Quick guide to infinite riches... and more! - improvements in upcoming update 1.2

General discussion about X³: Farnham's Legacy.

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Jimmy C
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Re: Quick guide to infinite riches... and more! - improvements in upcoming update 1.2

Post by Jimmy C » Mon, 8. Nov 21, 18:58

Unless you want to constantly produce new marines (as opposed to just training existing ones) you only need a limited number of rifles. You can save money by just buying the number of rifles you need.

About the duplication trick, do remember that nearly all shipyards only have a single 5-port stalk for medium class ships, the Strong Arms yard included. That means the max you can do is 5x duplication, which can still add up quickly!

You can find the Fusion Beam Cannon in the Black Market, along with the other 3 beam weapons. They usually charge near max price though. If that's all you can find, just buy one for duplication.

Sovereign01
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Re: Quick guide to infinite riches... and more! - improvements in upcoming update 1.2

Post by Sovereign01 » Tue, 9. Nov 21, 03:16

My Agents just succeeded in stealing the plans for the third and final beam factory
Jimmy C wrote:
Mon, 8. Nov 21, 18:58
Unless you want to constantly produce new marines (as opposed to just training existing ones) you only need a limited number of rifles. You can save money by just buying the number of rifles you need.

About the duplication trick, do remember that nearly all shipyards only have a single 5-port stalk for medium class ships, the Strong Arms yard included. That means the max you can do is 5x duplication, which can still add up quickly!

You can find the Fusion Beam Cannon in the Black Market, along with the other 3 beam weapons. They usually charge near max price though. If that's all you can find, just buy one for duplication.
My agents just now succeeded in stealing the plans for the last beam factory from Strong Arms so it's just the spacefly farm that's left- I've got the notoriety so I can buy that if I want. I've gotten a handful of each of the 3 beam weapons thanks to the special weapon fab and the PALC forge. I plan to get enough of each weapon to kit out the most powerful ship that can mount each one. The Enh. Heavy Dragon is not the most powerful but it can mount all three beams albeit only 4 of them in a turret, I will probably grab one while I can to see how they stack up to one another.

Because most M7 need IBLs and can't mount many of each gun they're not the most effective users so will have to use the M2 offerings to get the most out of them.

For the PALC, the Pteranodon is second to none with mountings for 28 of the damn things vs just 4 for the Tiger. Apparently, it's more of an anti-fighter weapon so will still need normal PPCs.

For the PBC the Astraeus has 8 emplacements to the Boreas' 16. From all the ships listed the only one I currently have is the Astraeus; with its minuscule cargo bay it would never be able to carry eight PBCs without removing some other weapons to make room, never mind having enough jump fuel.

And for the TBC the Agamemnon and Odysseus tie with 8 mountings apiece, either offering would combine the TBC with the PSG, I've no idea if that's an effective combo or not.

Jimmy C
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Re: Quick guide to infinite riches... and more! - improvements in upcoming update 1.2

Post by Jimmy C » Tue, 9. Nov 21, 12:30

The problem with the Enh. Heavy Dragon is its tiny cargo hold. There's really not much room left if you mount any beam weapon other than the PALC in that turret.

The Pteranodon, that's a good choice for the PALCs. It's only good as a playership though, so you only need one of them. Same as the Boreas, that ship can take down a K, in player hands.

For PBCs, grab the Carrack and Brigantine. The Brig can mount 32 of them and both ships can launch pods. There are those that swear by how good they are as boarding platforms, but I prefer M7Ms for the task, less stressful.

For Tri-Bs, don't discount the Ariadne. Fill that huge hangar bay with extended drones and you'll never have to worry about damage.

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Re: Quick guide to infinite riches... and more! - improvements in upcoming update 1.2

Post by Sovereign01 » Tue, 9. Nov 21, 19:52

I forgot to check its cargo bay size, looks like it has the same problem as the Astraeus. I did consider the pirate offerings but despite using agents to raise my pirate rep with the aim of getting hold of IBL/PBG factories as well as access to their shipyards. However, it never gets above "State informer". I would board them but so far only one of my marines has finished their training so it's not really an option. I really need to build some chip plants so I can begin to produce drones.

