[AP] Which sectors are safe to build in before starting the war?

[drowningfly]

I've just started a new game of AP using the Terran Conflict plots 2.2a for Albion Prelude 3.1 mod, so it will probably be 100s of hours of play before getting to the AP war content. Having not played AP before, I've been trying to find out what will happen to my assets when the war starts, as I don't want to waste 100s of hours of empire building just to have them wiped out as soon as the war is triggered.

In my last TC game I built my main complexes in Asteroid Belt and Omicron Lyrae, but I'm guessing this is a bad idea this time. I've been trying to find a complete list of war sectors, and what happens to player assets during the war but can't find much info.

Which sectors are war sectors? If I side with Terrans, are only the war sectors affected or will I be unable to enter all of Argon space for the duration of the war? Do they destroy stations as all as ships? Is other faction space safe to build in if joining either side?

[Getsune]

Below is a list of the war sectors in Albion Prelude.
The 'box' and name of war sectors should be marked red in your universe map as soon as the war starts.

Argon

• Omicron Lyrae
• Treasure Chest
• Circle of Labour
• Elysium of Light

Terran

• Heretic's End
• Asteroid Belt
• Jupiter

Except for the war sectors, you can fly and build wherever you want, as long as your reputation allows it.

If you have stations/ships in a war sector and you're OOS, the Terrans or Argons will shot them down sooner or later,
regardless of your reputation with them. It's a war zone, after all.

[drowningfly]

Thanks. Just to clarify, it does not matter if I join the opposing faction? If I join Terrans my stations/ships in Argon Prime will be fine, and if I join Argons I can still fly around Earth?

[Getsune]

Thanks. Just to clarify, it does not matter if I join the opposing faction? If I join Terrans my stations/ships in Argon Prime will be fine, and if I join Argons I can still fly around Earth?

Yes, you will be fine as long as you don't have a bad reputation with a race.
They won't trouble you, regardless of your origin or alliances.

[pref]

You can reach any rank with both of them, and if both are friendly you will not be attacked when in a war sector.
However, as soon as you are out of the war sector, your assets will be attacked by the race you have the lower rep with (the numeric value is used here, if one is top rank 99% and the other is 98%, then the latter will attack OOS).

[MarvinTheMartian]

It's a war zone, after all.

Yeah, but it's a bit more than just taking a risk of collateral damage by having assets entering the war sectors, the moment you leave a war sector, or an asset enters one OOS, Terran or Argon ships will spawn almost instantly with the express purpose of destroying your assets. This doesn't sit well with me, this is one time when I actually think the RNG could be used to better effect such as whether there's an active battle going on, your actual rep with the least rep side and perhaps some other factors as to whether your asset takes damage (as opposed to simply being a target for destruction)

This all makes these sectors useless for anything other than a fight. Which is exactly what I'm going to use them for, if Terrans spawn a Katana and escorts just to wipe out my advanced satellite in OL then I'll steal their ships and use these against them OOS and jump in sector when I have to if it gets out of hand. And maybe steal another ship

You can say just avoid these sectors, but this is not built into the game mechanics like the way that CAGs will actively avoid sectors with an enemy presence - you're attacked by friendlies! it's just another micromanagement activity.

You can say end the war using the plot but, perversely, if you play a trade based game and just want peace to continue your trading in these sectors you have to actively take part in a significant battle to end the war

All in all, you can work around the war and at least it doesn't spread further than these sectors but the mechanism isn't particularly elegant. If done "better" and as an optional DLC perhaps, a war that could actually spread further and be influenced by the player would be a lot of fun late game. Maybe there're too many ways the player would be over powered and influence things too easily though.

Didn't expect to write all of that oh well [/rant], at least the war isn't as annoying as the Khaak were in X2.

[Getsune]

@MarvinTheMartian
I agree. For a game whose primary theme is a huge war, the implementation was rather disappointing.
I understand that there's only so much they can do for an addon, but as you showed,
there's so much more potential that they wasted almost entirely, to put it bluntly.

I'd normally state that they always learn from mistakes in previous games but,
seeing as they made the same mistake in X Rebirth again (Plutarch vs. Heart of Albion),
I guess that's not the case this time.