X3 AP can not get any XENON ship to bail

[871jena]

My fight rank is warrior, my ship is a M7 fully armed and I can't get any XENON ship to bail. I have played the game for about 50 hrs and was trying to capture a XENON L for the last 10 hrs. I am doing XENON patrol missions, I have tried a lot of different weapons, I have even roamed in XENON sector and shoot at every ship that came. No luck.


-Albion Prelude
-Steam version, fully patched, ENGLISH
-Humble merchant
-currently 150.000.000 cr


I am starting to think that there is something wrong with my game.

[Alan Phipps]

Hi. Moved to X Trilogy Universe (gameplay) forum from Tech Sp.

Meanwhile, please use this tool to search the Ego site for such words as 'Xenon L bail' and so find the several previous threads on this topic such as this one or this one.

Good luck.

[RAVEN.myst]

Xenon L bailing, I've found, is extremely variable. In some games, I end up in a situation similar to yours for that plot mission, while in others I fairly quickly build up a whole wing of captured Ls to fight for me. You say you are using an M7 - what weapons are you using?

[Bill Huntington]

871jena, I usually play my games with 'Additional Info' enabled by the Script Editor. I want to see the morale of the ships I cap. My targets of choice have morale of 10 or lower. They bail much easier than higher morale ships.

I checked the morale of a number of Xenon Ls in the Xenon sectors and on Xenon missions selected by the player. The usual morale level was 26 without any lower than 24. That's almost impossible to bail.

I found one type of mission with Ls at 15 sometimes. They'll bail but it usually takes a number of reloads. These are Xenon generated patrols outside their sectors. Some are still high morale but some are lower too. Grand Exchange was one. BHS was another.

To access the Script Editor you start by going to Change Name, type 'Thereshallbewings', then access the Script Editor from the Command Console by hitting 'S', then 'Return' twice. Then toggle 'Yes' at 'Additional Info'. Click on Info for any target and 'Morale' is at the bottom.

You will get a 'modified' tag if you don't reload. If you don't want 'modified', simply reload after you check the target you want.

Good luck.

[Sinxar]

The easiest way really is to get a capital ship that can mount FAA (Flak Artillery Array) and fly into sectors with lots of Xenon fighters and just let your guns go wild on them. One will bail eventually. If you use a carrier type ship such as a Panther Raider, you can claim it right then and load it up and jump it out.

[Xenon_Slayer]

Got to say, I'm surprised so many people have problems getting the L's to bail. I didn't expect that part of the mission to be such a sticking point. That said, last time I played through the plot, I did cap a L before that point and remembered to keep it. Xenon usually cower in fear before me anyway...

[871jena]

I have a M7 Griffon Sentinel with following weapons onboard: Cluster Flak Array , Flak Artillery Array, Concussion Impulse Generator and Ion Pulse Generator. All turret and main gun slots full. And I have done countless patrol missions near xenon sectors. I did not know about morale. I will check for morale.

Thanks for all your help everyone

[RAVEN.myst]

I have a M7 Griffon Sentinel with following weapons onboard: Cluster Flak Array , Flak Artillery Array, Concussion Impulse Generator and Ion Pulse Generator. All turret and main gun slots full. And I have done countless patrol missions near xenon sectors. I did not know about morale. I will check for morale.

Thanks for all your help everyone

That's a good choice of ship and loadout for the job, if you want to do it the (generally recommended) brute-force way - simply go to Xenon sectors or take Hold Position missions and do the numbers - eventually an L will bail and not get killed before your turret/s stop firing. (Chances are, you'll annoyingly find several bailed Ms before that - but that's Murphy for ya, right? )

Personally, I usually enjoy getting down and dirty in the early game and hunting those Ms and Ls in a fighter or corvette, packing PACs ("PACcing"? ) - those weapons do fast damage to shields but are slower vs hulls, so you get a fair chance to let go of the trigger in time. Or you can stop shooting once you take off around 1/4 of the target's hull and see whether it bails - Xenons don't broadcast any "I surrender" messages, so you don't know that they are already bailing until they have finished doing so - this may in fact be accounting for your lack of success.