Deathifier
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Re: Quick guide to infinite riches... and more! - improvements in upcoming update 1.2

Post by Deathifier » Wed, 10. Nov 21, 06:18

There isn't anything that'd stop the rep increasing and State Informer is -2 Red so one or two full influence agents should move it up close to neutral without trouble.
However pirates are not liked by most races so it's possible that even though you are trying to boost them, other activity is reversing the gains.

The rep needed to buy the factories and larger ships is fairly high though so I'd suggest sticking to agents to steal the factories and finish your marine training (keep in mind they don't need heaps of training to start boarding M7's).

Sovereign01
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Re: Quick guide to infinite riches... and more! - improvements in upcoming update 1.2

Post by Sovereign01 » Wed, 10. Nov 21, 18:26

Deathifier wrote:
Wed, 10. Nov 21, 06:18
There isn't anything that'd stop the rep increasing and State Informer is -2 Red so one or two full influence agents should move it up close to neutral without trouble.
However pirates are not liked by most races so it's possible that even though you are trying to boost them, other activity is reversing the gains.

The rep needed to buy the factories and larger ships is fairly high though so I'd suggest sticking to agents to steal the factories and finish your marine training (keep in mind they don't need heaps of training to start boarding M7's).
The Pirates are the last group I need to get stuff from so most of my agents will indeed be sent there. Will still probably try to obtain the plans for the Paranid PSG factory while I can, already got the Boron Ion Cannon and the Teladi Gauss Cannon. Certainly once my marines finish training, things are going to start happening in my game! :D

Jimmy C
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Re: Quick guide to infinite riches... and more! - improvements in upcoming update 1.2

Post by Jimmy C » Wed, 10. Nov 21, 18:31

Sovereign01 wrote:
Tue, 9. Nov 21, 19:52
I would board them but so far only one of my marines has finished their training so it's not really an option. I really need to build some chip plants so I can begin to produce drones.
As the previous guy said, you don't need to complete training to capture ships. Get everything to 75 and you can take on even large caps with anti-boarding measures.

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Re: Quick guide to infinite riches... and more! - improvements in upcoming update 1.2

Post by Sovereign01 » Wed, 10. Nov 21, 18:46

Jimmy C wrote:
Wed, 10. Nov 21, 18:31
Sovereign01 wrote:
Tue, 9. Nov 21, 19:52
I would board them but so far only one of my marines has finished their training so it's not really an option. I really need to build some chip plants so I can begin to produce drones.
As the previous guy said, you don't need to complete training to capture ships. Get everything to 75 and you can take on even large caps with anti-boarding measures.
Ideally I'll have several of them finish their current training at the same time, I don't want to take any out halfway through. Does anyone know if the buildable training barracks trains them any faster than the NPC one? At the moment I'm using the one in CEO's Sprite.

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Re: Quick guide to infinite riches... and more! - improvements in upcoming update 1.2

Post by Jimmy C » Wed, 10. Nov 21, 19:41

Sovereign01 wrote:
Wed, 10. Nov 21, 18:46

Does anyone know if the buildable training barracks trains them any faster than the NPC one? At the moment I'm using the one in CEO's Sprite.
While the training rate seems the same per marine, the overall pace is slower until the barracks is fully upgraded. That's because each level of upgrade allows the barracks to add just one item to training. M to L gives Engineering. L to XL gives Hacking. XL to XXL gives Mechanics. The developers seem to understand that Mechanics is the most important skill to start with and that's why they give it last.

The most important thing about the Barracks is freeing you from depending on NPCs for marine production and training.

BrigandPhantos77
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Re: Quick guide to infinite riches... and more! - improvements in upcoming update 1.2

Post by BrigandPhantos77 » Thu, 11. Nov 21, 01:48

Jimmy C wrote:
Sun, 7. Nov 21, 03:36
Uh, you need Disintegrator Rifles and Rastar for the Barracks. And you don't actually need a constant source. If the objective is just to get the barracks to the point where it can train all three skills, you need to produce less than 200 marines, that's just 600 rifles, tops. You can easily find more than that on the Black Market at bargain prices.
I wasn't suggesting Low-Yield Side Arms for the Split Training Barracks. I meant when you needed to jump start an AI one, like the one in Home of Light, which requires the Low Yield Side Arms. It is always out as they are illegal and never make it from AI traders. Makem, dock the trade ship onto Ozias, fly Ozias to Training Barracks. Undock the Trader and immediate redock at Training Barracks. Those trained ones are a lot higher stats than what appears at a Military Base / Equipment Dock.
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BrigandPhantos77
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Re: Quick guide to infinite riches... and more! - improvements in upcoming update 1.2

