Xenothreat - feedback on mission on Live server

[Mastersan]

Hi All,

I did the Xenothreat mission on a Live server, and thought to put some feedback as it may be different from the PTU.

Overall, it seemed like a great improvement in performance, as there were lots of players joining in, and the game ran OK during massive battles.

Everyone seemed to use text chat, not voice, however, the coordination was pretty good. While haulers were loading ships, the fighters protected the wreck site and provided escort to Jericho.

No PvP seemed to take place, which is good.

The Greycat utility tool with the tractor beam is a great help.

The Mercury Star Runner seemed to be very popular and very useful in this mission.

The biggest disappointment is a game crash (can't send data) at the point when the mission was almost done, and only a few items to be brought back to Jericho. It seemed like the whole server crashed, as all players seemed to have respawned at the nearest R&R, and the mission status was reset, so it needed to be done all over again.

The mission is a good money maker, and it looks like on average you do about 200k per hour by just taking part. If you do combat or deliveries you get paid more. Deliveries pay you per delivery and per each item. And you get completion bonuses on top.

What did you experience doing this mission on Live?

 

[Cugino83]

I've take part of a mission this early afternoon and I was doing another one rith now before a 30k...
First impressions are good, there is no PvP happening even if some shot ware fired att player that get a CR1 for hitting others during fleet battle at Jerico by mistake...
No voice chat but the common chat works fine even in my case.
The only complain I coould rise is that if you are just running protection mission or combat support the whole event have lots of dead times, especially at the wrecks site where the xeno-scum just spawn few arrows every now an then, main doking site from this point of view is way more fun, even if the xeno-Idris came in few times.

Next session I think I'm going to run the cutty black and do some cargo run, just to fill the void beteween a fight and another..
BTW, the MSR is very common in this event, like 4 out of 5 ship running cargo are MSR, while the rest either Cutty or Avenger, I suppose the resiliant of the ship and the decent manuvrability is a plus in this kind of scenarios.

 

[Gotin]

We tried it a little last night and were just pulling anti-ship and escort in my hurricane. I did run out a few times to try and help moving boxes but ran into a problem.....you see, apparently the boxes have traits that it helps to know.....like, they can BLOW UP.....I did not see this anywhere though, perhaps I just missed it. But me and another fighter pilot were just trying to help, and the guy with the transport ship was no help lol

I'd like it if all the navigation points had QT markers so we didn't have to open up the map.

We did get ONE guy who was trying some pvp in a warden but he got pounced on faster than a pack of cats on a frieskies treat, he made it away but only just and trying to dodge about eight missiles lol

 

[Blind Owl]

If I were to jump in fresh, and was flying solo, what ships would be recommended for this? Is it strictly combat? The only reason I ask is the ships on sale for this seem are all combat.

 

[Gotin]

If I were to jump in fresh, and was flying solo, what ships would be recommended for this? Is it strictly combat? The only reason I ask is the ships on sale for this seem are all combat.

So, the setup is that Jericho needs supplies and her resupply ships were ambushed and are adrift a short distance away. Players need to go out to those wrecks and clear out the xeno fighters/raiders then grab cargo and haul it back, basically you form a water brigade.

The boxes have traits like one cannot handle QT, the other starts a timer once it's removed from it's rack (think quantainium), and the other is stable.

Just about whatever you would like to fly could find a role to fill :) If you wanna bring a hauler I'd suggest grabbing at least one friend to man a turret and/or haul boxes. The turret can be important as the raiders respawn and dive in to harass players. And fighters are needed to patrol and intercept the raiders to keep them off the haulers.

 

[Blind Owl]

So, the setup is that Jericho needs supplies and her resupply ships were ambushed and are adrift a short distance away. Players need to go out to those wrecks and clear out the xeno fighters/raiders then grab cargo and haul it back, basically you form a water brigade.

The boxes have traits like one cannot handle QT, the other starts a timer once it's removed from it's rack (think quantainium), and the other is stable.

Just about whatever you would like to fly could find a role to fill :) If you wanna bring a hauler I'd suggest grabbing at least one friend to man a turret and/or haul boxes. The turret can be important as the raiders respawn and dive in to harass players. And fighters are needed to patrol and intercept the raiders to keep them off the haulers.

Awesome. Thanks you! Sounds like I'll just go and start crashing into stuff and things. With all the ships!

