[Mod] Improved Kha'ak v0.3

[7ate9tin11s]

The poor Kha'ak seem rather weak in their buggy triangular misery. This mod will move them towards being an actual threat again instead of a mere annoyance.

New Ship Variants
Drone - A variant of the small forager, but packing a guided missile launcher and annoying sting missiles.
Cell - A medium bomber deploying Thorn light torpedoes to ruin your day.

New Abilities
Mines - Staying too close may net you a friend or foe tracker mine in the face...be careful!
Extra Shield Damage - Completely the opposite of the original Kha'ak, these swarms can eat through shields very rapidly. They have a harder time against the hull though.
Drain - Physics goes a bit wonky when you implode Nividium for your missiles, it can take a few seconds to for thrusters to get back up to speed...hope you survive that long.

Slightly Increased Numbers
Matrix #451 - The Kha'ak have pulled out of this Xenon sector to focus their attention to the much more edible races. Don't worry, the other bases received reinforcements and more to compensate.
Swarms - Small swarms will occasionally spawn around the universe and assault sectors, how bad can they be?

Compatibility
Overhauls - No changes are made to weapon, engine, hull, or shield base values. This should be completely compatible with any overhaul mod. I even developed this while using one: https://www.nexusmods.com/x4foundations/mods/46

Installation
For now this is a loose file mod and will need to be installed in your X4 Foundations\extensions folder and not in your documents folder. I will start archiving them up as I get closer to 1.0.

Known Issues
Some players have had issues where ships will no longer shoot due to fight script incompatibilities, likely with other mods. If this happens delete ImprovedKhaak\aiscripts to resolve. This will prevent the Kha'ak from dropping mines, but have no other impact.

Download
https://www.nexusmods.com/x4foundations/mods/189

Update History
v0.3 - More bugfixes. Reduced all spawn numbers, especially bombers. Reduced missile damage. Added 3 defense platforms to bases. Flagged Pious Mists IV as contested since the Paranid will obviously lose...
v0.2 - Minor bugfixes in god, effects, and wares (Thanks FlynTie!) files. New explosion effects for Thorn/Sting missiles.

[KRM398]

Khaak are fun to play with and used to have heavy fighters (two pyramids together) and bigger ships. now they seem stuck on fighter patrols. and many times the ones here dont actually have working weapons at all. I've seen dozens like that traveling around acting tough with no guns to fire.

Rather than worrying about things like defense towers I'd like to see more ships of the small to medium class, since Khaak dont even have a M class that I've seen yet. add to that a carrier and heavy cruiser/battleship and you add teeth to them while keeping the whole alien bug type thing going.they need heavy fighters and bombers, and possibly a corvette for patrols too then they will become more of a threat.

[paris_england]

I really like the idea of the change to the flight model -- I think I'd like to see something like that applied to the Xenon also (maybe half the maneuverability of the Kha'ak so some terran heritage is seen)

As for more devastation? Bring it

[Tomonor]

Imo they should have reduced size, hull, and shields (currently their usual fighters are considered M-class...).

But upped weapon damage, faster engines, and should spawn in bigger swarms/clusters.

Also, the small models (Forager/Protector) should be stripped down of their weapons and should be used as either drones (civilian crafts around their stations) or as kamikaze fighters (explode near target).


It would be awesome too if the Forager part could detach from the Hive Guard/Queen's protector as a separate ship/escape pod when the original is exploding.

[7ate9tin11s]

Imo they should have reduced size, hull, and shields (currently their usual fighters are considered M-class...).

Yeah, I cheated a few in under my control to test some things and it was quite a shock seeing one land at a station...one laaaarge fighter there.

[Tomonor]

Basically, I think the thing that would make the Kha'ak special is their bee/wasp-like behaviour. They are moderately tiny, they attack in swarms, they sting a lot thus removing your shield and hull in a matter of seconds if you are not prepared. That's what led to President's End destruction.

Oh, not saying they shouldn't have M class ships, though. They do need the variety, and in X3TC, they did have it. Good thing is, their ships are modular, made out of these triangular shapes. A good modder could come up with various design schemes.

Another practically epic thing would be if their Carrier ship was reintroduced with a design twist - it would have surface docking slots for these smaller fighters, creating a crystaline appearance on its hull. But if you aggravated, the small fighters would all undock at the same time, creating this massive fearsome beehive appearance.

[A.Persyn]

For me, the Kha'ak in X2 genuinely felt like a threat because of their ability to jump out of nowhere and attack. In X3TC, freighters could fly without escorts, but in X2 that was suicide. Because of that I had to play the game very differently than TC/AP; an enjoyable challenge.

