Author Topic: X3 - Terran Conflict - Questions for Intermediates  (Read 69219 times)

Offline Spikey00

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X3 - Terran Conflict - Questions for Intermediates
« on: March 22, 2010, 02:54:29 pm »
I've played this game in the past, only to have utterly uninstalled it at first sight, despite the forewarnings that this game would have a huge curve in the difficulty level on both gameplay and learning with regards to the basics of the universe.  I've again, with a huge wall of resistance to hopelessness, decided to give the game another chance (after being utterly destroyed a couple of times by my autopilot and sudden warps of several capital ships with many fighter escorts...).

I've come here to ask if anyone has played this game, and to receive answers on the following select questions:

a) I'm confused on how to control freighters automatically--I already have three and a hundred thousand in credits, and I want to know how do you automate freighters so that they trade without your need of macro?  I have tried using the manual trade run; however, the ship stops when it delivers its cargo once, unlike what the dialog for "indefinite" run says.  Is this the correct way to do it, or do I have to buy some other component for my freighter (I've heard MK3 software does this).

i) As another side question, what should I outfit my freighters?  For the moment, I've equipped them with all the trade/etc. components that I have, but so far I have not found the best buy/best sell module, that of which I assume automates trade?  While I wait for an answer, I'm at the moment manually doing all the trading interactions, and having the trade software allows me to see the prices when I'm not in the same sector as my freighters (does this matter?  Should I equip my ship only, and will it show prices then?)

b) When a module has different MK, is it to any benefit that I purchase lower tiers?  ie. Trade Command MK2, should I also purchase MK1?

c) How do you "upgrade" shields?  Do you just buy more, and where do you see what shields are compatible with what?

This will suffice for now--thank you in advance.
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Offline Lancefighter

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Re: X3 - Terran Conflict - Questions for Intermediates
« Reply #1 on: March 22, 2010, 04:22:46 pm »
a) pick up a 'trade command mk3' from home of light (terracorp), or teladi equipment docks, run 'solarsystem trader' till level 10, then 'universe trader'
ai) As many 25mj shields as possible(more later), NO GUNS, trade 1+2+3, trading system extension, fight 1+2, nav 1, jumpdrive. Only the playership needs a trading system extension (unless! you are using CLS/CAG, in which they need it to level up)

b) each item actually has its own set of commands it gives - yes, you need them all, excepting some cases (for instance, you only /need/ trade 3 in the above scenario... )

c) shields are mentioned in the ships info page (click i with a ship selected, even in Shipyards). Down near the guns (i think right above), it says 'max shields: 3x 25mj' or similar. The ship will fit any shield 25mj or smaller, (including 1mj, 5mj, 25mj, in the example).
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Offline Rod Serling

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Re: X3 - Terran Conflict - Questions for Intermediates
« Reply #2 on: March 22, 2010, 05:53:03 pm »
I never personally use best buy/best sell, it just tells you the lowest prices to buy stuff, and the highest prices to sell stuff in a given sector.

I usually find a profitable route, and exploit that with manually commanded (Dock at...) freighters while I scout/find another good route to exploit, until I have enough money to upgrade my freighters to TCS Mark 3

I usually get 3 Regular Mercury Freighters fully fitted with 75 MJ Shields, and all the software works, and a gun (though, the guns can often cause alot more trouble than they are worth, at best, they can kill a few weaker pirates while the jump drive charges up, but sometimes that's the difference between replacing a level 10 CAG + ship/works, and simply a large repair bill)

Look into some of the extra trade software suites in the official community.

Economy Supply Trader - It's barred from the official game because in conjuncture with a player, it can unbalance the economy.
http://forum.egosoft.com/viewtopic.php?t=222408

(It unbalances the economy, because it's so efficient, that eventually, nobody will really be able to compete with you)

Offline Spikey00

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Re: X3 - Terran Conflict - Questions for Intermediates
« Reply #3 on: March 23, 2010, 11:30:25 am »
Thanks Lancefighter and Rod for your help.

So I now have 500K of credits (after two days, in comparison to instant rage via death) along with some M4 escorts--what would be the best move now?  I'm thinking about a factory, but would that be an effective decision?  I currently only have explored some Terran space and Argon, as I started as a Argon Patriot quickstart--so if I should go for a factory, what should it be, and where should I construct it (and how)?

Are factories automagic, ie. little player management? 


Thanks again.
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Offline Lancefighter

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Re: X3 - Terran Conflict - Questions for Intermediates
« Reply #4 on: March 23, 2010, 12:14:51 pm »
it depends - are you a trader or a fighter? In my games, I almost always spend my beginning money upgrading my personal ship to a m3 and proper guns before I do most anything else.

A trader might prefer to pick up some trade software mk3 (each one is 500k!) and set it working someplace.

as for a builder.. eh well, 500k isnt really much in the grand scheme of things.. i mean you might be able to pick up a silicon mine..

as for the how of station building - you need something with a ton of cargo space.. A TL. Usually you can find 'supply' TLs in core systems sitting around.. comm one and be like 'oh hai. Wanna haul shit for me?' and he will be like 'yeah but it will cost you' and then you can kinda order it around similar to any other asset.

and um lastly, you mention escorts.. Uh I am going to assume here you havent met the autopillok very much. Yousee. Autopilot is stupid. Incredibly so. Wingmen tend to die .. ... .. by crashing into things.