 

[Gotin]

Awesome. Thanks you! Sounds like I'll just go and start crashing into stuff and things. With all the ships!

It's not bad at all, if being in a big furball is too close just load up some longer range lasers and hang back at 3Km to pick them off and help out :)

 

[Blind Owl]

So, the setup is that Jericho needs supplies and her resupply ships were ambushed and are adrift a short distance away. Players need to go out to those wrecks and clear out the xeno fighters/raiders then grab cargo and haul it back, basically you form a water brigade.

The boxes have traits like one cannot handle QT, the other starts a timer once it's removed from it's rack (think quantainium), and the other is stable.

Just about whatever you would like to fly could find a role to fill :) If you wanna bring a hauler I'd suggest grabbing at least one friend to man a turret and/or haul boxes. The turret can be important as the raiders respawn and dive in to harass players. And fighters are needed to patrol and intercept the raiders to keep them off the haulers.

It's not bad at all, if being in a big furball is too close just load up some longer range lasers and hang back at 3Km to pick them off and help out :)

Not gunna lie lads, I haven't actually played SC in years. A couple days here and there, but nothing substantial. So for me, I gotta grab a ship and dive in, learn to fly, make money, where to go, how to navigate, you know, the little things. And right now the hardest decision is what ship to pick, haha.

 

[Gotin]

Minor correction on the boxes, was just looking it up....one blows up if you enter QT, the other blows up when your ship is damaged, and one blows up after time.

 

[Blind Owl]

And what starting area should I select for missions/money/upgrades?

 

[Vavrik]

And what starting area should I select for missions/money/upgrades?

Doesn't much matter where you start. You can get anywhere, from anywhere. Sometimes it's a bit of a grind, because you need to stop for fuel in some ships. The only thing I would say is visit the planetary bases, and also the LaGrange point stations to figure out what's sold where. You don't need to go down to planets a lot if you're not doing trade runs.

 

[Blind Owl]

Doesn't much matter where you start. You can get anywhere, from anywhere. Sometimes it's a bit of a grind, because you need to stop for fuel in some ships. The only thing I would say is visit the planetary bases, and also the LaGrange point stations to figure out what's sold where. You don't need to go down to planets a lot if you're not doing trade runs.

You're a gem, thanks Vav. I'm going to launch into this Xenothreat thing in a scythe that I for some reason have available to fly. Once I get a feel for it I'll try something else I reckon.

 

[Mastersan]

I've take part of a mission this early afternoon and I was doing another one rith now before a 30k...
First impressions are good, there is no PvP happening even if some shot ware fired att player that get a CR1 for hitting others during fleet battle at Jerico by mistake...
No voice chat but the common chat works fine even in my case.
The only complain I coould rise is that if you are just running protection mission or combat support the whole event have lots of dead times, especially at the wrecks site where the xeno-scum just spawn few arrows every now an then, main doking site from this point of view is way more fun, even if the xeno-Idris came in few times.

Next session I think I'm going to run the cutty black and do some cargo run, just to fill the void beteween a fight and another..
BTW, the MSR is very common in this event, like 4 out of 5 ship running cargo are MSR, while the rest either Cutty or Avenger, I suppose the resiliant of the ship and the decent manuvrability is a plus in this kind of scenarios.

I've used an MSR and a constellation Aquila. While MSR is fast and has better shields, I've liked Aquila more for few reasons:
- Better visibility, or a more accurate term would be better situational awareness. Aquila, while having struts marginally blocking your sight, lets you see up, sideways and down, which is very important when you fly through debris. MSR only lets you see up and a bit sideways.
- Better firepower for the situation. When engaging xenos Aquila's 4 s4 canons annihilate most enemies instantly (e.g. Mantis or Arrow), while MSR s3 turrets are not so effective. Especially the Aquilas s4 cannons good against tough enemies like Valkyrie and Idris, since they've got good range and power. However, if you overclock shields on MSR and have gunners on board while loading cargo, the MSR performs better than the Connie single turret with s2 weapons (or 2 turrets for Andromeda). In my case protection via ship's turrets while loading wasn't an issue, as I've got a few Gladius and Warden pilots escorting me.
- Better cargo friendliness. This is personal, and the Connie has a problem where there is no gravity while the cargo bay is down. However, you can load up the Connie much easier and faster, especially by several players throwing cargo from both ends of lowered cargo bay. Plus, you can pull some cargo inside and store it in catwalks around the cargo bay.

