Oh What A Night!...and not the Frankie Valli song

Board Index » X3: Terran Conflict » Oh What A Night!...and not the Frankie Valli song

Instruguey (13)

Posted 12 years ago.

So I've been hanging at the Shipyard in Zyarth's Dominion for a while, doing some weapon upgrades with a fair portion of my fleet. And sometimes I like to slide down to Sector 598 and take a poke at the Xenon...you know, when I'm bored.
I'm offered a 2.7 mil cr "protect the station" mission from the Shipyard. I've done dozens of these higher priced mission to date in many sectors. My Tiger has a good weapons layout and nice variety of missiles aboard. Worst I've come upon is a Xenon K with an escort Q and a the normal assortment of LX's or L's, M's, and N's. I think, 'no sweat, easy money'.
I undock get about 15 km's and accept the mission.

A 'P' quickly comes out of the South Gate. And I wait, and wait. Then a 'K' gates in. OK, normal mission except I don't see any fighters...too easy.
The Gate activates again...and a 'J' comes though. I've seen a few before but never engaged. This is quickly followed by a second 'J'. I'm bout 35 km from the Gate and start to experience some minor bladder control issues.
I already have a pair of Hornets heading for the 'P' but she doesn't seem be part of the "mission fleet". I'm positioned tween the South Gate and the Shipyard with 3 Xenon capitals bearing down on me. I call my Titan at the Shipyard to follow me. Well armed and shielded, but really slow and pointed the wrong way while docked. I turn toward her with the 3 Xenon's in pursuit.
No other Xenon's gate in...it'll be just these 3 capital ships. Well enough, thank you very much!

I figure it's one of those "all hands on deck" things, so I have my Python (which is several sectors away) jump in from the South Gate and have her engage the last 'J' from behind.
I saved the game before accepting the mission and I think I will have to re-load a few times to get the best outcome.

The Python makes pretty quick work of that 'J' in her sights but has shields down to about 1/2. I order her after the 2nd one. But some hard flying is needed to catch up to it.
I have 2 Firestorms and a Hammerhead launched at the 'K' while I try to duck under the wing of my Titan.
All 3 heavy missile/torpedo's hit the 'K' just b4 my Titan opens up with forward guns. I dive out from under the Titan and advance to go starboard to starboard with the 'K' as my Titan is moving for a port-on-port engagement. As I close in on her, the 'K' opens with her starboard guns. I slide left and down watching most of the shots go over my head. But I take some hits and shields are quickly down by 25%.

None of my ships have the "emergency jump" set and I have no time to pay attention. I'm already thinking I'll be re-loading soon.
I lob some Hornets, on a prayer. I see the Titan firing with some affect but nothing seems to be going quick enough.

I take some serious hits and my shield go down. No time to pay attention to my other ships. I'm in this one for my life. I move off, doing some heavy jinxing.
Once I'm out of gun range, I see that the Python has taken out the 'J' and is engaging....wait!!! The heck with that 'P' (over by the Trading Station), get your butt over here!

The 'K' is interested in me and pursues, giving the Titan a nice broadside view. Shortly there is a huge explosion and the 'K' is gone.

My Python has no damage but shields are below 10%. The Titan did very well with no hull damage and shields still about 25%. I've little shields left and took 2% hull damage.
I send the M2's heading for the Shipyard...hit pause. Seems a really good time to crack that bottle of Jameson I gifted myself, and I pour a few fingers worth before I take care of that 'P' and start collecting the container-salvage.

Surprisingly, the mission was completed first time through, no re-loads.
I'll take the loss of a few heavy missiles and 2% hull damage for the downing of 3 Xenon capital ships any time!

I've never had a mission were I needed to engage 3 capital ships before, and just sharing how my Friday night went. This game never let's you get comfortable.

It's not what someone has done..it's about what they are about to do!

Roguey

Trueguey (22)

Posted 12 years ago.

sounds interesting - these combat missions can get very hard.. sending wave after wave of fighter/capital ships. Its mainly based on your combat rating, although the mission difficulty can change it a bit.

I wonder what a very hard mission with the X-TREME rating is like.. hmm... never got that far with the combat rating, as its long process to get there.

