I could use some advice on what to do next

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Captain Teamwork
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I could use some advice on what to do next

Post by Captain Teamwork » Mon, 29. Apr 19, 02:50

In my X3AP game I started with the first option Argon commander or patriot or whatever it is in Argon sector M148. Started playing a few missions then got sidetracked with setting up sector and universe traders. I've done alright. Most of my map is explored except Terran sectors and Xenon sectors with advanced satellites watching everything. Currently flying around a Skyron I bought before I got to the free Centaur mission. I think it was a Centaur anyways, wasn't as good as the Skyron so I sold it. I have about 35 marines (50+ fighting skill) in training with a phantom to carry them around from place to place when I finally get around to boarding. Just made it past the mission where you get 3 #deca.cefa ships then got sidetracked hiring marines for the last two days. My dude is friendly with all the major races with access to all their ships, goods and stations. Xenon, Terran and Pirates are enemies which seemed to be where this game naturally progressed. I read somewhere I should be enemies with one of the major races I'm guessing to have someone to target consistently. Not sure which race to target though. I fly mostly OTAS or Split designs and had my eyes set on Pikes or the high shield Falcons if I ever need a mainstay of fighters for a fleet. I don't want to piss off the wrong race then lose access to fighters.

I have 12 mistrals running as sector traders in various parts of the galaxy, each with level 20 pilots. 6 level 25 universal traders in Drakes doing their thing, I switched to drakes a few days ago because mistrals had a habit of dying during overnight SETA sessions. Set them up fully with EBC's in turrets and Mosquitoes for missile defense but I read that turrets are useless out of sector so not sure what to believe. I bought an Argon Equipment dock and set it up in Legend's Home to buy hard to find items like Plasma Burst Generators which works better than I thought it would (still a 50 mil investment though). I read somewhere I could set it up to have marines but that didn't work for me. I can't access the Argon stock exchange either even though I've set up the Equipment dock in Legend's home. Not sure what that's about but oh well.

I have an Elephant with a few fighters I haul around just because but I never use them for anything, The Skyron handles everything so far. I'm afraid to use fighters in even small engagements because I read that you are more likely to lose them during docking and undocking than in actual fighting.

So what should I be working on next? I tried to build a complex but that didn't go over so well. To be honest I really didn't know what to build that would help me in the future so I went to a prior save before the complex began.

I have about 800 mil credits so should I just buy the biggest ship I can buy and just go destroy everything? I wanted to try to build a fleet of fighters but from everything I read it just seems like one big failure to do so. I mean if you get 40 fighters in a fleet and 20 die from running into each other then that's a pretty substantial loss. I thought about just building a fighter drone complex then going into battle with about 1000 fighter drones but I can't find enough information anywhere if that's a feasible option. Information on this game is pretty tough to come by, granted there is tons of old information, but searching through 3000 posts gets way too tedious and I can't load the X3 wiki.

Anyhow I'm at a crossroads on what I should focus on. It took quite a bit of time for me to build up 800 mil, mostly through my traders but a big chunk came from missions and some from long term investments in stocks. I just don't want to invest a bunch of credits into something that is going to literally blow up in my face like a fleet of fighters I can't even control or a complex with all the wrong stations building things I don't even need. I've been playing constantly for over a month now and I know 800 mil is nothing compared to most of you but its quite a bit for me.

I'm playing AP through STEAM with all the extra bonus content but no mods so vanilla I guess? I would mod the game for bounce scripts and other nice little goodies but I'm not too savvy when it comes to changing code and wouldn't know what to do unless it has a nice little "install" tab.

Would building a fleet out of a couple thousand Mk II drones be an option? At 4 cargo space my Elephant should be able to hold around 5000 or so with quite a bit of room to spare for ECs, missiles, flak, and plenty of space weed. :pirat:

Any suggestions on which way to go or what I should be investing in for the future or which capital ship to buy or whatever you feel like saying to a beginner would be very appreciated :)

RainerPrem
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Re: I could use some advice on what to do next

Post by RainerPrem » Mon, 29. Apr 19, 07:21

I must admit that I don't exactly understand your problem.

If you haven't completed the plots, you should do so now. This is the main street through the game and will keep you busy for a long time.

To access exchanges there is always a fee to pay or a condition to meet. IIRC You can find that condition in the in-game encyclopedia.

Advice 1: Don't use universal traders. They WILL die in AP sooner or later. The shortest way to Saturn is from the gate in Asteroid Belt through Jupiter. On that way your ship WILL be attacked until it's dead. Make them sector traders and restrict them to NOT enter the Terran sectors.

Advice 2: You can make friends with pirates. Later in the game you MUST make friends with the Terrans, so you better not kill too many of them early on.

Personal thought: Running the game on SETA through the night makes for a boring game. Isn't it more interesting to get the money by working for it?

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Red-Spot
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Re: I could use some advice on what to do next

Post by Red-Spot » Mon, 29. Apr 19, 07:42

X-games are actually quite bland when it comes to 'what to do next'. There is no guide, no helping hand, no instruction. You'll have to find something for yourself that keeps you occupied, or start a new game, or simply move on ... or move to modding and scripting the game, and there you are again in a situation where it is all up to you and your imagination.

No offense but it is generally people that seta through the game cause the idea of earning credits is not their thing, but when they have the credits they have no idea what to do with it. It even happens to players like myself. I do things often the hard way (limited myself to stay in my starting Disco until 1 full gameday was played), but by the time I have it all the clock starts counting down and that playthrough will probably only last me a few more hours until I move on.

