A Very Interesting Cap

General discussions about the games by Egosoft including X-BTF, XT, X², X³: Reunion, X³: Terran Conflict and X³: Albion Prelude.

Moderator: Moderators for English X Forum

Bill Huntington
Posts: 2493
Joined: Mon, 2. Feb 09, 17:34
x3tc

A Very Interesting Cap

Post by Bill Huntington » Sat, 16. Jul 11, 22:06

I just had a very interesting cap. I’ll pass it on because it illustrates a number of things which could possibly benefit the newer pilots.

I just finished the HUB plot at 7.5 game hours thanks to the new software, using CLS and mobile mining. As the HUB plot is ending, I get my marines back from training, 15 of them. They are 3 x 100 in the three categories. I started with mostly 3 star in fighting marines, so I should only need about 3 or 4 missions involving an M7, to get them to 100 in fighting. Those 3 or 4 missions are hard to come by, so I try to get 3 star in fighting marines in the beginning.

I get a Stolen Ship mission for an M7 Thresher, so I draft the Tiger for support duty. He gives the Thresher 3 overcharged IBL blasts. This actually gets into the hull, about 82%. The marines are ready and close by in the Sirokos. But the Thresher pilot bails, leaving me the ship. The marines came to board, so I have them board the now abandoned ship. When the pilot bailed, the shields stayed in the ship. So the shields are coming up from zero on the abandoned ship. I’m in the Siro, and I’m close. So I bump the target until the shields are zero, and launch 3 pods with 15 marines. They take the ship and each gains 6 to 9 experience points.

Then I return the ship (after a SY repair visit). Since it is an M7, I have to return it outside the station, about 1 – 2 km away. I am ready for instant response, once I press the key for Relinquish Control. I press the key, get paid and thanked for the mission. And then launch marines, as the target is already moving away. I returned the ship without shields, so I don’t have to lower shields at all. I got the Thresher again. I transferred marines, and jumped it to a SY as fast as possible. The police seem to show up faster on these missions. I sold the Thresher for $24 Mil, and my marines got 2 training opportunities on the same mission.

One more mission for the boys and girls and then I’m ready to start on the big ones!
Bill in S.F., enjoying the game

User avatar
TTD
Posts: 11165
Joined: Sun, 6. Jul 08, 10:29
x4

Post by TTD » Sat, 16. Jul 11, 22:15

Interesting.

I wish I could get paid twice for the work I do in real life :lol:

PLX
Posts: 137
Joined: Fri, 25. Jun 10, 11:01

Post by PLX » Sat, 16. Jul 11, 23:17

Interesting and requires some skill too (changing ships during boarding op). Why don't you use flail/hammer capable M7M like Cobra? Sirokos is superb to send 21 marines on boarding, but why use it when you can use Cobra?
In how many hours have you completed HUB plot? Fully completed, with that ton of chips too?
Btw, I like another marines training opportunity: capturing stadiums and big medical ships — civilian TLs. Because there cannot be to many TLs :) and they don't shoot back.
Last edited by PLX on Sat, 16. Jul 11, 23:20, edited 1 time in total.

Rhox
Posts: 1304
Joined: Mon, 7. Sep 09, 18:40
x4

Post by Rhox » Sat, 16. Jul 11, 23:20

PLX wrote:Interesting and requires some skill too (changing ships during boarding op). Why don't you use flail/hammer capable M7M like Cobra? Sirokos is superb to send 21 marines on boarding, but why use it when you can use Cobra?
When boarding Xenon ships, you won't go very far if you only use 20 Marines, even if they're fully trained Elites. I guess some players just fall into the habit of always using 21 Marines...

best regards,

Rhox
"Warnung: Frachtraum ist.....Frachtraum enthält nun: Khaak Zerstörer" -"Cool!"

http://www.seizewell.de - die ultimative deutsche Ressource zur X-Reihe
http://www.x-lexikon.xibo.at -ein deutsches Wiki zur X-Reihe

