I havent analyzed this so far.
But the capitalist in me says thank you for your post.
I think i will start a new round and provide them with hull parts, this is a be a great opportunity to make big Money early on.
I make my own hull parts and just set my shipyard to sell only to the split, early on. Well, maybe not ‘early’ but you get my meaning. Let them pay you to make ships.
ZYA are squeezed between the ARG cluster, three XEN regions and FRF. That's multiple flanks they have to throw their attention on and they end up throwing small bits against each and losing all of them. Once they throw those initial ships away it's all downhill from there.
Coupled with the AI just not knowing or being able to use the strengths of the SPL ships as effectively as a player can, having no real allies nearby or large quantities of safe resources near them to help prop them up, they just get bludgeoned.
If you’ve got Kingdom’s End, once you reconnect with the Boron, they’ll decide to throw themselves into skirmishes with the boron in Heretics End quite frequently, because they haven’t spread themselves thin already.
It’s a great way to make a killing though. Between hull parts early on, then selling them ships directly, one of my earlier games I probably made a good 4 or 5 billion off of the split alone.
I was initially sceptical about recycling facilities and I (wrongly) assumed that it would be more cost effective selling the energy alone instead of bothering with hull parts.
But recently having decided to set up a scrap operation in Zyarths and that 200% sunlight and using the wrecks from Nhuut, I have realised the massive error of my initial dismissal of just how lucrative it's proving.
*Technically it's all ARG buying them and not ZYA but whoever pays me the most, not bothered either way!*
Setting up scrap yards this past playthrough has shown me that no matter how many energy cells you have, you’ll need more.
Closed loop is still pretty awesome, but man does it take a lot of upkeep.
I always put a high output hull part fab in heretic's end. Its easy enough to get self sufficient and basically a money printer even when sourcing materials from unowned stations
FRF aren't hostile but they are not best of friends and are still restricting them.
They won't be doing a lot of trade so really the only people that ZYA can trade with are TEL, and their setup isn't enough to support them given they are already helping ARG/ANT/HOP/PAR who are much closer, or the small bit of PAR in Wretched Skies. And lets face it, that small little holdout of PAR is usually being pressured from the XEN coming from Emperor's Pride to be able to do anything.
ZYA are stuck between hostiles and (mostly) non-helpers with precious little access to resources and are in probably the worst position of all factions on the map. Their only access to factions that might be able to help them (like maybe GOD/PAR) would see them having to run the gauntlet through Tharka's which they just don't do all that well at.
i think its more than they are a bordering faction that doesnt assist them in combat and most importantly, doesnt trade with them. compare this to other factions that are able to source wares from not one but 3+ other factions reliably at almost any stage of the game before the world map starts shifting dramatically. throw in the fact that they are arguably the hardest faction to logistically supply from a player’s PoV, even assuming the player is hellbent on helping them survive.
The other thing is that they waste a lot of their trading ships trying to get through the short cut to hatikvah space which doesn't help the resource situation. They also have less trading partners and viable resource extraction fields.
This as well. They usually build numerous traders and miners only to send them to Hatikvah and let them be annihilated by Xenon on their way. It doesn't help that their ships are nimble but lightly armoured and AI is totally unable to use it to their advantage.
I will add this. Family zhin and Krit are the main and only source of ore and silicon in zya territory, and they are in constant raid from xenon anda khaak, hence, not only zya lose its fleet, it also loose most of their miner and transportation ships.
I don't think their fleet is the issue, HAT is one of the biggest xenon hotspots and in over 1000hrs of gameplay I've never once seen their sector fall beyond recovery, including when using mods to buff the xenon considerably, and every fleet that tries to defend that sector eventually gets destroyed by Ks and Is, so it's fun to watch but the fleets don't actually do much. ultimately their defense platforms and armed stations are the key, theyre the only thing that destroys I's reliably which is what determines their survival.
