Use of Sapporo

[LameFox]

Does it have a unique interior at least?

It's frustratingly hard to find out this kind of thing about X4 expansion content since so few people review them.

[LordIII3]

As far as I have Seen in the timelines mission, the answer is yes, the ships do have a unique intrrior

[LameFox]

Thanks. I consider that a point in its favour then, a bit more variety is nice.

[hairoom]

Does it have a unique interior at least?

It's frustratingly hard to find out this kind of thing about X4 expansion content since so few people review them.

Its interior is similar with that of xenon H.
Differences are H is red tone light basis and Sapporo is blue tone basis.

[fade7]

It's no destroyer, that's for sure. (I tried to kill a K with it. I was like "Behold my new ship!" Then I ran.. ) Instead I use it as a flak frigate (got totally bored of using ARG flak after all these years).

With cowboy modifications on the turrets those "white turbolasers" result in a great battle atmosphere (for me a vital component).

So I use my Sapporo fleets for swatting flies (pro tip: Kha'ak hives - just shoot the structure and have a neverending source of angry bees to shoot at).

And it's my new personal ship.

Damn I love that ship. Of course, there should be more turret mounts and more turret options (like all available turrets in the game) and - especially: missiles.

I see a lot of people using cowboy weapon mods... but generally at least for turrets the slasher mod in the same category is superior due to turrets never overheating from what i can tell. Slasher weapon mods are also superior OOS for main weapons due to heat not being a factor OOS. I also didnt realize this for a long time until Kalisa Fox kindly informed me of that

but yeah any weapon mod thats adds to reload speed vastly improves turrets of all types. especially on a ship like the Sapporo, H, and even the Erlking.

[chew-ie]

It's no destroyer, that's for sure. (I tried to kill a K with it. I was like "Behold my new ship!" Then I ran.. ) Instead I use it as a flak frigate (got totally bored of using ARG flak after all these years).

With cowboy modifications on the turrets those "white turbolasers" result in a great battle atmosphere (for me a vital component).

So I use my Sapporo fleets for swatting flies (pro tip: Kha'ak hives - just shoot the structure and have a neverending source of angry bees to shoot at).

And it's my new personal ship.

Damn I love that ship. Of course, there should be more turret mounts and more turret options (like all available turrets in the game) and - especially: missiles.

I see a lot of people using cowboy weapon mods... but generally at least for turrets the slasher mod in the same category is superior due to turrets never overheating from what i can tell. Slasher weapon mods are also superior OOS for main weapons due to heat not being a factor OOS. I also didnt realize this for a long time until Kalisa Fox kindly informed me of that

but yeah any weapon mod thats adds to reload speed vastly improves turrets of all types. especially on a ship like the Sapporo, H, and even the Erlking.

I'm usually not so much into min/maxing when it comes to weapon / ship modifications. I most of the time opt for more durabilty (hull, shield), faster rotation (engines) and higher rate of fire.

In general I have to have a good looking laser show as I mostly fight IS and / or watch my fleets fighting the enemies. I also just love that moment when turrets switch targets and are able to constantly fire, with only brief pauses between salvos. If I had more m slots and more turret options on the Sapporo I'd also add some TER m bolt turrets just for the sound and overall battle atmosphere. Heck, if Egosoft would make it possible I'd color the Lazors differently for more diversity.

[fade7]

It's no destroyer, that's for sure. (I tried to kill a K with it. I was like "Behold my new ship!" Then I ran.. ) Instead I use it as a flak frigate (got totally bored of using ARG flak after all these years).

With cowboy modifications on the turrets those "white turbolasers" result in a great battle atmosphere (for me a vital component).

So I use my Sapporo fleets for swatting flies (pro tip: Kha'ak hives - just shoot the structure and have a neverending source of angry bees to shoot at).

And it's my new personal ship.

Damn I love that ship. Of course, there should be more turret mounts and more turret options (like all available turrets in the game) and - especially: missiles.

I see a lot of people using cowboy weapon mods... but generally at least for turrets the slasher mod in the same category is superior due to turrets never overheating from what i can tell. Slasher weapon mods are also superior OOS for main weapons due to heat not being a factor OOS. I also didnt realize this for a long time until Kalisa Fox kindly informed me of that

but yeah any weapon mod thats adds to reload speed vastly improves turrets of all types. especially on a ship like the Sapporo, H, and even the Erlking.

