Need help getting started in Reunion

[Nazgren]

Hi,
Have finally gotten around to trying out the x3 games, am starting in reunion for the story with the Xtended mod and am struggling to get started.

I took the quickstart option as its my first time with the X series, my mercury is currently running as a level 6 sector trader based in Ore belt. I attempted the third mission, the one to go to the pirate base in Farnhams Legend but my little buster cant even survive long enough to reach it, so i am looking to get a new ship. To that end while my Mercury is slowly accruing money i tried taking on some missions from stations which was a bad idea. I took a mission to assassinate a pirate who was going through Argon Prime which seemed easy enough but when i got there it was a frigate of some kind being escorted by 4 Barracudas. I beat the frigate but the Barracudas melt me instantly, which means trying to do anything in Argon Prime is now near impossible. They cant catch me but i haven't got a hope in hell of beating them and my buster now has a repair bill of about 200,000 credits, at least 4x as much as what the mission paid.

What ship should i look at as a first upgrade for my Buster? Googling it seems to bring up ships limited to TC+ and the Xenon LX which i haven't got a hope in hell of getting in my buster. The logical choice seems to be the Argon Nova Raider as its *good enough*, close by and actually possible for me to get, but it costs 1.6 million for the ship alone which is currently a bit more then my budget of 200k. I would rather not spend days building a large economy as it seems to take a lot of time and i would imagine wont carry over into TC and AP. Will i just have to grab a second Sector trader Mercury and wait for the money to buy a Nova or is there some middle ground ship that i have missed in my google searches?

Thanks

[Alan Phipps]

Given the fact that you have a total game mod installed which includes new stations, ships, weapons, wares and gameplay, I doubt that any vanilla trade or ship advice will be 100% effective for you. We don't discuss heavily modded games here, but rather in the relevant Scripts and Modding forum thread.

X3:R progress will not carry over into either X3:TC or X3:AP as you predicted. They are all separate games with their own gamestarts. I believe that some mods allowed some element of transfer of property and assets across games, but even that was not without risks of disappointment. Your total mod will probably deny use of that route too.

Some advice though, a properly upgraded and well-armed X3:R Buster is well able to capture an isolated M3 if you get the tactics right and unless your mod has changed the gameplay too much. Alternatively, use it to capture and sell M5/M4 fighters and TSs/TPs to payroll buying and equipping a starter M3.

[Killjaeden]

Fight pirates and get them to bail out of their ships to claim them after the fight (only possible when you exit your ship as spacesuit)
Falcons are easy targets (watch out for missiles however) because they have no rear turret.

a properly upgraded and well-armed X3:R Buster is well able to capture an isolated M3 if you get the tactics right

Everything with a rear turret will be extremely dangerous and likely result in death for novice pilots. Also, X3R still has the Alpha PSG on fighters which can be extremely dangerous when approaching enemies from the front.
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Doing Piracy yourself is universally lucrative in all X3 games if you dont mind making some enemies (chose a race to pick on, two if you feel spicy). Particularly in TC and AP where there is more weapons/hightech trade routes in pirate sectors.
Get a freight scanner (pirate bases happily sell them to you, if you haven't made them your enemy yet), scan transport ships in independant/unknown/pirate sectors for wares. Shoot their shields down until you make some chinks in their hull and tell them to drop their freight (if necessary multiple times until everything is dropped).
Shoot the ship some more for the possibility to scare the pilot enough to jump out (doesnt work on everyone - pilots have morale and if its too high they dont jump out).

Pick up the wares with a tranporter and sell em.

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If you have a police license in argon territory (for example), wait at the space fuel distillery or any other place that sells illegal wares, until someone buys the wares. Scan the ship and tell them to drop it. Either they do or they go violent - which allows you to "pirate" them without penalty. Pick up the illegal ware yourself and smuggle it to the next best buyer.

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if that is not quick enough earning then i would suggest going for X3 TC or AP instead - the missions there pay prices after you've done a couple and you will have millions fairly quickly (for X beginners good, for veterans its way too easy imo).

[RAVEN.myst]

Since this is your first time playing the game, I would strongly advise playing it without any mods installed - jumping straight into a total conversion (or any mod, for that matter) before even trying out the base experience makes no sense to me (it strikes me rather like adding a ton of salt or sugar to something before the first taste - only to discover that none was needed, or perhaps it needed mustard or a dash of lemon instead...) More to the point: the campaign and the generic missions were built with the vanilla game in mind, and the difficulty levels are balanced accordingly.