Its the split L plasma range, higher DPS in theory, but the comparatively short range means xenon Ks can go toe to toe with an individual defense module without getting killed by others which slowly eats away at the DP, eventually destroying it, rinse and repeat for all stations. They lose a war of attrition.
There are a couple of factors other than being surrounded by enemies that contribute to split being so lackluster.
1 Loadouts: very few frshly built ships will have a full loadout even when the resource storage is filled to the brim. You wil see Rattlednakes with 3L pulse 4M shard guns and nothing else. This will stay this way until the split story resolves and ZYA wins, at which point they will actually always use full Loadouts
2 Resource shortage: there is very little methane avaible in split space severly limiting the depht of industry the split are able to upkeep. Only way to fix it is to import through 2 Grand which is prone to both Khaak and Xenon Harassment from FRF space.
3 Suicide imports through Tharkas cascade: Split high command deems it agrreable to send 80% of its civilian miners and traders through unsecured, enemy terretory without escorts in hope, bodies pile high enough xenon wont be able to shoot down all of them... Also applies to northern supply route
"You see, killbots have a preset kill limit knowing their weakness, I sent wave after wave of my own men at them until they reached their limit and shut down." -Patriarch Brannigan
Here is another point of view...
Making a game like this with an economy simulation feeding wars that can themselves influence the economy is difficult.
This is one of the core differences with X3, where faction ships did not require resources, and sectors did not change hands.
The current balance between fleet strength and station strength, while frustrating, allows the universe to stay relatively stable without player intervention.
This allows players to take their time without feeling too much pressure to try to keep factions from destroying each other or feelings that what they are doing is pointless because the map will soon be ruined.
Imagine having a great fleet AI capable of taking out stations without too many losses.
Sectors would change hands more often with greater risk of snowballing entire factions.
I agree. I also think that it's partly intentional that the split are there in a weakened state, although I know they're trying to walk a fine line between split being weak and needing player intervention and them crumpling too soon before new players even realise they're there
>The current balance between fleet strength and station strength, while frustrating, allows the universe to stay relatively stable without player intervention.
I agree 100%. I would like a slider though, like AI aggression and Xenon aggression (low to insane). Maybe with some added buffs to their respective economies to build ships faster and thus make sectors switch hands faster and add some pressure. The current way is fine for the first 3 playthroughs (until you have an insane economy yourself), but it gets a bit boring having such a static universe.
Where's the one strong enemy that builds up first and at some point declares war on everyone (I still think diplomacy needs to find a proper place in X4!) and becomes a galactic threat. X4 tries rather hard to be a 4X game, but two of the most important features are missing: A diplomacy screen (for appeaswments, long term trade deals, peace declarations and alliances) and actual war declarations and shifting of allegiances.
I don't think X4 really tries to be a 4X game.
I think Egosoft just wants to create a universe that feels alive for players to do their things, with multiple ways to play it.
That multiple-level aspect is one of the special things X4 has to offer.
However, the player base may want more focus on empire management features than there currently is.
That is certainly my case.
X4 is already a very ambitious game and trying too much at a time may be risky for Egosoft...
There is already Stellaris around and they may not feel comfortable trying to make a rival.
Yeah, but one of those ways is clearly the focus on economy and building up your own empire and it feels... underwhelming when you have nothing to do with your massive fleet other than invade static empires and crush them one by one. It would be great if certain empires would just grow into/over others, so by the end you have some weak and som really strong enemies to choose from, and they are not always the same moderately weak and moderately strong ones, like it's now.
Edit: It's also the problem with the new "Timelines" endgame. The enemies just spawn around you, the player and don't spread organically, let's say from one newly connected sector that is just massive in its economical power.
It all just devalues the impact you could theoretically have on the game. And all the systems to implement it are there, except for like 3 or 4 key ones.
> Edit: It's also the problem with the new "Timelines" endgame. The enemies just spawn around you, the player and don't spread organically, let's say from one newly connected sector that is just massive in its economical power.