I'm usually not so much into min/maxing when it comes to weapon / ship modifications. I most of the time opt for more durabilty (hull, shield), faster rotation (engines) and higher rate of fire.

In general I have to have a good looking laser show as I mostly fight IS and / or watch my fleets fighting the enemies. I also just love that moment when turrets switch targets and are able to constantly fire, with only brief pauses between salvos. If I had more m slots and more turret options on the Sapporo I'd also add some TER m bolt turrets just for the sound and overall battle atmosphere. Heck, if Egosoft would make it possible I'd color the Lazors differently for more diversity.

I have a Zeus E with all the different types of colored beam turrets i can find and named it DISCO

[chew-ie]

I see a lot of people using cowboy weapon mods... but generally at least for turrets the slasher mod in the same category is superior due to turrets never overheating from what i can tell. Slasher weapon mods are also superior OOS for main weapons due to heat not being a factor OOS. I also didnt realize this for a long time until Kalisa Fox kindly informed me of that

but yeah any weapon mod thats adds to reload speed vastly improves turrets of all types. especially on a ship like the Sapporo, H, and even the Erlking.

I'm usually not so much into min/maxing when it comes to weapon / ship modifications. I most of the time opt for more durabilty (hull, shield), faster rotation (engines) and higher rate of fire.

In general I have to have a good looking laser show as I mostly fight IS and / or watch my fleets fighting the enemies. I also just love that moment when turrets switch targets and are able to constantly fire, with only brief pauses between salvos. If I had more m slots and more turret options on the Sapporo I'd also add some TER m bolt turrets just for the sound and overall battle atmosphere. Heck, if Egosoft would make it possible I'd color the Lazors differently for more diversity.

I have a Zeus E with all the different types of colored beam turrets i can find and named it DISCO

Time to hit Shift + 1, 2, 3, 4!

[Knight35]

It does look rather under gunned from what I can see.

[Abbat76]

The developers continue to surprise me extremely unpleasantly. It feels like the people who worked on the last DLC were not the same people who worked on all the other DLCs...
What is this? Why did you stuff this completely useless worthless Sapporo into a place where it can't be pulled out? Not only that, you also modified the mines so that if Sapporo’s nose hits a mine, then ALL ENGINES are torn off!

As I understand it, at the stage when you can safely get Sapporo out of the trap, no one needs it anymore. In the entire DLC, there is essentially only one controversially useful ship: the Odachi. The debatability of its usefulness is that, as I suspect, it is terrible for OOS fighting, but it is pleasant to fight with IS.

[Abbat76]

It does look rather under gunned from what I can see.

it is catastrophically empty. No guns, no shild, nothing... Oh, sorry. they have some barrage-missiles. Xenons successfully use countermeasures to ensure that 3 out of 4 missiles do not hit anywhere. In the absence of shields, this is a rather pathetic weapon.

[xant]

As I understand it, at the stage when you can safely get Sapporo out of the trap, no one needs it anymore. In the entire DLC, there is essentially only one controversially useful ship: the Odachi. The debatability of its usefulness is that, as I suspect, it is terrible for OOS fighting, but it is pleasant to fight with IS.

If only the turrets and weapons (like the S and M weapons from the Cutlass and Odachi) were unlocked for other non-Timelines ships, way less people would question the usefulness of unlocking those ships. Even if you don't like the designs and find ships like the Sapporo not so great, nobody could argue that additional weapons would be a good thing. That would've been the saving grace of Timelines.

It baffles me that the devs chose - and still continue - to make the weapons/turrets exclusive to only Timelines ships. It's as if they didn't want anything from the DLC to be used in the sandbox.

As a long-time customer of 25 years I'm really not happy with how things turned out with this particular DLC and its content within the sandbox.

