Do the Xenon have a special hate for Ianamus Zura?

[photomankc]

Well, I was enjoying a restart until I came across I-Zura and after a couple of hours I noticed that there was a lot of red on that sector. The Xenon were flooding it with 5 or 6 K's and 20 or 30 P's and M's. At this stage in the game I was lucky to have a Nemesis and a couple of frigates that I managed to make bail earlier. I managed to help knock out this initial invasion and thought maybe that was just an initial fleet they had to start with, but then every time I turned around they were swarming it again tens or twenties again several moere K's. They seem to be camping the entry gate and pouring over the trade station (Why was this location chosen as the faction Rep?). If you block the northern gate they come pouring in from Bright Promise block Bright Promise, here they come out of the north. UUUGGGGgggghhhhhh!

So after effectively cheating myself a fortune so I could supplement my fleets enough to both attack the northern Xenon sector and blockade that gate from the other side and keep the gate into I-Zura cleared as well I have just barely got my finger in the dike only a few P's and M's make it through now but the sector is a ghost town. Are the Teladi fundamentally incapable of defense of this sector or something? There is absolutely no response other than mine to these invasions and at this point the Universe is resource-locked on hull parts which is great since that means stations aren't getting fixed or built either.

Sigh... I guess this stuff is hard to balance but good lord. I have not been able to do anything else over the last 10 hours of gameplay. Just trying to keep them from completely overrunning these sectors.

[Buzz2005]

The xenon shipyard and wharf in that sector never run out of resources, they just build whatever is queued and there is nowhere else to go except Ianamus Zura

In every start I did I kept monitoring all the xenon station and that one was always building
On the other hand one of the other xenon sectors would stall and just die out with a queue of 200 ships and rising, it always happens to one xenon sector in vanilla (happend in 3 new starts)
Only way to have them all producing is mods, faction AI fix and FOCW part with spawned miner ships

This way I did a somewhat litcube thing where factions cant really capture any xenon sector and slowly losing theirs, nevermind Im here to help

[Scorpion1948]

I got to -20 reputation with the Teladi and decided to go there to try to repair it. Everything in the sector was red including the Min who was also -20.

I was pleased that there were so many Xenon there as within a few hours I was back to +10 with the Teladi, they are now blue but I cant seem to get the Min moving.

[RodentofDoom]

That and the Teladi are crap at defending their space.
Others have posted screenshots of the station ruin where the Teladi faction rep "used" to live.
And I've seen 60-80% of it destroyed on more than 1 playthrough.

The Paranid & Argon are both able to contain the Xenon threat to a minimum presence.
But if you as the player do not intervene at Company Regard & Ianamus Zura the Xenon sweep the useless Teladi aside without too much trouble.

[photomankc]

Ok, so this seems to be the norm to a greater or lesser extent anyway based on what you guys are reporting. I knew the northern Xenon sectors would stop and fight in I-Zura. I also can tell they really crank out the ships. Even once I cleared out the crowd of 30 or so P's and M's waiting inside Matrix, there is still a steady stream coming to the gate. There is never a time when there isn't a red dot coming. What surprised me were the Xenon flooding in through B-Promise. This means they are making a b-line through lots of other enemy space specifically to come fight there. I've also not seen them camp a gate like this before. Usually they would zip in and go after some ship in 1's and 2's, now they seem to gang up at the friendly side gate and murder everything that tries to get in. I was there trying to de-fang a couple of K's when my own transports got into that meat grinder and I nearly got my butt kicked try to take the heat off of them. It's a better tactic for sure and I like it, but I've just never seem them do that before now. I had to blacklist I-Zura because of it. Too much risk for me right now to trade in there at all

I forgot about Company Reguad I'll assume they are likely in bad shape by now. Tough luck I guess, I can't do much more than I'm already doing.

It just seems like perhaps the aggression level was dialed up to 11 recently. I like that, except the hammer drops so early in the game time that if I play vanilla there would be no way to stop the steamrolling that was taking place. I used a custom start "Aspiring Freelancer" because the early-game discovery phase is over for me now, I wanted to try out a new start to see if I could clear away some bug effects without starting from rags. I was even able to capture 3 behemoth's from SCA early in because I was able to grind rep with HOP quick and get a Nemesis which I learned is a fantastic tool for removing capitol ship defenses . Still, with all that going for me I ended up having to cheat in some credits and grind with argon to get to +20 to get a couple more behemoth's built to secure both gates at the same time. If I had started with a Elite and 10,000 credits I would have had nothing to do about this invasion other than shrug.

