Claiming Silent Witness XII

[akeelah]

Can Silent Witness XII be claimed? If so, what's required?

I've searched the forum and found a fair bit of conflicting information. Some say it's possible, some say it's not. Some say they've done it, but didn't say how.

Still playing v1.6, for now.

The Encyclopedia shows the sector to be ownerless. The map shows the same thing (null icon at the top of the Property List when clicking on the sector).

There is the indestructible Kha'ak Installation and a half-dozen or so Kha'ak Defense Platforms. Also, a Scale Plate Pirate base and a few small Scale Plate stations, none of which appear to contain an Admin Center module. I've destroyed all of the Kha'ak Defense Platforms, and several of the SCA stations. The rest I prefer to leave alone -- especially the Pirate Base, as it's a significant trading partner.

I have completed a small station, and was very careful to ensure that the Admin Center module was placed and built first. The sector remains ownerless.

What am I missing?

[Xcaliber]

I started a station with 6 admin centres joined with cross connectors ( 2 x 3 ) then added docks and storage and the sector was mine. I didn't destroy any of the existing stations.

[VincentTH]

There is a difference between ownerless sector and sectors with owner. If the sector is ownerless (Khaaks appear to not be able to own a sector, unlike Xenons). In this case (Silent Witness III), whoever build more Admin centers will win an ownerless sector.
On the other hand, if the sector is owned, say by the Xenon, you have to kill ALL of their stations to own the sector. Even partially built stations (e.g. just the build module) still owned by the Xenon would deny ownership to anyone claiming the sector. And this is a bug that need to be fixed.

[letsplay]

I destroyed the SCA stations, built a defence station and 'own' SW XII
The KAK station is still there, which I am unable to destroy, but this does not appear to contest owership.

[akeelah]

There is a difference between ownerless sector and sectors with owner. If the sector is ownerless (Khaaks appear to not be able to own a sector, unlike Xenons). In this case (Silent Witness III), whoever build more Admin centers will win an ownerless sector.
On the other hand, if the sector is owned, say by the Xenon, you have to kill ALL of their stations to own the sector. Even partially built stations (e.g. just the build module) still owned by the Xenon would deny ownership to anyone claiming the sector. And this is a bug that need to be fixed.

That was always my understanding. Which is why I'm confused. The sector was not owned by any faction when construction began on my station. The Teladi Admin Center module was the first module added to the build queue, and was therefore obviously the first module completed. But the sector never switched to being owned by me, even after the rest of the station construction was complete.

[akeelah]

I started a station with 6 admin centres joined with cross connectors ( 2 x 3 ) then added docks and storage and the sector was mine. I didn't destroy any of the existing stations.

Was/is there a Pirate Base in SW XII in your game?

[letsplay]

Was a while ago - version 1.6
On the left as you look at the map.
Heavily defended by defence platforms. Costly to destroy in terms of ships, iirc. And turrets were much less effective than they are now.
(Sort of remember there were others stations too.).
The Kha'ak station is still there, on the 12 noon line on the map, which I cannot destroy. This does not stop my ships from wandering-off their 'protect station' mission and trying, of course.

[Xcaliber]

I started a station with 6 admin centres joined with cross connectors ( 2 x 3 ) then added docks and storage and the sector was mine. I didn't destroy any of the existing stations.

Was/is there a Pirate Base in SW XII in your game?

Yes, with about six SCA stations, some HAT stations and the Khark defence stations (all undamaged).

[akeelah]

Well, I've obviously done something wrong somewhere. I'll have another look at it later, and see what I can find out....

[akeelah]

Well, the problem is solved but the mystery remains. Just for grins, I started another station. This time with nothing more than an Argon Admin Center and a Dock. Even before all of the necessary construction wares arrived, the sector became mine. Still don't have any idea why another station with another Admin Center was required, but now I finally own my first sector. My family is so proud.

Now it's off to celebrate with a few cold Space Fuels... cheers!

[ei8htx]

If you're interested in claiming Silent Witness I (with the highway, owned by the Argon), you can build your own defense (admin) station to contest it, then use mines to blow up the Argon defense station (just the admin center is all that's required) to claim it.

Worked for me with 1 rep loss. The Argon didn't even flip out until the Administration module was destroyed.

[akeelah]

If you're interested in claiming Silent Witness I (with the highway, owned by the Argon), you can build your own defense (admin) station to contest it, then use mines to blow up the Argon defense station (just the admin center is all that's required) to claim it.

Worked for me with 1 rep loss. The Argon didn't even flip out until the Administration module was destroyed.

Interesting... exactly how did you destroy the Argon's Admin centers with mines?

How long have you held the sector?

Have the Argons made any attempt to reclaim it from you?

[ei8htx]

If you're interested in claiming Silent Witness I (with the highway, owned by the Argon), you can build your own defense (admin) station to contest it, then use mines to blow up the Argon defense station (just the admin center is all that's required) to claim it.

Worked for me with 1 rep loss. The Argon didn't even flip out until the Administration module was destroyed.

Interesting... exactly how did you destroy the Argon's Admin centers with mines?

