Completely frustrated and irritated (X3AP rant)

General discussions about the games by Egosoft including X-BTF, XT, X², X³: Reunion, X³: Terran Conflict and X³: Albion Prelude.

Moderator: Moderators for English X Forum

Post Reply
BrigandPhantos77
Posts: 517
Joined: Wed, 27. Dec 17, 05:47
x4

Completely frustrated and irritated (X3AP rant)

Post by BrigandPhantos77 » Sat, 30. Dec 17, 11:19

Not sure where to post this, but I am venting here.

Tired of the past 2 weeks not getting a single L to bail so I can complete the story line (Beryl Research - Deliver L for Argon). I have tried everything of the following. This mission needs to be reclassed from Hard to nearly impossible.

In the process of this I have tried to following ships.

Springblossom, Chimera, Dragon, and so far I am at my wits end ready to quit playing permanently. A game should be fun, not this frustrating.

Before the masses say anything, my loadouts

Springblossom (5 EMPC and 3 Antimatter Launcher) Had luck with 4 and 4, but in each case the bail was destroyed by my own weapons fire.

Heavy Dragon (6 PBE and 2 Ion Shard Railguns- which I dont fire.) Stick to the PBEs.

Chimera (6 PBEs and 2 Mass Drivers). This one makes pirates bail like crazy, so I think this is a good use fit. But here is now the problem.

Controls and AI pathing are really killing the game and flat out pissing me off. Xenon primary tactic is kamakaze almost every time.

If I get behind an L in an M6, 9 of 10 times he explodes on the front of my ship. The only way for me to prevent this is to slow to almost exact speed of L. And I am referring to my Springblossom. Its the only ship that got lucky enough to get one to bail. But unfortunately the overkill amount of weaponry kills them every time.

The Chimara? Cant really use against the Xenon as too many ships overwhelm me. By the time I get an L down enough I'm at 10% shields.
Before you say use wingman, that leads to another problem.

I just rage quit because my stupid springblossom slammed into me at full speed because I tried to stop moving to repair the hull damage to my Chimera from the last group. To which a Rapid Response Colossus appeared and made quick work of. (Black Hole Sun).

Every time I use wingman I have to spend half the time avoiding them because they constantly cut into my flight path, then have to avoid collision with me, which they have about an 80% success rate with. The other 20% they turn directly into me much like Xenon do. I think is a virus spread by the Xenon, seriously pisses me off.

For this reason I stick to M6's and solo most missions.

I have gotten to a point from having done soo many combat missions that my Xenon groups went from an average of 4 L's, 2 M's and 4 N's to (1 or 2) P's, 1 L, 3 M's and 6 really fast N's. And occasionally stuck with a Q instead of the 2 P's. Or P / PX combo. So my opportunities to cap an L are becoming less and less.

While the concept of this game is great which I love, the frustration level is too great for it to be enjoyable sometimes. The last time I rage quit, it was for 2 years.

I suggest adding, patching an update to this to allow for an alternate method of acquiring an L. The AI is great at selling random ships in random locations. Maybe allowing captured Xenon ships to be sold in this manner would allow for those of us frustrated like this an alternate means to acquire one. As I see it now, I am playing an un-modified game, I really don't want to use a cheat script "disabling achievements" just to complete 1 mission.

As it stands for me individually, I loved the videos on steam for X4. I absolutely loved what I saw. However, I'm not willing to put time into it knowing the frustration I have currently with X3AP and X3TC.

Another resolution would be to modify the mission so that Beryl Research would accept multiples of the N's or M's which I don't have any issues getting to bail in lieu of a single L.

Oh, an observation. I don't know if anyone else has noticed this, but the ship delivery missions dont seem to pay you more than what you paid for a ship, if you got it from a shipyard. Still good for a rep bump though.

One last thing I want to rant about. You should be allowed to retaliate against NPC's who shoot you without space police or rep loss. I was participating in a fight against Xenon in Scale Plate Green when a Teladi bomber nailed me with a Tomahawk. I heard the boom and saw my shield drop to zero and hull to 18.

I blew him up regardless, then reloaded. Teladi were not happy I did it. lmao!
Peace is a state of mind!
War is absolute!
~ Phantos ~

Alan Phipps
Moderator (English)
Moderator (English)
Posts: 30367
Joined: Fri, 16. Apr 04, 19:21
x4

Post by Alan Phipps » Sat, 30. Dec 17, 13:15

Moving to X Trilogy Universe (gameplay forum) from Tech Sp.
A dog has a master; a cat has domestic staff.

