X3:R - Best In-System Wingmen and Out-Of-System Patrol configurations

[Blown]

I'm making some excellent progress in X3:R thanks is part to LV's Bounty plugin, but I want to add some wingmen and patrols to my fleet (part for security, and part for the added bounties) what are some good starting patrols and some good wingmen? I've already got 2 Pirate Nova's, a Pirate Nova Raider (personal fighter) and the starting buster, along with a collection of M5s using a taxi script to make me money, and approx. 415,000 credits in cold hard cash at the moment. What suggestions are there?

[Kitch]

(IMO)

Best IS Wingmen fighter: Mamba Radier, considering the speed, shields and weapons they have. Or I liked Mako Vanguards too for a cheaper option - PBEs miss less and they're pretty good for M4s.

Best OOS Patrol fighter: Teladi Falcon Hauler - 200mj shields and 8 alpha HEPTs.

[Chealec]

Depends on how likely you are to run into trouble.

I "captured" Split Fire in X3:R and built a load of stations there, but of course that meant I had to deal with incursions from Brennan's Triumph... I set up a flight wing there containing an Argon Centaur (M6) and 4 Xenon LXs - that kept things pretty quiet.

The Centaur was loaded with HEPTs primarily whilst the LXs had 4 HEPTs and 4 (alpha) PACs on the front with beta PACs on the turrets (set to protect ship).

You do need to have completed the Bala-Gi missions ideally for that though so that you've got a player HQ and reverse engineered the LX (so you can build them).

Alternatively, once you've captured the Hyperion, you could reverse engineer that and build more I guess... it can annhialate just about anything it encounters included the Xenon attack wings (P, couple of LXs, couple of Ls and maybe 4 Ms) that often wander through Aladna Hill... and it can mount a really big PSG so Kha-ak clusters don't stand a chance =)

[Ravenstar]

If you do reverse engineer the Hyperion remember it will take something like 20 hours to RE then another 20 hours to build each one. Plus iirc the requirements to build them are quite extreme.

[Blown]

I had noticed that... I also noticed the cost of a Mamba Raider I haven't priced out the mako Vanguard, but I might have to find a Xenon invasion or 2 to finance either of those options... especially as PBEs are normally rare in my games.

[summon_libre]

(IMO)

Best IS Wingmen fighter: Mamba Radier, considering the speed, shields and weapons they have. Or I liked Mako Vanguards too for a cheaper option - PBEs miss less and they're pretty good for M4s.

Best OOS Patrol fighter: Teladi Falcon Hauler - 200mj shields and 8 alpha HEPTs.

200mj shields in Reuinion?.

AI can actually aim somewhat in TC, so most things work to some extent. In X3:R however you'll really be wanting some Mass Drivers and Missiles for In-sector combat. (Novas with 4x HEPT 4x MD was what I used)

The way you command them makes a huge difference too - Just tell them to 'attack all enemies' and they'll all do their own thing, not really achieve much and be picked off one by one. I found the best thing to do was have a lead ship (M6 or M3+ preferably) and have your fighters set to 'Attack Target Of...' that ship, then just order the lead ship about and it'l act like a fighter wing.

That way, they'll all focus fire on a single target and will actually return to formation when they're not shooting something. It increases their combat-effectiveness massively. It's also why Khaak Clusters are so damn deadly.

OOS in Reunion - Pretty much bigger = better. I used Ospreys for OOS patrols due to their shielding. It's very, very different in TC however so don't get too used to it.

[Kitch]

(IMO)

Best IS Wingmen fighter: Mamba Radier, considering the speed, shields and weapons they have. Or I liked Mako Vanguards too for a cheaper option - PBEs miss less and they're pretty good for M4s.

Best OOS Patrol fighter: Teladi Falcon Hauler - 200mj shields and 8 alpha HEPTs.

200mj shields in Reuinion?.

Yeah... don't you have those in your X3:R?

I of course meant 125mw

[Blown]

Mamba Raider costs over 2 Million credits!!!!

The Mako Vanguard has only 2 5Mj Shields, and can't mount PBEs...

Might just have to go with busters...

[Kitch]

Apologies... not playing X3:R right now, so having to remember stuff (poorly)

The mako is pretty good. think it might be the standard mako not the vanguard version.

If the Mambas are too much for your budget, you wont get much better than Makos.





Checked some stuff - it is the regular Mako I meant. Yes it has 1 less shield than the buster, but it carries more cargo, is faster and mounts PBEs (which IMO are the real clincher - AI fighters missed far too much even with PACs for my liking.)

Though to be honest, IS wingmen weren't all that brilliant regardless of what ship I put them in. Almost certainley not worth the expense unless you're rolling in credits and desperate to spend some.

[Geek]

Best OOS patrol ship is the Split Elephant. Yes, it is a TL, but it is fast and can mount BPPC, which shred smaller ships to pieces in X3R . The M7 is worse because GJ shields take forever to recharge.

Best IS wingmen is the LX, fully shielded and armed with PAC (avoid LPHE as the AI has aiming troubles with slow weapons). This ship can survive incredible odds and poor AI design.

[jlehtone]

OOS depends on the enemies.

• Single M6 survives Kha'ak Cluster, and small Pirate groups.
• ... but Dragon does not have statistically enough shields, and Osprey is slow/expensive.
• TL Elephant is indeed faster and stronger than suitable M6. But more expensive and not needed everywhere.
• M7 Hyperion has weaker guns than Ele, but can survive hits that would kill Ele. Shield recharge is issue only under continuous assault. Has to be built, so not an en masse solution.
• M1 Raptor has a price tag, but can stop a Xenon P patrol quite reliably. (ie loses no more than 3G of shielding per encounter. Usually.)

With given budget ... do not send ships to OOS duty.


IS:

• Do not use "wingmen". Set up independent "groups" to attack the enemy on their own, and then go to save their six. They will provide diversion, you will do the killing. See the Group Management System (included in Bonuspack).
• Strong shields and weak guns is better than the other way around.
• PBE or PAC and Wasps. Suppressive fire and distraction. But PBE do cost a lot, so losing such ship is not nice.
• Plain Mako and Xenon M can mount PBE, but both suffer from weak laser generator. Not so bad on AI though. And the price is right with Xenon (if you know how to buy).

[Blown]

Having seen the prices of every listed option, I'll take the advice, and build my empire first.

At what point did you guys start your own patrols? What did you use? Where did you find they did the most good?