Long-Term effect of stripping capital ships with cargo bay hacker

[Garik_Loran]

Hey guys,

I'm quite early in the game, got about 20 UTs running and focus on collecting ressoruces / beam weapons / exploring while training marines for a larger boarding crew.

However, training is expensive and I quickly found out that using the cargo bay hacker works quite well to make money, just take all weapons and sell them back or keep the ones I need.

Now after many hours I notice that the ships defending the sectors are mostly the same, meaning they are still stripped of most weapons except for 1 equipped per turret which is ridiculous for a M2.

Now I wonder whether there are some long-term effects since I notice some serious Xenon Invasions. I feel those stripped M1/M2/M7 are easy prey but I wonder if it has a long term effect such as loosing all stations in a sector or making passage impossible...

Has anyone of you erperienced those effects so far?

[BrigandPhantos77]

Hey guys,

I'm quite early in the game, got about 20 UTs running and focus on collecting ressoruces / beam weapons / exploring while training marines for a larger boarding crew.

However, training is expensive and I quickly found out that using the cargo bay hacker works quite well to make money, just take all weapons and sell them back or keep the ones I need.

Now after many hours I notice that the ships defending the sectors are mostly the same, meaning they are still stripped of most weapons except for 1 equipped per turret which is ridiculous for a M2.

Now I wonder whether there are some long-term effects since I notice some serious Xenon Invasions. I feel those stripped M1/M2/M7 are easy prey but I wonder if it has a long term effect such as loosing all stations in a sector or making passage impossible...

Has anyone of you erperienced those effects so far?

The only impact is those ships will not have those weapons for cycling during combat. Once they get destroyed, they will respawn with new weapons.

[beast_regards]

I am already pretty worried about the Xenon activity...

...but Xenons don't invade all sectors they have the range to reach (and they could reach practically the entire map with few exceptions).

The stripped ships may hang in there for a while. For example, OTAS Boreas in Akeela's Beacon is going to hang there for a long time, Xenon don't go there, and in my game, that Boreas only activity is trying to shoot me as I try to steal weapons from stations.

So far, Xenon destroyed only stations in Harmony of Perpetuity (I think that sector isn't meant to be completely empty, but it is for me)

Border sectors (right immediately next to Xenon ones) tends to see a lot of fighting, you may see even a Rapid Response without the Cargo Shielding there, and those tend to jump in and out a lot (and thus respawn), so no worry about them losing weapons.

[BrigandPhantos77]

I am already pretty worried about the Xenon activity...

...but Xenons don't invade all sectors they have the range to reach (and they could reach practically the entire map with few exceptions).

The stripped ships may hang in there for a while. For example, OTAS Boreas in Akeela's Beacon is going to hang there for a long time, Xenon don't go there, and in my game, that Boreas only activity is trying to shoot me as I try to steal weapons from stations.

So far, Xenon destroyed only stations in Harmony of Perpetuity (I think that sector isn't meant to be completely empty, but it is for me)

Border sectors (right immediately next to Xenon ones) tends to see a lot of fighting, you may see even a Rapid Response without the Cargo Shielding there, and those tend to jump in and out a lot (and thus respawn), so no worry about them losing weapons.

If it get's it's beta, and you take it, Xenon will visit it to engage your stations. I once had a J, K, 4 Qs and supporting corvettes and fighters move that way. The upside, is you don't get massive penalties for popping Xenon caps there, though your friendly pirates will take exception as they don't like the Goner. Treasure Chest and Elysium of Light rarely get any significant defense.

Your best bet for defending against Xenon without significant capitals, is going to be bombers. But you'll need to steal the prints to make the tomahawks production factory from a faction shipyard. Though if Teladi arent mad at you that's probably your best source.

[beast_regards]

If it get's it's beta, and you take it, Xenon will visit it to engage your stations. I once had a J, K, 4 Qs and supporting corvettes and fighters move that way. The upside, is you don't get massive penalties for popping Xenon caps there, though your friendly pirates will take exception as they don't like the Goner. Treasure Chest and Elysium of Light rarely get any significant defense.

Your best bet for defending against Xenon without significant capitals, is going to be bombers. But you'll need to steal the prints to make the tomahawks production factory from a faction shipyard. Though if Teladi arent mad at you that's probably your best source.