Turiko
Posts: 184
Joined: Tue, 28. Jul 09, 20:55

Post by Turiko » Sat, 16. Jul 11, 23:32

Slightly offtopic but how did you get the boron rank high enough to start hub in such a short timespan? I'm much farther in and struggling to get it started :(

PLX
Posts: 137
Joined: Fri, 25. Jun 10, 11:01

Post by PLX » Sat, 16. Jul 11, 23:35

Rhox wrote: When boarding Xenon ships, you won't go very far if you only use 20 Marines, even if they're fully trained Elites. I guess some players just fall into the habit of always using 21 Marines...
Yes, those Xenon are tough to board. It is easy to have a dedicated Cobra manned with 6 elite marines for hunting P/PX — that's what I occasionally do. But boarding with Sirokos and other ship to strip shields doesn't look to comfortable? Or maybe it only looks that bad?
Turiko wrote:Slightly offtopic but how did you get the boron rank high enough to start hub in such a short timespan?
Right, we want explanation of that odd seven dot five number.

User avatar
EmperorJon
Posts: 9378
Joined: Mon, 29. Dec 08, 20:58
x3tc

Post by EmperorJon » Sat, 16. Jul 11, 23:56

HUB plot in 7.5 hours!? :?
______
I'm Jon. I'm mostly not around any more. If you want to talk, please message me! It's cool.
______

User avatar
TTD
Posts: 11165
Joined: Sun, 6. Jul 08, 10:29
x4

Post by TTD » Sat, 16. Jul 11, 23:58

EmperorJon wrote:HUB plot in 7.5 hours!? :?
I spotted that too.

Must be a record :!:

Bill Huntington
Posts: 2493
Joined: Mon, 2. Feb 09, 17:34
x3tc

Response

Post by Bill Huntington » Sun, 17. Jul 11, 00:04

PLX, yes, it was a little less than 7.5 hours showing in game time when I got the Congrats in Kingdom End. I wasn't especially trying for a good time, since I was doing other things. I completed the Terran, Goner and Soduku plots first and gathered marines, for example.

Hammer and Flails is one way to do boarding. I use the Siro with a support ship to lower the shields. Now I'm using the Hype and the Tiger. Later it'll be a Boreas until I get the first Tyr. That first Tyr will be my boarding partner from then on.

I use the Siro for its speed of 111, the fastest of the M7Ms. I only use 10 marines 4 x100 to cap anything in TC, except Xenon.

There is a third method for capping, which the Siro is very good at. If a ship has less shields than the Siro ( 3 x 1GJ), the Siro can simply ram it, as many times as it takes to reduce shields to 0. Then it can launch pods from very close ( 1 to 20 m, yes meters, not km). Then the pods aren't shot down by the target.

Most of the time, with the support ship firing overcharged shots or the Siro ramming, the target is blue, so the first two pods make contact before the target is shooting. And 10 marines, 4 x 100, is enough.

My goal from the beginning is to be able to cap Tyrs. A couple of Skirnirs and Atmos are not bad either. My method works just fine for taking a Tyr out of its big escort group. I figured this out because it seemed like a very hard thing to use Hammer and Flails on a Tyr with its full escort group around. Hammers and Flails turn the Tyr red, and its escorts will turn red quickly too, I believe. Then the red escorts will attack your new Tyr, unless you are right there. And it is hard to be there with the red Tyr and the red escorts.

After I launch pods on the Tyr, I use the Unfocused Jump and leave the sector, most of the time before the target even turns red. So the escort is not red, and doesn't attack the Tyr when the marines have taken it. I come back from Neverland and just transfer marines and jump out my new Tyr. And on to the next.

