M3 as MissileShips

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

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pasmon
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M3 as MissileShips

Post by pasmon » Mon, 26. Feb 18, 21:29

I have currently equipped my 6 eclipse wing in panther with 18 Tornado missiles installed and when i launch them on a Q, only one of them fire missile and only when close in(probability of the entire wing is 35%).

How can i command them all to launch at the once in a line and then call them back as any missile blast in their vicinity will vaporize my m3 too.

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Post by Alan Phipps » Mon, 26. Feb 18, 22:36

Each vanilla combat round (the length of which varies between IS, OOS observed, and OOS not observed), the attacking ship rolls the RNG against its missile probability to see if it EITHER uses a gun salvo (if in line of sight and gun range when IS) OR launches just one missile (just one warhead if OOS - not a swarm or sequence of missile warheads). Usually each AI ship only has one missile in flight at any one time - unless it is a barrage specialist.

If you want lots of longer range fighter missile launches in vanilla you need to be IS with your fighters and those set to a very high or 100% missile probability - or you call them bombers and ungroup their guns (or remove them to make room for more missiles) except for their anti-missile turrets.

In practice, I find most effective using a mixed fleet of slower fighter-bombers (with very high missile chance), some with high impact non-AOE missiles and others with swarmers as decoys. The rest of the attack fleet being fast attack fighters with no missile chance but optimised for doing IS gun damage such as using low energy or ammo-based weapons to allow for long salvos.

Setting up in advance the various fighter/bomber groups with leaders and followers and each individual ship with the appropriate correct orders and settings is key to a well-coordinated attack - but that is a subject unto itself. You also should expect, and have a pre-determined method for dealing with, likely fighter/bomber losses.

I find the fun in setting up and playing out the carrier fleet battle and whilst I certainly do not expect a lossless 'I win' on most occasions, I do try to learn from the scenarios that go badly.

Pro tip: missiles and fighter drones launched by the carrier can be useful during fleet fighter engagements too, both as additional attacks and as decoys.
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pasmon
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Post by pasmon » Tue, 27. Feb 18, 06:35

If you want lots of longer range fighter missile launches in vanilla you need to be IS with your fighters and those set to a very high or 100% missile probability - or you call them bombers and ungroup their guns (or remove them to make room for more missiles) except for their anti-missile turrets.
I was IS with my MCM launching 6 eclipses with 100% probability of missile launches as a wing command. Only one of them launched. Other launched when dogfighting with "Q" and got vaporized as the result.

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Post by Triaxx2 » Tue, 27. Feb 18, 12:38

If they have other options, the AI will randomly select the best option and missiles aren't always. Also Tornadoes are dumbfire, which means they travel in a straight line and the AI don't like to use them.
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pasmon
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Post by pasmon » Tue, 27. Feb 18, 15:41

Okay I will check if Ai like to use thunderbolt missiles by default as they are tracking based.

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Post by pasmon » Thu, 1. Mar 18, 13:49

If they have other options, the AI will randomly select the best option and missiles aren't always. Also Tornadoes are dumbfire, which means they travel in a straight line and the AI don't like to use them.
AI truly prefers tracking missiles over non-tracking one. This makes fighters ineffective against capital ships as their flaks will quickly eliminate any swarm before their missile damage buildup. Tornadoes are suitable with personal ship only.

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Post by Triaxx2 » Thu, 1. Mar 18, 14:24

Tempests are always my choice, but I also tend not to deploy M3's versus capitals. If you really want fighter sized anti-capital punch, you want to bring along an M8 bomber with Tomahawks, and issue the barrage order manually.
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pasmon
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Post by pasmon » Thu, 1. Mar 18, 21:31

Well i was focusing on carrier based combat and clearly M8 has to be left behind.

My Eclipses get roasted by FAA/belgua missiles of M7 especially Q very quickly. How to keep a wing of them away from the FAA range of an M7 in term of "formation type", "wing leader" etc?

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Post by DrSuperEvil » Sat, 3. Mar 18, 21:08

The point of FAA is as an anti fighter weapon. If you want to use the missiles set it to 100% always.

Tornado Missiles do good damage for the price but are not homing so have trouble hitting anything smaller than an M1/M2 or a station in sector. OOS do not rely on missiles and do not expect anything with under 400k shielding to survive a single round of combat.

In sector rather use Thunderbolt missile payloads and use the full range to the advantage since non player ships tend to wait until a missile hits/expires before launching the next.

I personally never engage Qs with fighters unless they are already considered writeoffs/spammable from the PHQ.

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Post by Le Boron Chétif » Mon, 5. Mar 18, 09:48

I have a related question so will post it here rather than opening a new thread...

What are the most powerful and effective missiles to equip a small fighter wing for IS combat? (Basically I've got 9 Aamon aboard my Griffon, and am looking to make them as potent as possible against both other fighters and capitals).
:boron: Blub?

pasmon
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Post by pasmon » Mon, 5. Mar 18, 10:16

In sector rather use Thunderbolt missile payloads and use the full range to the advantage since non player ships tend to wait until a missile hits/expires before launching the next.
There must be a missile barrage command for the entire wing to launch a specific missile with minimum cool down from a specified distance and for balance, AI should also be allowed to do the same.

