[X2] Im looking for some challenges!

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
User avatar
Jimmyjamjohnson42
Posts: 55
Joined: Sun, 24. Mar 19, 08:57
x4

[X2] Im looking for some challenges!

Post by Jimmyjamjohnson42 » Sun, 26. Apr 20, 13:23

I'd love to try my best at challenges on X2 and recently ive gotten bored of doing most of the same stuff.
Give me a challenge, easy or hard and i'll try my best to do it!

EDIT: Stuff like wiping a xenon sector clean is pretty easy for me in one of my saves
Last edited by Jimmyjamjohnson42 on Mon, 27. Apr 20, 09:08, edited 1 time in total.
I play X2 a lot, possibly too much.
800 hours and counting :P

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

Re: [X2] Im looking for some challenges!

Post by jlehtone » Sun, 26. Apr 20, 14:42

Have you done something simple: wiped X472 clean?

How about some mobile mining ... in Kha'ak sector?
Goner Pancake Protector X
Insanity included at no extra charge.
There is no Box. I am the sand.

User avatar
Jimmyjamjohnson42
Posts: 55
Joined: Sun, 24. Mar 19, 08:57
x4

Re: [X2] Im looking for some challenges!

Post by Jimmyjamjohnson42 » Sun, 26. Apr 20, 15:25

jlehtone wrote:
Sun, 26. Apr 20, 14:42
Have you done something simple: wiped X472 clean?

How about some mobile mining ... in Kha'ak sector?
That sounds pretty damn hard. is it even possible to wipe a khaak sector clean? they always teleport back..?
Edit: fixed a misspelling
I play X2 a lot, possibly too much.
800 hours and counting :P

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

Re: [X2] Im looking for some challenges!

Post by jlehtone » Sun, 26. Apr 20, 16:28

I did not say "wipe Kha'ak". Do you expect trouble in peaceful mining? :roll:

Xenon 472 will stay clean for a while, but not forever.


You did not give a frame of reference; what is easy, hard, or boring for you.
Goner Pancake Protector X
Insanity included at no extra charge.
There is no Box. I am the sand.

fig
Posts: 376
Joined: Sun, 19. Nov 06, 13:26
x2

Re: [X2] Im looking for some challenges!

Post by fig » Sun, 26. Apr 20, 22:30

wiped X472 clean?
This one isn't so hard. The strafe drive is your biggest asset: PPC shots are easy to dodge using strafe. If you go there in a ship with PSGs, it's easy to clear the sector. Try doing it with mass drivers, if you want it to take a lot lot longer!
Spoiler
Show
A long time ago, I played X with a joystick. These days I use the keyboard instead, which makes the K the best ship for this job. I've tried using an Odysseus but its speed lets it down. With the K it's more fun, and the Xenon ships die nearly as fast with PPCs and gunnery crews (90 military personnel required).
is it even possible to wipe a khaak sector clean?
Have a look at my recent thread on this subject:
viewtopic.php?f=2&t=424606

I'll update it in a second with some more info; I've very nearly finished the job now. tl;dr: It IS possible to stop the Khaak from shooting at your factories and ships. OOS anyway. It takes a lot of work (and many reloads) though.

The thing with X is that you make your own challenges. There is so much that you can do. Here are a few ideas:

Combat:
Beat a Khaak cluster in the smallest ship that you can. A Split Scorpion, perhaps. That might be a little ambitious, but worth a try!?
If you want to make it more difficult, you can add some rules:
1. No use of strafe (this will increase the difficulty by 10x)
2. No use of cover (e.g. no hiding behind the nearest factory).

Kill a XM2 or a KM2 with a small ship (search the forums for some of the methods you can use for this)

Capture one of every capturable ship
Own one (or more) of every ship in the game

Trading and other goals:
Have a look at the player rankings for some ideas:
https://www.egosoft.com/games/x2/statistics_en.php

"Complete" one of the fast taxi missions (see my impossible missions thread)

Create a "Supermarket distribution network". One of my early game ideas was to transport secondary goods from one region of space to another (e.g. from Paranid space to Boron space, and in the opposite direction) using Trading docks. I've not really done much with it though, it's easier to just buy the stations and build them where you need them. I'll probably re-visit this when I eventually do try to fix the economy (see below).
Join the pirates and setup Space Weed and Space Fuel stations in pirate alley. I haven't tried this yet in my game. Ive been a good, law-abiding citizen (albeit one that takes every assassination mission he can find!)

Make a million, a billion, 1000 billion credits (!)

