[Space Sim] X3: Reunion

[TimberWolf]

I don't have escorts on any of my trade ships so I don't know much about OOS defence. But what I know is that numbers is all that matters. Basicly it comes down to having ships with higher shield, weapon, and recharge rate will have the edge in OOS battles.

For personal ship, I am flying the Nova because of its weapon and shield power. I can wipe out most of a pirate wing on the first pass in the Nova and survive a couple missile attacks with only one usually getting past my rear turret. In the Mamba I could only take out one ship on the first pass and have to be very carefull when they start firing missiles which were my usuall cause of death.

The Perseus is ok but the one I captured didn't last long. It has good speed, better than the Nova, but it doesn't have as high of recharge rate of shields or weapons. If you have escorts with you that are almost as fast if not faster than your Perseus then I would use that as your primary ship.

For me as escorts, I have been using 4 ships on average. Two ships are the Buster Sentinals because of their shield strength and speed compairable to the Nova. I also have two Falcons that I captured. I will eventually change those out to something else but right now they do a good job augmenting my Nova's abilities.

I am not sure what ships you would want for your own escorts if you use the Perseus. It will depend on your fighting style. An example is if you stand back and order your ships to attack your target then you would want to get stronger ships with heavy weapons and shields. If you use them to protect yourself as you attack, you may want smaller faster ships with BPACs and BAREs. All of my escorts are equipped with BPAC's and BARE's for now, the Falcons will get AHEPT's later when I find a place to buy them.

[TimberWolf]

Just got done playing for about 5 hours or so. Here is a summery of what happend:

1: Needed to buy a Mercury to keep up with demand for Energy Cells at my complex.
2: Attempted to attack the Paranid from Argon space, captured 2 ships before jumping to their southern sectors again.
3: In Paranid southern sectors I captured 7 ships, only 2 of which made it back to safety, the others were destroyed by the never ending line of Nemesis coming in (destroyed 4 or 5 this night alone).
4: Set the captured ships on a course to Omicron Lyrae and captured another Paranid ship in Black Hole Sun. Sold off the ship already waiting in Omicron Lyrae but left before any other ships made it there.
5: Jumped into Ceo's Doubt and then turned around and went into Loomanckstrat's Legacy with my Nova (the rest of my wing is sitting back in Home Of Light). Entered with one ship, left with 16 which includes my personal Nova I entered with and the Mamba as the last ship I picked up while I was there. Spent most of my time in a never ending fight with missiles and pirates from hell. A couple of my captures didn't survive but the vast majority did (some with weapons, a couple with shields, but over most of them are Buzzards).
6: Now I have ships to sell in Argon Prime from my first Paranid raid, in Omicron Lyrae from my second raid, and many more in Ceo's Doubt that will be shiped up to either Ianamus Zura or Light of Heart to be sold.

I was really ticked off when all of my captures were being destroyed by those Paranid M6's coming out of no where. I tried finding a Xenon Invision mission but didn't see any, which is when I decided to go to the Pirates home sectors. When I entered Loomanckstrat's Legacy there was about 15 pirates on radar. As I said above, I was in a near constant fight with never ending pirate lines who kept coming out of the south gate for hours. In the end I filled my cargo hold with missiles and a couple of weapons laying around, picked up 14 pirate ships (most of which are Buzzards). When I went for the Mamba a pair of Nova's came after me but they didn't live long. Over all I probably ended up destroying nearly a hundred ships. When I left the pirate sector there was almost no ships any where to be found and the number of squash mines had significantly reduced.

I will have to process all of these ships to get all the usable parts off of them and into storage and then figure out which ships are worth keeping and then get them repaired and fitted for duty. That will take a couple of hours in and of itself because I will have to get my storage ship form Argon Prime to get a jump drive of its own and energy to come to me, then jump to the other two sites of ready to be parted ships in Omicron Lyrae and Argon Prime (it sucks that you have to be there to transfer things between ships).

Overall what looked like a horrible night turned out quite well. My complex is doing well again and I have a huge source of income waiting to be liquidated. I also gained ranks in Trading and Combat, I think Financier and I know for certian Assassin. I wish I took pictures of the battle but I was so busy spinning and keeping myself alive as I killed the enemy that I didn't have time to think about it. But wow, that was a lot of fun and breath taking. I was sweating bullets most of the time when it didn't look like there was going to be a break to recharge shields and weapons but some how I made time to do so. WOW! I need to sleep, glad its a 3 day weekend.

