X3: Terran Conflict 2.5 has arrived!

[Sovereign01]

Hummm, I boarded a Q with 20 marines at level 100 in mech/engen/hack, 17 of them had 100 in fighting, the last 3 about 60-70 in fighting.
Result? Bloodbath as usual

tbh Xenon boarding seems like its been made alot harder.. to the point its impossible.

20 - 5 star marines cant even get to deck 1 ( dead within 10 seconds ) on an Xenon Q with a triplex scanner installed and no other ship equipment. On 2.1 i always made it to deck 3 with the same marines on Q's with more equipment on board.

I thought Xenon ships were hard enough already, because I don't have 20 5-star marines I never got the chance to board them...

[Cycrow]

Hummm, I boarded a Q with 20 marines at level 100 in mech/engen/hack, 17 of them had 100 in fighting, the last 3 about 60-70 in fighting.
Result? Bloodbath as usual

tbh Xenon boarding seems like its been made alot harder.. to the point its impossible.

20 - 5 star marines cant even get to deck 1 ( dead within 10 seconds ) on an Xenon Q with a triplex scanner installed and no other ship equipment. On 2.1 i always made it to deck 3 with the same marines on Q's with more equipment on board.

xenon boarding should be slightly easier
as the xenons defence now decrease slightly the more decks you get through rather than a fixed amount through the whole process.

all 20 marines shouldn't be dieing on deck 1

the hacking stage however is much more difficult, and requires top hackers to get past

[VincentTH]

So, does the patch fix the CFA and FBL, or are they still useless?

I believe 2.5 only fixed the fact that Flak weapons would fire after an in-flight save. It does not fix the effectiveness of the CFA nor the FBL, in sum, they will fire, but they still suck. FAA work fine.

In other notes, I really like 2.5. I like boarding with a TP (used it to board a Cobra). Since they fix the attach-shield command, just use an M6 to take down the shield, launch Fitgh drones, switch to TP, then board. All 10 marines survive the Cobra.

You just have to scan the target ship before hand, and if

- it has hull plating, ensure that at least 1 marine is lv5 in Mech
- it has internal laser sentry, forget it, heavy casualty will ensue
- it has firewall SW, make sure you have a couple of Hacking lv5 marines with high combat skills (in order to make it to the last deck).

Why I like 2.5? Cuz they make boarding Q possible, while making boarding other ships more challenging.

One thing to rememer about boarding in 2.5: It will be less randomized compared to 2.1 (i.e. if you have the skill and the number, you are more likely to be successful).

The only drag is that, as a beta tester upgrading from 25RC3, I have to wait for a while before I can buy second hand ships.

[EDIT] One of the boarding dev stated that you don't have to train your marines in all 5 stars. Just make sure you have a good mix of 5* in Mech and 5* in Hacking and Fighting. The boarding codes will select the best marine(s) for the job at hand. This should cut down your training time a lot. Most of my marines are 5* in Hack (50%) and 5* in Mech. Eng is at 3* and Fighting exp depends on the marines experience. The marines with Hacking experience should also be the ones with high fighting skills, the reason for it was stated above.

[Vanguard3000]

Wow! Patched the game last night, and am very happy with the new additions so far.

The Property menu customization is great, especially now that I'm in the process of upgrading my trade fleet. Only problem is that I'm so used to sorting by sector, it's hard to get used to other sorting methods.

Haven't really tried any boarding operations yet, but I've always found it to be a bit of a pain in the butt so far, so any improvement is very welcome for me.

And best of all, my game seems to run a lot smoother, and load a lot faster. I upgraded my video card from a GeForce 8600 to a GF 250 a week or so ago, and was able to crank the graphics to full, but found it was still a bit choppy at times during battles, etc. I figured it was because of the processor keeping track of all the ships, stations, economy, etc, rather than the graphics being too much for my machine, and I seem to have been right, because it runs smooth as silk now. May I ask how big that 'memory leak' was, Egosoft?

Overall, so far, I'm wildly happy with this new patch. Thanks a million, guys!

[bof111]

Huh, as always... The same question...
When the next patch will be released ?? .........

Seriously, savegame compatiblity kept between 2.1 saves and the new patch (2.5) can be confirmed ?

Thanks.

[g04tn4d0]

Huh, as always... The same question...
When the next patch will be released ?? .........

Seriously, savegame compatiblity kept between 2.1 saves and the new patch (2.5) can be confirmed ?

