We need to have this conversation about the Kha'ak (WISHLIST)

[spankahontis]

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The Kha'ak in it's current form?
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Right now we have Kha'ak Stations that are indestructible and Kha'ak that spawn from thin air, for the reason according to certain Egosoft Devs of "keeping the Kha'ak active in the game.".
This solution leads to the Godrealm of the Paranid stuck with an enemy structure that can't be destroyed sitting in their territory that their ships can be drawn to like flies.
(3.0) Alleviated some of this problem by giving ships less of an attention span after a while and returning back to other tasks.
But still.. This is a ridiculous way to introduce a Faction that comes off, (Too me anyway) as unfinished and shouldn't be in the game until they can be properly implimented.

So my idea on a possible solution as the Kha'ak need some love too?.. Right?

If Egosoft is still having trouble implementing the Boron? Then why not distract us for a bit longer, giving them time to find a solution by making a 3rd dlc after Cradle of Humanity that could concentrate solely on giving the Kha'ak it's own Ships, weapons, Sectors and most importantly.. It's own unique Economy.

Think of this like Master of Orion: Revenge of Antares, the Kha'ak presence in the game could make the Kha'ak that scary Race that Split tell their Children about to scare them again.. Rather than these annoying bugs we swat and the occasional swarm that does pose a bother from time to time.

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How this Mid-End Game scenario starts?
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From nowhere... A day into your gameplay? A Cutscene triggers.. Where a large Kha'ak ship Armada (Destroyers, Interceptors and Queens Guard etc.) appear in a swarm, start through the anomalies in X4 and start raiding the Sectors they enter in attempts to capture the Sector. A fight ensues and you either help out the Faction? Or get the hell out of dodge through the nearest Jump gate?
Few hours of gameplay later.. A News Transmission starts, similar to a news report animation the way X3: Reunion started with the Massacre of President's End.
Reports of Kha'ak Destroyers appearing out of nowhere in several sectors at the same time, causing mass panic and confusion, untold damage to stations and casulties.

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How this new Plot Works
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- How it works is the Kha'ak have Sectors that cannot be accessed via the Jumpgate Network. This gives the Kha'ak a safe haven to build, resource gather and manufacture fleets to send off into battle through the anomalies, where their huge fleets will appear in any Sector with an anomaly present randomly and cause chaos, maybe even taking it from the enemy Faction?
This will bring a sense of randomness and less predictability of how the factions carve out the current Universe?
- Upon getting a foothold in that sector, they will build Kha'ak Stations and defences and attempt to boost their attack capabilities, increasing their effectiveness to build fleets.
This solves the problem of having indestructible Kha'ak Stations in friendly space.. If they're wiped out in a Sector? They'll colonise somewhere else.
They lose a Sector or a Station? No big deal!
They have stations and a Queen that can't be touched by the other Factions or even the Xenon in some Sector locked off from the rest of the Network.. Even the Xenon can have these clusters of terror appear in their space and be a menace that can slow their advance and give other Factions that are generally steamrolled like Family Zyarth and the Teladi etc. and give them the breathing space they need to rebuild their fleets and stations?

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So how can we deal with this threat?
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Once we've engaged this new threat and have watched the reports of their destruction in random sectors across the Jumpgate Network?
- Bosa Ta comes up with a solution later in the game, 1 day of gameplay triggers the new plot mission.
- After some voice acting from Bosa Ta that, "He has some theories of how the Kha'ak are doing this"
A huge Research project that requires some active field missions and resource gathering like the other Research Projects will unlock on the Research Menu.
- The Research, like Teleportation, will be done in 4 tier stages..

Research Tier (1) How are they able to attack without jump gates? (Easy Research)
Research Tier (2) Where are they coming from? (Harder Research)
Research Tier (3) How can you gain access to their mode of travel? (Very Difficult Research)
Research Tier (4) Final Preparation for an assault on the Kha'ak Home Systems? (Very Difficult 'time consuming' Research)

- As the Player, you have the choices.