 

[Mastersan]

We tried it a little last night and were just pulling anti-ship and escort in my hurricane. I did run out a few times to try and help moving boxes but ran into a problem.....you see, apparently the boxes have traits that it helps to know.....like, they can BLOW UP.....I did not see this anywhere though, perhaps I just missed it. But me and another fighter pilot were just trying to help, and the guy with the transport ship was no help lol

I'd like it if all the navigation points had QT markers so we didn't have to open up the map.

We did get ONE guy who was trying some pvp in a warden but he got pounced on faster than a pack of cats on a frieskies treat, he made it away but only just and trying to dodge about eight missiles lol

There are notes on those containers. The one that doesn't like QT says in large letters on top of the container something like DO NOT QUANTUM TRAVEL. The others have similar notes from memory. I've mainly hauled the non-QT cargo.

I had all QT markers on my HUD, so there was no need to use map. Maybe a bug or a glitch.

 

[Mastersan]

If I were to jump in fresh, and was flying solo, what ships would be recommended for this? Is it strictly combat? The only reason I ask is the ships on sale for this seem are all combat.

On top of what Gotin explained, I'd add that medium ships would be able to do it all and will fit well: they can fight, they can haul, and Jericho can only take small and medium ships, so you won't be able to land a Hammerhead there for example.

An Avenger would be great starter ship, as it can do combat and cargo, and it's a solo ship. For a Medium solo I'd pick a Connie, as you've got all main guns at pilot's control, plus you can do cargo.

 

[Mastersan]

And what starting area should I select for missions/money/upgrades?

For this specific event, MicroTech is the closest place to start. Overall, Hurston seems to have the highest concentration of everything at the moment: missions, items, etc.

 

[Blind Owl]

On top of what Gotin explained, I'd add that medium ships would be able to do it all and will fit well: they can fight, they can haul, and Jericho can only take small and medium ships, so you won't be able to land a Hammerhead there for example.

An Avenger would be great starter ship, as it can do combat and cargo, and it's a solo ship. For a Medium solo I'd pick a Connie, as you've got all main guns at pilot's control, plus you can do cargo.

Alright. I took a shot in a scythe for the combat. Crashed gloriously into the wreck after taking out some baddies, then ended up hopping in some randoms tali and running a turret. Also a blast. Made about 200,000 aUEC in a couple hours.

For this specific event, MicroTech is the closest place to start. Overall, Hurston seems to have the highest concentration of everything at the moment: missions, items, etc.

Cool beans. Thanks for the info. I'm now set to MIC-L1, but with as fun as this game is, I may be back in to play some other things. What a riot.

 

[Cugino83]

On top of what Gotin explained, I'd add that medium ships would be able to do it all and will fit well: they can fight, they can haul, and Jericho can only take small and medium ships, so you won't be able to land a Hammerhead there for example.

An Avenger would be great starter ship, as it can do combat and cargo, and it's a solo ship. For a Medium solo I'd pick a Connie, as you've got all main guns at pilot's control, plus you can do cargo.

Agree on that: Jericho pad a preatty small, the largest ship that can fit nicely is a Cuttlass, the MSR for example have the rear ramp haning outside the pad, not a problem for gmae purpose but I can't say it "fit nicely" on the pad.

So either and Averger Titan, a Cutlass or a Freelancer are good to choice IMHO.
The new Nomads should be a ship that shine in this event: open cargo bay, decent firepower and compact size are the things to looks for.

Also, just for reference:
GREEN glow box are time sensitive box this boxonce pulled out of the containers need to be delivered as fast as possible to the Jericho station or they'll decay and became unworty. Be sure to have agood team to load them fast or just take few of them. Also if you are plan to carry several type of box load them last. DO NOT TRASPORT THEM WITH THE YELLOW ONES.

BLUE glow box are dmage sensitive box, the only problem on trasporting them is not get involved in a fight or crash into something. They can be trasported with either the other type of cargo.

YELLOW glow box are QT sensitive box, they can't be trasported via QT jump, so if you have even a single box into your gargo bay you need to fly back to Jericho station by normal flight: is a 600km flight so about 10min at 1000mt/s cruise speed. DO NOT TRASPORT THIS BOX ALONG THE GREEN ONES. Also for TEST member: this create DO NOT contain pilsen beer, DO NOT attempt to dring it

 

[Mastersan]

Agree on that: Jericho pad a preatty small, the largest ship that can fit nicely is a Cuttlass, the MSR for example have the rear ramp haning outside the pad, not a problem for gmae purpose but I can't say it "fit nicely" on the pad.