RAVEN.myst
Posts: 2585
Joined: Mon, 20. Jun 11, 13:16
x3tc

Post by RAVEN.myst » Sat, 30. Dec 17, 14:51

I'll try to be helpful.

Regarding making the Ls bail (or any ship, for that matter), I'm sorry to day but you're mostly using the wrong weapons (with one exception.) Your weapons are generally overpowered for the task, which is why you end up dusting the bails, as you end up with too much damage already en route to the target, which you cannot then cancel. EMPCs are average in strength vs shields, but quite strong vs hull, so your damage dealt suddenly escalates as you strip the shield. MAMLs are totally over the top for the job - big ungainly damage packets that are suited to destroying medium-sized ships, rather than trying to encourage a small ship to submit; they're also fairly inaccurate, which also makes them fine against medium or larger targets, but rather uncontrolled against small targets. Mass drivers are completely the wrong weapon because to force a bail-out your target needs to be shieldless and taking hull damage, whereas MD bypasses shields; there ARE ways to use MD in combination with other weapons for bailing purposes, but this is mostly just a way for advanced players to make an already challenging task even more difficult for themselves (or for bragging rights.) Ion shard railgun is also overpowered for the job - it's better at killing than at causing bails. PBEs, however, are a VERY good weapon to use, one of the best, in fact - they strip off shields effortlessly and keep them off, while damaging the hull slowly, thus giving you the opportunity to stop yourself in time (with the additional bonus that it has a decent rate of installed system destruction, so your target gets declawed along the way, giving you more control of the situation.)

Right, so what would be *my* recommendations? (The emphasis is so you understand I don't claim these to be THE best options, but that I find them effective; I'll also explain how/why.) Particle Accelerator Cannons I find fairly effective, as their shield damage is good, but their hull damage is somewhat lower (so, similar to the PBE but less extreme in both cases - good for similar reasons as the PBE, while also being a more versatile and energy efficient weapon.)

An alternative approach is to simply "do the numbers", by which I mean fight lots and lots of Xenon (you can arrange that by taking on Xenon patrol missions, and especially the Defend Position missions [* Footnote 1], and I've heard but can't confirm that mission fighters may have lower morale - but don't quote me on that.) In this approach, you recognise that bails are low-probability events, and maximise the odds not by trying to squeeze each signle opportunity, but by maximising the number of opportunities. If you have access to flak weapon (such as the Starburst Shockwave Cannon that can be fitted to the Springy), then you can simply go out and mass-murder Xenons, and soon enough you'll be leaving inactive wrecks all over the place. I have found this approach more effective and, perhaps more importantly, a LOT less frustrating! :)

Another thing to keep in mind with bailing is that the mechanics are quite detailed (I'm NOT going to go into those here, sorry - there are threads dealing with it, though they may require you to get a shovel out and start digging - that being said, you'll want to not dig them UP as such, ie. necroing threads is discouraged by the mods), but it means that checks are made at certain points. Here's my typical (sub-flak) approach: I fight all the Xenon I come across, first killing off everything that's not an L. When it comes to an L, I will strip its shields and after I've done some hull damage (anywhere up to about half, preferably more that one-quarter), I abruptly stop. The reason for this is that, unlike creature-piloted ships, Xenon don't announce to you when they are giving up, so you are almost certainly still shooting at tons of them that are in the process of bailing, without even realising it. My method gives each ship the time to resolve its bail process if it's happening, as well as avoiding most of the overkill damage situations you've described - if not, then I finish off that tin can and move onto the next.

The Springblossom is a powerful ship, but its speed and size do have their disadvantages. However, the speed mismatching you described... well, this is a good time to learn something new that is very useful in many situations other than this one (if you already know this, then pardon me, I don't mean to come across condescending or such) - I bind middle-mouse-button to "match speed" - this way, in the middle of a dogfight, I am able to constantly keep rematching my ship's speed to that of my target (with then the option of fine tuning up or down using the scroll wheel, if/as needed.) This allows me to stay on the tail of just about anything I've gotten behind, unless it's way more nimble than my ship.

Currently you are soloing for the most part - if you are not overly experienced yet (again, apologies if this is not the case), then this is a good choice. Wingmen, wings, groups, etc. can all be very powerful tools, but they are the "advanced course", so to speak - so mastering a single ship without the added responsibility of managing delegated assets is highly recommended.

