Give it another try

[RAVEN.myst]

1. I'm sorry, I don't understand your question.

2. Yes, absolutely! As where to build the ShipTech Fab, there are advantages and disadvantages. Building in Albion isn't actually terrible, as there you will have ready customers and you can then turn a tidy profit off them; also, production resources are readily available there, so keeping the station running is simple.

However, if you are developing a personal economy in DeVries, building it there makes more sense as it makes the product more readily available to your construction projects, and the Canteran shipyards will also buy your FRs, so it's still profitable. The challenge here is keeping the station running: you will either want to set up the economic infrastructure in DeVries, or will need to manually (and rather laboriously!) cart in a lot of the resources (Fusion Reactors have significant requirements when it comes to production resources.)

Waiting till Omicron Lyrae would be the one option I would NOT recommend - there's little upside in delaying: it's much like building in Albion in terms of profitability and access to production resources, only later in the game, so all it would accomplish is a delay. However, there's no reason not to ALSO produce FRs in OmLy, to support shipbuilding that side and to make additional profit, but...

Spoiler

Show

[Sparky Sparkycorp]

1) No. The Architect is only 'blocked' until the existing construction order is complete. After which, you can either commission the building of another station module or other stuff like ststion repairs or adding weapons if any were left out when building modules.

2) In the mod to long-term, yes. But I wouldn't bother until your campaign station is finished in terms of campaign requirements. It 'only' needs 140 FRs for the modules the campaign requires, whereas FR-producing stations need almost 800.

Scanning: In case you didn't know, placing a Trade Agent automatically unlocks storage modules so I'd do that before scanning.

[RainerPrem]

...

2) In the mod to long-term, yes. But I wouldn't bother until your campaign station is finished in terms of campaign requirements. It 'only' needs 140 FRs for the modules the campaign requires, whereas FR-producing stations need almost 800.

Scanning: In case you didn't know, placing a Trade Agent automatically unlocks storage modules so I'd do that before scanning.

Hi,

thank you for the new insight. I learn something new about X:R each day, and for now the game isn't sooo bad. (Apart from still getting stuck between opened closet doors or in a part of the architecture.)

cu
Rainer

[RAVEN.myst]

Scanning: In case you didn't know, placing a Trade Agent automatically unlocks storage modules so I'd do that before scanning.

This was added, if I recall correctly, in 4.0, and is an important improvement - so what I do is get the trade agent, THEN I scan (sometimes only the production modules, so that I can have up to date info on production cycles and specific shortages.)

Incidentally, in the next update's announcement there's mention that in future trade agents will also be obtainable by killing hostile ships near a station, so an alternative approach would be policing criminal mass traffic ships and/or taking stations defense combat missions, instead of engaging in tedious talk about the weather and the differences between AI and AGI and what-not...

[Sparky Sparkycorp]

You're welcome.

Getting stuck in stations or large capital ships is quite frustrating!

There are some tips for escaping that here in case any are new to you.

[RainerPrem]

You're welcome.

Getting stuck in stations or large capital ships is quite frustrating!

There are some tips for escaping that here in case any are new to you.

Hi,

I can't access the Wiki from here, but for station walking I use the Ctrl+D approach. It's still annoying...

cu
Rainer

[RAVEN.myst]

In first-person walking mode, sometimes simply crouching can get you unstuck, especially when it happens at thresholds, as it occasionally can. As for getting stuck inside stations or asteroids after a collisions, you can either pretend you're back in a previous X and the collision was therefore fatal (ie. reload), or try the following (probably outlined in Sparky's link) - set a destination, activated autopilot, and go to the rear compartment, give it a few seconds and return to the cockpit - with a little luck, you'll find yourself flying freeeeeeeeee! (It doesn't work 100% of the time, though.)

[RainerPrem]

In first-person walking mode, sometimes simply crouching can get you unstuck, especially when it happens at thresholds, as it occasionally can. As for getting stuck inside stations or asteroids after a collisions, you can either pretend you're back in a previous X and the collision was therefore fatal (ie. reload), or try the following (probably outlined in Sparky's link) - set a destination, activated autopilot, and go to the rear compartment, give it a few seconds and return to the cockpit - with a little luck, you'll find yourself flying freeeeeeeeee! (It doesn't work 100% of the time, though.)

Hi,

I'll try that if I remember it the next time I get stuck.

cu
Raienr

[RainerPrem]

Hi,

new questions:

1) Can it be that the CV is the largest and cheapest freighter to get?

2) In the meantime I found some "game bugs" which don't qualify as "technical" (e.g. spelling errors in smalltalk). Where can I deliver them?

3) I crafted my first "rare engine". I even have an active mission for that. Unfortunately the mission giver sits on a PMC station, so I can't complete it now (apparently for a long time to come). Can I rely on being offered the mission again if I cancel it now?

