[X3LU] Mayhem 3.21b

[Edna]

And there goes my weekend.

[Hector0x]

Long time ago in a galaxy far far away:

Young Sheev: "This weekend i'm going to be productive!"
Mayhem: "Empire building is inevitable!"
Sheev: "I love democracy!"

Legends tell that Mayhem is the root of all evil.

Don't believe in legends!

[Joubarbe]

[4square425]

Oh why does school have to start up again now!

[Edna]

I'm not good in probability, but I'm pretty sure the chances of that to happen are very low

I think I like this sector. This one and the sector left to it have pirate bases, so I'm going to keep them and use the Pirate Contract perk on all of those outposts. I hope it works the way I want it to

Also, I wonder whether I can board a Hive Queen. Would love to have a fleet of those.

[Joubarbe]

Nice channel!

And Mayhem 3.2b is released.

3.2b: You could sometimes receive a breaking news informing you of a new conquest, but in fact the Battle Group was not conquering the sector at all.

[Seldion]

Hello, Loving the mod, its what I've been looking for in a game for a while now, tho I was wondering if there was any way to edit what a sector makes and consumes, I've found a map I REALLY like but all 9 of the systems that I want to take early game ALL produce fish and none of them consume fish, Vegies, meat and fruits.

I really want to keep this map, I'm having trouble getting the hang of this mod, even tho I love it, and would love to have this map as a easy starting point, tho I guess I could try starting a game where everything is already developed instead of "none" or try turning the difficulty down to easy or at lest normal instead of hard.... but heck wheres the fun in that! but with that said, editing the systems would be like cheating too, guess I can't win for losing xD

Either way I'd love to see the ability to edit stuff like the max pop, food made and consumed and research rate when making a new map, like have the option to have max-min pop editable also min-max stations instead of just "extra stats" for them all. (or even just to be able to move systems around, that be nice too.)

[Edna]

As it turns out, it's pretty much impossible to place stations in a system with many pirates in it, even when you have the Pirate Contract. I guess that's the big downside of the perk, as you will need to take care of all those pirates at least for the sake of placing stations.


Edit: You have no idea how much in love I am with the Yaki Hacker Event. It's a game changer, for the better, to me. If you look up at the map I posted previously, you can see that the Borons are in the upper left, the Split in the upper right, bordering my channel access. I'm at war with the Borons permanently (or: I'm only allied with the Split, I was young and needed the perks). The big problem is that the Split have a weakness in their economy: Quantum Tube Fabs. They have only very few of them, meaning they do not produce any new capital ships while the Borons have managed to roll over their sectors with a Megalodon, two Sharks and two Rays plus M7s and small stuff.

The big issue is that I felt really save with the Split being so big, but the Borons are the only comparable force in the universe in size and are far stronger than the Split in military (since the Split were the biggest force in economy, Khaak spawns crippled them and they also have to deal with the Argons at the very bottom of the map, which they can't beat because the Argons have only three sectors and don't need economy to pay for ships). The Borons were about to conquer the sector before the Split sector bordering my channel, which would have been an absolute desaster to me and my economy as I have no military yet. But just in time the Yaki took over the Megalodon and destroyed the entire Boron Battlegroup that way. Speaking of the biggest betrayal in Anime history here.

That Megalodon in Yaki hands means that the Split won't recover in that sector, but it also means that the Borons will have to take out a Dreadnought before they can continue advancing into Split space, effectively giving me the time I desperately need to research the Acinonyx and then the Ocelote. Holy balls!

[Joubarbe]

@Seldion: There are two files you can edit:

• X3\addon\maps\x3_universe.xml: it's like a vanilla map. There are some tools out there that will let you edit sectors layout. You can also edit the file manually if you know what you're doing (you need to properly switch the coordinates, but also take care of the gates). This PDF will help you to understand how the universe file works.
• X3\addon\t\9970-L044.xml: that's the file the galaxy generator creates. You'll see all the descriptions, and a long series of numbers. Here is the source code for the generation of this part:
  
  
  
  So for instance id="110" is the "hollowed galaxy" galaxy trait. 1 is TRUE, 0 is FALSE. Then you got 1000 to 1010, suffixed by the coordinates X/Y of each sector, and their different properties. 10080101 is the production (1008) index of the top left corner sector (x:01 y:01). Coordinates start at 1.
  
