Operation Final Fury first mission spawned me 30+ Xenon ships

[fireanddream]

I had an express following a heavy centaur prototype for boarding operation later, at some point it sent me a message saying order was completed I was like WTF? Then I located it in black hole sun, the centaur was destroyed by about 20 Xenon M & Ns. I reloaded a save and jumped there, only to encounter over 30 Xenon ships, about 4-5 P/PX, 10 L/LX and the rest M&N.

I barely survived with my Skiron but this is insane. How am I suppose to do the rest of OFF missions? Driving a M2 around? Even with an M2 I'm not sure taking on 30 Xenon ships is a good idea.

[Timsup2nothin]

There are two schools of thought on OFF. One is that you "have to" do it early, before you build up any fight rank, because the spawns are determined by your fight rank.

Mine is that OFF is the elimination of a violent space faring race. It should take fleets of ships. Massive battles. Crazy devastation on both sides.

I wait until I've got the game well in hand so I can afford to throw multiple fleets centered on destroyers and carriers into the fray, without feeling a terrible pinch if I lose whole squadrons. It's exciting, in a cataclysmic sort of way.

That said, the first mission, passing through BHS and "assisting" can actually be done just by hiding in the barrel of the trading station. OFF guy (who you are following) is in a plot ship, so he is indestructible, and eventually he will in fact destroy the entire invasion no matter how big it is. Cheesy, and not much fun, but it can be done.

[Ormac]

I think I got 2 Qs when I started Final Fury. (Or One Q) and the other was just naturally in system. A Cerberus and Tactical Use of Explosives to shut down the rampaging Q turned out to be some of the best fun of my entire OFF Campaign.

Think I left the Cerberus in the hanger after that.

OFF does scale towards the M2 but you don't need that off the bat.

-- Ormac

[Timsup2nothin]

I think I got 2 Qs when I started Final Fury. (Or One Q) and the other was just naturally in system. A Cerberus and Tactical Use of Explosives to shut down the rampaging Q turned out to be some of the best fun of my entire OFF Campaign.

Think I left the Cerberus in the hanger after that.

OFF does scale towards the M2 but you don't need that off the bat.

-- Ormac

The Xenon Q is my favorite proof that there is no problem in the universe that cannot be solved by a brace of tomahawks. M8, mate!

[fireanddream]

Mine is that OFF is the elimination of a violent space faring race. It should take fleets of ships. Massive battles. Crazy devastation on both sides.

Thanks for your input! I noticed that dude being invincible as he disappeared and reappreared a couple of times. LOL. Mind I ask what other missions have spawns related to my fight rank? So far the Terran conflict plot seems pretty easy.

Btw, my fight rank is Master Chief 10% now, should I hold off from killing enemies and do <SOMETHING> before 10 Qs spawn on a regular basis? I have like 1 M7M, 2 M6+ and a couple of M3/4, couple of UT traders and ~70m in my account only.

[Ormac]

The Xenon Q is my favorite proof that there is no problem in the universe that cannot be solved by a brace of tomahawks. M8, mate!

of course combat falls somewhere between

Zen and the Art of Running Away
and
The Wanton Use of Explosives

-- Ormac

[Timsup2nothin]

Mine is that OFF is the elimination of a violent space faring race. It should take fleets of ships. Massive battles. Crazy devastation on both sides.

Thanks for your input! I noticed that dude being invincible as he disappeared and reappreared a couple of times. LOL. Mind I ask what other missions have spawns related to my fight rank? So far the Terran conflict plot seems pretty easy.

Btw, my fight rank is Master Chief 10% now, should I hold off from killing enemies and do <SOMETHING> before 10 Qs spawn on a regular basis? I have like 1 M7M, 2 M6+ and a couple of M3/4, couple of UT traders and ~70m in my account only.

Hmmmmmm...OFF is the one you hear about the most. The Terran plot never really has any difficult spawns, as far as I remember. It's more about introducing all the different functions. The HUB is just trading. Corporate plots will include some "protection" missions, and those spawn based on rank. The Goner plot...I don't know if there is anything rank dependent in that or not, but I can't think what would be. Teladi and Paranid go with the starts and I've never really gone far with them.

