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Explanation
X3 : The Rebuild
by Apricotslice
Before you start reading this guide,
some background. This is set between the end of the plot of X2, and the
beginning of the plot of X3.
It presents an alternative X3 game start position, that will require scripting and perhaps modding, to achieve a decent start position. It accepts the X3 manual's account of what has happened, but not the extent of what has happened. The Apricot Mapping Service serves as an example of what the player may have had at the end of X2, how it may have been affected as the game manual history suggests, and what such an entity might do about Rebuilding.
This is also based on a minimum-combat game, concentrating on rebuilding an industrial empire.
Within the text, actual game help will be embedded in blue.
Apricot Mapping Service.
Internal Memo.
From : Luigi Slughorn, Manager of Resource Gathering
To : John Slice CEO
Subject : Its all gone.
Dear John,
I'm resting up in the Goner Temple in Cloudbase South West after escaping with barely the shirt on my back from our resource gathering operation in Ore Belt. The Khaak sent in a whole battlefleet this time and wiped out everything including the pirate base. I got away in an old Buster, and it took heavy damage. Its repairable, and most of its upgrades were destroyed, so its little more than a taxi vessel for me now. The rest were lost. Its all gone !
There isnt anything left in Ore Belt but ore. The Khaak have moved on. Reports of traders moving through there now say that there is no sign of them. I dont know where they went but I pity the poor buggers in their path.
What do I do ? Most of our people are dead and I'm stuck here for the moment.
Sorry for the bad news,
Luigi.
Apricot Mapping Service.
Internal Memo.
From : John Slice CEO
To : Luigi Slughorn, Manager of Resource Gathering
Subject : Its all gone.
Dear Luigi,
The news is worse I'm afraid, my freind. Over the last month, the Khaak have hit and destroyed our entire industrial base. Worse, most of the race industrial base is also gone. The Races are almost through with new factory designs to withstand the Khaak guns better, so we are going to rebuild. And ship redesigns are also well in hand.
At least our bank accounts are still intact. I'm sending you 50Mil in credits. Add money script.
I'll have a Mammoth down to you as soon as I can, add ship script, but in the meantime, I want you to look at the new designs for closed loop complexes. They eliminate the need for most of the ships we used to need, and they support themselves. We will need to add stations we never had before, such as food production, but this means we will be completely independent from now on.
There's new factories in production right now. Have a look at the specs and as soon as you can, get the Mammoth to drop you an XL SPP complex, well out of the asteroid feild. Your going to need a high yeild Silicon roid, but this time, the Mammoth will have a Tractor Beam installed, tractor beam range mod & add wares to ship script, so tow the best couple of silicon and ore roids to join with your complex. Joined stations have a hub, and I'm told its imperative to ensure the access lanes to it have no obtructions near it or ships will simply destroy themselves colliding with the hub or any obstacle. So dont have any around.
I'll also send you a Gunbus as soon as Bob is finished the conversion, Apricot_Gunbus_Camel_Mod (includes the tractor beam range mod), add ship script, add Trade Mk3 using add wares to ship script, to use as a Universe Trader. These are new ships redesigned to our specification and should be capable of staying alive on their own, without support. This will get you earning some income while your rebuilding. And I'm afraid you will need to make your own income from now on, as we have a lot of other rebuilding to do as well. If you need more UT's use what funds you have to buy them direct from the Argon Shipyards. We are negotiating with them to provide them according to our specs for our use only, so watch for them to become available.
When the SPP is fully functional, I want the extra ore and silicon capasity we used to have augmented so we supply most of that regions ore and silicon needs. Tow as many roids to the complex as is feasable. You can finance some of this by adding Wheat farms and Distilleries. I dont see why we shouldn't branch out a bit, and lets face it, the news is so bad we all need a drink more often ! The distileries should make a mint on their own. When the silicon and ore's onstream, I want all sheild production facilities added as well. We need the larger shields ourselves, but the market is crying out for the smaller sheilds.
Now, defenses. We are working on improving the lasertowers. The old ones are pathetic and the Khaak chew through them as if they were not there. We are looking at alternatives or at the least, upping the shielding so they survive longer. LT upgrade script. Then group them in not less than 50 strong in key areas such as around gates. I've not decided if we buy them or if we make them. If we do make them, a decision will need to be made on where to make them, and you may get that job as well. Plan to have key access points to the new complex covered by LT grids. Several LT grid laying scripts, that will lay the LT's you have. Another will lay a ring of LT's and charge you the price of them. The Gunbus makes a good sector defense as well, but all those asteroids could be a problem. Up to you if you get some ships for patrols in the short term.
So get to it, and let me know when your back to full production. When you are, we can begin expanding our operations again.
John.
Note : The whole point of this is to demonstrate that with a theme, any start in the game is feasable, as long as it is within a structure that you then follow through with while playing the game. Its also assuming that you are a long time player of X2, and do not want to go through the long slow process of starting from nothing.
Its not about just scripting in everything you need. Its about the join between X2 and X3, and what you will allow yourself to bring to the X3 game from what you had in X2 when you stopped playing it. As such, scripting and modding in what you start with is one way of doing this. But its up to you to place limits on what you want to do.
For those who like the start from scratch game, you dont need to do any of this.
And for those who have a completely different game plan, I hope this demonstrates that there are alternatives to always starting from nothing, its just a matter of your imagination supplying a starting point, and then using the scripting facilities available to give that start.