A) See this as an opportunity.. Prepare for an assault on your bases by building defences on your stations to stave off any Kha'ak attack and Profit from those being effected by the Kha'ak Invasion.
Great for those who opted to unify the Paranid and help the Curb which limits your war effort to just fighting Xenon and what's left of Zyarth.

B) Accept that they are a genuine threat and go through the Research tree and Wipe out the Kha'ak at their homebase, slay their Queen!
Cause Operation Final Fury was awesome!

So how about it? Make the Kha'ak great again?

[Falcrack]

I think Kha'ak should spawn from wormholes/anomalies. It would make finding these wormholes and guarding them appropriately a worthwhile thing.

[spankahontis]

I think Kha'ak should spawn from wormholes/anomalies. It would make finding these wormholes and guarding them appropriately a worthwhile thing.

That's what I think, the anomalies will have purpose and throw the other Factions into disarray trying to send them away.

And once the 4 tier research is done? You can craft a device that you jettison into space that works like a Satellite (You can only make 1 at a time).
That creates an anomaly different from the others, it lets you enter into Kha'ak space like a Jumpgate.
You can enter it and so can other Factions; but the Kha'ak can enter it too into the Sector you drop it in as you've effectively created a Jumpgate

This leads to many interesting choices.. Dump it in your space and send your fleet on a bug hunt?
Or better still, dump this DIY Jumpgate into a Xenon Sector and let the Xenon and Kha'ak tear chunks out of each other?

[mr.WHO]

I think Kha'ak should spawn from wormholes/anomalies. It would make finding these wormholes and guarding them appropriately a worthwhile thing.

Or even better - they should have their own sector connected via those anomalies. Player has random chance to get there via anomalies and try to reactivate local gate, so you could bring you fleet to finish them off.

[spankahontis]

I think Kha'ak should spawn from wormholes/anomalies. It would make finding these wormholes and guarding them appropriately a worthwhile thing.

Or even better - they should have their own sector connected via those anomalies. Player has random chance to get there via anomalies and try to reactivate local gate, so you could bring you fleet to finish them off.

That sounds like a good idea.

There is an inactive Jumpgate in one of the Sectors.
Complete Research Tier 4 and it unlocks the Mission to open that Jump Gate and send the fleet through.

Needs to be balanced so you can't just enter an anomaly with a Carrier Full of Fighters and own the Kha'ak, they will have a massive fleet that never leaves the sector waiting for you.

[Artean]

I think Kha'ak should spawn from wormholes/anomalies. It would make finding these wormholes and guarding them appropriately a worthwhile thing.

Or even better - they should have their own sector connected via those anomalies. Player has random chance to get there via anomalies and try to reactivate local gate, so you could bring you fleet to finish them off.

Yes.

[Matthew94]

The whole point of Operation Final Fury in X3 is that the Kha'ak are dead. If you keep bringing them back then it'll turn X into a greatest hits game where no matter how many times an enemy is defeated, they keep coming back.

Right now the Kha'ak are a tiny part of the game, I'd rather they were kept as is (or removed entirely) and a DLC brought in a new threat.

[mr.WHO]

The whole point of Operation Final Fury in X3 is that the Kha'ak are dead. If you keep bringing them back then it'll turn X into a greatest hits game where no matter how many times an enemy is defeated, they keep coming back.

I get your point, but their current state is just irritating.
Either they should make their bases destroyeable so we could finally get rid of them, or expand them to become real faction rather than purple mascots.

[Pesanur]

The whole point of Operation Final Fury in X3 is that the Kha'ak are dead. If you keep bringing them back then it'll turn X into a greatest hits game where no matter how many times an enemy is defeated, they keep coming back.

Right now the Kha'ak are a tiny part of the game, I'd rather they were kept as is (or removed entirely) and a DLC brought in a new threat.

You are forgoting that in TC, in the mission chain to establish a path between Aldrin and Sol system, a new Khaak sector is discovered, only that the Terrans, instead of wipeout the Khaaks, used the Hub to redirect the gate leading to the Khaak sector, and as the Khaaks have gateless jumpdrivers...