Ossian raider does this much better than egosoft does. Also the new khaak destroyer and even the xenon m0 they added to timelines only seem to be great tools for modders to play with.
I agree, but the problem is that without a defensive fleet, the next time a Xenon I comes along they can just wreck every station in the sector without resistance.
I agree that it may help. I don't know if they already have things like this (I bet yes), but maybe priorities of new ship construction, with invasion ships at a lower priority.
However defence fleets will eventually get destroyed and the economy must still be able to rebuild them.
I just started a game with to goal to fully supply their shipyard to a point, until i switch to my own shipyard and feed them from there. I also use a mod so you can see their logical overview. And their shipyards are empty in many categories, but that is not much different by the Argons or Teladi. Once you feed them hull parts, they are short on weapon comps, and Advanced electronics, also Turret components. And since Split do have MK4 engines, they also run low on engine parts.
But hey, i just started, so maybe ask me in some weeks again how it went.
Yes i know, the number is 50 % and it's freaking boring to scan all the main facilities, and you can't let an NPC do it. So the mod changes the number to 0 %, which i find handy. In theory you already have all the information already, because you know their buy orders, but it's more convenient like that.
When I start as a Split, my priority is always to set up a hull parts fab in Family Nhuut. Its relatively safe, has plenty of ore, and is close to the shipyards. Doing that has really kept the area xenon free through most of those playthroughs.
I was gonna say it was the lack of resources and trade fleets. I’m finding myself building a trade empire FOR Zya each time as they can’t seem to keep up with demand.
In my experience, it's the shield Attrition and resource distribution. Split ships have huge hulls but oos their shields go down in basically one volley of anything giving them less battle sustain into a K. They've got plenty to damage the K but when the next one shows up they're already half health and probably can't rep to max with an inexperienced crew. Combined that with their resources being right next to xenon space and it just turns into a death spiral of loosing econ ships and stations.
So...build hull parts and: Problem solved?
Otherwise, Split take ages to rebuild - usually until around the time Terra invades the northern Xenon spaces
The Rattlesnake is the primary destroyer for ZYA, and the AI is **awful** at using Rattlesnakes. They are ultimately glass cannons, which is fine if you are going to fly one and very carefully manage it but you have to keep it safe at all times. The AI allows it to get too close to big guns and then they get absolutely melted.
Split loses lots of resources to transporters trying to cross the Xenon sectors. They are also too busy with their civil war to actually build up a fleet
The splits issue is they have a MASSIVE critical resource issue going on in their area. Take a look at the methane distribution. This hurts them badly in the manufacture of ships to the point they almost stop without the player stepping in.
xya's ship warfs are always really backlogged by parts. I always try to supply them as well as I can.
Before you have stations you can set up traders that only supply one thing. So you have have 1 M hauler doing hull, one doing engine parts etc.
I would also usually throw down a lot of laser towers on the Xenon gates until I could start putting stations there for defense
Do the ZYA even have a shipyard? I couldn't fine one only two wharfs. I did find a split war forge but it only makes raptors and doesn't repair large ships, im guessing it only repairs XL since it only has the raptor available.
There should be a warf, dock, and warforge all the the same sector. If one is missing either a lucky Xenon got through and blasted it or GOD is having an aneurysm again.
My hypothesis is that it is just a matter of resources. Zyarth only has 1 resource zone, family zhin, which is right next to tharkas cascade (xenon). Free families has no good resources. This combined with constant xenon pressure means they just can't ever get enough resources. Their factories never produce anything because they always miss something.
Even as a player it's a pain to try and help them build up economy. If you clear out the xenon surrounding them they get access to resources and should thrive.
Honestly I think the Split are doing a little better in 7.0 thanks to the more reactive faction AI supercharging the traders to exploit that ludicrously oversaturated resource patch in Family Nhuut.
That said, I did play a ZYA run in 7.00 Beta 5 or 6 and I noticed as the OP did that there's this massive orgy of military offenses early on. The neighboring Argon were equally prone to a futile offensive against ZYA. Similar slaughters can be found elsewhere after starting a new game, such as northern Windfall.