You mention that your fight rank has gotten uncomfortably high in terms of the mission targets you are being served up. There is a way to mitigate this, though it's time-consuming and (in my opinion) rather cheesy (and in my opinion also annoying, as it happens when I don't want it, sometimes) - but if you're getting stuck, or simply your enjoyment is being compromised, then it may well be worth it. It's as follows: every hour of game-time (ie. 6 minutes of real time under 10x SETA, if you choose) that elapses without you so much as touching a key, your ranks will drop slightly. It takes time, though, so you can either dock somewhere and leave the game running or (better option) dock somewhere, make sure you have "Run game in background" enabled in your settings, and Alt-TAB out (thereby giving your GPU a break while you're at it :) ) Of course, if docked you can't speed up the process with SETA - for that you'd have to save (just in case), fly somewhere far far from traffic, and then park in space in SETA for as long as you need. Your fight rank will decay (there is a minimum it can drop to, but that's quite low, waaaaaay lower than what it takes to spit Qs at you) over time. You could, for example, leave the game running in the background overnight, say.

Regarding ship delivery missions: I've previously (back when I still did missions as part of my game style) made decent profits on these missions, even buying from shipyards. The thing is that the rewards scale with one or more of the following factors: race reputation, trade rank, number of this type of mission completed. I'm not sure what the exact criteria are, but if you cater to these three, you'll find the payouts improving.

Regarding "friendly fire" from NPCs, I totally agree with you - well, in a different way, anyhow. I wish they suffered consequences - ie. they shoot you, the police shoot THEM. The way it stands, it smacks of prejudicial prosecution - the cops are only interested in the player's misdemeanours or felonies, not those of anyone else. But c'est la vie, I guess...

I hope some of the above is of some help.
Good hunting! :)




[Footnote 1] These missions were previously known by the more descriptive name of "Xenon Invasion" missions in earlier titles, and are available in sovereign sectors adjacent to Xenon sectors - so, Black Hole Sun, Thynn's Abyss, Grand Exchange, Zyarth's Dominion, Menelaus's Paradise, Getsu Fune, Eighteen Billion, Scale Plate Green; I may have forgotten one. The missions are offered at Military Outposts when present, otherwise Equipment Docks if present, otherwise the Trade Port; in Zyarth's Dominion, there are no eligible structures, so the Split capital ships patrolling the sector offer these missions when available.
-
Boron passenger: "You must hurry - my testicles are drying out!"
-
Born on Lave, raised on Freeport 7...
-
The Write Stuff

Bill Huntington
Posts: 2493
Joined: Mon, 2. Feb 09, 17:34
x3tc

More

Post by Bill Huntington » Sat, 30. Dec 17, 19:13

BrigandPhantos77, I'm glad you posted. You've heard the term 'steep learning curve'. You're in the middle of it. There's answers to what you're asking. You could get them here. But making the game easy is not what brought most of us here.

Raven covered a lot. I'll go over some points a different way. I'll make it simple by explaining how I do it. I set up my M3 with PAC in half the slots and IREs in the other, on Button 1 and Button 2. I bring the shields down with Button 1, then attack the hull with Button 2 and IRE. The first bail check happens at hull 87.5 so you fire until the hull is 86. Then you wait before you fire again. There's a time delay before you can get the next bail check. I use the target shield recovery as a rough estimate. When a target with 3 x 25 shields has recovered to 20%, I attack again. There's a whole schedule after that but I just take it down after the first wait.

Terran ships don't have light weapons. You can get a bail on any single shot if it's eligible. More shots give more chances. So a light weapon like the IRE ends up the best choice, with PBE the next.

I agree on Wingman. Not worth the help for the distraction it brings. Now you know too.

You don't want 'modified'. There is a way to do something that helps but you end up 'modified'. But you save before you do it, then do the checking, then reload so you're not modified. Some effort but you get what you want that way. Morale is a big factor in bailing. Most Ls have high morale of 26 or so. If a ship is 10 or lower in morale, you have a good chance of bailing. Finding an L with 10 or lower is the hard part. Once you've found one, you reload a few times and you've got it. I've found them more often in Xenon initiated invasions of CW space. They're possible but rare in missions that you initiate, like Hold Position.

Here's how. Go to Change Name in Menu. Change your name to 'Thereshallbewings'. The system will pause for some moments. Then you go to the Command Console and press 's' or click on the Script Editor. You hit return twice, with a slight pause in between. You get to a screen that has a line 'Additional Info'. Change it to 'yes'.

Then check each target L for Morale. Most will be 26 or so. Keep checking until you get one with 10 or below. Note the ID number. Then reload knowing which target has low morale.

In future games you can take Xenon opportunities when they come up. It seems like Ls bail when you don't need them.