[Nort The Fragrent]

Keep The Kha,ak small, limited, and suppressed. I say !
Don't want any more fighting, there is enough as it is !

It would be better if over time the Kha,ak became more friendly.
Allowing a trade once in a while, and then I can get some of their ships.
Or they can work for me, efficiently, effectively, and if need be, aggressively.

[Raevyan]

I highly doubt that the khaak will go anywhere in X4. DEVs already said they have no intentions to bring them back. As they are right now, it’s probably better to completely remove them from the game.
I mean they probably also lack the resources and commitment to bring them back in a meaningful way. I wouldn’t want a half baked faction back in the game.

[alt3rn1ty]

Keep The Kha,ak small, limited, and suppressed. I say !
Don't want any more fighting, there is enough as it is !

Same feeling here.

Does anyone know if we are able to get Kha'ak weapon blueprints?

[xWolfzx]

Keep The Kha,ak small, limited, and suppressed. I say !
Don't want any more fighting, there is enough as it is !

It would be better if over time the Kha,ak became more friendly.
Allowing a trade once in a while, and then I can get some of their ships.
Or they can work for me, efficiently, effectively, and if need be, aggressively.

Alternatively, the Kha'ak invasion can be tied to a new overarching plot/mission so those who would like to have a more peaceful playthrough can have it and those who want more enemies can simply complete the plot/mission

[spankahontis]

The whole point of Operation Final Fury in X3 is that the Kha'ak are dead. If you keep bringing them back then it'll turn X into a greatest hits game where no matter how many times an enemy is defeated, they keep coming back.

Right now the Kha'ak are a tiny part of the game, I'd rather they were kept as is (or removed entirely) and a DLC brought in a new threat.

There can't be just 1 Queen in an entire species?
And even so, the Ventures platform allows you to tap into the multi-verse, so it's easy to make an explanation of a Kha'ak Queen from another Universe that escapes or even expands into other Universes.
A Universe where Operation Final Fury never happened. So many possibilities for the Kha'ak, not to mention if the Queen died? How are the other Kha'ak still alive?

The Kha'ak aren't the only threat in the universe and shouldn't be, they are another part of the war economy that could bring some randomness as they can appear anywhere there is an anomaly.

You are forgoting that in TC, in the mission chain to establish a path between Aldrin and Sol system, a new Khaak sector is discovered, only that the Terrans, instead of wipeout the Khaaks, used the Hub to redirect the gate leading to the Khaak sector, and as the Khaaks have gateless jumpdrivers...

Wasn't it a Paranid Sector? You see all the Kha'ak scouts and fighters and then they just blink out?

This idea of mine could be used to explain that mystery of those Gateless Jumpdrives from Terran Conflict.. Their jumpdrives are using anomalies instead of jumpgates; explains why they never materialized out of the known jumpgate network on the other side, they just vanished without a trace.
The Kha'ak have figured out a way on how to use the anomalies where as Commonwealth Ships can't control them, why they end up in some completely random location in the Universe.. How they managed to stay hidden and why they attack the way they do in clusters as the anomalies aren't able to send fleets through, other ships that try end up in a different Sector to the previous ship, so you couldn't attack a Kha'ak Sector, even with a Carrier full of fighters.

When you think about it? The Kha'ak are genius, they can hit and run at will and the other races can't touch them.. Until now when the Kha'ak figure out how to stabilize them for a certain amount of time, to send fleets through.

I highly doubt that the khaak will go anywhere in X4. DEVs already said they have no intentions to bring them back. As they are right now, it’s probably better to completely remove them from the game.
I mean they probably also lack the resources and commitment to bring them back in a meaningful way. I wouldn’t want a half baked faction back in the game.

Which is what they are at the moment, the HOP are already over powered as it is to have that Kha'ak Installation in Pious Mist giving them a helping hand.

Either they civilize and be traders or just remove them from the game as they're a Bug zapper to the Godrealm.

