Bioscanners for Terrans?

[elektrohawk]

Fairly simple question I hope:

How can I obtain (a) bioscanner(s), if I am Terran, and maintain a very hostile relationship with the Argon? Jonferco and Terracorp are both very, very mad with me, are there any other factions that sell bioscanners, or do any capturable ships ever have one equipped?

Thanks!

PS: I am playing Vanilla, and do -not- wish to modify my game, or cheat.

Edit: Playing TC: Albion Prelude

[Timsup2nothin]

In TC I *think* you can get one at the very far out there military base in the unknown sectors, if not at the one closer in...but that could be wishful memory. If you are playing AP I have no clue.

UPDATE: checked some sources and it looks like I'm wrong about that military base...you will have to get lucky on a capped ship equipment load. Good hunting!

[elektrohawk]

Bummer. Seems like a developer oversight, but thanks!

To anyone wondering how this could be an oversight; The fact that a single, fairly critical module, is tied to a single faction, whom you start out completely hostile with as a Terran. Everything else of importance (Jump drives, various Factories, etc) is accessible via at least 2 different races. You're an enemy to the Argons and their corporations? You've got the hard way. oh well.

[ajax34i]

Yeah it's been noted before; if you piss off the Argons you piss off 3 major corporations that have some rare gear that you can't get elsewhere. You also won't have access to logistics software, and I'm not sure about transporter device.

Lack of bioscanner is not THAT bad, depending on whether you're playing DID or not. Technically you can save, buy all marines, see their skill levels, jot down the names of the good ones, then reload and just buy them. You can also just look at their price, any under 200k are probably not going to cut it.

Transporter device is worse - you can't transfer anything between ships in space. And lack of logistics means a lot more work trying to set up complexes, or stuff like supplying the Yaki IBL forges properly.

[Timsup2nothin]

It might be an oversight, but it fits a pattern that says it is intentional.

In TC there are two 'factions'...the Argon/Boron against the Paranid/Split, with the scheming Taladi more or less playing both sides against the middle. Now, if you take an actively patriotic role, as say an Argon, and attack your enemies (the Paranid) and the enemies of your ally (the Split) you are going to find out that between them the Argon, Boron, and Teladi produce next to no 25 mj shields, and that none of their shipyards can sell you a 25 mj shield fab so you can make them yourself.

This isn't a piece of equipment, this is an absolutely vital component for equipping M3 fighters as well as transports, freighters...it is a very nasty handicap that probably makes up for the Argon's superior strategic and economic position. But I suspect it is also part of why very few players approach TC as an 'active war situation' and opt to play the friendly with all races game instead.

[elektrohawk]

Yeah it's been noted before; if you piss off the Argons you piss off 3 major corporations that have some rare gear that you can't get elsewhere. You also won't have access to logistics software, and I'm not sure about transporter device.

Lack of bioscanner is not THAT bad, depending on whether you're playing DID or not. Technically you can save, buy all marines, see their skill levels, jot down the names of the good ones, then reload and just buy them. You can also just look at their price, any under 200k are probably not going to cut it.

Transporter device is worse - you can't transfer anything between ships in space. And lack of logistics means a lot more work trying to set up complexes, or stuff like supplying the Yaki IBL forges properly.

Luckily, I was able to purchase transporter devices eslewhere. Paranid or boron or split or teladi I'm friendly with at the moment, though once I'm established, I intend to start my crusade on the boron. Anyhow, the bioscanner doesn't just check the stats of marines, it also lets you identify whether or not there are marines on a ship that you want to cap, potentially having a significant bearing on your ability to capture that ship without sustaining heavy losses, no? What is logistics, by the way? You're probably right, because I don't think any of my people have it.

[elektrohawk]

It might be an oversight, but it fits a pattern that says it is intentional.

In TC there are two 'factions'...the Argon/Boron against the Paranid/Split, with the scheming Taladi more or less playing both sides against the middle. Now, if you take an actively patriotic role, as say an Argon, and attack your enemies (the Paranid) and the enemies of your ally (the Split) you are going to find out that between them the Argon, Boron, and Teladi produce next to no 25 mj shields, and that none of their shipyards can sell you a 25 mj shield fab so you can make them yourself.