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Post by DrSuperEvil » Mon, 5. Mar 18, 13:04

Unless you can get hold of some Medusa Prototypes it is best to use Thunderbolts while Tornados are good for demolishing stations. Also for missile bombing runs aim for >15 ships. The OTAS Solano or Scorpion Prototype are good due to their low costs.

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Post by jlehtone » Mon, 5. Mar 18, 21:09

pasmon wrote:There must be a missile barrage command for the entire wing ...
Go to S&M. Scripters have surely done something like that. :goner:
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Post by ajime » Tue, 6. Mar 18, 04:28

Le Boron Chétif wrote:I have a related question so will post it here rather than opening a new thread...

What are the most powerful and effective missiles to equip a small fighter wing for IS combat? (Basically I've got 9 Aamon aboard my Griffon, and am looking to make them as potent as possible against both other fighters and capitals).
Against fighters? slap in swarm missiles. Against capship?Nope. Kinda remember the thunderbolt was damaging assuming the fighter wing doesn't get shredded first before launching missiles. Can't remember explicitly the missile names since i haven't booted X3 for quite some time.

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Post by pasmon » Tue, 6. Mar 18, 14:23

Go to S&M. Scripters have surely done something like that.
Individual Scripts destroy the overall balance and hence fun of game. Only the original developers know how to manage both of them together.

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Post by Nanook » Tue, 6. Mar 18, 20:52

pasmon wrote:
Go to S&M. Scripters have surely done something like that.
Individual Scripts destroy the overall balance and hence fun of game. Only the original developers know how to manage both of them together.
Not really true. All the Bonus Pack scripts started out as player-made ones and were adopted by Egosoft. Another example is the Universal Trader script 'Trade Command Mark III'. This started out in X2 as a player script and was subsequently incorporated into every X3 game.

What? Do you think the developers can think of, and do, everything in a game, especially small developers like Egosoft? They depend on the player base to help add functionality to the game, either by suggestions or by scripts and mods. It's up to each individual player to decide what's fun for them. To make a blanket statement that scripts "destroy the overall balance and hence fun of game" is silly.
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Post by jlehtone » Tue, 6. Mar 18, 22:35

pasmon wrote:Individual Scripts destroy the overall balance and hence fun of game.
Well, well, well ... :twisted:

You did state:
pasmon wrote:There must be a missile barrage command for the entire wing to launch a specific missile with minimum cool down from a specified distance and for balance, AI should also be allowed to do the same.
To me that looks like you would consider the game more fun, if such "individual" wing missile barrage script would be added to the game. Why should it matter, who adds the script, if it does what you want?

But then you did claim that additional scripts added by player destroy fun. The vanilla game does not have such script, so vanilla must be more fun than a missile barrage from fighters? You, as a player, cannot possibly know what is fun for you, but the devs do?

:?



X3 Reunion did not have M8, M7M, or wings. No missile barrage of any sort. Good balance, yes?
A player wrote a "hotkey script" that did add "Group launch missile at my target." Must be bad?
Egosoft did include that script into X3R Bonuspack, making it "vanilla". How someone else's blessing could suddenly change the (lack of) fun and balance that you perceive in a script?


Some of the "individual scripters and modders" of earlier games have become "devs" of the later games. How did they manage to shift from destroying balance into knowing how to set it right?


Sorry, but I believe that these games should be played in every way that the players want to play them. :pirat:
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pasmon
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Post by pasmon » Wed, 7. Mar 18, 08:06

Some of the "individual scripters and modders" of earlier games have become "devs" of the later games. How did they manage to shift from destroying balance into knowing how to set it right?
So if i introduce a comprehensive mod implementing aesthetic changes, it will be finally accepted by the devs to be a part of game? Why did not Codea get accepted? It was a great idea as i read.

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Post by Nanook » Thu, 8. Mar 18, 00:08

Codea is available for those that want it. However, it does raise the difficulty level, and so most likely was not considered a good candidate for inclusion. Most Bonus Pack scripts add some kind of functionality to the game without making it more difficult. Here's another example - boarding. That originally came into being as a player-made mod for X3 Reunion. The functionality was added to subsequent games, but the mechanics were vastly different. For that matter, ideas from Codea were probably added to Rebirth, too.

One of the best aspects of player-made mods and scripts is it allows players to test out new ideas for the game, which may get included in the next game in one form or another (or even as a Bonus script for the current one). :)

So I'm really not comprehending where you get the idea that "Individual Scripts destroy the overall balance and hence fun of game." :?
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Post by Triaxx2 » Thu, 8. Mar 18, 02:46

I would say the complexity level rather than the difficulty level myself. (Seriously it's a pain to get it to stand up and behave itself.)

Think of Scripts and Mods as condiments. You first take a bite of the meal. And then you adjust it to your personal tastes. You don't want scripts to change the balance, I like moving the balance. That's fantastic. I love a game that lets me do that. Individual balance of the game is a totally personal taste.
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