Xenon needs a upgrade.

[Staur106]

Hello i have bin dong few fresh starts over the last months, newest one was 1 day before the new beta started and, only place that Xenon seam to be able to keep there stuff is the zones you have to clean for yaki in there story.
most all othere places allways get owned, and this seam to have started after the Argon/Teldi update on ships came out, and i'm talking about player not helping at all, this kinda makes Xenon Pointless in X4 these days.

Here is the save for the newest game this is a costom game but i did not have anything done but just some extra Blueprints and Ships.
https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/yetg7k1e ... xbih6&dl=0

The way i think this can be fixed in some way are these ideas.

1) add mere xenon sectors linked to the ones around ant/argon and teldi space.

2) Upgrade Xenon Ships in some way.

3) make them more aggresive in these Sectors that are beging taken over so easy.

4) maybe increse the numbers of I and K in Groups might help aswell.

I think there needs to be done something to make the Xenon more Scary like in old days

[alt3rn1ty]

~ and i'm talking about player not helping at all, this kinda makes Xenon Pointless in X4 these days. ~

I agree.

Coming from me (probably one of the most pacifist of players, who likes an end game where everyone is peaceful and I can just enjoy small dogfights against BUC, Kha'ak and whatever I can glean from missions which are not too big) .. Thats quite a bit of an admission.
.. Wall of text in spoiler ..

Spoiler

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Once I have helped the Yaki (which I always do as I like supporting the underdog), saddest part of that tale is once you have helped the Yaki (after god knows how long of being in fear of everyone and having to hide among the Xenon), they still get stomped on whatever faction is strongest to waltz through their sectors.

But back to the Xenon - Thats the biggest threat gone. The initial tell tale conflict is the Xenon incursion into Hatikvah's, and I can't resist building my forces to turn the tide here, after that you just waltz through to Savage Spur systematically wiping out the Xenon threat, and the Yaki plot of helping them to be rid of the last Xenon stations is pretty much already done.

Everywhere else .. just leave it to all the other factions, eventually Xenon get squished = No more Xenon drops and mod resources.

Even SCA sectors down to the South East of the map, initially the Xenon are quite strong there if you get there quick enough, and then you have an early long winded battle if you are prioritising doing the SCA Terraforming. But leave it a while, and by the time you get there the Teldai / SCA will see them off. Leaving the coast clear to do the SCA Terraforming, being friends with them and getting all the mod goodies from the fleet they give you.

And lastly you can try to coral the Xenon into a few sectors and keep them alive, but ultimately they will die if not by your hand, another faction will storm in there and finish them off, either Teladi, Terran, Rhak even Antigone are not shy in coming forward at that stage. Some folk have been sucessful doing this, but its a Royal PITA nurturing the fate of the Xenon.

We maybe could use Diplomacy in the future drop of Version 8.0 of the game, to turn the tide of fate regarding Xenon

Something needs done. I think making them just able to teleport elsewhere like the Kha'ak would be too much. Because the Xenon build up quickly and spread like wildfire once they are dug in, whereas the Kha'ak just attack the threat to Nividium and are relatively contained even though they can jump around, they dont really proliferate.

The newish end game Existential Threat from the Xenon plus Kha'ak is just a long drawn-out battle of attrition, and by that stage you have enough clout to be able to defend wherever they pop up. Its interesting but ultimately we win.

I honestly dont know what to suggest for the early to mid game, and Egosoft have a huge task trying to balance this for all players "style". They dont want the Xenon to take over the X'verse, not giving the player a chance to get strong enough against them, or squashing chances of any story / mission with any particular faction by having the Xenon obliterate any faction along the way.

Many suggestions have been made in the past, but nothing Egosoft could follow up on as an ideal solution.

TLDR :

The only thing I can think of is always have a surviving "job" of spawning in a special Xenon SE, and randomly it will help a station to build somewhere and create a pop up incursion of Xenon, if you are not quick enough to notice, they will once again proliferate. Like Alien Earth. Maybe a special "Envoy" version of a Xenon SE ship which has adopted pirate camouflaging, and away they go again. They might lose a few of these trying to establish themselves again, but one will get through eventually (maybe the RNG on this could be made random enough to really elongate the end game and we get a long period of peace, but then we have another Xenon war on our hands sneakily pops up when we are not expecting it..

ad-infinitum.

That would be my ideal solution to Xenon extinction, and would create "Oh crap!" moments for us pacifists with loads of credits needing to be woken up from our reverie .

I kind of hope Egosoft sees this suggestion
(Please dont let it help the new neighbours to Path to Profit .. You know where I mean )
(Or .. maybe, do, upset my shipyard, I can build elsewhere and come back with vengeance).

"Dug in deeper than an alabama tick".

[Diamaht]

If you boost them in general you would cut player HQ off from the rest of the world via Hatikvah, since that is under siege at the very start of the game. An experienced player may welcome this, but the HQ is meant to ease newer players in and connect them to the Boron (and connect to Boron to everyone else)

Maybe new sectors further away from the center of the map that start with a very strong Xenon economy? That would also draw the attention of the POI so they would be less likely to help in other places, so the Xenon would get a bit stronger everywhere.

[Worilio]

In the long term, Xenon run out of resources, which is then their decline. Perhaps, following would make sense:

1) Possibilty for capital ships to dock at Xenon stations and making Xenon H a universal miner and gas collector.
2) Enabling mining for Xenon B, which seems to its original purpose anyway.
3) Periodical spawning of support fleets of Xenon H and Xenon B in Xenon owned sectors for ressource collection.
4) A new class of an energy cell manufacturing mobile solar panel Xenon ship, which would spawn in Xenon owned sectors as well.

