relevant to my interests
have a free bump

>>125159624
ty kindly.

although i'm rather disappoint from the lack of response

If you're going in completely blind I'd recommend starting with CdrDave's videos: http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL2BC4835802365FF1&feature=plcp

>>125159971
me too
I tried playing it a while back, couldn't work out what the fuck I should do... think I started the same too.

wait for x4, it's all in 1st person

Been playing this pretty much non stop the past 2/3 weeks.

Just finished Operation Final Fury after buying a Springblossom and some badass shockwave generators, after I got my ass kicked twice trying to do it with the Vidar.

feelsgoodman.

>>125160257
Would it really be best to watch the start of a walkthrough?

>>125160508
It's not a walkthrough like for an adventure game. He takes you through game mechanics.

Humble trader is an easier start to get into. You can make a couple ore runs between Heron's Nebula and Argon Prime to make some dosh.

Keep on the lookout for people selling used ships. In space they'll have an orange cent symbol next to them, they can also be docked in which case talk to the person with the orange cent symbol next to them. In general anything that's less than 80% health will net you a good profit, anything that's over 90% health is a rip off. Buy the ship, fly to it, eject with Shift+E then repair it with your suit's laser. Once that's done tell it to dock at the nearest shipyard and sell it. You can make millions with this, and it's a good way to get some nice starter ships for cheap. Haulers tend to be a pain in the ass because they take a long time to repair.

>>125160618
Okay, that's reasonable. Just didn't want to start watching without knowing for sure.
>>125160645
Sounds like a plan, Batman.

I guess it's time to reinstall this shit then.

It's early in the morning to get a good X3TC thread going gentlemen.

For those just starting out and have no inspiration, do you see those giant space ships flying around? Try making/buying/hijacking one. Then a spacestation. Then everything else.

Are there still those two unclaimed freighters floating around near Teladi space that give over one million bucks each?

>>125159149
>first game
>playing bankrupt assassin

It makes pirates randomly spawn and attack you (price on your head), which can be REALLY INCONVENIENT at times, like if you're protecting a convoy.

Some recommendations:

>play the Terran plot first, before you get your combat rank too high (it makes harder ships spawn). You get an excellent M6 called the Vidar near the end of it, pretty much one of the best ships in the game for a beginner.

>buy Flight command software MK1 & 2 as soon as you can, so that you can have automatic laser aim (press k). Then you shoot with CTRL and you won't have to aim.

>Get a fast M5 (you get an Enhanced Jaguar at the end of the terran plot, ~600m/s insane fast), equip it with the Explorer Command Software, and use the 'Fly Through Gate' and 'Map Sector' in the Navigation commands to map out each game's sectors. When you're telling it to map sector, point the position cursor right in the middle, and set the distance almost as far out as the zoomed-out map goes (press END to zoom out). That way, you won't miss any far-out warp gates.

>>125161702

>As soon as you get enough money (just under 1Mil), get a suitable TS ship (OTAS Mistral, Argon Mercury, Boron Dolphin, are the best ships, in that order) and equip it with Trade Software MK3 and start a sector trader. It will autonomously make you loads of money. You want to get about 10-15 of these in total for maximum profit. The best sectors to trade in Empire's Edge (best) and Queen's Space. When they hit lvl 12, start them as a Universe Trader. Also rename the ship with a (UT) suffix at the end, so you don't forget which ones are sector traders and which are universe traders.

>It isn't worth doing the 'Retrieve Ship' missions. Usually, it will be almost impossible to return the ship in time (without equipping it with a jumpdrive and energy cells), and you won't be able to shove it in a hangar if it's not a fighter ship (they are usually TS ships). If you don't complete the mission, you lose SHIT LOADS of reputation because they think you stole the ship, (can be up to 2 ranks) so just stay away.

>>125161230
why people take the easy way out I never understand. It's so much more satisfying seeing your hard efforts pay off and popping your first million cherry.

>>125160645
best way to repair ships, is to wedge a thin piece of metal in between your control key and shift key, and go AFK.