Post by BrigandPhantos77 » Thu, 11. Nov 21, 02:18

Sovereign01 wrote:
Tue, 9. Nov 21, 19:52
I forgot to check its cargo bay size, looks like it has the same problem as the Astraeus. I did consider the pirate offerings but despite using agents to raise my pirate rep with the aim of getting hold of IBL/PBG factories as well as access to their shipyards. However, it never gets above "State informer". I would board them but so far only one of my marines has finished their training so it's not really an option. I really need to build some chip plants so I can begin to produce drones.
Chip plant to max size gives you 80 Microchips per cycle. It's worth the upgrades. And it's very profitable when you let the AI purchase from it. I have mine set up with a max credit cap at 13 million credits. Gives it a sizeable buffer of cash to buy what it needs, and I constantly have deposits from it.

Nividium mines are not worth there cost to set up. Let your fleet do it mobile. "All" Nividium roids to respawn with time. Confirmed it myself.

When it's not mining Nividium, have your mining fleet work on Silicon or Ore. It's a great way to supplement the resources of your factories that need those.
Peace is a state of mind!
War is absolute!
~ Phantos ~

Jimmy C
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Re: Quick guide to infinite riches... and more! - improvements in upcoming update 1.2

Post by Jimmy C » Thu, 11. Nov 21, 13:16

Sovereign01 wrote:
Wed, 10. Nov 21, 18:46

Ideally I'll have several of them finish their current training at the same time, I don't want to take any out halfway through.
I've been doing some thinking and I'm wondering if maxing out your marines' skills is a waste of time and money in this game. In AP, an intact and fully operational ship was your reward for maxing your marines and using them properly.

In FL, even maxed marines still do 1 to 2% damage. The M7D can repair ships for free automatically, but only if the ship is at less than 90%... which maxed marines will never go below. You have to deal with the damage yourself. On the other hand, marines with 75 mechanics can penetrate even the largest ships with Hull Polarization. Then, marines with less than 80 engineering will cause about 11% damage during boarding, good enough to trigger the M7D's repair routine.

So, maxed marines in FL just cause more work for you, are they really worth it? I think only fight and hacking are worth pushing to 100, and the latter is only for going after Xenon ships.

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Re: Quick guide to infinite riches... and more! - improvements in upcoming update 1.2

Post by Cycrow » Thu, 11. Nov 21, 14:15

in 1.3, you should be able to repair ships above 90%

if the ship command doesn't work (although it should) you can use the Repair Station Command, this allows you to select a specific station to repair, and in 1.3 it will allow you to select a ship as well, allowing full repair of an individual ship

Jimmy C
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Re: Quick guide to infinite riches... and more! - improvements in upcoming update 1.2

Post by Jimmy C » Thu, 11. Nov 21, 16:15

Cycrow wrote:
Thu, 11. Nov 21, 14:15
in 1.3, you should be able to repair ships above 90%

if the ship command doesn't work (although it should) you can use the Repair Station Command, this allows you to select a specific station to repair, and in 1.3 it will allow you to select a ship as well, allowing full repair of an individual ship
That would be most appreciated.

Deathifier
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Re: Quick guide to infinite riches... and more! - improvements in upcoming update 1.2

Post by Deathifier » Thu, 11. Nov 21, 16:41

Jimmy C wrote:
Thu, 11. Nov 21, 13:16
I've been doing some thinking and I'm wondering if maxing out your marines' skills is a waste of time and money in this game. In AP, an intact and fully operational ship was your reward for maxing your marines and using them properly.

In FL, even maxed marines still do 1 to 2% damage. The M7D can repair ships for free automatically, but only if the ship is at less than 90%... which maxed marines will never go below. You have to deal with the damage yourself. On the other hand, marines with 75 mechanics can penetrate even the largest ships with Hull Polarization. Then, marines with less than 80 engineering will cause about 11% damage during boarding, good enough to trigger the M7D's repair routine.

So, maxed marines in FL just cause more work for you, are they really worth it? I think only fight and hacking are worth pushing to 100, and the latter is only for going after Xenon ships.
I don't think it is a waste of resources, at least not to build a core set of marines that you don't intend to lose.
Whilst you can board ships with less well trained marines, training them to max adds a lot more flexibility to your actions.