This isn't a piece of equipment, this is an absolutely vital component for equipping M3 fighters as well as transports, freighters...it is a very nasty handicap that probably makes up for the Argon's superior strategic and economic position. But I suspect it is also part of why very few players approach TC as an 'active war situation' and opt to play the friendly with all races game instead.

That definitely sounds rough as well, though it really doesn't seem to make much sense to me. Obviously theres parts of the game that it makes sense to not be logical, for the game to operate properly, to create situations for the player to fill in, etc, like the way npc ships spawn instead of being produced, but the fact that the argon and boron have no 25 mj shields stocked, just makes it look like they plain aren't able to produce them, which seems kinda silly to me, considering what a critical component it is. A type of weapon? Perhaps. But the optimal shielding size for fighters? I dunno, seems silly to me.

You'd think they would at least provide some third party alternative. Perhaps a very expensive alternative for players, charging something like a 1000% markup, but a black market dealer persay, that would allow you to buy the specialty items of a particular faction. The station hacking services would suit my needs perfectly IF there was a little more choice on the station, however in the case of the bioscanners, this doesn't seem to be a viable option. Hrmm, or perhaps a sizable bribe to the station owners, in order to dock there temporarily. Comparable to hacking prices, so 5-20m?

Anyhow, thanks for the insights

[Timsup2nothin]

Yeah it's been noted before; if you piss off the Argons you piss off 3 major corporations that have some rare gear that you can't get elsewhere. You also won't have access to logistics software, and I'm not sure about transporter device.

In TC the Terrans have transporter devices all over the place, but I dunno about AP. For logistics software I think the ONLY non Argon source is

Spoiler

Show

The Paranid Comm Station in Priest's Pity.

but again I don't know if that holds in AP either.

[Threesixtyci]

Speaking of things not making any sense... Split use Spaceflies to power their ships, but you can't capture Spaceflies without an Ion Disruptors and a spacefly scoop. Only Split ships that can equip an ID are...a few TS freighters on the rear turret (which makes for an awful poacher choice). Also ID's are Boron Tech, which are enemies of the Split. So, how do the split capture their Spaceflies?
Beats me...


-------------
In TC (don't know about AP, still haven't dug into that one): Teleport device can be bought in Hereitic's End, which is considered a Terran Border. http://eng.x3tc.ru/x3_tc_map/factory.php?c=MTc5MzI5ODUx

Earth sells everything else, except for the Bioscanner, MK3 and Best Buy/Sell.
http://eng.x3tc.ru/x3_tc_map/factory.php?c=MTM5NTIyMTMx

Far Unknown Military Base has everything except MK3, Bioscanner, Jumpdrive or BestBuy/Sell
http://eng.x3tc.ru/x3_tc_map/factory.php?c=MjA0ODYxNjk5

(btw: I find it impossible to train MK3's to level 6 in Terran sectors; also the links I left is a pretty good site for random info; but it's for TC, don't know if it applies to AP.)

In TC the TP ship that you get to capture the M6 Vidar comes with a bio-scanner (or at least it did the last time I played it).

[Timsup2nothin]

In TC (don't know about AP, still haven't dug into that one): Teleport device can be bought in Hereitic's End, which is considered a Terran Border. http://eng.x3tc.ru/x3_tc_map/factory.php?c=MTc5MzI5ODUx

Even though that's a Terran border sector I think that is still an Argon station, meaning if you are enemy to the Argon they won't let you have it. That milbase out in the boondocks has always been my favorite anyway.

[elektrohawk]

Theres a few different Terran locations you can get transporters in AP.

From the X3 Wiki:

Saturn Research Station in Saturn
Military Base in Mercury
Military Base in Unknown Sector, southmost of Oort Cloud
Military Base in Unknown Sector, south of Pluto
Military Base in The Moon
Orbital Defence Station in The Moon

As for the bioscanner, I'm still having... issues hah.

[elektrohawk]

Just an update; I've gone through the jonferco and terracorp systems and the ones adjacent to them with no luck on a hacking service, nor have I found a single ship with a bioscanner on it ^^;