What is decent, early game fighter & loadout for AI pilots?

[CitricComet]

So I don't have access to all of them, have not ranked up faction rep with HOP yet, so I cannot get the Ares - and that seems like it may be too expensive at the moment anyway.

Originally went with the Nodan Vangaurd, Mk 2 Combat engine [PAR] and thrusters, Mk 3 shields [PAR, for the lower regen time] & even took them to the argon wharf to put Mk1 shard batteries on them.

They worked fine for various pirates and what-not, but just got chewed up by 1 Xeon PE. Like 4/6 are gone after trying to defend the freighter. All had crew and a pilot with more than 1 star, Most pilots (the dead ones) were 2. So... what now? That is the question.

Which early fighters?
I thought the higher hull and greater maneuverability of the Nodan would be acceptable given the shards... (And the large freighter pounding out flak)
Is there a better chassis to use instead? That is relatively cheap? Are they fine, and I just did I not have enough of them?
Do I need to use only heavy fighters for them? Or is there a light fighter that is acceptable? And how does cost efficiency play into the choice?

Weaps?
I thought the shards would out-perform the burst lasers: right/wrong? something better

Would appreciate any advice on the subject? Specifically for Base-game offerings. I know there is some DLC options that are Superior - but am not really interested in them at the moment.

Oh. Currently, I can get any PAR, ARG, TEL or ANT setup. I would have to grind out the rep for any others.

[CitricComet]

Oh! I had them a fleet, defending the freighter - with freighter set to flee, turrets set to defend, and fighters set to defend.
Did these settings help screw it up?

[The Zanzibarbarian]

Whist Shards are great in turrets, having them as a main weapon has one big drawback for me personally. Their slow rate of fire.
ARG S Ion Blaster Mk 1 or 2 if you can get that are my current favorites. But then it also depends on what ship you're using and how many weapons you have at your disposal.
I was also going to mention the SPL S Tau Accelerator Mk2. But you've not got Split weaponry.
So how about the S Bolt Repeater Mk1 or 2?
I find this site good to use;
https://roguey.co.uk/

[SinisterSlay]

I just go all bolt repeaters. Simple, Cheap, Effective.

[Doom]

Note that I'm not a ship-building expert.

I poked around my in-game wharves, most of fun stuff, like Katana, Takoba and Chimera are rep-locked. A lot of fun weapons are rep-locked too.

From factions you listed, there's Buzzard (TEL), which got 3 guns and 2 shields, which sounds like it COULD be an upgrade from what you have and Theseus (PAR), which has one more gun. PE is a tougher target so it could make sense to use heavier fighters or more fighters. Now, there's also Pulsar (ANT), it has six guns, but is a glass cannon.

Things you could also consider:
* Asp (Split). Because faster and one more gun.
* Falcon (Teladi). Because one more shield.
* Moreya (Yaki), Because 4 guns, but I've no idea how you'd get it from where it is sold during early game. And whether they'd even sell it.

For weapons I'd go with pulse or bolt.

Note that there's a "ship loadout comparison" mode in in-game encyclopedia.

[CitricComet]

I used the roguey site, its good for many games. I do wish they had some more sorting/filtering capability for the x4 menu's though.
That was one of the main reasons I choose the shard's - its sustained DPS was much higher on there.

I'll give the bolts a try, I did not see that they could fire for 30 seconds continuously.

I'll look at some of these other fighters too. thanks.

[Doom]

Originally posted by CitricComet:

I used the roguey site, its good for many games. I do wish they had some more sorting/filtering capability for the x4 menu's though.
That was one of the main reasons I choose the shard's - its sustained DPS was much higher on there.

I'll give the bolts a try, I did not see that they could fire for 30 seconds continuously.

I'll look at some of these other fighters too. thanks.

There are more factors at play than just sustained DPS. See this guide, for example.

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2826705145

[Venerable_Sin]

The Paranid are traditionally the warring faction in the base X4 game. All of their ships were made to be better combat ships than any of the other factions during initial release. This still holds kind of true now that the DLC's are released. With that said. here are some suggestions to consider:

The more ships the better since there is no downside. (Ships don't crash, logistics aren't a thing, coms chatter isn't a thing, confusion isn't a thing, etc) If you aren't able to field massive amounts of ships, then it is better to have tanky ships for survivor-ability, in my opinion. It's also cheaper to repair a ship than to replace one. The load out isn't as important as the number of weapon systems fielded since any load out will only add dps to the field. With that said I chose full pulse load out until I unlocked the Paranid heavy fighter. Then I chose pulse, auto cannon and plasma for my out of system interceptor squad Mk1 load out. (Fight mechanics are different in system vs out of system) In system/high attention mode no weapon performs better than the missile.

