X3AP - UnGoogleable Questions

[jakubpolo]

Hello!
I am new to X3 but I already love it. Unfortunately there is no tutorial in game which is extremely discouraging for new players. I was able to figure some things out by my self and some googled, but on all of them.

My first question is how to equip my new M7 Argon Cerberus? And by how I mean literally how to do it. I plan to do some simple equipment (photon pulse cannons for main weapons and Flak Artillery Array for all turrets - I was unable to google better weapons and there is too many of them so I don't know what else to pick) but I am unable to dock at Argon Photon Pulse Cannon Forge - Cerberus is too large. PPC is also sold at Argon Equipment Dock what I am able to dock but the same problem will be probably with docking at solar plants. I bought Nova Vanguard, docked it in my Cerberus. Then I switched ships, docked at Argon Photon Pulse Cannon Forge with Nova, but I am unable to buy those weapons, because they are not suitable for Nova (even though I only want to transport them). So what is the trick in transporting stuff to large ships from stations?

Thanks, there will be more question I believe!

[hisazul]

Read stickies for guides. In this forum > Sticky: The Ultimate X resource and guides list - last updated 28/02/2014
That will have pretty much the majority of the guides. Same applies to any sub-forum here. Read stickies for indexes of mods, lists, F.A.Q... etc.

Some more stuff in http://www.egosoft.com/support/faq/index_en.php

http://x3wiki.com/index.php/Main_Page - wiki. Pretty much all the numbers are here.

To equip large ships you need transporter devise, a ship that can both dock and carry the weapons and a place that sells them. Basically you need a ship capable of collecting equipment(In your case PPC is XL ware and nova is not capable of carrying XL wares). Any TS ship will do albeit springblossom is the go-to ship for this... but considering your question you probably won't have access to it.

You need to read up on docking and cargo sizes. Imo. Ships are split into 3 docking categories. Fighter, mid class and capital. Fighters can dock with anything. Mid class use docking clamps and in some rare cases large internal docking bays... capitals can only dock with shipyards, equipment docks, Xenon hub, PHQ, CPHQ, Aran. Cerberus is an M7 frigate basically a capital ship hence it cannot dock at majority of stations. Your nova is a fighter and can dock anywhere. TS/M6 ships are the... mid class docking clamp users.

Each ship can only carry wares that are either corresponding to it's cargo type or below it. A ship with L(large) cargo can carry S(small),M(medium) and L(large) wares. Weapons and shields also have that classification hence the problem. Even ship equipment has it.

And lastly welcome to X Universe.

[jakubpolo]

Thank you for your help.
So right now I am unable to equip my ship? I was too hasty in buying Cerberus while I am not prepared for it? I do have some cash left, I can do more thanks to Stock Exchange. I am friend only with Argons (a little with Teladi) and at war with Terrans.

[pref]

M7 and larger ships can only dock at 'large' stations like shipyards, equipment docks and military outposts.

If you have no transporter device, you can also dock both ships at the same station, and once docked the 'freight transfer with' option will be available in their menu.
Just get a ship that has XL cargo class so you can buy from the forge directly.

Or wait a bit until the weapons you need are available at the equipment dock, but that might take some time.

[hisazul]

My advise would be to acquire a TS ship. Or check on Equipment docks and wait until they have the weapon you want.

Frankly equipping ships is the sour point of this game. Most people hate that part of the game and for a good reason. However it's one of the very few sour points in X3.

Also as a fella above me mentioned I forgot military outposts in my list... sorry those slipped my mind.


To add a bit to the wait till its available suggestion. You can either buy yourself a satelite and drop it near the station to be able to check on it anytime or park a ship there. Preferable ship that can buy what you need.

[jakubpolo]

Thank you!
I do have Mercury somewhere but it seems it cannon dock at my Cerberus. So I would have to wait for it to follow me around the sectors or buy space jump for it and it will jump to my position? And then I will be able to move its cargo thanks to transporter device when it will be close to me?

I hoped there will be some magic ship improvement that would allow me to trade from distance without docking

[hisazul]

Thank you!
I do have Mercury somewhere but it seems it cannon dock at my Cerberus. So I would have to wait for it to follow me around the sectors or buy space jump for it and it will jump to my position? And then I will be able to move its cargo thanks to transporter device when it will be close to me?