[Agamotto]

I just modded my Sapporo using the new β and the 320 barrage missiles. Easily took out 2 K with no damage and when it returned to sector it went and restocked missiles at the resupply ship. It and the H are my two new favorite ships and now I have to decide which one is going to be my player ship... But then I'm the guy who doesn't want ships that are OP, like the Asgard (don't own one and probably never will again - a ship who's main weapon can turn a fully charged enemy dreadnought I to a wreck with less than a single full discharge shouldn't even exist in a balanced game. IMHO)

[Vertigo 7]

oh you should make several asgards. Just let the AI pilot them. You'll never have to worry about them one shotting anything. They will make for a nice distraction tho so you can send in fighters to pick off the swarms that attack the asgards.

[X-Tie]

As I understand it, at the stage when you can safely get Sapporo out of the trap, no one needs it anymore. In the entire DLC, there is essentially only one controversially useful ship: the Odachi. The debatability of its usefulness is that, as I suspect, it is terrible for OOS fighting, but it is pleasant to fight with IS.

If only the turrets and weapons (like the S and M weapons from the Cutlass and Odachi) were unlocked for other non-Timelines ships, way less people would question the usefulness of unlocking those ships. Even if you don't like the designs and find ships like the Sapporo not so great, nobody could argue that additional weapons would be a good thing. That would've been the saving grace of Timelines.

It baffles me that the devs chose - and still continue - to make the weapons/turrets exclusive to only Timelines ships. It's as if they didn't want anything from the DLC to be used in the sandbox.

As a long-time customer of 25 years I'm really not happy with how things turned out with this particular DLC and its content within the sandbox.

I totally agree and also very unhappy with how things have turned out with this DLC, in all of its aspects... The Sapporo is a relic, so for it to be a museum piece collectible makes total sense to me - in what universe would an 18th century warship be able to compete against a modern one? However, reverse engineering the blueprints for weapons and systems would make sense, and that's the kind of stuff you could do in X3:R / AP. I already wasn't a fan of choosing to restrict Boron weaponry to Boron ships, but okay, you're mixing organic material in, so system compatibility is not there...

But here, the decision feels totally arbitrary and it makes no sense that we cannot retrofit these weapons to other ships.

For me, you can leave the Sapporo as it is - a great-looking flagship relic. But make the systems and weapons available to other ships!

[mr.WHO]

As a side question to OP

How do you people use other 2 ships and their EMPC weapons - Cutlass and Odachi?

What are their niche and peers to existing ships and weapons?


I haven't unlocked it yet, but what about Gamma HEPT? Is it avalaible for production in sandbox, or only obtainable on one-time spawned Timelines ships?

[xant]

I haven't unlocked it yet, but what about Gamma HEPT? Is it avalaible for production in sandbox, or only obtainable on one-time spawned Timelines ships?

That is my main complaint about Timelines, that the new weapons are only exclusive to the new ships and vice versa. The HEPT can only be installed and used on the Xperimental, which is a ship you can only own one single piece of. That makes the HEPT unusable in practise, outside of using that one single unique ship.

The same with the Cutlass and Sapporo and Odachi, their weapons/turrets can only be used on them, and they can only use those exclusive weapons and nothing else.

I find those limits absolutely arbitrary and nonsensical, as they limit the already pretty limited usefulness of the Timelines unlocks even further.

[Starlight_Corporation]

The various weapons being restricted does feel like a loss, would be neat to see those unlocked for other factions too, so the Timeline DLC doesn't feel so separated from the main game & that there's a goal to unlock & claim the various ships beyond collecting them.
EM weapons for the Terrans & their ships & the Gamma HEPT for the commonwealth would be neat so both get something from it.

[mr.WHO]

OK after playing a bit with Cutlass and Odachi I figure them in general.
They are kinda sorta dedicated fleet interceptors, which make sence - they were intender as a screen against terraformer swarms.
Comparing to their modern peers (Takoba and Katana), they are less flexible in brawls or dogfight (weaker shields, much less weapon variety), but their EM cannons give them good range and firepower advantage, plus they have very good heat capacity for long and sutained fire.

The EM cannons are for me the analog to Boron Railguns, where Boron have much of a range advantage, but EM cannons have much bigger heat capacity.
Additional advantage of EM cannons is that Boron don't have S-size railgun, so it makes Cutlass even more unique.

[X-Tie]

I figured out a good use of the Sapporo: take on as many missions where you need to build a faction a fleet, and whenever they want a destroyer, give them a Sapporo. Soon enough, you'll see a lot of them flying around with their useless "pewpew" guns