[X3LU] Mayhem 3.21b

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Szynszyl
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Post by Szynszyl » Sun, 15. Oct 17, 16:59

Lasertowers are good to defence sector? They can be produced?

VincentTH
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Post by VincentTH » Sun, 15. Oct 17, 19:03

Szynszyl wrote:Lasertowers are good to defence sector? They can be produced?
The Panda no like Lasertowers, so the few LT NPC factories built at the start of the game and the initial inventory at Mil outposts at game start is all you get.
Also the Mil Outposts lose its inventory over time.

I would try to grab as many LTs as I can afford at the start of the game to help me defend against OCV invasions, as well as to gain reps by deploying them at a gate where pirates/Xenons would travel through.
I also use the LU miscellanous mod (written by memeics) which allows TLs to collect LTs (ignoring the renaming part of the mod). This mod is listed as optional at LU twiki. This is useful, as it allows me to re-use the LTs elsewhere after their deployment.

Szynszyl
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Post by Szynszyl » Sun, 15. Oct 17, 21:51

Hmm i has 10 lasertowers, all was destroyed by OCV in one invasion. Better is small orbital weapon platform :P

There is possible to speed up research on one station? I dont have second sector then i dont have second research station...

VincentTH
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Post by VincentTH » Sun, 15. Oct 17, 22:31

Szynszyl wrote:Hmm i has 10 lasertowers, all was destroyed by OCV in one invasion. Better is small orbital weapon platform :P

There is possible to speed up research on one station? I dont have second sector then i dont have second research station...
Lasertowers work in number. I would think you need around 40+ in order for LTs to be effective against cap ships and hordes of fighters. When I receive the first OCV message, I would sell everything to buy LTs and to equip OWPs with PPC/CFA or failing them (due to $$ or rep deficiency), PALC, ISR, in brief, any guns that OWPs take, but preference to anti-fighters (CFA,) and capship killers (PPC), or hybrids (ISR, PALC).
You need to also equip OWPs with missiles and Chaffs to help them defend against the OWP hordes.

LTs are used to HELP the OWPs defend against cap ships, not in lieu of OWPs.
I put them right next to the OWPs in order to strip the OCV's gun energy and render them ineffective.

Starting your mobile mining early and use Reapers to collect drops would help you secure the credits needed to defend your sector(s) against OCV invasions.

Szynszyl
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Post by Szynszyl » Mon, 16. Oct 17, 01:06

Ok i stop playing to this mod. After a week of playing, i live from OCV invasion to OCV invasion. I think that this mod is too difficult to me :P

VincentTH
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Post by VincentTH » Mon, 16. Oct 17, 02:24

Szynszyl wrote:Ok i stop playing to this mod. After a week of playing, i live from OCV invasion to OCV invasion. I think that this mod is too difficult to me :P
I share your concerns. The frequency of OCV invasions and the 4 hours buildup is really challenging. I wish it would be toned down (the frequency, not the intensity) a little bit.

Fun-X
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Post by Fun-X » Mon, 16. Oct 17, 04:21

Szynszyl wrote:Ok i stop playing to this mod. After a week of playing, i live from OCV invasion to OCV invasion. I think that this mod is too difficult to me :P
Yeah, you really have to get out ahead of it. Once you start losing to the OCV invasion, it is really difficult to catch up

Like I said a few pages back, this is a hard game. But it is a good game.

You have to balance expansion against your current research level.

If you can't stop an OCV M7, then you want to limit your expansion. I am not sure at exactly what "signal intensity" the OCV starts sending M7s. But, you will need to be able to deal with it.

Large OWP. Some CFA and something heavier for M6 and M7.

VincentTH
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Post by VincentTH » Mon, 16. Oct 17, 06:39

Fun-X wrote:
Szynszyl wrote:Ok i stop playing to this mod. After a week of playing, i live from OCV invasion to OCV invasion. I think that this mod is too difficult to me :P
Yeah, you really have to get out ahead of it. Once you start losing to the OCV invasion, it is really difficult to catch up

Like I said a few pages back, this is a hard game. But it is a good game.

You have to balance expansion against your current research level.

If you can't stop an OCV M7, then you want to limit your expansion. I am not sure at exactly what "signal intensity" the OCV starts sending M7s. But, you will need to be able to deal with it.

