XEN Recycling Facility

[Calgor Grim]

A thought occurs, dangerous I know. With the addition of sector Matrix #101 (just off Tharka's XV), which is described as being a place for XEN to stockpile parts for future use and that the theory is they may be salvaging whatever resources they can, is it about time for them to have their own form of salvage vessel? Or is there a reason as to why they currently do not have such mechanics given ToA era introduced such a thing? Do they even have it already and I've simply missed it entirely even...?

Right now it's possible to shut them down or reduce their effectiveness by wiping out their SE ships that head out in search of new materials from their sectors and can contribute to a very slow decline in their operations over time. Then as of 7.0 it seems that the universe has got their act together and are being much better organised with their economy and able to hit the machines harder than normal. If however XEN are given a form of salvage and scrapping, it'll keep them going a little longer. As the ARG and TER anti-xenon task forces throw themselves into the XEN forces they will cause damage, take out a few ships. But that Asgard and those Behemoths left behind should be perfect fuel for the XEN to tear apart, haul back to a facility and repurpose to respond with a handful of I's within the hour. It'll give them an option to bounce back quicker after a major push and crank out another batch of warships as well as further swarms of fighters, give them that volume of ships to start making more of a dent...

[LameFox]

While it would be thematically interesting, I have doubts it would actually go very well for them. I mean, their salvage vessels would surely be even more prone to suicide than their standard resource ships, as the very thing they're after lures them into high conflict areas. This could very easily lead them to be a drain more than a benefit...

[Calgor Grim]

While it would be thematically interesting, I have doubts it would actually go very well for them. I mean, their salvage vessels would surely be even more prone to suicide than their standard resource ships, as the very thing they're after lures them into high conflict areas. This could very easily lead them to be a drain more than a benefit...

It's probably not as bad as it might sound. Some XEN sectors right now are rich in raw scrap (Tharka's, Rhy's Defiance, Faulty Logic) which would give them a considerable quantity of resources to plunder, meanwhile it would very much help them recycle raids into their territory on their immediate border. Watching Manticore behaviour all it needs to do is bolt in, grab a bit of debris and tow it away. It doesn't need to stick around and attack like fighter or battleship fleets and get pounced by defence fighters. It's not attacking anything either so it's less likely to trigger AI defence behaviour because it is just coming in to swipe stuff and begone.

[LameFox]

I don't think they generally run out of actual resources in space though, at least not from what I've seen. Their economy is already very simplified and their sectors tend to have a lot of the few things they need already. The SE's getting themselves killed is more of a general lack of any threat avoidance behaviour in the AI. When they get unlucky in terms of having an objective in a place they will certainly die visiting, they do it anyway. This often means that when a Xenon defence station pops up, they lose SE's which fly out to deliver to it. Since there is no intermediate ware for the Xenon, the SE's they lose to this include their resource gatherers and energy traders alike. Other factions are similar (ZYA and HOP for example) but their economy is more complex which can in a way limit the damage by affecting which ships they send, although it comes with its own vulnerabilities.

Collecting wrecks then is probably not that different: the SE's are only there to briefly drop off wares most of the time. But similarly to a salvage ship (at least so far, since there's only one) they move very slowly, and if anything does attack them, there's not much they can do. Only by the mystical power of the highway ring that cannot be interrupted and prevents attacks can they occasionally get deeper through hostile space without dying.