Seems you read more than you play. You mention several times "was thinking, read up, dropped the idea based on other people's experience". I.o.w. you do not play the game but read others experiences. Go build that fleet of fighters, maybe it will fail drastically ... so what? It might give you some fun moments and a reason to set up a different fleet. If anything you can then say 'it does not work' instead of 'I read it does not work'.
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Alan Phipps
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Re: I could use some advice on what to do next

Post by Alan Phipps » Mon, 29. Apr 19, 13:27

I keep and safeguard saves made at important crossroads in the game such as where to first build the PHQ, whether to end the war, what home sector to choose, what race to rob or attack, etc. Then, if and when I get bored going down that road, I can go back and see how it would have played differently had I made a different choice.

I use and learn about different things on each play-through; it does not even have to be more of the same old gameplay and playstyle each time. Examples, destroyer versus carrier fleets, flying different capability or size ships as my personal ship, etc.

All that is even before using mods ...
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jlehtone
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Re: I could use some advice on what to do next

Post by jlehtone » Mon, 29. Apr 19, 22:02

Captain Teamwork wrote:
Mon, 29. Apr 19, 02:50
I read somewhere I should be enemies with one of the major races I'm guessing to have someone to target consistently.
There is no "should/need". You can be friends with everyone (except Xenon), or enemy of most. There are always Xenon to kill, and "accidentally" harming "friends" is ok too, for couple generic missions make them forgive.

Use your credits. You clearly can get credits and you'll get the next billion easier than the first. There is no "bad fleet" or "wrong complex". There are opportunities to learn, to do "better" or differently the next time.
RainerPrem wrote:
Mon, 29. Apr 19, 07:21
Later in the game you MUST make friends with the Terrans, so you better not kill too many of them early on.
I did start neutral to Terrans. Then I did achieve the Number One Enemy of Terran Public status (it ain't easy, btw). Getting from absolute rock bottom to Hero of Terra is disappointingly easy. There are factions that have no enemies to kill and thus with them there is no way back up from the deep.
Alan Phipps wrote:
Mon, 29. Apr 19, 13:27
... important crossroads ...

I use and learn about different things on each play-through
There are not many hard crossroads, although some plots do offer permanent decision. If one thinks, after playing a while after a decision, that an another choice could have been "better", one has still at least three options:
  • Keep playing
  • Reload from point before the decision (if one has kept a savegame)
  • Make the other choice in the next play-through
The good part is that you can do all three.

An another thing is that you can either (A) play the game, encounter something new and react/observe more or less, or (B) read from walkthroughs that at point Z there will be options H, K, L and K is "optimal" because of ...

That said, there are things that are hard/impossible to gain after the War ends. On the other hand the War does not have to end.
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Triaxx2
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Re: I could use some advice on what to do next

Post by Triaxx2 » Wed, 1. May 19, 14:37

The thing about complexes, is that you have three options on how to do them. Option one is the simplest, build two or three stations, and use Commodity Logistics System ships to supply between them. Insert products at one end of the chain, sell end products at the other. Second option is to use Complex Construction Kits to make one solid station, then you only need to set prices to bring in goods and sell them off automatically. The third option? Create a self-sufficient complex that only needs time to operate and produce components.

The hard part of course, is how do I decide what I need? The answer, is either trial and error, or a complex calculator.

Online Complex Calculator: https://www.poisonedparanid.com/storage ... s/x3apocc/

Xadrian's Complex Calculator: https://kayahr.github.io/xadrian/

With those two you can pick the end product you want to produce and then work your way backwards through the chain until you need no more products incoming, or to tell you just how much you need to put in.
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DrSuperEvil
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Re: I could use some advice on what to do next

Post by DrSuperEvil » Tue, 7. May 19, 01:58

You should start boarding from when you have 8 marines. M6 wise aim for a Heavy Centaur Prototype, a Springblossom or Hyperion Vanguard.

Once you have the PHQ you can manufacture your own fighters. OTAS Solano is a good choice as is the split Scorpion Prototype. Alternatively the Boron Drone Hauler if you can cap one is pretty good. Blastclaw prototype is also an option.

When it comes to having major races as an enemy each has advantages and disadvantages. Generally Paranid, Boron or Terran are popular picks. Paranid have high value cap only ships, Terran have Jump Beacons and the Valhalla while Boron are pushovers. Teladi can have repair lasers on their RR ships but you would have issues buying some software. Split ships are glass cannons so easy to cap but making enemies limits the number of missile and laser factories you can quickly obtain. Argon have lots of corporations to loot. Yaki have vulnerable TLs to board.

EBCs like all ammo consuming weapons are a poor choice for out of sector since they use one crate of ammo per combat round instead of getting 200 shots per crate.

The marine duping bug was TC only and have since been patched. You can buy PBG forges from the yaki if you go Beryll later in the plots.

Argon stock exchange requires you to dock, undock then dock again to unlock.

I never trust a ship with under 200MJ shields to survive any combat.

Complex wise best to go a self sufficient complex that makes a mix of shields, lasers and missiles, fighter drones and also some advanced satellites. You can never go wrong with thunderbolt or typhoon missiles.

Fighter fleet dies quickly to PSGs and RR M7Ms. For sector clearance you want PSG, PBC and PALC compatible capital ships for the missile clearance. Figher drone spam is a viable option especially with terran Keris drones but needs alot of silicon making Barren Shores a good place to build. Forget Mk1 drones since they deal poor damage.

Make EBC factories and manipulare the Grand Exchange stock market. WIth 1300 you can earn 100 million every 30 seconds.

Capital ship wise panther raider is pretty good while Boreas is a good all round enforcer until you can reverse engineer Xenon capitals. Agammemnon and carrack are decent M7s but are boarding only.

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