Oh yeah, and about factories - its fairly simple. They have their own wallet, and they buy resources and sell products. If the price is lucrative enough, npcs will travel to your factory to buy/sell stuff. If its not, youll need your own traders to do it for you..(this is where CAGs come in). Well, its not really micromanageyy, but it requires a bit of setup and then usually works fine.
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Offline Spikey00

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Re: X3 - Terran Conflict - Questions for Intermediates
« Reply #5 on: March 23, 2010, 10:16:29 pm »
I decided to purchase a wheat farm and constructed it within Omicron Lyrae--however, I still have a few issues that I have yet to understand:

a)  How do I have my freighters provide and transport for my factory automatically?  I've attempted to assign them it as their home, and I've done manual trade runs (and the loop stops whenever they "lose" a profit when selling it back to the wheat farm).  I'm therefore confused on what the "maximum jumps" in the wheat farm info parameter is for.
b)  Lowest and highest selling points for input and output materials--can this be elaborated as in what is a effective threshold, ie. should I have the prices set to the average of what it tells me?
c)  Should I worry for my factory, as in protection against enemies, or do I need not worry about that early in the game (and since Omicron is a "core" world)?
d)  Any other tips you can offer me with regards to factories.

--

Luckily I haven't experienced any problems with wingmen following/protecting me--perhaps it's due to my small size of escort (only two ships now) or sheer luck.

--

As a side question, is there any other method to repair ships for free, besides doing the strenuous "jump out, repair ray, jump in" loop, or some way to upgrade the repair speed?  Anything?


Thanks a lot for the information you've provided so far.
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Offline Lancefighter

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Re: X3 - Terran Conflict - Questions for Intermediates
« Reply #6 on: March 23, 2010, 11:59:28 pm »
Wheat farm? Eh not horrible. Wheat isnt a primary foodstuff for the argon.. >.>
a)uh. trade command 1+2, trade -> buy ware for best price will work
b)With a single factory, on the page where you play with the prices it shows you how much the final product costs to make. As you move the e-cell price around, the wheat price (in [ ] below the price you set i think) shows how much one unit costs to make. Generally you can buy e-cells around 14ish relatively easily, (12 being the min), and then sell flowers around median price

c) omicron lyrae is 'safe' as far as pirates go, you can generally ignore it and it will make money if you have it setup right
d) sure, dont make space fuel in argon sectors :p

As for the wingmen, you are INCREDIBLY lucky, or you just dont use seta (it helps, but decreases the luck youll need)

Yeah, sure, if you just write a script to repair ships for you.. :rolleyes: do it the long way or pay a shipyard to do it. Be lucky you CAN repair ships. Every other game has a pretty harsh repair cost at a SY, and no free method.
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Re: X3 - Terran Conflict - Questions for Intermediates
« Reply #7 on: March 24, 2010, 04:17:11 pm »
Well, my rationale was that there were two Cahoona Bakeries that were low in supply of wheat, so I assumed it would be a decent investment because the wheat farm itself wasn't too expensive.  I'll try the "buy ware for best price" option--thanks!

Oh, I always use SETA, rofl.  The wingmen seem to be spread out from one another, and don't come too close to my ship to crash into it.  When I move towards a structure, they seem to stay a safe distance away from actual collision, and dock safely. 

Say, is there a 100% defense against missiles?  Most of the time I can shoot them down, but for instance when I was engaging a Xenon corvette, it turned to face me from a couple hundred meters away while I was dogfighting and of course it launched a missile, and I was cuddly hugged .  I understand that turrets complete this sort of task, but I'm finding it ineffective (or at least since I installed a PAC on my only back turret that I assume does not have a firing arc at the front) and I doubt it would have destroyed it anyways since the missile pretty much insta-killed me from that distance.

--

So... Xenon ships "bail"?  I had one M do so before I was destroyed by the aforementioned corvette.  Seems interesting.
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Offline Lancefighter

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Re: X3 - Terran Conflict - Questions for Intermediates
« Reply #8 on: March 24, 2010, 05:29:23 pm »
Damn you have been lucky. I usually find it about a 50/50 chance if a wingman of mine will crash and burn.. on a stationary object.


As for missile defense, there is ... in one of the bonus packs somewhere, there is an addon by the name of missile defense mosquito. Basically, your ship will automagically shoot mosquitoes at any inbound missile.

Of course, that requires you carry dozens of mosquitoes on board at all times.. which is less than ideal once you invent the jumpdrive.