Thanks.

Yes, saved games are compatible.

[BeidAmmikon]

Yipeee! I can buy second-hand ships in TC 2.5! Here's my first one:
[ external image ]
I exited the Hyperion, it turned by its own will after me, caught the Nova in its fangs (where is the collision detection, exactly, as the Nova remained intact?) and crushed it only after I re-entered the Hyperion. Swell!

[Xenon_Slayer]

Huh, as always... The same question...
When the next patch will be released ?? .........

Pff, you don't really expect an answer do you? You're not gonna get one so people can stop asking

Seriously, savegame compatiblity kept between 2.1 saves and the new patch (2.5) can be confirmed ?

Of course. Any savegame issues reported are probably related to some left over files from the beta testing phase, or some ones attempt at making those betas Mod compatible.

[Rednoahl]

Why I like 2.5? Cuz they make boarding Q possible, while making boarding other ships more challenging.

Boarding isn't more challenging apart from your marines die more often than they did in 2.1. The result is a lot more people will end up re-loading a lot more often than they did in 2.1 I imagine. I don't understand how this is an improvement and while beta testing I and others stated this - we were told to shut up.

I love everything about 2.5 apart from the "improvements to boarding," and I really appreciate all the work that went into it's development - I don't want to come across as overly negative but it's hard to be positive when my favourite aspect of the game has been taken away.

[VincentTH]

According to Wikipedia Egosoft has just twenty employees, so I'm greatly impressed and endeared by your continued development; kudos.

Rebalanced boarding Xenon ships

What has been changed about this? I understand boarding has been made more difficult in general, but what is specific to the already difficult Xenon that it has its own changelog mention?

Hummm, I boarded a Q with 20 marines at level 100 in mech/engen/hack, 17 of them had 100 in fighting, the last 3 about 60-70 in fighting.
Result? Bloodbath as usual

It has been stated by the devs that Xenon ships require 2X the number to board. For the Q, you will need 40 marines. This is by design. In 2.5, the number of marines determine the amount of casualties you will suffer (no, this comes from my experience playing the 2.5beta, not from the dev). Keep that in mind.

[hst]

Seriously, savegame compatiblity kept between 2.1 saves and the new patch (2.5) can be confirmed ?

Thanks.

Yep, its fine.

[VincentTH]

Huh, as always... The same question...
When the next patch will be released ?? .........

Seriously, savegame compatiblity kept between 2.1 saves and the new patch (2.5) can be confirmed ?

Thanks.

Yes, the release notes state that 2.1 saves and 2.5 saves are compatible. THe only case where that is not true are 2.5Beta and 2.5RC1.
Upgrading from 2.5RC3 work fine (for me)

[gandy|UKCS|]

It has been stated by the devs that Xenon ships require 2X the number to board. For the Q, you will need 40 marines. This is by design. In 2.5, the number of marines determine the amount of casualties you will suffer (no, this comes from my experience playing the 2.5beta, not from the dev). Keep that in mind.

The issue that i have is that 20 marines fail so quickly there is no chance to get another 20 on there to back up the ones that die.

I did a simple test and they die just as quick as 5 marines which is less than 14 seconds, the first 5 die as soon as they enter the ship ( the ship with no internal defences ).

[surferx]

My current game has gotten to that what do I do now? phase. So I'm deciding if I should start a new 2.5 game, or see how my current game looks patched.
Anyway thanks to everyone involved for all the work put into this.

[VincentTH]

Why I like 2.5? Cuz they make boarding Q possible, while making boarding other ships more challenging.

Boarding isn't more challenging apart from your marines die more often than they did in 2.1. The result is a lot more people will end up re-loading a lot more often than they did in 2.1 I imagine. I don't understand how this is an improvement and while beta testing I and others stated this - we were told to shut up.

I love everything about 2.5 apart from the "improvements to boarding," and I really appreciate all the work that went into it's development - I don't want to come across as overly negative but it's hard to be positive when my favourite aspect of the game has been taken away.

(1) I don't work for Ego.
(2) I only stated my opinion, and I live in a country where I am entitled to my own opinion. You have your own, and I don't criticize it.