I've literally been playing X2 on and off for over 10 years now. I've very nearly finished but I do keep adding some ridiculous things to make my game last longer. For example, I am now trying to:

Fill three raptors with fully equipped Khaak ships (150 KM5, 150 KM4 and 150 KM3)
Make the universe's most valuable freighter (a dolphin with 3000MDs). One MD takes 2 hrs 40 minutes to build!
Make every sector completely safe. This is harder than it sounds, a) because getting patrols right is hard. I'm thinking you really need a few M6 or above ships on patrol in each sector. b) there's maybe 120 or so commonwealth sectors. A cut-down version would be to make the sectors around Argon Prime completley safe.
Fix the economy!! I'm leaving this one to the very end. It's not really much fun to do, and factories don't make much money (compared to missions) anyway.

User avatar
Jimmyjamjohnson42
Posts: 55
Joined: Sun, 24. Mar 19, 08:57
x4

Re: [X2] Im looking for some challenges!

Post by Jimmyjamjohnson42 » Mon, 27. Apr 20, 09:05

jlehtone wrote:
Sun, 26. Apr 20, 16:28
I did not say "wipe Kha'ak". Do you expect trouble in peaceful mining? :roll:

Xenon 472 will stay clean for a while, but not forever.


You did not give a frame of reference; what is easy, hard, or boring for you.
Xenon sector 472 is really easy to wipe with an osprey
the trouble is is that loads of xenon spawned in the sector and ravaged BHS and OL
I play X2 a lot, possibly too much.
800 hours and counting :P

fig
Posts: 376
Joined: Sun, 19. Nov 06, 13:26
x2

Re: [X2] Im looking for some challenges!

Post by fig » Mon, 27. Apr 20, 10:31

sector and ravaged BHS and OL
Some of the Xenon ships that spawn will stay in X472 but most of them head off to the other Xenon sectors (e.g. X347).

Once you've cleared X472, drop a satelitte or two in there. Most of the time, the game will tell you when they get destroyed, but it's not a reliable message. The way I play is that I do missions from stations but I also have a set of routine micro-management tasks that I perform all the time. One of those is to check X472 on a regular basis. If you see the shipyard re-spawn (this happens randomly but it will take at least a few hours of game time. The Xenon station usually re-spawns first, but you can ignore that), jump in and take out as many Ks and Js as you can. Some will still get through the gates, though, so you need to keep an eye on those sectors too. Until you get a huge fleet of warships, your best bet is still to fight them manually in BHS, OL and TA.

So the overall strategy is:

1. Clear X472
2. Drop some sats in there
3. Check back on the sector often.
4. When the shipyard re-spawns, jump in and kill as many of the Ks and Js as you can until a few start getting through the gates.
5. Jump to BHS and TA and fight them one at a time as they come through the gates there.
6. Finally, jump back to X472, kill the station and shipyard and drop some more sats.

Much later in the game, you won't need step 5, but OOS combat is a bit hit-and-miss, so save regularly and check your log often until all the Xenon are gone. Losing destroyers isn't fun (especially when you find out that they've been one-shotted by a J!)

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

Re: [X2] Im looking for some challenges!

Post by jlehtone » Mon, 27. Apr 20, 11:10

Jimmyjamjohnson42 wrote:
Mon, 27. Apr 20, 09:05
Xenon sector 472 is really easy to wipe with an osprey
the trouble is is that loads of xenon spawned in the sector and ravaged BHS and OL
Wiping X472 does not do that.

When a Xenon is killed a replacement spawns at their Shipyard (SY) and then flies to the Xenon sector that lacks a ship.
That is also called "Xenon migration".

The SY is in 472. Path from 472 to 347 is through BHS, TC, OL, NH, and SPG.

A migrating Xenon does not attack, but:
* They do fight back, if they are attacked
* They turrets will shoot anything within range, if you are in the sector

Faction defence forces do attack and kill migrating Xenon. New replacements do spawn and fly until the destination Xenon sector is back to required strength.


Respawn is paused, if the Xenon SY is destroyed. The SY will respawn eventually, and when it does, all missing Xenon respawn with it. Simultaneously. :xenon:


Centaur is decent sector patrol ship. Pair of Centaurs as a patrol has better chance to survive a Kha'ak cluster. Centaur needs shields and HEPTs.
Challenge: build infrastructure or logistics to equip Centaurs at decent frequency.
Goner Pancake Protector X
Insanity included at no extra charge.
There is no Box. I am the sand.

User avatar
Jimmyjamjohnson42
Posts: 55
Joined: Sun, 24. Mar 19, 08:57
x4

Re: [X2] Im looking for some challenges!

