[X3TC v. 1.2.1] Kha'ak Destroyer captured in vanilla!

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UnknownObject
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[X3TC v. 1.2.1] Kha'ak Destroyer captured in vanilla!

Post by UnknownObject » Sun, 11. Nov 18, 15:17

A legit way to capture big Kha'ak ships

My thanks to pilots:
KJQ - for a message about conditions of big ships surrendering in X3TC.
toor and RusTer - for information about capturing small ships.

I. Theory.
As it turned out, capital ships surrender (exactly surrender, like fighters and small freighthers, i.e. boarding isn't required) in game of version 1.2.1 during Sector Defence missions. For this mission in this version of the game file 04.cat/director/0.8 Battle Enemy Ships.pck is responsible. Having opened it, one can find a magic line, which was changed in following versions of the game:

Code: Select all

                    <param name="OBSFleetCapturable" value="1"/>
The same file contains code for Kha'ak invasion, but it doesn't appear as a generic mission. But if one opens file 2.02 Khaak Plot.pck (Operation Final Fury) and checks out what follows the line:

Code: Select all

                        <!--Mission C, kill nearby enemy group-->,
one can see the file refers to the sought-for mission, parameter OBSFleetCapturable remaining unchanged.
So, there IS a chance to capture a big Kha'ak ship in mission "Kill nearby enemy group", and class of this ship depends on player's combat rank.

But why hasn't this fact become well-known yet, only a couple of rumors appeared on the Egosoft forum? The answer is simple: Kha'ak have a very high value of morale - 29. Let's look at the "Capturing of small ships" (RUS) article.
toor wrote:<ejecting probability> = 30 - <morale> - <ship strength modifier> + <hull modifier> - <time modifier>
Let ship strength modifier be equal to 0 (we're using a more formidable ship), and time modifier = 2 (trying to capture in the first minute).
Then P = 30-29-0+0-2 = -1% - in fact, capturing is impossible
But if one pretreats the hull with a Mass Driver to <2,5% and lowers shields in the same minute (or leaves the sector and returns), then P = 30-29-0+10-2=9%. Not bad. When attacking a weaker ship, it will be 4%. It's true for combat rank 30 (X-Treme). If the rank is lower, then
toor wrote:<ejecting probability> = <ejecting probability> * (<player's combat rank> - 5) / 25
II. Practice.
Having successfully completed "Final Fury" missions up to destroying the Kha'ak Station in Unknown Sector 14-7, I saved the game. The next mission was convoy escort again, but I loaded the save made before Fjuny t'Scct summoned me into his HQ - and so, I got the desired mission in Nathan's Voyage instead of that.
Flied into the sector on Tiger. Shot down 3 Corvettes, damaged the hull of the 4th with Mass Drivers, replaced them by Pulsed Beam Emitters. Lowered the shields to ~10%. Saving. Then lowering the rest of the shield, reloading, if failed. Behold, the Corvette bailed at the 15th attempt! It can be claimed from the Space Suit or with System Override Software, like an usual abandoned fighter.

Image

The picture is to make clear that this is Terran Conflict (not Albion Prelude, in which aren't any Kha'ak sectors) and ***modified*** tag isn't here.
The game is of version 1.2.1 without any modifications whatever.

I planned to acquire a Cobra and a Boreas before I start hunting for Kha'ak Destroyer, but I met it earlier than planned.
I was too lazy to prepare my Marlin Hauler for the fight, so I showered the Destroyer with Mass Drivers, jumping in good time to a gate to restore shields. Having damaged it's hull to 2%, lowered the shields by all 2 Incendiary Bomb Launchers I had (when shields were at 15%, I stopped pressing fire button, and shields were lowered completely without further damaging the hull). Jumped into a nearby sector to set time count to zero and decrease the time modificator (Fjuny t'Scct rebuked me for failing, well, okay). Returned and nullified the restored % of the shield. Saving before nullifying the last %s. Random was favorable - the Destroyer surrendered to the Tiger at the 10th attempt, moreover - with all GKEs intact!

Image
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AleksMain
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Re: [X3TC v. 1.2.1] Kha'ak Destroyer captured in vanilla!