The game is about having fun, however fun is for you. Go to it, good luck ! :)
Apricotslice.
It presents an alternative X3 game start position, that will require scripting and perhaps modding, to achieve a decent start position. It accepts the X3 manual's account of what has happened, but not the extent of what has happened. The Apricot Mapping Service serves as an example of what the player may have had at the end of X2, how it may have been affected as the game manual history suggests, and what such an entity might do about Rebuilding.
This is also based on a minimum-combat game, concentrating on rebuilding an industrial empire.
Within the text, actual game help will be embedded in blue.
Apricot Mapping Service.
Internal Memo.
From : Luigi Slughorn, Manager of Resource Gathering
To : John Slice CEO
Subject : Its all gone.
Dear John,
I'm resting up in the Goner Temple in Cloudbase South West after escaping with barely the shirt on my back from our resource gathering operation in Ore Belt. The Khaak sent in a whole battlefleet this time and wiped out everything including the pirate base. I got away in an old Buster, and it took heavy damage. Its repairable, and most of its upgrades were destroyed, so its little more than a taxi vessel for me now. The rest were lost. Its all gone !
There isnt anything left in Ore Belt but ore. The Khaak have moved on. Reports of traders moving through there now say that there is no sign of them. I dont know where they went but I pity the poor buggers in their path.
What do I do ? Most of our people are dead and I'm stuck here for the moment.
Sorry for the bad news,
Luigi.
Apricot Mapping Service.
Internal Memo.
From : John Slice CEO
To : Luigi Slughorn, Manager of Resource Gathering
Subject : Its all gone.
Dear Luigi,
The news is worse I'm afraid, my freind. Over the last month, the Khaak have hit and destroyed our entire industrial base. Worse, most of the race industrial base is also gone. The Races are almost through with new factory designs to withstand the Khaak guns better, so we are going to rebuild. And ship redesigns are also well in hand.
At least our bank accounts are still intact. I'm sending you 50Mil in credits. Add money script.
I'll have a Mammoth down to you as soon as I can, add ship script, but in the meantime, I want you to look at the new designs for closed loop complexes. They eliminate the need for most of the ships we used to need, and they support themselves. We will need to add stations we never had before, such as food production, but this means we will be completely independent from now on.
There's new factories in production right now. Have a look at the specs and as soon as you can, get the Mammoth to drop you an XL SPP complex, well out of the asteroid feild. Your going to need a high yeild Silicon roid, but this time, the Mammoth will have a Tractor Beam installed, tractor beam range mod & add wares to ship script, so tow the best couple of silicon and ore roids to join with your complex. Joined stations have a hub, and I'm told its imperative to ensure the access lanes to it have no obtructions near it or ships will simply destroy themselves colliding with the hub or any obstacle. So dont have any around.
I'll also send you a Gunbus as soon as Bob is finished the conversion, Apricot_Gunbus_Camel_Mod (includes the tractor beam range mod), add ship script, add Trade Mk3 using add wares to ship script, to use as a Universe Trader. These are new ships redesigned to our specification and should be capable of staying alive on their own, without support. This will get you earning some income while your rebuilding. And I'm afraid you will need to make your own income from now on, as we have a lot of other rebuilding to do as well. If you need more UT's use what funds you have to buy them direct from the Argon Shipyards. We are negotiating with them to provide them according to our specs for our use only, so watch for them to become available.
When the SPP is fully functional, I want the extra ore and silicon capasity we used to have augmented so we supply most of that regions ore and silicon needs. Tow as many roids to the complex as is feasable. You can finance some of this by adding Wheat farms and Distilleries. I dont see why we shouldn't branch out a bit, and lets face it, the news is so bad we all need a drink more often ! The distileries should make a mint on their own. When the silicon and ore's onstream, I want all sheild production facilities added as well. We need the larger shields ourselves, but the market is crying out for the smaller sheilds.
Now, defenses. We are working on improving the lasertowers. The old ones are pathetic and the Khaak chew through them as if they were not there. We are looking at alternatives or at the least, upping the shielding so they survive longer. LT upgrade script. Then group them in not less than 50 strong in key areas such as around gates. I've not decided if we buy them or if we make them. If we do make them, a decision will need to be made on where to make them, and you may get that job as well. Plan to have key access points to the new complex covered by LT grids. Several LT grid laying scripts, that will lay the LT's you have. Another will lay a ring of LT's and charge you the price of them. The Gunbus makes a good sector defense as well, but all those asteroids could be a problem. Up to you if you get some ships for patrols in the short term.
So get to it, and let me know when your back to full production. When you are, we can begin expanding our operations again.
John.
Note : The whole point of this is to demonstrate that with a theme, any start in the game is feasable, as long as it is within a structure that you then follow through with while playing the game. Its also assuming that you are a long time player of X2, and do not want to go through the long slow process of starting from nothing.
Its not about just scripting in everything you need. Its about the join between X2 and X3, and what you will allow yourself to bring to the X3 game from what you had in X2 when you stopped playing it. As such, scripting and modding in what you start with is one way of doing this. But its up to you to place limits on what you want to do.
For those who like the start from scratch game, you dont need to do any of this.
And for those who have a completely different game plan, I hope this demonstrates that there are alternatives to always starting from nothing, its just a matter of your imagination supplying a starting point, and then using the scripting facilities available to give that start.
The game is about having fun, however fun is for you. Go to it, good luck ! :)
Apricotslice.