Xenon in the Harmony of Perpetuity doesn't seem to attack the complex while I am OOS, but they might do it while I am IS. They already did, but I lured them away without doing any significant damage to the K's there, though I did take out some fighters and M6. There is no Beta for the Harmony of Perpetuity, and the Xenon camping the sector would kinda discourage me from doing anything there. Though, my complex there seem to be one of my main sources of money, and despite the Xenon technically blockading it there are numerous Argon transports trying to run the blockade making me money. I think this somewhat lured Xenon away from other targets.

Occasionally the Q pops out in Danna's Chance or Nopileous Memorial, but they don't visit my HQ in Freedom's Reach. It seems that Pirates do a better job protecting my stations than everyone else. I didn't steal any weapons from their ships though.

[ksnk]

Relatively strong defense barrier contain 30-40 laser towers together with captured pirates m2. M2 can save you towers from destroying a bit. So them stay intact for a long time against rare visits of K+Q's+escort. Sometimes you need to replace killed towers. This barrier also killed all enemy corporations escorts and down your reputation, so don't place it on trade routes.
It seems like it would be a good idea to purchase 2 or more laser tower factories as soon as possible. Upgrade them to 10x production. Then you have too many towers - just stop production to save resources for something or start to sell them.

[beast_regards]

Relatively strong defense barrier contain 30-40 laser towers together with captured pirates m2. M2 can save you towers from destroying a bit. So them stay intact for a long time against rare visits of K+Q's+escort. Sometimes you need to replace killed towers. This barrier also killed all enemy corporations escorts and down your reputation, so don't place it on trade routes.
It seems like it would be a good idea to purchase 2 or more laser tower factories as soon as possible. Upgrade them to 10x production. Then you have too many towers - just stop production to save resources for something or start to sell them.

You can't have too many lasertowers.

The Xenon blockade of Harmony of Perpetuity got so bad that there were several K's, P's, PX's, L's and M's camping the game and fired immediately on any ship that entered. It vaporized anything that entered so quickly that even M2 couldn't tank it.

I dropped 42 Lasertower at the gate and left with barely any shield left. 20 lasetowers died in first 9 minutes before the rest of lasertowers activated, but it convinced the Xenon to not camp the game for a while. I took wares from the complex, and let them continue their Xenon house party. I am too worried about losing reputation with corps, because ... well, I couldn't lose any reputation with them anymore.

I am building another complex somewhere more secluded without any Xenon around.

I wonder if 0% of sunlight would produce energy....

[BrigandPhantos77]

You can't have too many lasertowers.

The Xenon blockade of Harmony of Perpetuity got so bad that there were several K's, P's, PX's, L's and M's camping the game and fired immediately on any ship that entered. It vaporized anything that entered so quickly that even M2 couldn't tank it.

I dropped 42 Lasertower at the gate and left with barely any shield left. 20 lasetowers died in first 9 minutes before the rest of lasertowers activated, but it convinced the Xenon to not camp the game for a while. I took wares from the complex, and let them continue their Xenon house party. I am too worried about losing reputation with corps, because ... well, I couldn't lose any reputation with them anymore.

I am building another complex somewhere more secluded without any Xenon around.

I wonder if 0% of sunlight would produce energy....

When you know a Xenon fleet is camping a specific sector, the best method of entry is via a small fast corvette. Once you exit the gate, turn and burn with turbo boost either up or down. Then go behind the gate. Maru and Springblossom can both do it. There are other's that can as well. OTAS corvette is fast enough. Turbo Boost Mk1 can usually be picked up via piracy and bailed ships. Duke's sometimes have them on Athena's. (A nice 6 million credit prize if he bails).

I bind my turbo function to shift + w (that's your strafe up on keyboard unless you changed it). If you release the shift while holding W, the turbo will stick to the on function and keep boosting. But it will make turning hard. If you got a jump beacon, you can drop that outside there range and jump in a transport to deploy lasertowers. I used 50 with this method to completely destroy the Xenon fleet in sanctuary of darkness. Only lost 3 laser towers to hits from an I that managed to get close.

If you don't have access to a jump beacon, or even a single use one, then bate the Xenon fleet to follow you to the opposite side of the sector. They "will" follow you most of the time. Just don't go beyond 40km from them or they might turn back.

0% sun? As in Midnight Star beta? Probably not, though I didn't actually try.

