[HoL] Xenon Incursion Awkwardness

Clownmug · Post by **Clownmug** » Fri, 26. Feb 16, 20:05

After finishing this mission I kind of get the awkward feeling that it was put together in a rush.

The awkwardness started while I was flying through Toride about to do a Scan Anomaly mission for the first time. Suddenly, out of nowhere, Yisha started having a panic attack and yelled, "we got to get out of here!" At the time I was thinking, "did the anomaly become unstable or something?" But I was about 300km away from the mission zone, in the middle of nowhere, so it didn't make sense. Then I went to check my active missions to see if the briefing updated. That's when I finally noticed the new plot mission that for some reason had two objectives to "get out of here."

After running away from a completely empty zone and leaving the system, I got to the next step of the mission. Apparently the Xenon from Maelstrom were going to attack Toride and the colonists needed my help. I guess the Xenon are very eccentric in a way. They don't bother attacking Omicron Lyrae from the nearby gate, and they gave me unlimited time to build a fleet to stop them.

So after some time I gathered my fleet at Sol Gate and moved on to the next stage of the mission. The Xenon had finally started their attack, but they weren't making any progress. Instead of heading towards a more populated area, they decided to attack the indestructible Haunt owned by Atlas Pirates in Anchorage. This allowed my ships to approach the Xenon ships without much trouble.

The first ship I ordered my fleet to attack was a Xenon K. It took decent a amount of damage but boosted away before being killed. I decided to ignore it and moved on to attacking a different Xenon K. Then the same thing happened again. Finally, I ordered my ships to attack the Xenon I and made sure to disable the engines. As soon as the Xenon I was destroyed, the objective changed and all the Xenon ships, including the ones that ran away, suddenly disappeared.

My final objective was to dock at the colonists' ship. You'd think if they had a combat ship they'd at least show up to the battle rather than hiding in another zone. Also, for some reason the colonists' ship was a Sucellus, which is supposed to be a Terran manufactured ship. I suppose it could've been stolen during the Terran Conflict or something like that. Anyways, after docking with the ship I was rewarded with some station scan info, a bunch of trade subscriptions, and a large reputation boost. It's a decent reward, but I wonder if it's worth the 100-200 million investment to build a fleet just to kill a single Xenon I.

Quawis · Post by **Quawis** » Fri, 26. Feb 16, 20:14

I remeber reading a post by J.Harshaw in the public beta forum regarding the mission reward. IIRC, he is investigating the ways to improve it, and sine this mission is non-repeteable the proper reward may be retroactive.

As for Toride colonists - aren't they Terrans the same way as Canterrans?

Clownmug · Post by **Clownmug** » Fri, 26. Feb 16, 20:24

You're right, I thought they were Argon colonists for some reason.

Snafu_X3 · Post by **Snafu_X3** » Fri, 26. Feb 16, 20:56

Upon entering the new system, the XI plot is triggered by discovering the Xenon I + fleet. Usually this is by following up on 'Ship in Distress' missions, but it can happen if you stumble on the fleet randomly. The fleet will patrol around most zones in Toride before heading back to Maelstrom to refit if necessary, then repeat this procedure until the I is defeated

The requirements for the mission are a fleet, but if you happen to destroy the I without having met such requirements the mission will still complete (as I found out when I destroyed the I with a single Ful, under similar circumstances to yours)

As Quawis says, the reward is still being worked on & will be retro-fitted in a future update if necessary

Clownmug · Post by **Clownmug** » Fri, 26. Feb 16, 21:52

The incursion mission didn't start until the second time I entered Toride and I was having ship in distress missions before the incursion mission. Also, I never knew the Xenon fleet existed until I built my own fleet, so it seemed like the whole mission triggered randomly for me.

Snafu_X3 · Post by **Snafu_X3** » Sat, 27. Feb 16, 00:03

Clownmug wrote: I was having ship in distress missions before the incursion mission. Also, I never knew the Xenon fleet existed until I built my own fleet, so it seemed like the whole mission triggered randomly for me.

JOOI did you /accept/ (& complete) any of the 'ship in distress' missions?

My surmise is that Yisha's 'Get us out of here!' happens whenever you stumble upon the I (thus enabling the mission), whether or not you've done any 'ship in distress' missions; the latter simply encourage you to explore..

Until there's confirmation/denial from DEV JH I'll continue to work to that theory

Read the thread at http://forum.egosoft.com/viewtopic.php?t=386250 if you're interested that much; I reccomend you start with the last page then read back for the mission's history of development, but as you wish..

Clownmug · Post by **Clownmug** » Sat, 27. Feb 16, 00:34

I did complete 1 or 2 ship distress missions before the incursion started, just never saw the Xenon I. It was probably on the edge of the radar and outside of visible range when I encountered it.

Snafu_X3 · Post by **Snafu_X3** » Sat, 27. Feb 16, 01:25

Agreed; I should have mentioned 'visible range' above

Carl Sumner · Post by **Carl Sumner** » Sat, 27. Feb 16, 22:16

Note that the config has a setting that is effectivly visible range. If your's is set low, Yisha might have seen it on her instruments when you could not see it. And it is reasonable that she would have a "hissy fit" !!

Post by **j.harshaw** » Mon, 29. Feb 16, 22:43

It's actually triggered by

Spoiler

Show

them spotting you. That's what Yisha sees in her instruments. Although them spotting you from 300km away is odd.