Highly trained marines (in mechanical and hacking) often don't care what type of ship is being boarded or what anti-boarding equipment is installed, whilst high engineering allows boarding of ships that are under attack by other parties or ships which have been accidentally excessively damaged by your own ships.

For marines you expect to lose then yeah, excessive training is a waste - two cycles of mechanical (~60ish skill, so they can cut through the hull) and max fighting is all they usually need (e.g. for Xenon capitals or eliminating hostile marines on rapid response ships) and for Xenon capitals you send the two elite hackers in a reinforcement wave and hopefully they won't die.

Cycrow wrote:
Thu, 11. Nov 21, 14:15
in 1.3, you should be able to repair ships above 90%

if the ship command doesn't work (although it should) you can use the Repair Station Command, this allows you to select a specific station to repair, and in 1.3 it will allow you to select a ship as well, allowing full repair of an individual ship
That is excellent news, thank you for addressing it.

Jimmy C
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Re: Quick guide to infinite riches... and more! - improvements in upcoming update 1.2

Post by Jimmy C » Thu, 11. Nov 21, 17:47

Cycrow wrote:
Thu, 11. Nov 21, 14:15
you can use the Repair Station Command, this allows you to select a specific station to repair, and in 1.3 it will allow you to select a ship as well, allowing full repair of an individual ship
A suggestion, how about renaming the command, "Repair Specific Ship or Station" then? I can certainly see the benefits to being able to prioritize which ship to repair. You should let players know.

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Re: Quick guide to infinite riches... and more! - improvements in upcoming update 1.2

Post by Cycrow » Thu, 11. Nov 21, 18:26

Editing or adding new texts will not be possible at this stage. The texts need to remain the same, especially for the new translations that are based on the texts from 1.2

Jimmy C
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Re: Quick guide to infinite riches... and more! - improvements in upcoming update 1.2

Post by Jimmy C » Thu, 11. Nov 21, 18:30

Cycrow wrote:
Thu, 11. Nov 21, 18:26
Editing or adding new texts will not be possible at this stage. The texts need to remain the same, especially for the new translations that are based on the texts from 1.2
Does that imply you can't add new commands either, because that requires adding new text to the menus?

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Re: Quick guide to infinite riches... and more! - improvements in upcoming update 1.2

Post by BrigandPhantos77 » Fri, 12. Nov 21, 05:18

Cycrow wrote:
Thu, 11. Nov 21, 18:26
Editing or adding new texts will not be possible at this stage. The texts need to remain the same, especially for the new translations that are based on the texts from 1.2
Any chance of being able to repair NPC ships as well? I've wanted to fix a few in the past.
Peace is a state of mind!
War is absolute!
~ Phantos ~

Sovereign01
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Re: Quick guide to infinite riches... and more! - improvements in upcoming update 1.2

Post by Sovereign01 » Fri, 12. Nov 21, 22:45

BrigandPhantos77 wrote:
Thu, 11. Nov 21, 02:18
Sovereign01 wrote:
Tue, 9. Nov 21, 19:52
I forgot to check its cargo bay size, looks like it has the same problem as the Astraeus. I did consider the pirate offerings but despite using agents to raise my pirate rep with the aim of getting hold of IBL/PBG factories as well as access to their shipyards. However, it never gets above "State informer". I would board them but so far only one of my marines has finished their training so it's not really an option. I really need to build some chip plants so I can begin to produce drones.
Chip plant to max size gives you 80 Microchips per cycle. It's worth the upgrades. And it's very profitable when you let the AI purchase from it. I have mine set up with a max credit cap at 13 million credits. Gives it a sizeable buffer of cash to buy what it needs, and I constantly have deposits from it.

Nividium mines are not worth there cost to set up. Let your fleet do it mobile. "All" Nividium roids to respawn with time. Confirmed it myself.

When it's not mining Nividium, have your mining fleet work on Silicon or Ore. It's a great way to supplement the resources of your factories that need those.
I don't have any factories as of yet, my mining fleet is 100% focused on getting that shiny Nividium. With its high speed and decently-sized cargo bay, even my Sirokos is getting in on the mining action while my marines are training. Running the numbers, the mine would need to produce 250 units to pay for itself, supplying the energy infrastructure for it to be self-sustaining would make no economic sense. Attaching it to an already-existing complex that has surplus energy on the other hand, that would make more sense.

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