[TsN|Wildchild|xmen]

Sounds like fun man. I can't wait to get my nova as it sounds like that is the capping machine. 17 in one night, I usually cap out at like 7 and I'm hugely happy.

[TimberWolf]

Actually, it was 21 captures for the night, not including the free Mamba. Two from Emperers Mines when I first raided the Paranid. That is also how I got the energy cells to jump across the universe.

Here is a break down of Captrues only from what I remember:

Emperer Mines:
1 TS (Waiting at Argon Prime)
1 M4 (Waiting at Argon Prime)

Interworlds:
1 TS (Waiting in Omicron Lyrae)

Pontifex' Seclusion:
1 TS (Waiting at Omicron Lyrae)
1 M4 (hair of hull left, Still in transit to Omicron Lyrae)

Friar's Retreat:
4 TS (All destroyed by boarder patrol or military before leaving sector, one made it to Pontifex' Seclusion when it got destroyed)
1 M3 (Destroyed by boarder patrol before leaving sector)

Black Hole Sun:
1 TS (Waiting in Omicron Lyrae)

Loomanckstrat's Legacy:
1 TS (Destroyed as it was leaving the sector by Pirates)
3 M3 (Waiting in Ceo's Doubt)
8 M4 (Waiting in Ceo's Doubt)
3 M5 (Waiting in Ceo's Doubt)

I know I captured a Pirate Nova and Falcon during the battle. There are about 8 Buzzards, didn't capture any Busters because the ones that were surrendering either got destroyed by their own people or fired a missile off just before turning blue. I was surprised that I captured 3 Harriers with the fire power I was unleasing on everything.

My weapons of chioce for the bulk of the battle was 2 AHEPT's and 2 BPAC's. When it came to Pirate Nova's I switched over to 4 AHEPT's and took it out as fast as possible. If someone had an Ion-D or PSG then they became a priority to destroy. My rear turret got some kills of its own besides the random bursts of missiles from everyone around me. I know some of the pirates died not by my ships weapons but rather they found squash mines.

I was floored when I was hit by another Pirate attack and almost every other ship turned blue after a pass. I think a couple of the ships were destroyed by the cross fire, missiles, and choas of ships flying around but what ever was left was mine. During a pause between 5 different attack waves I made time to get out and claim them to send them out of the sector for safety. I later saw that the Trading Station in Ceo's Doubt was under attack from a small Kha'ak cluster but they weren't doing anything to my ships but had me worried about them possibility of them destroying the station.

I hope to play more today and get those ships processed and get the equipment moved around to create a couple more wingmen. But I haven't used any of my wingmen that night. They were all left back in Home of Light. Its hard to believe I survived that battle with the Pirates alone. I don't even completely believe it.

*EDIT*

Did some more playing, sold off nearly all of the ships. I am keeping a Falcon and a Buzzard, everything else is or has been pieced off and sold. I now have cargo ships holding the equipment stripped from them at the three ship yards I used. According to the game I have captured just over a 100 ships and sold almost 80. I wonder if it counts the one's I get to bail as captured or not. I have only bought 3 ships and those are all for my station. The station is having a hard time selling some of its missiles, which go in spurts of none being sold to being sold out. The shields are still never in stock because of demand.

I have really ticked off the pirates. I restarted my Universal trader who has been grounded for a long time, he took a long lunch break and forgot to return to work. But every 30 minutes I would get a message from him saying that a pirate attacked him in either a Teladi sector or an Argon Boarder sector. I have regrounded him for the time being. I tried getting more pirate captures but there just aren't any pirates left in the sector but tons are flying out of the Teladi shipyards and out of the woodwork of the Pirate sectors heading towards there. It is so bad that there is a near constant red line from one gate to the next in almost every sector along the path. There are so many that they are making it past the Kha'ak fleet that is still in Hatikva's Faith (they have been there since almost the very beginning of my game).