How long have you held the sector?

Have the Argons made any attempt to reclaim it from you?

I loaded up a ton of regular mines in a pulsar, flew to the top of the station, placed a couple, and boosted away. The mines immediately go off (and wack my shields a little).

Just repeat that until the station is destroyed. The station will go hostile for like an hour (or less), but the Argons won't. Mines do quite a bit of damage, you'll be able to do it in one cargo load.

I've held the sector for about an in game week now. It's where my shipyard is.

The Argons rebuilt the admin center in the defense station, but now the sector is listed as: ei8htx (contested). I'm not paying taxes/build fees and the sector is mine. We are still allies. I'll bet if I had completely destroyed the station (all defense platforms and otherwise) they wouldn't have come back. They've made no other attempts to build more defense stations other than repairing the single one that was in the sector.

I really like having a sector on the highway, which was my main motivation. Though I'll probably take Second Contact II in my next game when the Split launch (since it's within 4 jumps of 4 shipyards, being a war merchant is quite profitable).

[akeelah]

If you're interested in claiming Silent Witness I (with the highway, owned by the Argon), you can build your own defense (admin) station to contest it, then use mines to blow up the Argon defense station (just the admin center is all that's required) to claim it.

Worked for me with 1 rep loss. The Argon didn't even flip out until the Administration module was destroyed.

Interesting... exactly how did you destroy the Argon's Admin centers with mines?

How long have you held the sector?

Have the Argons made any attempt to reclaim it from you?

I loaded up a ton of regular mines in a pulsar, flew to the top of the station, placed a couple, and boosted away. The mines immediately go off (and wack my shields a little).

Just repeat that until the station is destroyed. The station will go hostile for like an hour (or less), but the Argons won't. Mines do quite a bit of damage, you'll be able to do it in one cargo load.

I've held the sector for about an in game week now. It's where my shipyard is.

The Argons rebuilt the admin center in the defense station, but now the sector is listed as: ei8htx (contested). I'm not paying taxes/build fees and the sector is mine. We are still allies. I'll bet if I had completely destroyed the station (all defense platforms and otherwise) they wouldn't have come back. They've made no other attempts to build more defense stations other than repairing the single one that was in the sector.

I really like having a sector on the highway, which was my main motivation. Though I'll probably take Second Contact II in my next game when the Split launch (since it's within 4 jumps of 4 shipyards, being a war merchant is quite profitable).

Very interesting. I may well give it a try. I too really like the idea of owning a sector on the Super Highway Loop. Thanks!

[MHDriver]

If you're interested in claiming Silent Witness I (with the highway, owned by the Argon), you can build your own defense (admin) station to contest it, then use mines to blow up the Argon defense station (just the admin center is all that's required) to claim it.

Worked for me with 1 rep loss. The Argon didn't even flip out until the Administration module was destroyed.

Interesting... exactly how did you destroy the Argon's Admin centers with mines?

How long have you held the sector?

Have the Argons made any attempt to reclaim it from you?

I loaded up a ton of regular mines in a pulsar, flew to the top of the station, placed a couple, and boosted away. The mines immediately go off (and wack my shields a little).

Just repeat that until the station is destroyed. The station will go hostile for like an hour (or less), but the Argons won't. Mines do quite a bit of damage, you'll be able to do it in one cargo load.

I've held the sector for about an in game week now. It's where my shipyard is.

The Argons rebuilt the admin center in the defense station, but now the sector is listed as: ei8htx (contested). I'm not paying taxes/build fees and the sector is mine. We are still allies. I'll bet if I had completely destroyed the station (all defense platforms and otherwise) they wouldn't have come back. They've made no other attempts to build more defense stations other than repairing the single one that was in the sector.

I really like having a sector on the highway, which was my main motivation. Though I'll probably take Second Contact II in my next game when the Split launch (since it's within 4 jumps of 4 shipyards, being a war merchant is quite profitable).

How long ago did you use this method. I tried it in 2.0 and the Defense Platform hull regenerated to 100% before I could even turn around for a second drop. 1% drop in hull for 2 mines and instant return to 100% suggests that this method is no longer valid, at least not in my game.

[ei8htx]

Interesting... exactly how did you destroy the Argon's Admin centers with mines?

How long have you held the sector?

Have the Argons made any attempt to reclaim it from you?

I loaded up a ton of regular mines in a pulsar, flew to the top of the station, placed a couple, and boosted away. The mines immediately go off (and wack my shields a little).

Just repeat that until the station is destroyed. The station will go hostile for like an hour (or less), but the Argons won't. Mines do quite a bit of damage, you'll be able to do it in one cargo load.

I've held the sector for about an in game week now. It's where my shipyard is.

The Argons rebuilt the admin center in the defense station, but now the sector is listed as: ei8htx (contested). I'm not paying taxes/build fees and the sector is mine. We are still allies. I'll bet if I had completely destroyed the station (all defense platforms and otherwise) they wouldn't have come back. They've made no other attempts to build more defense stations other than repairing the single one that was in the sector.

