Suffering total destruction. I didn't know.

[LeftPaw]

I have spent weeks in beta building up my HQ and had it running really well and making profit. It had a fleet of traders, miners and a small defence fleet.
So today I started adding a pier to my HQ when out of nowhere and without warning a massive fleet of Kak or what ever they are called flew in and withing minutes had destroys most of my traders and miners, and all of my defence fleet then they started on my HQ.
I just sat there mouth open, I couldn't believe it. I never knew the game could or would do that without any warning or build up. Heretics End was peaceful up to that moment. I don't even know where they came from.
I closed the game down at this point I couldn't watch all my hard work get destroyed so quickly.
I never knew that could happen. I do now. Even if I go back a save there is no way I can save it against such a large force. The ship I'm in managed to escape with about 5% hull, but to start again means starting from the beginning. Most of my money was tied up into that HQ.
The worse thing about this is I had named all of the ships and knew the captains names. They were personal. All gone in a few heartbeats.
I'm going to have to think about what to do next, once I have got over the shock that is.

Just thought. What happens to Boso, can he get off the station somehow?

[DaBa]

I've never seen a fleet of khaak massive enough to threaten all my stuff like that, especially considering that even a single good destroyer is able to wreck a whole khaak station and fend off the fleet of ships that pops up every time to defend it, and there's usually like 20 or so of them in those situations. The biggest Khaak raid I've seen was maybe 10 ships tops, that can be repelled literally with a couple of frigates or corvettes, or an equal number of fighters, and couldn't even threaten a single L miner or trader.

Is that something new in Beta maybe? Or are you making this sound way more dramatic than it actually was?

[Stevie Lee]

If you can go back far enough to prepare you will be fine. Drop ~200 Mk 2 laser towers in clouds around your docks and key structures; these will fry the small fast ships. Build defense turrets, lots of them and make the geometry work so they can hit things (e.g. move them away from the rock a bit and get them high/low and to sides). A dozen defense modules (discs (~80 medium turrets, 100 large)) should do it. I have a very basic defense base that is just a dozen discs and two landing pads and it just took out an I, three K's and like 80 ships in a sudden attack with no problem. I don't even bother with shields.

[Yuki]

Started as Boron too? :D
And you got that split DLC. Thats where they came from.
I started only with Kingdoms End so that "southern" gate was inactive. After activating the DLC it took a few hours but then: Xenon.
And not just any. A few K's immediately and soon after a swarm of I with several K's as escort each -.-

The system "north" and "west" from Heretics End will be overrun by xenon almost immediately. The one in between from the Zyn doesnt provide much resistance. At which point they come for us friendly space squids.

The "solution" i found is: Hydra.
Even early on that ship can solo a xenon capital ship. Take rails. Take a lot of laser turrets.
Approach the giant and once the swarm hits you plop out turrets like crazy. They will deal with them In the meanwhile the rails allow you to stay out of the capital ships range and with just a few shots snipe all their turrets and engines while the hydra has enough agility to swap sides.

Soon after i had a xenon capital ship graveyard right next to my HQ -.-
So much about bringing friendship to the galaxy.

Edit: Regarding Kha'ak: Heretic's End actually has a Kha'ak installation. "Hidden":
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3005925505
You need to fly out a bit to "extend the map" to see it. (When you fly at the border of the system map it just zooms out)
You can actually see it in the distance. If you...well...look into the direction. Under normal circumstances they shouldnt be much of a problem though. I only ever found them when i was looking for some "system edge" miners to train boarding.

[LeftPaw]

I wasn't prepared. I never expected it. In between base building I was running missions. All casual sort of stuff. The last thing I expected was a deliberate attack on my HQ. They were not interested in anyone else just me and my base. Ha! a full squad of them chased my ship out of the Heretics end. I must have done something really bad to them to kiss them off so.
Anyway, it's just deciding what to do now. I don't want to start a new game. I have done so much in this game missions and stuff. I don't really want to give it all up.

Interesting to know the little zhits lived next door all along.
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3005925505

[Yuki]

I guess its two different things. Kha'ak dont really destroy stations. They pester (and especially in the beginning: Kill) your traders and miners. The problem is "north" of you, Xenon. They have capital ships. They blow up stations. They come directly for you wherever you have a base in a system, even if you hide it like that Kha'ak outpost.

Suggestion: Get a Hydra. Get lazors! And stage a defense up there.
Decorate this gate with laser towers, that alone usually tilts the scale of battle so much the other NPC's can finally hold off. Then: Loot.