Speaking about Kha'ak, I have found another sector that is gutted out by them. It was going to be my new Boron Hunting Grounds but when I arrived there was only Kha'ak ships flying around destroying the last two Boron stations. Hila's Joy is now in-passable to me. I jumped away and went back towards the core Boron sectors and was greeted with the usuall threat to leave of die. I was soon met by a Boron Ray and Shark. I used their Trading station as cover for a bit to figure out what I wanted to do. When I noticed flashes comming off the station I realized they were shooting it. With that knowledge I ran right for the nearest ship, which was the Ray, and began attacking it. As I was weaving around to keep my life in my hands the Shark began opening fire and hitting the Ray. Some how in all of this, even though my shields never failed, I lost one of my 25 MJ generators. After a reasonably short time the Ray was destroyed and the Shark was filling the void around me with PPC fire. I attempted to attack it but was having no real success and decided to jump way.

I ended my game raiding Atreaus' Clouds. I need to gather up all the Unknown missiles and go on a Kha'ak capital ship hunting. They are really starting to tick me off blocking those sectors and no race is going to clear them out for me. Only made about 3 million from all the sales and stuff, but I still have goods I am trying to get out into the market to get some more money from those captures.

*EDIT #2*

Saw that they have released the next patch, the V2.0 Bala Gi Missions. I have downloaded it and ran the file. Now I have a real problem. None of the notes I have read pertaining to the patch said anything about it but they did say that the patch included the removal of the check CD to play. Well, apparently you need CD#1, the installer CD, to complete the upgrade when you run X3 for the first time. For my misfortune, I only have the GamePlayCD with me here on campus. So now I can't play the game until I go home for Thanksgiving and bring them back with me on campus, and by then there will only be two weeks of classes left before christmas break. So I guess I am out of the game for a little while. I will put this new found time back into my studies for classes.

*EDIT #3*

Got the game working. Had to change the shortcut to the X3.exe so it wouldn't keep trying to find the now removed Star Force software. I started a new game with the story line active. I did cheat to give me some money to begin with, also because the Kha'ak in the first mission did a good job busting up my Buster.

The Bala Gi mission become active after 10 in game hours, you own at least one station, and have at least 5 million credits in your pocket. All the functions the Player Headquarters has makes it something I couldn't play without. The ability to build your own ships, even the one's you can't buy anywhere else will make it the perfect place to construct my battle fleets. The only way you can get it is by completing the Bala Gi missions that are offered through the Borons.

Here is what I know the HQ can do:
Custom Paint Jobs (limited to predesigned hull panels)
Build Your Own Ships (either by buying the designes from some where or by having the station take one of yours apart to create a design to build more)
Repair Your Own Ships

The building and repairing costs materials and money. They have it desinged to make a list and only work on one at a time. But look at it this way. If you can get a hold of a ship you can't buy else where or a unique ships (such as the M7) you can have the station dismantle it and then contruct as many of them as you want (provided you have the money and resources). There has also been a new weapon introduced into the game that will cause some damage to the enemy ship but will randomly turn them around, disorienting them.

I have backed up my old saves so if I choose to I can return to them. But my game plan for this new run is to complete the plot and Bala Gi missions, dominate the core Pirate sectors and build my empire up in there, spread my military power through out the universe one sector at a time until the only thing left to do is to dominate the Kha'ak home sectors (which I never could do in X2). It will be interesting what type of fleets I can create with the HQ and speacial ships I find. I may even build more Buster Sentinals to operate as fleet defence. Going to have to see what the resources are to build your own ships and repairs are. But this is going to be awsome.

[TimberWolf]

I have been running through the plot as fast as I can, mostly just to see what its like cause I never did it before in X3. So far I have done everything up till the time I need to get a cystal from the Paranid. I am also still in the starting Buster but I do have a Discoverer I bought waiting on the side. On one of the missions I thought I had to head off towards Loomanckstrat's Legacy, which I later found out was completely the wrong way and way too far out. But imagine this, a Buster entering the sector which is immeadiatly attacked by a Pirate Falcon, Pirate Harrier, and Pirate Buster. All I have as weapons are 4 BPAC's and 2 BARE's. Funny enough to say I kicked their butts along with another wave or two of Pirates before they started to over whelm me. Weapons didn't charge fast enough and the shields were constantly being hit by PSG's. So I had to jump away and head back the way I came to get where I needed to go in the first place.