More: You use PBE. Use all of them to bring the shields down. Fine. Then put a single PBE on Button 3. Use the single PBE after the delay. Then you can stop when it bails. There's also a bigger ship bonus. When the hull is 10 % or lower, there's a bonus when you have the bigger ship. Like an M6 against an M3.

Good hunting!
Last edited by Bill Huntington on Sun, 31. Dec 17, 00:38, edited 2 times in total.
Bill in S.F., enjoying the game

RAVEN.myst
Posts: 2585
Joined: Mon, 20. Jun 11, 13:16
x3tc

Re: More

Post by RAVEN.myst » Sat, 30. Dec 17, 19:17

Bill Huntington wrote:It seems like Ls bail when you don't need them.
Indeed! :S
-
Boron passenger: "You must hurry - my testicles are drying out!"
-
Born on Lave, raised on Freeport 7...
-
The Write Stuff

BrigandPhantos77
Posts: 517
Joined: Wed, 27. Dec 17, 05:47
x4

Post by BrigandPhantos77 » Sat, 30. Dec 17, 19:19

A couple notes. I did call it a rant for a reason. :)

I've played this game over and over, been playing since X2: The Threat.

I've been running patrols from Hila's Joy to Getsu Fune as the best cluster of Xenon patrols seem to appear there for me.

I steer clear of using Cluster Flak or Starburst Shockwaves because of the fact that I will end up hitting the Rapid Response Navy ships who constantly appear to assist in battling the Xenon.

I'm working on Achievements for steam, the Respect being my current goal. So my rep is high among all races, just can't buy Paranid or Split capitals yet. Credits not an issue either thanks to Stock Exchange. So buying whatever isn't a problem except them caps for the 2 races fore mentioned. I'm sure I've found those other threads, but a lot of the methods still leave me frustrated as I guess I am just having really bad luck.

I have a few loadouts/ships to try.
Peace is a state of mind!
War is absolute!
~ Phantos ~

BrigandPhantos77
Posts: 517
Joined: Wed, 27. Dec 17, 05:47
x4

Post by BrigandPhantos77 » Sun, 31. Dec 17, 02:25

I'm ok with a steep learning curve and most of the challenges of this game. And I am going to try dropping shields and hull to less than 85%, then let shields recharge back to 20% and rinse and repeat.

My biggest luck with getting bails in the past has always been when using a combo of big weapons and little weapons. Always seemed like the more I had flying towards my target, the bigger chance of a bail. I always aim my shots like that in hopes that half misses the target on purpose, but in past always got more bails like this.

The only other irritating part is when the CW navy shows up and kills that unfinished L that I just pounded on. Then I lose the little bugger. On a previous game I got one to bail from a patrol I set up in Ore Belt. They were pounding the L and I hit it with a few shots. Honestly think I was flying a Skiron at the time, and hitting it with PACS. Or PRGs. My favorite aspect of this game is playing with the PHQ and RE ships and the like. That way I can build the not for sales at will.

Do you know of any links to a list of ships that are specifically not sold at any shipyards?

I know there's a list that shows all and notes which ones can't be bought, but I'd rather get a list of ships that can't be purchased without all the fluff if you know what I mean.
Peace is a state of mind!
War is absolute!
~ Phantos ~

fireanddream
Posts: 384
Joined: Sun, 13. Dec 15, 07:15
xr

Post by fireanddream » Sun, 31. Dec 17, 02:44

On my first AP playthrough I got lucky and claimed an L in Grand Exchange way before the mission requested one.

Now I'm asked to do the same thing. Yesterday I flew into Xenon sector 101 in my Hyperion hoping to get a lucky cap but it quickly developed into endless dogfights with PBE mounted Xenon ships along Qs, Ps, and PXs.

My 8 ISR mounted Hyperion is not ideal for the job. I missed a lot and spent a lot of time chasing. Here's my improvisation that should work for both of us:

1. Switch weapon to FLAK, PBE, PBG, or PSG. The last one is a little risky. These are the best weapons against fighters as they don't miss. All the better if you can install them in turrets and then all there's left to be done is just save & loading.

2. Like others said, do the numbers. Some pilots won't bail because of their high morale so if one doesn't bail after 15ish reloads, kill it an find another one.

