BlackRain wrote: ↑Tue, 13. Apr 21, 01:54
I have finally realized something about X4 which for whatever reason I didn't really think through before. A lot of people think there is no action or the game world in vanilla is too dead or something, but I have come to the conclusion that it is because of the lack of ships. What I realized over a long period of time is that only when factions have enough ships will they fight more and expand. For example, I was wondering why in my last game I was playing that despite there being plenty of empty sectors near them, Zyarch never tried to expand into the empty sectors. So I was testing it out and I helped rebuild their economy and rebuild lots of their lost ships and they expanded. Same for fights, if the faction doesn't have enough ships it won't start battles against its enemies. This means, it may look like nothing is going on. Only when they feel they have a large enough number of ships do things happen and the economy can get held up/stuck if you don't actively help build it up. Especially feeding the shipyards/wharfs. Another possibility which may also affect this part of the game alongside what I said may be total sectors controlled/owned. So it might be that if they control a certain amount of sectors but only have a certain amount of ships then they wont expand.
So I hope these observations help people out. Once you realize this, it becomes much more interesting because now I am feeding shipyards/wharfs of all factions continuously for long periods of time and there is a lot more going on.
Yes, this is absolutely true and I've made the same observations myself. It's one of the reasons I switched to FOCW as it allows the various factions to have more ships. With ample assets the AI suddenly seems smarter, responding to attacks, keeping ships, or even fleets, stationed near gates where enemies invade from etc. It makes the universe that much more alive. Previously, only the Xenon and, to a lesser degree HOP, seemed to have any ships for invasions. This was why, I assume, HOP would often take ANT, PAR and even XEN sectors given enough time. They appeared to have the economy and, for whatever reason, were always able to field more ships than other factions.
In fact, where all my other games without FOCW (but with FE) would see the Xenon dominate from the start, HOP were the only ones to expand. With all factions having more ships initially, and allowed to replace them of course resources permitting, the balance is much more even.
I've played games where I've amassed my own fleets to help protect Faction territory from the Xenon, though I end up doing nothing
but that as Faction forces are far too weak. I've done other games where I've supported a given faction purely economically, and that has made a significant difference to their strength - highlighting their need of ships to appear to be reacting smartly to threats.
In my current FOCW game - started with the mod enabled - I'm three days in. The Xenon have not made any significant dent in Faction-owned sectors. They've tried, K's and I's with 100's of smaller ships invading, but the defensive fleets have been enough to hold them back - as they should! In prior games, one Xenon I, or a couple of K's would come through the gate very early-game, and the local Faction would have NOTHING effective to hold them back. They might have one Destroyer bumbling around, but vanilla Faction Destroyers fall rapidly to just a single Xenon K. They stand no chance. Given free rein, these largely uncontested Xenon ships could then start taking out Stations, damaging that Faction's economy so they'd never recover without player help.
Thought: I do wonder how vanilla ship quotas work. Often, in the first few minutes of a new game, Shipyards and Wharfs are going utterly nuts building new ships. They then run out of resources quite rapidly. Do games start with ship counts way below the possible quotas?
Anyway, I'm liking the balance FOCW has brought to my game. I simply give the Factions a slight boost and it's enough for them to generally hold back the Xenon. With Corporations Revised adding ships too, it's just extra defence vs. the Xenon who would ALWAYS dominate my prior games every time with FE installed.
Note for clarity: I run VRO too, which changes ships and combat quite drastically. I also use the XR Ship Mod, which adds a lot more ships, some being Battleship class. None are quite a match for a Xenon I alone, but it evens the odds a bit. Asgard remains the most powerful single ship in the game.
Don't get me wrong, the idea of "Xenon apocalypse, only YOU, the player, can save us" was quite fun. However, I didn't want to be the centre of the universe any more and I wanted the game to effectively play its self with Factions able to take appropriate defensive steps themselves. Sure, I still help out - both with Fleets and economic supplies - but I don't HAVE to be there for the Faction to survive. In my prior game, by day three, ZYA were gone, FAF were almost gone, TEL outlying sectors were gone, ANT were down to one sector, PAR had lost a couple of sectors to HOP. HAT had lost their home sector, but still had scattered Stations in other sectors. ARG were ok - with my support - but they were under heavy Xenon assault, plus HOP were nipping at their heels too.
Scoob.
Scoob.
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