X-Tended -Terran Conflict V2.2 Released. [06/09/2013] (X3:AP prototype available)

The place to discuss scripting and game modifications for X³: Terran Conflict and X³: Albion Prelude.

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Eriodas
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Post by Eriodas »

That's maybe because the argon already have the Mystral wich is and was basically a TS+ before all the other races got one.
nap_rz
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Post by nap_rz »

I'm seriously hope 2.0 or whatever the next version is compatible with the latest base game version of TC or AP :?
Darkwolf7
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Post by Darkwolf7 »

Have to say that TS+ looks really nice kinda hi tec but still low tec at the same time I will have to own one or maybe a fleet to carry my. Weapons of mass destruction
This reminds me of a story
i was............
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Aragon Speed
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Post by Aragon Speed »

Just a small update for those following this thread lately.

Beta 4 is finally in the hands of our testers. This will be the last beta build for 2.0 and everything we want in is in and working (as far as we know anyway ^^). With this build we are now purely concentrating on finding and fixing the last of the bugs and balance issues. We are looking to put together the first release candidate for 2.0 four weeks from now if all goes well.

Also an updated list of changes for the rebalance KJ was working on:


The aims we had when creating this rebalance:
-Reduce Bullet spam and therefore increase performance.
-Make Ships last longer in combat. Nothing extreme, but not "gone in a fraction of a second".
-Eliminate various problems such as:
-Fix inconsistent Ship Armament (Boron M2 has no flak at all, Split has all around Flak but only half the guns of other M2, etc).
-Fix inconsistent Weapons (Price, Notoriety, usage).
-Fix bad turret layouts and remove unused turrets from the models. WYSIWYG!
-Making the weapon choices more easier and understandable.
-Remove the player centric ship balance: e.g. the AI doesn't understand the concept of aligning itself perfectly to have Front, Left, Right and possibly top turret fire at a target nor can it perform a special trick to maximise the ships performance. Therefore it's not a factor in the stats. Everything in player hands turns into a weapon of mass destruction, trying to hamper that would just hamper the rest of the universe instead.

Beware, lengthy list ahead...

Changes Laser:
  1. Weapons are now sorted into two categories:
    "Standard" and "Power". A Standard weapon is weaker, but has longer range, requires less energy/second and is a little bit more energy efficient (=less energy per damage). It's also cheaper and requires less cargo space. HEPT is one such weapon, Photon Pulse Cannon another one.
    The Standard weapon can be mounted by all ships of all commonwealth races. Power weapons are unique to each race, but they are very similar if you compare them against each other. This was done because there is no choice in which weapon to pick from the big list, as a ship can only mount the standard weapon plus the power weapon belonging to the race. If you want another power weapon you would have to switch ships, which already have their unique traits.

    Terrans and Xenon have no Standard weapon available, so the choice was made to give them a balanced weapon, that is in between both categories.
    An exception to the categories is the M4 section. The PBE has far more advantage in shield damage to be able to make a dent into M3, otherwise M4 would be completely useless as "Interceptor".
  2. Reduced RPM across the board. M3 weapons have about 100-120 RPM (was 280), M2 weapons somewhere between 10 and 15RPM per gun (was up to 90!).
  3. Guns reduced on M2 ships, top and bottom turrets became dedicated Anti-Fighter turrets. The Flak guns are usually on top and bottom turrets. One exception is the Kyoto M2+ because of the flat design, the shorter range of the SSC (middle between A and BFLAK) and the *!"%§*& avoidance the fighters would avoid immediately once in flak range, therefore the sides mount the flak instead.
  4. Speed of slow Bullets increased. Bullets with 250m/s will never hit a target 5Km away unless it's stationary. Reduces amount of wasted bullets.

