[MOD] [TC/AP] X3 Rebalance Mod (XRM) - Total conversion - v1.30d (02.12.13)

[Kalthorine]

Hi there,

First of all as a newcomer to the X-universe I'd like to say how impressed I am by how active and friendly the modding community seems to be.

I'm keen that my first experience of X3: Albion Prelude be as good as it can be so, being experienced in modding many other games, I've been investigating what recommended mods to use - and XRM comes up time and time again.

One question though...

COMPATIBILITY NOTES -

The XRM is fully compatible with the latest release of both Terran Conflict and Albion Prelude.

NOTE - The main Argon plot is not available in Albion Prelude. This is due to compatibility issues with the XRM replacement "War". However, the new Terran, PHQ and HUB plots are available. Also the Corporation and Treasure Hunt plots from TC are available in XRM:AP.

All plots are available in Terran Conflict.

Please forgive me if this is a stupid n00b question, but does this mean that if I start an X3:AP game with XRM installed and begin the game as one of the Argon pilot backgrounds then I won't get any kind of "story" to follow?

I really want to play the game with XRM as I've heard how good it is, but however many improvements it makes to gameplay I'm going to have to give it a miss if it breaks the game's plotline (however weak that plotline may be).

Any help or advice people can give about this will be most gratefully received. Thanks in advance guys n gals

[Barleyman]

I started a new game with X3M 1.3 + X3TC and started doing the terran defenders plot.

Missions seem to work OK but the freebie ships you get have no weapons at all. What gives? You get some free wimpy ships during the first few missions, not just the reward at the end of the plot.

[Kadatherion]

Please forgive me if this is a stupid n00b question, but does this mean that if I start an X3:AP game with XRM installed and begin the game as one of the Argon pilot backgrounds then I won't get any kind of "story" to follow?

Nope, you'll only miss the first Argon plot (a quite short one BTW, like most AP plots). You'll still be able to play all the plotlines that were meant to begin after that one (as its completed flag is set from the beginning).

Just so you know, plots in AP tend to have somewhat little "story" to them anyway.

[Kalthorine]

Nope, you'll only miss the first Argon plot (a quite short one BTW, like most AP plots). You'll still be able to play all the plotlines that were meant to begin after that one (as its completed flag is set from the beginning).

Just so you know, plots in AP tend to have somewhat little "story" to them anyway.

Thanks for the prompt response, looks like I wasn't wrong when I said how good this modding community is

So, one n00bish question aside here's another one - are there any screenshots available that show what the different cockpit addon options look like in-game, and similarly comparison screenshots showing the difference between vanilla backgrounds and the XRM ones? I've tried Google image searches for "XRM cockpit" and "XRM background" and similar variations without much luck, and I am a lazy so-and-so who doesn't really want to start multiple games with the different options just to see which one I like best.

Again, thanks in advance for any pointers.

[Kadatherion]

To have a good idea of how the cockpits are, you can look at the source mod thread directly: http://forum.egosoft.com/viewtopic.php?t=254635. They mostly are from X2, so it's really old graphics (although with improvements), don't expect wonders.

I don't believe there are comprehensive shots for the backgrounds (well, maybe buried somewhere in this endless thread, who knows), but don't worry, they aren't exaggerated or anything, you will retain a vanilla feeling with some improvements and variety across the board. No eye cancer whatsoever

[paulwheeler]

I started a new game with X3M 1.3 + X3TC and started doing the terran defenders plot.

Missions seem to work OK but the freebie ships you get have no weapons at all. What gives? You get some free wimpy ships during the first few missions, not just the reward at the end of the plot.

I've not played the plot through so I don't know what you're supposed to get. I've not changed anything related to this plot or its rewards - do you have any other mods installed?

[Barleyman]

I started a new game with X3M 1.3 + X3TC and started doing the terran defenders plot.

Missions seem to work OK but the freebie ships you get have no weapons at all. What gives? You get some free wimpy ships during the first few missions, not just the reward at the end of the plot.

I've not played the plot through so I don't know what you're supposed to get. I've not changed anything related to this plot or its rewards - do you have any other mods installed?

Quite a few actually. Mostly things you recommend in the recommended mods - MARS, IE+IEX, Missile defence Mk2, Military base revamp, Salvage commands, Pure X huds. Not from the list are NPC bailout, some Lucike's trade/prospector/management scripts and anti-engine-carrot mod.

None of the mods should really touch loadouts EXCEPT maybe NPC bailout as it's supposed to remove equipment from bailed out ships according to damage. It shouldn't really affect spawned ships tho

XRM changes the basic loadouts, doesn't it? So if script asks for "M" or "L" setup rapier, is it going to get an expected result?

[Cedric_FP]

Is there a legitimate way to overtune ships in the XRM universe?

[paulwheeler]

I started a new game with X3M 1.3 + X3TC and started doing the terran defenders plot.

Missions seem to work OK but the freebie ships you get have no weapons at all. What gives? You get some free wimpy ships during the first few missions, not just the reward at the end of the plot.

I've not played the plot through so I don't know what you're supposed to get. I've not changed anything related to this plot or its rewards - do you have any other mods installed?

