved up one rank for these races (usually takes about 4 to 6 pirate kills), you can then dock in there stations, as well as trade with them. If you're in a Disco, target Mandalays, once you upgrade to an M4, such as a Buster, go after Bayamons. If you can capture a Bayamon (detailed above) these ships are basically Glass Cannons. Lots of firepower, but low shielding. Then you can use the Bayamon to blast M3s, such as the "evil" Novas as well as Orinocos and such.

Once you capture/buy an M3, that will probably be your main ship for quite some time, allowing you to build up your empire as well as defend it until such time as you can start purchasing M6 Centaurs for OOS defense.

[Darshu]

-Turret Commands. They can be confusing, but work like this:

-Missile Defence - prioritizes attacking missiles before they hit the ship. If no missiles are present or outside of the turret's firing arc, it will target any enemy ship within range.

-Attack My Target - will ONLY attack your designtaed target, and not shift to other targets of opportunity if the target flies outside its firing cone.

-Attack Enemies - will attack any enemy within range and firing cone, and will ignore missiles to keep plucking away at the bad guys.

Protect Ship - not entirely sure here, I think it attacks the closest threat, regardless of its classification, so a ship at 100m takes precedence over a missile at 500m.

[Darshu]

Three Plot Mission Assists here (for those who can't go to CJ's website, shame on you )

-BRENNAN'S TRIUMPH - probably the most asked question. What is killing you is a latticework of SQUASH mines, high powered, nigh undetectable (at least with starter gear) static explosives that are positioned so that if one goes off, several more do as well, ensuring your destruction. Easiest thing to do is to put off this mission for a while after doing the "Transport the Moron (Boron)" mission, in which you should have sold the two 25MW shields for a nice fat wad of cash.

Build a few fabs, work up a nice credit base, maybe capture some ships to sell (captured pirate ships can be piloted with no problems), and work your way up to an M3. An Argon Nova, with 3x25MW shields can pretty much fly through the minefield with no problems. Just fly around, using "Next Enemy Target" and shoot them down with your HEPTs. Once that's done, fly up to a nacelle, hit "Shift-E" to eject, and maneuver in your spacesuit to within about 25m of the surface, don't worry, you won't hit, a small cutscene will play.

If the first scan comes up negative, hop back in your ship and repeat the process with the other nacelle. BAM!

-ORE BELT - another confusing one, if you don't bother to listen to dialogue hehe. Its relatively easy, you need to scan a specific asteroid just "north" of the North gate in the Ore Belt sector, its a bit darker and slowly rotating. Once you scan the correct 'roid, a small cutscene will play. This whole time, you'll be attacked by several groups of Khaak, which increase in size as you get closer from what I've seen.

Once you've identified the correct 'roid and dealt with the Khaak ships, you either need to lauch a Hornet missile (nothing smaller will do) at the 'roid to blow it, or use a Mining Laser. Once that's done, there will be two or three "unknown objects" that you need to scoop up into your cargo bay, and then report back to Mik Balser *snicker* for further instructions.

-OMICRON LYRAE - a confusing mission at best. Its a mission where both speed and firepower are desperately needed. To complete the mission, you MUST be in a fighter type ship, M3 through M5. At the beginning of this mission, when you warp into the west gate of OL, its advisable to be in a big ship, to take down as many of the Khaak as possible, once you get the messages to "dock" with the Khaak M0, switch to an M3, such as a Nova and fly towards the marked nav point.

Once you make it to the floating indicator, a cutscene will play. Once its over, you then need to target individual "nodes" on the mothership, which are also marked on both your sector map and Gravidar. Once these are destroyed, another cutscene will play, once this is over, the mission is basically done. Afterwards its simply mop-up procedures on the avrious Khaak fighter ships.

While the concept is simple in this mission, execution can be difficult due to the fact that you have to maneuver in close to a spinning BIG ship, and any mistake will "catch" your ship just as if you had become entangled in a docking door. The need for a Strafe Drive cannot be emphasized enough, especially when encircling the M0 and destroying the nodes. Best of luck!

How am I doing on the updates?

[Bane_v2]

I put a little guide together as well. Apparently it's not worthy of being stickified...

http://www.egosoft.com/x2/forum/viewtop ... 653#262653

[Darshu]

No, yours is definitely worth stickying, and now it is, since you posted it here!

What we need to do is keep posting until every POSSIBLE question about the game is answered.

Then people won't even have to play! It will be a total mental thing. Like "I think I'm gonna setup a chip plant here... *calculates fun percentage, 2 seconds later* that was fun, now in the time I saved I'm gonna go jogging..."

Hmm, perhaps I should go to bed now.

Oh one tip, from personal experience:

-It looks like the difficulty not only affects your starting equipment but the frequency of Khaak spawns. I've noticed a HUGE increase in the amount of Khaak clusters when I moved to a new game in X-Treme. Can anyone else confirm this? The Khaak also seem to be more aggressive, but I could be mistaken.

[Dscaper]

Is that THE Giskard? (i.e. MW4)

[joostvv]

Darshu wrote :
-Advanced Sattelites do NOT have a video feed, this was a manual errata. The only difference is scanning range, and if you download the excellent ASEWS script from X2scripting, the advanced navsats will alert you to anyone Khaak incursions in a sector.

But they do, although only when you are in the same sector.
Try it : deploy one in some sector, goto the sector map with the .-key, scroll down to a ship and then zoom in.
Hit the k-key to see the difference with and without video.

See his OOS remarks to understand why this only works in the sector you currently are in.

Have fun !

[giskard]

Is that THE Giskard? (i.e. MW4)

It wasnt me Dcscaper, I didn't touch your Scat. Ash and Honey where the ones who painted the Target on the back of it. I think I saw The Baron shooting, For Range Test purposes only you understand



How is the old Business going anyway DS ?
Some of those sites that you showed me where really cool indeed.

Its good to see somebody else who keeps the same nickname for more than a single game.

Makes spotting old mates much easier.

I hope all is well over in the Dscaper house hold ?
Im still running Respawn and its still a .co.uk addy if you feel like dropping by

Giskard