Remember to buy ships from Shipyards/Warfs with minimum presets and then upgrade them at an equipment dock. I like to use my highest rep faction during a new play through then increase rep with the target module's load out faction. This reduces costs.

As a general rule of thumb set turrets to attack missiles first, plasma and missile turrets set to attack capital ships first. Obviously this doesn't apply to all builds or situations. When I find out more about how turrets are coded I will probably change this opinion or general rule of thumb.

Set military ships to use judgement and have S/M ships flee when they notify you they are under attack. That way the rest of their squad can kill the attacker as it tries to catch the runner. The flee mechanic is overpowered for new bro's or just general enjoyment at the moment. I doubt they will fix it anytime soon since they recently spent development time "fixing/improving it".

Never make a trader the fleet leader. Instead, do something like this: set your escorts fleet commander's default behavior to protect ship if you are going to escort your traders. That way the trader isn't waiting for them to catch up after a sector jump and will respond when the trader is attacked similarly to the way they do when the trader is the fleet commander. The advantage to this is mostly having a powerful deterrent (because of ship presence) and a somewhat quick reaction force to protect the trader. (I like ARG travel engines over ARG combat engines because of this) I don't know about S/M ships but I do know this works very well for Large freighters since they have a large HP pool and can wait/tank while the quick reaction force/defense squad catches up. You will want to have teleport leveled up in case a L destroyers catches your L trader. If not, have cheap teleport infrastructure set up so that you can quickly disable the attacker in order for your trader to flee. Then sick your bombers after the thing or just capture it like most people.

Always focus attack on one target, then the next, unless the squad is larger than 20. (arbitrary number, no need to have 100 ships kill 1 scout when 5 will do the job just as effectively as 100. X4 has not implemented this "split aggro system or squad commander target vs fleet commander target" very effectively at the moment and probably never will.)

I think these are probably the most "general guidelines" that I would suggest to considering incorporating into your initial game play experience. It may improve things for ya or give you something to stand on while you improve upon it.

[CitricComet]

Lots of good stuff in that, thanks.

Originally posted by Vinerable_Sin:

The more ships the better since there is no downside.

Except... the cash to build them... ;)

I am not sure I have this next bit correct though...

Originally posted by Vinerable_Sin:

Never make a trader the fleet leader. Instead, do something like this: set your escorts fleet commander's default behavior to protect ship if you are going to escort your traders. That way the trader isn't waiting for them to catch up after a sector jump and will respond when the trader is attacked similarly to the way they do when the trader is the fleet commander.

So, if I got this correct: The trader is not in the fleet. Correct?
The fleet is just the escort fighters, set to protect that one trader? And I just order the trader around. Fleet will be there when needed.
Or... ?

I need to do a lot more learning on the behavior system in X4, it seems so similar at a glance - but doesn't really do what I expect it to when the time comes.

[Venerable_Sin]

Later in the game cash/credits will not be an issue for ya. In the early game you have to let time pass while your active and passive income builds. It's a grind and can take longer or shorter depending on your actions.

Yes that's pretty much the gist of it. A pic might be worth more than another thousand words. Here is the setup I used for one of my first L traders. At the moment it is using repeat orders to sell silicon wafers from one of my production stations. I have no use for these fighters and to tell you the truth I forgot I had them so I haven't changed anything since then. I named the fleet the ticker of the trader so I could see what the fleet was at a glance. I do the same thing for unassigned ships that are dedicated haulers to stations that are more than 5 jumps away. Anyways enough of me blabberin. Here's the picutre.
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3308641341

[Doom]

Originally posted by CitricComet:

Except... the cash to build them... ;)

You'll eventually snowball, especially if you begin to build stations. Then you'll be printing destroyers in large numbers.

Originally posted by CitricComet:

So, if I got this correct: The trader is not in the fleet. Correct?

He's telling you to make a fleet out of your fighters. Then go into fleet commander's behavior tab and change it to "protect ship". I think there was a behavior like that. This way you'd be able to quickly reassign escort to protect another ship.

[CitricComet]

Great. thx.

[Tankqull]

Pilots are flying braindeads especially in the beginning,
so I prefer fighters with high hull+shield values as they will never avoid beeing hit anyway. thus my personal preference is the Shih most agile of the 4weapon/3shield ships.
weapon wise i do really like the Hop´s blast mortar as it combines good range with amazing burst as npc pilots seem to prefer to do strafing runs high dps guns are outshined by burst weapons. on top it has an area off effect so when attackng L/XL ships they have it easier to disable surface targets even with horrible aiming.

PS.: a good source of ship information is
https://roguey.co.uk/x4/ships/

[Geist]

Originally posted by CitricComet:

Which early fighters?

They all do their job. I even just go with Novas very often.

Against a PE? Not so much, thats an M class ship. 2 Main Guns, 2 turrets, 2 M class Shields. You better use an M class ship to attack it, if controlled by the AI.