Post by AleksMain » Sun, 11. Nov 18, 16:35

Wikipedia wrote:Computer software, and sometimes also other computing-related systems like computer hardware or algorithms, are called vanilla when not customized from their original form, meaning that they are used without any customization or updates applied to them.
But you have customized file(s) of the X3:TC and call it "vanilla".

What is purpose of such "surrender" of the Kha'ak Destroyer ?
Last edited by AleksMain on Sun, 11. Nov 18, 16:43, edited 1 time in total.

UnknownObject
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Re: [X3TC v. 1.2.1] Kha'ak Destroyer captured in vanilla!

Post by UnknownObject » Sun, 11. Nov 18, 16:41

AleksMain wrote:
Sun, 11. Nov 18, 16:35


But you have customized file(s) of the X3:TC and call it "vanilla".

What is purpose of such "surrender" of the Kha'ak Destroyer ?
No, I haven't customized a file, just looked into. Anyone can repeat my actions on vanilla 1.2.1.

Kha'ak Destroyer is a cool ship to have, and I can have it without modification of the game.
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Alan Phipps
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Re: [X3TC v. 1.2.1] Kha'ak Destroyer captured in vanilla!

Post by Alan Phipps » Sun, 11. Nov 18, 16:46

I think the OP's point is that you could indeed have done this in a version that was the vanilla latest release of that time. There are several special ship versions in X games that you could only obtain in vanilla before certain patches (or plot/mission events) that then made them impossible to obtain without modding. Some players with long-term original vanilla games from DVD that were patched only as each update came out may have had the opportunity to do this sort of thing, had it been known to them at the time.

I don't think many would seriously contemplate another complete playthrough of X3TC in several stages from day one release and going through each update phase separately just to try to amass a 'complete' vanilla ship collection - but I could be wrong.
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AleksMain
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Re: [X3TC v. 1.2.1] Kha'ak Destroyer captured in vanilla!

Post by AleksMain » Sun, 11. Nov 18, 16:47

UnknownObject wrote:
Sun, 11. Nov 18, 16:41
...
No, I haven't customized a file, just looked into. Anyone can repeat my actions on vanilla 1.2.1.

Kha'ak Destroyer is a cool ship to have, and I can have it without modification of the game.
Yes, I see now. Though I prefer to play without looking in files of the game.

Cordum
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Re: [X3TC v. 1.2.1] Kha'ak Destroyer captured in vanilla!

Post by Cordum » Sun, 11. Nov 18, 17:25

Alan Phipps wrote:
Sun, 11. Nov 18, 16:46
I don't think many would seriously contemplate another complete playthrough of X3TC in several stages from day one release and going through each update phase separately just to try to amass a 'complete' vanilla ship collection - but I could be wrong.
I think this is more a historical moment than a practical one. Finding opportunities like this is akin to sport.
I have a disk with patch 1.2.1 and I sometimes play it, there were wonderful combat missions: dozens of capital ships against one Osaka :-)

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Re: [X3TC v. 1.2.1] Kha'ak Destroyer captured in vanilla!

Post by zazie » Wed, 14. Nov 18, 16:44

Congrats to your success!
As I am playing XTC, and as XTC makes all ship-classes possible to bail (yes: ALL - even Out of Sector !) I have several Kha'ak Destroyers, Carriers and even Dreadnoughts (M2+) in my fleet. Sorry to say, but the Destroyer and Carrier have very little value as player-owned ships. Main reason: their 4GJ-shielding is not enough in battles against Xenon K, J and I.
The Dreadnought though is heavily armed and shielded and is an excellent player-ship - even against several Xenon-M2. But it is very vulnerable against PX- or Q-patrols with a lot of PX and Ps attacking.

UnknownObject
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Re: [X3TC v. 1.2.1] Kha'ak Destroyer captured in vanilla!