Large OWP. Some CFA and something heavier for M6 and M7.
At threat level 6 (threat level roughly = number of sectors + how many game days have passed), you start seeing M7. However, it all boils down to the amount of credits you can get, in order to defend against the OCVs. For me, I hold on to 2 sectors for a long time (One to build ship, and one to make construction materials), until I can research mobile mining and the necessary guns (CFA mostly, because for PPC you can buy from the Teladi, no rep required) I need for the OWPs, and make enough money to buy the LTs to defend the OWPs, all of that while battling the loss of rep!!!

It was hard, but I had a lot of fun!!!
May be introduce a degree of difficulty (based on the start choice) that dictates the interval of the OCV invasions? Because if one starts with owning a sector in Unknown Sector Omega, the player is already at threat level 1 from the get go.

Shepp
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Post by Shepp » Mon, 16. Oct 17, 23:16

Szynszyl wrote:Ok i stop playing to this mod. After a week of playing, i live from OCV invasion to OCV invasion. I think that this mod is too difficult to me :P
There are a couple of things that I did to keep things manageable. First, I changed the .xml file to double the research speed. My opinion is that the default research speed is a massive grind. Especially when you consider that you still have to create the infrastructure to actually produce the stuff once its researched. Second, I'm always on the lookout for abandoned ships. In the game I'm playing right now, I have been able to recover enough ships, including M6's, to handle the invasions. I just had my third wave to give you an idea how far along I am.

Falcrack
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Post by Falcrack » Tue, 17. Oct 17, 05:14

My approach in my current game:

Day 1:
I started off to rush straight for unknown sector beta, adjacent to Legend's home. I claimed it early because it also limits the NPC access to Y Alpha, just to the north. I held on to just these two sectors until the 1st OCV invasion, collecting bailed fighters and M6 where I could find them. During this time, I focused on getting a fast M5 (kestrel, had to shoot it a bit to be able to get a scan) to do automated exploration, and laying a large satellite network.

A comprehensive, large satellite network is critical because it allows you to scan more sectors, and thus find more bailed ships and free wares. A good rule of thumb is to avoid using SETA, as if you have spare time, you should be using it to scan for goodies to claim. Get a freighter or two or three whose sole purpose is to go collect goods you spot while scanning sectors. I also kept an eye out for battles where coveted ships I wanted to scan were taking place, so I could jump in and get a good scan before it goes boom. Remember to turn off your turrets, and apologize after the scan right away! In some cases, such as when I got my Mammoth scan, I had to just find it and shoot down the shields. I got a minor rep loss, but as I tried not to scratch the hull paint and did not shoot any more than necessary, all was quickly forgiven.

With two sectors, the first OCV invasion, which was several M4 and a few M6 coming against Unknown Sector Beta, were quite easily fended off by my medium OWP, a collection of bailed fighters and bailed M6 (about 6-7 total, which included 1 or 2 M6 I hade made myself).

Day 2:
Immediately following my successful defense against the 1st OCV wave, I noticed that Xenon Sector 347 two sectors to the east of Unknown Sector Beta was almost clear of Xenon, thanks to Teladi military action. I took my modest fleet and killed the remaining stations there, and immediately claimed it for myself. I also simultaneously claimed Y Alpha to the north of Unknown Sector Beta, and Y Gamma a few sectors south of Ianamus Zura. Finally, I took Unknown Sector Alpha, a sector directly to the left of the Xenon sector north of Getsu Fune, as I noticed the Argon had captured that sector, thus making it safe for me to claim the adjacent sector.

I focused on building up my economy, placing stations as quickly as possible, with an emphasis on making research stations first to boost my rate of research. To supplement this, I spent a lot of time in combat in Menelaus' Paradise, fending off Xenon invasions on behalf of the Boron, in order to get to rep 8 with them, and also to collect those juicy artefacts (artifacts?) to research faster. At rep 8, you no longer lose rep over time with factions, which is a very nice thing for folks like myself who want to play nice with everybody. I finished research on a Mandalay, which I built as soon as I could. Of course all this time, I continued with my sector scan to build up my motley crew of bailed ships.