The amount of loot you get there is insane- in the beginning.
Have a fast ship, e.g. Irukandji. Set it to "repeat orders". Set it on that gate with "loot all".
And usually set a few of those "loot points" and then tell it to bring the stuff back to HQ buut....that might be a bit difficult atm :D

There is another gate nearby you can "farm" like that nearby. Hatikvah's Choice I, in the "east" just north of that super highway. That spot alone yields about 10M in loot per hour.

Build up from that and get salvagers. Loot and scrap everything :D

Due to that onslaught my cuddle-fish had transformed from your friendly ever happy space squid to a drug dealing xenon-recycling Teladi wannabe.

[LeftPaw]

I think I might go back a couple of saves to give me more time and go with the suggestion of surrounding my HQ with laser towers. Ground all my ships, only sending out my defence ships after their numbers have been thinned out. I can give it a try at least. I think I have a ton of backup money in the form of loot I've not sold yet.

[Yuki]

Send a scout to Wretched Skies V and put satelites at the gates and in between. That way you can see whats happening and got some warning time.
They ignore the satelites. Add a few laser towers on direct way between the gates will even delay them, though those would need to be replenished regularily.
And yes just a straight line between the "West" and "South" gate. For some reason they ignore all Zyn and fly directly towards you. Or they do in my case. I dont know what i did to them *sobs*.

[LeftPaw]

Originally posted by Yuki:

I guess its two different things. Kha'ak dont really destroy stations. They pester (and especially in the beginning: Kill) your traders and miners. The problem is "north" of you, Xenon. They have capital ships. They blow up stations. They come directly for you wherever you have a base in a system, even if you hide it like that Kha'ak outpost.

Suggestion: Get a Hydra. Get lazors! And stage a defense up there.
Decorate this gate with laser towers, that alone usually tilts the scale of battle so much the other NPC's can finally hold off. Then: Loot.

The amount of loot you get there is insane- in the beginning.
Have a fast ship, e.g. Irukandji. Set it to "repeat orders". Set it on that gate with "loot all".
And usually set a few of those "loot points" and then tell it to bring the stuff back to HQ buut....that might be a bit difficult atm :D

There is another gate nearby you can "farm" like that nearby. Hatikvah's Choice I, in the "east" just north of that super highway. That spot alone yields about 10M in loot per hour.

Build up from that and get salvagers. Loot and scrap everything :D

Due to that onslaught my cuddle-fish had transformed from your friendly ever happy space squid to a drug dealing xenon-recycling Teladi wannabe.

I found the spot you are talking about, the gate coming out from Tharka's Cascade. It's none stop pickups. I think I can turn them back it's just going back far enough to give me time to prepare. If I can win I can then start to reinforce the gate leading into Heratics End.
I would have done all of this sort of stuff if I had known the game was going to try and murder me.
Another sad fact is I had just spent time making friend with Sol which wasn't easy. That is all down the toilet now.
They can't destroy the HQ can they? Because of Boso Ti, he is to important to the story.

[PeaceMaker]

Originally posted by LeftPaw:

I have spent weeks in beta building up my HQ and had it running really well and making profit. It had a fleet of traders, miners and a small defence fleet.
So today I started adding a pier to my HQ when out of nowhere and without warning a massive fleet of Kak or what ever they are called flew in and withing minutes had destroys most of my traders and miners, and all of my defence fleet then they started on my HQ.
I just sat there mouth open, I couldn't believe it. I never knew the game could or would do that without any warning or build up. Heretics End was peaceful up to that moment. I don't even know where they came from.
I closed the game down at this point I couldn't watch all my hard work get destroyed so quickly.
I never knew that could happen. I do now. Even if I go back a save there is no way I can save it against such a large force. The ship I'm in managed to escape with about 5% hull, but to start again means starting from the beginning. Most of my money was tied up into that HQ.
The worse thing about this is I had named all of the ships and knew the captains names. They were personal. All gone in a few heartbeats.
I'm going to have to think about what to do next, once I have got over the shock that is.

Just thought. What happens to Boso, can he get off the station somehow?

I'd just see this as a chance for vengeance, go elsewhere, rebuild then go MEDIEAEVAL on their arses until dead and salt the earth afterwards. Could be the best part of your game yet!

[LeftPaw]

Originally posted by PeaceMaker:

Originally posted by LeftPaw:

I have spent weeks in beta building up my HQ and had it running really well and making profit. It had a fleet of traders, miners and a small defence fleet.
So today I started adding a pier to my HQ when out of nowhere and without warning a massive fleet of Kak or what ever they are called flew in and withing minutes had destroys most of my traders and miners, and all of my defence fleet then they started on my HQ.
I just sat there mouth open, I couldn't believe it. I never knew the game could or would do that without any warning or build up. Heretics End was peaceful up to that moment. I don't even know where they came from.
I closed the game down at this point I couldn't watch all my hard work get destroyed so quickly.
I never knew that could happen. I do now. Even if I go back a save there is no way I can save it against such a large force. The ship I'm in managed to escape with about 5% hull, but to start again means starting from the beginning. Most of my money was tied up into that HQ.
The worse thing about this is I had named all of the ships and knew the captains names. They were personal. All gone in a few heartbeats.
I'm going to have to think about what to do next, once I have got over the shock that is.