Otherwise, theres always a rear turret, the elite should have one.. put an ire in it (if you can stand their noise.. i HATE the ire with a passion. Too loud) and set it to missiles only.
Also, get some 25mj shields on the elite, I'm fairly sure you only start with 5mj's.
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Offline Spikey00

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Re: X3 - Terran Conflict - Questions for Intermediates
« Reply #9 on: March 25, 2010, 03:34:04 pm »
I now only have a single wingman, but two M3s stocked away because I have yet to find enough weapons for them to use--I have them equipped with shields already.  However, I haven't seen another equipment dock/etc. that sells PACs--is there a particular race or sector that has an abundance of weapons production near Omicron Lyrae (I'm in Teladi space for the moment though)?

Thanks again.
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Offline Lancefighter

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Re: X3 - Terran Conflict - Questions for Intermediates
« Reply #10 on: March 25, 2010, 07:18:47 pm »
If i remember properly, teladi space is a great place to pick up EBC's (energy bolt chainguns), which are awesome because they run off ammo and use less space than hept (hept=6, ebc=1, ammo=1... for 8 guns, you carry 8 ebc and 40 ammo and break even) over by that xenon sector east and a bit south of Omycron lyrae is where I usually pick up mine. There should be some up in Siezewell as well.

If your looking for PACs, then argon small weapons forges should stock them (along with ire and prg.. prg being superior for more cost) If you go to your encyclopedia, (hit enter, the top icon, then other at the bottom, encyclopedia should be the first entry there) you can pick a weapon and see all stations that trade in that weapon
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Offline Spikey00

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Re: X3 - Terran Conflict - Questions for Intermediates
« Reply #11 on: March 25, 2010, 10:04:37 pm »
Ah, I found a small weapon forge at Wasteland--my only question now regards the AI with multiple types of weapons--are they efficient with varying weapon ranges and velocities, or is it best to equip them with only one type of weapon?  This is for fighters.
« Last Edit: March 25, 2010, 10:07:02 pm by Spikey00 »
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Offline Lancefighter

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Re: X3 - Terran Conflict - Questions for Intermediates
« Reply #12 on: March 25, 2010, 10:49:17 pm »
generally you want to give your wingmen with something fast (they arent great at knowing /when/ to shoot, for them as long as they are pointed at their target they will shoot), and not too energy-eating. Like i said above, Phased repeater guns are good for that, and are about superior to most other fighter weapons
finally..
never give wingmen missiles unless they are small and low yield. If you have ever used missiles, youll know that half the time it just blows up in your face. I really have yet to see a wingman of mine use missiles properly.. Just leave them with wasp or dragonflies..
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Offline Spikey00

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Re: X3 - Terran Conflict - Questions for Intermediates
« Reply #13 on: March 26, 2010, 11:53:00 am »
I seem to miss more frequently myself with PRGs [than weapons such as PACs since I burst fire], but I'm assuming the AI can consistently hit enemies with it.  However, how many should I equip each fighter?  I have a Xenon L with only two PRGs, so should I provide it with more?

Yes... I've noticed in several occasions where my wingman would destroy themselves with missiles [and thus me having to reload the save], as I had them previously pick up wares.  I'm assuming there's no way to have them default at zero percent for firing missiles?

--

Great--some more new questions (sorry):
1)  If I deploy a new type of factory in a local area that doesn't already have a market for it, ie. something that isn't seen being sold at a trading station, will it be of any use, or can I still sell products that it makes to the trading station/etc. for profit?  Does it work similar to the way when you sell a ship to a shipyard that doesn't sell that type of ship, or is it different for goods?

2)  I see that you mention "jump drives"--I can assume they instantly teleport you to where you want to be--where are they sold?  Actually, doesn't Terran space sell them?  How many ecells do I need on an average distance, and does it only transport my ship, or ships that have a jump drive (if not, then would the AI automatically jump to my location, or would it manually travel to my area)? 

3)  I occasionally see the communication option for "help, I'm under attack/etc" when my ship receives damage for a short duration.  Does this actually do anything, or is it impractical/useless?

4)  Is it safe to have fighter escorts for trading convoys (because I have a Falcon that's a bit too slow after tweaking and thinking about equipping a Pelican with MK3 TC)?  Do they make a mess of themselves, or should I just have it travel alone?  Should I position the Pelican to trade in Omicron Lyrae, and for future reference, what's the rationale behind equipping it with no weapons (not even an IRE for missile defense)?  Does it change the AI logic?

5)  How does the complex construction work--if I don't have a TL and I buy this from a shipyard, will it only be available for me when I use that TL?

6)  I'm caught in a confusion at the moment:  fighters whom I assigned to protect me don't seem to be doing their job very well.  A lot of the time they seem to sit around--but if I order them to "attack all enemies", they often rush to their destruction without backup/bait, but do more combat-wise (or so I believe).  What's the best stance for AI wingmen?

--

Thanks again Lancefighter for all the help you've provided so far--I hope it hasn't been of too much inconvenience.
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Offline Velox

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Re: X3 - Terran Conflict - Questions for Intermediates
« Reply #14 on: March 26, 2010, 02:26:35 pm »

     This sounds like a fascinating game that I would absolutely love to play... except that about half of the discussion has been about mitigating the worse-than-useless AI.  It's tragic, really.

 

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