Keep The Kha,ak small, limited, and suppressed. I say !
Don't want any more fighting, there is enough as it is !

It would be better if over time the Kha,ak became more friendly.
Allowing a trade once in a while, and then I can get some of their ships.
Or they can work for me, efficiently, effectively, and if need be, aggressively.

Why not have both?
This Hive Queen could be from a completely different Hive and thus the Kha'ak from the fallen Queen are more suggestible? Are seen as weak and hostile to Kha'ak from different Hives.
I won't believe that the Kha'ak simply come from 1 Queen??? Does the entire Bee species have 1 Queen in total? or millions of queens across the planet, each with their own hive?
There is even Bee species that attack other Bee colonies, killing their Queen and asserting control over the swarm. The Kha'ak could have a similar instinct towards other Hives?
The Kha'ak from the Fallen Kingdom could be refugees looking for protection from this more aggressive Kha'ak Hive?

[Y-llian]

I think Kha'ak should spawn from wormholes/anomalies. It would make finding these wormholes and guarding them appropriately a worthwhile thing.

I’ve suggested this myself. Oddly, in another Kha’ak thread... I would prefer the Xenon and Kha’ak use anomalies over the encounters mechanism. It feels more in keeping with the established fabric of the X4 universe with no jump drives etc. Overall, the warp anomalies are an underused mechanic and I’d hazard that players rarely, if ever, use them beyond an initial foray or two in their early adventures.

[Raevyan]

I think Kha'ak should spawn from wormholes/anomalies. It would make finding these wormholes and guarding them appropriately a worthwhile thing.

I’ve suggested this myself. Oddly, in another Kha’ak thread... I would prefer the Xenon and Kha’ak use anomalies over the encounters mechanism. It feels more in keeping with the established fabric of the X4 universe with no jump drives etc. Overall, the warp anomalies are an underused mechanic and I’d hazard that players rarely, if ever, use them beyond an initial foray or two in their early adventures.

Back in Freelancer those anomalies did serve a purpose. Often times it was a shortcut to get to the other side of the universe but sometimes they were the only way to actually get to certain sectors. Anomalies are another feature no one ever bothers with except for the one you have to take to do the HQ plot.

[Y-llian]

Back in Freelancer those anomalies did serve a purpose. Often times it was a shortcut to get to the other side of the universe but sometimes they were the only way to actually get to certain sectors. Anomalies are another feature no one ever bothers with except for the one you have to take to do the HQ plot.

Ah, Freelancer - fun days...

I would be in favour of having the Kha'ak stations (the one's that are currently indestructible) exist in their own sector, reachable only thorough an anomaly, rather than seeded in current sectors. This also feels more in keeping with game lore where Kha'ak sectors have existed "off grid" so to speak. Players can then try and search for this sector which might be an interesting goal in itself. However, only the Kha'ak are able to navigate the anomalies with ease because their insect biology offers them that ability. The other races, and by extension the player, cannot do this with the same ease - having neither the technology nor physiology for it. Each player anomaly jump will have a chance of encountering the Kha'ak sector but its more likely you'll be spit out somewhere randomly - sort of like trying to navigate an unstable wormhole...

I'm not proposing we resurrect them - others are right that the Kha'ak are now a defeated people - their focus should be on survival. And their anomaly excursions are just that, a hunt for materials - which need not be simulated. Their presence alone already gives that impression... Besides, Ego has stated that they are not looking to make them a threat again in the same vain as X3 nor will they be given their own economy like the Xenon - at least that's how I understood it.

This suggestion is merely to give the anomalies a wider purpose, make the Kha'ak more interesting, and a little more lore focused while offering more opportunities for the player. It should also avoid the Kha'ak stations acting like gravitational black holes trapping NPC fleets in never ending battles.

[Max Bain]

Before any more effort will be put into khaak, we seriously need to talk about a face lift. They simply look like from a game of 2000. And no, even a simple shape is not an excuse (just compare a borg cube or sphere).