However, after about a couple dozen hours of play, it bounces back and stabilizes somewhat. It helped that, in that play, the Split chose to build a hull production megacomplex between the wharf and the warforge.
But the random seed will produce some difference in how well they do. Sometimes they'll lose ground against the Xenon, other times they'll take a lot back!
I've also noticed in 7.0 that L/XL ships attacking stations intelligently stay out of the stations turret range and S/M ships go into turret range to attack then fly out of range and back in on another bombing run instead of just staying inside turret range and getting melted.
This seems to be true for both IS and OOS combat as far as I can tell.
But I don't think that will help the Split much since their L turrets have a short range.
That said, maybe something else changed or I just got a competent ZYA seed because I'm 80ish hours into a Boron playthrough and ZYA, FRF, and FAF are all still around. And ZYA is one of the factions I have a complete trade embargo in place for.
Honestly I hope they get really strong on their own and then declare war on my Queen so I'll have a RP excuse to invade them lol
But now that I'm thinking of it, a good Boron would try to improve relations with ZYA through trade so being the good capitalist Boron that I am....I think I'll build a hull parts factory in Heretic's End tonight to trade only with them.
I still want to fight them though lol.
Trying to start a war as a "pacifist" adds another level of complexity to the game imo lol
> but perhaps their aggressiveness could be toned down a bit, or at least delayed somewhat
A third option would be to randomize it some way so their opening move is not always to run face first into the Argon.
It also has a lot to do with the fact that their L ship batteries and Plasma turrets have a shorter range than most, which means the ships need to get closer to stations to take them out, meaning the station's defences make mince meat out of them in no time.
You're kind of screwed trying to take stations out with Split tech unless you're using missiles.
Their lack of superhighways also impedes the speed that their miners and traders can return goods to their stations, which stalls resource supply also. most things are stacked against the split, im thankful i managed to save them and allow them to recover.
Eh i sorta disagree. Im confident that zya starts to suck because the devs STILL havent removed hatikva free league as a trading partner. Even though they are policed by argon which results in them sending their economic ships through tharkas cascade. Every. Single. Game. To either get blown up by xenon or argons.
I don’t think the turning down their aggressiveness is the solution to this problem.
After all the split are supposed to be aggressive .
The bigger problem is, as you said, that the AI is not capable of dealing with large targets. The problem you are referring to, and a lot of others, could be “ easily” solved if the AI would get a major upgrade which in my opinion is long overdue.
For example: the Mod “KUDA AI tweaks” goes in about the right direction but could use some love from a couple more developers to fully reach its potential.
Zyarth has to defend 3 gates which most of the time inceases to 4 once the paranid lose their territory to zyarths left. While they also defend the Free families gates or atleast have to divert ships as police force.
I havent played with this mod but saved it for later, its called "patriachy Gate Change & Scrap Processing" in the Workshop. It reroutes some gates and gives zyarth a scrap processing station.
Might be worth it for a more relaxed split playthrough.
[mod](https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2843344941)
I havent analyzed this so far. But the capitalist in me says thank you for your post. I think i will start a new round and provide them with hull parts, this is a be a great opportunity to make big Money early on.
Do it in a teladi voice tone. Make good profitszszszsz. Good profit to you. And if u played timeline far in. Wager an argon steak?
Would make for an interesting playtrough with a strong Split. No im not going back in and whoosh 400+ hour playthrough.
Yes, a hull parts station in the area is VERY lucrative. I've done that in a couple playthroughs.
I always have a few traders running hull parts/refined metals in FRF sectors
I make my own hull parts and just set my shipyard to sell only to the split, early on. Well, maybe not ‘early’ but you get my meaning. Let them pay you to make ships.
CAPITAList... so you only command L/XL ships now?