Quite a few actually. Mostly things you recommend in the recommended mods - MARS, IE+IEX, Missile defence Mk2, Military base revamp, Salvage commands, Pure X huds. Not from the list are NPC bailout, some Lucike's trade/prospector/management scripts and anti-engine-carrot mod.

None of the mods should really touch loadouts EXCEPT maybe NPC bailout as it's supposed to remove equipment from bailed out ships according to damage. It shouldn't really affect spawned ships tho

XRM changes the basic loadouts, doesn't it? So if script asks for "M" or "L" setup rapier, is it going to get an expected result?

The MD doesn't work like that. It will create the ship then just add the wares specified in the script. The "M" and "L" variants are purely for shipyard ordering. Besides. the XRM loadouts for Terran fighters are pretty much the same as vanilla. Are you sure they come pre-loaded in vanilla?

Are you seeing expected XRM cargo and ware sizes? i.e. is the jumpdrive XL? Do capital ships have XXL ware compatibility?

Make sure you have not installed the MARS goblins cat/dat - you'll need to restart if this is the case, but I'd expect you to see a lot more wrong with your universe if you'd done this.

[paulwheeler]

Is there a legitimate way to overtune ships in the XRM universe?

No. There are quite a few scripts that enable this. The Travelling Mechanic script was one I used for a while.

[VaporSnake]

So is the only way for a bounty to be placed on my ship be blowing up stations?

[Sorkvild]

Is there a legitimate way to overtune ships in the XRM universe?

You can also use this cheated afterburner from bonus pack to receive short turbo boosts

[paulwheeler]

So is the only way for a bounty to be placed on my ship be blowing up stations?

The XRM bounty system does not act on the player ship - the built in X3 rep system does that just fine.

[Barleyman]

The MD doesn't work like that. It will create the ship then just add the wares specified in the script. The "M" and "L" variants are purely for shipyard ordering. Besides. the XRM loadouts for Terran fighters are pretty much the same as vanilla. Are you sure they come pre-loaded in vanilla?

I have to get back to that later on when I'm at home. In the meantime, they *should* be armed or the plot does not make sense as you're supposed to use them as wingmen on patrol. I can of course not guarantee vanilla missions are not borked. Rapiers are not going to make much of a dent either way but 8x free rapid guns would be kind of useful to have.

I should probably make a copy of the DATs, scripts and t's so I can switch between vanilla, modded and/or TC/AP without too much trauma.

[paulwheeler]

Thinking about it, the vanilla mission probably tries to arm the Rapiers with EMPC, but in the XRM, Rapiers cannot mount EMPC, so that's probably why they are spawned unarmed. I'd have thought most other ship rewards would be OK - I've certainly never had anyone mention it before.

The only fix for this is to rewrite the plot script, which is something I've always tried to avoid - the XRM is complex enough without having to support XRM versions of the plots as well.

[Cedric_FP]

Is there a legitimate way to overtune ships in the XRM universe?

No. There are quite a few scripts that enable this. The Travelling Mechanic script was one I used for a while.

Thank you for your reply. I'm constraining myself to XRM rules, though.

[Reido]

I couldn't find an answer anywhere with Google, so I'll have to ask - in XRM, can you still find the stranded Goner Aran in random sectors that you reach with the unfocused jumpdrive?

Note that if you're playing AP then there is one, and only one Aran to be found using the unfocused jump drive, whereas in TC if you have enough patience you can find as many as you want.


Reido

Or you can buy one from the Goners or capture one of theirs that flies around the universe.

Yes, I forgot to add that.

Aran hunting with the old Mark I eyeball used to be a nice diversion in TC and I just wanted to prevent someone from wasting hours looking for a their second free Aran in AP.

Knowing that there's only the possibility of ever finding 'the one' leave's me with absolutely no inclination to finding any (thanks Egosoft).


Reido

[Reido]

Is there a legitimate way to overtune ships in the XRM universe?

No. There are quite a few scripts that enable this. The Travelling Mechanic script was one I used for a while.

Thank you for your reply. I'm constraining myself to XRM rules, though.

The Traveling Mechanic script is actually quite balanced since "Boozy" the mechanic charges an arm & a leg for each tuning and causes some hull damage with his bumbling that needs to be repaired afterward and unless you have a large proportion of the map covered with satellites you also need to find his ship that's cruising around going from one Boron shipyard to the next.

It's also quite funny listening to him curse in his 'helium like' Boron voice while he's working.


Reido

[Cedric_FP]

Are there any M6s that can dock M3s in XRM? Because I have the strange situation of a single Katana being able to dock an M3, but no other Katana's being able to.

The weird thing is I'm able to set the homebase for an M3 as a Katana, but only certain Katana's. Am I missing something in terms of ship-software?

Edit: Hmm, maybe it's a pirate katana? It's got pirate decals.

[titus1]

Hey,
I noticed something today. There is a difference between existing stations and the stations that I build. For example, my Teladi Flower Farms only require Energy cells to function, while other Flower Farms require Energy cells and Teladianium. There are other stations in this case.
Any insight would be appreciated.
[ external image ][ external image ]
Ignore the fact that one is L and the other is M, the difference is still there in L stations.

Thanks.