Well, now I gotta try and get some hull parts going with a new station. I think just about every race's shipyard and warf is now stalled on hull parts. I never could squeeze out a second Nemesis, that's been queued up for 10hrs still.

In my last game the I-Zura trade station was lost before I got to level 20 with Teladi and I largely gave up on them anyway as I don't like their capitols that much. If the station is lost is the representative gone for good?

[Imperial Good]

Lore wise the Xenon threat to Ianamus Zura is meant to be very serious. Ianamus Zura is the home world of the Teladi so is heavily populated. Xenon hate living things and especially habitable planets which makes them really hate Ianamus Zura. Honestly this is a fact that is very down played in the game currently. There should be a Ministry or Teladi vs Xenon guild.

The reason it ends up wrecked so much is because of game mechanics.

• The Xenon order 5 Ks and 1 I for each cluster (they have 4). This means they can own a total of 20 Ks and 4 Is since they own 4 clusters. The problem is that they do not order them in their respected cluster, but instead at any XEN Shipyard they can. The result is that a single cluster can potentially end up with 20 Ks and 4 Is which is more than the faction gate defences can handle and easily overwhelms the Teladi home defence fleet.
• The Teladi need to build ships at the TEL or MIN Warfs and Shipyards. Due to supply issues these often are under stocked meaning that they order lower quality ships or that ship orders have long build queues. The result is that once they lose their home defence fleet it is very hard for them to replace it. Without their home defence fleet they are unlikely to fight back an over sized Xenon fleet in Ianamus Zura since unlike HOP, TEL does not own a massive military.
• With exception of M ships, Teladi ships are in general trash. Their destroyer is the weakest of the 3 current factions having the same shield as a Behemoth but with fewer turrets. Although their bomber and frigate is better than the Argon, they have no Corvette and Corvettes are the main source of M based damage. Even their S ships are pretty bad, lacking mobility and fire power even if they are a bit tougher than other factions.

MIN should eventually respond to Xenon incursions in Ianamus Zura and Company Regard with a rapid response fleet as they operate as sector security. This fleet should repell the Xenon however due to how scattered TEL space is it may take an hour or more to show up, and might even be redeployed on route to defend Company Regard or to intercept rouge HOP ships.

HOP usually does not have this problem since sufficient Xenon activity will cause their war fleets to redivert. HOP also uses large numbers of Odysseus and Nemesis ships which are the most powerful L and M ships in the game.

HAT have their sector protected by ARG and that is literally ARG's only military job unless Second Contact Flash Point falls to HOP (impossible without player help?). ARG literally has a shipyard and warf next door so any built ships almost immediately arrive at the front. Additionally unlike any of the other factions, ARG is one of the few big factions which usually have reasonable ware stocks in their shipyard and warf meaning that any losses can be rebuilt promptly.

I think a sensible solution would be that both MIN and TEL focus on protecting Ianamus Zura, at the cost of Company Regard and other sectors being less protected so more vulnerable to Xenon. To prevent them bulldozing the Xenon from Matrix, the Xenon could be given unique defence platforms to build at the border which are extremely tough to kill. This gives the player 2 possible activities to perform in a war against the Xenon.

1. Push into Matrix. Slowly killing the tough defence platforms there.
2. Secure Company Regard and help push into Scale Plate Green.

[Lazerath]

My recent start was the Teladi Sunrise Farm (forget the name) and I experienced the same thing everyone else does!

Xenon come crashing through company regard and destroyed not only my factory but 95% of the trade station and of course every Teladi ship sent to help. Why put the our starting station in Hewas Twin. Bad decision for a game start that is supposed to be easier for players at the beginning of the game! (Not well thought out Dev’s)!

I had sent my starting trader off to sector trade right away and went and earned credits. Saved up enough to keep purchasing trade ships (m size only) and keep a couple million for trade purchases.

I wasted millions trying to build defences for it that ended up destroyed by numerous K’s and up to two I’s.

Finally got myself a destroyer and cleared the sector of Xenon and spent probably 100million on defence platforms at both nw an sw gates plus defences all around the station.