Post by UnknownObject » Mon, 19. Nov 18, 13:21

zazie wrote:
Wed, 14. Nov 18, 16:44
Congrats to your success!
As I am playing XTC, and as XTC makes all ship-classes possible to bail (yes: ALL - even Out of Sector !) I have several Kha'ak Destroyers, Carriers and even Dreadnoughts (M2+) in my fleet. Sorry to say, but the Destroyer and Carrier have very little value as player-owned ships. Main reason: their 4GJ-shielding is not enough in battles against Xenon K, J and I.
The Dreadnought though is heavily armed and shielded and is an excellent player-ship - even against several Xenon-M2. But it is very vulnerable against PX- or Q-patrols with a lot of PX and Ps attacking.
Thanks!
Kha'ak M2 has 5*2 GJ shields in vanilla, so it's a decent ship. It takes more time to destroy enemies with GKEs, but it's still fun.
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nponoBegHuk
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Re: [X3TC v. 1.2.1] Kha'ak Destroyer captured in vanilla!

Post by nponoBegHuk » Wed, 5. Dec 18, 09:28

Alan Phipps wrote:
Sun, 11. Nov 18, 16:46
I don't think many would seriously contemplate another complete playthrough of X3TC in several stages from day one release and going through each update phase separately just to try to amass a 'complete' vanilla ship collection - but I could be wrong.
I guess it's time to ask for a long vacation from the job. :roll:
Also, it's time to update my thread after many years. Impressive insight!
Fast sector selection on the Universe Map | Rock locations for Mobile/OOS mining | Botting for max speed Hyperion | Complete list of ship sources | Capturing smaller ships

My current ship collection:
11 out of 11 *retired* ships found
17 out of 17 *unique* ships found
9 out of 9 *limited* ships found
16 out of 16 *rare* ships found

UnknownObject
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Re: [X3TC v. 1.2.1] Kha'ak Destroyer captured in vanilla!

Post by UnknownObject » Fri, 7. Dec 18, 16:52

nponoBegHuk wrote:
Wed, 5. Dec 18, 09:28

Also, it's time to update my thread after many years.
As for Kha'ak M1s: now I own a Carrier, but a Hive Queen and a Guardian seem to never appear in that mission so I consider them not capturable.
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Re: [X3TC v. 1.2.1] Kha'ak Destroyer captured in vanilla!

Post by nponoBegHuk » Sat, 8. Dec 18, 02:11

UnknownObject wrote:
Fri, 7. Dec 18, 16:52
nponoBegHuk wrote:
Wed, 5. Dec 18, 09:28

Also, it's time to update my thread after many years.
As for Kha'ak M1s: now I own a Carrier, but a Hive Queen and a Guardian seem to never appear in that mission so I consider them not capturable.
Have you checked versions before 1.2.1 as well? I'll do some research tonight. Time to look for the game DVD...

On a side note have you been able to find Auster / Astraeus Hauler so far? I saw your thread on x3tc.ru... maybe this method can bring in some good surprises.

If you have some input on ships I'm missing in my collector's thread (link in signature), your input is welcome.

Regards,
nponoBegHuk.
Fast sector selection on the Universe Map | Rock locations for Mobile/OOS mining | Botting for max speed Hyperion | Complete list of ship sources | Capturing smaller ships

My current ship collection:
11 out of 11 *retired* ships found
17 out of 17 *unique* ships found
9 out of 9 *limited* ships found
16 out of 16 *rare* ships found

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nponoBegHuk
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Re: [X3TC v. 1.2.1] Kha'ak Destroyer captured in vanilla!

Post by nponoBegHuk » Sun, 6. Jan 19, 17:41

Aparently, the Kha'ak Destroyer is a good choice to get random Xenon ships to bail during missions:

[ external image ]

The mission was accepted with Crusader fight rank with 3*M2 and 2*M1 ships in sector. Game version 1.0.1 vanilla.

[ external image ]

I just sat in the Destroyer with SETA on while all the xenon were flocking into the rays of light.
Fast sector selection on the Universe Map | Rock locations for Mobile/OOS mining | Botting for max speed Hyperion | Complete list of ship sources | Capturing smaller ships

My current ship collection:
11 out of 11 *retired* ships found
17 out of 17 *unique* ships found
9 out of 9 *limited* ships found
16 out of 16 *rare* ships found

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