Is it possible to loot jumpdrives from ships?

klacoste · Post by **klacoste** » Tue, 25. Oct 11, 16:19

I'm roleplaying in X3TC as a Teladi privateer and procuring ships and wares from the other races, except the Argon. Unfortunately the Teladi don't sell jumpdrives so is it possible to loot them off ships? I still have a tolerable relationship with the Argon, Terracorp and OTAS but only because they sell jumpdrives and it's really cramping my roleplaying.

edit: oh wow, didn't realise I registered back in 2004!!! 2nd post haha.

BDK · Post by **BDK** » Tue, 25. Oct 11, 16:26

Not in TC as far as I know, unless of course you capture the whole ship.

jlehtone · Post by **jlehtone** » Tue, 25. Oct 11, 16:27

I'd presume that there is tiny chance for NPC ship to carry upgrade like JumpDrive and therefore infinitesimal possibility to commandeer a ship with intact equipment. IIRC, it has happened to some player in some game. (Hearsay.)

avidkaos999 · Post by **avidkaos999** » Tue, 25. Oct 11, 16:46

I've capture both a Split Elephant and an OTAS in my current vanilla X3TC game, both came with jumpdrives. They was in fact marine boarding targets of course, so unknown if you can cap them from bailing pilots.

eldyranx3 · Post by **eldyranx3** » Tue, 25. Oct 11, 17:34

It took me almost twelve hours to cap an intact jumpdrive off a Teladi Miner in rules similar to yours. Possible. BUT MAN it was very frustrating.

Post by **Nanook** » Tue, 25. Oct 11, 18:25

jlehtone wrote:I'd presume that there is tiny chance for NPC ship to carry upgrade like JumpDrive and therefore infinitesimal possibility to commandeer a ship with intact equipment. IIRC, it has happened to some player in some game. (Hearsay.)

More than 'tiny'.

A lot of NPC's actually carry them, but getting them to bail, and then getting lucky enough to have the jumpdrive survive the normal equipment destruction, is the real challenge.

Two ways to go about it. One is to scan and attack every jumpdrive-equipped ship you see and hope one bails with the JD intact. The other is to save/reload until you get the pilot to bail and the JD to survive. Either method is very time consuming, but definitely doable.

I've played pirate games similar to the OP and have always managed to acquire a few JD's that way. However, once you get into boarding big ships, most of them seem to come with JD's, and also seem to leave them on board more often than bailed ships.

VincentTH · Post by **VincentTH** » Tue, 25. Oct 11, 19:55

Nanook wrote:
jlehtone wrote:I'd presume that there is tiny chance for NPC ship to carry upgrade like JumpDrive and therefore infinitesimal possibility to commandeer a ship with intact equipment. IIRC, it has happened to some player in some game. (Hearsay.)
More than 'tiny'. A lot of NPC's actually carry them, but getting them to bail, and then getting lucky enough to have the jumpdrive survive the normal equipment destruction, is the real challenge.

Two ways to go about it. One is to scan and attack every jumpdrive-equipped ship you see and hope one bails with the JD intact. The other is to save/reload until you get the pilot to bail and the JD to survive. Either method is very time consuming, but definitely doable.

I've played pirate games similar to the OP and have always managed to acquire a few JD's that way. However, once you get into boarding big ships, most of them seem to come with JD's, and also seem to leave them on board more often than bailed ships.

I remember in X3R or X2, there was a Khaak start, and you cannot buy a jump drive nor a Transporter device from the Gonner. Boy, I capped like hundreds of ships (bailing only in those days) before I got my hand on a jump drive.

Kirlack · Post by **Kirlack** » Tue, 25. Oct 11, 20:04

Wasn't the Khaak start part of the X-Tended mod?

There was a Khaak home sector out past the Split sector 'Kao's Mistake', pretty sure that's where it started out.

On topic, i've captured a lot of capitals with intact jumpdrives, but i tend to find M8s and TM's are the most likely of the smaller ships to get one on.

A5PECT · Post by **A5PECT** » Tue, 25. Oct 11, 20:04

Another trick is to start a sector trader. As soon as it hits level 10 convert it into a universal trader, and a few levels after that it will automatically buy itself a jump drive from... the depths of space I guess. It doesn't matter what your reputation with the jump drive-peddling races is, one spontaneously appears in the UT's ship after reaching a certain level (I think it's around 12).

You can lift the newly-acquired drive off of your UT, and a few trade runs later it will pick itself up a new one (in the same inexplicable manner as before).

eldyranx3 · Post by **eldyranx3** » Tue, 25. Oct 11, 20:05

KloHunt3r wrote:You can lift the newly-acquired drive off of your UT, and a few trade runs later it will pick itself up a new one (in the same inexplicable manner as before).

But it may go against the implicit rules set by the OP.

VincentTH · Post by **VincentTH** » Tue, 25. Oct 11, 20:24

Kirlack wrote:Wasn't the Khaak start part of the X-Tended mod?

There was a Khaak home sector out past the Split sector 'Kao's Mistake', pretty sure that's where it started out.

On topic, i've captured a lot of capitals with intact jumpdrives, but i tend to find M8s and TM's are the most likely of the smaller ships to get one on.

No, the Khaak start is a vanilla start, that was removed in later releases of the X game. You would start with a Fighter and 5 Scouts in IIRC Pontifex Realm. Reaching the pirate base in Priest Pity (where you can dock and save) is a trip full of peril and sorrow...

greypanther · Post by **greypanther** » Tue, 25. Oct 11, 20:40

Just which game was the Khaak start in? Reunion I assume, if so a reason to get that game. I love the Khaak!

VincentTH · Post by **VincentTH** » Tue, 25. Oct 11, 21:02

greypanther wrote:Just which game was the Khaak start in? Reunion I assume, if so a reason to get that game. I love the Khaak!

I believe it's X3R, because X2 starts only differ in Difficulty (Ship, Equipment and Cash).

Post by **Nanook** » Wed, 26. Oct 11, 18:32

VincentTH wrote:....
No, the Khaak start is a vanilla start, that was removed in later releases of the X game. You would start with a Fighter and 5 Scouts in IIRC Pontifex Realm....

It was a random selection of sectors. I started in President's End more than once.

Flozem · Post by **Flozem** » Wed, 26. Oct 11, 18:40

I had TS transports and the odd M3 bail with intact JD... you just require some luck...

heratik · Post by **heratik** » Wed, 26. Oct 11, 19:14

I have a similar start to yours, Teladi privateer with Teladi/Pirate/Yaki only trading.

The way I got jumpdrives was to straight away get some marines bought and training and then go and capture M6s, reload on the core till you get a Jumpdrive.

It's frustrating, but makes the roleplay a lot more rewarding when you get your first one

Palladin888 · Post by **Palladin888** » Wed, 26. Oct 11, 21:59

avidkaos999 wrote:I've capture both a Split Elephant and an OTAS in my current vanilla X3TC game, both came with jumpdrives. They was in fact marine boarding targets of course, so unknown if you can cap them from bailing pilots.

Only smaller ships will bail.

as the faq explains

http://www.egosoft.com/support/faq/faq_ ... &version=9

Shogouki · Post by **Shogouki** » Wed, 26. Oct 11, 22:14

I actually got my first jumprdrive from a bomber that the pilot bailed from.

AgamemnonArgon · Post by **AgamemnonArgon** » Wed, 26. Oct 11, 23:12

It would take less effort to either capture several ships and sell them to buy what is needed or just run a Taxi service.