3. Fighting rank matters. I'm at harmless so might as well kill a Q first.

EDIT:
I just read the whole thread and BOI, do your capping in a nice and quiet Xenon sector where AI's "helping fire" won't be a problem.
BrigandPhantos77 wrote:Do you know of any links to a list of ships that are specifically not sold at any shipyards?
M1: Colossus Hauler, Aran, Galleon, J, Valhalla
M2: Brigantine, K, I
M7: Agamemnon, Carrack, Q
M6: P, PX, Heavy Centaur Prototype, Hyperion, Acinonyx Prototype
plus all "advanced", "prototype" and "pirate" variants of M3s, M4s and M5s.
Last edited by fireanddream on Sun, 31. Dec 17, 05:09, edited 2 times in total.

SirNukes
Posts: 546
Joined: Sat, 31. Mar 07, 23:44
x4

Post by SirNukes » Sun, 31. Dec 17, 04:13

Another option for L capping is to mount starbursts in the springblossom turrets. This has a couple advantages: a starburst will tend to knock off a good chunk of hull for the first bail check, improving odds of a bail; turrets will stop targeting a ship once it turns blue; and starbursts won't leave a bunch of shots heading toward the target that can kill it after the bail. This works best with a volume based approach, fighting as many Ls as you can find instead of picking at individuals.

RAVEN.myst
Posts: 2585
Joined: Mon, 20. Jun 11, 13:16
x3tc

Post by RAVEN.myst » Sun, 31. Dec 17, 07:49

fireanddream wrote: 1. Switch weapon to FLAK, PBE, PBG, or PSG. The last one is a little risky. These are the best weapons against fighters as they don't miss. All the better if you can install them in turrets and then all there's left to be done is just save & loading.
I hope you're not referring to the Hyperion here, as it can't mount flak (except for the lame FBL) or the PSG. Speaking of PSG, I can quite confidently (I just did a playthrough that was pretty much ALL about PSG, as I considered myself to have way underused it in the past) say that's one of the worst weapons for bailing - because of the way the damage propagates, it's still hammering the area where the bailed ship was long after it's bailed, and comfortably enough to turn it into pancaked dust :D And if there are other enemy ships in the vicinity, it will keep sending out its bubbles of destruction unless the turrets are hurriedly turned off - but almost certainly too late by then in any case. Whereas in a flak-equipped frigate I leave bailed husks strewn all over the place after a short while, with PSGs mounted I had only found one surviving bailed ship after about 2 weeks of in-game time - even a Deimos with just 2 PSGs per turret was obliterating everything - because, they are indeed excellent anti-fighter weapons.
fireanddream wrote: 2. Like others said, do the numbers. Some pilots won't bail because of their high morale so if one doesn't bail after 15ish reloads, kill it an find another one.
"Fifteen reloads"? *blink-blink* I don't reload, at all: I take down the shields and some hull, I pause for ~3secs... if it doesn't bail I finish the job and move on - consider the amount of time saved on periodically saving (just before every fight) and then constant reloads... Ploughing on and just chewing through as many Xenon as possible soon enough yields what I'm after - and if I run out of enemies where I am for a while, I get to simply get on with other things and their benefits, whatever those may be. :) Also, it doesn't feel cheesy, nor as tedious/frustrating - therefore feels more natural (to me, at any rate.) Ironically, while it involves higher willingness for patience up-front, it demands less patience in the long run. I'm in-game to play the game, not wear my hard drive to a nub :D (For the sake of clarity, I *used to* to the whole save-try-reload thing, so when I say I get far better results by not doing that, it's from direct [yet still subjective, granted] experiential comparison and not speculation. Of course, as always, 'experiences may differ'... ;) )


@BrigandPhantos77: Regarding your aversion to flak use near friendly/neutral ships - it's not particularly prone to friendly fire incidents (unlike PSG - use responsibly and with care! :D hehehe), as it's fast-propagating and therefore accurate. I use my flak-bearing frigates and ship-of-the-line capitals even in tight multipartisan furballs, with little to no fear of hitting a friendly. I'm not saying it's impossible - just not very likely. It's still the best weapon for drive-by "bail-encouraging"... just make sure you have as many candidates on hand as possible. ;) And, as fireanddream suggested, hunting Xenon away from "helpful" friendly-fire is advisable, and also frees you up to use just exactly whichever weapons you feel like.


Technically, the Valhalla is a destroyer (super-destroyer? M2+) and not a carrier, even though it does have a carrier-sized fighter bay.