Im guessing your playing X3TC and not X3AP? in X3AP the capitals have anywhere up-tp 10 times more hull, this makes the capital vs capital battles more dangerous, as after the shields are gone they keep fighting for a good 10/15 seconds more. So your capital is bound take some damage unless you have some tactics.

Did any of them missiles really help btw?

cjm3fl

Instruguey (13)

Posted 12 years ago.

Im guessing your playing X3TC and not X3AP? in X3AP the capitals have anywhere up-to 10 times more hull, this makes the capital vs capital battles more dangerous, as after the shields are gone they keep fighting for a good 10/15 seconds more. So your capital is bound take some damage unless you have some tactics.
- Roguey

So far I've only played TC (2.5 without mods) but I've been reading about AP here.
I'll be standing in line when it's released to disc. I keep my gaming system off-line so Steam isn't an option.
I like what I've read so far. Can't wait!

Did any of them missiles really help btw?
- Roguey

Actually the 'big guys' do help quite a-bit. I've taken down 'K's a number of times with a barrage of Hammerheads and/or Firestorm torps. Get the shields completely down and hull down to about 1/2. Then it's Hornet time! Closer, then it's time for the guns!

There are a few things I have to keep in mind. (always save b4 engaging)
*First-it's always best to hit the forward area of the enemy. These 'big guys' are slower and don't turn so well. This makes them easy targets for defensive batteries.
*Second-do not fire these missiles/torpedoes when they are "ready" to fire. Both of these 'big guys' do radius damage, as I found out reading your guide. I've taken out my own missiles from blast-damage. This is very true if I fire some Firestorms (slower), then launch some Hammerheads (slightly faster). But this also happen if firing the same missile/torp too closely together.

Being able to 'smack them in the face' can take some practice. If the capital ship is in their own sector and on patrol, they might turn after I've launched. Same is true if they on are on a random offensive mission in some neutral/their-enemy sector.

It's not so bad on a "protect station" mission, or if the capital ship is transiting from one gate to another, unmolested.

If I find a Xenon capital ship that doesn't know I'm there, and it has a tight-formation of escorts, the radius damage from either of the 'big guys' can damage/destroy a fair number of the escorts.

If I get the 'K's attention and get it to chase me, I have sometimes lost the chance to take out the escorts with the blast-damage from the first hit.

This brings up another question, but I'll start a separate post.

It's not what someone has done..it's about what they are about to do!

Roguey

Trueguey (22)

Posted 12 years ago.

I do find it a little strange that turrets shoot out missiles but the main guns dont. I use this method to board ships as well, as you can get your marines in (with a boarding pod) usually with no problems. If you go to board large ships, then your M7M is usually faster. That way you can keep the capital ship behind you and just out of range.

Both of these big guys do radius damage, as I found out reading your guide.
- cjm3fl

I could imagine a few swear words after that happened LOL

Why I asked about the missile thing, is that im usually too tight about spreading credits on something which goes *bang* Smile

Its all great having stats but I dont normally use a lot of missiles in my battles (unless its an M7M).

cjm3fl

Instruguey (13)

Posted 12 years ago.

Hmm..I'd have to say that 30% of the missiles in my collection comes from salvaging containers after doing battle. Those that I don't use, I sell to bring in some credits to help when I do buy.

Missiles are a good part of my battle plans. I can reduce some shields on M6's and above, or take out some of the escort M3 and smaller.
I carry a variety of different missiles on my M6's and above.

There are quite a number of different missiles..maybe a few too many, but I pretty much have (finally) figured out which are useful (to me), and what a good price is for selling and buying.

I could imagine a few swear words after that happened LOL

- Roguey

No beat there. You'd win!

I use this method to board ships as well, as you can get your marines in (with a boarding pod) usually with no problems.
- Roguey

I try out pod boarding this way too and see how it works out for me.

It's not what someone has done..it's about what they are about to do!

Roguey

Trueguey (22)

Posted 12 years ago.

Ah I see, as actually buying all them missiles could be very costly. Missiles seem a bit like a money-sink to me. I guess you could make an complex to build them for free. although there's quite a bit of over-head in building those complexes.

I guess I should start using more missiles in my fights. I know there's some quite good ones in there too, and it sounds like they do work in-fights well. Ive tested them a bit, but very really thought of them as a secondary weapon until now.

You need to log-in to post here.