    Point 2,3 and 4 where done to reduce the bullet count in the air at the same time. It was also done to reduce damage without having to lower the stats, as that would conflict with the M7 Capital guns. So if 2 M2 engage each other at maximum range there are ~100 bullets in the air at maximum now, instead of about 1100. Also remember that it's not just the bullets that draw resources, but impact/launch gfx and sound effects.
    Together with the improved sound and visual effects this creates much nicer capital ship battles, the individual salvoes gain more "weight" as they don't drown in a carpet of bullets. And you can enjoy them a little bit before you see the final boom.
  5. Flak gun amount was also reduced, M7 usually have 4 Flak guns now, M2 have 8. M1 have 12 guns maximum, but only if they sacrifice their heavy lasers on the sides.
    The Anti-fighter capability of a capital ship can now be measured in the amount of Flak guns available, because Alpha & Beta have almost the same stats damage wise. Beta has 1Km extra range and a bit more speed (->more accuracy) but requires more energy.
    Flak can miss if a fighter evades, no 98% hit quota any more. Hit quota still high though, and still the best choice for Anti Fighter/Anti Missile tasks. Their damage per energy was reduced because of their accuracy compared to other lasers.
  6. H. Massdriver & H Ion Disruptor included in balance as they are obtainable in-game in some way
  7. Projectile Weapons:
    Massdriver & H. Massdriver require energy to counter M4 vs M2 exploits. It still works but takes longer due to energy limitation. They are designed to take out a larger foe that is heavily shielded (MD as M4 Power weapon against M3; HMD as M6 Power weapon against M7). It takes almost the same time to kill a normally shielded enemy as with any other Power weapon of the same class. However, as Hull can't regenerate, Massdrivers have a small "time penalty". So they are a way to bypass hard shields for example, but you don't gain any advantage over normal shielded enemies. Because of their effectiveness the cost in ammunition is high, and the cargo space taken by ammo crates is higher, to limit ammo on the ship.

    Other projectile weapons are very similar to their pure-energy counterparts. They also require energy (a bit less then non projectile weapons) and have no stat bonus. But their ammo is cheap and the additional freight volume required for sufficient ammo supply is only very minor, as the weapons themselves are lighter. They are also cheaper then they would have been if they had no ammo. After a number of kills this bonus is eaten up because of ammo usage - so if you want to sent ships to certain death in battle, equip em with those ammo weapons [ external image ]
  8. Ion Disruptors (Normal and Heavy) have a very big cargo volume, so you have to think twice if you can afford to take a full load of those useful weapons.
  9. Plasma Burst Generator (M3 Pirate Power weapon) now shoots fiery plasma balls (new texture) instead of a screen-blocking, fps-crunching wall of flame.
  10. Betty speaks laser names as far as possible by using snippets. Reactivated existing names.
  11. Boron M6 IBC isn't a beam weapon any more, it was too much of a pain in the ass to try to get it on an equal standing with the other power weapons. Either it was too weak as cockpit weapon or it was too strong as turret weapon. I made a new slightly elongated bullet, so i hope that's a fitting substitute.
  12. Xenon Polaron Emitter isn't a beam weapon any more as well, it's more like a very fast laser with a similar speed level to flak. A bit faster, but much smaller hit-box. Think of Star Wars Turbo-laser (yes, it's red too).
  13. Lasertower de-nerfed (vanilla range is 5.8km, was 2.1km) as it was useless against small craft. With it's slow turning rate it will never be able to fire at fighters at close range.
  14. M6 Weapon power reduced to 80% of the previous performance as M6 where up-gunned
  15. PAC damage increased to be useful again against M4 in AI hands (that automatically increased AEMP, ANG and AKE damage as well).
  16. ANG and AEMP bullet speed increased to have better accuracy, as they don't have PBE
  17. Betty now says the first letter of every word it can't say as well (e.g. "A P Cannon" for Anti Proton Cannon)
  18. Paranid M6 weapon called Proton Burst Cannon again,not Phased Beam Cannon. Was my fault.
  19. Renamed Ion Beam Cannon to Ion Burst cannon as it's no longer a beam