Thanks for your response, PLX.
Bill in S.F., enjoying the game

User avatar
Flozem
Posts: 909
Joined: Fri, 6. Feb 09, 19:54
x3tc

Post by Flozem » Sun, 17. Jul 11, 00:05

Yeah - 7.5 days would already rank pretty fast in the charts.... I strife to complete the plot after 8 days this run. :roll:

How did you collect 40k microchips and complete HUB, Terran and Goner plots after 7.5 game hours? Setting up a complex big enough to supply the HUB requirements alone may take up to 2 days.

Bill Huntington
Posts: 2493
Joined: Mon, 2. Feb 09, 17:34
x3tc

Post by Bill Huntington » Sun, 17. Jul 11, 00:26

I started the Poisoned Paranid start. That overtuned Hype is hard to pass up. In this game, I did a lot of capping initially, of the red Paranid ships and also the red pirates. I had $85 Mil before I turned in the $25 for the Hype. I also had top rank for everything except the Paranid. I think when you turn in, they reset your time to 1 game day or so. I noticed something, but can't remember exactly. I turned in the $25 mil with 1 day left, having used 2 days.

Once you start doing missions for a race, the gains come pretty fast. As soon as I had an extra $17 Mil, I bought an Elephant. Doing build missions increases your rank rating faster than anything else I've seen. Taxi missions are pretty fast and good earners, too.

I just started with CLS and mobile mining Ore and Silicon in this game. I think it wouldn't be too hard to shave a few more hours off this total. In previous games, I usually finished the HUB in 10 hours or so.
Bill in S.F., enjoying the game

Greyhawk1
Posts: 5331
Joined: Mon, 22. Mar 04, 20:21
x3tc

Post by Greyhawk1 » Sun, 17. Jul 11, 01:12

How did you get the marines trained in 7.5 hours? It takes longer to train marines than it does to raise and lower mountain ranges and thats just for one star...

Bill Huntington
Posts: 2493
Joined: Mon, 2. Feb 09, 17:34
x3tc

Marine training

Post by Bill Huntington » Sun, 17. Jul 11, 01:45

Greyhawk1, thanks for the reply! After I gather 3 star or better in fighting marines, I train them in one central spot. I gather from every source: Military Outpost, Rehab, Pirate Station, Terran Scabbards. To start the training, I get all three numbers close. If hacking is the lowest, I do a quick training of that one item. When all three item are within 2 or 3, I start the full training. It is also cheaper, and maybe faster to do it at the beginning.

From the advice on this Forum, it appears that Normal and Advanced training happens at the same rate as Quick. That is, Normal is 3 x Quick, and Advanced is 5 x Quick. Normal or Advanced can even take slightly longer, as something is added randomly. But it is probably still faster than the waiting for you to get to it. So I give Advanced training for all until it's past 50%, then give Normal. Past 80%, I just give quick. Doing it like this means that very little training time is wasted. If one item is 98 or 99%, I might include that one is the fight training, and finish the small item later.

I hope this helps.
Bill in S.F., enjoying the game

Greyhawk1
Posts: 5331
Joined: Mon, 22. Mar 04, 20:21
x3tc

Post by Greyhawk1 » Sun, 17. Jul 11, 03:27

Hmm in my game just about every available Marine had as much fighting ability as the Sesame Street People's Army. I think I found two marines with more than 2 stars.

I'm 7 days in and the best I have is 2 four star marines. The rest are three or worst although I didnt get them all at once and some are the godawful layabouts you get in the Terran plot.

Not that it matters since I've failed every boarding attempt outside of the plot since the game came out. Just tried again about 5 minutes ago...6 attempts and all had my target killed by the sector patrols before my TP was even close :\

I usually fail to launch marines, marines fail to find their target, sector patrols kill the target before the marines get there, marines all die in the target if by some miracle they get to it, marines arrive piecemeal and are wiped out, I ram the target or it rams me....

After 7.5 hours I have maybe one fab and three ships at best...I cannot conceive of finishing the Hub in that time. I cannot conceive of even being in a position to start it even....

