X3: Terran Conflict

The HUB is connected to two Xenon sectors so you'll see them amble through from time to time. Not all the time, though. I've never seen a Kha'ak in there! The Xenon probably butchered the poor thing when it got discovered.

Yes, they can obliterate you pretty quick if you give them the chance - but you won't. Jump away, get more energy, save, come back later. Or you might be able to simply out-run them. An Iguana with maxxed engines can outrun most M3s and Clusters are very slow (until they pop).

Drones aren't so easy to sell with a CAG. You'll likely want to let the NPCs buy them off you. Or maybe keep them for yourself. 50 of those would do awful things to an L! (It's picking them up afterwards that's a pain.)

90 million!? That's enough to build a complex of a dozen stations plus a TL to haul the stations around!

I really hope you've started the Goner and Terran Conflict plots.

Yeah, I've been jumping in and out of the hub and quickly docking using a Docking Computer with my Iguana Vanguard, but I had to be quick or I got toasted. But this ship has very little cargo room. Doing the fetch quests after switching to a slower high-capacity freighter will be difficult with those baddies hanging around. :/ Do you suppose I can take them out with an M3 (Advanced Perseus or Advanced Eclipse)?

I'm starting the Goner mission and the Terran stuff next. I'll assign a freighter to do the Goner mission. I figure I'll use the advanced perseus because of its speed for the Terran mission, and also try it out on the Treasure Hunt start. Something that can survive all those laster towers. I'll try to outfit it first with extensions, upgrades, and weapons. Any laser recommendations? So many to choose from...

It's looking like building a complex is going on the backburner. Don't know if I have the patience for that, yet. I can't imagine positioning all the pieces will be fun. Buying my own TL looks to be very expensive, too, for a ship I will only be using rarely for building factories/complexes...

Do you suppose I can take them out with an M3 (Advanced Perseus or Advanced Eclipse)?

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If you've practiced at fighting then you can take them out with just about anything other than a light scout. If you're new to battle, any M3 should do well. It will also make at least the first few missions of the Terran Conflict plot a breeze.

There are a LOT of lasers (and missiles) to pick from all right. The phased repeater gun and mass driver are good against the fast, tiny ships. Ion weapons and the Pulsed Beam Emitter do a lot of shield damage without hurting the hull much, making them good weapons to capture other ships. Flak and shockwave weapons are made for larger ships to blast small ships. Ammo-based weapons can be a bit of a bother to keep loaded but don't have to worry about the energy running out. There's much to consider! (This is a great guide but it has some spoilers hanging around. You might want to finish the Terran Conflict quest before reading it.)

The TL can pay for itself by giving it a jump drive and using it to do station building missions. Those will soon be paying off millions of credits per run. Plus, if you pick and choose your missions a bit, you can also build customers for your factories which can earn you even more. Those missions also let you practice building stations with somebody else's money. (Just don't mess up and build the wrong station - you'll end up owning it.)

Interesting. Do you have to pilot your TL to do the station building missions, or can you do them remotely?

Oh heavens no! I've piloted a TL from time to time just to experience it but the only time I've felt an actual need to pilot a TL is when I did some asteroid "mining". (Blasting & ramming would be a better term. Bring big shields.)

Typically it goes like this:

Com the mission giver and he/she/it will ask you to get build such & such factory. Respond with a 'no' but take note of the station and how much they are paying. Look the factory up in the encyclopedia to see where it is sold and make sure you are getting a worthwhile profit. If you haven't maxxed rep out with that race then check the station that's selling the factory to make sure they are actually willing to sell it to you (which requires some sort of presence in the sector).

If you've got your own TL then you can do this pretty fast. Simply jump the TL and land at the station. While the TL is docking, make sure the mission is active and find the beacon (it may or may not be in the same sector as the mission giver). When the TL docks, buy the station and jump the TL to the beacon's sector. The TL just has to be in the sector the beacon is in, it doesn't have to be close to the beacon.

Access the TL's freight and 'eject' the station. This will pop the map up and let you select the location and orientation of the station. For a mission like this, the quick & easy way is to simply get the cursor near the beacon, press the 5 on the keypad to center on the closest object, then place the station (press enter? jeez, I've done so many my hands know the key but I've forgotten it!).