Shields:
  1. Colossal Shield (formerly 2GJ) are now 1,5GJ to be able to have shield types with more capacity, without running into engine bugs. It's not 1Gj because otherwise some ships would have to mount up to 20 Shields, so i used the middle. Shield amount of all Colossal Shield users has been adjusted accordingly.
  2. Military shields give less "base capacity bonus", as the weapons are weaker now and to prevent the "invincible" feeling that someone might get with full military shield load-out.
  3. Performance of each shield is listed in its description
  4. Shield names are spoken (e.g. Medium Military Shield, XL(for Huge) Shield Emitter , etc)
  5. Capacity bonuses for Huge and Colossal have been reduced in magnitude, because the reload rate of shields mid-battle is insignificant for the outcome of the battle. Capacity is the only thing that keeps you alive. The reload rate will be important after the battle, but it's a rather lengthy process, with the largest ships taking from 30-45mins to reload their shields. It's been like that since vanilla and hasn't changed here either.
  6. Military shields require more cargo space, special shield variants also require a little bit more (maximum is + 20% for mil. hard).
  7. Variants are distinguished by Betty with the first letter of the variant ("Small Military H Shield" for the Hard version)
  8. (not directly shields, but related) If a ship has more shield slots the ships shield generator is automatically worse than it would be, as capacity is one of the most important aspects to survival with the lowered laser damage.

Ships
:
The feel or purpose of each class didn't really change, most stats are very similar in value to the old ones, if not the same. Changes where made to make them work with the new laser and shield values, to improve AI effectiveness, or to provide more attractive choices in the same class. Biggest change is probably in the M2+ class, as there was no common denominator at all with performance ranging from up-sized M2 to super-mega-fortress. Many ship scenes where modified to implement the changes properly. No hacksawing.
  1. Carriers:
    • Increased laser generators and capacity. They can now defend themselves without running out of juice after 10 seconds. They have half the fire power (maximum possible lasers firing at one target at once) of an M2, but only 1/3 the laser generators. This helps AI battles, because AI doesn't understand the concept of a carrier, tactical retreat or keeping distance - it head-butts the first thing that comes in range.
    • Race Carriers have the best amount of AF capability of the capital classes (except M2+) with 12 Flak guns in total (but limited time - Energy lasts about 45 seconds at full strain with 12 Beta Flak)
      They have high ship amount, since they usually don't have to worry about defending themselves (in theory...).

      Pirate and Yaki on the other hand can't rely on protection from their fleet. Therefore they have better Anti-Capital ship capabilities and more Laser energy but sacrifice some Anti Fighter Defence and Docking Space. However, they don't stand a chance against a fully armed destroyer, as they are still a carrier and of M1 class.
      Ok basically it was just done because of the models and to not always have the same configuration.
    • New Prices. Most decisive factor is docking space. The old ones ranging from 50 to 88m just seemed too improper and random. New prices from 65-85m.
  2. M2P:
    There are 2 kinds of M2+ : Those with M6 hangar bay's and those without. M6 hangar bays are very useful, so they are more limited. Those Bays can be used to increase cargo capacity by 200k-300k (because they can dock everything up to M6, including TS), so the cargo bays of M6 Carriers are lower. The big hangar takes space after all [ external image ]
    • M2+ with M3 docks got one supply dock for up to M6.
    • Speed got increased a bit, since the average XTC sector ranges from 120 to 160Km. A ship creeping with 24m/s is of no use other then as a jump capable station or sector decoy. Especially since NPC's also use them and have to respond to a threat more then often.
    • Shield capacity is vital in surviving, that's why ships with more shield slots have weaker generators.
      A single M2 is no threat for them (unless commanded by an incompetent admiral), but if they can't redraw and recharge their shields after this they will have troubles against a second M2. Because of the long recharge time, AI M2+ are not invincible for AI M2 if attacked more then once, or by multiple smaller capitals in a certain time frame.
  3. M2:
    • Maximum Anti-Capital Guns on target = 16.
    • All M2 received a single fighter dock to have a small utility ship at hand. It only docks up to M4, to make M4 more attractive. M3 are too powerful in player hands to dock them at a M2 imo. No TS or M6 docks any more, no exceptions, no special treatment. Such docks are privilege of M2+ as they can't dock anywhere themselves.
    • Some turret layouts where broken (probably still from vanilla), they where fixed. Fixed some holes in Poseidon and Tyr as well.
  4. M3
    • Everything overhauled.
      The base variants where first balanced. Like before, Ships with fewer shield slots get a slight boost in shield-gen to their base stat.
      Then I used a scheme for all the different variants including the pirate one. The more improvements they got the more expensive they became, if they traded in something that reduced their stat they became cheaper.
    • The additional shield slot for Vanguard versions was removed, and one shield slot removed from sentinel versions (had two additional over the base variant). This was done to reduce the maximum Shields on M3, because of the weakened lasers. The other variants are a little bit more attractive because of this as well.
    • Ships with back turret are more expensive, because it increases their survivability against missiles by a huge margin, as almost every dangerous missile can be shot down. Ships with series-inbuilt back turret have 110% base cost. Ships that get a back turret by a variant have to pay +30% base cost (e.g. Mamba Raider, Falcon Sentinel&Vanguard). The back turrets where already there, didn't change those.
    • Prices overhauled, the most expensive variant is Sentinel followed by Vanguard, as these seem to be the most useful, most used and most favoured variants. Raider not ridiculously overpriced any more. M3 cost like M3 should, M3+ like M3+ , not vice versa.
    • Hauler Variants have reduced laser stats and have 2 Front guns removed but always have a back turret. If their base model already has a turret the price isn't increased as much and their stats are not reduced as much. Opposite if one had to be added.
  5. M4
    • More speed, especially for normal M4.
    • More rudder/steering and acceleration
    • Elite lost the back turret because it's a too big advantage over other M4, it makes it almost missile-proof against the dangerous stuff.
    • M4+ hauler variants got a back turret but lost front weapons and laser energy like normal M4 hauler