  Food are enumerated, 0 to 3:

  Code: Select all

      #ware_fish
      #ware_fruit
      #ware_meat
      #ware_vegetables
  

  Same thing for the companies, 0 to 4:

  Code: Select all

      #company_markus     ; Argon
      #company_oceania    ; Boron
      #company_pontifex   ; Paranid
      #company_thuruk     ; Split
      #company_salecrest  ; Teladi
  

[4square425]

What is the method of transferring resources to other factions using the Interorbital Storage perk? I've gotten Terracorp to pick up resources in the Outpost Manager - Logistics - Stock menu, but when I select "Delivery" it only seems to go back to that Outpost. Do I need to be in sector with another faction, perhaps in the same menu as the ship purchasing?

[Edna]

What is the method of transferring resources to other factions using the Interorbital Storage perk? I've gotten Terracorp to pick up resources in the Outpost Manager - Logistics - Stock menu, but when I select "Delivery" it only seems to go back to that Outpost. Do I need to be in sector with another faction, perhaps in the same menu as the ship purchasing?

You can access the feature in the diplomacy menu in the player console. If you have Rank 7 with a race, it will show you which strategic resources are required and you can send them if you have them stored.

[4square425]

What is the method of transferring resources to other factions using the Interorbital Storage perk? I've gotten Terracorp to pick up resources in the Outpost Manager - Logistics - Stock menu, but when I select "Delivery" it only seems to go back to that Outpost. Do I need to be in sector with another faction, perhaps in the same menu as the ship purchasing?

You can access the feature in the diplomacy menu in the player console. If you have Rank 7 with a race, it will show you which strategic resources are required and you can send them if you have them stored.

Hmm, maybe the patch notes could be clarified then. It seems to indicate you could send any sort of resource, not just the four strategic ones.

"It is now possible to transfer resources from your Interorbital Storage (perk needed) to any faction. It requires a reputation of 6. Transferring resources that way decreases the cost of the next favor point (average value of the total amount transferred). It's only possible to transfer the resource that the faction requires the most."

Furthermore, with "It's only possible to transfer the resource that the faction requires the most", all of the factions in my game don't have a strategic shortage, from the Splits who control 60% of the galaxy to the Argon who only control 2 sectors. Does that mean all of the factions are completely full of every strategic resource equally, or is there some threshold that bypasses "needed the most"?

[Joubarbe]

...\t\9972:

Code: Select all

<t id="245">500000</t> <!-- Threshold, in credits, under which a strategic resource is considered in shortage (see the Diplomacy menu). (default: 500000) -->

[mrBreed]

Have a problem. When i try jump, jump animation started but game show me "black screen". First 20-30 second sounds are played ( weapon sounds/command sounds....) After game freezed. Its allways happend for me:
1) my ships aegir
2) use command Attack enemy
3) select xenon station
4) when laser power =0
5) start use jump
Result = black screen and after game freezed
Video = https://radikal.ru/video/YzidXXUwqrp

[Seldion]

@Joubarbe

I've tried many of the map editors out there but none seem to work, maybe I am doing something wrong, can you recommend me one?

Thank you, I've edited the generation to my liking, tho after updating to 3.2 I had to go back and do it all again xD

[Joubarbe]

@mrBreed: I cannot debug by simply invoking the Voodoo gods. I need the savegame and the galaxy.

@Seldion: I've never used them. Try to take a look at this PDF. It explains how the universe file works. You would need to change coordinates and gates.

[Edna]

Okay, so here is some feedback on the latest versions:

The Piracy Contract perk is super helpful in the early/midgame. It's working perfectly as long as you are outside a sector. In-sector, you have the danger of turrets causing battles. Since I never needed to visit my own sectors at all in my current game, I made big profits with the three pirate bases in my channel as they frequently generated abandoned ships near and in my sectors (I set up a public trading outpost, which attracted traders and escorts which got attacked the moment they left my sectors, and allied Task Forces usually move 1-2 sectors into my channel to take care of pirates, causing some abandoned ships even inside my sectors. That's another nice form of passive income!