That has to be easily orders of magnitude faster than anyone else. /boggle

Bill Huntington
Posts: 2493
Joined: Mon, 2. Feb 09, 17:34
x3tc

Thanks.

Post by Bill Huntington » Sun, 17. Jul 11, 04:31

Greyhawk1, I've had one game out of many with less than 15 3-star in fighting marines. They do happen. But have you explored early and checked everywhere? There are the Military Outposts in the same place everytime. The Rehabs can be different. Now they don't start with 70, so you have to check back. There is usually the Pirate base in Acquisition that is 120 km away and has Marines. Vestibule and Veil usually have Rehabs. You have to get there before the major races wipe them out. And it pays to turn all of Loom blue and take out all the leftover red LTs, and get the marines from that Rehab.

Some advise to just start capping with low grade marines. That can work, but it can also be frustrating. If you use well trained marines and boarding pods, you can be sure of success. And practicing with marines on Abandoned ship missions is the easy way to get fight training. Spacewalking is just plain difficult now, and those who do it have to reload many times.

Thanks for the post, and Good Luck with Boarding!
Bill in S.F., enjoying the game

vr01
Posts: 1250
Joined: Sun, 10. Sep 06, 00:01
x4

Post by vr01 » Sun, 17. Jul 11, 04:43

Bill to solve the confusion when you talk about completing the HUB in 7.5 hours do you mean the following:

1. Completed the HUB 7.5 game hours after accepting the mission. (Which I consider to be most likely).

2. Completed the HUB 7.5 game hours after starting the game. (I consider this most unlikely but it may be possible with some of the exploits that have been brought to light recently.)

User avatar
MarvinTheMartian
Posts: 1561
Joined: Wed, 5. May 04, 19:52
x4

Post by MarvinTheMartian » Sun, 17. Jul 11, 04:47

Hi Bill. I have to ask, and I don't mean to be rude, are you sure it was 7.5 hours and not days at least? or are you running a mod that changes the requirements? even if you were able to build enough chip plants in the first 5 minutes of your game you'd need 1,000 of them to produce 75,000 microchips in 7.5 hours.

Good tip on the boarding stolen ships anyway, I have yet to board a ship that doesn't turn red before I board and have never even been able to apologise either.
Where's the kaboom? There was supposed to be an earth-shattering kaboom!
X3AP 3.1 Printable Universe Sector Map

Bill Huntington
Posts: 2493
Joined: Mon, 2. Feb 09, 17:34
x3tc

Apology

Post by Bill Huntington » Sun, 17. Jul 11, 05:16

I feel like an idiot! Sorry folks!

The current time on my latest save is 8 - 01:14 .

I read that as hours. As vr01 and Marvin the Martian raised the question, that must be days. TC doesn't really say days or hours, except early in the PP plot. I never thought about it much, which is my mistake.

These were my fastest times for the HUB and for having my marines ready, in any case. And I'm Vanilla, all the way.

I do feel like an idiot. Again, sorry.
Bill in S.F., enjoying the game

User avatar
T.S.Zatoichi
Posts: 1078
Joined: Thu, 11. Jun 09, 04:42
x3tc

Post by T.S.Zatoichi » Sun, 17. Jul 11, 07:23

7.5 days is still fast, Bill.

I've been playing this game off and on for 2 years now, and only completed The Hub once.
"I'm shocked! Shocked to learn that there is gambling going on in here!"
"Your winnings, sir."
"Oh! Thank you very much."

drkpendragon
Posts: 79
Joined: Sun, 3. Jul 11, 09:29

Post by drkpendragon » Sun, 17. Jul 11, 07:28

Damn, I wish I could finish HUB that quickly. I'm just so sick of building complexes now that I end up just turning the game off after a few hours. Building complexes is the thing I hate the most in this game, yet I'm forced to do it in order to get the PHQ and HUB.

All I really want to do is start building something of a military.

Post Reply

Return to “X Trilogy Universe”