Will take a good 30+ minutes of real life time for Capital ships (M1, M2, M7) though, so you're probably better off docking at a shipyard and just paying for repairs (EXPENSIVE AS FUCK)

THE BIGGEST MOST IMPORTANT TIP I CAN GIVE FOR FIGHTING.

First, check if you ship has "Fight Command Software Mk1" (or something like that, its been a while). If it doesn't GO FIND AND BUY THAT SHIT ASAP.

Next change auto-aim modes (by pressing "K" I believe) until autoaim shifts from OFF to SEMI to ON. You want ON.

Next go into your keybinds and check what "Boresight Fire" is. I think its CNTRL. Personally I suggest remapping it to something more convenient, I used my mouse's thumb button.

Next, when you're fighting dudes, you'll notice that enemy ships have a lead indicated (shows up in SEMI or ON modes). Maneuver so the nose of your ship/center crosshair is as close to that lead indicator as possible. When that lead indicator starts blinking/flashing BORESIGHT FIRE! Autoaim will automatically aim the gun and will be *MUCH* more accurate than using mouse-cursor fire.

DO NOT FEEL SHAME IN USING THIS. Mouse-cursor fire is for shooting big slow stuff like capital ships or stations. Unless you're using a near-instant hit weapon like those guns the Xenon have, you pretty much need to use auto-aim to hit fighters or get very lucky with mouse-cursor spray-and-pray.


Hope this made sense.

Seriously, where do I even start when playing as a merchant?

>>125162974
>>125161811
>>125162139
>>125161702
>>125161811
>>125160618
wow thanks. The game sounds deep as fuck.

Here, let me ruin your first playthrough:

Some of the best ships and gear are manufactured by the Aldrin race in their home sector, which is initially inaccessible. The Aldrin sector is huge and has few transporters, so many of the factories manufacturing awesome equipment will struggle with supplies and eventually disappear. Since there is no way to rebuild vanished factories, if you don't get a fleet of your own transporters into Aldrin soon enough, some of the best gear in the game will vanish forever.

There is also a mission to reconstruct a massive xenon space station that will have the ability of bridging any 4 sectors together. However that mission requires so many resources, that you would need entire sectors filled to the brim with your own factories, and weeks of real life time to get it done. After it's done, you will end up with sectors of useless factories, a crippled world economy and a hub that's not really useful considering the amount of wealth you already possessed to get it up and running.

Also, no matter what you do, you cannot take over a sector or exterminate a race. The game will keep spawning enemy stations and ships even in a sector you've completely cleared. Enjoy a sandbox world you cannot affect in any noticeable way.

To the bros talking about auto aim, thanks i never knew about full, this should help a lot
Im going to go play some albion prelude, i had to start a new game after my 18 hour (realtime) save because i wanted a cockpit mod, only have a few in this one.
So im gonna save up for a tomahawk factory since its probably the best profit/h fact i know of and its pretty cheap.
One question, do tractor beam facts still despawn after a few hours?
if so who should i become butt buddies with asap to get one?
Having an ore mine in your loop makes things much easier.

>>125163918

It can be. It can be very daunting and intimidating and frustrating.

But stick with it and, if you like it, it can be damn fun.

I'm an intergallactic narcotics boss with several "delicatessens" (Argon moonshine and Space Weed facotires) operating in neutral space just outside most of the major empires. They're bringing in excellent cash while I go off and play around in high powered fighters and warships.

I'm currently saving up to by my first proper capital ship, an M7 Shrike destroyer (pic related, its kinda in the upper-middle).

>>125163915
The vids here: >>125160257

Will take you through the UI, navigation, etc. then explain some basics about trading and take you on to setting up other ships to trade for you eventually.

>>125163915
get Trade Extension system, and the Best Buys and Best Sells locator as soon as you can. It will really help you determine what to buy and sell so much easier.

Beyond that, it's a good idea to start placing Advanced Satellites (or Navigational Relay Satellites, although they aren't as good) in every Sector (except Terran ones, IMO). You can either do this manually as you go through the sectors, or have a ship that can carry M size cargo (anything except an M5, generally) to automatically deploy a satellite network (Explorer Command Software, iirc).

