X3TC - Terran M5, ridiculous weapon price?

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TheGoldElite
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X3TC - Terran M5, ridiculous weapon price?

Post by TheGoldElite » Mon, 11. Apr 11, 00:28

I picked the Terran start at the top, and I have been given the m5 rapier, without any weapons or shields for the plot. I had 3 fully armed rapiers for a mission and they all died so I'm no impressed. Why the hell would anyone pay half a million to put a single weapon on a M5? I'm not even sure I want to keep the terran M4 I've been given :/ I'm not impressed by the short range and innacuracy, I only have a million right now, But I was thinking of buying a mamba raider when I've earned abit of money. Just need to find a jumpdrive in the god forsaken corner of the universe!

wathman00
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Post by wathman00 » Mon, 11. Apr 11, 00:51

I'll grant you that 3 M5 rapiers are pretty useless against the enemies you are likely to use them against at that point in the game. Against other fighters in such small numbers it doesn't take long for them to get killed. Take 30 of them against an M2 and you'll easily take one down and may lose a few fighters. Your loss of maybe 2 million compared to the enemy that just lost close to 100 million for a fully equipped M2.

As for your dissatisfaction with the Sabre, did you get it equipped with 2 more EMPCs? It actually would have been a pretty good tactical decision to pulling the EMPCs off the rapiers and installing them in your sabre, and just selling the rapier hulls.

Also, the EMPCs are actually rather decent weapons for combat. Do you have full fight software on your ship and is it enabled? The Auto Aim at the bottom left corner of your screen should say ON. If it is set to SEMI or OFF, that would explain your poor accuracy with those guns. Hit the K key to cycle the aim settings.

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Carlo the Curious
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Post by Carlo the Curious » Mon, 11. Apr 11, 01:04

The Terran have very few types of weapons. M5s just get the same ones as the other fighters.

As you've noticed, M5s are pretty useless in combat. They're more for exploring, scouting, or just parking somewhere as a sector presence and/or stopping GoD from deleting a factory.

TheGoldElite
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Post by TheGoldElite » Mon, 11. Apr 11, 01:10

Hmmm thanks for the input. Maybe at this point I'll just leave it in a shipyard for now. As concerns my M4, it only has two EMPCs, but I lost all the armed rapiers in the mission. Yes I have Fight software 2 and laser targeting on, it's probably dues to it's low projectile speed and fire rate, against m5's its not usable except in head on passes. I'm not going to spend all my money at this point to upgrade the weapons, but I'm stuck with it for now. Also I despereately need to find jump drives, one for my M4, and 2 for Demeter haulers I have captured. I've not come across anywhere that sells them, and iirc the nearest place would be Terracorp HQ or Goner temple, and thats like 30sectors away!

Edit to carlos, it was against other m5s that they lost to but granted. what's GoD and is that a euphamism to destroying or some sort of bug?

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Post by A5PECT » Mon, 11. Apr 11, 01:14

Using an M5 for combat is like flying a paper airplane at the Battle of Britain. The Rapiers given to you are more for teaching you about flight wing commands; they're of limited use in a fight. Most players opt to sell them immediately.

If you're looking into using wingmen, you'll have to look into the M4 and M3 classes. You'll also have to deal with the fact that they will need to be replaced over time. X3's combat AI is far from state-of-the-art, so you're going to take losses if you bring AI for support.
Admitting you have a problem is the first step in figuring out how to make it worse.

TheGoldElite
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Post by TheGoldElite » Mon, 11. Apr 11, 01:21

Hmmm quite, I can't really afford that atm, but I just compared my current M4, and I suppose it has very good shields, and alot of speed too, very survivable craft for the moment, but a mamba would still be nice for a personal ship. I'll try and hold off using wingmen atm, when I collect enough capped m4s I'll create a wing of at least 4 or something for personal escort. I've no idea how to start up my economy atm though, I have a few TS', but the sectors seem really dangerous at this point, and I'll probably lose my investments in them if I buy Trade Mk3 for them : /

Edit Nice sig btw!
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Ripskar
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Post by Ripskar » Mon, 11. Apr 11, 01:27

TheGoldElite wrote:Edit to carlos, it was against other m5s that they lost to but granted. what's GoD and is that a euphamism to destroying or some sort of bug?
The idea is to arm your Sabre by transferring the weapons, though I'll grant you that it isn't obvious.
The Rapiers come in useful later as couriers for bits of equipment, as well as the park in a factory in defiance of GoD role.

