[X3R] Kha'ak Destroyers pillaging my universe.. Help

[Dicemanx]

Patch: Latest one, (2.5 I think)
Bonus Pack: Installed
No other mods or scripts

I started playing X3R recently, currently a little over 6 days played game time. I finished the Bala Gi mission yesterday, got excited about the M7 Yacht and killed Xenon Ks and Js all day each time my shield would recharge to full. As a result my combat rank went up to Assassin and now the Kha'ak are spawning destroyers instead of clusters! I just happened to be in a sector at the end of a mission and I saw 2 destroyers + 1 cluster roaming around killing everything in sight. There seems to be nothing I can do about it. They toast my M7 before I even get close, and I don't have the funds for buying a M2. I only have a couple of small complexes with 4-5 factories in each, one Hyperion, one Medusa, one Elephant and a couple of M3s.

So my question is, is there a way to kill them which Im ignorant of, or should I just let this sector die off and hope they dont take too many other sectors? Or maybe I should re start a new game and set up a proper financial empire before raising my combat rank?

PS: I only saw this sector getting raped by chance, isn't there any notification system or something when entire sectors are getting wiped?

[jlehtone]

The infamous Kha'ak Invasion. They usually show up in two (random) sectors couple days from the start. If they spawn in sector that has stronger defences, they get wiped out sooner or later. This invasion was introduced in early patch to X3R and back then they were brutal: entire empires got wiped overnight. What you witness is tame and harmless.

Use this as learning opportunity; as exploration. You already have more than enough to kill them off. The Forum knows "Elephant trick".

[Dicemanx]

Well that was easy. Cheers mate.

On another note, do I have to go through every sector manually (I have satellites in most) to see these kha'ak invasions? or is there an easier way to save unfortunate sectors from destruction?

[David Howland]

Yes one tends to forget just how serious those Reunion Khaak were, when one has played a game of TC for two and a half years. In TC they are really just a nuisance but in Reunion where I built sizable Empires also, they were a real threat.
The secret of managing these unbeatable enemies is, as any competent general will say, is not to face them until you have the necessary military assets! If you are taking on destroyers your personal ship needs to be at least M6 and you need your own destroyers for back-up. You can win battles without this, if you love combat for the sake of it but you cannot win a war.
Until you are in this position, build your empire in secure loctions until you have military forces to see off attacks or invasions. DO NOT try to defend the universe before you can defend yourself!

[devilsad]

It's also possible to fly a fast M3 from behind cover into the rear of the Khaak M2 and destroy it from their blind spot. I say M3 because you won't have enough firepower to take it down with a weaker ship and you'll also need decent shields for when you inevitably bump the side or drift out into their turret view again. It will take several minutes of constant firing to destroy it, missiles will probably give you too much splash damage. You have to be practically up its *** with your whole ship to avoid those rear kyons.

[Kirlack]

I quite regularly see Khaak invasions within the first 48 hours of a new game, the last of which was only 7 hours in....and 2 KM2s point jumped into Home of Light practically on top of me! Only a swift RSLG (Run Screaming Like a Girl) docking computer manouvre saved me on that occasion. Thankfully, the Terracorp forces soon put the invasion down....still...scary stuff!

Of course, once you own your own TL, taking out capitals is fairly easy.

Station Bombs!

[jlehtone]

There are several methods to kill the Kha'ak. From cheap and risky to hands-down.

Yes one tends to forget just how serious those Reunion Khaak were, when one has played a game of TC for two and a half years. In TC they are really just a nuisance but in Reunion where I built sizable Empires also, they were a real threat.

My mileage is clearly different.

When X3R 1.0 was released, there were no Kha'ak invasions. (By "invasion" I mean capital ships appearing in sector. One or two Kha'ak clusters is just background noise.) Users did play and build. Quite big too. Then was that update that did introduce the invasions.

The problem was, that the invasions were numerous. No sane investor had paid for sector defences in perfectly safe X-Universe. Suddenly, Complexes were under attack all over the map. The best defense, the playership, simply could not cover all bases. Carnage and wailing.

The next patch did tone the invasions down to two simultaneous occurrences. Presumably beating one of them made it appear later elsewhere. I started playing at that point. However, in my game (that lasted over 73 days) I never saw an another after clearing the initial two and they were no threat to me. (I wiped the latter of the two around ingame day 8, but started building only after day 18 ...).

I recently did start (for the very first time) a game of X3TC. Even there a Kha'ak invasion appeared 8 ingame hours from start. Lovely.


In the early game the invasions are very good for you. After the RSLG, stay in sector within safe distance of the beasts. As they demolish NPC, loot can drop. Then lure the Kha'ak a bit away and collect the loot. Significant profitss near start.

Later in the game the Invasions are still good for economy. Typical NPC Free Trader buys wares and then might spend a long time before selling. Before they sell, they cannot buy much more. Enter the pineapple: dead Trader. Game spawns new empty Trader that can buy more your products. Quicker profitsss.

Do not worry about destroyed stations. The "Docks": Trade Station, Equipment Dock, and Shipyard respawn automatically (in about 12 hours). GoD (Global Decision engine) will (re)build Factories too. In fact, GoD is likely to remove much more NPC Factories than the shooting ships will ever do.

In short: Kha'ak Invasions are your profit opportunity and make no real harm to the NPC.


How to find them? X3R S&M had a script that, when run, did list all the big Kha'ak in the non-Kha'ak sectors.

[Glaceious]

Firestorm Torpedos in your M7....launch from a nice distance so they dont really know they are comming. They have a range of 99km so ull be safe. Will most likely take about 5-10 missils to kill 1. The only missils i produce are Hornet and Firestorm my fave so far.

[kurush]

I can add that I did kill a Kha'ak destroyer in X3:R using an M3+ armed with CIGs. CIGs outshot GKYON just a little bit and some clever maneuvering can bring it down eventually.

[jlehtone]

There are truly many ways to kill those pineapples.

Firestorm Torpedos in your M7....launch from a nice distance so they dont really know they are comming.

Unfortunately the ship can always ask from the game engine for a list of all missiles targeted at it. However, a torpedo that is not targeted at the Kha'ak but just "happens" to be on collision course, is not known to the victim. It does help too that the front turret of NPC ship isn't on missile defense duty.

[Capt_Newbie]

It does help too that the front turret of NPC ship isn't on missile defense duty.

That, I did not know...