Lost Brothers plot AKA Aldrin 2 completion...

[entropy008]

...but where is the EEMPC forge in Aldrin 2!!! Didn't spawn. This !@#$ game.

If the only solution is piracy, what vessels equip the EEMPC which can be boarded? To my knowledge the only vessels fielding the EEMPC are M3s, M4s, M5s, and the Springblossom (way too !@#$ fast to attempt boarding. Maybe with a boarding pod? Can you use boarding pods on M6s???)

Am I stuck in a pew-pew-reload for hours in order to do the clone exploit? Got 20 Spitfyres parked and waiting for EEMPCs. Been gathering space dust for a while.

[musoyama]

Apologies if I'm missing something obvious. Are you playing The Aldrin Expansion Plot?

Also, do you mean you have 20 Spitfyres but no means to equip them with weapons?

Nothing much you can do about this. There's no EEMPC factory available at the Shipyard in TUS1. I've tried destroying Springblossoms in TUS3 hoping they'll drop an EEMPC - nah...

Never thought about boarding a Springblossom - you can use boarding pods on the Hyperion M6.

This is one of those 'housekeeping' tasks you need to remind yourself to complete early in the game i.e. ASA you complete The Terran Plot. There will always be EEMPC's available to buy as soon as you enter Aldrin the first time. You need to be Level 5 Terran rep so I always park a TS with CLS at an ODS or ODP in Asteroid Belt to buy and sell wares on loop while I complete the Terran Plot. That way I can immediatley purchase a Springblossom upon entering the Aldrin sector for the Terran Plot finale.

[entropy008]

Originally posted by musoyama:

Apologies if I'm missing something obvious. Are you playing The Aldrin Expansion Plot?

Also, do you mean you have 20 Spitfyres but no means to equip them with weapons?

Nothing much you can do about this. There's no EEMPC factory available at the Shipyard in TUS1. I've tried destroying Springblossoms in TUS3 hoping they'll drop an EEMPC - nah...

Never thought about boarding a Springblossom - you can use boarding pods on the Hyperion M6.

This is one of those 'housekeeping' tasks you need to remind yourself to complete early in the game i.e. ASA you complete The Terran Plot. There will always be EEMPC's available to buy as soon as you enter Aldrin the first time. You need to be Level 5 Terran rep so I always park a TS with CLS at an ODS or ODP in Asteroid Belt to buy and sell wares on loop while I complete the Terran Plot. That way I can immediatley purchase a Springblossom upon entering the Aldrin sector for the Terran Plot finale.

I immediately scouted the sector (Aldrin) upon discovery and found zero EEMPCs available at any Unknown Weapons Base. I remember this being an issue when I owned X3:TC (the big box or whatever it was called) back on disc form way-back-when. My Terran rep was sexy enough to buy everything in-sector.

However, I THOUGHT that Aldrin 2 came as-is with an EEMPC forge. BOTH EEMPC forges are gone from Aldrin and Aldrin 2. T_T

Similarly, I spent 30min shoot-ramming Aldrin Springblossoms in my Xenon Hub (for minimal rep loss). Got one PSSC and one PM/AML so far. No EEMPCs. I'll give the boarding pod option a go and see if it works. I've only got two marines ready...gahhhhhh

[entropy008]

Boarding pods...are a no-go. They launch but the Springblossom back turret insta-kills them and their shields are so weak that a flail barrage missile launch overkills them (when used en masse).

That being said, I DID manage to procure an EEMPC after much save-scumming/ Springblossom hunting...but now the damn weapon-cloning trick won't work at the UWB in Aldrin. I sell one EEMPC to the UWB then buy 10 Spitfyres, but don't have the option to equip all 10 with 1 EEMPC.

Conversely speaking, I ALSO have 2 PSPs stocked on an Orbital Defense Station on The Moon, but am unable to buy 10 freighters and purchase two for each. The display shows zero available D:

Game is kill.

[musoyama]

You can clone EEMPCs by buying ten #deca.deaf - they can equip ten ships at a time and have M-size cargo capacity.

[entropy008]

Never had a solid cloning option as nothing was for sale. Shot the hell out of Springblossoms for 30 min, reloading over and over. Finally got 1 EEMPC to drop. Proceeded to do the CLS2 Freight Drone clone trick.

Screw you, game. Stop being so silly.

[musoyama]

When you say "CLS2 Freight Drone trick" do you in fact mean "Trade Command Software 2 freight clone trick"?

[entropy008]

Originally posted by musoyama:

When you say "CLS2 Freight Drone trick" do you in fact mean "Trade Command Software 2 freight clone trick"?

no, CLS2 freight drone trick. Maybe there's another one I'm unaware of. The one I did after reading on forums was CLS2.

https://forum.egosoft.com/viewtopic.php?t=306156

[musoyama]

I see. Yep. Used to do that long time ago.
Trade Command 2 works a little more easily.

1. Ship one TS with one unit Energy Bolt Chaingun (for example)
2. Ship two - (for example a Mako) with trade Command Software 2 and a Freight Drone
3. Use the Shipyard in Queens Retribution (for example)
4. From Out of Sector instruct the TS to undock and standby. Do likewise for the Mako.
5. Open Mako Trade Command menu and select Transfer Freight by Drones. Select the TS and select Transfer Back from Destination. Select the Energy Bolt Chaingun. Under the 'Input Number' menu select -9999 (minus sign, nine, nine, nine, nine). (This number selected for example)
6. Start the Transfer. If OOS the transfer should be instantaneous. There should be 3999 Energy Bolt Chainguns in the TS cargo hold (assuming a basic Dolphin with a single 1MJ shield).
7. Dock the TS. Transfer a few units of the Energy Bolt Chaingun to another ship then sell the TS and get a bucketload of money - or do something else with the ware.

NO BUFFER WARE is required using this method. It works with station wares too. It's a method that can allow you to complete the HUB plot in about three hours with a programmable keyboard. Of course it's a major spoiler and was coded out of X3AP - but it can be 'reintroduced'.