Surprisingly I'm still having fun with the game.

cu
Rainer

[RAVEN.myst]

1) Can it be that the CV is the largest and cheapest freighter to get?

It used to be so, in an early release state, but it was patched out: the CV can't sell things (though you could indirectly remove wares from it to sell - but you'd need a separate ship for that in any case.)

2) In the meantime I found some "game bugs" which don't qualify as "technical" (e.g. spelling errors in smalltalk). Where can I deliver them?

Sorry, I don't know.

3) I crafted my first "rare engine". I even have an active mission for that. Unfortunately the mission giver sits on a PMC station, so I can't complete it now (apparently for a long time to come). Can I rely on being offered the mission again if I cancel it now?

I would go with a cautious "yes" - while I've always eventually found another of the mission after completing it, I don't know whether there might be some special case with regards to cancelling it in incomplete state while owed to a faction you are hostile with, but I deem this EXTREMELY unlikely.

Happy hunting

[RainerPrem]

Hi,

there is one other thing. In another thread a big ship is successfully boarded.

My first attempt outside the campaign (an unarmed Reiver freighter) failed epically (all marines lost).

In the meantime I collected some information and came up with the following sequence of actions:

1) destroy the jumpdrive, but then don't continue with the engines. Instead:
2) scan the ship to find out its boarding resistance
3) hack the ship to disable its defenses
4) destroy surface elements, scan the ship again, rinse and repeat until the boarding resistance is down to ???
5) then destroy the engines and start boarding.

Is this correct? What is the max. boarding resistance for a successful action?

cu
Rainer

[RAVEN.myst]

Well, there are various aspects to boarding, and some differences in approaches. I, for instance, never bother with any hacking, I take out the JD and engines quickly, then clear (more or less - more on that below) the surface elements, then wear down the hull until the boarding resistance is low enough - hull %age affects boarding resistance. Something else that can have a huge impact is the presence of drones - ANY drones, even mere CLURVs, significantly bump up the ship's boarding resistance, so I find it useful, early on before my boarding party has trained up, to take out the drone bay before starting work on the hull (later on, when my boarding strength is high enough, I don't take out the drone bay in the hope of keeping it and at least some of the drones once I've confiscated the ship.)

Now, to clarify the above "more or less" regarding surface elements: I find it advantageous not to destroy turrets, but to damage them to under 25% - at that point, they stop shooting (though they may still contribute to boarding resistance, but it's a minor difference.) The advantages of this: when you get Annoyisha directing you to destroy a surface target to help the boarding op, she has more targets to choose from, so there is less chance of her picking the capital shield generator or the drone bay; also, once you have the ship, it is a bit quicker for your greasemonkey to get those guns back online.

Regarding your question about boarding resistance: If you check your ship's info panel (default: Menu-2-3) and open the General Properties section, at the bottom of that you will see your boarding strength, which is calculated from your marine officer's skills and the composition of your marines (numbers at various experience levels.) You want your boarding strength to exceed, preferably comfortably (by 10 or more), the target's boarding resistance. If you are evens, you can expect some losses but ultimately a win; if you are under by 10 or less, you may succeed but will take heavier losses; if you are under by more than 10, don't hold your breath - your odds are poor. Obviously, the greater the difference (in either direction), the better/worse your chances and the fewer/more losses you will take - there's a proportionality, though at some point on one side you have a guaranteed win and no losses, and conversely the opposite result far enough in the other direction (I'm afraid my "explanation" got rather messy there - I hope you can decrypt it )

[RainerPrem]

Well, there are various aspects to boarding, and some differences in approaches. I, for instance, never bother with any hacking, I take out the JD and engines quickly, then clear (more or less - more on that below) the surface elements, then wear down the hull until the boarding resistance is low enough - hull %age affects boarding resistance. Something else that can have a huge impact is the presence of drones - ANY drones, even mere CLURVs, significantly bump up the ship's boarding resistance, so I find it useful, early on before my boarding party has trained up, to take out the drone bay before starting work on the hull (later on, when my boarding strength is high enough, I don't take out the drone bay in the hope of keeping it and at least some of the drones once I've confiscated the ship.)

Now, to clarify the above "more or less" regarding surface elements: I find it advantageous not to destroy turrets, but to damage them to under 25% - at that point, they stop shooting (though they may still contribute to boarding resistance, but it's a minor difference.) The advantages of this: when you get Annoyisha directing you to destroy a surface target to help the boarding op, she has more targets to choose from, so there is less chance of her picking the capital shield generator or the drone bay; also, once you have the ship, it is a bit quicker for your greasemonkey to get those guns back online.