Just a note on Xenon patterns and destinations. They typically target and spawn in sector's within 10 jumps from any Xenon sector. But I have seen them go outside those bounds. Especially the capital ship fleets. I've seen them go to Oort cloud in Terran space which is outside that range.

[beast_regards]

When you know a Xenon fleet is camping a specific sector, the best method of entry is via a small fast corvette. Once you exit the gate, turn and burn with turbo boost either up or down. Then go behind the gate. Maru and Springblossom can both do it. There are other's that can as well. OTAS corvette is fast enough. Turbo Boost Mk1 can usually be picked up via piracy and bailed ships. Duke's sometimes have them on Athena's. (A nice 6 million credit prize if he bails).

I tried to make a run in Athena, it's quite slow but it did have the cargo I needed to clear the station's full stock. If traders could reach it, there wasn't any need to do so, but when the Xenon become too good in blockading the station I had to do something.

0% sun? As in Midnight Star beta? Probably not, though I didn't actually try.

LooManckStrat's Legacy has 0% sun. It's pretty dark, even visually.

It, however, does have an abundance of minerals, one of the pirate's space dock and anarchy port. There is even the Solar Power plant, though I don't know if it would work as player structure as it works for NPC's. It's quite well defended, and xenon doesn't venture there.

My reputation with most of the Commonwealth sucks so much it makes it paradoxically the safest sector for me.

[BrigandPhantos77]

I tried to make a run in Athena, it's quite slow but it did have the cargo I needed to clear the station's full stock. If traders could reach it, there wasn't any need to do so, but when the Xenon become too good in blockading the station I had to do something.

The Athena isn't terrible on speed, but using a corvette instead of a armoured transporter helps pull them off the gate specifically. Let them follow you away from the gate and a transport can get in mostly un-molested. Then sent it to desired coordinates, deploy laser towers, let the timer expire, and draw enemy fleet towards them.

LooManckStrat's Legacy has 0% sun. It's pretty dark, even visually.

It, however, does have an abundance of minerals, one of the pirate's space dock and anarchy port. There is even the Solar Power plant, though I don't know if it would work as player structure as it works for NPC's. It's quite well defended, and xenon doesn't venture there.

My reputation with most of the Commonwealth sucks so much it makes it paradoxically the safest sector for me.

I'm the opposite. High rep with Argon, Boron, Paranid, Teladi and Terran. Pirates KOS me in core sectors. Midnight Star beta is in perpetual darkness. Can't hardly see the asteroids in it either. Its one of the unlock claimable sectors. The mineral resources are decent, but they are one time and don't respawn. At least not on vanilla.

Those docks are invincible btw. And don't forget the pirate shipyard. The Xenon do visit the sectors around it. I've seen them camp Desecrated Skies and Spaceweed Grove.

[beast_regards]

I'm the opposite. High rep with Argon, Boron, Paranid, Teladi and Terran. Pirates KOS me in core sectors. Midnight Star beta is in perpetual darkness. Can't hardly see the asteroids in it either. Its one of the unlock claimable sectors. The mineral resources are decent, but they are one time and don't respawn. At least not on vanilla.

Those docks are invincible btw. And don't forget the pirate shipyard. The Xenon do visit the sectors around it. I've seen them camp Desecrated Skies and Spaceweed Grove.

The LooManckStrack Legacy is friendly to me, their shipyard is where I brought many of my ships.

I have complexes manufacturing weapons in Mi Ton's Refuge and Moo-Kaye Revenge. So far no Xenon there. I have complexes in Harmony of Perpetuity and Void Alpha that are harassed by Xenon like it is prohibition. Wait, X3 is prohibition in space, as Space Fuel whisky is illegal everywhere, but somehow it's Xenon who goes after my supply. And Boron, who kinda hate dodging my mines and lasertowers. The Xenon K got a message when it struck Anti-matter mine, but Boron ... they doesn't seem to like me all that much.

Building in LooManckStrack Legacy doesn't seem that bad of the choice except no sunlight as my rank/reputation is First Mate (which is the rank above the one that unlocks all ships).

[BrigandPhantos77]

The LooManckStrack Legacy is friendly to me, their shipyard is where I brought many of my ships.