You're looking for some practice, though, so fly your ship over to the beacon and put yourself roughly 5km away and face in such a way that the beacon is about half way to one of the corners of your screen. Instead of moving near the beacon and pressing 5, move the cursor near your ship and press 5. You'll be surrounded by the ghost of the station! Now use the 4/8/6/2 keys on the keypad to move the station around and the 1/3/7/9 keys to rotate it. You'll find that you can only move the station on a plane, which probably won't be enough to get the station to the beacon. Click the + on the map to rotate the map and the keys will now move/rotate the station on a new plane.

It's not a very eligant system and having the map right in front of you makes it hard to see the station (that's why I had you put the beacon toward a corner - to get out from behind the fool map!) but it gets the job done. You don't have to place the station exactly to get credit. In fact, you don't have to place stations exactly to make a good complex of stations.

Wow, I didn't expect this post to be so big! It's really pretty simple stuff. After two or three, you'll be taking on two or three missions at the same time to save on energy cells. Then you'll mess up and put the wrong station at a beacon. Then you'll realize that these missions don't require landing anywhere so you haven't saved in an hour and a half. Then, after a bit of pain in your knuckles, you'll get to buy a new monitor!

Wow! Thanks for the info. Don't you have to be personally in the sector to find and accept missions (question?), so you have to make your TL follow you around from sector to sector as you search for missions? Seems tedious since they are so slow.

Ah, never mind, you can just remotely jump and buy them from a station seller from wherever they are while you accept the mission with your piloted ship. I should try it out. Might as well splurge on the best TL. Which one? The Argon Mammoth, or should I go for more capacity, fighter capacity, shielding, or speed? Maybe I should just pick the one with most capacity, since I may need to use it for storage, although it may put missions at risk becasue it will be slower…?

OK. Out of 6 of found M3s to start the Terran mission, I decided on the Pirate Advanced Eclipse. It's a little on the slow side compared to the rest, but has some of the best shields and number of weapon slots. I am trying to scrounge up some weapons for it.

Got Phased Repeater Guns for the turrets. And after running throughout Argon and Paranid local space, finally 8 High energy Plasma Throwers.

I'm thinking, well why not also get a set of 8 Energy Bolt Chainguns + ammo, for when energy runs low? Although I have to fly to another area (Teladi space) to find it.

Fly to another area? Did you get that TL? It has hanger bays! M3s, 4s, and 5s can dock in it. Just land and use the TL's jump drive to get around.

The big thing they CAN'T do, though, is dock at most factories. They can dock at shipyards, equipment docks, the HUB, and military bases but that's it. So how do you get the energy cells to the ship?

1. Once you get the HUB started, have a trader constantly buying energy for 12 credits. When you start running low on energy, jump to the HUB and load some up.

2. Get some M3s with big cargo bays. When they land on the TL, transfere the freight.

3. Have a TS buy the energy and give it to the TL. If the TS or TL has a transporter then you can teleport the freight at a range of 5km or less. Or they can both dock at a shipyard and transfere cargo. Or, if the TL has the right software, the TS can just dump the energy and the TL can be told to pick it up as salvage.

4. Cargo drones work very well but take a little learning. Each one has a cargo bay of 800. Like fighter drones, they live in your cargo hold not the hanger. Unlike fighter drones, they are smart enough to dock once they have done their thing. (They are also pretty fun to watch - though they work a lot faster if you are out of sector.)

Supposedly, the best TL is the Atmospheric Lifter. You can't buy them, though, you have to capture them. I've never even tried, myself. The Mammoth (and the Mobile Mining Base, which has the same stats) is definitely a good one. Orcas are pretty good and extra fun to dock on.

Speed won't be an issue for those missions. The time is typically long enough for a TL sitting at a nearby shipyard to drive all the way to the target sector.

Oh, and that M3 will be more than enough.

Thanks for the TL info! I am just doing the other missions with my M3. The M3 has a jump drive, so he's jumping around a lot to get equipped. The TL is on the backburner…

May try out cleaning out the HUB too of Xenon and Khaak with this Pirate Advanced Eclipse. Also, hopefully it can take all the lasertower punishment for the treasure hunt start…

Time for a crash course in combat. I bought some Salvage Insurance…

I also played through the Goner mission until is paused. Waiting for contact.

