Survey

[Fossaman]

I'm building a xenophobe sidebranch, and I have a few questions:

How many systems does it usually take you to get access to A Yoroi S500 or similar shield?

What kind of weaponry do you usually have by then?

What kind of armor do you usually have by then?

I'm trying to figure out where on the main line to stick this little adventure, so all answers are appreciated.

[Vasdema]

Oooh, this sounds great!

Ah, I believe I usually upgrade to the Yoroi S500 at the first Commonwealth Fortress I come across after St.K.

They usually have an omni particle weapon, so I grab one of those too.

I usually still have a NAMI missile launcher with a stack of KM500 Stilettos and as many XM900's as I've found fusion triggers for (if I've found a tinker before then).

I've also usually got the most powerful straight firing weapon I've come across or an Akan 600 or both.

As for armour, I usually have Duralloy enhanced by carbon weavers or one of the weights of Orthosteel (depending on what my ship can take), enhanced with regenerating nanos (if I've got spare after the ones I save for the Transuranic). It's all up to what's available really. Sometime between this point and the nebula-shrouded systems I'll do the jump out to the end of the network, bag a Ranx Dread for its Transuranic armour, and then loot/run/loot/run all the way back to where I was.

[Fossaman]

Thanks! One more question for people: What sorts of loot would you expect to find in xenophobe stations?

[Vasdema]

Mmm... well, they seem semi-nomadic if not fully nomadic, so I'd expect their stations would be more caches or temporary outposts.

I guess they'd have to have an ample supply of spare parts:
Meteorsteel armour; barrels of meteorsteel dust; armour patches; Lancer cannons; Howitzers; food and water (assuming they eat and drink at all); and primarily bucketloads of fuel I guess. Of course that's just logically - it might not balance well at all.

Plus, they travel around everywhere, so even though they actively avoid others, I guess they'd still pick up a lot of different trinkets along the way.

[Yugi]

I'm answering the first question:
I usually get the Yoroi S500 by the 3rd or 4th system past Eridani, due to me always exploiting the "destroy bushido stations etc." bug.
By that time I also usually have a Shuriken Neutron Blaster, and Gusoku or Duralloy armor.
Now i'm answering the 2nd question:
Quite a lot of food and ores, as they are quite a nomadic people. They may also have some high-tech stuff. Meteorsteel as well. Lots of it. Worlsdship armour, meteorsteel barrels, Lancer cannons, particle cannons, a fair aount of fuel, armour patches, stuff like that.

[the_holy_thom]

I generally don't bother with the s500 unless it appears early. I get the s100 in Eridani or ASAP through lots of Korolov, then get the mx or higher.

Assuming the MX, not the s500, normally a weak ion weapon or a good particle cannon. Occasionally an Akan or another ammo weapon. Also any misc. items I can get.

No idea, whatevers available. I should have upgraded from duralloy by that point, normally some sort of mix of nice plates I found with enhancements.

[Fossaman]

I should clarify that the xenophobe stations are NOT going to be just cache/depot sorts of things...the station graphics currently look like this: (Thank you OddBob!)



and this:



The spiky one is a military outpost/fortress sort of thing, and the round one is the 'Xenophobe Urban Complex' so think millions of permanent inhabitants. I know this might not be how you think of the xenophobes, but I've always gotten the impression that xenophobe fleets are expeditions from their home to 'cleanse' the rest of space.

[Vasdema]

OMG, those stations are fantastic!

Well that changes things a bit...

I guess the military fortresses would have the items we've already mentioned.

As for the residentials... we might need some more details on your view of the Xeno's. I mean, why do they want to wipe everybody out? Are they purists like the sapiens, or have they been practicing eugenics for years and consider themsleves a master race? Or are they clones like the Ares?

I guess their socio-politics would effect the items. Are they run by a military dictatorship or a religious theocracy? How about economics? Is all industry run by the state - in which case we could probably expect to find the same items at each station, just in different numbers. Or are they into free enterprise - in which case there would probably a bunch of diverse stuff.

... sorry, I got a bit carried away. it's just that the Xenophobes are so sleek!

Whatever you decide in the end will be fine, I'm sure mate. If somebody doesn't like your mod, just tell them to bugger off and not play it.

[Fossaman]

Start with the name: Xenophobes.

This literally means they are people with Xenophobia. Breaking that down:

Xeno means other, stranger, or alien.

Phobia means and intense fear and or paranoia.

The xenophobes are an entire race of people who are scared stiff of outsiders or people unlike themselves. So they go out and kill the other people where they live, rather than waiting for the (as they see it) inevitable invasion of their own space and slaughter of their own people. I wouldn't consider them evil, just genetically misguided.

I would suspect, based on the fact that they live in big ships with presumably lots and lots of people on board that strangers from within their own race don't bother them...maybe a pheremonal thing. So I don't think there's any problem with them living in big huge city-stations.

I see them as slightly communistic, with an elected commitee that distributes property and wealth and manages where people work, etc.

Their intense fear of the rest of the human race would lead them to elect those who are most warlike, those who promise to go out and fight the enemy and protect them.

Kind of vague, but I might be able to work some of it into a plot as we go along the sidebranch...we'll see. I haven't gotten quite that far yet.

[OddBob]

the station graphics currently look like this:

Holy Cow, did you put a lancer on every spire?
That's a lot of firepower.

I'm not sure how many weapons you can put on someting (once I maxed it out,
there some sort of limit) but it will probably look better if you restrict the lancers from firing across the station (probably like a ~200 degree field of fire with each spire as the center. You'll have to have two or three lancers per spire though.
It's your mod though.

As for their Xenophobicness, it's prefectly reasonable. They basically attack anyone that is stronger or as strong as them, because it's better to fight them on their terms than defend their home system. I don't see them as genocidal or evil, just un-trusting.

Sorry, can't help you with the shield thing, I habven't played in forever.
What I do remember though is that I don't go past St K's without an S100 at least and I try to upgrade ASAP. Usually I have no problems getting one before or at St Ks.

[Fossaman]

I was using the lancers mostly for purposes of placing the turrets. Currently I'm using three howitzers and three lancers. Sure, it may be overkill, but I didn't add too many guards.

I tried restricting the field of fire, but it doesn't work on stations. At least, I couldn't get it to.

[Vasdema]

It all looks good and sounds great to me.