Just thought. What happens to Boso, can he get off the station somehow?

I'd just see this as a chance for vengeance, go elsewhere, rebuild then go MEDIEAEVAL on their arses until dead and salt the earth afterwards. Could be the best part of your game yet!

Funny you should say this. Before I was in the 'live and let live frame of mind' but now I have this thirst for blood.
No more Mr nice pilot.

[Gregorovitch]

Originally posted by LeftPaw:

So today I started adding a pier to my HQ when out of nowhere and without warning a massive fleet of Kak or what ever they are called flew in and withing minutes had destroys most of my traders and miners, and all of my defence fleet then they started on my HQ.

Kha'ak can't do that to your station (or at least they couldn't last time I played), probably Xenon? Yeah, it can happen. There are quite a few Xenon sectors within striking distance of Heretics End.

The answer to this is to equip your stations with defence disks equipped with L plasma turrets. Each defence disk packs 8 L and 12 M turrets IIRC. About four of them should suffice for a decent sized station. I can tell you with certainty that 32 L plasma turrets have a remarkably discouraging effect on any battleship thinking about getting up to this sort of nonsense with one of your stations, Xenon I's and K's or otherwise.

This is far and away more effective than any defence fleet. Each defence disk is worth about two or three destroyers offensively but they are much harder to kill.

[Bogart]

How many hours was your save? I'm a little worried this might happen to me xD

[LeftPaw]

Originally posted by Bogart Porter Bridges:

How many hours was your save? I'm a little worried this might happen to me xD

I have one only around 10 minutes before the event, but that will not give me enough time to prepare for the attack. I don't know how much time I have on the next one down but I would imagine it to be a hour or so at the most. I won't know exactly until I start to put my plan into motion tomorrow. I'm going to need a hour at least to set things up, buy a shed load of laser towers, place them, send my ships of to somewhere safe. Well, at least my traders and miners along with the 3 star pilots. Call me soft but I don't want to loose them.

[Bogart]

Originally posted by LeftPaw:

Originally posted by Bogart Porter Bridges:

How many hours was your save? I'm a little worried this might happen to me xD

I have one only around 10 minutes before the event, but that will not give me enough time to prepare for the attack. I don't know how much time I have on the next one down but I would imagine it to be a hour or so at the most. I won't know exactly until I start to put my plan into motion tomorrow. I'm going to need a hour at least to set things up, buy a shed load of laser towers, place them, send my ships of to somewhere safe. Well, at least my traders and miners along with the 3 star pilots. Call me soft but I don't want to loose them.

Damn, good luck! And yeah, I play not to lose any ships. They are part of my precious fleet! By hours I meant what's your total for that save file / X4 overall. :)

[Yuki]

Originally posted by LeftPaw:

Funny you should say this. Before I was in the 'live and let live frame of mind' but now I have this thirst for blood.
No more Mr nice pilot.

Behold how the dire state of the galaxy has transormed another happy space squid into your future overlord!
Welcome to the team.
You can still be friendly. To a select few. Fire and salt indeed everywhere else.

Originally posted by Bogart Porter Bridges:

How many hours was your save? I'm a little worried this might happen to me xD

It happened about 20h in after activating the DLC and hence the gate. Which means the economies of empires should be better prepared but it wasnt enough.

I started Boron first, then went for a terran game given that the last time i played X was...okay rebirth, but lets not talk about that abortion, X3- terran conflict.
A few others as well just to take a look at the DLC content but-
I just missed my space squid so im back to squid (now with valuable lessons learned and hence better prepared).
Now 18h in, no K yet. But i got my scouts this time and they deffy started "knocking" on my neighbours door. For now with M and S. More loot!
Should they come again- Well...let em >:)

That said in my terran game i went terran-boron for most things and it worked really nice. Hydras guarding terran destroyers, guppy with terran fighters... Its just explosions everywhere when that fleet jumps in! Tanky, everything smaller than L is vaporized in the first second and the rest...well, hydras with rails really like to eat enemy turrets btw.
Fling in a few with torpedos just for the fireworks!
And guppy are a cheap way to zooom-deliver fighters everywhere with lightning speed. I just found the Boron fighters somewhat lacking, speed especially. It somehow looks as if Terran and Boron complement each other really well and cover the shortcomings of each other.