Regarding your question about boarding resistance: If you check your ship's info panel (default: Menu-2-3) and open the General Properties section, at the bottom of that you will see your boarding strength, which is calculated from your marine officer's skills and the composition of your marines (numbers at various experience levels.) You want your boarding strength to exceed, preferably comfortably (by 10 or more), the target's boarding resistance. If you are evens, you can expect some losses but ultimately a win; if you are under by 10 or less, you may succeed but will take heavier losses; if you are under by more than 10, don't hold your breath - your odds are poor. Obviously, the greater the difference (in either direction), the better/worse your chances and the fewer/more losses you will take - there's a proportionality, though at some point on one side you have a guaranteed win and no losses, and conversely the opposite result far enough in the other direction (I'm afraid my "explanation" got rather messy there - I hope you can decrypt it )

No sweat, I could ...

For my first boarding attempt I want to reduce the chance of failure as much as possible, so: where is the "drone bay"? How can I identify it?

As for bringing the turrets to below 25% - I'll be happy to even find and destroy them instead of being killed myself

As for hacking: The player in the video I mentioned only had to take out one single hacking point. I managed that during my own attempt as well. So if that reduces the chance of being shot while boarding, I'll take it.

cu
Rainer

[Commander_K]

"Drone bay"

Where: Depends on the ship. For the Rahanas it's in the front opening. You can find it by cycling through the surface elements (if you have the right software installed).

[RainerPrem]

"Drone bay"

Where: Depends on the ship. For the Rahanas it's in the front opening. You can find it by cycling through the surface elements (if you have the right software installed).

Hi,

thanks. It's Targeting Mk2, yes? That I've got already.

[Commander_K]

"Drone bay"

Where: Depends on the ship. For the Rahanas it's in the front opening. You can find it by cycling through the surface elements (if you have the right software installed).

Hi,

thanks. It's Targeting Mk2, yes? That I've got already.

Don't remember. It says in the description. PageUp and PageDown to cycle through surface elements, I think.

[RAVEN.myst]

For my first boarding attempt I want to reduce the chance of failure as much as possible, so: where is the "drone bay"? How can I identify it?

Yes, it's one of the targeting software upgrades, just go with the highest (I'm not sure, but I think that's the one you need - I always just max everything I can as soon as I can.) You can use Home/End to cycle between the target's surface elements (it can be tedious on ships with lots of weapons, but since you are doing "entry-level" boarding, pardon the pun, you'll be tackling "weak" ships initially.) As Commander_K mentioned, the location varies (once you see a couple, you'll also be able to identify them visually) - in the front opening on Rahanas, on the rear back of Balor (which, by the way, is a good early training target - just remember to keep moving so its Novadrones don't turn you into very small chunks.)

NOTE: Stromvoks and Styrvoks have integrated drone bays, which means they are stored in the hull itself, there is no separate drone bay to target. This is a great advantage to you if you own any, as enemies can't blitz your drone bay and leave you friendless, but it's a major obstacle in early boarding attempts, as the drones can't be dealt with as previously described, so you'll be facing a much higher boarding resistance.

As for bringing the turrets to below 25% - I'll be happy to even find and destroy them instead of being killed myself

The targeting upgrade helps with this, too - it shows the surface element's hull %age, so once you have it under 25%, stop shooting it if you can (I won't lie, I sometimes overkill and end up destroying them - as you say, under fire pressure, finesse can be tricky!) That 25% thing works specifically for turrets, not for force field projectors or other surface elements, by the way - just something to keep in mind.

[Sparky Sparkycorp]

2) In the meantime I found some "game bugs" which don't qualify as "technical" (e.g. spelling errors in smalltalk). Where can I deliver them?

Thank you. Please report bugs or spelling mistakes in the beta forum here (please provide the info requested here).

Ordinarily, issues should only be reported if they occur in unmodified games but unless you have mods altering Small Talk text (unlikely), it won't matter for spelling mistakes.

[RainerPrem]

2) In the meantime I found some "game bugs" which don't qualify as "technical" (e.g. spelling errors in smalltalk). Where can I deliver them?

Thank you. Please report bugs or spelling mistakes in the beta forum here (please provide the info requested here).

Ordinarily, issues should only be reported if they occur in unmodified games but unless you have mods altering Small Talk text (unlikely), it won't matter for spelling mistakes.

Hi,

I ALWAYS play vanilla.

cu
Rainer

[RainerPrem]

Hi,

for a change, here are some positive news.

I'm a little farther in the campaign, and took my first couple of "defend station against Xenon" missions, which ran very well.

I got a P to bail (and spent 9 Millions to repair the hull), 5 Xenon components, 12 "jump drive components (rare)", and the last part for my SETA. All in all a good day in space.

The station called "AR Escape Velocity" is really impressive. Do they really burn their engines all the time to stay in the sky? In that case: Why don't my space ships and all other stations fall down?

Okay, one question: How can I identify Nividium asteroids to rob space fly nests?

cu
Rainer