OK, I started the Terran Plot and made a few steps in it until it paused too. In the meantime set a fleet of traders to sector trade in the new Terran areas. Looks like a lot of stations are missing… But there's good trading money there.

Then I went back to the Treasure Hunt and did the first step. Finally could a beat the lasertowers. Then on to an asteroid? My missiles were too weak. I have to buy mining equipment? That's expensive for just one step in a mission? So saving that for later.

Went back to the Hub Mission. Only 400 computer components needed. Well that's a bit. Wasn't too hard to find in a few jumps. When I went to the hub, I lost my freighter to a nasty Xenon patrol including a Q, some Ls and Ms?… Tried again but distracted them with my M3, who got a little toasted before docking. In the meantime, my freighter could deliver the goods. Whew!

Now I ONLY needs 500 Microchips. WTF! Only found about 8 factories and the most (if I am VERY lucky) they are selling 12 each. After making about 4 circuits of the universe, I have 125. This is ridiculously tedious and boring. I am about ready to consider dropping it. WTF were the designers thinking? Is there a way to automate having a freighter sit at a factory and continually buy up all the wares automatically as they become available, while I can go do something interesting? If not, the Hub mission is going on a permanent back burner...

"If not, the Hub mission is going on a permanent back burner…"

That's exactly where it is supposed to be! The HUB steps almost always have you gathering tons of something-or-other. Each step is basically a milestone toward building a massive space empire.

I believe you made an ore mine in A's Memorial? There's a fine silicon rock there - one of the best in the universe. Pop a large mine on that then use a tractor beam to haul it and your ore mine off to the side of the sector somewhere. Get a couple of food factories and a chip plant (or two?) - all from the same race. Then link them all up with complex construction kits. Set the microchip price to the max (or bar NPCs from the complex completely and let your CAG sell stuff) and let them build up. While the factory is filling, go do other quests. Once this step is done, you can have the factory sell those microchips for high profits.

Or you can just have a trader sit at a chip plant. Check on it from time to time while you're doing other quests/missions and buy chips if they are there. This is an early step in the plot so that's still viable.

The quest steps continue to get larger and larger. However, you'll be getting richer and richer so you can afford to make more/larger complexes. The Xenon will be cleared out soon, too, so it will become far easier to deliver.

What I've done at each step is a re-tool of my empire. They want teladianium? Fine. Build some factories to produce teladianium with an eye toward selling it after the step is done. Also, once the Xenon are ousted, I'll set up CAGs to buy from NPC factories if their prices get reasonable. Then I ignore them and do other quests and missions. Well, OK, I check from time to time to make sure the HUB has the money to pay for CAG purchases and that nothing has broken down. In other words, the quest is sitting on the back burner!

Regarding asteroids: I can't remember the plot for squat but only the BIG asteroids (that show up on the map) need one of those astroid blasting lasers. The rest just need shooting.

I've parked a few freighters at a few chip stations and check back with them to buy every so often. It's slow, but i the meantime I'm finishing exploring the rest of the universe.

OK, I got the hub connected. I just sat on chip factories while I finished exploring (except for some nasty Xenon sectors). My squatting freighters finally rendezvous. One goes back to the hub with all the chips, and my M3 Eclipse Advanced escorts it. There be XENON here! 10 Xenon in the hub, including a Q! I tell my freighter to skedaddle and the M3 wisely departs, too. So to make a long story shorter I came back later and found the Xenon gone, delivered the chips, and linked up the first pair of gates between Power Circle and my mines in Antigone Memorial.

150,000 Teladium next? WTF?!

I bought an Argon Mammoth, and set up 5 large Teladium Foundries, 2 in one complex (my first complex ), and bought freighters to supply them with energy cells using CAGs, and ferry Teladium to the the hub using CLS2 circuits. It will be a LONG time before I'm up to 150,000…

I thought about creating self sufficient complexes for the Teladium, but for just 2 foundries, the setup cost was huge. Something around 120K. Almost all of my credits. Although there would have been some intermediary products to sell for a little income. But I bagged that idea. :/

Afterward, I did a few station building missions. Very profitable but a bit squirrely when you ask the TL to drop the station on a navigation beacon, and the station ends up tens of kilometers away. :/

While I was sitting around for chips to accumulate I played a lot of the Goner plot (except for the last couple, where it looks like my Eclipse Advanced won't be enough for a follow and pickup mission). I'll need a ship with passenger capability and something to drive off swarms.