      M4 are interceptor, so they have to be able to catch their prey. The improved steering and acceleration improves their dogfight performance quite a bit. An AI piloted M4+ has a good chance against AI M3 if the M3 is not equipped for Anti-M4 combat (M3 Power weapon instead of PBE) in 1-on-1. They are not superior, but under the right circumstances they can take out normal M3 without much damage to themselves.
  6. M5
    • Speed of base versions pulled closer together. No 200m/s difference any more
    • Raider variants give more speed bonus then in other classes. This reflects in the price.
    • No more hauler variants with 20 cargo space *rolleyes*
    • Hauler variant gives more cargo % then in other classes
    • Some ships got big improvements in turning rate (others already had that), should help with Autopilot problems. The faster, the more steering required. "Fast but low steering" cliché is a thing of the past, nothing more stupid then that if AI gets involved.
  7. Corvettes
    • Turning rate for M6 and normal M6+ improved quite a bit, turning rate of "special ships" reduced to be in line with normal ships (was triple before *rolleyes*)
    • Normal M6+ up-gunned if necessary so they are on equal footing with each other (Full turret coverage, full 8 front lasers)
    • M6 got side turrets that can mount Heavy Weapons.
    The problem with M6 is that they can't have same steering as M3+, as that would look very silly and wouldn't fit. Having slower steering they can't really defend themselves against smaller ships however. Increased steering makes them better against M7, but they will never be able to win against a single fighter if they only can use their front weapons as they are "out-turned" every time. The fight scripts add to this problem as M6 use the same attack-run distance as fighters, that means they can fire 1-2 salvoes at best in a dogfight and then have to avoid again. In order to become more effective they would have to fly further away before attempting another attack run. M6+ can defend themselves better because they have more turrets with heavy guns. So the only solution I saw was adding heavy turrets to the normal M6 as well.
    It would be possible to make good Anti-fighter M6 by adding a lot more turrets with small weapons but that requires a complete redesign of the class which contradicts with the goal of this rebalance - staying true to the X3 concept.
  8. Drone Carriers
    • Similar to the M2+, there was no real guideline and the stats where partially just copied from normal M7 and halved.
      Drone carriers got more shields, from 1GJ to 2&2.5GJ, to stay alive longer in AI battles. The amount of defence guns was also standardised. They now have 2 turrets with 2 XL laser and 2 turrets with one flak gun (made a single laser big turret version for it) and a double M3 laser rear turret for missile defence. This helps them to defend them against a lone M6 or 3 M3, that would otherwise kill the frigate with ease.
      Because they are drone frigates/light carriers they can't dock M3 any more, only M5 and M4. If you want to carry big numbers of M3 you need a carrier.
    • Ariadne up-sized as only the drones fitted into the holes, but almost no real M4 or M5. Was a bit dwarfish compared to the others as well.
    • Griffon up-sized because it was way too small.
  9. Frigates
    • All frigates without hangar got a M5 docking port as a consolation prize for not having a hangar, except some special ships (Swordfish, Q, ...). Like with M2, no TS or M6 docks any more, no exceptions, no special treatment.
      Manoeuvrability was reduced, as they felt more like oversized fighters on steroids rather than capital ships. They are still very manoeuvrable, but playing baseball with enemy fighters is more difficult now.
    • To increase AI effectiveness of the class, the side turrets got XL guns now (like the front guns), so they can also put pressure on enemy targets if they are avoiding a space-fly again.
    • Flak amount was capped at 4 guns per ship, except OTAS which is described as support frigate, so I deemed an additional flak turret appropriate.
    • Rear turrets mount heavy guns as well. Improves AI survival chance against M6 attacks as the M7 front guns are useless there.
    • USC M7 up-sized as it was very small.
  10. Missile Frigates
    • Cargo capacity got reduced to about 5500 in average. With full shielding and 1000x jump energy you got place for 100 Barrage Missiles + 240 torpedoes or 290 torpedoes. This was done because torpedoes have half the volume compared to 1.2
    • Torpedo tubes limited to 16 in total (just affects Ares)
    • Hull decreased from M1 to frigate level, shields increased instead.
    • Additional Turrets created (if necessary) controlling 4 torpedo tubes each. This gives the other ships that didn't already have this a higher fire power if controlled by AI commands, as more turrets = more missile firing sequences. The torpedo tubes didn't play a role in this unfortunately as the missile combat script is pretty lame. It doesn't matter in which direction the turrets point, that's just cosmetics as they can always launch missiles.

