oddible wrote: ↑Sun, 19. Sep 21, 20:55
What mod can I use that will make Xenon relevant again? The latest nerf has made them a non-factor. They're just a nuisance now, basiclaly Kha'k with sectors. I've looked at several of the mods on the workshop and they all either radically change the Xenon game or they have comments that say they actually make Xenon weaker. Which mod can I install that just puts them back the way they were before the nerf. They were perfect.
Ideally we need a Xenon slider in game setup that let's us set how strong their economy is and how aggressive they are. For now I'll take a mod but none seem to fit the bill.
The mod needs to be very carefully made not with brute force. I tried the mod @Malchar wrote. Different starts give different results for different reasons.
eg the TER Cadet start, Getsu Fune is populated by TER with their mighty fleets. XEN do not cross to Sol Asteroid Belt & Void
ARG start (Van Selton), with the mod, the XEN have field day. There is no TER force in Getsu Fune, just ANT barely trying to build a defense platform getting wiped and XEN pushing hard and unopposed by ARG/ANT.
Why this is happening? Because of the mining changes. If a player doesn't pick up to boost the ARG/ANT economy they will collapse. Argon Prime and surrounding sectors lack resources now. This keeps manufactured goods prices sky high, higher than buy price.
This forces the AI (and player) to move away from those sectors to trade. So the economy becomes stagnant, no ships are build and XEN are pushing hard.
The only faction that XEN is not much threat with the mod is HOP. Their economy-space is more compact spread in 5 sectors of which 2 have rich asteroid fields. They make ships fast enough to beat the XEN coming from Faulty Logic while pushing both PAR and ANT/ARG on their war.
I am not saying that XEN do not have issues.
a) Mining problem, as they lose hundreds of miners trying to cross into commonwealth space instead of mining at the asteroid fields in their controlled sectors.
This can be fixed by forcing the AI XEN to mine nearby instead having a miner from Matrix 9 go to Faulty Logic to mine or construct a station or the other way around! (yes is happening)
b) Starting Terran incursions in the game if you have COH installed. This is the second biggest issue as several TER fleets start XEN sectors. Faulty Logic & Matrix 9 or 451 guarantee to find TER attack group with Asgard, Tokyo, Osaka plus support ships. They wreck havoc since 4.0 which XEN never recover. This could be fixed by removing the incursion fleets at the start of the game! And those fleets move to other sectors. Last night saw a Tokyo coming from the Matrix 9 gate in Fires of Defeat within 30 minutes as started the FRF campaing. It was partially damaged. Usually they go down fast. Its Asgard companion probably cleaning Matrix 9 and 451 atm.
c) Xenon capital ship turrets and lack of main guns. Something everyone is complaining about since 4.1. The explosions are too big damaging the turrets which take forever to repair many, while many Xenon capitals do not start with secondary shields either. I saw this when HOP attack the PAR stations too. On the first module destruction turrets were destroyed in many capital ships (lost my frigate shield from the explosion). If HOP hadn't pushed more Ody in the sector and the destroyers didn't have main guns they would be standing still without guns! Like the XEN capitals do.
However having seen what could happen with the a brute force mod, I understand that Egosoft decided to do that otherwise because of the mining changes, a beefed Xenon will paint the map red.
Is very complex issue with many parameters