I have started a new game in 2.5RC3, boarded the following (in the order they are made):

1 Cobra, no casualties (10 3* marines from a TP, Hyperion on attack shield).
1 Elephant, 2 marines died (10 4* marines from a TP).
1 Atmospheric Lifter with Hull Plating using the capped Cobra. All 16 marines survived, 4 cannot board due to the hull plating.
1 Carrack from the Cobra. All 17 marines survived, no casualties.
1 Heavy Hydra (I love this ship for tracking mines). I used a TP with my Hyp on attack-shield). 6 made it on-board, 5 took over the ship, 4 cannot make it to the ship, and 1 bail after the ship was taken over. No casualty.

As stated above, I only buy marines that have 4 stars in any category. I trained the ones with Hacking when I bought them, and the ones with high fighting skills to 5* in Hacking. The rest, I train them in Mech to 5*. Eng, I train them to 3*. My typical marine look like:

5H, 1M, 3E, 4-5F or
1H, 5M, 3E, 2-3F.

I have 40 of them, and I take turn training them (i.e. I have 20 loaded to the Cobra at any time, 20 in training).

[VincentTH]

It has been stated by the devs that Xenon ships require 2X the number to board. For the Q, you will need 40 marines. This is by design. In 2.5, the number of marines determine the amount of casualties you will suffer (no, this comes from my experience playing the 2.5beta, not from the dev). Keep that in mind.

The issue that i have is that 20 marines fail so quickly there is no chance to get another 20 on there to back up the ones that die.

I did a simple test and they die just as quick as 5 marines which is less than 14 seconds, the first 5 die as soon as they enter the ship ( the ship with no internal defences ).

I have not tested boarding a Q yet, for obvious reason that I don't have 40 marines at 5* yet.

[Mustikos]

Enjoying the update and some time gaming...

Thinking about the menu option for:
"Locate in Sector Map"
gets me thinking ..

should it say ON sector map? Personally, when I use a map, I "look on the map for the closest place that sells beer" .. find it ON the map.. hehe... perhaps it is a European thing.. (no?? )

I wish I weren't in teh steam version so I could beta! aside from that :

I like the feature; got me thinking, would be great for players to build menus..

I wouldn't mind removing some items / customizing menus.. never use some of the options, well .. hardly enough to make a dent.. like display on monitor..

... this game.. personally, I save so often...

I guess I should upload stats and compare them to others? I am not sure what you guys think about the game, but sometimes, I'm like.. I've got multiple ships in multiple sectors and diff. ones are delivering different items, doing different things. I think I have about 260 ships. There is so much going on, it is not so easy to keep track of it all. I've thought of developing a page to help users manage their fleets. A while back, I started an access database and Visual Basic application for missles' and items' properties / info., but didn't continue for whatever reason (lazy bastid).. I'm wondering if anyone has any suggestion that could help others organize their gameplay.

I use Iguanas at times, for carrying items to other ships, such as 25MJ shields from one of my production stations to other ships I've captured requiring shielding. I thought it would be nice if I had a way to list what ships need shields and their sectors. I do have a notebook I jot stuff down in and suppoes that may be a bit easier, but then again, I have a couple computers on my desk and mostly use this one for IM, browsing, etc. I'll have to step away from the computer(s) and try to conjure up some ideas. If anyone has suggestions, I'm all ears (errr. eyes)..

[Nelviticus]

Brilliant, thank you Egosoft! I've been checking the forum every day for the last two weeks and today's my birthday - I thought "I wonder if Egosoft have given me X3 2.5 as a birthday present?" and hey presto, you have!

Thanks for all the hard work.

[Ketraar]

The result is a lot more people will end up re-loading a lot more often than they did in 2.1 I imagine.

That wont work according to Cycrows statements, as the boarding will now be less dependend to chance, but more relatet to skill, as in the amount/skill of marines you use in the process. And THAT is IMO an improvement.

MFG

Ketraar

[qwizzie]

i for one dont like all the boarding improvements / changes implemented with update 2.5, the idea of not beeing able to use an M6 anymore to board anything bigger then an M6 due to the fact that bigger ships require at least 6 marines and is therefore forcing you to use M7M to board the bigger ships is driving me away from the whole boarding process (which sucks coz i just finished training a whole bunch of marines which on itself took ages).

what i do like are the changes made to train yr marines, its a real improvement although i would like to see some more details what the different types of training exactly mean ....

i have just one question about this update 2.5

Are there any changes made between RC3 and the official 2.5 ??
(RC3 had a serious boarding bug with teams beeing split, i wanna know if this has been fixed. i asked the status of this bug in beta testing but didnt got a reply to it and now we are already with the official update )