[Observe]

Xenon are doing quite well in my current game. I started out with PHQ in Savage Spur 1 near the Yaki station. This sector is rich in resources. I am neutral with Yaki and Xenon and I am enemies with everyone else except Segaris Pioneers and Zyarth Patriarchy. This gives me an "in" with Terran technology via Segaris and ice mining in Family Kritt, along with Split technology as well.

The main incursions into Xenon Sectors Tharka's Cascade XV, XV11 and Matrix #79B seem to come from Terrans. However, since I'm at war with Terrans, I regularly chip away at them in Getsu Fune and Asteroid Belt sectors. This seems to diminish their overall fleet, to the point where they appear less able to send ships into Xenon sectors.

After 70+ hours in this play-through, the Xenon sectors mentioned above, remain full to the brim with Xenon ships. Interestingly, Xenon are quite happy to sell solar cells to my PHQ.

Anyway, I thought I'd mention that this seems to be one way to ensure Xenon survival, by reducing the Terran threat to them. The other factions, while enemies of Xenon, appear to do less damage to Xenon's than Terran's do. Or, what I am seeing, may just be the roll of the dice in this particular start.

[Staur106]

Xenon are doing quite well in my current game. I started out with PHQ in Savage Spur 1 near the Yaki station. This sector is rich in resources. I am neutral with Yaki and Xenon and I am enemies with everyone else except Segaris Pioneers and Zyarth Patriarchy. This gives me an "in" with Terran technology via Segaris and ice mining in Family Kritt, along with Split technology as well.

The main incursions into Xenon Sectors Tharka's Cascade XV, XV11 and Matrix #79B seem to come from Terrans. However, since I'm at war with Terrans, I regularly chip away at them in Getsu Fune and Asteroid Belt sectors. This seems to diminish their overall fleet, to the point where they appear less able to send ships into Xenon sectors.

After 70+ hours in this play-through, the Xenon sectors mentioned above, remain full to the brim with Xenon ships. Interestingly, Xenon are quite happy to sell solar cells to my PHQ.

Anyway, I thought I'd mention that this seems to be one way to ensure Xenon survival, by reducing the Terran threat to them. The other factions, while enemies of Xenon, appear to do less damage to Xenon's than Terran's do. Or, what I am seeing, may just be the roll of the dice in this particular start.

you seam to be missing my pont my friend, the Sectors your talking about are Exsecly the only ones that Xenon has no reall issues with unless player is involved, the Sectors that are issue for Xenon are the ones around Teldi space and ANT/Argon allways get wiped out really early, often even before i have Discoverd them heh, Something needs to be done to make the Xenon a nightmare agien, but like the first guy said it is hard to balance it so new and unexperianced player wont be overrelmed, there might be a good idea to perheps make new difficult Xenon system you can unlock in Games settings or even have some kind of Opiton wen you start a new game or even a Reserch opiton

[Diamaht]

Xenon are doing quite well in my current game. I started out with PHQ in Savage Spur 1 near the Yaki station. This sector is rich in resources. I am neutral with Yaki and Xenon and I am enemies with everyone else except Segaris Pioneers and Zyarth Patriarchy. This gives me an "in" with Terran technology via Segaris and ice mining in Family Kritt, along with Split technology as well.

The main incursions into Xenon Sectors Tharka's Cascade XV, XV11 and Matrix #79B seem to come from Terrans. However, since I'm at war with Terrans, I regularly chip away at them in Getsu Fune and Asteroid Belt sectors. This seems to diminish their overall fleet, to the point where they appear less able to send ships into Xenon sectors.

After 70+ hours in this play-through, the Xenon sectors mentioned above, remain full to the brim with Xenon ships. Interestingly, Xenon are quite happy to sell solar cells to my PHQ.

Anyway, I thought I'd mention that this seems to be one way to ensure Xenon survival, by reducing the Terran threat to them. The other factions, while enemies of Xenon, appear to do less damage to Xenon's than Terran's do. Or, what I am seeing, may just be the roll of the dice in this particular start.

Out of curiosity, what did you do to gain standing with the Xenon?

[Observe]

Out of curiosity, what did you do to gain standing with the Xenon?

I am playing a custom game start, where I set the faction relationships prior to starting. This means that Xenon and Yaki are "blue" from the beginning. Basically, I am playing as Yaki. I can buy their blueprints. I can also order their ships, but they generally lack the resources to build them, so I sell ships to them from my PHQ shipyard nearby.

I can order an S-Class Mining ship from the Xenon Wharf and I can dock at their stations. Of course I can't step out of my ship onto the Xenon docking platform itself, or have any other kind of interaction with them.

[Observe]

Something needs to be done to make the Xenon a nightmare agien, but like the first guy said it is hard to balance it so new and unexperianced player wont be overrelmed, there might be a good idea to perheps make new difficult Xenon system you can unlock in Games settings or even have some kind of Opiton wen you start a new game or even a Reserch opiton

I agree. It would be nice if we had the option for Xenon to be more of a long-term threat. With the Kha'ak being so limited and the Xenon dying out by mid-game, travel pretty much becomes a walk in the park, with little really to keep the player on their toes.

[Diamaht]

Out of curiosity, what did you do to gain standing with the Xenon?

I am playing a custom game start, where I set the faction relationships prior to starting. This means that Xenon and Yaki are "blue" from the beginning. Basically, I am playing as Yaki. I can buy their blueprints. I can also order their ships, but they generally lack the resources to build them, so I sell ships to them from my PHQ shipyard nearby.

I can order an S-Class Mining ship from the Xenon Wharf and I can dock at their stations. Of course I can't step out of my ship onto the Xenon docking platform itself, or have any other kind of interaction with them.

Gotcha, thanks!