X-Universe
pwned!
In previous issues of the X-Universe News we have tried to highlight ways that different members of the community have used their X-Universe experience to enhance others' enjoyment of X games. In this issue we're taking a look at one aspect of X gaming that quite a few have no doubt tried but not all succeed - Universal Domination. Due to the nature of the game, there will always be the threat of Xenon or Kha'ak, but eliminating the other races is a singularly tricky challenge. I asked DevNet colleague, Belisarius, if he'd share with the community his experience of attempting Universal Domination in X3: Reunion.
Q. Hi, Beli. In X3:R you were able to conquer the whole Universe. This is something many X players think or dream about doing, but often the 'realities' of the X-Universe mean we just don't get around to it. At what point in your game did you think, "I'm going to go for it... I'm going for total domination?"
A. Hi, Toastie. The idea of conquering the whole universe developed in my head right after I finished the main plot of X3: Reunion, but I didn't get started straight away. The reason behind this idea was the frustration I felt after finishing the plot; there wasn't much fighting anymore. People who know me also know that I'm not a big fan of the trading part of the games. It is easy to build complexes and run a few Universe Traders to gain money, but there was never much useful to do with that money except to build more complexes and hiring more Unitraders. That'd be a never-ending cycle, a boring never-ending cycle. Then patch 2.0 with the Bala Gi Research Missions was released and the player was granted the opportunity to build his own HQ. With this giant station I could reverse engineer ships and rebuild them. That really was when my evil plan started taking shape properly. The whole universe feared the Kha'ak and the Xenon, but they didn't expect me to be so frustrated that I'd start a 'Universe Domination Tour'.
Q. Which game start did you use and did this influence your decision to go for it?
A. I'd chosen the normal start with Julian Brennan starting in Argon Prime. Sure, this influenced the idea a little bit as if I'd have chosen another start without the plot activated I either would have started my domination tour right after a few In-Game hours or not at all, as with the plot disabled I wouldn't have been able to get the HQ and build my own fleet as quickly. I'm glad that I chose wisely.
Q. What tactics did you use in your quest for total domination?
A. There actually wasn't a tactic as such, but a plan what to do first and how to proceed. You can't build ships without the required resources, so I had to build giant complexes producing the wares I needed. At the beginning I even thought that I'd reach a point somewhere in the game when it becomes impossible to proceed without cheating. I was determined to go as far as possible and I really made it!
Q. What was the most challenging aspect of this quest?
A. Building the complexes. Clearly you can build stations and complexes anywhere, but I don't know any self-sustaining complex that doesn't need ore or silicon wafers i.e. mines to work. The problem of having enough mines of the right type in my sector nearly caused me to scrap the plan of universe domination and play another game, but then a topic on egosoft.com caught my attention which described how to bring mines into a chosen sector. I have to admit that this was an exploit but I wanted to stay vanilla as I had in all of my games played so far. It took more than 150 game hours but in this way I built dozens of giant resource producing complexes in one sector.
I'm very grateful to Lucike here as he made the scripts which made it possible to tell freighters to continually deliver the produced wares to the HQ. Without the Bonus Pack my game would have been modified quite early. Of course, building the resource complexes wasn't the only problem. All the ships I was building also needed weapons and these weapons needed to be stored somewhere. As the storage capacity of the complex isn't that huge and I needed the HQ's total capacity for the ship production, I also built 25 Equipment Docks. All this and I still hadn't taken a single step on my domination tour of the universe, because building a fleet strong enough for this took time. My fleet consisted solely of Split ships as I like the designs.
I had 150 Pythons, 55 Raptors and 230 Dragons (which was a bad idea as they are too weak against an Argon Centaur). A few of those ships were bought from the shipyards, but most were built in the HQ.
Of course all of this needs to be financed. There was my next problem. So I had to build more complexes selling products that the other races would need. The Teladi and Pirates were great customers in my weed complexes. My biggest one was self-sufficient and had 123 stations. It wasn't long before I had two billion credits in my account, so I spread it out to my EDs so I could get more. After I did all of this I started my great 'Universe Domination Tour'.
Q. Which race was the most satisfying to eliminate?
A. Borons! Hearing them gasping while dying gave me the feeling of being god in my own universe. I didn't want to enter a sector alone, firing at enemy ships and stations, so I took one of my Pythons into Lucky Planets and destroyed the Equipment Dock and the Shipyard. After that I was pretty sure they'd fire on me as soon as I enter one of their core sectors.
Q. Did you have to park flotillas in Xenon Sectors to guard against respawns?
A. Yes, I did and it felt like each respawn brought a wave of ships stronger than the last. But the Xenon weren't a huge problem as they are killable. There are ships in the universe which aren't, such as Argon One, which because of its relevance for the main plot, it's invincible and pretty powerful! There was also another Argon capital ship that I couldn't destroy. I think it was the Renown, another plot ship, but I don't remember if it was an M1 or an M2. I don't know how many ships I lost in the first few battle hours, but I think it was quite a few. It is impossible to assist in each battle and considering that the Out of Sector battle code in X3:R isn't the best, it was entirely likely that two M6 could kill an M1 within minutes. There I have to admit that using Split Dragons wasn't just a bad idea, but the worst one. A Dragon has just one turret and not the best shielding of all those M6 class ships.
Q. What were the first and last sectors that you 'liberated'?
A. I concentrated on Boron sectors first, starting with Lucky Planets. I then wiped out the Paranid (who are so arrogant, they don't deserve to be the last to get wiped out), moving onto the Argon, Pirates, Teladi and then the Split, the last 'liberated' race sector being Family Pride. My last epic battle was in Avarice against the mighty forces of BurnIt!. He may have thought his fleet was indomitable, but my flotilla of 25 M2s led by my personal Raptor overcame his forces in a final big battle. Unfortunately I couldn't overcome the Kha'ak as on Day 273 of my Universe Domination Tour, two Kha'ak capital ships entered my resource production sector, destroying factories and their guardians. Thus began the end of my era as Master of the Universe.
Q. Having done this in X3:R, how do you think you might do this in X3:TC?
A. I would do it the same way I did it in X3:R. This tactic worked well and the exploit with the jumping stations is still present in X3:TC and I hope it gets never fixed! But I don't think that I'll do this in X3:TC. This game offers so much fight that there's no need for me to take on the whole universe. I have to admit that I still haven't finished all of the plots.
Q. Finally, if you had one single piece of advice for a potential ‘master of the universe', what would it be?
A. It isn't enough to buy a little fleet and start to take out stations and ships. You will need to repair your ships and you will also need to buy or build new ships. Be patient and always have a plan of what to do next, otherwise your domination tour will come to an end right in the neighbouring sector.
Thanks for taking the time for this interview, Beli.
Thank you too, Toastie. It was great fun.
Toastie
Unintentional pun included 
)...oh? ok.I'll continue...
( UK TV advert,for those who don't get the joke).