      As a side effect this reduces player-effectiveness if he manually launches a barrage as the output is halved. But there are still two ships that can launch from 8 tubes in one turret: Skirnir and Aquilo, so there's actually a sweetener to buy/capture those if you are into levelling sectors. Those became more expensive (they also have other bonuses).
  11. M8
    • Marlin not a bad joke of a M8 any more
    • M8 can carry ~ 100 missiles if they have the biggest shield type and lasers installed and 200 jump energy on board. Missiles take 5 cargo space instead of 2. The faster the less missiles they can carry without sacrificing other cargo.
  12. TL
    • More hull points (was at M7 level, now between M7 and M1)
    • Larger laser generators so that they can finally use their weapons to defend themselves. M3 level generator just doesn't cut it.
    • Shields changed to Huge shields (500MJ)
    • The less cargo capacity the more speed, higher price and less docking slots
    • Mobile Pirate base was made space worthy and will be for sale on the Pirate SY
  13. TS
    • Shields changed to Medium. Was Huge type before because it wasn't possible with the old system, shield type had to be the same as cargo class. This is no longer the case.
      Bigger versions got more shields. Average shield for basic TS is 6x 25MJ. Super-freighter usually mount Large types, more economical then a large amount Medium shields.
    • Some messed up stats fixed (e.g. hauler variant stats partially swapped with tanker etc.)
    • Miner variant a middle between basic and hauler variant, no high speed miners any more. Would do them no good in an asteroid field anyway.
    • Boron TS Miner got a turret so it can... you know, mine.
    • Decreased notoriety required to buy basic TS version to 333 (rank 4), same rank as required for a M4. Was 1000 (rank 5) which was equal to M3 requirement. Improved TS versions still rank 5. This was done to not accidentally coerce peaceful players into combat missions in order to gain the required reputation in reasonable time. This was requested in the tester thread.
  14. TS+
    • Shields changed to Huge type (0.5GJ) and 2 slots. That way you can acquire the correct shields as well if you just "unlocked" the class.
    • Usually bigger cargo bay then Super-freighters of that race, but lower speed. Except in some instances where it would have been way too slow (below 60), those got less cargo but more speed
  15. TP
    • Shields changed to Medium (see TS)
  16. TM
    • Prices increased from dirt cheap to ~1.7m as they are very stable ships with their shields+lasers and quite useful with their docking capabilities.
    • Hull increased, as they are far bigger then TS
  17. TP+
    • Speed is between normal M6 and M3+
    • Some ships are a bit more tailored to combat and some a bit more to the transporter side
    • Main guns limited to 4 for all of the TP+, but they can mount M6 weaponry now
    Explanation: 4 M3 weapons are slightly unimpressive with the new rebalance that's why they got bigger weapons. As M6 weapons are about twice as powerful as M3 weapons, the fire power of the TP+ is about the same as a M3, minus the turrets and the range advantage. It's a luxury TP and status symbol, but with 20m price they have to offer the player something usable in return as well, especially since M6 became more useful. Their primary strength is speed combined with good cargo space and shielding. Good all-rounder ship, but not the best choice for serious combat nor the best choice for heavy duty hauling. Last but not least they make boarding a lot easier because you have 10 marines in a ship with good shielding. Basically the sole reason why they where TP in the first place.instead of M6.
  18. Other
    • Cargo capacity was also changed for the various classes. A "combat load" for each class was calculated beforehand to make sure the ship has enough space for all it's equipment+ an array of extra weapons and jump energy, as the cargo required for lasers and shields also changed partially. The cargo capacity was always set above this combat load.
    • Changed ID Names in TCockpits from color code to something usefull/readable. E.g. SS_Cockpit_T_Cyan was changed to SS_Cockpit_T_Hvy_Flak... easier to fix/find bugs or make changes. Irrelevant in-game though.
Missiles:
  • No changes to stats
  • M7M can't load M8 missiles any more - Pirate dummy missile's slot was sacrificed for this (is now together with Teladi dummy)
  • As a side effect of lowered hull damage on laser they are more then ever a great "finish off quickly" asset once the shields are gone, as their hull damage is the same as their shield damage. E.g. M4 Missile kills a normal shield-less M3 most of the time, M3 Missile inflicts heavy damage (~80%) on M6, etc. Not new but the advantage to lasers is bigger.
  • Missile Names are spoken again. Missiles without available Names are spoken "Missile". M8 Missiles are "Heavy Missile", M7M Missiles are also spoken - "Heavy Torpedo" and "Barrage Missile".
Last edited by Aragon Speed on Mon, 8. Oct 12, 09:28, edited 1 time in total.
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Aragon Speed
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Post by Aragon Speed »