At this time, I received notification that the OCV would be attacking Unknown Sector Beta again, this time with 2 M7, 8 M6, 14 M3, and 10 M4! That's the price for claiming 6 sectors early. But I wanted them all early to boost my research speed, and to prevent other factions from claiming them before I did. I started work as soon as I received notification on a large OWP. Note to self next time: It will not be done in time, build a medium OWP instead! Regardless of this, by this time I had a rather large fleet of fighters and M6, with myself piloting an M7 Mandalay. Along with this, I purchased about 65 lastertowers and set them up right next to my previous medium OWP (PPCs and CFAs) placed between the invasion point and my stations. I also bought about 50 fighter drones. The fight was tough, but I managed it with few losses.

Day 3:
I continued my research activities and filling up my sectors with stations. I managed to finish researching the M7 Raven, a ship I consider to be near the top of M7 in terms of capabilities. I did not want the AI to be flying in Mandalays because they do not handle large ships with main guns well, though the Mandalay is superb as a player M7. The Raven, with abundant turrets and powerful shielding, would do nicely for an NPC pilot. I also built a fleet of about 10 TM (Magnetars) so I could quickly jump them where needed. I also built a McCallum dock in Xenon 347, which had become my shipbuilding hub.

Funny story, at some point I found a bailed Boa TM. It contained two fully functional chimeras enhanced inside. When I claimed it, the fighters remained inside and were "owned" by the Boa I had claimed. But I could not manually eject them, or control them directly. I looked like I had a Boa with only two free slots for ships. But, when homebased to my new McCallum dock, and used in the MLCC configuration, the Split ships inside launched when I used the "assist" command, they fought my enemies, and when I selected "retreat", dutifully got back on board! I don't know what I will do to repair them if they get damaged, but for now, two free fighters, yay!

With my Mandalay, newly launched Raven, about 14 M6 and about 40 fighter aboard TMs, I noticed the sector Unknown Sector Kappa, just east of the Paranid sector Unseen Domain. It was currently claimed by Pirates, but it was only lightly defended, with a single M2 (Executor) defending. I jumped in, called my fleet via MLCC, and quickly killed it with no losses, then wiped out the remaining stations, which included a Pirate shipyard. They did not call in any reinforcements except for a few stray M3. I claimed it for my own.

Currently I have 1 Mandalay, 2 Ravens with a 3rd Raven 54% done, 17 M6 and 51 M3 fighters on TMs, mostly from bails. My mobile mining operation in Legends home, west of Unknown Sector Beta, is starting to get in full swing, and I have about 20 UTs in Caiman Advanced ships. Having two TLs is useful, 1 for mobile mining, 1 for shuttling large amounts of wares quickly from one sector to the next to expedite production of ships, stations, shields, etc.

I haven't yet received notification of a new OCV invasion, but I expect it at any moment, at which time I will rush build a medium OWP in the targeted sector, and lay down my laser tower defenses. With only 1 extra sector claimed between last attack and this one, I think I should be able to handle it. My threat level will be 10.

After the next OCV invasion, I will take Pirate, Yaki, and Xenon sectors 1 by 1, until they are nearly extinct. There are no more unclaimed sectors free for the taking. I will try and maintain level 8 rep with all but the Paranid. At this point, I will begin my efforts to wipe out the Paranid territory in the mid south, proceeding from Unknown Sector Kappa, until I can claim up to 25% of the galaxy and "win".

Then I might start another game!

VincentTH
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Post by VincentTH » Wed, 18. Oct 17, 00:12

Falcrack wrote:

Then I might start another game!
Save the hapless 3-eyes!!!! The Yakis have given them fits!!! Play against the evil twins Terrans + ATF next!!!!! (This is my current game).

I believe that the From Scratch start is ironically a not so hard start, since the player starts with a TS!
The evil start is the easiest one, the one where the player owns Unknown Sector Omega and have to travel thru the channel sectors, wasting valuable time, with a chance of a date with the OCV in 10 hours (6 hours for a invasion message + 4 hours of preparation!!!

That's why I suggest changing the grace period for the start of the OCV invasion to be based on the start.
A 24 hour grace period for the Easy start,
12 hour for the Quick start
and keep the From Scratch at 6 hours.

