Fighting Paranid and Capping Ships

PCgamingelitist · Post by **PCgamingelitist** » Fri, 10. Dec 10, 01:09

So, I encountered a particularly large Paranid raiding party in Argon space and I was wondering about knocking it out. I'm relatively new to the game and haven't started any plots or interacted with the Paranid in any way. Up to this point in time I have only been fighting the pirates, Kha'ak, and Xenon. Also on a unrelated note: I noticed that when I cap ships the Argon for some reason send a Cerberus after me, and I was wondering if there was any way I could capture ships without consequences, other than selling them immediately, because up to this point I have been loading every time a ship bailed out.

Kirlack · Post by **Kirlack** » Fri, 10. Dec 10, 01:17

Without more details on your game tips will be hard to come by

What ship are you fying, how well kitted out is it, how big is the Paranid fleet and what does it consist of?

If you're attacking Argon ships (which includes all ships belonging to Terracorp, Plutarch or Jonferco) or you're attacking Boron/Teladi....possibly Slit ships in Argon sectors the local police will try to put a stop to it pretty sharpish.

Attacking Paranid in Argon space (or vice versa) or Split in Boron space (again, or vice versa) you will be ok, since the Argon and Paranid hate each other almost as much as the Boron and the Split.

Snafu_X3 · Post by **Snafu_X3** » Fri, 10. Dec 10, 02:22

Which game are you playing? X2, X3:Reunion or X3: Terran Conflict? or before? Each game is an individual entity - they are not 'follow-ons' except in terms of plot &/or history, so they play differently depending upon which one you choose

PCgamingelitist · Post by **PCgamingelitist** » Fri, 10. Dec 10, 02:32

The Paranids I want to attack are shooting at Argon stations, hence why I want to attack them, if they just left the Argons alone I would be ok with them. The Paranid fleet in question is waaaay out of my league, but I am very persistent and with enough time I know I can beat them (and might level my CR in the process). I was more worried with repercussions of becoming enemies with the Paranid. I was also wondering about being able to cap ships, because they surrender alot and I can either load or sell them before the Argon government finds out. As this is annoying, I was hoping there was a work around (it would also be nice to be able to get new ships that way). Thanks in advance.

PCgamingelitist · Post by **PCgamingelitist** » Fri, 10. Dec 10, 02:34

I am playing X3TC.

Whisperer · Post by **Whisperer** » Fri, 10. Dec 10, 02:49

ne reprecussions in killing paranid in argon space, you might even get a patting on the shoulder and some rank from the argon.

I say wast them. Just don't let it drop to far couse at spome point in the game you might want to recover your rank (even if it's only for a short time) to be able to buy a tractorbeam, or possibly a tractor beam factory. The paranid are the only ones that sell this ware and it's a musthave ateron when you need to houl your mines around the sector when you are setting up a complex or 2, or 3, or 4.....

Stil, anialating on the odd raiding party on occation won't hurt you to much. Build them a couple stations afterwards and all's good.

Smacksim · Post by **Smacksim** » Fri, 10. Dec 10, 05:22

Sounds like you're not quite capping ships with the impunity you desire. It is best to cap ships away from their home territory, either in pirate alley or in an enemy race's turf. You sill lose reputation with the race you capture from, but it is significantly less damaging, and no big-bad police will turn red on you and hunt you down.

That said, you can often get away with a bit of fighting here and there, but you have to learn when to back off. If local military turns hostile to you and you cannot apologize, you've probably gone too far, unless they are already your enemies.

You can always recover reputation, no matter how badly you damage it, but it really is best to avoid the very lowest enemy rank. At that level it is slow going to recover (Rank -3).

I say go try to whack the Paranid right away and test your piloting skills. If they kill you, perhaps you'll be motivated to take the war to them in the future. And if you somehow survive, you'll very likely earn reputation with the local Argon. Win Win.