Was thinking of having them send some fighters or something to chase you out, but I don't really like it when the player is singled out like that.

Clownmug wrote:for some reason had two objectives to "get out of here."

and

Clownmug wrote:the objective changed and all the Xenon ships, including the ones that ran away, suddenly disappeared.

slipped past testing. Will look into it if/when the opportunity to work on it again presents itself.

Clownmug wrote:They don't bother attacking Omicron Lyrae from the nearby gate

There's actually a bit more activity, although I won't say more because I know how much fun speculating on these things can be.

And I'm glad that it triggering felt random. I was going for the feeling that the fact of them invading doesn't have much to do with you, really. Although, yes, a better way to connect the trigger and the cause might have been a good idea, in retrospect.

Clownmug · Post by **Clownmug** » Mon, 29. Feb 16, 23:52

j.harshaw wrote:It's actually triggered by
Spoiler
Show
them spotting you. That's what Yisha sees in her instruments. Although them spotting you from 300km away is odd.

That might be the problem then. Xenon I has 40km radar range while the Skunk only has 20km range.

j.harshaw wrote:
Clownmug wrote:They don't bother attacking Omicron Lyrae from the nearby gate
There's actually a bit more activity, although I won't say more because I know how much fun speculating on these things can be.

I just thought it was weird because the Xenon seem to already have a strong presence in Toride even before the invasion. The Maelstrom Xenon have only a few stations in Cryptic Heart compared to all the hidden platforms spread throughout the DLC systems. It makes me wonder how they even end up in Albion, before the DLC existed, now that I think of it.

birdtable · Post by **birdtable** » Tue, 1. Mar 16, 15:34

Just done Xenon I mission, sent to HOL.. never received anything so went back and eventually destroyed I,,, reward ..mmmmm !!!
But lucky there was an anomaly close by after being rewarded ...mmmm!!!
which took me to the nasty purpleeeee things zone.... nasty spitty things.. nasty nasty.
Thoroughly enjoyed the mission.
Good Stuff.

Post by **j.harshaw** » Tue, 1. Mar 16, 15:38

Hate to turn this into a tech support thread but, Clownmug, couldn't get it to display two objectives in "Active Missions" Can you remember what exactly you were doing or, better yet, would you happen to have a save handy where this is already the case?

Glad you enjoyed it, birdtable.

birdtable · Post by **birdtable** » Tue, 1. Mar 16, 15:57

No help on active missions/objectives,, found I ...Yisha suddenly did her thing ..HOL ..returned and battled ... had message for completion of mission and reward ...mmmmm !!!!.
I only knew what to do from previous reads of this mission which may have made me jump to conclusions and not wait for any updates/mission directives.
Sorry cannot remember exactly what I was doing just exploring.
Last save was 40 minutes before and game is modded ...
Afraid you need someone a bit more savvy ....

Post by **j.harshaw** » Tue, 1. Mar 16, 19:05

@birdtable, that's useful too. I had set it so that you can finish the mission even if you don't get the mission in the first place. Even if you decline! Independent confirmation that it's working is good to have.

About not getting more objectives, you probably jumped back in and finished 'em off before you got them. Objectives in this case are just what Yisha thinks you'd have to do to accomplish it though. You don't have to do it her way.

Clownmug · Post by **Clownmug** » Tue, 1. Mar 16, 21:03

j.harshaw wrote:Hate to turn this into a tech support thread but, Clownmug, couldn't get it to display two objectives in "Active Missions" Can you remember what exactly you were doing or, better yet, would you happen to have a save handy where this is already the case?

Glad you enjoyed it, birdtable.

Sorry, I don't have a save file from back then. At the time I remember receiving the mission in empty space, then started flying towards the Home of Light gate as instructed. About half way there I checked the briefing which showed step one completed for "get out of here" and there was a second step that also said "get out of here".

Post by **j.harshaw** » Tue, 1. Mar 16, 21:11

Clownmug wrote:About half way there I checked the briefing which showed step one completed for "get out of here" and there was a second step that also said "get out of here".

Ah. That's kind of a hacky workaround to get the objective to switch between "We have to get out of here" and "Fly to: that way" Thought there were two mission entries.

Will look into maybe changing the text for the second step. Thanks!

birdtable · Post by **birdtable** » Tue, 1. Mar 16, 22:10

@ j.harshaw ...sorry I was no real help but at the time once you spot the I and a couple of K's heading for your stations the first thought "where's my fleet" and then the herding of cats....
Yisha jabbering away or active missions is not the first priority ,,, certainly felt the threat... tense,, as it should be.

flyboychuckles · Post by **flyboychuckles** » Wed, 2. Mar 16, 18:10

What happens to the plot if I miss the "get out of here" step?

I was was looking for a station to repair my ship, I stumble across an I and get the "get out of here" and a waypoint to the gate. Before I go through the gate I dock at a station to get some repairs just as the I and some K's warp in. By the time I undocked the waypoint was gone and the I's and K's must have been beaten back by the station's guns and were warping away.

Is the plot mission gone now?

EDIT: The mission was not in my Active Missions, but when I flew through the gate it updated and shows up now.

waddymc · Post by **waddymc** » Wed, 2. Mar 16, 19:18

I think the xenon are scared of me, must be my warehouse in middle of toride thats stopped them from ever being spotted by me !!

Even done about 3 laps around toride to try find them and not once seen the fleet, If anyone sees the xenon fleet tell them Im looking for them