[TC] Balance of Power Plot Walkthrough

[Thunders]

Do you guys think it would be worth it to hold off doing this mission until I can bring a fleet into it with me? It certainly looks like a fun opportunity to pass up otherwise.

Losing the TP after the station hack doesn't cause failure, so move on to the next, preferably after wiping that fleet in case it doesn't despawn when you end your current mission by talking to an NPC.

[Spychotic]

Then you're doing it wrong. Shouldn't take more than thirty minutes for a fighter cap, and I usually do it in ten.

Spike

What should I be doing?

Fight rank is about middle, warlord I believe.

I crush the shields with HEPT, and then chip away with PAC doing 1-2% of hull damage at at time.

In my experience what you should be doing it chipping away 10% at a time, not 1-2%. Otherwise your work looks good.

I'm a similar rank (Pan-Galactic Tycoon, although not relevant, and Crusader 40%) and from what I gather, chipping away gets bails by making the computer make a lot of bail decisions (it makes one every time it suffers damage I think) and relying on the strength of your rep to make him bail. We don't have that, so we need to weaken his resolve with a salvo of shots.

I learned how to cap fighters in X2. I practiced on Kha'ak Fighters, as if you caught them with weapons they sold for a bomb. I spent hours patrolling space looking for Kha'ak M3s to cap. I noticed that a ship seems to have a higher chance of bailing when it performs a failed evasive manoeuvre; i.e. it tries to evade fire and is still under fire after the manoeuvre with little or no let-up in fire in the meantime. I found that I could predict when a fighter was going to bail, because it would perform an evasive manoeuvre (usually a 90 degree turn) that my weapons were tracking meaning that it was still under fire as much after the evasion as before it. When I saw what was going on, usually just as the target began to turn, I'd cease firing and half a second later, the ship turned blue and was mine on more than half of the occasions. It was remarkably regular. And earned me a lot of money!

This is why a longer 10% hull burst works better; if it hits them whilst they're manoeuvring, they have a high chance of bailing.

I think the mechanics are unchanged in X3, however the addition of inertia makes the manoeuvre look different and the success rate is definitely lower. Nevertheless; I found it more successful than the chip-away-slowly method; it is of note that when I completed this mission whilst writing the walkthrough, I capped one of the escorting Elites in addition to the two ATF fighters. All three made exactly the same 90 degree evasive manouevre whilst under fire immediately (within ~1 second) before bailing.

Try it.

Spike

[Infekted]

I would definately second that motion. I was using my usual capping method of chipping bits off the hull, and I had no success after two days of constant effort. When I did as Spych suggested it took maybe 10-15mins.
Smash shields in one. Take chunks out of the hull of 10-20% every few seconds untill it bails or dies. Keep reloading untill it works.

[exogenesis]

I'd say those four ATF fighters are DEFINITELY worth having!!!

Spike

Was looking at the specs & the Fernir is not much different to say a (buyable) Cutlass,
& the Thor similar to a (buyable) Scimitar, OK they've got a few more
main cockpit guns but none of these M3/M3+ can use that many properly
due to the M3-sized generator.

The is the only non-buyable thing worth having out of all of this is the Griffon,
but even then it can only dock 9 M3+ max, a (buyable) Panther docks 32.

Would have loved to have had a working fly-by blueprint scanner,
shame it was plot-only.

[Dave500]

I've given up trying to cap them for now, I'll try again soon, once my patience has regenerated.

DD

[TBV]

To cap the 2 fighters:

Get yourself an LX, Chimera or similar ship that can comfortably fire PBE.

Use all 8 for the Fenrir and 4 for the Mjollner.

Use ESD's guide to capping. Basically just act as if you want to kill them and
stop firing if they turn blue. If they don't, re-load.

If that doesn't work after 30 re-loads I'll post you a conciliatory cookie.

[Thunders]

Was looking at the specs & the Fernir is not much different to say a (buyable) Cutlass,
& the Thor similar to a (buyable) Scimitar, OK they've got a few more
main cockpit guns but none of these M3/M3+ can use that many properly
due to the M3-sized generator.

The Fenrir is a solid ship and its 2 EMPC back turrets are really helpful. 44 of them are on my to-do (well, to-build) list.

[kidfusion3000]

I've never really found a use for M4s so the mjolnir isn't high on my priority list, they just get shot down by M3s and even by M5s in large numbers, the Solano is the exception but its really a cheap M3. I want to cap the fenrir because It is the fastest M3+ with the second best shielding and enough firepower to almost match an Eclipse, which did i mention that it beats in speed by 60m/s. they're probably too expensive and slow to build for a full fighter wing, but loading 8 of them on the griffon (leaving room for my kestrel) sounds like a viable path to galactic conquest. Assuming i can find enough EMPCs to mount on them.

[Sovereign01]

Just a quick heads-up:

Spoiler

Show

The Tyrs at the very end are not the first ones to be linked with the Terrans- the ships that turn up to destroy the dark space installation in Terran space are also Terran linked as I found out when I had my Skirnir waste them. As those ships all jump out by themselves anyway, it was no big deal.

[Sovereign01]

Spoiler

Show

As for the prison transport, I didn't get any cap ships, just a couple dozen M3s and M4s.

I can say that the mission where you board the ATF research facility with 10 marines is insane though. To give you an idea, I'm on X-Treme fight rank

Let's just say I'm glad I brought 2 M2s and 2M7s and my Skirnir. A few dozen M3s and M4s, 3 Osakas and 7 Tokyos came my way as well as a few Katanas and Yokos. Thanks to my Skirnir, each capship was dead in 10 seconds, my other ships shredded the fighters with flak

[markdeno]

Did any of you also loose all of your inventory wares (as in police licences and UFJD) at some time during this plot? I did. Had to cheat the UFJD back in.

[Spychotic]

Did any of you also loose all of your inventory wares (as in police licences and UFJD) at some time during this plot? I did. Had to cheat the UFJD back in.

Nope. Are you running mods?

Spike

[XanII]

Wow that pirate base locating is tough. Doing it in an arrow with duplex. cant find in though i have it so tightly cornered that i cant understand why i dont see it yet.

[kidfusion3000]

where did you get an arrow? you're not playing vanilla are you?

[kidfusion3000]

where did you get an arrow? you're not playing vanilla are you?

[XanII]

Nope. Modified.

Found the station. as expected it was in a diagonal angle from my start position. Good fight ensued. Just happy to be complete with all the plots now.

[L_B_P]

You dont see a station, what you see is an unknown object. Then you get close to the unknown object it change to a pirate station

[Sovereign01]

I stumbled across that station by blind luck- just picked a diagonal diection and prayed. As tor the Tyrs at the end, I UFJD'd into a sector with Xenon, so I decided they should get acquainted . The Xenon wasted 2 of the Tyrs before they were destroyed themselves

[Da-V-Man]

GGAAAHAHA!!! Is all I have to say right now. I located the pirate base in ~10 minutes. However, those ships, those damned ships won't bail: PERIOD. Not only that, but the Fenrir keeps launching frigging spectres at me while I'm firing at it, which destroys the missle and instantly DESTROYS THE SHIP!

[Thunders]

Use the X-Shuttle. This way you'll outrun both the ships and their missiles (which makes shooting the missiles a safe task for all involved) while still being able to withstand lots of damage considering you're flying a fighter.