GoD (see also RNG) is the dynamic economy factor in the X games. This works well in the commonwealth, though in the Solar System it went wrong and results in economic collapse with mass deletion of factories.
If you park a ship in a factory it isn't eligible for deletion so disaster is postponed.
If you want to be able to arm a terran fleet in the future act now and secure those factories that will be required for your weapons.
Principally I would suggest SSC and Phantom factories, otherwise larger terran ships are non viable and one of your rewards becomes a paper-weight...
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TheGoldElite
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Post by TheGoldElite » Mon, 11. Apr 11, 01:31

WOw that's ridiculous, why haven't they patched this!!?!?! In the mean time I'll park my spare ships in as many tech factories I can there : / Is every station up for deletion? what kind of timescale are we talking here??

Catra
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Post by Catra » Mon, 11. Apr 11, 01:53

It varies, usually 2 - 6 days. To help the terrans out, just place STs in jupiter 2 saturn 2 Venus with a +1 trade range, and in neptune with a +3 trade range.

wathman00
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Post by wathman00 » Mon, 11. Apr 11, 01:59

Shipyards, orbital defense stations, and military bases should be safe from deletion, everything else I think it's possible.

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Ripskar
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Post by Ripskar » Mon, 11. Apr 11, 02:01

64 billion credit question that.
Everything in the Solar System other than the Shipyards, Orbital Defence Platforms and Logistical Supply Docks can be deleted.
It's a similar story in Aldrin so you're against the clock with the Terran plot.
There are also a couple of Commonwealth factories that are subject to this, notably the Tractor Beam factories (required in a later plot and useful for complex building) and at least one of the marine training facilities.
Timescale; RNG stands for Random Number Generator, you might have a week, you might have minutes. Fact is the the pin is out, the spoon is gone and you're holding a live one.
Welcome to the X-Universe!

@ Catra; He's just had his Rapiers, LTs are way off the radar at that point.
Last edited by Ripskar on Mon, 11. Apr 11, 02:05, edited 1 time in total.
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TheGoldElite
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Post by TheGoldElite » Mon, 11. Apr 11, 02:03

Hmmm alright then, I'll have to explore all the sectors in that area first with my advanced discoverer (I'm on the way now). Seeing as the shipyards dont get deleted, couldn't I always buy factories If I needed them that badly? And why can't I find any threads on this issue!!

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Ripskar
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Post by Ripskar » Mon, 11. Apr 11, 02:08

Take a closer look at the Shipyards; no Factories for sale this side of Aldrin.
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TheGoldElite
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Post by TheGoldElite » Mon, 11. Apr 11, 02:10

Stupid Terrans, maybe I should just disown them! Maybe I'll just make a new start after I finish the plotline.... -.- Does every start have it's own plotline!?!? Oh and does the Universe at least make new factories then???
Last edited by TheGoldElite on Mon, 11. Apr 11, 02:13, edited 1 time in total.

Catra
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Post by Catra » Mon, 11. Apr 11, 02:10

You need to do the terran plot to get access to the inner solar system(all sectors including and past mars), if you don't have venus / mercury / moon access you'll get shot at.

Terran SYs initially don't sell their stations, its after a plot(that require 4 other plots to be done) that a SY starts selling them.

TheGoldElite
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Post by TheGoldElite » Mon, 11. Apr 11, 02:17

Hmmm so If I finish alll of the plots then I can buy all the Terran stations? That's not so bad if that's the case.

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Ripskar
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Post by Ripskar » Mon, 11. Apr 11, 02:19

In essence they all have the same plot, it doesn't really matter which start you have. Once you figure out which ships you like and make decisions based on your own preferences the game will reflect you.
As for other threads on the subject...
link
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Ripskar
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Post by Ripskar » Mon, 11. Apr 11, 02:21

TheGoldElite wrote:Hmmm so If I finish alll of the plots then I can buy all the Terran stations? That's not so bad if that's the case.
Or wouldn't be if one of the plots wasn't so ****ing long... :roll:
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TheGoldElite
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Post by TheGoldElite » Mon, 11. Apr 11, 02:27

Oh that totally suits me fine then, from what I've read if you stimulate the econmy they will come back later, in fact being safe sectors, they will probably be where I send my first Mk3s. I'll leave spare ships in iimportant ones, I hear the barracks doesnt ever come back 0.o! I only have 4 spare ships atm, any priorities??? I thought the X3R plot was far too short anyway. Good job anyway, I prefer this game much better. I payed 3 pounds for X3R, I spent 20 just to get this on Steam ASAP!

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Ripskar
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Post by Ripskar » Mon, 11. Apr 11, 02:40

Like I said, SSC to give larger ships some viability.
PSP if you plan on going big.
Phantom if you want to use your free gift.
The barracks if you want to do boarding later on.

I't's daunting contemplating putting a ship on all those stations across the Solar System and nigh impossible on a Terran budget.
I would recommend getting an example of each weapon and storing them in a safe place. There is a trick that you can use to arm an entire fleet from 1 gun...
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