X3: TC Best way to position Laser Towers around a factory? :)

[Silverblade The Enchanter]

Played XBTF ages ago and X2, got the complete works from Steam other day so playing X3 Terran Conflict at moment and relaly enjoying it

Now, what is the best way to position laser towers in X3TC, for the best effect of guarding a factory or complex?

1) Do enemies tend to attack bases in certain area?
for example, I got a high yield silicon mine I wish to keep safe. Do enemies attack the docking/factory structure, or the whole asteroid?

With complexes do they attack all of it or a specific area?


2) Logic seems to suggest putting laser towers in pairs or trios not too far from each other so they can support each other and not be easily overwhelmed, say 200 or 300 yards apart or less.

i.e. if you place them far apart to cover as much of base as possible, but, if an enemy comes at a single tower, it's easier to kill as enemies are often in groups, so laser tower gets overhwlemed
putting two or three in support of each other = much better chance of defeating the enemy and not losing a tower

but, since they are not spread out so far, advantageous placement becomes evenmore of an issue


ta for any help on this!
and Merry Christmas!

[Retiredman]

If you don't care about having the modified tag then Gazz Ring Of Fire is a Killer and Pelendor Drones offer a 6 tower w/a Def Sat that can be sent from OS. If the drone isn't killed by pirates or Xenon it can travel across the the entire uni. to deliver it's towers. Randon placement around the factory.

[MegaJohnny]

AI ships will shoot at the middle of the rock in a mine, and they'll attack the docking hub of a complex.

[redjay]

AI ships will shoot at the middle of the rock in a mine, and they'll attack the docking hub of a complex.

Sadly they'll attack random stations in complexes, not merely the hub

[Pirate hater]

Best way to protect is just to have an M6 stationed to defend the complex or don't and just have a single M2 just jump in to deal with the attackers. (could be an M6 or M7)

[Anita Bidet]

I dump then in three's. One cluster above, one (cluster) either side of the station forming a rough "tri force" if you will.

This isnt enough really for them to solo stuff OOS, and also I personally jump in to defend my stuff. IS this combo does more than enough to distract the big ships and will pop most m4/5's quite fast.

If you want to set and forget, the numbers are different for OOS or IS, but I'd ramp it up to about 5 clusters of 5 at least.

But as Pirate Hater said, a good m6 will do better most of the time.

[BDK]

Pirates spawn at random locations in TC so you need a 360 coverage of your stuff. I hate random spawning, makes the game seem totally silly.

[Silverblade The Enchanter]

hm, thanks for the info, folks

well, least lasers may give time to let a "jump force" get in


Forgive the ignorance, but what do folk mean with "OOS" and "IS"?

[RoDiCa]

Out Of Sector vs In Sector
(whether you are in that sector or not)

[wolfee]

To the moderator that's gonna slap me for replying to an old post, where do you see the year of the post? I see "Sun, 26. D"...doh! It's 2010 isn't it. Need a better timestamp format. Well if this is permitted...I have a 12 factory complex that lost every single link and possibly a factory or two, have to look at it closer. The only thing I can think of is that I had 8 lasertowers in 2 groups of 3 and one group of 2. I'm guessing the complex was getting attacked and my lasertowers took out all the station links trying to hit enemy ships. I've never seen this happen before w/o lasertowers. Plus if you set them to protect the complex structure, they just sit there if enemies are attacking factories linked to the complex. Very annoying.

[Alan Phipps]

@ wolfee: Old thread and your post is nothing really to do with the title topic. Feel free to start a new question thread or report but the evidence for your assumption about the link loss problem sounds a bit sketchy to me and would need to be supported with a link to a save while happening for any investigation.

(You knew this was coming, didn't you!)