See also: story lines summary page.
The paranid line deals with the three paranid factions: Holy Order, Godrealm and Duke’s Bucaneers. The choice you make eventually results in either a unified Paranid superpower opposed to much of the rest of the network, or a splintered 3-way internal civil war that will weaken everyone and help their enemies.
Note that this is the most long-term of all the X4 faction story lines.
You will need a vast production infrastructure throwing off large amounts of cash and wares.
A matter of respect
Talk to Dal Busta, and he’ll send you to meet an old contact of his, an “informant.” Fly out to meet her, and do some scanning to find her ship.
The contact proves… annoying. She won’t speak to you until you jump through a few hoops, and she’s sitting in an area where X4’s “encounters” system at the edge of the system may throw up some Xenon or Kha’ak you should deal with before continuing. Take a combat ship — something bigger than a scout, certainly, but a destroyer is overkill.
Try not die.
Talk to Gride, and receive her request to obtain an item and the opportunity to ask a couple of questions. What questions you choose isn’t important, so ask about what interests you. There are pieces to be put together here, and this is your first opportunity to get some information on the nature of the Paranid civil war. You may also note that the paint job on her ships seems a bit familiar…
A small errand
Go retrieve the item she’s looking for, but be careful. Easy to get blown up here, but no problems if you’re careful.
Once you’re done, Dal will have you do some sightseeing at the local Paranid monument station.
Save here. The next step may produce EMP leaks you need to scan in an area that the physics collision engine may make it hard to reach. You may need to reload and try again.
Follow Dal’s instructions, and the guidance markers. EMP the station, scan the leak to trigger a way to enter the station.
This part can be a bit confusing. You need to Spacesuit-travel down to the middle of the station, in front of the gold “doors.” They’ll open when you get close enough, and show you a glass window looking into an odd room inside the station. (You can’t get in, but you will see this room later, from the other side.)
Wait and listen to some dialog, get back to your ship, move away.
Next is a trip to pick up a small package on the dock of a destroyer. The destroyer is located in a dangerous spot, so you need to make a decision about what ship to take. It needs to be an S or M ship to dock. Make sure your ship has a Mk-2 docking computer… You’re safe once docked.
Try not to die. (Anyone sensing a theme here?)
Get the package, which is located on the landing deck somewhere. Get out of there. [You can try to help the ship if you want, but they don’t need your help and will hang around long after you’re gone.]
Deliver your package and get some further information.
Lasting Vengeance
Head to the sector of the same name. You’ll want to be in something bigger than a scout, something capable of fighting off a few laser towers.
Find the wrecked station (which X3 players will recognize as one of the massive company headquarters stations from that game).
Scan the area, Boso will inform you about finding Navigation Beacons.
These beacons are hidden, and won’t show up on your map as objects. To find them, you’ll need to use your ship’s Long Range Scan mode, and look for “purple” target ring indicators. Flying a bit away from the station and turning back to aim a scan pulse at it can help in locating the beacons — they’re all close to parts of the station structure. When you get close enough to a beacon, it will appear in your ship’s radar view.
Note that you’ll be attacked by a few laser towers at the first beacon.
Fly to each beacon, within 500 m, and an “acquiring data” message will appear in your status hud. You need to get data from five beacons to gather the information Boso needs here. (You don’t need to be in scan mode, just close enough to the beacon.)
Finish the scans and Boso will send you to nearby point to investigate.
Warning:
From here you start dealing with other characters in their own ships. They have plans, and head off to do things. You may want to pause here and attend to other business in your empire so you can tag along without getting interrupted.
Saving now isn’t a bad idea. Switching to an M ship with a some firepower also isn’t a terrible idea.
When you’re ready, investigate Boso’s target (hint: it’s a ship, and you’ll be having a conversation).
Prophetic Mission
The diplomat is setting out to resume his failed attempt to mediate in the civil war, and is allowing you to come along.
Follow your new… friend? … out of the system. Listen to some dialog, as the ideas being discussed will help you understand what’s going to come (why you’re doing what you’re doing in forthcoming missions). Those paranid gestation pods you saw in the Apotheosis station in Pontifex’s Claim are maybe important here…
Follow the diplomat to whatever random station he chooses, and wait. Some “HOF” (Holy Order Fanatics) faction ships will appear, and will be hostile. You’ll have to destroy them. Don’t destroy the HOP “Honor Guard” ships! They’re on the side of the diplomat.
Wait and listen through a bit of dialog.
Once the fight is over, your new friend will take off again, and you’ll have to chase after him. Again.
A Matter of the Utmost Gravity
Another friend has joined up with the effort, Rikmanckassor, and now the whole troop is following the Diplomat to Apotheosis for the “next stage in the negotiations.” Follow them, and you’ll be sent to wait on another ship.
You’ll need an S ship or your spacesuit to dock — probably just use spacesuit to dock at the back by the engines, since you’re about to be leaving in your suit anyway… and you’re going to want your ships free and clear and not docked eventually.
In the ship, you’ll find the Lieutenant… who you already know. Have a conversation, get another assignment. Follow along for now.