Are the pirates useful as passive garrison? No, since they are moving mostly spread-out and attacking races are usually overwhelmingly strong in comparison to them. So no big profits in the late/endgame.

The big downside of the perk is that you will either have to clear your sectors sometimes or just have to wait for pirates to not be in certain places so you can drop the stations you want. If they are close to where you want to drop a station, you will get a warning that enemies are too close.


I noticed the weapon rebalancing, which made my praised Phased Array Laser Cannons more of a frigate-only weapon than a considerable weapon for the Ocelote. That's a good change since I started playing around with the Photon Artillery Array and the Photon Pulse Cannon, and the Terran M2s are now actually worth it because of the max-range weaponry. I also had a very mean encounter with a Boron Battlegroup using Ion Cannons, since they now outrange Split weaponry.

I now understand what Hector was on about regarding the truces. I was fighting a Boron Battlegroup in Split space as they were invading the Split, and the battle took more than 45 minutes (I piloted my Ocelote and picked them off one-by-one). In the very meantime, the Borons and the Split signed a truce and shortly after that, I managed to destroy a Boron Shark M1, which dropped my reputation of the Split from +7 to -2, meaning they instantly claimed my bordering sector. That's... most unfortunate, and I'd prefer if races that are not perma-allied wouldn't give you a penalty for fighting someone else in their space.

The Argons in my current game never had the chance to expand as the Split blocked them early on. Right now they, the Argons, are burning through the Split territories like crazy, having managed to get eight sectors. I really like the fact that small empires can get back into the game if the player does not kill them off.

I haven't gotten to play around with the Boarding System yet, only tried to get a Yaki Megalodon. It was super fun. I wish the Split would have a working economy, so I could have tried to get a few M7s from them. I also like the piloting aspect as I've noticed how important XP will be when taking on a M2. Looks like Craftsmanship is a skill every marine should have at 100.

[Joubarbe]

Thanks for the feedback.
I will fix the pirate warning. You should be able to build stations if pirates are around when you have the perk.
"I'd prefer if races that are not perma-allied wouldn't give you a penalty for fighting someone else in their space." Yeah, me too. Unfortunately, the reputation hit and how it works is hardcoded.
I also had some factions being stuck at some point, because of the galaxy layout. Obviously, it happens a lot more on scattered galaxies. There's no easy fix to that, so we'll have to accept the magic of randomness

[djmidex]

@Joubarbe, I think this is a bug: "collect astronaut" command does not work if the target is hostile. let me know if you need a savegame.

[Hector0x]

I now understand what Hector was on about regarding the truces. I was fighting a Boron Battlegroup in Split space as they were invading the Split, and the battle took more than 45 minutes (I piloted my Ocelote and picked them off one-by-one). In the very meantime, the Borons and the Split signed a truce and shortly after that, I managed to destroy a Boron Shark M1, which dropped my reputation of the Split from +7 to -2, meaning they instantly claimed my bordering sector. That's... most unfortunate, and I'd prefer if races that are not perma-allied wouldn't give you a penalty for fighting someone else in their space.

I think dynamic relations for the player is a good thing. You can use the opportunity to grab some Split sectors you always wanted and then make peace again.
But it's worth it to think about some tweaks and make accidents like that less likely. More ways to aquire a truce and repair the rep damage maybe.

NPC truces are important to prevent blobbing, since they considerably slow stronger factions down. But they hurt the player's awareness about who is friendly with whom at any given time.
Maybe there could be a 4th state (hostile, neutral, truce, alliance) with "truce" just preventing Battlegroup invasion targeting, but not causing reputation losses upon killing ships.

The "Alliance" state could look like this:
1) not signed after each successful invasion, but randomly like in Mayhem 2
2) less alliances with longer duration to give them more weight (like 18-30h long)
3) announcement 1h before it actually starts and with real messages, not just onscreen notification
4) could include the new resource sharing feature for permanent allies
Edit: 5) more likely between the weakest factions in the galaxy

The Argons in my current game never had the chance to expand as the Split blocked them early on.

About blocking. I saw your screenshot. Sealing up large clusters in shattered early expansion galaxies seems to be your specialty
For this boldness their battlegroups should've ignored your blockade and claim sectors behind it. This would also counteract grinding in a safe corner until the NPC's are no match anymore