I really like having a sector on the highway, which was my main motivation. Though I'll probably take Second Contact II in my next game when the Split launch (since it's within 4 jumps of 4 shipyards, being a war merchant is quite profitable).

How long ago did you use this method. I tried it in 2.0 and the Defense Platform hull regenerated to 100% before I could even turn around for a second drop. 1% drop in hull for 2 mines and instant return to 100% suggests that this method is no longer valid, at least not in my game.

I started my game around Beta 1.8, but did this method when shipyards were out (2.0). Was probably a few weeks ago. I'll try it out again and see what happens.

[ei8htx]

Just did it again in Sacred Relic on the Paranid defense station.

In a Nemesis, dropped 3 sets of mines 5 times. I got very close to the top of the station each time. I found that if you're not close, there's like an order of magnitude in damage by even a few meters.

https://i.imgur.com/V42I1px.png

The sector is now unclaimed (despite the ALI shipyard there, SCA doesn't take sectors either...).


{Images posted directly to the forums should not be greater than 640x480 or 100kb, oversize image now linked - Terre}

[akeelah]

Just did it again in Sacred Relic on the Paranid defense station.

In a Nemesis, dropped 3 sets of mines 5 times. I got very close to the top of the station each time. I found that if you're not close, there's like an order of magnitude in damage by even a few meters.

https://i.imgur.com/V42I1px.png

The sector is now unclaimed (despite the ALI shipyard there, SCA doesn't take sectors either...).

Odd. Using this technique, I was able to destroy the Admin Center at their only Defense Platform in the sector. However, the sector still showed to be owned by the Argon, and the Admin Center immediately began rebuilding itself. It was fully rebuilt in about 5 minutes.

What version are you playing? I'm holding fast at v1.6.

[ei8htx]

Just did it again in Sacred Relic on the Paranid defense station.

In a Nemesis, dropped 3 sets of mines 5 times. I got very close to the top of the station each time. I found that if you're not close, there's like an order of magnitude in damage by even a few meters.

https://i.imgur.com/V42I1px.png

The sector is now unclaimed (despite the ALI shipyard there, SCA doesn't take sectors either...).

Odd. Using this technique, I was able to destroy the Admin Center at their only Defense Platform in the sector. However, the sector still showed to be owned by the Argon, and the Admin Center immediately began rebuilding itself. It was fully rebuilt in about 5 minutes.

What version are you playing? I'm holding fast at v1.6.

I started this game around beta 1.8. I'm at beta 2.2 right now.

Did you have a defense station (with admin module) when you destroyed theirs? Just speculating here, but if you destroyed their admin center but not the whole station, it'll immediately try and rebuild. From experience, I've seen that you don't have to build the whole admin center to claim a sector, just start construction on it. So, if for that split second there wasn't another station (with an admin module) to take the sector, the repair job kicking off would immediately give ownership back to the original faction.

Why 1.6? There's so many improvements in 2.0! The lack of crashing alone makes it worth it. Shipyards even better.

[akeelah]

I started this game around beta 1.8. I'm at beta 2.2 right now.

Did you have a defense station (with admin module) when you destroyed theirs?

No, I didn't.

Just speculating here, but if you destroyed their admin center but not the whole station, it'll immediately try and rebuild.

Yes, that does appear to be the case.

From experience, I've seen that you don't have to build the whole admin center to claim a sector, just start construction on it.

There appears to be some inconsistency on that point -- which is why I started this thread in the first place. I had completed an entire station (in SW XII) in which the Admin Center was placed first (it was Teladi, but I doubt that makes any difference). The sector was, of course, un-owned at the time. And it stayed that way until I STARTED construction on a 2nd station -- this time with an Argon Admin Center. Once the ownership changed, I stopped worrying about WHY it took two stations. I went on to claim several more un-owned sectors, and ALL of them switched ownership as soon as construction started on the Argon Admin Center.

So, if for that split second there wasn't another station (with an admin module) to take the sector, the repair job kicking off would immediately give ownership back to the original faction.

I actually wondered the same thing. And I probably would have reloaded and given that a try, except the sector never switched to un-owned from Argon-owned when their Amin Center was destroyed. Given that and my experience in SW XII combined with similar reports elsewhere on the forum, I have to to wonder if the switching of Sector ownership isn't still a bit borked. I'll probably go back and try again, but right now I'm preoccupied with trying to take Scale Plate Green I from the Xenon, so it may be a while…

Why 1.6? There's so many improvements in 2.0! The lack of crashing alone makes it worth it. Shipyards even better.

I've been fortunate, I guess -- only a few crashes in over a month of gameplay. I'm far more concerned about all the bug/problem reports for v2.0. And the drastic reduction in operating range for Traders and Miners (especially Miners) would present a real problem for my stations -- they were not placed with those limitations in mind.

Besides, I'm just getting my collection of Mods tweaked to my liking in v1.6. For me, that's half of the enjoyment of the X games. I'm not quite ready to take on all issues presented by 2.0+ just yet, though it sounds like v2.2 has improved things quite a bit. I'll get there.