SirNukes wrote:Another option for L capping is to mount starbursts in the springblossom turrets. This has a couple advantages: a starburst will tend to knock off a good chunk of hull for the first bail check, improving odds of a bail; turrets will stop targeting a ship once it turns blue; and starbursts won't leave a bunch of shots heading toward the target that can kill it after the bail. This works best with a volume based approach, fighting as many Ls as you can find instead of picking at individuals.
I agree 100% with all of the above. This is equivalent, in its salient points, to using a flak-mounted frigate for capping: do mass numbers, don't single out targets, and let the flak-bearing turrets do the work, as their cessation of fire is more immediate than a human's. I haven't found a more reliable method, personally. In fact, the number of unclaimed hulks I leave strewn about would have the green/eco crowd furious at me! :P (Less so since I started using SEWN, as I get annoyed by the notifications, disable them, then they are re-enabled next session, rinse-repeat, so I get fed up and take something with a hangar and system override software, and mop it all up for my HQ to recycle - or I simply go around and actually pop all those wrecks.)


Right, now... coffee (and hoping that after drinking it I don't realise this post needs serious editing, or even scrapping altogether :P )
Good hunting!
Last edited by RAVEN.myst on Sun, 31. Dec 17, 07:56, edited 1 time in total.
-
Boron passenger: "You must hurry - my testicles are drying out!"
-
Born on Lave, raised on Freeport 7...
-
The Write Stuff

BrigandPhantos77
Posts: 517
Joined: Wed, 27. Dec 17, 05:47
x4

Post by BrigandPhantos77 » Sun, 31. Dec 17, 07:53

PBG and Flak might be a good way to go, I spent 4 hours today hitting Xenon over and over with PBE with no luck. I used a suggested method above to check there Morale, and everything is spawning with Morale of 25 and not a point less. These are patrol missions. Finally got one marked as easy. Got a ton of Ls after the first wave.

I dropped an L that was left over after I mauled his buddies. I dropped his shields with a full PBE assault 10 times with him not bailing. Gave up and moved on. On a bright side I am 1 bump from maxing Teladi. Then it'll be on to Split then Paranid for the achievement.

Barrel Roll achievement was interesting. Nice distraction Egosoft. :D Cute.

I'm starting to get good at dodging kamakaze Ps now too. Always go left, never right. "They will probably prove me wrong later."

I was bummed with one of the L's I singled out. Destroyed all his weapons and he still wouldn't bail, just kept playing chicken with me. I had no choice but to kill him when a Phoenix jumped in on top of us and started shooting at him. "My KILL! Dangit! Teladi buzzard in capital ship GO WAY!!"

Oh yea, that's why I try to avoid using PBG and any Flak style weapons in CW systems. And in my game so far all the Xenon systems are well guarded except the red route. That system don't got squat in it except a pair of Q's and a mix of Ns and Ms. Rare for any Ls, guess the Teladi like to send Caps in here frequently so its got little defense. Upside, generates lot's of traffic through Black Hole Sun with fleets trying to get there.

Guess I could put together another springblossom to try the starburst cannons on turrets.
Peace is a state of mind!
War is absolute!
~ Phantos ~

Timsup2nothin
Posts: 4690
Joined: Thu, 22. Jan 09, 17:49

Post by Timsup2nothin » Sun, 31. Dec 17, 08:46

My somewhat different take on the L bailing thing: I've never had a problem with it except when I've put off the plot, and I don't do much of anything to try to improve my chances. I blast 'em. If they bail, great, if they don't they are dust and I blast the next one.

Here's the observation: if I go straight into and plow through the plot I reach the L capping thing while my fight rank is still pretty low and all I really have to work with is the Centaur they gave me. Because my fight rank is so low just flying around sectors that aren't the heavy Xenon gate zones and taking patrol missions tends to spawn Xenon groups that are heavy on Ls, and those spawns are low moral spawns that bail more easily.

When I do the plot late I have all these ship choices and weapon choices and that's all great...but usually my rank is higher and the sector patrol missions are spawning LXs or Ps instead of groups of Ls.
Trapper Tim's Guide to CLS 2

On Her Majesty's Secret Service-Dead is Dead, and he is DEAD

Not a DiD, so I guess it's a DiDn't, the story of my first try at AP
Part One, in progress

HEY! AP!! That's new!!!

jlehtone
Posts: 21801
Joined: Sat, 23. Apr 05, 21:42
x4

Post by jlehtone » Sun, 31. Dec 17, 11:35

Xenon Hub. There is no RRF for the Xenon Hub sector (unless the player assembles such fleet) and "native" Xenon are easy to lure into the place (by just linking Xenon trafficked gates).

Like Tim, I don't "go after" ships; the bails are just "collateral damage". My "issue" is that sectors fill with unclaimed ships that I don't bother to clean out. (I have started X3AP only once and keep playing that one game. Hence the accumulation.)
Goner Pancake Protector X
Insanity included at no extra charge.
There is no Box. I am the sand.