Post by Jimmyjamjohnson42 » Mon, 27. Apr 20, 11:12

jlehtone wrote:
Mon, 27. Apr 20, 11:10
Jimmyjamjohnson42 wrote:
Mon, 27. Apr 20, 09:05
Xenon sector 472 is really easy to wipe with an osprey
the trouble is is that loads of xenon spawned in the sector and ravaged BHS and OL
Wiping X472 does not do that.
i meant to say i had that happen to one of my best saves and it destroyed all my stations
I play X2 a lot, possibly too much.
800 hours and counting :P

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

Re: [X2] Im looking for some challenges!

Post by jlehtone » Mon, 27. Apr 20, 16:22

Migration routes of the Xenon and sectors that (BBS) Xenon invade are not necessarily best in the profit/risk scale. :teladi:
Jimmyjamjohnson42 wrote:
Mon, 27. Apr 20, 09:05
Xenon sector 472 is really easy to wipe with an osprey
Tried that. Osprey. Once. Got so bored that some K's sneaked on my six. :oops:

Dragon, Nemesis, Perseus, Nova, Bayamon. They can all kill a K, can they?
Goner Pancake Protector X
Insanity included at no extra charge.
There is no Box. I am the sand.

User avatar
Jimmyjamjohnson42
Posts: 55
Joined: Sun, 24. Mar 19, 08:57
x4

Re: [X2] Im looking for some challenges!

Post by Jimmyjamjohnson42 » Fri, 1. May 20, 12:02

jlehtone wrote:
Mon, 27. Apr 20, 16:22
Migration routes of the Xenon and sectors that (BBS) Xenon invade are not necessarily best in the profit/risk scale. :teladi:
Jimmyjamjohnson42 wrote:
Mon, 27. Apr 20, 09:05
Xenon sector 472 is really easy to wipe with an osprey
Tried that. Osprey. Once. Got so bored that some K's sneaked on my six. :oops:

Dragon, Nemesis, Perseus, Nova, Bayamon. They can all kill a K, can they?
I dont believe for a second that a bayamon can kill a K
Did it with a nova, just spammed hornet missiles and with a XI mission its pretty cost effective landing me 7 million (i think) a piece :D
I play X2 a lot, possibly too much.
800 hours and counting :P

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

Re: [X2] Im looking for some challenges!

Post by jlehtone » Fri, 1. May 20, 15:41

You lack of faith on Phased Shockwaves is unholy. :paranid:

What is your Osprey layout?


Jumpstart of a game:
1. Capture Bayamon (with Disco) and other stuff to afford PSGs
2. Kill enough to get rank where K spawns in XI
3. Kill K with Bayamon :pirat:
Success: Confirmed
Goner Pancake Protector X
Insanity included at no extra charge.
There is no Box. I am the sand.

User avatar
Jimmyjamjohnson42
Posts: 55
Joined: Sun, 24. Mar 19, 08:57
x4

Re: [X2] Im looking for some challenges!

Post by Jimmyjamjohnson42 » Fri, 1. May 20, 21:15

jlehtone wrote:
Fri, 1. May 20, 15:41
You lack of faith on Phased Shockwaves is unholy. :paranid:

What is your Osprey layout?


Jumpstart of a game:
1. Capture Bayamon (with Disco) and other stuff to afford PSGs
2. Kill enough to get rank where K spawns in XI
3. Kill K with Bayamon :pirat:
Success: Confirmed
i switch out between beta shocks and gamma hept for my main lasers
i usually have BPSGs for my back ones and i use GHEPTs for my others

damn thats gonna take some practice for the bayamon!
I play X2 a lot, possibly too much.
800 hours and counting :P

fig
Posts: 376
Joined: Sun, 19. Nov 06, 13:26
x2

Re: [X2] Im looking for some challenges!

Post by fig » Fri, 1. May 20, 22:02

You lack of faith on Phased Shockwaves is unholy.
I didn't realise the Bayamon can mount APSGs, I was thinking 3 Ion Ds and the highest PAC it can mount might work.
I don't think I even have a Bayamon in my game. Now that you've mentioned it, I fancy giving this a go too!

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

Re: [X2] Im looking for some challenges!

Post by jlehtone » Fri, 1. May 20, 22:25

M4 Pirate Bayamon: aIRE, bIRE, gIRE, aPAC, bPAC, IonD, and aPSG.
The real twist is that it has four mount-points for guns. Perseus and Octopus have three and other fighters have at most two.

IonD+HEPT is for Nova, unless you go with MD.


Another challenge (unless already done): gather enough Gunnery Crews to man the turrets of Osprey and M2. Those Military Transports are elusive.
Goner Pancake Protector X
Insanity included at no extra charge.
There is no Box. I am the sand.