[Raven78]

Much needed Mod and definatly not a time waste, imho.
Not sure its possible but the Khaak really could use a Capship too

[Anhk-Khaelgorn]

Much needed Mod and definatly not a time waste, imho.
Not sure its possible but the Khaak really could use a Capship too

Yeah, sort of 'Lesser Hive' which brings 200 S, 100 M, 20 L & 5 XL ships, but has no weapon

[Spiralrazor]

Much needed Mod and definatly not a time waste, imho.
Not sure its possible but the Khaak really could use a Capship too

Yeah, sort of 'Lesser Hive' which brings 200 S, 100 M, 20 L & 5 XL ships, but has no weapon

Khaak ships always have kyon emitters, even there carriers. XRM source

[KRM398]

You can check the different mods that were used in the other games. Khaak got a few nice ships back then we could use now.
If you count the big pyramid as an M class then it would need to really be classed that way. in other games we bailed and capped them if that was possible here then that big fighter would need to land in an M class slot.in other older mods they had corvettes too.including one that was a ball shaped thing with maybe 4 lasers on it.

[7ate9tin11s]

Well, I need to toy with 1.5 and do some Christmas stuff so there will not be much progress for a bit, keep the ideas flowing though.

Oh...and I did mention in the initial post that I don't know how to do any new ship modding so anyone wanting to help bring in models would be of great help!

[Bozz11]

IK swarm was a fducking beast !!!! do this, it's gonna be crazy

Thanks for your work, I'll be following closely

[adzipp]

The main problem for the khaak is that they can't restock they loses and do not have the invasion behavior in the md files, so from the start they wiped out from the game and not rebuild they ships.

need to add shipyard status to they conctructions and invasion behavior like xenon's, and add zero cost to the prodaction of they ship's.

[SirDeathwalker]

Welcome back, I loved your prior mod (still use it in x3ap)
I haven't started this game as the hardware is not quite up to min spec, but I look forward to your endeavors.

[catarix]

I love your mod for X3. It was my favorite mod. I played a lot with it
Back to current situation. I like your idea to make Kha’ak more alien to our word. I think they should have separate logic and behavior compare to ordinary races. They should use unique strategy and goals


I could offer the following ideas.
1. Kha’ak has only M class (usual/base pyramid form ship) and mobile platform
2. M class is very fast, can combine itself to groups acting like one body. For example 5 pyramids can be connected into one bigger pyramid (level-2 pyramid). five level-2 pyramids transform into one level-3 pyramid (consist of 125 base pyramids)
3. Mobile platform is very slow and powerful (based on original Kha’aks defense platform). Speed for example 10-50 m/s no more. One platform can destroy L class. But it has beam turrets only from one side.
4. Logic. Kha’ak attacks in 2 ways:
4.1 fast raids with M class. The goal to harass supply lines.
4.2 Slow invasion with mobile platforms and M class. Goal to block a sector by blocking the gates. Mobile platform slowly moving to destination point. When they are here they start to create a hive. As soon as hive is ready it is starting to produce new M class and platforms for the next gate or sector (if all gates in that sector are blocked)
4.3 Final goal for Kha’ak to block all gates in universe and destroy all other races.

[7ate9tin11s]

Been toying around with the modding structure and getting things a bit nicer, heavily reliant on jobs so far though.

• 2 new ship variations which sport missile launchers instead of beams, Thorn and Sting missiles are back, will really wreck your day, and are exactly what they needed to be on par with other races.
• To ensure compatibility with the bigger overhaul mods I have not directly altered base damage, will probably have to have a couple versions for taste though. For the moment, and completely opposite of the original Kha'ak which devastated hulls, the beams do extra shield damage.
• The poor Kha'ak bases in Matrix #451 has been decommissioned, all the Khaak from there have moved to the other two bases (and brought friends!) instead of fruitlessly annoying the Xenon and using up your CPU time.
• A handful of swarms will attack various places in the universe randomly.
• In a tribute to the original IK, all Kha'ak ships do a touch of damage when they explode (1,000-5,000 depending on size)...though much less than the originals that used mines (10,000-50,000)...for now

[adzipp]

is it possible to make khaak station's to actualy build they ships? i see in they jobs build at shipyard = false and they station not in shipyard class in station.xml.

[7ate9tin11s]

is it possible to make khaak station's to actualy build they ships? i see in they jobs build at shipyard = false and they station not in shipyard class in station.xml.

The god engine just warps them in from the jobs file now and again, I think. Have not yet ran a long duration game to ensure they are respawning.

[adzipp]

is it possible to make khaak station's to actualy build they ships? i see in they jobs build at shipyard = false and they station not in shipyard class in station.xml.

The god engine just warps them in from the jobs file now and again, I think. Have not yet ran a long duration game to ensure they are respawning.

They not that's the point...