My Discoverer soul purpose is to explore. I have used it to explore most of Argon Core and Boron Core sectors. I have taken into Split space for a mission but couldn't dock at any of their stations. I ended up having to battle a Pirate Harrier and Pirate Falcon with my two little BARE's. The Harrier fell fast but the Falcon took about 10 minutes to destroy because I kept running out of energy. I never intended to dog fight in the Discoverer but it needed to be done for the mission.

For another mission I had to go into Xenon Sector 101. My game was so laggy from all of the ships there that I had a very hard time completing the mission. Luck was on my side since the Xenon were distracted from a small Kha'ak invasion force jumping in. On my radar was a ship called Xenon LX, which I have never seen or heard of prior. I have recently found on the Egosoft boards that is one of the new M3+'s. From what I saw on the stats in the game, it is one thing you will either want to run away from or capture, it is that awsome.

As soon as there is a Mammoth in Argon Prime I will start constructing a complex in Ore Belt to build stuff, starting with a silicon mine and ore mine. Every time I have been that way there has either been no Mammoths or they are already doing something for the GOD engine.

[TsN|Wildchild|xmen]

And here I was enjoying my gaing this weekend only to find out I should have updated and started over. Now I don't feel nearly as upset as I was yesterday.

I get to game a little on Sunday when my wife is at work and the baby goes down for a nap. I usually game and pause it when she wakes up and later pick it up when my wife gets home and the baby goes down for the night. Well, Murphy's Law will state this, "When you have a very good game and you can not save it, place large heavy objects in front of your PC to keep the young ones away from the power button."

I played for about an hour and a half. Capped three pirate busters all with shields and about half hull. A Boron dolphin filled with space weed and I actually capped a pirate nova. I was happy. I just got my nova from the unknown sector and decided that with my new found firepower I would try for the ship in Xenon 101. I jump in and head for the gate leading to the Xenon sector when I spot twelve ships attacking a gonar ranger. WHat he is doing near the south gate to a xenon sector in pirate space is beyond me. Needless to say he didn't make it. But I flew in and destroyed two ships before they turned on me.

The thing I hate about the nova is it is slow, but I love the added turret in the rear. While fighting a swarm of xenon I would hear an explosion behind me as my turret took out an enemy. I was following this very elusive Xenon L when I nearly get run over by a blue object flying in front of the screen when jerking a 180. A concentrated barrage of fire gets him to bail. Sweet a Xenon L... I swing around and I see another bailed ship, the one I nearly tookout by running over it. ANother Xenon L. My turret had made the pilot bail. Two ships and I hadn't taken any serious damage yet. My shields were low and my goggles were destroyed along with a missle bank that was damaged. No big deal, I was too close for missles Iceman so I kept on the guns.

I was heading back after claiming my two newfound glories. I was planning on keeping these buggers when I heard the patter of waking feet. To my surprise though, before I could get to a station she appears out of nowhere and says hi daddy, POOF... and hits the power button to my computer. I was like.... NOOOOOOOOOO!!!!! arg I was so upset. My wife came home and I played for two hours and never could reproduce it. I got one to bail but they were wise to my tactics and sumarily destroyed my atoms.

So like you I will put my current game on hold and play the plot as I never finished it.

Question. Does the new patch of the Bali Gi missions have all the new ship designs in them? Like the Star Wars and what not? I only want three ships and have not been able to use them in my game for lack of rep or just down right hatred of the race who builds them. I would like to be able to get the Firefly, Hammerhead, and the Cylon raders and use them as fleets.

[TimberWolf]

The Bala Gi Patch is the final big patch for the game. It is almost an expansion pack, depending on how you look at it. It doesn't add in ships that were created by players, such as the Firefly, Hammerhead, or Cylon Raider. It does add in the M3+ and M7 ships created by Egosoft.

Before installing the patch, I would uninstall the ships. This way there is a reduce risk in the patch either being corrupted by them or they being corrupted byt the patch. Once the patch is installed you can add the ships back in. Your saved games would never know they were gone if your worried about that.

The Bala Gi missions are given out by the Borons that will lead you to getting the only M7 in the game and a Player Headquarters. There are new BB missions added every where, especially the Pirate Bases. They have added a system that hides the system over-ride that you have to earn through a Pirate Mission.

The Player Headquarter is something worth getting first then going to war with the Boron. It allows you to build your own ships. Before you can build them you either have to buy the blue prints from the BB or backward engineer a ship (basicly sending that ship to the station to be dismanteled, destroyed, so that you can build copies of it). The PHQ can also do custom paint jobs on ships that have such options on them such as changing the coloration of the paint job on Pirate ships. It can also repair ships.

Think of it this way, say you found a unique ship such as the freebie Falcon with 2 125 MJ shield slots and you wanted more. Strip the ship off all the weapons and systems and then have your station backward engineer it. From that point on you can produce the exact same ship (comes with no systems or weapons even if you left them on before backward engineering it). This way you can produce as many as you can get supplies for (which I still haven't figured out what those are as I haven't started these missions). The same goes for the M7 (which there is only one in the game) which allows you to build an entire army. If you can just get your hands on one ship that you want from a race that doesn't like you enough to buy it you can then take it and turn it into blue prints to build your own.

[TsN|Wildchild|xmen]

Lucky for me... I havne't bought any of the installed ships so I will just remove them and start over. Since the Firefly I can only get from the Borons its best I start from scratch anyway. I never did finish the plot so now is a good time to try it. I also heard that the yaki actually have a force and more sectors which will be interesting since i have never ran into one before.

[TimberWolf]

Like I said before, I cheated a little when I started my new game by giving myself a couple of million credits. I have only bought one new ship and don't plan on buying any more for military purposes until I need to get an M6 for the Bala Gi missions. I have only upgrading and repairing the one's I have or captured in good condition (which have been no good captures). I am trying to hold back from buying any ships and set it up so that the only ships I can have are either the freebies, captures, or built by the PHQ.

Personal Rules for this game:
1. Can't buy any new Military Ships except one M6 for the Bala Gi mission
2. Can only build or capture military ships for defense or offensive roles
3. Can't use the scripting function ever again for any reason after initial 5mil

Personal Goals for this game:
1. Produce my own equipment (shields and weapons) for all my ships produced (software and sensors can be purchesed else where)
2. Dominate the Core Pirate sectors and claim them as my own, including Xenon 101 and Freedom's Reach
3. Make all stations within Dominated Zone self sufficent with goods being sold to the rest of the universe
4. Maintain my own boards with small battle groups perminately stationed there, if required station large battle groups to ensure that those sectors remain mine
5. Setup resupply and manufacturing center in Mealstrom and the 2 attached Unknown Sectors
6. Setup resupply and manufacturing center in the Unknown sectors next to Unholy Descent and Pontifex Seclusion

Current ships owned:
Quick Strike (Starting Buster, main ship)
Fast Search (Bought Discoverer, secondary ship)
Sentinel Defender (Freebie, enroute to Argon Core Sectors)
Toucan Hauler (Freebie, sitting in Boron Trading Station in Core Sector)
Iguana Vanguard (Freebie, sitting in Boron Trading Station in Core Sector)

As soon as a Mammoth is available I will begin building stations in Argon Core sectors to provide the financial base for my domination of the Pirate Core sectors where my empire will develop and grow in strength.

[XMEN Iceman]

Sounds pretty cool... Can't wait to see how you guys progress!

[TimberWolf]

Found the following on the X3 forums last night:

the resources you need for all ships are:
Energy Cells
Teladianium
cloth Rimes
Raster Oil
Ore
Silicon Wafers
Crystal
Quantum Tubes
Microchips
Computer Components


All player ships are now scanned for illegal goods

Also Pirates may leave a surprise in your cargo hold after visiting their station or buying their goods. (Hint: Boom) Ways to prevent this, buy "protection" from them off the BB or check your cargo hold right after leaving the station for strange things. It won't kill you but is will make your ship near worthless and equipmentless.

[TsN|Wildchild|xmen]

1) You do know that by activated the script editor you, supposedly, fail to get the chance at Avarice. Which I would love to have, but then with the advent of the PHQ you can just physically take over a sector instead of buying one.

2) I can't wait to see who the first person to build a self sufficient PHQ/ SHipyard. Would be nice to see exactly how much would go into building a complex big enough to not have to buy out or ship in.

3) Like you I won't buy any ships. The freebie ships are plentiful and the ones you capture are also in high amounts if done right. I will break my captures down by hull. If they have at least 45% I will keep them. Any ship I cap with those will be sold for the purpose of outfitting my other capped ships. I will only begin by capping pirates and leave all races alone enventually try to put at least one complex in a sector of each race so I can build up rep with all of them until the end game. After I get the PHQ and the blueprints I want, and finish the plot. I will continue my assault on the Boron and Paranid. After I buy up a surplus of Triplex Scanners of course.

4) My goal for plot.

I will do the first four missions of the plot. I remember them to be very easy. I will then spend no less than 3 days game time capping pirate ships, and now hopefully khaak and xenon ships.

In that time I will try and get any freebie ship I can while on missions if possible. I must find a place where I can hole up all my captured ships without having them docked at stations. To many ships lost to pirates, xenon, and khaak destroying stations my ships were at in the past.

I want to lay claim to the three sectors that you mentioned near Maelstrom and the two unknown sectors. In my game the last unknown sector has the largest consentration of the biggest asteroids I have seen in game thus far. I noticed this when I got the nova. They were os big I saw craters in craters on one.

I will set up a strike force large enough to protect Freedoms Reach and have it there to do strike missions in the pirate sectors and Xenon101. I like Freedoms Reach for some reason and will use it to house one of my fleets once I build them up.

I will also, envetually, place a defense force in the border sectors of Aladna Hill and Elenas Fortune, and the Split sector above Haktivas Faith. This is to ensure a lower amount of core sector incursions as well as rep boost for protecting the racial sectors. Yes I'm leaving the Boron and paranid out for now. I'll trade with them and destroy random pirates while in sector.

My PHQ will be used for military ships only, I will not build transport or cargo ships. I will stick to building larger ships until I have a large enough force for three wings. Once I build my military ships, I will suppliment income by building cheap fighters to sell them at shipyards for profit.

Thats it thus far.

[TimberWolf]

Just found some more new info pertaining to new hidden things added by the 2.0 patch.

There is a Starburst that is waiting to be claimed in Feedoms Reach
There are Wildfire missiles in Heretics End
Concussion Impulse Generators can be found in pairs in 10 sectors floating around


Also a guy has designed the needed loops to produce the goods for ship production:

this is based on putting all complex's in the sector Savage Spur which is full of roids Very Happy

Energy Complex
1 x Argon Solar Power Plant M
1 x Argon Crystal Fab M
1 x Argon Cahoona Bakery M
1 x Argon Cattle Ranch M
1 x Argon Silicon Mine L (10 Yield)
4 x Construction Kits
Efficiency = 80.00%
Total Cost of Factories and Kits = 11,605,148

Teladianium Complex
1 x Teladi Teladianium Foundry M
1 x Argon Solar Power Plant M
1 x Argon Crystal Fab M
1 x Argon Cahoona Bakery M
1 x Argon Cattle Ranch M
1 x Argon Silicon Mine L (10 Yield)
5 x Construction Kits
Efficiency = 60.93%
Total Cost of Factories and Kits = 12,332,296

Cloth Rimes Complex
1 x Argon Rimes Factory M
1 x Argon Wheat Farm M
1 x Argon Solar Power Plant M
1 x Argon Crystal Fab M
1 x Argon Cahoona Bakery M
1 x Argon Cattle Ranch M
1 x Argon Silicon Mine L (12 Yield)
6 x Construction Kits
Efficiency = 69.15%
Total Cost of Factories and Kits = 13,513,912

Raster Oil Complex
1 x Split Rastar Refinery M
1 x Split Chelt Space Aquarium M
2 x Argon Solar Power Plant M
2 x Argon Crystal Fab M
2 x Argon Cahoona Bakery M
2 x Argon Cattle Ranch M
1 x Argon Silicon Mine L (21 Yield)
10 x Construction Kits
Efficiency = 67.60%
Total Cost of Factories and Kits = 24,044,568

Ore Complex
1 x Argon Ore Mine M
1 x Argon Solar Power Plant M
1 x Argon Crystal Fab M
1 x Argon Cahoona Bakery M
1 x Argon Cattle Ranch M
1 x Argon Silicon Mine L (12 Yield)
5 x Construction Kits
Efficiency = 62.14%
Total Cost of Factories and Kits = 12,267,372

Silicon Wafers Complex
1 x Argon Silicon Mine L (18 Yield)
1 x Argon Solar Power Plant M
1 x Argon Crystal Fab M
1 x Argon Cahoona Bakery M
1 x Argon Cattle Ranch M
4 x Construction Kits
Efficiency = 64.95%
Total Cost of Factories and Kits = 11,605,148

Crystals Complex
2 x Argon Crystal Fab M
2 x Argon Cahoona Bakery M
2 x Argon Cattle Ranch M
1 x Argon Solar Power Plant M
1 x Argon Silicon Mine L (21 Yield)
7 x Construction Kits
Efficiency = 99.94%
Total Cost of Factories and Kits = 16,915,924

Quantum Tubes Complex
1 x Argon Quantum Tube Fab
2 x Argon Cahoona Bakery M
2 x Argon Cattle Ranch M
1 x Argon Solar Power Plant M
1 x Argon Crystal Fab M
1 x Argon Silicon Mine L (15 Yield)
7 x Construction Kits
Efficiency = 80.64%
Total Cost of Factories and Kits = 17,922,244

Microchips Complex
4 x Argon Chip plant
2 x Argon Cahoona Bakery L
2 x Argon Cattle Ranch L
1 x Argon Solar Power Plant L
1 x Argon Silicon Mine L (40 Yield)
1 x Argon Silicon Mine L (10 Yield)
3 x Argon Crystal Fab M
13 x Construction Kits
Efficiency = 88.49%
Total Cost of Factories and Kits = 60,362,996

Computer Components Complex
1 x Argon Computer Plant
2 x Argon Cahoona Bakery M
2 x Argon Cattle Ranch M
1 x Argon Solar Power Plant M
1 x Argon Crystal Fab M
1 x Argon Silicon Mine L (15 Yield)
7 x Construction Kits
Efficiency = 79.39%
Total Cost of Factories and Kits = 15,520,060

To build them all
Total Factories = 78
Total Construction Kits = 68
Total Cost = 196,089,060

I wouldn't trust the total cost at the end. It looks like he under estimated.

[TsN|Wildchild|xmen]

Best way to find it is drop an advanced sat in the sector? I hate looking for those damn things. (Ships)

Well I loaded everything up last night and played through the first two missions and have noticed my game no laggs something fierce. During the loading of missions and cut scenes are hell. It literally took me three minutes to load the second mission after testing the turret.

Also... during the last part of the second missions where your ship is destroyed and your forced to jump out in a space suit. I was slowly making my way to the rescue ship when I begin clicking on icons on mu hud, cause it took a while to get there. And I find this unknown object. I can't zoom in on it or identify it because I am out of my ship and I have no idea what sector I was in. But it looked like a huge asteroid with a bunch of dirt/ dust/ debris flying around it. It wasn't a container or ship. What the hell is that? I haven't played the plot in so long I forget if it is related.

Oh and I uninstalled my ship installer and script manager, and my game still says it is modified. I would like to go through it unmodded if possible until I finish the plot.

[TimberWolf]

For me to find the freebie ships is to have a couple of fast wingmen or scouts with Triplex scanners. I would personally search the area around stations while I send them out further into the darkness. When I first played I would have 4 Busters spread out when I enter and sector and comb it as I fly from gate to gate in my Nova.

I don't have such long load times for the video's or missions, but I will say the mission where your flying through the city had the worst frame rates and longest loading time I have seen playing since the first round of patching.

A trick with space suits is to straiff. They move a lot faster but you cant see where your going. I am currious as to what you saw. It maybe the "Unknown" ship that appears through out the plot, at least up to where I am, but then again I have read threads on the X-Forums about some new things being seen through out the X-universe. One such this is a hexaganal ship docked at stations while the player is docked, but its not there when they undock. A modder did say he saw the files for that ship under the Kha'ak listings when he was building his mod for the game, but this is the first time its been reported being seen in a non-modded game. I haven't seen any new unknown ships in my own game, but I haven't looked at all of them when I do detect them.

As for the Modified there maybe files still installed in the X3 folders. It doesn't matter as long as you don't care it saying it. I am playing mine with it saying that because I used the scripter to get some money to make the beginning a little easyer. It was either that or be stuck in a Busted Buster with top speed of 50 and only a thousand credits to my name.