Militarily, what you want to do in my opinion is acquire a bomber and set up a system to keep it supplied with tomahawks, and learn how to use it, as early in the game as possible. Whatever you build, a wandering Q can screw you up if you can't get rid of it. There's also a recurring randomly located massive Kha'ak invasion that can level most sectors it lands on. You want to be able to deal with that if it lands somewhere important to you, because the race defenses may take too long, or not bother at all. I say it jokingly, but if you get the hang of using a bomber there really is nothing you can't fix if you have enough tomahawks.

[zazie]

Balance of Power is a beast, heavily depending on fight rank. I tried it in my longtime-Vanilla-Game (>40 IG-days), both ranks maxed out (Extreme). The attacking fleet in one of the remotest Terran sectors showed more than 20 M2 ...
Apart from the logistical difficulties you have to manage fighting in those sectors such an invasion causes bad frame-rate drops even on a potent PC-system making it impossible to play. So do it as early as possible or forget it.

More on topic: It has been said before: use missiles. One of the most interesting aspects of X3TC is the use of appropriate missiles and missile-launching ships. I needed years to understand and appreciate it
I think there is no better start for testing out rockets, missiles, torpedoes and nukes than the first OFF-mission. And as you own an M7M already you have the ultimate missile-frigate in hands. Don't forget to set the missile-launching-probability to 100% in your M7M-menu - and enjoy the fireworks. (Be aware though: you need a well filled wallet to be able to buy all those missiles. It's not a bad idea to start producing your own missiles.)

[Triaxx2]

Terran does have some difficult spawns, but it also gives you potent (invincible) allies to help. I did the Terran missions my first time and while escorting the TP back, I ran straight into a J. Fortunately, there was also an Osaka that hadn't been there a moment ago. Especially since Sabre vs J is not a fair fight.

Militarily, what you want to do in my opinion is acquire a bomber and set up a system to keep it supplied with tomahawks, and learn how to use it, as early in the game as possible. Whatever you build, a wandering Q can screw you up if you can't get rid of it. There's also a recurring randomly located massive Kha'ak invasion that can level most sectors it lands on. You want to be able to deal with that if it lands somewhere important to you, because the race defenses may take too long, or not bother at all. I say it jokingly, but if you get the hang of using a bomber there really is nothing you can't fix if you have enough tomahawks.

I approve this message. A lot.

[ancienthighway]

Timing actually plays quite a bit in getting through BHS on the first OFF mission. It's not unusual for a migration fleet to enter the sector. Toss in the mission fleet, and you have a lot of red in sight.

This happened to me the last time I ran the mission.
Me: 1 Chokaro with 1 Nova Raider. Fight rank, not much higher than harmless.
Xenon: 2 Qs, 2-3 P/PX, plus a host of fighters.
Argon: 2 Centaur and a police/border control wing.

Fortunately, my Choke had a sizable load of Thunderbolts on board. I'd load up the Nova, head out to empty the missile tubes and repeat. All from a save distance. Any Xenon who took notice of me were removed before they closed half the distance.

[Araknis]

My advice is, build your empire and leave all the plots for last.
1. They will be very easy
2. With a very high, fight rank the spawns will be so rewarding, that you ll enjoy the game even more (Not to mention the cap opportunities)
Now you are just fighting against P,Px, Ls, etc....
Imagine fleets of Is, Ks and Js

oh and ofc plots like

Spoiler

Show

Shady Business, corporation trouble etc, at high ranks spawn commonwealth capital ships very easy to capture
You ll be drooling at the spawns.
Those are for AP but you get the point.

[pref]

You can either get a strong fleet and go on like that, or let your fight rank drop (leave game on with seta or some time, after 1 hour game time with no activity rank will start to drop).

Should be a huge battle, i'd just cap (buy?) more ships and come back for next round well prepared.

Or bring an M7M or 2 fully loaded and kill all while you drink your tea. Sounds a bit boring but would work as well.