If you are doing automatic satellite network, the fastest way is to use a ship with huge cargo, loads of energy cells & satellites, and a jump drive. Tell it to put the satellites in the centre of the sector, and it will just go through each non-hostile sector and do it automatically. You can even do it on the player ship, but you'd have to re-activate SETA after each jump, which is inconvenient.

morrowind in space

Makes sense, since both games have horrendous AI.

Seriously, the amount of time's i've lost a trader ship or wingman because they've bumped into another ship or station... fucking retards.

At least X3 is a stable game though. I've never had it crash, except 1 time where it crashed on the title screen, but that really doesn't count.

I got the X pack a few months ago on steam.
Never played any X game before.
Anyone have a tutorial i could use? Im really terrible at the beginning. Seems like the ingame "tutorial" is not sufficient for me :/

I really want to try this game but I know that I won't get accustomed to it quickly, should I just wait for X-Rebirth or might that not come out anytime soon even?

When is Rebirth slated to come out anyways? Late 2012?

>>125166129
see>>125160257

I got the X-superbox from steam trades. All I've done so far is copy whatever cdrDave is doing in his walkthrough lol. Right now, I have 6 mil from taxi missions and 2 mercury traders slinging power cells from Power Circle to Herron's Nebula/Three Worlds.

Is there a way to get ships to automatically buy a specified product for the best price in a sector and sell it for the best price in another?

Also, I'm thinking of buying a Solar power plant for my first station. Should I? Or should I just get something cheap.

>>125166425
From what i understand rebirth will be x: 'we want to appeal to a wider audience' edition
do with that information what you will

>>125166070
Same here. I've been running this game maxed for weeks and it hasn't even given me a single cough, error or crash.

NOW THIS IS OPTIMIZING.

What does m/s indicate? Meters or freaking MILES per second?

>>125166938
meters i guess considering ships are measured in km

>>125167039
Still seems like a slow speed to be traveling at in space. 600m/s is considered very fast?

SPACE IS REALLY FUCKING BIG.

>>125166614
>Is there a way to get ships to automatically buy a specified product for the best price in a sector and sell it for the best price in another?

basically, no. Buy and sell for best price is for use with the player's homebase. Buy for best price will buy a product that the station requires, and sell product will sell products from the homebase to the best place in a specified sector.

If you want autonomous traders, use Sector/Universe trader with Trade Software MK3. You want to get about 10 of them, and you'll start making 1-10mil an hour.

As for solar power plant station, it's pretty expensive, and the traffic through most sectors will provide it with enough energy cells without a power plant there. It's very hard to make money on a ware that has an average price of 15 credits.

If your trade rank is high enough, It's worth doing the Boron Hub plot for your first station, as it teaches you all the basics you need to know.

http://www.x3wiki.com/index.php/Hub_plot

Play in windowed mode. Cascade all windows so it gets moved into the corner and watch a stream or browse internet while you are traveling.

>>125166938
The Commonwealth are Metric master race.

>>125167107
You know you can press J to activate SETA right?

Also, don't forget to go into gameplay options and turn SETA from 6x to 10x. It makes a big difference.

>>125167107
Considering 600m/s is 0.6 Km/s, yeah.. that's pretty fast.
In miles/s that's 0.37 ish

You know what would be even more badass?

If it had voice commands like the Star Trek Bridge Commander voice commands.

Set course, [location]
Go to warp
Hail
Red Alert
Engage to destroy
Target Shield Generator
Fire torpedoes
Aft Attack

>>125167519
Dont we have shit TODAY that goes something like 2 miles per second?

>>125167519
356400km is the shortest distance between Earth and the moon.

If you're going at 0.6km/s, it's still going to take 3564 MINUTES.

>>125167766
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fastest_man-made_object

Is trading mandatory in this game? I just want to play a pirate and steal everything.

Where do you guys set up your first sector traders and with what ship?

>>125167766
60 hours sounds pretty reasonable.. and those engines aren't exactly made for long distance.