PCgamingelitist · Post by **PCgamingelitist** » Fri, 10. Dec 10, 06:15

I have a few more questions. First, I actually had the police turn hostile on me when I capped a couple of pirate Fujin's that spawned as part of a mission, so I was wondering why the police turned hostile whenever I capped ANY ship and how I can avoid that. Second, I was wondering what rank the Paranid would become hostile on sight, so I could avoid that. And third, I was wondering if there was anything other than tractor beams that I would miss when I attacked the Paranid. Thanks for the help thus far. It has been very useful.

jwigeland · Post by **jwigeland** » Fri, 10. Dec 10, 06:22

Okay, the argon police could not have been mad at you for capping the Fujins. Most likely this was part of a station defense mission, yes? I suspect some errant fire hit the station or another friendly and that's what got the cops annoyed with you.

You have to get pretty far down in rank before you become shoot on sight but be fore-warned that taking out capital ships drops your reputation but fast! If you want to cheese it, shoot until they're nearly dead and then ram them to death (I'm assuming you're in something big yourself). You loose less reputation for a traffic accident.

If you make enemies of the paranid you won't be able to buy tractor beams, phased shockwave generators (that only paranid capitals can use), and it gets riskier to capture a Hyperion Vanguard.

garv222 · Post by **garv222** » Fri, 10. Dec 10, 06:49

I'm going to assume you're in a m6 at best, but chances are you're probably in a fighter of some sort. If said paranid fleet a swarm of fighters and maybe a m6(corvette) or two, you could theoretically pick them off one by one with the local military/police.

If there is a carrier or destroyer in there(M1 or M2), I wouldn't suggest going near those ships though. Dealing the finishing blow to any capital ship of a race effectively drops your rank to 0 AFAIK and makes you unable to enter core sectors without being shot on sight.

I'm not sure ramming works if the ship is already hostile to you, but ramming the ship while it's still blue might be ok. All I know is in my 3.0 game, once ships are red and I ram them I get major rep hits.

Smacksim · Post by **Smacksim** » Fri, 10. Dec 10, 08:49

Just to reiterate: Dropping to Rank 0 or even Rank -1 is unpleasant, but quite simple to repair (do missions). Its the lowest ranks that are quagmires to recover from: 1% rank increase per TS-of-enemy killed.

Snafu_X3 · Post by **Snafu_X3** » Fri, 10. Dec 10, 16:36

Docking computers (an extremely useful bit of kit) can be found in a few other stations than Paranid space, but it's easiest to get them from Paranid EQDs, especially if you haven't yet explored very far from Argon Prime

PCgamingelitist · Post by **PCgamingelitist** » Sat, 11. Dec 10, 02:25

Ok, so get docking computers, and a tractor beam before I attack the Paranid fleet, because they will definitely turn hostile because of this. I don't really have any capital ships, so I am not sure about the phased shockwave generators. On a semi-related note, I am beginning to think that the hostile Cerberus after I took the Fujin's was a glitch because I actually radioed it and apologized to it. It accepted and turned friendly for a few seconds then turned back hostile. Eventually it caught up to the damaged, unarmed Fujin's that I captured mere minutes ago and destroyed them, at which point I radioed and apologized again, the Cerberus accepted and turned back friendly permanently. Then I loaded after a bit and then quickly sold the Fujin's and waited a few minutes with SETA on, the Cerberus never showed up and there was no long term consequences. I bothered to take a look at the ship ID of the Cerberus that was attacking the Fujin's and I eventually found it later and it was non-hostile. I didn't have the Fujin's with me and it didn't attack. I am kind of at a loss as to what that is, it was like the Argons were determined to destroy my Fujin's and only hostile with me by proxy. Any theories on what caused this and how to avoid it? Thanks for the help thus far.