Darkwolf7 wrote:Then going to concur the galaxy in my tiapan
So instead of mashing everyone into submission by conquering it, you're going to agree with it until it submits? :lol:

I love this type of typo, they happen so rarely. :D
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Sorkvild
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Post by Sorkvild »

Aragon Speed wrote:Just a small update for those following this thread lately... http://forum.egosoft.com/viewtopic.php? ... 58#3965458
I read the list and you implemented many interesting ideas and solutions for all ships.
Really good approach to maneuverability and combat, thats the key when it comes to the AI combat!

Is Killjaeden's post from the previous post is still actual or your post is replacement to his post?

Can you say something about speed range of the M6 class? Frankly I don't remember them from Xtc.

Have you implemented the execution of Special Commands on the TM class? Weird thing is in vanilla game they can't do anything from Special Commands menu :/

:xt:C
Elite Dangerous| I survived the Dragon Incident ... then I took an arrow to the knee
We want the Boron back!
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Aragon Speed
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Post by Aragon Speed »

Sorkvild wrote:Is Killjaeden's post from the previous post is still actual or your post is replacement to his post?
They are the same post but the later one has the complete list of changes. KJ's ealier post didn't cover everything because he was still working on some areas. Which is why my post is an update, as stated. ;)
Also an updated list of changes for the rebalance KJ was working on:
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Killjaeden
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Post by Killjaeden »

That's the "internal list" AS posted - some changes are not listed there (and some might not make sense to you) So the old list might be better, the additions are:

M7:
  • Rearturrets mount heavy guns as well. Improves AI survival chance against M6 attacks as the M7 frontguns are useless there
  • USC M7 upsized as it was very small
M8:
  • Marlin not a bad joke of a M8 anymore
  • M8 can carry ~ 100 missiles if they have the biggest shieldtype and lasers installed and 200 Jumpenergy on board. Missiles take 5 cargospace instead of 2. The faster the less missiles they can carry without sacrifising other cargo.
M6&M6+
  • Turning rate for M6 and normal M6+ improved quite a bit, turning rate of "special ships" reduced to be in line with normal ships (was triple before *rolleyes*)
  • Normal M6+ upgunned if necessary so they are on eqal footing with each other (Full turret coverage, full 8 frontlasers)
  • M6 got sideturrets that can mount Heavy Weapons.
The problem with M6 is that they can't have same steering as M3+, as that would look very silly and wouldn't fit. Having slower steering they can't really defend themself against smaller ships however. Increased steering makes them better against M7, but they will never be able to win against a single fighter if they only can use their frontweapons as they are "out-turned" every time. The fightscripts add to this problem as M6 use the same attack-run distance as fighters, that means they can fire 1-2 salvos at best in a dogfight and then have to avoid again. In order to become more effective they would have to fly further away before attempting another attack run. M6+ can defend themself better because they have more turrets with heavy guns. So the only solution i saw was adding heavy turrets to the normal M6 as well.
It would be possible to make good Anti-fighter M6 by adding alot more turrets with small weapons but that requires a complete redesign of the class which contradicts with the goal of this rebalance - staying true to the X3 concept.

M4:
  • More speed, especially for normal M4.
  • More rudder/steering and acceleration
  • Elite lost the backturret because it's a too big advantage over other M4, it makes it almost missile-proof against the dangerous stuff.
  • M4+ hauler variants got a backturret but lost frontweapons and laser energy like normal M4 hauler
M4 are interceptor, so they have to be able to catch their prey. The improved steering and acceleration improves their dogfight performance quite a bit. An AI piloted M4+ has a good chance against AI M3 if the M3 is not equipped for Anti-M4 combat (M3 Powerweapon instead of PBE) in 1-on-1. They are not superior, but under the right circumstances they can take out normal M3 without much damage to themself.

M5:
  • Speed of baseversions pulled closer together. No 200m/s difference anymore
  • Raider variants give more speedbonus then in other classes. This reflects in the price.
  • No more hauler variants with 20 cargospace *rolleyes*
  • Hauler variant gives more cargo % then in other classes
  • Some ships got big improvements in turningrate (others already had that), should help with Autopilot problems. The faster, the more steering required. "Fast but low steering" cliche is a thing of the past, nothing more stupid then that if AI gets involved.
TS:
  • Shields changed to Mediun. Was Huge type before because it wasn't possible with the old system, shieldtype had to be the same as cargoclass. This is no longer the case.
    Bigger versions got more shields. Average shield for basic TS is 6x 25MJ. Superfreighter usually mount Large types, more economical then a large amount Medium shields.
  • Some messed up stats fixed (e.g. hauler variant stats partially swapped with tanker etc.)
  • Miner variant a middle between basic and hauler variant, no highspeed miners anymore. Would do them no good in an asteriod field anyway.
  • Boron TS Miner got a turret so it can... you know, mine.
TS+:
  • Shields changed to Huge type (0.5GJ) and 2 slots. That way you can aquire the correct shields as well if you just "unlocked" the class.
  • Usually bigger cargobay then Superfreighters of that race, but lower speed. Except in some instances where it would have been way too slow (below 60), those got less cargo but more speed
TP:
  • Shields changed to Medium (see TS)
TP+:
  • Speed is between normal M6 and M3+
  • Some ships are a bit more tailored to combat and some a bit more to the transporter side
  • Mainguns limited to 4 for all of the TP+, but they can mount M6 weaponry now
Explanation: 4 M3 weapons are slightly unimpressive with the new rebalance that's why they got bigger weapons. As M6 weapons are about twice as powerfull as M3 weapons, the firepower of the TP+ is about the same as a M3, minus the turrets and the range advantage. It's a luxury TP and status symbol, but with 20m price they have to offer the player something usable in return as well, especially since M6 became more usefull. Their primary strength is speed combined with good cargospace and shielding. Good allrounder ship, but not the best choice for serious combat nor the best choice for heavy duty hauling. Last but not least they make boarding alot easier because you have 10 marines in a ship with good shielding. Basically the sole reason why they where TP in the first place.instead of M6.

