X3R XI Mission Question

[Eternaisilence]

Hi guys, been browsing the forums for a while, havent really seen any info on this. How do you manage the xenon invasion missions once the Capitals start jump gating out after a few seconds? Ive cleared all the L's and M's multiple times until they stop jumping in but never get a mission over message and more importantly never seem to catch the capital ships. Im in a Titan myself, just got it. Are XI Missions mainly meant for M3 ships? Thanks for your time!

[andrewas]

The jumping Js will stop jumping eventually. Or you can jump to the nearby xenon sector and kill them there.

[Eternaisilence]

I have about 30 million left, is there anything that could help me with these missions? Turning in circles waiting for the flaks to catch the odd fighter or two is rather tedious, i have flaks on both sides, should i buy a set of Novas to tag along or something?

[pjknibbs]

If you really want to throw money away, yes--you'll lose quite a few Novas, and the damage they do isn't worth the effort. Why not let your Titan blow stuff up by itself and hop into a ship you can fight in yourself? XIs are SO much more fun when you're dogfighting against half a dozen Xenon Ls...

[Painman]

If you can bring an M1 to the party loaded with M3s, then the squadron tactic becomes very viable (and fun to watch from the bridge of your carrier, or you can join in).

You need a pretty buff squadron to really dominate, though... I used 20 capped/rehabilitated LX with HEPTs. The Js and Ks aren't really a big threat to the fighters -- they have crap shields and only fire PPCs.

[TTD]

My last XI took out my Mammoth and Orca. My Elelephant survived with 2 Hyperions ( one I flew ) and several Novas including my Pirate Nova. Nearly all my Busters were wiped out too,But my Osprey survived intact.

I had kitted them all out with maximum fire power.

[pjknibbs]

Maximum fire power for a TL = maybe enough to make an M5 pilot worry for a second or two. What on earth were you doing putting TLs into a fight? They're not designed for it! Bring proper capital ships next time and you won't suffer such heavy losses.

[jlehtone]

If you really want to throw money away, yes--you'll lose quite a few Novas, and the damage they do isn't worth the effort. Why not let your Titan blow stuff up by itself and hop into a ship you can fight in yourself? XIs are SO much more fun when you're dogfighting against half a dozen Xenon Ls...

Depending on the Combat rank, ie count of K's and J's, the Titan on AI may end up just as dead as a TL. Player Titan is not invulnerable, like the "helper" Titan. Anyway, Titan is slow and you want to catch the profitss.

One or two groups of M3's, (group being a Group Management System group of five ships), can help without significant losses, but only if you are there constantly watching their backs. And you can do that only in fast ship. That can actually be equally interesting as dogfighting alone. But you flying Titan ...

I do recall flying Albatross in XI. Once. Beta Flaks. Two shots and low on energy. Desperate.

One can expect up to four J's. And they deliver about then wings of ten fighters each. You can endure that much, don't you?

[TTD]

pjknibbs asked

What on earth were you doing putting TLs into a fight?

Not quite high enough rank to buy the big-cats yet. But going by what others has said about TLs,I was surprised the Elephant survived instead of the Mammoth. Never thought much of the Osprey before..Now I have a certain respect for that ship.

[pjknibbs]

I think most people say the Elephant is the most warlike TL--the Mammoth is the one you go to if you want to build lots of stations. From that point of view, one might expect the Elephant to do better. Having said that, I would have expected the Orca to do better than either, because its massive rump tends to make enemy fighters turn away to avoid hitting it before they've really had a chance to fire at it much...the more slender Elephant and Mammoth don't have that advantage.