The one thing this taught me that very important is that the best way to stop Xenon from wrecking factions is to build lots of defences around those key gates. You still get Lots of Xenon fighting to keep economy going and also destroying faction ships but sectors don’t get wiped out (safer for tradin with everyone.

I.Z. - Has Defences NW Gate
Hewa’s Twin - Has Defences NW Gate and SE Gate
Hatikvahs Choice - I personally deal with the Xenon every once in a while. I don’t build defences.
Holy Vision - I rarely go into or deal with the Xenon there. I also don’t build defences in this sector.

I did enjoy myself except the hours I wasted trying to defend my station at first and throwing tons of credit to build defences that were useless until I could afford Plasma Turret Blueprints and the Rep needed as well. Again, very poor decision by the Dev who let Hewas Twin be the sector for your starting Sunrise Farm.
Just looked up gamestart name. The Unworthy Entrepreneur, no shit he is unworthy. His station is built in the direct path of the Xenon.

Should have called it “Here is $200k save it or spend it, JUST don’t waste it on improving your station. It’s about to be destroyed anyhow!” LoL

PS: I actually like that the Xenon on more aggressive although there are still issues that need fixing as mentioned by others.

Cheers!

[photomankc]

PS: I actually like that the Xenon on more aggressive although there are still issues that need fixing as mentioned by others.

Cheers!

Oh definitely - As frustrating as it is, the gate camping they are doing is a good strategy. I've seen them even (apparently) evac the sector when my fleet arrives and frustrate the attempt to clean them out. I doomed a number of TEL M transports when I finally attacked Matrix 451. I charged in, and P's and M's poured out into I-Zura like I kicked over an ant hill. It was impressive and horrifying all at once. When my second fleet finally showed up, they oozed back into Matrix pretty quick.

Now that could all be coincidence, but if not, that's actually cool. They were not easy to get under control!

Now i know what I I was forgetting. Hewa's Twin. There's a gate I forgot about, and that's where these P's are seeping in from! My kid says I have to save the stupid lizards. I guess I'll try to beg, or "borrow" another 3 destroyers to try and slow that down. See if Company Regard is bulldozed yet or not.

Stupid lizards!

[photomankc]

Well.... X4.... Congrats. I give up. I can't stop it. To many K's and too much attrition and I don't have the resources to participate. I guess a lot of the Universe will be off-limits in this game. I've captured 6 Behemoths, enough that my marines are getting damn good. With the 3 others I purchased this is still insufficient to crack the Scale Plate or Matrix #9 shipyards. So I'm going to pull back, blacklist the sectors and give up. Seems this play through has only one pillar - FIGHT.

It would be nice if there were some lucrative quest-line or something that kicks off the major invasions, so the player has a chance to at least be in position to make a go of it.

[reanor]

Well.... X4.... Congrats. I give up. I can't stop it. To many K's and too much attrition and I don't have the resources to participate. I guess a lot of the Universe will be off-limits in this game. I've captured 6 Behemoths, enough that my marines are getting darn good. With the 3 others I purchased this is still insufficient to crack the Scale Plate or Matrix #9 shipyards. So I'm going to pull back, blacklist the sectors and give up. Seems this play through has only one pillar - FIGHT.

It would be nice if there were some lucrative quest-line or something that kicks off the major invasions, so the player has a chance to at least be in position to make a go of it.

What about war effort missions? Try to raise reputation with the faction that the sector belongs to and then start war effort mission against Xenon.

[photomankc]

What about war effort missions? Try to raise reputation with the faction that the sector belongs to and then start war effort mission against Xenon.

TEL don't do war effort missions. Besides, you can't operate any transports in there to do the supply missions which is what they really need. Anything that goes in gets chewed up. Combat escorts are ineffective because they don't actually escort anything. Combat fleets start to fall to attrition. Eventually a 15M credit destroyer will be stupid and go off on it's own and get killed. It's too early in the game for me to sustain that, and shipyards are on the edge, easily running out of this or that ware because it's still early game. I don't know if my other start was lucky or what, but this one flat out sucks. All i've been able to do is crises manage something. Of course I'm 36 hours into it now so I don't really relish the idea of starting over again with the distinct possibility this is again the result.

[mr.WHO]

In my game Teladi don't hav any problem defending Ianamus Zura - they have big ass station near Xenon gate and entire battlegroup (carrier, fighters and several destroyers) on patrol - sometimes even making expedition to Xenon sector.

