Roguey's X3 Mod explanation (Page 6 of 8)

Written by NetHawk,

Ships

There are quite a few new ships in the mod. The exact number is probably known just to the developers. That might seem strange, but it adds another element to the game, because some ships are hidden or hardly accesible. These ships are by no means "better" then their standard variant, they are just rare and can't be just bought, you have to find them. This wakes the explorer in most of us.

For the others they are very well known, and there is even a nice page setup. It lists all the normal ships and the ones included with the mod (except the special ones). Check it out if you want detailed info about a ship: Ship stats

I know it's hard to follow all of my rambling but try to read on.

There are a totall of 12 ship classes. They range from smallest M5 to M7 and then they got from M2 to M0. Confused yet? Well this part is easy, the next isn't so much. There are 5 variants for the ship classes. This is general, but were going to take it slow here.

You might wonder why there are so many classes and variants around. Well it's simple you need them all. Changing from Vanilla to the mod can be a bit difficult because of this, but once you're used to it, you wouldn't want it any other way. So read on as we will go through them all now.

We'll start with the biggest ones, as those don't have variants and it's easiest to explain.

Capitals

M0: This are fortresses in the sky...or better said space. This ships are extremelly rare, and there is only a handfull of models for them. They cost a whole frikkin lot, and to equip them even more.

This ship class is slow. And I mean slow, slower then you can crawl. But it's extremelly well shielded and packs a punch like nothing else. Being the biggest and most brutal ships in the game they stike fear in the hearts of everyone on the opposing side. A word of warning, if you don't have a fleet behind you, and you see one of those with their support, don't even bother to heat up the jumpdrive, just RUN.

M1: The carriers. This ships are the backbone of every fleet. They don't have much of a punch on their own, and aren't all that extremelly shielded for capitals, but when holding 40+ fighters they don't need to.

This ship class is generally quite fast for a capital ship, but can't hold ground on it's own against Destroyers.

M2: The Destroyers. Generally they can't have docked ships, or atleast not many (I think the max is 10). But they are well shielded, and pack an insane punch. This ship class is generally in the middle of capital ships, not quite as fast as the Carriers, but much faster then the M0's. Their shielding is not to be taken lightly and they usually possess a lot of turrets with PPC's.

Corvettes

M7: There are only a few models for those too. This are the strongest and toughest corvettes, sporting 800MJ shields usually they can take quite a beating.

As there are only a few, their characteristics vary a lot, but they aren't slow, and they ain't fast. Fighters can outrun them, small and large corvettes usually too.

They can usually dock a couple ships (1-5)

M6+: Large Corvettes. This ships are a bit of the black sheeps, it's hard to give specifics on them, because every single one of them has a very specific role, so giving examples might be the easiest. Let's start with the Boron Hydra Mk2 Tug, this ship can dock 6 ships, has some good shielding and a fair amount of turrets. It can't hold it's own through, so it depends on what it has docked. A small carrier would be the best definition for it. Then we have the Argon Centaur Mk2 Sentinel, which can dock only 1 or 2 ships, but has enough turrets and the energy to run their HEPT's for a while. It also sports quite good shielding, atleast against anything less then PPC's. This gives it the possibility of being used against swarms of fighters.

I'm not gonna bore you with more details about those ships, check out their stats and think how you could use them, they each have a so specific use that I can't describe them in a general class.

M6: The Corvettes. And I'm not talking about 1976 stingrays! Well, maybe a little, they resemble them (atleast the split). These ships have a fair amount of speed, and quite a punch. They usually don't sport many turrets, but are rather attack

crafts with some shielding. They are slower then the M3/M3+'s but have better shielding and usually have better energy reactors (read: more firing time) and sport higher class weapons (PPC's instead of HEPTS are not uncommon). This ships are good attacking or sector defense ships, they are fast enough to dodge capital fire, but too slow and unmanouvarble to defend against fighters.

Fighters

M3+: The military fighters. These ships are generally a tad slower then their civilian counterparts, but they pack a bigger punch. Some of these even use the military shields. This ships are quite fast and strong, but they don't last long if anything tracks them with hepts.

M3: Fighters are the main attack force of every army. Well these ships are the most common ones, everyone uses them everyone has them, and there are quite a couple variants for each one. In general through, they are fast, pack a couple 25MJ shields and deliver AHEPTS at most. These are the grunts, they don't excell at anything particular, but make due with the situation, they can be used in many fields but mostly they are being used as support ships for the bigger ones.

M4: The small fighter class. Julian Brennan could sing you a song of them. This ships are quite fast, and small. They don't have much shielding, but they can easily dodge almost anything you throw at them. A good use for them is to escort the M3's, cause this ships can distract and weaken the enemy. You won't see them often killing it, but weakening M3s seems to work for them great.

M5: small, fast, sometimes even packs a little punch (BPAC). This ships have shields only on paper, the 1MJ shield goes away in to time, only problem is hitting them. They are extremelly fast, they turn in no time, they dodge your fire, and because they can they take out the missiles you throw at them in the same time. So don't think they are not worth it, ohh boy can you be wrong if you think this. A handfull of these takes out every single missile aimed at a attack force (~ 20 ships). And they even shoot at you, while they can't do much damage to M3's and none to anything bigger, they can take out M4's. So a small force of this can turn the tide of action sometimes.

Transporters

TS: this are the main transporter ships, they come in 3 versions. The normal ones, the extended ones and the superfreighters. Respectivelly they get slower but can haul more cargo.

TP: Passenger transports, only really usefull for the BBS missions.

Tender: This is a new ship class in rogueys mod. This ships show up as M3's but they really aren't. This ships are fairly well shielded and have a cargo capacity of ~2800. They take ST container through, which removes the limitation of buying/selling 1/10GJ shield of their respective stations.

This ships are used as transporters for capital ships and TL's, since those can't dock anywhere except shipyards and equipment docks (and the new complex hub, check lower).

TL: This are the real deal for every transporter. They build the stations, they haul the real cargo with 30000-50000 cargo space. They are fairly well shielded, but usually quite slow and bulky (well they are big, what did you expect?!).

Ship Variants

Well there is a lot and yet a little to say here. If you understood what is written above, a look at the ship stats will tell you which variant is for whom. In general through, there are the variants:

Raider: faster then normal, with better steering but less hull and less shielded.

Vanguard: a tad faster, a tad better steering, a little less hull, but it has Laser energy and a better reactor to run all of that.

Sentinel: a bit slower and less steering, but more shielding and a bit better reactor allowing faster shield regeneration.

Hauler: more hull, less speed and steering, but a lot more cargo space, and more shielding.

Tanker: more hull, quite a bit slower, and less steering, but more shielding and cargo space.

Lasertowers

The Lasertowers got a bit of an overhaul in the mod. I'm writing abou them here, cause they are considered to be ships by the game. Anyway there are now 2 variants of lasertowers, the normal ones and the Heavy Lasertowers. The Heavy variant is slower in turning and can hold 800MJ shielding, giving it a lot of protection, but the normal one can be upgraded to a heavy one if you change out the shield. They also have more firepower now, making them a force to reckon with.

Weapons

As I am sure everyone can read one of the millions of guides on weapons, I'm not going to be a boring boron and make another one. Instead I'll just point out what has been changed.

Well as far as their uses are concerned not much, other then that the weapons have been despammed, as Roguey said nicelly:


... or something like that. In any case weapons now shoot less often.

They have also been color coded (as noted in the features list), and their sound has been improved.

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