pirates question

[red-dragon]

how do i tell whos a pirate and whos not when selecting missions

[TTD]

Somewhere in the distant past, a pilot posted a series of pics that depicted the avatars in the mission request window.
Not sure where it is,but a search might help you.

[ajax34i]

If you mean that you want to do missions for the pirate factions, then when you talk to the contact to get the mission, look at their avatar. Pirates tend to have gaunt faces, over the top beards, and/or exaggerated militaristic clothing. Usually you have to be inside the pirate areas to find them for missions.

If you mean that you take combat missions (defend station, sector patrol, etc) and you'd like to see ahead of time if the mission will send you against pirates, or against Yaki or Xenons, then download and use the improved mission briefings mod. It doesn't mark your game as modified, and it provides extra details in the mission text. I can't imagine functioning without it, heh.

[red-dragon]

thanks for that guys i was looking for missions to do for the pirate faction to stop them shooting down my freighters for a while at least till i build up my combat fleet

[Timsup2nothin]

thanks for that guys i was looking for missions to do for the pirate faction to stop them shooting down my freighters for a while at least till i build up my combat fleet

Getting on good terms with the pirates will reduce but not eliminate the problem. Some pirates will still spawn 'angry' no matter how good your relations.

In case you didn't do the search for the Pirate Rogue's Gallery there's the link.

[AgamemnonArgon]

With Pirates, and because they are Pirates, they will usually attack when they want to. or turn from blue to red if attacked.

Killing Pirates increases ones reputation in sectors with races to befriend, so avoiding killing pirate ships and bases does become difficult.

[ahddib]

It does reduce the likelihood of being attacked, but there's no way to truly be a pirate friend as AgamemnonArgon said.

I suggest staying clear of pirate sectors until you have the ability to wipe them out. (aka M6 fully loaded)

What sector are they shooting your freighters??

[red-dragon]

what M6 loadout would you suggest? and i had a freighter wonder into a pirate sector for some reason known only to the decesed ship

[firestorm79]

what about when you get a 'assassinate pirate' mission in a pirate sector???!? I've always been confused by this, but I'm pretty sure I've had these missions on more than one occassion in the Gaian Star, Lost Order, Mercenary xxx sector cluster!

I mean getting kill pirates in the yaki sectors is fine, it might be a yaki giving me the mission (though again I'm not convinced I was speaking to a yaki - how can one tell?), but pirates giving such missions?? the horror!

anyway what does it mean for pirate rep with regards these missions??

p.s. re pirate's gallery thread, does anyone know whether those pics are exhaustive?

[Mousse9]

Red-dragon, you mentioned not having a battle fleet yet. Then I'd seriously suggest trying to be best buddies with the pirates. There will be fewer attacks to worry about. Like others have said, it won't eliminate the threat completely (because hey, they're pirates), but drastically reduce it.

As for M6 loadout, that really depends on which M6 you are flying. Even then, constantly fighting pirates is counterproductive to what I said above.

That said, here's some tips:

High Energy Plasma Thrower: Standard old HEPT. Very reliable.

Energy Bolt Chaingun: Ammo based equivalent of the HEPT. Use this if you're worried about running out of energy. Stock up on ammo though!

Concussion Impulse Generator: Uses a lot of energy. Longer range than HEPT. Makes smaller ships tumble. Use it in short, controlled bursts, like a shotgun against smaller ships. Big "bullets" make smaller ships easier to hit.

Ion Shard Railgun: Same as CIG, but doesn't make smaller ships tumble. Bullets are tiny, so smaller ships are hard to hit, but the bullets are faster than CIG's.

Plasma Burst Generator: A freaking flamethrower. Really powerful Area Of Effect weapon for shortrange. Practically insta-kills smaller ships, IF you can get them in range.

As for missiles, there are two general purpose ones:

Typhoon Missile: Expensive swarm missile for use against M3-M6. Too slow against M5.

Wasp Missile: Swarm missile for use against really fast M5's, or softening up harder targets like M3's.

[red-dragon]

ok so i've just bought a skiron and my loadout is

Mains

2x CIG
6HEPT

Turrets
Left and Right

2x EBC each

command protect ship

Rear

2x PRG

command missile defence

Does this look ok?

[Mousse9]

Don't mix weapons, like the CIG and HEPT in your main guns. Because there's a lot of difference between them, like range and bullet speed, it'll screw things up.
You could put them in different weapons groups. Like Group 1 is 2 CIG's, and Group 2 is 6 HEPT.

Also, ammobased weapons in turrets is not really recommended, since turrets do not know when to stop shooting. You could potentially waste a lot of ammo on a ship you can't hit. Better keep ammobased for main guns that you can control.

2 PRG for the back is fine. But if you're worried about energy, you could switch to PAC's since those use very little energy.
Missile Defence needs Mosquito Missiles, don't forget to stock up on those.


Personally, I have never flown a Skiron, so I don't know much about it.

[pref]

I used a Skiron in this game for a while - think with EBCs in main guns you might be better off - then you can arm the turrets to the max and still never run out of energy. Nice ship as long as you need to go in a straight line.

[red-dragon]

thanks for that input. ammo for the EBC wont be much of a problem as i intend on having a complex producing them eventually but until then might swap the EBC and HEPTs around

[KayEss]

thanks for that input. ammo for the EBC wont be much of a problem as i intend on having a complex producing them eventually but until then might swap the EBC and HEPTs around

Beware EBC ammo factories. I built a complex for this (thankfully small), but I can't sell off the excess that I'm not using. For the most part the complex is idle.

[ahddib]

Yeah, energy in turrets for sure.

Always have turrets on missile defence instead of protect ship. the only difference is protect ship won't shoot incoming missiles and that's bad.

[Nanook]

what about when you get a 'assassinate pirate' mission in a pirate sector???!? I've always been confused by this, but I'm pretty sure I've had these missions on more than one occassion in the Gaian Star, Lost Order, Mercenary xxx sector cluster!...

You can get these missions from non-pirates in pirate sectors. You just have pay attention to the image of the mission giver. If the mission giver is a pirate, you get pirate rep for killing the mark, which is also a pirate, but you do lose some pirate rep. But the gain is usually more than the loss, so you do come out ahead most of the time.

[red-dragon]

ok so i just found put i cant out EBC's in the main gun slots on my skiron so looks like they go either in turrets or i find some fighters to install them on instead but still looking for somthing to dump in main gun slots on skiron

[CTHM]

In X3AP, you can always mount HEPT in front. With HEPTs in the turrets, it leaves you vulnerable to faster ships and energy drain. I use PRGs in turrets that can not hold Flak or shockwave- weapons. The missiles, mentined before will come in handy.
You can compare all their data in the encaeclopedia (sidebar/personal info/extended options). I translate this from a german X3TC handbook, so you have to search a bit.
I haven´t played X3AP long, but in X3TC, i set up satelites in every sector, i felt save to trade and commanded my ships to trade only with these systems. In the bonus scripts is also an option to turn those satelites into a surveilance net that warns you when enemies come into their scanning range.

[pjknibbs]

ok so i just found out i cant out EBC's in the main gun slots on my skiron so looks like they go either in turrets or i find some fighters to install them on instead but still looking for somthing to dump in main gun slots on skiron

Just use HEPT. A Skiron has plenty of energy to fire 8 HEPTs and 6 PACs/PRGs (the turreted guns). I wouldn't recommend CIG--they do a little more shield damage and a LOT more hull damage than HEPT, but they use a lot more energy and have an annoying feature that they knock smaller ships away, which means the first shots you fire will knock them out of the way of the rest of your shots!