So either and Averger Titan, a Cutlass or a Freelancer are good to choice IMHO.
The new Nomads should be a ship that shine in this event: open cargo bay, decent firepower and compact size are the things to looks for.

Also, just for reference:
GREEN glow box are time sensitive box this boxonce pulled out of the containers need to be delivered as fast as possible to the Jericho station or they'll decay and became unworty. Be sure to have agood team to load them fast or just take few of them. Also if you are plan to carry several type of box load them last. DO NOT TRASPORT THEM WITH THE YELLOW ONES.

BLUE glow box are dmage sensitive box, the only problem on trasporting them is not get involved in a fight or crash into something. They can be trasported with either the other type of cargo.

YELLOW glow box are QT sensitive box, they can't be trasported via QT jump, so if you have even a single box into your gargo bay you need to fly back to Jericho station by normal flight: is a 600km flight so about 10min at 1000mt/s cruise speed. DO NOT TRASPORT THIS BOX ALONG THE GREEN ONES. Also for TEST member: this create DO NOT contain pilsen beer, DO NOT attempt to dring it

Actually, a Constellation fits nicely, because it stays within the limit of the landing pad (the medium size pad in the middle) and its cargo bay lowers down.

Also, question on the GREEN glow boxes. Do you know how much time they last? I haven't transported these yet.

Moreover, re BLUE glow boxes. Do you know how much damage they can take before exploding? Or is it purely any damage when you fly, e.g. your ship gets shot by even a size 1 gun? I was loading these onto MSR and banged a few against walls and cargo bay floor with the tractor beam tool, and nothing happened, all was OK. I wasn't able to transport these though, as I've got a 30k disconnect error.

In addition, re the YELLOW glow boxes. Do you know the max speed you can transport them at? Technically it could be anything, as long as you don't QT, but in the chat some players said its 1,000 m/s, others said it's 1,200 m/s. I've been transporting them in Aquila, so 986 m/s was safe.

 

[Cugino83]

Actually, a Constellation fits nicely, because it stays within the limit of the landing pad (the medium size pad in the middle) and its cargo bay lowers down.

Yep, I suppose that, as long as the landing gears are on pad, the rest of the ship can hang over in the void with no problem

Also, question on the GREEN glow boxes. Do you know how much time they last? I haven't transported these yet.

Not a clue actually, but in my last run I've loaded the MSR with both the Green one and the Blue ones, loading the blue as second. By the time me and the other player finish and I move to Jericho most of the green boxes ware wasted so not a good mesure but something in the range of 10-15' since the boxes are pulled out of theyr original container.
I'll advice to use small ship for those so you can pull them out form container and deliver them in a short time especially if there isn't a large group dedicated to the loading operations.

Moreover, re BLUE glow boxes. Do you know how much damage they can take before exploding? Or is it purely any damage when you fly, e.g. your ship gets shot by even a size 1 gun? I was loading these onto MSR and banged a few against walls and cargo bay floor with the tractor beam tool, and nothing happened, all was OK. I wasn't able to transport these though, as I've got a 30k disconnect error.

Again not much of a clue here, I've not try to shoot them... yet.
In the run mentioned above I've found a couple of those boxes destroyed, but I can't tell why, probably due to a bug bounching them around. I don't think you need to be too much peaky, but I whouldn't advice an Ace Ventura type of delivery if you get the idea. Have them falling into the cargo grid from higt is not advisable either IMHO.

In addition, re the YELLOW glow boxes. Do you know the max speed you can transport them at? Technically it could be anything, as long as you don't QT, but in the chat some players said its 1,000 m/s, others said it's 1,200 m/s. I've been transporting them in Aquila, so 986 m/s was safe.

All the experience suggest they are only QT sensitive, so as long as you stay in normal flight there is no problem. We flew at over 1000m/s (MSR, Avenger, Cutlass... you name it...) without any problem so, if you are fly at non Q-speed you are free to go pedal-to-the-metal.... just remember you have to slow down starting around 20km or more, TEST landing are NOT recomanded when doind delivery