I have complexes manufacturing weapons in Mi Ton's Refuge and Moo-Kaye Revenge. So far no Xenon there. I have complexes in Harmony of Perpetuity and Void Alpha that are harassed by Xenon like it is prohibition. Wait, X3 is prohibition in space, as Space Fuel whisky is illegal everywhere, but somehow it's Xenon who goes after my supply. And Boron, who kinda hate dodging my mines and lasertowers. The Xenon K got a message when it struck Anti-matter mine, but Boron ... they doesn't seem to like me all that much.

Building in LooManckStrack Legacy doesn't seem that bad of the choice except no sunlight as my rank/reputation is First Mate (which is the rank above the one that unlocks all ships).

I don't know how the targeting is generated but I know I've seen the Xenon invade the 2 sectors I named. But I've had sectors that I use targeted specifically by them. They stop when you put sufficient defenses in a sector. My current play I have Harmony of Perpetuity beta, Midnight Star beta and Tears of Greed beta. Before I put a significant fleet in each, they kept being targeted by there respective nearby Xenon sectors for invasion. If it happens to you, consider having multiple destroyers and at least one carrier in each sector you have assets in. You could try and make friends with the Terran's since your not worried about commonwealth rep. But you'll have to be mindful of your pirate rep in the process. Shouldn't be too hard to keep both up (Pirate/Terran).

[beast_regards]

The LooManckStrack Legacy is friendly to me, their shipyard is where I brought many of my ships.

I have complexes manufacturing weapons in Mi Ton's Refuge and Moo-Kaye Revenge. So far no Xenon there. I have complexes in Harmony of Perpetuity and Void Alpha that are harassed by Xenon like it is prohibition. Wait, X3 is prohibition in space, as Space Fuel whisky is illegal everywhere, but somehow it's Xenon who goes after my supply. And Boron, who kinda hate dodging my mines and lasertowers. The Xenon K got a message when it struck Anti-matter mine, but Boron ... they doesn't seem to like me all that much.

Building in LooManckStrack Legacy doesn't seem that bad of the choice except no sunlight as my rank/reputation is First Mate (which is the rank above the one that unlocks all ships).

I don't know how the targeting is generated but I know I've seen the Xenon invade the 2 sectors I named. But I've had sectors that I use targeted specifically by them. They stop when you put sufficient defenses in a sector. My current play I have Harmony of Perpetuity beta, Midnight Star beta and Tears of Greed beta. Before I put a significant fleet in each, they kept being targeted by there respective nearby Xenon sectors for invasion. If it happens to you, consider having multiple destroyers and at least one carrier in each sector you have assets in. You could try and make friends with the Terran's since your not worried about commonwealth rep. But you'll have to be mindful of your pirate rep in the process. Shouldn't be too hard to keep both up (Pirate/Terran).

I didn't start the Terran plot yet, to do so I need to have neutral Argon reputation and I am at the point when I have -95% penalty to reputation with Argon, with agent actions costing more than the maximum infuence you could have, making bouncing back difficult. Happens usually in extreme cases. You normally won't notice if you are hostile to Pirates, but I am on the other extreme end of the spectrum with my rank with Pirates being maxed out (now "Brotherhood Captain", there is achievment for that).

I am trying to recover the Argon reputation to start the Terran plot. (though I have access to some Terran things through black market)

I found Nathan's Voyage Beta, the Menelaus Paradise Beta, Tears of Greed Beta, and Lost Order Beta... claimed none of them as for me it's probably the safest to go for Lost Order Beta deep within Pirate sectors. It however does have some xenon in it by default, so I am not sure.

[BrigandPhantos77]

I didn't start the Terran plot yet, to do so I need to have neutral Argon reputation and I am at the point when I have -95% penalty to reputation with Argon, with agent actions costing more than the maximum infuence you could have, making bouncing back difficult. Happens usually in extreme cases. You normally won't notice if you are hostile to Pirates, but I am on the other extreme end of the spectrum with my rank with Pirates being maxed out (now "Brotherhood Captain", there is achievment for that).

I am trying to recover the Argon reputation to start the Terran plot. (though I have access to some Terran things through black market)

I found Nathan's Voyage Beta, the Menelaus Paradise Beta, Tears of Greed Beta, and Lost Order Beta... claimed none of them as for me it's probably the safest to go for Lost Order Beta deep within Pirate sectors. It however does have some xenon in it by default, so I am not sure.