TM:
  • Prices increased from dirt cheap to ~1.7m as they are very stable ships with their shields+lasers and quite usefull with their docking capabilities.
  • Hull increased, as they are far bigger then TS
Laser:
  • M6 Weaponpower reduced to 80% of the previous performance as M6 where upgunned
  • PAC damage increased to be usefull again against M4 in AI hands (that automatically increased AEMP, ANG and AKE damage as well).
  • ANG and AEMP bulletspeed increased to have better accuracy, as they don't have PBE
  • Betty now says the first letter of every word it can't say as well (e.g. "A P Cannon" for Anti Proton Cannon)
  • Renamed Ion Beam Cannon to Ion Burst cannon as it's no longer a beam
Shields:
  • Variants are distinguished by betty with the first letter of the variant ("Small Military H Shield" for the Hard version)
@Sorkvild average is about 130 for M6 and 125 for M6+. Between M3+ and M7.
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Post by Rive »

Just one question: it's still for TC?
Was there any efforts made to fix it up for AP?

(I have only TC but as it seems XTC will require some extra juice from my old PC which it cannot provide -> if it's for AP too, then I will buy that instead of a new PC... AP is always told to be faster than TC :) )
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Post by Killjaeden »

It's for TC. There may be an experimental AP version after the 2.0 release - we don't know yet.
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Post by Rive »

Very thanks :)
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Post by Darkwolf7 »

Aragon Speed wrote:
Darkwolf7 wrote:Then going to concur the galaxy in my tiapan
So instead of mashing everyone into submission by conquering it, you're going to agree with it until it submits? :lol:

I love this type of typo, they happen so rarely. :D
OMG stared at this for at least ten minutes and didn't know I was being made fun of

On another note I don't quite understand what u mean by

-Remove the player centric ship balance:

What does that do exactly
This reminds me of a story
i was............
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Post by Aragon Speed »

Darkwolf7 wrote:On another note I don't quite understand what u mean by

-Remove the player centric ship balance:

What does that do exactly
In TC things were set up to give the player a large advantage so he could attack larger ships or multiple ships at the same time and still win. This is considered centring the game play around the player, or 'player centric'.

In 1.2 we tuned the ships to be more useful to the AI so the player had less of an advantage and more of a challenge, but there was still a bias towards the player flying the ships.

In 2.0 all bias, whether that's toward the player or towards the AI, is removed. The ships have been tuned to their roles rather than to help or hinder the player or AI. The player will always have an advantage as they can do things that the AI cannot, like strafe for example. So biasing ships towards the player is not needed.
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Post by Darkwolf7 »

Thanks for explaining that I thought it was something completely different sorry you did have to explain it to me though

And now I wish u no bug/problems on your endeavors
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i was............
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Post by N3rull »

Could I ask for an example of what kind of bias there was towards the player?

Are you talking about the existence of unique ships that are much stronger than standard AI ships?
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Post by Killjaeden »

no ship is designed exclusively for the player.
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Post by Killjaeden »

We have just uncovered some kind of secret arms race that is going on between the races in the expansion region. Our sources claim that these pieces of latest military hardware are Missile Platforms designated for sector defense. They haven't entered production yet, but we expect them to be for sale at shipyards in one mazura.
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Post by DrBullwinkle »

Be careful with those, KJ.

They look like the sort of thing that will suddenly fire spare lasers and vaporize all of your assets for half a sector around them. Yikes!
  • (Nice pics, though!)
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Post by Killjaeden »

No idea what you mean - Missile Platforms fire... missiles ;)
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Post by DrBullwinkle »

I only look at the pictures. ;)

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