I got my first M6 from the Goners as a reward, a Truelight Seeker. But its shielding isn't very good and has no turrets or passenger capability. So I don't think it will be good enough to finish the Goner plot. Thoughts?

Afterward, I did a few station building missions. Very profitable but a bit squirrely when you ask the TL to drop the station on a navigation beacon, and the station ends up tens of kilometers away. :/

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!?!? I've seen them pop up somewhat distant if there happens to be rocks right where the beacon is. It isn't hard to see coming because the station starts flashing and jumping around. Maybe you had one set inside a whole bunch of small rocks?

Truelight Seeker is a very unique ship. It can mount every single laser weapon in the game! Of course, that doesn't mean it can do much with them. It can shoot off a Photon Pulse Cannon but then you'll have to wait forever for the gun to recharge. Gauss Cannons would like work well but then you'll have some pretty expensive weapons being protected by relatively weak shielding.

Personally, I use the ship to transport weapons around. I figure that it can at least shoot back with whatever it is hauling if it gets attacked. I had gotten an M6 by that time, though, so I was never tempted to actually fight in the Truelight.

When I did the last steps in the Goner plot, it was fairly difficult. I believe the Terrans will hand over another M6 to you in their plot. You might want to gear that one up instead for this plot. It's an exceptionally good ship.

Thanks for the tips! I need to get my fighting rank up to Veteran and then will just start the Operation Final Fury Plot, then back to the Terran Plot.

Gha! X3:TC through a Sudoku puzzle at me!? That was cruel and unusual! I've never done one of those before and spent three hours on it.

OK, I took out my first Q at the start of Final Fury. Well I got some help. I'm finding auto attack lots of times does much better than me at the controls.
BTW, the roll evasive maneuver (a+q), really works!

Tonight, it's back to the Terran plot. Still have only managed getting about 25K of teladium out of 150K required...

Nice! Those Qs aren't easy.

Out of sector, the Qs are super deadly. Out of sector combat is turn-based and, if the Q gets the first turn, it can kill an M1 or M2 in the first round!

P.S. See! Role playing opportunities, multiple quests, lots of weapon choices, a logic puzzle or two, and turn based combat! There's an old-school RPG burried somewhere in this game!

Aha, finally I think I know what the the acronym OOS meant. I thought it was something like that.

Still playing. I did a bit more of the Terran plot, and decided to start the Corporate factions. There are a LOT of factions in this game. Around 15, it seems.

Speaking of factions, I was concerned about losing too much pirate rep by doing some of the starter missions for the corporations. Sure enough, shooting the pirates in the Terracorp starter escort mission made my rep drop very badly (to -2) with the Pirates. Then, pirates started shooting me on sight. Grrrrr… But luckily, pirate bases didn't hate me. Strange, eh?

Spent the rest of the afternoon doing missions for pirate bases to regain rep, +10 here, +15% there. This was taking forever. After a few of these (and reloads…) I got a factory building mission, BINGO - +250% rep. Nice.

I gamed the OTAS escort starter mission to avoid this hassle/grind. You can go Out of Sector for the mission. The mission ships make it slowly to headquarters with no enemies spawning and without your help. WTF? But it avoided the annoyance of losing rep with the pirates.

I am 25K short on Teladium and then the HUB mission will progress. I've got about 360M credits, with around 13 Universe Traders, and another 12 Local Traders in Terran space. Still most of my income is gained from factory building missions. I think the most I got from a factory building mission was about 18M.

Still haven't captured my first ship yet…

BTW, in case anyone is interested, here is a mod to allow you to see Pirate and Yaki player reputation/ranking, which is normally hidden from the player:

[MD] Ranks for Xenon, Kha'ak, Pirates and Yaki [V1.03][09/21/2011]