Falcrack
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Post by Falcrack » Wed, 18. Oct 17, 01:38

VincentTH wrote:
Falcrack wrote:

Then I might start another game!
Save the hapless 3-eyes!!!! The Yakis have given them fits!!! Play against the evil twins Terrans + ATF next!!!!! (This is my current game).
I haven't actually committed to a war of aggression against anyone except the pirates, yaki, and xenon, I have good relations with pretty much all, thanks to making a level 8 reputation with the Boron a high early priority. And it will also kind of depend on who is allied with who at the time I get an itching to annihilate a race. But I think I have a good enough start that I can be secure from OCV, for now...

Falcrack
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Post by Falcrack » Thu, 19. Oct 17, 00:25

At playing time 768-05-05 04:11, 4 days into my time spent in this corner of the galaxy, I received notification of an incoming OCV invasion in the next 4 hours, the 3rd I have faced so far. At my current threat level of 10, it will consist of 1 M1, 5 M4, 4 M6, and 2 M7.

To those who are more knowledgeable, when it states there will be an M1, is that referring to the #deca ship, or is it referring to the more fearsome T or V ships? I checked an online resource which lists #deca as the sole OCV M1, while the T and V, despite having hangars, were both listed as M2. Is this correct?

To face this threat, I have a fleet of 1 M7 Mandalay, 3 M7 Raven, 17 assorted M6, and 55 assorted M3. I will also have ready to face it a medium OWP, with plans to surround it with up to 60 or more lasertowers. I think it will be enough, hopefully.

VincentTH
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Post by VincentTH » Thu, 19. Oct 17, 18:42

Falcrack wrote:At playing time 768-05-05 04:11, 4 days into my time spent in this corner of the galaxy, I received notification of an incoming OCV invasion in the next 4 hours, the 3rd I have faced so far. At my current threat level of 10, it will consist of 1 M1, 5 M4, 4 M6, and 2 M7.

To those who are more knowledgeable, when it states there will be an M1, is that referring to the #deca ship, or is it referring to the more fearsome T or V ships? I checked an online resource which lists #deca as the sole OCV M1, while the T and V, despite having hangars, were both listed as M2. Is this correct?

To face this threat, I have a fleet of 1 M7 Mandalay, 3 M7 Raven, 17 assorted M6, and 55 assorted M3. I will also have ready to face it a medium OWP, with plans to surround it with up to 60 or more lasertowers. I think it will be enough, hopefully.
T and V are M2 but they are poor carriers since they can only carry fighters. Other M2+s that can act as M6 carriers are the Paranid's Cyclops, the Argon's Excalibur, and the ATF's Forceti. The last 3 are excellent M6 carriers, and their M6 payload are excellent, fast and effective missile launching vehicles (if you program your MLCC correctly, that is :-) ). The only drawback is that just like the M7M, they will create a slide show if you are not careful.
For the m6 payload, I like the Stanta and the Goner's Siroco, but Joubarbe might have accidentally (or purposedly) taken them out of the Goner fleet in MayHem 2.1.x (They may still exist as Civilian ships since I see them listed in the Encyclopedia, but I have not encountered one). Both are capable of delivering Wraith missiles, which are good Cap ships killers.
If you want to stay on the Commonwealth side, then PX (fastest M6, best shield) and/or the Teladi Heavy Osprey (good shield) delivering Hammerhead, are good alternatives.

Falcrack
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Post by Falcrack » Fri, 20. Oct 17, 01:58

VincentTH wrote:
T and V are M2 but they are poor carriers since they can only carry fighters. Other M2+s that can act as M6 carriers are the Paranid's Cyclops, the Argon's Excalibur, and the ATF's Forceti. The last 3 are excellent M6 carriers, and their M6 payload are excellent, fast and effective missile launching vehicles (if you program your MLCC correctly, that is :-) ). The only drawback is that just like the M7M, they will create a slide show if you are not careful.
For the m6 payload, I like the Stanta and the Goner's Siroco, but Joubarbe might have accidentally (or purposedly) taken them out of the Goner fleet in MayHem 2.1.x (They may still exist as Civilian ships since I see them listed in the Encyclopedia, but I have not encountered one). Both are capable of delivering Wraith missiles, which are good Cap ships killers.
If you want to stay on the Commonwealth side, then PX (fastest M6, best shield) and/or the Teladi Heavy Osprey (good shield) delivering Hammerhead, are good alternatives.
I was just going to ask a question related to the destroyers that can carry M6. I have scanned a Pteranodon and was considering making them, I like the fact that they have a lot more speed than some of the other super heavies, even if the shielding is a bit lower than some. I see they have a hangar of 6, but I don't know if it is 6 standard fighters or if it can handle M6.