They all start that way. Its like a gauntlet that guards hidden treasure in each of those sectors. (Usually a ship / weapon blueprint.) Just don't build in any of them before they are claimed. From what has been said in here, that triggers invasions via Xenon. I've never experienced one to this day. Once you claim the first one though, a timer starts and the game engine starts claiming the other's for the factions. If your hostile with Argon/Boron, I'd avoid using Nathan's Voyage beta and Menelaus Paradise beta. You'll have to deal with M1s in both those sectors, with lot's of Qs in Menelaus Paradise.

If your hostile with Teladi, I am surprised. They don't care about the pirates, only the Yaki. Whatever you do, don't build in the sector connected to either Unknown Enemy Sector or Sanctuary of Darkness. Or in those sectors specifically.

Terran ships are cool. You get the best M6 in the game playing there story ark. And I prefer the looks of there ships over the commonwealth. The downside, there ships are kinda nerfed compared to all the rest. The Kyoto though is the best M2 in the game (my opinion only). If you get the Valhalla, it has an annoying lock on it that prevents you from utilizing it's entire capacity. It can dock up to 10 (TS, TP, M8, M6) class ships through docking arms external, but these count against the hard limit of the internal hangar as well and prevent a max load of fighters inside.

Once you unlock there area, it unlocks there ability to appear with the explorer's guild for things like ship blueprints and weapons.

The music is better in there territory as well. (Again just my opinion)

A little note on recovery of rep, you won't take rep damage from there enemies until your rep rises to 2 red bars or better. That's when you can enter there border sectors without being KOS. And Black Hole Sun is a great place if you want to raise Argon rep. Just pop the Xenon when they attack it, which is frequent. A Xenon I, K, J (or Q) can raise your rep fast. Using a bomber or missile frigate can really help with this task.

[beast_regards]

They all start that way. Its like a gauntlet that guards hidden treasure in each of those sectors. (Usually a ship / weapon blueprint.) Just don't build in any of them before they are claimed. From what has been said in here, that triggers invasions via Xenon. I've never experienced one to this day. Once you claim the first one though, a timer starts and the game engine starts claiming the other's for the factions. If your hostile with Argon/Boron, I'd avoid using Nathan's Voyage beta and Menelaus Paradise beta. You'll have to deal with M1s in both those sectors, with lot's of Qs in Menelaus Paradise.

If your hostile with Teladi, I am surprised. They don't care about the pirates, only the Yaki. Whatever you do, don't build in the sector connected to either Unknown Enemy Sector or Sanctuary of Darkness. Or in those sectors specifically.

Terran ships are cool. You get the best M6 in the game playing there story ark. And I prefer the looks of there ships over the commonwealth. The downside, there ships are kinda nerfed compared to all the rest. The Kyoto though is the best M2 in the game (my opinion only). If you get the Valhalla, it has an annoying lock on it that prevents you from utilizing it's entire capacity. It can dock up to 10 (TS, TP, M8, M6) class ships through docking arms external, but these count against the hard limit of the internal hangar as well and prevent a max load of fighters inside.

Once you unlock there area, it unlocks there ability to appear with the explorer's guild for things like ship blueprints and weapons.

The music is better in there territory as well. (Again just my opinion)

A little note on recovery of rep, you won't take rep damage from there enemies until your rep rises to 2 red bars or better. That's when you can enter there border sectors without being KOS. And Black Hole Sun is a great place if you want to raise Argon rep. Just pop the Xenon when they attack it, which is frequent. A Xenon I, K, J (or Q) can raise your rep fast. Using a bomber or missile frigate can really help with this task.

Argons and Borons are hostile to me, along with all the corps and the Paranids. I tried to recover some Argon reputation, but I bleed reputation with Boron (and subsequently Argon) insanely fast, most likely due to the setup in Void Alpha that produces space fuel/weed/low-yield firearms, pirate firearms) and defences there. It triggered KOS with Boron long time ago. Void Alpha is not Boron territory, but their traders do pass through there and usually get blasted in the process. I occasionally yoink their transports too, which they don't like too much.

I am friendly with Pirates and Teladi. Pirates often pay bouties for Yaki ships. Apparently, Pirates don't like Yakis too much either.

Split doesn't seem to mind the pirate rep too much (at least, less that other races) so I am not hostile to Split ATM.