User avatar
Jimmyjamjohnson42
Posts: 55
Joined: Sun, 24. Mar 19, 08:57
x4

Re: [X2] Im looking for some challenges!

Post by Jimmyjamjohnson42 » Fri, 8. May 20, 12:47

jlehtone wrote:
Fri, 1. May 20, 22:25
M4 Pirate Bayamon: aIRE, bIRE, gIRE, aPAC, bPAC, IonD, and aPSG.
The real twist is that it has four mount-points for guns. Perseus and Octopus have three and other fighters have at most two.

IonD+HEPT is for Nova, unless you go with MD.


Another challenge (unless already done): gather enough Gunnery Crews to man the turrets of Osprey and M2. Those Military Transports are elusive.
What do the gunnery crews do? i have never had enough money to get that mostly because i forgot about it. What should i look to for a sector patrol?
I play X2 a lot, possibly too much.
800 hours and counting :P

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

Re: [X2] Im looking for some challenges!

Post by jlehtone » Fri, 8. May 20, 13:17

Jimmyjamjohnson42 wrote:
Fri, 8. May 20, 12:47
What do the gunnery crews do? i have never had enough money to get that mostly because i forgot about it.
From viewtopic.php?t=71484
Is the AEGIS upgrade required in order to use gunnery crews?
No. The "Gunnery Crews: Action Stations" command, which is the main gunnery crews command, is available without buying any upgrade. All that is needed are enough crew.
The AEGIS upgrade will make the "Action Stations" command more efficient at shooting down fighters, but will have little effect when in combat against a capital ship.

Isn't the AEGIS Weapon System upgrade a little expensive?
As mentioned above, it's not required in order to use gunnery crew. It's an optional component. It makes your ship better able to engage large numbers of fighters and shoot down incoming missiles (see the next question & answer). It will make a Titan about twice as effective against fighters.

What exactly does AEGIS give me?
  • Without AEGIS, gunnery crews pick the player ship's target, and the turret can't shoot that, then pick whatever target comes up. With AEGIS, a turret prioritizes all the targets it could possibly shoot at and picks the one that is the highest threat.
  • Without AEGIS a turret will shoot down incoming missiles whenever it is not engaging a ship. That is, whenever it looks for a new target, it will first shoot down any missiles it sees. With AEGIS, a turret gets the ability to interrupt an engagement against a ship whenever it sees a dangerous missile (dangerous is defined as any missile powerful enough to reduce the ship's current shield levels by 5% or more), shoot it down, then resume engaging the ship immediately.
  • Without AEGIS, turrets essentially work independantly of each other. They will all first try to attack the ship's overall target, but after that, they work alone. With AEGIS, the turrets will coordinate with each other. Two turrets will avoid engaging the same M4/M5 target, but will work together to attack the same M3/M2/M1. Thus, fire is concentrated when attacking difficult targets, and spread out when attacking easy ones.
  • Without AEGIS, turrets track (turn) at the speed of whatever weapon is mounted in them. With AEGIS, the lightest weapon that a turret can mount is switched to when the turret is tracking, thus cutting down tracking time by up to 1000%.
How do I get crew?
There will be passenger transports flying through Argon space carrying Military Personnel. Follow them. Once they land, some of their passengers will be available as the "Military Personnel" ware on the station. You can then buy (hire) them.
Goner Pancake Protector X
Insanity included at no extra charge.
There is no Box. I am the sand.

User avatar
Jimmyjamjohnson42
Posts: 55
Joined: Sun, 24. Mar 19, 08:57
x4

Re: [X2] Im looking for some challenges!

Post by Jimmyjamjohnson42 » Fri, 8. May 20, 13:35

Oh i see. Thanks for the link.
I play X2 a lot, possibly too much.
800 hours and counting :P

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

Re: [X2] Im looking for some challenges!

Post by jlehtone » Fri, 8. May 20, 13:55

Jimmyjamjohnson42 wrote:
Fri, 8. May 20, 12:47
What should i look to for a sector patrol?
Pirates can harass traders. Kha'ak do spawn everywhere and do attack traders.

Sector patrols are a pre-emptive measure. Ideally, they wipe out hostiles before hostiles reach soft targets.

You can save money and set patrol to cover multiple sectors, but then it takes longer before patrol visits particular sector.
You can save money by buying less or cheaper ships, but they do not survive so well. I.e. they are more expensive.

Osprey survives well, but it is slow to catch up with the foes.
Dragon is fast, but quickly dead against group of enemies.
Goner Pancake Protector X
Insanity included at no extra charge.
There is no Box. I am the sand.

Post Reply

Return to “X Trilogy Universe”