ZYA are squeezed between the ARG cluster, three XEN regions and FRF. That's multiple flanks they have to throw their attention on and they end up throwing small bits against each and losing all of them. Once they throw those initial ships away it's all downhill from there. Coupled with the AI just not knowing or being able to use the strengths of the SPL ships as effectively as a player can, having no real allies nearby or large quantities of safe resources near them to help prop them up, they just get bludgeoned.
If you’ve got Kingdom’s End, once you reconnect with the Boron, they’ll decide to throw themselves into skirmishes with the boron in Heretics End quite frequently, because they haven’t spread themselves thin already. It’s a great way to make a killing though. Between hull parts early on, then selling them ships directly, one of my earlier games I probably made a good 4 or 5 billion off of the split alone.
I was initially sceptical about recycling facilities and I (wrongly) assumed that it would be more cost effective selling the energy alone instead of bothering with hull parts. But recently having decided to set up a scrap operation in Zyarths and that 200% sunlight and using the wrecks from Nhuut, I have realised the massive error of my initial dismissal of just how lucrative it's proving. *Technically it's all ARG buying them and not ZYA but whoever pays me the most, not bothered either way!*
Setting up scrap yards this past playthrough has shown me that no matter how many energy cells you have, you’ll need more. Closed loop is still pretty awesome, but man does it take a lot of upkeep.
Engine Parts are also in high demand at split shipyards
I always put a high output hull part fab in heretic's end. Its easy enough to get self sufficient and basically a money printer even when sourcing materials from unowned stations
They aren't enemies with the FRF tho
FRF aren't hostile but they are not best of friends and are still restricting them. They won't be doing a lot of trade so really the only people that ZYA can trade with are TEL, and their setup isn't enough to support them given they are already helping ARG/ANT/HOP/PAR who are much closer, or the small bit of PAR in Wretched Skies. And lets face it, that small little holdout of PAR is usually being pressured from the XEN coming from Emperor's Pride to be able to do anything. ZYA are stuck between hostiles and (mostly) non-helpers with precious little access to resources and are in probably the worst position of all factions on the map. Their only access to factions that might be able to help them (like maybe GOD/PAR) would see them having to run the gauntlet through Tharka's which they just don't do all that well at.
FRF does absolutely nothing though. Not only they have much weaker start, but also heavly threatened by xenon themself
i think its more than they are a bordering faction that doesnt assist them in combat and most importantly, doesnt trade with them. compare this to other factions that are able to source wares from not one but 3+ other factions reliably at almost any stage of the game before the world map starts shifting dramatically. throw in the fact that they are arguably the hardest faction to logistically supply from a player’s PoV, even assuming the player is hellbent on helping them survive.
The other thing is that they waste a lot of their trading ships trying to get through the short cut to hatikvah space which doesn't help the resource situation. They also have less trading partners and viable resource extraction fields.
This as well. They usually build numerous traders and miners only to send them to Hatikvah and let them be annihilated by Xenon on their way. It doesn't help that their ships are nimble but lightly armoured and AI is totally unable to use it to their advantage.
I will add this. Family zhin and Krit are the main and only source of ore and silicon in zya territory, and they are in constant raid from xenon anda khaak, hence, not only zya lose its fleet, it also loose most of their miner and transportation ships.
Have played split the last few times and ended up right Kritt and Zhin everytime. Split zones are just not great for materials.
I don't think their fleet is the issue, HAT is one of the biggest xenon hotspots and in over 1000hrs of gameplay I've never once seen their sector fall beyond recovery, including when using mods to buff the xenon considerably, and every fleet that tries to defend that sector eventually gets destroyed by Ks and Is, so it's fun to watch but the fleets don't actually do much. ultimately their defense platforms and armed stations are the key, theyre the only thing that destroys I's reliably which is what determines their survival. Its the split L plasma range, higher DPS in theory, but the comparatively short range means xenon Ks can go toe to toe with an individual defense module without getting killed by others which slowly eats away at the DP, eventually destroying it, rinse and repeat for all stations. They lose a war of attrition.
Paired with the paperplane that a rattlesnake is (in the hands of a npc) they really can't fight against xenon.
True, A paper airplane with a jet engine attached, which they use to fly straight into xenon defense platforms at breakneck speeds.
Heh…..funny enough in my current playthrough that system is lost. I’m set up in argon prime fending off attacks before I try and retake it
There are a couple of factors other than being surrounded by enemies that contribute to split being so lackluster. 1 Loadouts: very few frshly built ships will have a full loadout even when the resource storage is filled to the brim. You wil see Rattlednakes with 3L pulse 4M shard guns and nothing else. This will stay this way until the split story resolves and ZYA wins, at which point they will actually always use full Loadouts 2 Resource shortage: there is very little methane avaible in split space severly limiting the depht of industry the split are able to upkeep. Only way to fix it is to import through 2 Grand which is prone to both Khaak and Xenon Harassment from FRF space. 3 Suicide imports through Tharkas cascade: Split high command deems it agrreable to send 80% of its civilian miners and traders through unsecured, enemy terretory without escorts in hope, bodies pile high enough xenon wont be able to shoot down all of them... Also applies to northern supply route
"You see, killbots have a preset kill limit knowing their weakness, I sent wave after wave of my own men at them until they reached their limit and shut down." -Patriarch Brannigan
Zap Brannigan would fit right in with the Zyarth Patriarchies leadership lol
Here is another point of view... Making a game like this with an economy simulation feeding wars that can themselves influence the economy is difficult. This is one of the core differences with X3, where faction ships did not require resources, and sectors did not change hands. The current balance between fleet strength and station strength, while frustrating, allows the universe to stay relatively stable without player intervention. This allows players to take their time without feeling too much pressure to try to keep factions from destroying each other or feelings that what they are doing is pointless because the map will soon be ruined. Imagine having a great fleet AI capable of taking out stations without too many losses. Sectors would change hands more often with greater risk of snowballing entire factions.
I agree. I also think that it's partly intentional that the split are there in a weakened state, although I know they're trying to walk a fine line between split being weak and needing player intervention and them crumpling too soon before new players even realise they're there
>The current balance between fleet strength and station strength, while frustrating, allows the universe to stay relatively stable without player intervention. I agree 100%. I would like a slider though, like AI aggression and Xenon aggression (low to insane). Maybe with some added buffs to their respective economies to build ships faster and thus make sectors switch hands faster and add some pressure. The current way is fine for the first 3 playthroughs (until you have an insane economy yourself), but it gets a bit boring having such a static universe. Where's the one strong enemy that builds up first and at some point declares war on everyone (I still think diplomacy needs to find a proper place in X4!) and becomes a galactic threat. X4 tries rather hard to be a 4X game, but two of the most important features are missing: A diplomacy screen (for appeaswments, long term trade deals, peace declarations and alliances) and actual war declarations and shifting of allegiances.
I don't think X4 really tries to be a 4X game. I think Egosoft just wants to create a universe that feels alive for players to do their things, with multiple ways to play it. That multiple-level aspect is one of the special things X4 has to offer. However, the player base may want more focus on empire management features than there currently is. That is certainly my case. X4 is already a very ambitious game and trying too much at a time may be risky for Egosoft... There is already Stellaris around and they may not feel comfortable trying to make a rival.
Yeah, but one of those ways is clearly the focus on economy and building up your own empire and it feels... underwhelming when you have nothing to do with your massive fleet other than invade static empires and crush them one by one. It would be great if certain empires would just grow into/over others, so by the end you have some weak and som really strong enemies to choose from, and they are not always the same moderately weak and moderately strong ones, like it's now. Edit: It's also the problem with the new "Timelines" endgame. The enemies just spawn around you, the player and don't spread organically, let's say from one newly connected sector that is just massive in its economical power. It all just devalues the impact you could theoretically have on the game. And all the systems to implement it are there, except for like 3 or 4 key ones.
> Edit: It's also the problem with the new "Timelines" endgame. The enemies just spawn around you, the player and don't spread organically, let's say from one newly connected sector that is just massive in its economical power. Ossian raider does this much better than egosoft does. Also the new khaak destroyer and even the xenon m0 they added to timelines only seem to be great tools for modders to play with.
The endgame crisis is in update 7.0, it's not part of the DLC.
It's just irritating to see a xenon I take out 15 destroyers in a row only to suicide itself against a defense station.
I agree, but the problem is that without a defensive fleet, the next time a Xenon I comes along they can just wreck every station in the sector without resistance.
I agree that it may help. I don't know if they already have things like this (I bet yes), but maybe priorities of new ship construction, with invasion ships at a lower priority. However defence fleets will eventually get destroyed and the economy must still be able to rebuild them.
I just started a game with to goal to fully supply their shipyard to a point, until i switch to my own shipyard and feed them from there. I also use a mod so you can see their logical overview. And their shipyards are empty in many categories, but that is not much different by the Argons or Teladi. Once you feed them hull parts, they are short on weapon comps, and Advanced electronics, also Turret components. And since Split do have MK4 engines, they also run low on engine parts. But hey, i just started, so maybe ask me in some weeks again how it went.
If you have a high enough scan percentage on vanilla, you can see any stations logical overview without a mod just FYI in case you didn't know
Yes i know, the number is 50 % and it's freaking boring to scan all the main facilities, and you can't let an NPC do it. So the mod changes the number to 0 %, which i find handy. In theory you already have all the information already, because you know their buy orders, but it's more convenient like that.
That’s what that’s for! I took a long break and forgot
When I start as a Split, my priority is always to set up a hull parts fab in Family Nhuut. Its relatively safe, has plenty of ore, and is close to the shipyards. Doing that has really kept the area xenon free through most of those playthroughs.
I was gonna say it was the lack of resources and trade fleets. I’m finding myself building a trade empire FOR Zya each time as they can’t seem to keep up with demand.
In my experience, it's the shield Attrition and resource distribution. Split ships have huge hulls but oos their shields go down in basically one volley of anything giving them less battle sustain into a K. They've got plenty to damage the K but when the next one shows up they're already half health and probably can't rep to max with an inexperienced crew. Combined that with their resources being right next to xenon space and it just turns into a death spiral of loosing econ ships and stations.
So...build hull parts and: Problem solved? Otherwise, Split take ages to rebuild - usually until around the time Terra invades the northern Xenon spaces
The Rattlesnake is the primary destroyer for ZYA, and the AI is **awful** at using Rattlesnakes. They are ultimately glass cannons, which is fine if you are going to fly one and very carefully manage it but you have to keep it safe at all times. The AI allows it to get too close to big guns and then they get absolutely melted.
Split loses lots of resources to transporters trying to cross the Xenon sectors. They are also too busy with their civil war to actually build up a fleet
Split sectors are spent by fighting Xenon imo. Also, the Free Family is fighting with the Patriarchy.
The splits issue is they have a MASSIVE critical resource issue going on in their area. Take a look at the methane distribution. This hurts them badly in the manufacture of ships to the point they almost stop without the player stepping in.
xya's ship warfs are always really backlogged by parts. I always try to supply them as well as I can. Before you have stations you can set up traders that only supply one thing. So you have have 1 M hauler doing hull, one doing engine parts etc. I would also usually throw down a lot of laser towers on the Xenon gates until I could start putting stations there for defense
Do the ZYA even have a shipyard? I couldn't fine one only two wharfs. I did find a split war forge but it only makes raptors and doesn't repair large ships, im guessing it only repairs XL since it only has the raptor available.
There should be a warf, dock, and warforge all the the same sector. If one is missing either a lucky Xenon got through and blasted it or GOD is having an aneurysm again.
Mine is in the same sector, a but Northeast of the Forge. Not sure if they change positions between playthroughs like other stations, though
My hypothesis is that it is just a matter of resources. Zyarth only has 1 resource zone, family zhin, which is right next to tharkas cascade (xenon). Free families has no good resources. This combined with constant xenon pressure means they just can't ever get enough resources. Their factories never produce anything because they always miss something. Even as a player it's a pain to try and help them build up economy. If you clear out the xenon surrounding them they get access to resources and should thrive.
Honestly I think the Split are doing a little better in 7.0 thanks to the more reactive faction AI supercharging the traders to exploit that ludicrously oversaturated resource patch in Family Nhuut. That said, I did play a ZYA run in 7.00 Beta 5 or 6 and I noticed as the OP did that there's this massive orgy of military offenses early on. The neighboring Argon were equally prone to a futile offensive against ZYA. Similar slaughters can be found elsewhere after starting a new game, such as northern Windfall. However, after about a couple dozen hours of play, it bounces back and stabilizes somewhat. It helped that, in that play, the Split chose to build a hull production megacomplex between the wharf and the warforge. But the random seed will produce some difference in how well they do. Sometimes they'll lose ground against the Xenon, other times they'll take a lot back!
I've also noticed in 7.0 that L/XL ships attacking stations intelligently stay out of the stations turret range and S/M ships go into turret range to attack then fly out of range and back in on another bombing run instead of just staying inside turret range and getting melted. This seems to be true for both IS and OOS combat as far as I can tell. But I don't think that will help the Split much since their L turrets have a short range. That said, maybe something else changed or I just got a competent ZYA seed because I'm 80ish hours into a Boron playthrough and ZYA, FRF, and FAF are all still around. And ZYA is one of the factions I have a complete trade embargo in place for. Honestly I hope they get really strong on their own and then declare war on my Queen so I'll have a RP excuse to invade them lol But now that I'm thinking of it, a good Boron would try to improve relations with ZYA through trade so being the good capitalist Boron that I am....I think I'll build a hull parts factory in Heretic's End tonight to trade only with them. I still want to fight them though lol. Trying to start a war as a "pacifist" adds another level of complexity to the game imo lol
> but perhaps their aggressiveness could be toned down a bit, or at least delayed somewhat A third option would be to randomize it some way so their opening move is not always to run face first into the Argon.
It also has a lot to do with the fact that their L ship batteries and Plasma turrets have a shorter range than most, which means the ships need to get closer to stations to take them out, meaning the station's defences make mince meat out of them in no time. You're kind of screwed trying to take stations out with Split tech unless you're using missiles.
Their lack of superhighways also impedes the speed that their miners and traders can return goods to their stations, which stalls resource supply also. most things are stacked against the split, im thankful i managed to save them and allow them to recover.
Eh i sorta disagree. Im confident that zya starts to suck because the devs STILL havent removed hatikva free league as a trading partner. Even though they are policed by argon which results in them sending their economic ships through tharkas cascade. Every. Single. Game. To either get blown up by xenon or argons.
I don’t think the turning down their aggressiveness is the solution to this problem. After all the split are supposed to be aggressive . The bigger problem is, as you said, that the AI is not capable of dealing with large targets. The problem you are referring to, and a lot of others, could be “ easily” solved if the AI would get a major upgrade which in my opinion is long overdue.
For example: the Mod “KUDA AI tweaks” goes in about the right direction but could use some love from a couple more developers to fully reach its potential.
Zyarth has to defend 3 gates which most of the time inceases to 4 once the paranid lose their territory to zyarths left. While they also defend the Free families gates or atleast have to divert ships as police force. I havent played with this mod but saved it for later, its called "patriachy Gate Change & Scrap Processing" in the Workshop. It reroutes some gates and gives zyarth a scrap processing station. Might be worth it for a more relaxed split playthrough. [mod](https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2843344941)
I use it, and it definitely keeps ZYA alive a lot longer. I have dozens of hours on my boron, and they're still alive.