Copy Litcube's universe's enemy faction - there should be a reason to own a fleet

[Boringnick]

In all X games so far you amass a ton of stations and ships to... do nothing.

Litcube's OCV and Phannon finally put all the assets to good use. Egosoft should implement that "enemy faction" mechanic. Of course, balancing it is a tough cookie, but an experienced team should be able to handle that.

[vadiolive]

in fact i agree have need major factions its consider races
AND minor faction like Ledda
And Freelancer like you can do missions / help some faction and try rip off others freelancers

[BigBANGtheory]

We know Egosoft has an eye on strategic gameplay this time (hoe yeah) what this means we don't know yet and should ask and or offer up a PoV that makes sense in the context of X Universe.

Logically if you as the player are able to assemble and control a fleet then so to should the AI. More than that though I big bug bear of mine is not allowing a player with their personal assets and wealth walk over races and faction with x1000 the resources. So if for example I jumped into the Paranid home system with a fleet and shoot them up, I should feel the full response from the Paranid race in return, where as were I to do that to a faction then I would see a faction response + their allies.

My hope is Xenon Slayer is working something into a campaign and then the radical stuff is left open to modders to play around with.

[Scoob]

I wonder if the base game might be the fully dynamic sandbox environment, where the different factions and races respond realistically to events and each others actions. With that in place and working, future DLC could introduce a threat - a new race / Kha'ak / Xenon etc. - that hugely unbalance any status quo the universe might have achieved.

So, the classic Litcube scenario if you will, a strong enemy that will be resisted by the Races - forming alliances etc. where they might once have been foes - but chances of winning without the players help would be slim.

By "help" I mean both ships and resources, so the player could take their assets to the front line, or simply support behind the scenes with resources and get very rich

I think getting the sandbox environment working is the first step, and it'll not work day one will it? Lol. So, a few post launch updates to ensure everything is running well, then drop some new big bad via DLC.

This could be based to trigger after some event / sector visit so a mature game applying the DLC could choose to trigger things right away, but someone who chose to do a fresh start would have many hours of play before triggering the events...they could rush to trigger it of course, or conversely avoid triggering it....once they know what the trigger is

Scoob.

[Crellion]

Litcube is ace I would expect Ego to hire him full time if they know whats good

[RodentofDoom]

I remember a mod that added several npc factions to the game ..

actual competitors that if given the chance could build up a fairly impressive military, trade & manufacturing empire.

was a fun mod

[Sao t'Lp]

@RodentofDoom: It sounds like you mean Litcube's Phanon Corporation mod?

If the Kha'ak and or the Xenon get a fully simulated economy they could fit the role you describe quite nicely. Although they wouldn't compete with the player directly like the phanon coperation did, one could destroy or sabotage their trade routes to cripple their economy and their ship production. On the contrary if you leave the Xenon/Kha'ak by themself, they could attempt to cripple your trade routes, harming your ship production and your profit.

[RAVEN.myst]

By "help" I mean both ships and resources, so the player could take their assets to the front line, or simply support behind the scenes with resources and get very rich

Good point - after all, among the first people to get rich in a war situation are the arms dealers! So, a player could back a faction or an alliance with raw materials, and/or refined goods, and/or tech components, and/or drones, and/or complete ships (given how it looks like the player will be able to build/own shipyard/s.) A hallmark of the X games is that in many situations, even in the campaign plots, there have often been alternative ways to accomplish goals, and being able to wage war personally or by proxy (hey, I'm doing MY bit! Now, you take my bits to the frontline and risk your life in order to do YOUR bit...) or any combination thereof, it would make sense and I think would make a great option - as well as enhancing the game's replayability/longevity value.

[PowerPC603]

It would be fun to see a massive defense fleet coming in when the players starts on a killing spree to destroy some stations in a system/sector/zone.

In most X-games, if not all, the best you could hope for, was one or two destroyers trying to defend the sector they were in, not the ones near them.

With one Boreas, you could be able to wipe out an entire sector with a dozen stations in it.

Also, when you go to the Xenon sectors, they can be wiped out as well a little bit too easy with just one Boreas.

There really is no reason to have a fleet of more than 5 destroyers ready at all times.

It would be nice to have something to do when you reach endgame (a big fleet) besides keep building more factories and getting richer and richer with no end in sight.

Of course, the huge npc fleet doesn't need to respond with a few misplaced shots when you engage another enemy.
There should be a warning first about you hitting a friendly station or ship.
If there is more damage after that warning (you did over 25% damage to the shield of the station), a first ship might be sent to engage you.
If it fails, send 3 ships other ships.
When the shield drop below 25% remaining, send a small fleet to deal with the player.
When the fleet is destroyed and the shields of the station are down, send the rest of the fleet.

Something like that.

[RAVEN.myst]

In most X-games, if not all, the best you could hope for, was one or two destroyers trying to defend the sector they were in, not the ones near them.

The exception is X3 Albion Prelude, where "rapid response fleets" were introduced - these consist of a number of destroyers, carriers, frigates, corvettes, and bombers, with the express purpose of turning to space dust any enemy presence (especially by the player) that starts to throw its weight around too much (including even just being present in a sector of a faction that is actively hostile - that also results in the RRF being summoned.) Each race has its own, and they are replenished based on rules that are not clear to me. Also, they are all manned by full complements of fairly highly skilled marines, making them a bit harder to board (though on the other hand this can also be a great *source* of... erm... "recruits" for one's own groundpounder ranks.) I would definitely like to see a *much more evolved* version of the RRF in X4 (PURE SPECULATION: I suspect such may already be planned, as it would be consistent with the emergent dynamics the devs have so far hinted at.)

You certainly wouldn't be wiping out many of anything locally owned in sovereign space using a single Boreas in X3AP.

As for endgame content, ie. challenges (MEANINGFUL challenges, dare-I-say) for large fleets and industries and bank balances, I couldn't agree more! To me, the saddest thing is how when I get to the end of any X's plots, I may go on for a little while longer inventing challenges for myself, but ultimately, that pales, and the only recourse is to pick another game start (or even the same one, in the X3s - they're that rich in early-to-mid-game possibilities) and try do things differently, or better, or faster, or with fewer resources, or whatever...

[PowerPC603]

I don't own X3:AP, so I didn't know that.

[RAVEN.myst]

I don't own X3:AP, so I didn't know that.

It's essentially X3TC with a bunch of tweaks and enhancements - if you like X3TC, I think you'll mostly love X3AP. (The only step backward, in my opinion, is that X3AP has considerably less plot time.)