ASIDE: In a current game of mine, I have a Magnetar with a wing of Ms aboard, another with a wing of Ls, and a third with a mix of both. These were acquired in fighter/corvette-based combat mostly before that plot mission, and are what's left after having turned in the required one. I mention this just so that you know that it's possible, so you don't get discouraged.

Got to say, I'm surprised so many people have problems getting the L's to bail. I didn't expect that part of the mission to be such a sticking point.

I suspect that many people, being used to a more "instant gratification" game design philosophy, are simply taken by surprise, not expecting how much grinding this task *may* entail (depending on how kind RNG is feeling.) I think you may find that veterans of MMORPGs are not as fazed by it all (or it may be that I'm strunk/droned on weedfuel and talking crap... )

[delray]

Got to say, I'm surprised so many people have problems getting the L's to bail. I didn't expect that part of the mission to be such a sticking point. That said, last time I played through the plot, I did cap a L before that point and remembered to keep it. Xenon usually cower in fear before me anyway...

That's because people are hunting Ls "in the wild", which have higher morale and require a much higher rank to jump ship.

When you switch to proper guns (full loadout of PBE on H. Hydra or Hyperion is still the best for the job), have at least half-decent combat rank (15+?) and start hunting Xenon Ls which spawn from missions, you can fill a carrier with the ones that bail on you.

[jlehtone]

Back in X3R there was Xenon Taxi mission, where everything had a fair chance to bail and Xenon Invasion, where no ship ever did bail. Indeed, a (generic) mission can be a better (or worse) source for "a lucky hit". The missions in X3AP ... frankly, no idea.


There is an algorithm:

This looks like a job for... esd's Ultimate Guide for Capturing!

1. Pick a target.
2. Shoot like you mean it.
3. If they turn blue, stop shooting.
3.1 If they explode, skip to step 5.
4. Claim if it's safe to do so.
5. GOTO 1.

Anything more is simply ritual.

My primary goal (and thus the ritual) is to explode as many targets as possible. It is therefore an unfortunate accident (Hear me, Almighty RNG, an accident that I honestly do not want!) if any turn blue and survive. I tend to omit step 4 too; the scrap metal ain't going anywhere.

[jorganos]

Those heavy transport escorting missions with those annoyingly slow, barely shielded Caiman Tanker or similar ships do attract Xenon attackers about half the time. If you don't mind failing those missions, they give manageable target densities. Hit em hard and fast - Pulse Beam Emitters can be too slow. Those plasma clouds can reduce the ship to half hull in a single attack, so can (main gun) flak attacks. Turret flak attacks don't stop firing, which pulverizes many a bailed ship.

Bringing an occasional orgy of destruction into the Xenon sectors icqn be soothing. No thoughts about rep loss or whether you will have to throw resources at defending your assets, just plain unmitigated release of retaliation.

[RAVEN.myst]

Bringing an occasional orgy of destruction into the Xenon sectors icqn be soothing.

Hahahahahah! I like your idea of "tranquil therapy"

[delray]

People focus on the method so much. It's all about the combat rank though. The closer you get to X-Treme, the easier it gets. That's why people fail so hard at being a good pirate - by the way. They want instant results, while you first need to climb yourself somewhere near Assassin to be actually feared. Hence, if you want to be an efficient pirate, first you just go on an endless killing spree. Then when the rank is sufficient, you can start collecting your bails. Everyone who played "don't buy any ships ever" learns this the hard way.

[Nanook]

Combat rank has very little to do with it. What does matter, a lot, is relative ship size. The larger the player ship vs the target ship, the better the chance of bailing. But it's still very much up to the RNG to have the final say.

[871jena]

I am glad to report that I got my first Xenon L bail. I think, that for me, Xenon ships started to bail after I hit "assassin" rank. Right away after I hit this rank, a few Xenon N bailed. But an L still did not bail for quite some time. I am at 42% assassin now that L bailed. About 65 hours of playtime. Still Argon Griffon Sentinel, max. loadout.