Snafu_X3 · Post by **Snafu_X3** » Sat, 11. Dec 10, 02:36

I suspect if you fly Out of Sector (OOS) & go exploring for a bit your Paranid problem will be resolved for you at no loss of Paranid rep to you - unless you're determined to kill them personally, of course

PCgamingelitist · Post by **PCgamingelitist** » Sat, 11. Dec 10, 06:52

Thanks for the advice, however the Paranid fleet is in the sector Home of Light attacking Terracorp HQ and a few other buildings that I rely on for resources. The fleet actually consists of an M1, an M2, an M7, several M6's, and dozens of fighters, so it can do some serious damage to the sector. I actually pulled up next to the ships and put on SETA, waiting for the Capital ships to pour out of the gate to Argon Prime in the north of the sector and commence a massive space battle to repel the Paranid. However it never happened. A few border patrol Novas came upon it and were instantly destroyed, meanwhile the Paranid fleet wasted an ammunition factory. Eventually I got worried and went up into Argon Prime to see if they were amassing a fleet or something, however it seemed to be business as usual, the only capital ship there was Argon One, and it was just patrolling Argon Prime. Again a bit of SETA and after awhile nothing happened, so I went back to Home of Light and the Paranid fleet was still flying around attacking stations with impunity. So I loaded. I would rather the Argon fleet repel the invaders, but it certainly seems that they have no intention to. I am left with a simple decision: watch Terracorp and the rest of the stations in Home of Light that I rely on be razed by the Paranid, or destroy the invaders. I am going to attack the Paranid fleet, unless there is some other way to stop them, and I was just wondering if there was anything I should run over to Paranid space and get before attacking them (other than the docking computers and a tractor beam, I am not really sure about the phased shockwave generators). Also, finding out what was up with that Cerberus would be nice, but it's not really related. Sorry about being unclear at first, I hope this clears things up.

Eternall_00 · Post by **Eternall_00** » Sat, 11. Dec 10, 07:04

You can get docking computers from captured paranid frieghters quite often, but tractor beams are pretty much non-existant when waring with Paranid. You might find them on high-tech traders or weapons dealers, but I don't recall ever seeing them as frieght.

Cheapest way to kill cap ships is with a M8 if you can buy one, or capture one (they bail), though tomahawks are a bit scarce without your own factory pumping them out. One M8 + 100ish tomahawks would end that fight quickly.

Kirlack · Post by **Kirlack** » Sat, 11. Dec 10, 09:32

Eternall_00 wrote:You can get docking computers from captured paranid frieghters quite often, but tractor beams are pretty much non-existant when waring with Paranid. You might find them on high-tech traders or weapons dealers, but I don't recall ever seeing them as frieght.

Can you not buy a docking computer from OTAS HQ? Or possibly Jonferco?

I recently found 7 Tractor Beams in the hold of a Paranid High Tech Trader, after a few shots from my PBEs he agreed to give 'em up. I only needed one, so I sold the other six for ~5million credits (the Paranid hate me, and that's fine by me :-p ).

Triaxx2 · Post by **Triaxx2** » Sat, 11. Dec 10, 14:48

If the TB fabs have some in stock when you toast them, they may drop them. N-S showed it possible with Boarding Pods, and I've seen it with resources so...

TBV · Post by **TBV** » Sat, 11. Dec 10, 16:16

@PCgamingelitist

Dealing with the 3-eyes

I offer this video not as a suggestion for you try (might want to get more familiar with the game first), but to show you what is possible if you
experiment a bit.

PCgamingelitist · Post by **PCgamingelitist** » Sun, 12. Dec 10, 01:07

Thanks for the video, TBV, it was truly spectacular and it may come in handy. Ok, so I am just about ready to attack the Paranids, I gather that my first plan of action should be to run through the only Paranid sector I know (Emperor Mines) and then perhaps quickly check adjacent sectors as I explore them for an equipment dock to buy docking comps and tractor beams. If I don't have enough rep to buy the tractor beams i gather you can get them by shooting at factories and attacking Paranid transporters later. I don't know if I can get phased shockwave generators another way of if I even will need them later, advice on that would be nice. I'd hate to get on bad terms with the Paranid fleet, and then go on to build that Tomahawk missile complex I was planning on building in Cloudbase South East, only to discover that I need something more from the Paranid, which will no longer be on friendly terms with me. Any last minute advice to prevent future problems?

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Fighting Paranid and Capping Ships

Fighting Paranid and Capping Ships