X3:TC The lazy way to X-TREME

So, being the OCD person that I am about games, I decided to go for all X3:TC Steam achievements. A couple of the hardest achievement to get are the two X-TREME achievements, one for trading and the other for combat. After spending hours clearing out Xenon and Kha'ak sectors for hours (talk about boring!), I figured there had to be a better way. So I'm going to share my super lazy way to raise rank. (If you also want to work on X-TREME trading at the same time, see bottom note.)

Things you will need:

• Out of game
• A timer of some sort, set to 5.5 minutes. I used my cell phone. Use an alarm sound that is not annoying, because you will be hearing it a lot.
• Something to do for hours. A good TV series, some movies, a blog to write, some homework to do, etc.
• In-game
• Osaka
• Max shields (6x 2GJ)
• All SSCs, except a few PSPs (I used 4 in front.)
• 2000 or so Wraith missiles (optional)
• A Xenon sector with a shipyard. In my game, it was Xenon Core 023.

The process:

1. Park yourself just outside of SSC range from the docking exit on the station. (It looks like a little shoe, sticking off the spherical station.). I parked sideways to the station.
2. Set turrets that are able to directly attack the station to Attack Fighters so they don't attack it. Set all others to Attack Enemies.
3. Save and start your timer.
4. Turn on SETA.
5. AFK or whatever you want to do.
6. When alarm goes off, turn off SETA, and start over at Step 3.

Here's what happens:

The shipyard will continually spawn fighters (L's, M's, and N's). Your Osaka/SSCs will chew them up and raise your rank. SETA will speed up the process dramatically. However, after 60 minutes (or 6 minutes on 10x SETA), your combat rank will start to decay. So you must do something in-game every 6 minutes (the timer is set to 5:30 to give you time to respond). This will raise rank very quickly at first, but at Hero rank, it takes over a cycle (6 minutes) to get 1% rank increase. It might not be the quickest way, but it was the most acceptable way for me.

Sometimes, a fighter will get stuck trying to undock (autopilot lol), and he will keep hitting the station until he dies. If you are close enough to be able to shoot at him while he's stuck in the dock, you will just hit the station over and over until you blow it up. Being as the station is key to this lazy method, avoid this!

Sometimes, a Q patrol will spawn in sector or jump in through the gate and head straight for you. The Osaka with 4 PSPs fitted should be able to take care of that even if you are AFK without getting damaged into hull. If you are watching, all the better; fire a couple of volleys of Wraiths at it to help.

Sometimes, the shipyard will seem to stop spawning fighters. Then if you look at the landed ships in the shipyard, there may be 70+ ships waiting in station. You can either wait it out, and the shipyard will eventually spew out a ton of fighters at once. Or you can jump out of the system, which will cause most of the ships to launch, then jump back in. With possibly multiple M2s, M1s, and at least half-a-dozen Qs being typically backed up in station, it makes for an interesting fight. Then just reposition yourself back near the station and continue as normal.

Trading

There's no reason not to work on X-TREME trading at the same time. To do this, make sure you setup some factories with CAGs or CLS2 routes before-hand. The key to making progress toward the trading achievement is to make sure that your SHIPS are making the profit. Your station selling illicit goods to visiting patrons isn't going to do anything toward the achievement, no matter how profitable. Your ships have to buy below average and sell above average to gain trade rank. The more difference off average, the more progress. So using CLS2/CAG to both buy below and sell above is double-dipping. :) If you neglected to setup some stations beforehand, you can remotely buy, outfit, and setup some CLS2 freighters while sitting outside the Xenon shipyard.