TC: Poisoned Paranid, and M6 loadouts. (Possibly spoilerish?)

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Nyito
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TC: Poisoned Paranid, and M6 loadouts. (Possibly spoilerish?)

Post by Nyito » Sun, 28. Oct 12, 14:29

So, after a couple stabs at the Poisoned Paranid start, all of which ended rather miserably, I find myself coming here for advice. My first start ended 5 minutes in, getting gunned down by a Nemesis who spawned near me, as I attempted to leave the sector. The second ended similarly, and more embarrassingly, when I was gunned down by a humble Caiman armed with 4 PACs in it's forward battery, as I attempted to pass through the gate.

That behind me, I finally managed to get to 'safe' ground, in Shore of Infinity. I went into this start with a similar plan I used for the Tormented Teladi start; (possible spoilers ahead!) Get the free Mamba in Loomankstrat's Legacy; sell the Demeter for some cash; head up and get the Iguana Vanguard in Family Whi, and start doing some passenger missions, and light trading, with the Mamba in tow for combat missions. This is where I hit my first roadblock.

This Demeter seems to attract plasma, as Loomankstrat's Legacy was a deathtrap in such a big, slow target, and skipping the Mamba of course does no good, as passing through Argon territory is just as much a death sentence. Trading as well seems to be far too slow going to be an option. I'm very unfamiliar with building up rep from a negative state; I always tried to stay on good terms with everyone I could in my main game, and any rep building I did happened with considerable assets already at my disposal. Doing so with a time limit feels insurmountable.


As for my second topic; I apparently suck at flying M6s. In preparation for getting my hands on the Poisoned Paranid reward Hyperion, I picked up a Skiron, a couple different potential weapon sets, and set to work feeling out how to fly them against Xenon raids, and in pirate hotspots.

My first experience with an M6 was when I first bought a Dragon just to be a tug for my complex building. I attempted to fight a Khaak Cluster with it, and nearly lost the ship. The M3 was no trouble for an ISR/EBC loadout, but getting a bead on the M5s was a nightmare. That very much put me off of M6s; from that point forward I either bludgeoned my way through with an M2/7, shelled everything into oblivion from across the sector in an M7M/M8, or zipped around in a fast M3/4.

With the Skiron, I don't seem to be faring much better. I've tried a loadout of PRGs, which worked well enough against fighters; but anything bigger than an M3 stopped me cold. HEPTs and CIGs were the opposite. Turrets with PACs dealt well with M5s, and the HEPT/CIG batteries dealt well with M6s; even took down a Q with some fancy flying(to my standard, anyhow), but M3s stop me short, as I can't seem to hit them enough to prevent their shields from just recharging between blows I manage to land. Even M4s in larger numbers give me pause.

So my main question is, am I going totally wrong on the weapons I'm using; is weapon swapping just part of flying an M6, tailoring your guns to your targets; or do I just suck, and need to keep practicing until I get it?

Alan Phipps
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Post by Alan Phipps » Sun, 28. Oct 12, 15:03

For your second topic on accuracy and weapon selection. The first thing is to make sure that you are using full auto-aim assist from the fight softwares to increase your accuracy.

Next use the front battery weapon groupings. If you have 8 front main guns in your personal Commonwealth M6 ship then put say 6 as corvette/heavy M3 killers eg CIG, ISR, HEPT, EBC to be used in groups at their different ranges and leave the other 2 as gnat killers such as PBE, PRG or PAC. Use the group selection 1-4 to use the weapons at the appropriate time and ranges against the appropriate targets. I like PRG or PAC in M6 turrets for close defence and attrition.

Do not expect an M6 to often be able to bring front guns to bear on a close crossing/circling fast and agile target. Either make sure to kill it while making its way straight in or, once it arrives close, use Wasps, Hurricanes or similar types of light fast homing missiles to help your turrets to kill the close-in gnats.
A dog has a master; a cat has domestic staff.

Bill Huntington
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PP Start

Post by Bill Huntington » Sun, 28. Oct 12, 17:55

Nyito, just keep trying things. You done a lot, and there is a lot to get just right. All the things you tried were worth trying.

The PP start is my favorite. There is the reward, of course. But there is so much more. Having to come from such a low situation, and with a time limit, and no step is easy. All the following is SPOILER !!

Here are some little things. You can get out of the Paranid sector a lot faster if you strafe with two keys. Put the target in the top left corner and aim for the middle holding down A and W. Your turret settings don't offer much, but take what there is: Attack My Target. You might be able to disable or even kill a small attacker. Make sure auto-aim is On, using 'k'.

Once you are in Shore of Infinity, dock ASAP just to have a save, and find a few missions. Many times there are some missions, and you can go to Lucky with some $. You can sell your drones at the Trading Station. If you can get an Octopus, you can start capping and work your way up pretty fast. Without Salvage Insurance, you can use docking at a Station the same way. You can get a better M5, then M4, then M3. You can usually take a ship that is one level higher. And the Lucky SY is right there. And the obvious target is the Paranid, who are already red. You can usually take one target in a Boron sector before they really go nuts on you. Most games I have an M3 before I am close to Loom. I will take the Mamba if I haven't had any luck.

To give yourself more missions that you can do, pick up a Cargo Life Support at the Pirate base in New Income, and software like Fight 2.

You have to get into Argon space to progress. Unless you had some luck with Argon missions, you can't go in the easy way, through Montelaar. So go around: Gunne, quick through Third Redemption, Clarity, Hatikvah. Hatikvah can be a great hunting ground, but you might need things in Aladna and Legend. You can get there from Aladna.

If you can get an M3, that is enough to take you quite far. A TM is a better next ship than an M6, so you can carry extra JD to get capped ship to a SY to sell. If you get an M6, I find CIGs are the best heavy weapon, IREs are the best for capping, and PACs are a good overall weapon for regular purposes. My usual loadout is 5 CIGs and 3 IREs for an M6 and for an M3, I have 5 PAC and 3 IRE.

To raise $25 Mil is not that hard, once you have a capping crew together. A big TS, $1 Mil. Regular M3, $1 Mil. Some M3s like Medusa, $3 Mil.

That Iguana in Family Whi, good idea. At high rank, you can make big $ with transport missions. If you get stuck, there is always Niv mining in Seizewell. There are some small Niv asteroids there. Niv, a SY and Equipment Dock in the same sector.

Paranid rank in this start is interesting. There are a lot of Paranid missions outside of the Paranid sectors. So you can raise your rep to Nomad for a brief moment, then it drops back. All the rep gain you had before you collect the Hype comes back at that time. And no matter how many Paranid ships you cap, you never go below Enemy of Priest Duke. If you killed civilian Paranids or shot their stations, you could get the lowest rank, and then the Paranid fleets would start hunting you in a serious way. But they don't do that just for capping their ships.

PP - my favorite start !! Good Luck, Nyito !!
Bill in S.F., enjoying the game

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