[X3AP] War states & jump beacons for grabs in Jupiter

[Le Boron Chétif]

Hi all,

With regards to gaining access to a more regular supply of jump beacons, I've been reading about a specific war state that spawns an Odin and a Woden in Jupiter, both of which said to contain a jump beacon. Here is the related thread : viewtopic.php?t=335683.

Here are the questions :

1) Above thread says this particular and infrequent war state features a battle between CMW and Terrans in the Jupiter sector. I've never witnessed this, nor have I ever seen any war message featuring other sectors than Asteroid Belt, Heretics End, Circle of Labour and Omicron Lyrae. So, what war state actually triggers those two M1's and how to recognise it? Does Argon command actually say something different when this happens?

2) Assuming Argon command does alert me, will I have enough time to jump to Asteroid Belt and cross it before the two M1's despawn (especially if I need my sluggish Cobra to do the boarding)? Or should I rather hide a jump beacon in Jupiter to be ready for action at any time?

[DrSuperEvil]

There are 14 war states in total, with 7 depending on which side has the most war points, and each has a unique message but the sector mentioned in the message can be unrelated to the changes seen.

The war states have a start an a main announcement with numbers (1021 and 1022), (1411 and 1412), (1311 and 1312), (1511 and 1512), (1421 and 1422), (1321 and 1322), (1331 and 1332), (1111 and 1112), (1211 and 1212), (1341 and 1342), (1221 and 1222), (1521 and 1522), (1231 and 1232), (1431 and 1432). These numbers are used by the Argon War Commander (383949) text to generate the messages.

The 1111 and 1112 state is called Jupiter_01 so is probably the one you want and only occurs if the Terrans get beaten badly by the player in asteroid belt. The messages for the war state goes "All ships, this is Argon Command. We are about to make a push for Asteroid Belt. Get to it!" and "Stand by for an update regarding the recent developments in the conflicted sectors. Our Defences in Omicron Lyrae are under attack. Give them a hand!".

The two ships in question spawn 30km east of the middle of the sector slightly above the x axis line when looked at from both angles. As Jupiter 1 is a war sector there is no place to hide OOS and a ship will make a beeline for your assets. Rather put the jump beacon right next to the gate in Jupiter 2.

[Le Boron Chétif]

Woah, I didn't expect such a comprehensive answer, thanks a mill, Doc!

When you say that the Jupiter_01 state only occurs when the Terrans got beaten badly 'by the player' in Asteroid Belt... Do you mean me personally kicking their butts? Or can I simply sit in Asteroid Belt during the other relevant war state while Argons do their job (and hoping they do it well)?

I'm reluctant to damage my rep with Terrans (or any other races) and have always tried to play the most minimal role in the war missions...

[jlehtone]

The 1111 and 1112 state is called Jupiter_01 so is probably the one you want

Yes. I have some screenshots of a script output, where I list War State and ships carrying beacon (most shots have no beacons).
The one with beacons does have state Jupiter_01, predicts that next state could be Asteroid_01, and claims that state duration is 4200 seconds, i.e. 70 minutes. (Other observed durations are 40, 50, 60 minutes, with 50 the most common.)

The first announcement is at the start of a state. The second is in the middle.

However, player actions do affect duration. The state will not change while you are in a War Sector. You can thus prolong a state by staying in the sector. The moment you leave, even if you would move to next War Sector, the state can/will change.


War Missions are partially broken. For example, if you have to build a Station and location is outside of War Sectors, then you do get "Mission Complete" message and the reward, but "War Missions Completed" player stat does not increment. That makes one wonder, whether the mission did contribute to the state of war. Another are Sector Patrols, which do not quite follow who "owns" War Sectors currently, and you might end up killing the "wrong guys".

Furthermore, the missions are rare. There are at most one mission per sector, and most of the time none. Nevertheless, the missions do offer a non-hostile way to affect the war score.


An observation. Jupiter had the Duo. The Odin did move to the North Accelerator and left the sector. I did send a ship to track it, but there was no Odin in Saturn. The ship had vanished. Despawned on transit.
Reload.
It took some serious bombardment to interrupt Odins voyage and keep it in Jupiter for "diplomatic encounter".


