Terran Defender Challenge

[Senor Pez]

I've played a number of gamestarts, and I've recently wanted to get back into X3TC, and I'm looking for ideas to "spice up" a new playthrough through some self-imposed restrictions. I understand that eventually every gamestart ends up looking somewhat similar (a bunch of complexes with CAG, CLS1, and CLS2 ships running between them), but I'm looking to infuse as much flavour into getting there as I can... without being too extreme since I've not played for a few years.

Here's what I have so far; I'm definitely looking for inputs or ideas! I'm looking to run a Vanilla game with Bonus Pack content, so no ***modified***.

Game Start: Erin Iovis, Terran Defender
What are your thoughts on Iovis? Is she part of the USC?

When I compare her lack of rank (military and reputation) and lousy equipment provision with the USC Commander (who is, obviously, a commander in the USC), I'm wondering if she's not a civilian with what amounts to a letter of marque for the Terrans.

Or is Iovis USC? I don't actually remember how she's portrayed to other characters as part of the Terran Plot Bridge Mission...

I'm thinking of playing her like a loyalist Terran, but not necessarily attached or beholden to the USC.

Restrictions:
Ships:

• Only Terran ships may be owned by the player, with the exceptions noted below. Any abandoned ships must be sold. I suppose this means no TM, which was my typical mission-runner ship!
• Ships given as rewards for plots or rank may be retained. Example: Argon Discoverer given as part of the Terran Plot.

Stations:

• Wherever possible, Argon stations must be used in complex construction. I compromise to Argon, since they're the same genetic stock as Terrans. I'd like this to be Terran stations, but:
  • Their immense size makes the already-frustrating exercise of complex construction all the more difficult.
  • They're not available until the very late game. Without Terran stations, you'd have to complete the Goner plot and the first set of Hub gates through purchasing, which sounds dreadful.
  • That being said, I'm interested in your thoughts. Interesting exercise, along with Terran xenophobia? Struggle without complexes for a LONG time?
• Complexes should be located in Terran space. This matches up nicely with Terran xenophobia. Of course, it also means Asteroid Belt might get CROWDED.

Plots:

• All plots are available to be completed, but the Terran Plot is the priority and should be completed as fast as possible.

Relations:

• Reputation may be freely gained with the Argon, Boron, Split, and Teladi. Reputation may only be gained with the Paranid on an "as needed" basis, for example, to buy the 1 Tractor Beam needed in your game. Reputation may not be gained with Pirates or Yaki. Or Xenon or Kha'ak, if you want to be completely pedantic. Is this even practical? Wouldn't Paranid traders that dock at one of my (eventual) Teladianium complexes raise my Paranid relations without me lifting a finger? And how would a hostile Paranid (by occasionally popping one of their capital ships, for example) affect my UTs? Why are the Paranid and Terrans hostile? Shouldn't the Terrans be neutral to all Commonwealth races?
• Reputation may be freely gained with all corporations except Duke's.
• With the exception of the Terran and ATF, all races and corporations are valid attack and piracy targets. Sorry, no Skirnir. You'll have to find a Death Star some other way.

Exploration

• There are no limits on exploration. This is a decision informed by past experience. I tried a "limited knowledge" playthrough once upon a time, but it very quickly became a mess keeping track of which sectors I'd been sent to for missions... and found that when given a "Navigate To" command, my ships would happily traipse through (and thus, discover, breaking the point of the playthrough) undiscovered sectors.

Comments? Thoughts? Any other ways to infuse a unique flavour into my Erin Iovis, Terran Defender playthrough?

[Snafu_X3]

Reputation may be freely gained with the Argon, Boron, Split, and Teladi. Reputation may only be gained with the Paranid on an "as needed" basis, for example, to buy the 1 Tractor Beam needed in your game. Reputation may not be gained with Pirates or Yaki. Or Xenon or Kha'ak, if you want to be completely pedantic. Is this even practical? Wouldn't Paranid traders that dock at one of my (eventual) Teladianium complexes raise my Paranid relations without me lifting a finger? And how would a hostile Paranid (by occasionally popping one of their capital ships, for example) affect my UTs? Why are the Paranid and Terrans hostile? Shouldn't the Terrans be neutral to all Commonwealth races?