BrigandPhantos77
Posts: 517
Joined: Wed, 27. Dec 17, 05:47
x4

Post by BrigandPhantos77 » Sun, 31. Dec 17, 19:05

jlehtone wrote:Xenon Hub. There is no RRF for the Xenon Hub sector (unless the player assembles such fleet) and "native" Xenon are easy to lure into the place (by just linking Xenon trafficked gates).

Like Tim, I don't "go after" ships; the bails are just "collateral damage". My "issue" is that sectors fill with unclaimed ships that I don't bother to clean out. (I have started X3AP only once and keep playing that one game. Hence the accumulation.)
Nice thought, but one slight problem. On my current play through this is unavailable since I have not reached that point in the plots. Capping an L is required for Beryl Research, which has placed me in this frustration.

My current combat rank is Warrior and climbing fast. I have killed over 100 L's without a single bail. I have a save file from an earlier time, where I was Militant, but I prefer not to go backwards.
Peace is a state of mind!
War is absolute!
~ Phantos ~

BrigandPhantos77
Posts: 517
Joined: Wed, 27. Dec 17, 05:47
x4

Post by BrigandPhantos77 » Sun, 31. Dec 17, 19:48

RAVEN.myst wrote:
fireanddream wrote: I agree 100% with all of the above. This is equivalent, in its salient points, to using a flak-mounted frigate for capping: do mass numbers, don't single out targets, and let the flak-bearing turrets do the work, as their cessation of fire is more immediate than a human's. I haven't found a more reliable method, personally. In fact, the number of unclaimed hulks I leave strewn about would have the green/eco crowd furious at me! Razz (Less so since I started using SEWN, as I get annoyed by the notifications, disable them, then they are re-enabled next session, rinse-repeat, so I get fed up and take something with a hangar and system override software, and mop it all up for my HQ to recycle - or I simply go around and actually pop all those wrecks.)
I'm happy and elevated in mood by this method giving me the success I needed. Menaleaus Paradise offered me the Defend Position mission which was marked as Easy.

Saved before accepting.

1st attempt, 1 x P, 1 x L, 2 x M 3 x N
- Killed P first, had to perform rectal surgery on it with my springblossom, but hey, the thing exploded and I lost minimal shielding.

RRF took out most of the N's and Ms, L was too slow to keep up but he exploded from my Starburst. Oh well, reload.

2nd attempt, 1 x P, 2 x L (yummy), 2 x M and 2 x N.
Did not get to shoot the Ms and Ns, oh well. RRF took them out again. Killed the P, this time with EMPC and MAMLs, let Starburst do there work again. First one heard the boom, saw my payment increase, started thinking.... guess I will just let this one go. Let starburst kill second L, suddenly went Red to Blue and half hull. (Holy Sheet! it worked!) My :evil: became :P so I quickly moved out of range of the starburst cannons.

Open universe map, quickly move to Bluish Snout, open Trade Station, open Zephyrus sitting docked and tell it Jump to Me (I was right on the xenon gate).

After repairing the L (to give it it's speed back) and having the stupid Zephyrus narrowly miss hitting both me and my new L jumped back in and ordered the L to dock.

Oh yea, i would have rage destroyed that Zephyrus had it actually hit my L.

This is my whole complaint about wingman, follow me, protect me. They entirely get too close, and the evade collision usually causes a collision. With or without seta.

Don't worry, I was smart enough to save as soon as the mission completed with my L intact. I carry a minimal of 3000 salvage insurance at all times.

I appreciate the detail all of you went into with your suggestions. My kudos go to Raven.myst. My keyboard and mouse are breathing a sigh of relief as they are usually my venting post. lmao.

Its difficult to go from playing these for years, to something like Zombie / Crafting / Survival which is a very different beast altogether, back to something like this.
Peace is a state of mind!
War is absolute!
~ Phantos ~

RAVEN.myst
Posts: 2585
Joined: Mon, 20. Jun 11, 13:16
x3tc

Post by RAVEN.myst » Sun, 31. Dec 17, 20:04

Yay! Happy to hear you finally came right :)
Watch, now that you don't need one anymore, they'll be "blueing" all over the place :S ****ing Murphy, eh?

Happy hunting! :) And Nappy Yew Hear, while I'm here...