Note: in that conversation you just had, notice how she keeps referring to the Diplomat as “My Duke”… ? Hm. Duke. Aren’t there a bunch of paranoid running around somewhere calling themselves the “Duke’s Buccaneers?” Hm…
You need to find a toolbox in the docking area. You might not get a guidance-line pointing to it, so look for a small package laying on the deck. It’s often right by the elevator.
Some of the dialog here starts to hint at future possibilities: there are peace talks going on, and not everyone is on Team Peace. Some folks might prefer to extend the war. Who will you ultimately support?
Apotheosis Station
This section is the most difficult in terms of “What am I supposed to do here?” for this story line. It’s not always obvious.
Exit in your spacesuit.
Save now. Before you enter the station.
First, head for the big golden blast doors on the station. They should open for you, revealing a sort of vertical passage into the heart of the station. Fly forward, follow the mission marker. You’ll come to a rounded passage, leading into the station. The Maze.
Note: it’s best to plan on finishing all your work inside Apotheosis station in one go. While you can leave the station and return, there have been reports that doing so may cause the mission to glitch.
Better safe than sorry, so make sure your empire isn’t going to need you to travel somewhere until you’re done here.
Part I : The Maze
Fly forward to the glowing vertical tube in front of you, and stop.
Look to your right, and you’ll see a passage covered by triangular obstructions and an “energy” barrier.
Look to your left, you’ll see another passage exiting this area.
Now fly around behind the tube, and you’ll see the fourth passage (opposite the way you came in) covered by a barrier resembling an eye.
Your goal is to find switches that will open up the “energy barrier” passage. The last switch you find will open up that “eye” passage, allowing you easy return to this central chamber from the other side.
Fly into the unobstructed passage, and stop at the first junction. This is a 3-D maze, so difficult to map and keep your bearings. The key here is to note this first junction. This is your “Zero Point.” Everything you can reach is on a branch off from this point.
Follow each of the branches, flying until you can’t go any farther. In these branches, you’ll find the “shoot it with your suit gun” switches that you can shoot to turn the lights from green to red. As you do this, two things will happen:
- the obstructions on the “energy barrier” passage will start to clear (you’ll be shown this)
- closed doors in the maze will open, allowing you access further down passages (you will not be shown this)
Keep at it, fully exploring every branch you have access to. Be careful to watch for passages opening up or sideways out of the tunnels — they’re easy to miss. The branching seems complicated, but from the Zero Point each branch leads only to one or two ends. You’ll need to re-explore branches as you open doors with the switches, allowing access farther down the tunnel.
Once you’ve found all the switches, you can exit back to the main chamber. The “energy barrier” passage should be fully clear now, including the energy barrier.” If the barrier is still there, then there’s another switch you haven’t found.
If the energy barrier is still there, you can actually pass through it without harm, but do not do this. The fact that you can do this is a bug!
If you go ahead and go through the barrier without removing it, you’ll mess up the coming sequence and have to reload.
After clearing all but the last switch, you’re looking for a passage that leads to a glowing tube like the one in the entry chamber, except with a red glow instead of green. When you see this, you know you’re almost done.
Fly into that chamber, note the tube, and look behind it to find the switch that opens the passage back into the entry chamber and removes the energy barrier. Fly back to the entry chamber, with the green tube. The way forward through the now-clear chamber is open.
Part II : The Cocoon Chamber
Fly down the opened passage to the large room at the end. You’re now inside the room you were looking at through the glass a while ago.
This room has two notable features:
- Two switches, on the wall on each side of the door way where you entered
- Cocoon stations, four down each side of the room (several are empty, holding no cocoons)
No one tells you why, but you’re supposed to help in releasing the cocoons. Do this by shooting at the structure of the clamp with your spacesuit gun. There’s no indicator that you’re shooting at the right spot, so take your best guess and keep firing (try the base of the vertical support struts). It may take up to a couple dozen shots. Eventually, the mission marker will disappear and there will be a small “explosion” animation and the gestation cocoon will be beamed away by Boso.
Congratulations. You’re now a baby-kidnapper. Steal the rest, following the mission guidance markers.
Once you finish, Dal talks about a “failsafe security mechanism.”
Your mission guidance marker will change and indicate you should return to the main chamber, but don’t leave yet. You’re not done.
Find the two green switches on the walls by the entry passage. Us your spacesuit gun to disable them. Now you can leave, having opened the protection covers on the two glowing tubes.
Back to the main chamber.
Part III : Decisions and Exit
When you reach the main chamber, Dal will comm you with some information.
Consult your mission briefings, and see that what action you take next will determine the fate of significant galactic events:
- Leave the Apotheosis station now — this will lead to the line of Paranid Unification
- Plant spacesuit bombs on the glowing tubes — this will lead to a three-faction Paranid civil war
Save now, before you take any further action.
Even if you don’t want to change your mind, you may need a safe point to reset back to if you have trouble dealing with the consequences of your decisions!
If you plant the bombs, just leave them. You don’t need to detonate them yourself.
Choose a course of action and exit the station by either flying out or teleporting out to one of your ships.
From here, the story line diverges: