This page lists game mechanics that are common between all three X3 games. (WIP)

Ware Drop Chance

When ships are destroyed in combat or by collisions there is a chance some of the cargo will be dropped. What determines the amounts of each ware dropped, if any, are listed below. Each ware is rolled independently of other wares on the ship. Jump Beacons (X3: TC and X3: AP only) are removed before drop calculations if the carrying ship is not killed by a player owned ship. A fight rank of ≥17 (Specialist) is required for Shields and Lasers to drop.

Probability to roll for a drop

• Medium and Dumbfire Missiles = 80%
• Heavy Missiles = 60%
• M8 Missiles = 40%
• M7M Missiles = 20%
• Kha'ak Missiles = 10%
• Light Missiles and other wares = 100%

Amount of ware dropped

The percentage of each ware dropped is determined by a random number generator with the upper limit being influenced by the Fight Rank of the player. Lasers and Shields are not dropped if the random number is less than 70.

• Amount of ware in cargo*(1 to (33+(2.2*Player Fight Rank))/100)

Bailing Mechanics

When the player ship attacks NPC M5/M4/M4+/M3/M3+/M8/TS/TS+/TP ship it is possible that the pilots will surrender the ship and bail allowing the player to claim the neutral ship using the Spacesuit or System Override Software. This section lists factors that affect the probability of bailing.

Bailing Chance

The default percent morale of NPC pilots is determined by the job they have been assigned to by the Jobs.pck file used by the game ranging from 5-100% of 30. There is then a random number from -5 to -10 applied each time the game is loaded

To check for bailing requires the shields of the ship being targeted by the player ship to be <1% and <1000 J. After enough periodic bail checks the pilot will never bail however the player would have to been harassing the same ship for over 14 minutes. Ion Disrupters only have 4% chance of triggering a bail check on hit.

• First Bail Check: target current hull ≤ max hull*(1 to 8)/8
• Subsequent Bail Checks: Each subsequent hit after a delay which cycles through 60, 120, 240, 480 then 30 seconds

 Bail chance (%) = (30 + Hull Factor - Morale Penalty - Target Strength Penalty - Number of previous bail checks)*Kha'ak Penalty

• Hull Factor (0 to 10 range) = target max hull/(target current hull*4)
• Morale Penalty = target pilot current morale (range 1 to 30)
• Target Strength Penalty = 5 if player ship ƩInstalled lasers OOS shield + hull damage + Max shields + Max hull ≤ target ship ƩInstalled lasers OOS shield + hull damage + Max shields + Max hull
• Kha'ak Penalty (only applied to Kha'ak owned ships) = (Player Fight Rank - 5)/25

This means bailing chances are highest if target ships are reduced to <2.5% hull with Mass Drivers before knocking the shields down.

Wares Kept

When the pilot bails, 90% of equipped lasers, missiles and shields are destroyed.   Kyon Emitter type lasers only have a 50% chance of destruction.   Of the remaining equipment and wares in the cargobay the amount kept is determined by two sequential number generators. Jump Beacons are exempted and always kept.

Round 1 = 0 to (Ware Number + 1)

Round 2 = 0 to (Round 1 Number + 1)

Equipment Destruction Mechanics

When ships take hull damage there is a chance that equipment and cargo will be destroyed. This mechanic means that players must be cautious when fighting with the shields down but it can also work to the advantage of the player by stripping hostile ships in preparation for boarding. Factors affecting equipment destruction are listed below.

• Chance to roll for equipment damage on hull hit (%) = 5 + 35*(1 - (Current hull/Max Hull)) + Weapon Damage Bonus
  • Weapon Damage Bonus (0% to 20% for Equipment and Missiles and 0% to 15% for Lasers, Shields and other wares) = (((0 to ƩInstalled laser IS shield + hull damage) + 10)*100)/target Max shield

This means having high damage per shot but low rate of fire weapons equipped but not firing will increase the chance of destroying target equipment with low damage but high fire rate weapons and destroying shields will further increase the chance.

A ware type is then chosen to be damaged.

• Lasers = 10%
• Missiles = 10%
• Shields = 10%
• Equipment = 50%
• Other wares = 20% 

Lasers and Shields are picked randomly from all available installation slots on the ship (even if empty), each installed Equipment has a 10% chance of being picked while missiles and other wares are chosen from a list of all possible missiles/wares. Wares marked with the Software flag are exempted from being picked. Each round of equipment damage can only destroy one piece of equipment but may not destroy any due to picking an empty slot or ware type that the ship is not carrying.