My recommendation: base (vanilla) game with the Bonus Pack (some very useful extensions that have been officially approved by EgoSoft.) Incidentally, I *only* play the EgoSoft X-games in pure vanilla - I've tried a variety of mods and have always found them to corrupt the experience for me in some way (my own personal preference.) I mention this only in order to point out that it's possible to enjoy these games unmodded (not saying you necessarily will - but you won't know if you skip trying them out the way they were originally designed, yes?), that mods are not necessary to make these games enjoyable, and in fact there are some of us who prefer the unadulterated versions - who knows, this may apply to you (again, by drowning the meal in ketchup and tabasco before the first bite, you rob yourself of the opportunity to know what it actually tastes like.)


Additional: Given that you are new to the game, I would advise avoiding making unnecessary enemies at this point, until you have got a feel for the universe and the politics and such, and the implications of hostilities with various races (for instance, some equipment is only available from certain races, so antagonising them would cut off your access; also, there are alliance pairings, and if you go to war with the race allied with a race you want to stay friends with, you will make your own life rather complicated) - you have enough to worry about for the time being There's plenty of time to spice things up later, once you understand more and are more confident - you want to avoid digging yourself holes that may be hard to reverse.

Once you have gained some experience and confidence, however, the method Killjaeden outlines is, in my experience, one of the most lucrative income paths, with the added bonus of potentially getting a wide variety of ware and equipment types through your hands, allowing you (or inspiring you) to experiment with diverse options.

[Nazgren]

Where can i find easy pirates to fight? I went to Elenas Fortune which seemed to be the best spot, being connected to two pirate sectors and got annihilated by Pirate Elites which hit my shields for 20-25% and when it takes 20-25 seconds for my shields to regenerate that much its impossible to last long enough to kill them, especially when they are in a group. I have gone around basically every base in the argon systems and cant find any of the missions for stations being attacked that people seem to talk about, just numerous missions to kill a pirate base in ore belt which i cant even scratch and is guarded by about 30 pirate ships + a handful of laser towers. I have managed to find and kill at least 20 ships so far outside of story missions (including ones that i have not survived the friends of) and not seen one bail out, even following the advice i have read online of only damaging the shields, eventually there hull points trickle away and they die anyway.

[devilofbelfast]

On a budget of 200k the easiest option is not to fight if you dont have to. Buy fighter drones and light missiles and direct the battle from 15km away

[Nazgren]

Not 200k anymore, my ST has been working hard, im up to a more respectable 1.1 mil now plus a repaird buster, had to go to the borons to do it though, managed to beat the 4 barracudas guarding the argon shipyard after as they had split up so i was able to pick them off 1 by 1. I have taken to watching the pirate base in ore belt now, i was going past it earlier and saw 2 busters flying away fro mit. i destroyed the first with my opening salvo and the second bailed near immediately, leaving a 90+% buster up for grabs. Unfortunately this was my first attempt at claiming a ship and was unware you had to click a claim button under ship info and promptly faceplanted it trying to get close enough to enter it without claiming it. I am now watching it with SETA running, one eye on the base and one eye on my trader who is intermittently stopping due to no good deals, requiring me to move her along a sector to get her to start again. Shes lvl 10 and something is stopping her her from being a universal trader, will work through the list of requirements at some point, its probably because she doesn't have a weapon.

[RAVEN.myst]

Where can i find easy pirates to fight? I went to Elenas Fortune which seemed to be the best spot, being connected to two pirate sectors...

That sector is also good (also due to the pirate activity) in another way: because there are frequent skirmishes, you can hang back and watch the action, and when the smoke clears you can come and clean up dropped missiles and such, and sell them at the military outpost (Disclaimer: unless the mod you are running changes the loot dropping mechanics.)
This can help you in a longer-term, more roundabout way by financing upgrades to your ship, allowing you to be more ambitious in your combats.

I have gone around basically every base in the argon systems and cant find any of the missions for stations being attacked that people seem to talk about...

Here again, that mod may be sabotaging you, because maybe it changes the mission offer mechanisms. Those missions are considered by some to be a little cheesy because you can complete them without lifting a finger, and thus it's entirely plausible that they *may* have been taken out in total conversions that aim to increase the challenge/difficulty level of the game.

...just numerous missions to kill a pirate base in ore belt which i cant even scratch and is guarded by about 30 pirate ships + a handful of laser towers.

Despite many thousands of hours playing these games, I've never encountered such a mission, which leads me to suspect rather strongly that the mod DOES indeed change the available missions.

I have managed to find and kill at least 20 ships so far outside of story missions (including ones that i have not survived the friends of) and not seen one bail out, even following the advice i have read online of only damaging the shields, eventually there hull points trickle away and they die anyway.

Bail-outs are a numbers game: the odds are quite low, so you need to engage in lots of combat to get the occasional capture. In my experience, I've found that setting out specifically to cause bails is almost a fool's errand, as it's not worth the time and effort (unless you happen to enjoy that sort of dogfighting as your staple occupation, of course.) I get the bulk of my bails happening when I'm not going for them, but when I'm flying a corvette or larger, and my turrets persuade the occasional pilot to "plead for his life".