Depends upon how you set the rep limits. vanilla PP start won't have Paranid docking at your station(s) IIRC, as their rep won't allow them to. You can also set the /player/ defaults (obviously, but you may have overlooked them while caught up in scripting etc) so docking is denied to a race if that race is 'enemy', I think.. (I'm not a scripter/modder)

Why are Paranid & Terrans hostile? 2 different ideologies, incompatible with each other. Recent RL events should give you some ideas as to the background

On the whole I think it's an intriguing idea; good luck to you!

[Honved]

The Paranid are probably still resentful of losing Heretic's End to the Terrans.

As for building Argon stations, I'd probably limit them to a few particular outlying sectors in Terran space (Asteroid Belt, Oort Cloud). When you reach the point where you can buy Terran stations, you can then build those in ANY Terran sector that allows it.

I've only rarely refused to make any use whatsoever of other races' ships, but generally try to limit it to cases where there is no equivalent within my own faction. I have more often refused to FLY any ship but my own race, and not purchased any ships from other races, but occasionally used those that I acquired otherwise.

It depends on various things: as an example, a Paranid may not physically be able to fit into a Terran, Argon, or Teladi ship, but the Split may (or may not) have similar enough body size and shape to allow easy modification. A few Yaki and Pirate ships are flown by Paranid pilots, and have obviously been modified to suit the pilot; a Paranid character CAN fly those specific ships if "bailed", but it depends on the ethics of the pilot as to whether he or she WILL fly them. Boron, on the other hand, are physically very different from the other races, and aquatic, so a Boron character will ONLY fly Boron ships, even though he/she/it/whatever may hire other race pilots to fly ships of those races, or operate them remotely.

What are your pilot's ethical and physical limitations, and how does that affect each different race's ships?

[Senor Pez]

Thanks for the replies! I've made a few changes thanks to some discussions here and elsewhere, and am getting ready to embark on my journey.

By the way, in case it's not clear, I'm looking to maintain as much "flavor" from a specific start as long as possible. I'm hoping it'll be fun and different!

Exploration
With the exception of the tasks involved in Terran Plot Mission 2, until that mission is completed (escort to Venus being the final part of it, the reward being a Commonwealth Argon Discoverer), the player is restricted to Terran space. This is partially driven to close to "best way to make money as a Terran is to not be a Terran" loophole, as pointed out by a friend of mine. It's also thematically appropriate: Letting a low- to no-rank pilot like Iovis out of Terran space? No way. It does, of course, mean the first few hours (or days) of econing is going to be PAINFUL.

Ships
Unless related to a mission, Terran and reward ships may not be sold. This is partially to close the "sell the ships you get during the Terran plot to make mad bank" loophole, and because the Terrans probably wouldn't want their technology sold, regardless of where it is.

Complexes
Discussed this a LOT. I tend to build a lot of complexes, and so changes here really affect my outlook on gameplay! Practically, this will probably limit my complexing, which will really be a different experience!

• For complexes using only Terran stations:
  • May only be built in Terran Core sectors. The Terrans wouldn't want their massive stations seen by the public, right?
• For complexes using Terran stations and other racial stations:
  • May only be built in Asteroid Belt or Heretic's End. Same as above, but keep those xenos out of our Core Space (Asteroid Belt being an exception to get some ore.)
• For complexes using only non-Terran stations:
  • Must use Argon stations as possible.
  • Must be built only in response to a delivery mission. (Example: Goner missions.)
  • Must be built as close to the mission delivery point as possible.

I'm still on the fence regarding Paranid. I'd think that, much as it happens in real-life, leaving Terran space would expose Erin Iovis to a wide variety of Paranid, from the pious to the irreligious, from the noble to the foul. I think it might be a "gametime" decision, as she balances her experiences with a desire to retain some measure of favour with the USC. Afterall, if they disapprove of her being an exalted member among the Paranid, they *could* (albeit not in the context of X3TC ) do bad things to her.

Besides, Paranid ships make great boarding practice, I've found.