I hoped there will be some magic ship improvement that would allow me to trade from distance without docking

Transporter devise allows ship equipped with it to transfer wares to and from another ship withing 5km without needing to dock anywhere. If transporter devise is not available then simply dock both ships at the same station. Since you transferring to Cerberus dock at any nearby shipyard/equipment dock/military outpost.

Jump drive simply allows you to jump to any gate or jump beacon it's not required for anything other then speeding things up.

Anyway just buy what you need with mercury it's XL TS ship so it can carry anything then equip your transporter devise on Cerberus if its not on it and transfer what you need from mercury. Just remember transporter device got 5km range.

[ancienthighway]

There is a fairly good plot that holds your hand through a lot of what X3 has to offer, but it's in TC. In fact all of the TC plots are good for teaching you and forcing you to learn new things about the game. The AP plots assume you know these things already or just don't require them so you never learn.

Set your AP game aside and play TC first. Focus more on trading and the economics of the game rather than combat. Doing so will allow you to build up a combat force that you can support rather than being able to use it once then send it into hibernation while you try to rearm it.

Take missions, improve reputation, and explore. Start the Terran Plot when you can get to it. An M5 is just fine to start it in, and you'll receive bigger ships as you go as part of the plot.

[jakubpolo]

I will probably have to do it. I just realised that Cerberus is unable to equip Photon Pulse Cannon that I was looking for so desperately. I read somewhere that it can equip, but probably not...

[pref]

Here you can check on ships, lasers, missiles, factories, plots and some more:
http://roguey.co.uk/x3ap/ships/

[Zaitsev]

Quick comment: The Cerberus can't use the photon pulse cannon. What you want is a concussion impulse generator, as it's the heaviest weapon the Cerberus can use.

(EDIT: Ninja'd )

You can find all compatible weapons for any ship by looking at the ship's info sheet. If you're currently flying the ship, press y, then u (default hotkeys). If it's another ship, target it and press i, then u. The info sheet will pop up, then if you scroll down a bit you'll see every weapon the ship can use and where they fit (not all turrets can equip the same weapons, for example).

The info sheet will also tell you what kind of stuff the ship can carry, as there are five sizes - S(mall), M(edium), L(arge), XL(arge) and ST(ations).
As you found out your Nova can't carry photon pulse cannons, because they are XL items and the Nova can only carry up to L items. It's like trying to cram a full grown St. Bernhard dog into a hamster cage, to put it that way.

Also, if you need an all-purpose freight ship that can dock everywhere, get a Falcon Hauler. With an XL cargo bay it can carry everything except stations, and it has a fairly decent cargo space as well. You might have to fly back and forth a few times, but at least you can get everything you need without having to mess around with freighters and transporters and such.

[jakubpolo]

Quick comment: The Cerberus can't use the photon pulse cannon. What you want is a concussion impulse generator, as it's the heaviest weapon the Cerberus can use.

(EDIT: Ninja'd )

You can find all compatible weapons for any ship by looking at the ship's info sheet. If you're currently flying the ship, press y, then u (default hotkeys). If it's another ship, target it and press i, then u. The info sheet will pop up, then if you scroll down a bit you'll see every weapon the ship can use and where they fit (not all turrets can equip the same weapons, for example).

The info sheet will also tell you what kind of stuff the ship can carry, as there are five sizes - S(mall), M(edium), L(arge), XL(arge) and ST(ations).
As you found out your Nova can't carry photon pulse cannons, because they are XL items and the Nova can only carry up to L items. It's like trying to cram a full grown St. Bernhard dog into a hamster cage, to put it that way.

Also, if you need an all-purpose freight ship that can dock everywhere, get a Falcon Hauler. With an XL cargo bay it can carry everything except stations, and it has a fairly decent cargo space as well. You might have to fly back and forth a few times, but at least you can get everything you need without having to mess around with freighters and transporters and such.

Thank you very much!

[Martin Head]

If you've not got a transporter device, you can just eject the weapon from the TS and 'run over' the cargo crate with the Cerberus to pick it up.

[jakubpolo]

Hello!
I have another question.
I was interested in seting up Sector traders and I found great topic about it here
http://forum.egosoft.com/viewtopic.php?t=121043

Unfortenutaly some key informations are hiden under "Spoilers" and I was not able to figure out how to remove these to be able to see those information. What is the trick?

[Alan Phipps]

Spoilers FAQ.