EDIT: PS: We were all pretty much on the same page here, so I can't take the credit. But thanks anyway. ;)

Incidentally, you mention the fear that your mouse and keyboard live in... I once lost a Logitech G15 in this manner... :( It wasn't in an EgoSoft game, at least, and an insanely acute/intense gout attack was largely to blame (after over a week of literally no sleep, sanity had long since left the building...)
-
Boron passenger: "You must hurry - my testicles are drying out!"
-
Born on Lave, raised on Freeport 7...
-
The Write Stuff

BrigandPhantos77
Posts: 517
Joined: Wed, 27. Dec 17, 05:47
x4

Post by BrigandPhantos77 » Mon, 1. Jan 18, 02:07

You should see one of my old PS3 controllers. I kept the shell as a reminder, and of course how expensive they are. lol....

I went strolling north of Getsu Fune, I left an M floating in there since the trek to the gate was too far. Maybe someday I'll go retrieve it.

I learned a couple good things during this process. Once you say a P will dodge right, it will coincidentally dodge left to spite you.

Also, it only takes 30 Specters to kill a Q outright.

It's a liberating feeling knowing that I can just kill the Xenon outright now. Can't wait till I begin boarding attempts against P's, PX's and Q's. I remember back when the PHQ was held by an Orca and you had to board it to get it. I hated that mission. Glad it's soo much simpler now.

Spoiler
Show
Just buy the TL.
Still, I want the pirate caps just because of the names. I've managed to keep my rep up with the Terrans despite having to kill so many of them. So acquiring there's is a matter of credits. I wish one of the Devs would recode the CW PHQ to match the Terran PHQ in cargo size. That way
Spoiler
Show
I could build my own caps.
Peace is a state of mind!
War is absolute!
~ Phantos ~

RAVEN.myst
Posts: 2585
Joined: Mon, 20. Jun 11, 13:16
x3tc

Post by RAVEN.myst » Mon, 1. Jan 18, 08:08

You can build almost all of the capital ships in a CW HQ - there's only the Valhalla and perhaps one or two others that are out of reach (I forget exactly.) Since you're apparently intending to... "repurpose" some Xenon capitals, here's a couple of things:
Spoiler
Show
The first you may already know: they are FIENDISHLY difficult to board, you'll require marines with 100% skills, and may need to send in a reinforcement wave.
On the upside, Js and Ks (but not Qs - unless that's changed in X3AP to bring them in line with the others) are extremely cheap (and therefore also quick) to build in the HQ. I'm talking a J will take you around the time and resources of a heavy corvette to build, and the K more or less those of a frigate (I'm hazy on the specifics, but they are available on the old X3 Wiki, if you want.) The P and PX weren't anything special costs-wise in X3TC, but I don't remember boarding any X3AP, so I don't know. And for reference, the fighters ARE quite cheap for their classes, but also commensurately underpowered - the L is nothing special as an M3 fighter, but it's really fast to build at 40-odd minutes, so these make excellent drone fighters for a first carrier, until such time as they can be replaced by some stronger alternative. Or, of course, one can make Js and fill them with Ls, keeping it thematic. :)
Good hunting :)
-
Boron passenger: "You must hurry - my testicles are drying out!"
-
Born on Lave, raised on Freeport 7...
-
The Write Stuff

BrigandPhantos77
Posts: 517
Joined: Wed, 27. Dec 17, 05:47
x4

Post by BrigandPhantos77 » Tue, 2. Jan 18, 00:34

Thematic is likely going to be the case for me. Unfortunately that means I gotta make another bail, lol.... since the only one I got this play through was given to Beryl. Can also go Deca since they are based on terraformer ships. I can buy plenty :D but that kinda defeats the RE purpose.

So maybe I go N of Getsu Fune and wreak havoc. Maybe even claim that lonely M I left behind.

By the way, Have NPC pilots ever claimed the random generated engine tunings on you?

I ran a script to locate them at the beginning of my game, and wrote the coordinates down. When I finally picked a ship to put them on they were gone in 3 of the systems they were in.

Kind of annoying thinking of some random Recon ship or pirate picking it up, then getting destroyed because lets face it, AI is really stupid on there own. lol
Peace is a state of mind!
War is absolute!
~ Phantos ~

RAVEN.myst
Posts: 2585
Joined: Mon, 20. Jun 11, 13:16
x3tc

Post by RAVEN.myst » Tue, 2. Jan 18, 06:08

BrigandPhantos77 wrote:By the way, Have NPC pilots ever claimed the random generated engine tunings on you?
Yes, eventually - the longer you leave it, the fewer you'll end up finding.
-
Boron passenger: "You must hurry - my testicles are drying out!"
-
Born on Lave, raised on Freeport 7...
-
The Write Stuff

Post Reply

Return to “X Trilogy Universe”