Company Regards seem far worse (frequent Xenon invasions while Teladi only put some fighter patrols).

[photomankc]

In my game Teladi don't hav any problem defending Ianamus Zura - they have big ass station near Xenon gate and entire battlegroup (carrier, fighters and several destroyers) on patrol - sometimes even making expedition to Xenon sector.

Company Regards seem far worse (frequent Xenon invasions while Teladi only put some fighter patrols).

Thanks.... I feel much better now.


Meh, we'll see where this goes. I can fall back to Bright Promise and try to at least keep the highway and ship building sector safe. Maybe if the stations get wiped out they'll stop trying to get in there and recover eventually or later on I can work on claiming their homeworld or something. I can get shield blueprints from MIN as long as they don't get stomped too. That's about the only thing they have that I want.

TEL HAD a fleet in this game too. Several destroyers and a carrier I'm pretty sure. Then I turned around and there were 6 k's traipsing around blowing everything up and there was no fleet there at all just fighters popping every so often. The game AI is no good at handling that, where I can micro-mange an OOS battle well enough to usually prevail even with 5 or 6 K's without losses. I have not seen another military ship in that sector now in over 8hrs of real-time. They are crushed. MIN still has some boats, but they are not interested in getting involved it seems.

[RodentofDoom]

In retrospect I think the Teladi have the problems they do because they have 2 Xenon routes to deal with.
HoP & ARG only have 1 route each in comparison.

This could mean they are making a random gamechoice of
They attempt to defend both, & fail
or
They attempt to defend just I-Zura & hold there, but effectively lose Company Regard

Most playthroughs I seem to get choice 1.

[mr.WHO]

HoP & ARG only have 1 route each in comparison.

HOP wage 3 front war, but still manage to at least pump new destroyers like crazy. Check if Teladi shipyards are well supplied.

[RodentofDoom]

HoP & ARG only have 1 route each in comparison.

HOP wage 3 front war, but still manage to at least pump new destroyers like crazy. Check if Teladi shipyards are well supplied.

They generally aren't without major player interventions.
PAR & HoP generally appear to have the most stable economies, then ANT/ARG, and TEL lags far behind from what I've seen through most of the different restarts I've had. ...

[Lazerath]

I have secured I.Zuras now from the Xenon.

Two fleets that camp the NW Gate. Have them protect the same position or very close to each other. Formation is set too Forward X or Cross.

All ship Captains are 3 Stars or above. Behemoth lead ships are 4 Star Captains. Have not lost a ship yet in 8 game hours with this set up. Just check on sector periodically incase two I’s show up at once.

(Fleet 1)
Behemoth - All plasma weapons -turrets set to Attack All Enemies (Ship behaviour set to “Protect Position”)
=> Behemoth - All plasma weapons -turrets set to Attack All Enemies
.....=> Cerberus - All plasma weapons -turrets set to Attack All Enemies
..........=> Minotaur - All bolt weapons -turrets set to Attack All Enemies
..........=> Minotaur - All bolt weapons -turrets set to Attack All Enemies
=> Behemoth - All plasma weapons -turrets set to Attack All Enemies
.....=> Cerberus - All plasma weapons -turrets set to Attack All Enemies
..........=> Minotaur - All bolt weapons -turrets set to Attack All Enemies
..........=> Minotaur - All bolt weapons -turrets set to Attack All Enemies

(Fleet 2)
Behemoth - All plasma weapons -turrets set to Attack All Enemies (Ship behaviour set to “Protect Position”)
=> Behemoth - All plasma weapons -turrets set to Attack All Enemies
.....=> Cerberus - All plasma weapons -turrets set to Attack All Enemies
..........=> Minotaur - All bolt weapons -turrets set to Attack All Enemies
..........=> Minotaur - All bolt weapons -turrets set to Attack All Enemies
=> Behemoth - All plasma weapons -turrets set to Attack All Enemies
.....=> Cerberus - All plasma weapons -turrets set to Attack All Enemies
..........=> Minotaur - All bolt weapons -turrets set to Attack All Enemies
..........=> Minotaur - All bolt weapons -turrets set to Attack All Enemies

I hope this helps you. I also built defences at NW Gate where I position my two fleets.

I can post images if someone is interested.

Cheers!

Edit: List not displayed correctly!