Terran ships are more difficult to board than the Commonwealth. Furthermore, these ships do often have Hull polarization, Sentry lasers, and/or Firewall. One basically has to get rid of those first. I use Griffon with IonDs to fry equipment. The Beacons seem to survive frying and boarding quite well.


Once you have one Beacon, things get easier. I fly to Jupiter with a fast ship. Far from Terrans. Then I deploy the Beacon and call in the my Team. Proceed to boarding.


I have happily given up some Terran rep for the chance to collect some Jump Beacons and Valhallas. Besides, Terrans are most enjoyable ... as spacedust.


One more observation. There tends to be a Teladi Phoenix at the center of the Jupiter. Does nothing and is ignored by Terrans. Other Commonwealth ships (Odysseus, ...) do enter the sector during Jupiter_01 and do fight the Terrans / ATF.

The Beacon-carrying Woden or Odin can get involved and killed there. One has to lure them away from that skirmish.

I have also seen (multiple times) that after the Commonwealth ships are dead, there is a fight between Terran and ATF ships. They really are killing each other.

[Le Boron Chétif]

That whole war affair sounds a bit broken to me... Anyway, thanks a ton jlehtone, I get how this works. I have one jump beacon already, a 220 m/s Griffon, dozens of 5-star mercs so probably all I need to board those M1's.

Last questions - I understand you've been using a script to monitor ships carrying jump beacons across the universe. Does it change your game to Modified? If not (or if there's a way to keep it only temporary by saving and reloading), where can I find it??

Sincere thanks again to both of you guys!

[jlehtone]

1. Load game. 2. Enable Script Editor. 3. Run script. 4. Quit.
The game, where Editor is enabled, was not saved.
The saved game is not modified.

I think that I did write a script. It must be somewhere in my game folder.


Forgot to say: I use Sirokos for Marines. It can carry 21+. Cobra has only 20. You can send 21 to board M1/M2/M7/TL to maximize points. One of them ejects once CPU has been hacked (if they all survive the operation).

[Le Boron Chétif]

Sweet, I was hoping it'd work that way.

I'll take your advice on the Sirokos - I have one already as I wasn't able to board Xenon ships without. Actually, boarding Terran or ATF ships (incl Valhalla) has been a piece of cake compared to Xenon ones.

[DrSuperEvil]

Could your script also find the states that spawn Valhallas (Asteroid Belt and Circle Of Labour), Colossus Haulers (Circle Of Labour), Griffon Sentinels (Heretics End) and Sirokos (Omicron lyrae)?

[Jimmy C]

From my experience, practically every war state that implies the Terrans hold (a sector) will result in Valhallas appearing in CoL. But remember, like DrSuperEvil said, the sector mentioned may not be the actual sector that came under Terran control.


So, back when I was hunting Valhallas, I always jumped over to CoL when I heard a sector flipped to Terran control.

[DrSuperEvil]

Would be nice to have specific war states so I could then link them to specific announcements.

[Jimmy C]

I don't have the war state numbers, unlike you.

If you're playing Terran start like me, the announcements are like, "We have taken (sector)" or "we need fixed defenses in (sector)" It's been a while since I ended the war, but I think they're like that.


I assume Argon announcements if the Terrans have taken a sector would be like, "We have lost contact with (sector) find out what's happened" or "We're taking (sector)"

[jlehtone]

Could your script also find the states that spawn Valhallas (Asteroid Belt and Circle Of Labour), Colossus Haulers (Circle Of Labour), Griffon Sentinels (Heretics End) and Sirokos (Omicron lyrae)?

No, it does not. Sounds trivial though.

The script does not "find". If I run it, I see what I have at that moment.

Valhalla's are easy to spot. Sirokos I can buy. Did not know about Griffons (and they are purchasable). Hauler ... perhaps I want one after all. Thanks for reminding.

[DrSuperEvil]

Sirokos and Griffon Hauler require the player to be friends with the Argon to purchase (might not fit in with Terran start roleplay) and cannot be found elsewhere for capping. It would be nice to be able to put the spawns down to specific war states so players can know what announcements to look out for.

[jlehtone]

True.

The script engine has at least:

Code: Select all

$foo = get name of current War State
$bar = get progress of current War State
$gaz = get ship array: of race ATF class/type=Valhalla

Scripts by others and the MSCI Reference viewforum.php?f=105
were enough (for me) to figure those out. For more, there is that S&M Forum.