Can the destroyers that can dock M6 also dock M8s? And if so, is there a way to program MLCC so as to allow them to undock from these destoyers and do their M8 thing? I hate packing the M8 cargohold with energy cells for jumping when they could much more profitably be used to hold missiles!

I've tried to get M8s to be effective outside of MLCC, but they just don't seem to work very well. I couldn't figure out how to manually tell them to fire large barrages of tomahawks at a given target, which I thought was one of their main advantages.

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Zaitsev
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Post by Zaitsev » Fri, 20. Oct 17, 16:44

Falcrack wrote:*snip*

I was just going to ask a question related to the destroyers that can carry M6. I have scanned a Pteranodon and was considering making them, I like the fact that they have a lot more speed than some of the other super heavies, even if the shielding is a bit lower than some. I see they have a hangar of 6, but I don't know if it is 6 standard fighters or if it can handle M6.
The Pteranodon can only carry figthers. The one I know of that can carry M6 are the Cyclops, the Valhalla, the Excalibur, the Kyoto and the Forseti. I have never tried the Boron Megalodon, so I don't know if it can carry M6.
Falcrack wrote:Can the destroyers that can dock M6 also dock M8s? And if so, is there a way to program MLCC so as to allow them to undock from these destoyers and do their M8 thing? I hate packing the M8 cargohold with energy cells for jumping when they could much more profitably be used to hold missiles!
As far as I know the M2s that can carry M6 can also carry M8. There is no way of programming the MLCC to use ships docked at an M2, though.
Falcrack wrote:I've tried to get M8s to be effective outside of MLCC, but they just don't seem to work very well. I couldn't figure out how to manually tell them to fire large barrages of tomahawks at a given target, which I thought was one of their main advantages.
The barrage command was removed, simple as that. In my experience you need to bring in a fairly large number for them to be effective against anything larger than an M6, and I tend to just load them up with chaff and use them as missile screens.
I'm sorry, I can't hear you over the sound of how awesome I am :D

DiDs:
Eye of the storm Completed
Eye of the storm - book 2 Inactive
Black Sun - Completed
Endgame - Completed

VincentTH
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Post by VincentTH » Fri, 20. Oct 17, 17:58

Zaitsev wrote: As far as I know the M2s that can carry M6 can also carry M8. There is no way of programming the MLCC to use ships docked at an M2, though.
You can't program the docked M6s directly in the MLCC, but you can program them as missile launching vehicles (What missiles to load, how far (from the target) to launch them, and at what target class), and that's the only tasks that I am interested in.
Compared to the Barrage command, I believe using M6s as mis launchers is a superior scheme, since you can control how far the missiles are launched, at what target class, and they are fast compared to the M7M speed (The PX when created with Split lv8 rep can reach 217.5 m/s, you can't beat that with an M7M).

Falcrack
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Post by Falcrack » Sat, 21. Oct 17, 03:53

So I haven't used M8 with MLCC either, other than for launching chaff. With MLCC, are they able to fire large salvoes of tomahawks? How about M7M, I don't have one of those either but was considering getting one, but can I not manually tell those to fire barrages? Without the ability to fire large salvoes, the M7M and M8 seem like they would be a bit underwhelming.

Falcrack
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Post by Falcrack » Sat, 21. Oct 17, 04:44

So, in my current Mayhem game, the Split seem to be taking over everywhere. Which leads me to the question, do factions grow more powerful as they increase in size? As in, as they gain sectors, do they gain more shipyards, thus have more ship production capacity? Or is the number of shipyards each faction operates relatively constant?

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Joubarbe
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Post by Joubarbe » Sat, 21. Oct 17, 08:55

Falcrack wrote:Which leads me to the question, do factions grow more powerful as they increase in size?
Yes, because they can capture other shipyards and that way exceed the maximum shipyards allowed per race limit.

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