So, here's a completely different possible approach to consider: preparation not through strength of arms, but through economic strength. You already have a freighter, so you have a modest income stream right there. If you expand your trading capabilities, you can then invest in a stronger ship.

Spoiler

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The OTAS Solano is an excellent early-game ship - its cost is similar to the Buster, but it's compatible with up to 25MJ shields, and is faster too.

EDIT: Regarding your freighter not becoming a universal trader. Firstly, it doesn't happen automatically: you have to order the ship to start the universe trade command (make sure it's after it's sold off cargo, otherwise that cargo will sit unaccounted in the hold and not get sold, taking up space.) If the option is unavailable, then perhaps you need to put stronger shields onto that ship (I forget the exact requirements, as I haven't used STs/UTs in years - sorry.) Since your finances have improved, so have your options now. Gazing into my crystal ball, I see a stronger fighter in your future...

[Nazgren]

I know about needing to set it to become a universal trader, the button is right under the sector trader and the shields are the ones that came with it, the maximum it can have. Apparently weapons aren't a requirement and the only other thing i can think of is its lacking a jump drive which for some reason it hasnt bought itself yet, will get around to hand holding it to an equipment dock at some point. According to the wiki i can get the ship you suggested in Legend's home. If the ships in Elenas Fortune make quick work of me then somewhere that far off the beaten track is probably a futile endeavour and if it wasn't i would just go and grab one of the high end abandoned ships dotted around, hence the original question of, what ship should i buy whos shield is closer to 75 Mj then the 15 that my current ship has. It's still looking like it will be a nova simply due to how close to home it is so im just waiting on the ST to bring in the money for it and the equipment to go with it.

[Killjaeden]

I have gone around basically every base in the argon systems and cant find any of the missions for stations being attacked that people seem to talk about...

Here again, that mod may be sabotaging you, because maybe it changes the mission offer mechanisms. Those missions are considered by some to be a little cheesy because you can complete them without lifting a finger, and thus it's entirely plausible that they *may* have been taken out in total conversions that aim to increase the challenge/difficulty level of the game.

Fight missions in X3 Reunion on BBS are VERY rare (compared to TC or AP). Just because one visits every station once doesnt mean to get one. I can't remember any station defend missions in X3R actually, but may be faulty memory. I only remember assassinations.

For fighting against groups: Dont engage in the open. Lure them with a cheap missile so they follow you and dart for the nearest station. Then hide in the superstructure until they are very close and start to avoid the station. Then dart out (boost extension helps there) and pick at the ships one by one, hit and run style (quickly going back into the nooks of the station after a strike)

[RAVEN.myst]

Fight missions in X3 Reunion are VERY rare (compared to TC or AP). Just because one visits every station once doesnt mean to get one.

Yes, I just remembered we're talking Reunion here, and not the later titles... D'oh!
Most of the fight missions are assassinations, as well as the "Xenon are chasing me" taxi missions... I don't actually remember seeing any "defend station" missions in the BBS days... (but that could simply be failure on the part of my memory )

[jlehtone]

Here again, that mod may be sabotaging you, because maybe it changes the mission offer mechanisms. Those missions are considered by some to be a little cheesy because you can complete them without lifting a finger, and thus it's entirely plausible that they *may* have been taken out in total conversions that aim to increase the challenge/difficulty level of the game.


Despite many thousands of hours playing these games, I've never encountered such a mission, which leads me to suspect rather strongly that the mod DOES indeed change the available missions.

The vanilla missions in X3R are hardcoded (unline X3TC/AP). That limits how much a mod can do to them.

However, Mission Director (MD) is available for X3R. (X3TC/AP missions are implemented with MD.) Hence adding novel missions should be possible in X3R. Adding missions must affect (woeful) chances to find missions of specific type.

[Nazgren]

Those sounds about right. Much of what i read online has later proved to not apply to me due to being in Reunions. Some of it does apply due to 90% of the XTM mod becoming baseline for TC, but there are some differences, such as capitol ship boarding and some minor details on the sector layouts, such as the complete absence of the terran systems.

Can the Xenon ships that spawn for the "Xenon Army in the Argon capital sector because reasons" be bailed, claimed, etc? i can easily enough seperate them by leading them through multiple sectors and picking them off one by one but it would be pretty easy to get a mid-end tier ship very early on by leading the group into a wandering Centaur and then fighting an L off in a secluded corner. Could take a few trys but could be worth a shot if i can get confirmation? Its not an LX but its something.

[jlehtone]

"Xenon Army in the Argon capital sector because reasons"

Do you refer (A) to the vanilla XTM (Xenon Taxi Mission, where everyone can bail) or (B) to some XTM (xtended mod) mission that vanilla players know nothing about?

[Nazgren]

The Taxi ones, take someone from one station to another without dieing in the process to an army of Xenon ships.