>>125167766
that's what Trans-Orbital Accelerators are for.

Remember, these ships are running without any kind of combustable fuel system, so they are bound to not be ultra fast. (I assume they use energy cells for the fuel, but they just aren't consumed to make it easier for the player)

When the fuck is XTC 2.0 coming out. I thought it would beat DNF and KS, but I was clearly wrong there.

>>125168185
IF they have faster shit why isnt it used in combat?

>>125167944
sure, you can do that.

Just attack a ship, and when the police come, just open up the comms with them and apologise, and they'll leave you alone.

Enjoy your 100 hours (of real life time) to train marines to board capital ships though.

I've had my marines in training for about 15 hours of gameplay now, and they're only 2 stars overall.

I've been looking up X3 recently, and there seem to be 3 games and I can't tell which if any are expansions. Whats the deal here?

>>125168435
Reunion is the original X3. Terran Conflict is a standalone expansion for Reunion. Albion Prelude is an expansion for TC (which you need to own TC for if you want to play AP)

>>125168198
what?

Terran Conflict is on version 3.0

It added steam achievements and the new Balance of Power plot missions.

>>125168435
X3: Reunion is the first
X3: Terran Conflict is the standalone expansion
X3: Albion Prelude is the expansion to TC and TC is required

Are shields really that necessary?

It's like 500k more credits for some shields.

>>125168435
They are all almost the same game anyway.

I don't recommend playing Reunion unless you want to play it for the plot. Just skip straight to X3TC because IT HAS ACHIVEMENTSSSSSS.

Albion Prelude is almost the same as X3TC, but with only one campaign instead of 9, and a couple of graphical updates and stock market graphs.

>>125167548
I remember seeing a video of someone using an external program to use voice commands in X3:TC. Unfortunately I can't find it.

>>125168685
>>125168722
So, if I have all three - do they share content or are Reunion and TC separate games?

>>125159149
2 X threads in the same day? Hell must have froze over.

Well, theres alot of possible tips so lets try and narrow it down - What start did you choose?

>>125168834
If you don't want to die, yes.

If you take hull damage, it will start to destroy your installed components/cargo, and make your ship slower.

It's also a pain in the ass to repair on larger ships. 20k credits for like 1% hull, or 30 minutes with the astronaut laser.

>>125168704
No you moron, the Xtended: Terran Conflict mod.

too bad it has no management like AoE

>>125169003
TC is Reunion with more stuff to do.

tl;dr play TC

>>125169003
They are almost the same apart from some minor additions and graphical differences, and completely different plot campaigns.

Terran Conflict is probably the best game to start, IMO, although I haven't personally had chance to play Albion Prelude much yet.

>>125169148
K.

Time to fire up those torrents.

>>125166652
Personally I'm looking forward to Rebirth because they claim to be improving the AI. I hope it's true.

Plus from what I understand they're making station complexes less retarded, so you won't have FPS killing TUUUUUUUUUUUUUBES everywhere.

>>125169415
I hope you can change crew members
because having a bitch for a co-pilot is a total 'MERSHUN killer

>>125168834
if you will be flying only in core sectors, not really.

but if you cross in zones with border security (i.e. most zones) you will be easily wiped out by pirates.

also, if you're talking about a combat ship then shields are a must for any combat.

Can you free-look inside the cockpit, like in a flight sim? Thats a crucial IMMURSHUN feature for me.

>>125167224
Fuck. So annoying pressing c145. Welp, time to buy a shitload of Split Caimans I guess.

>>125169910
no. wait for X4

where can you sell fighter drones/mk 2s?
There is a fact selling them for 5k below average

>>125169019
>riding in my split mammoth
>alt tab for a minute while it moves through a sector.
>tab back in UNDER ATTACK
>OHFUCKOHFUCKOHFUCKOHFUCK
>jump out just as they start hitting my hull
>Nothing damaged EXCEPT for the SETA drive.

mother. fuckers.

>>125169910
only with mods.

or get X2.

>>125170288
Hello friend of taladi!
Would you like to buy this SETA drive? Only 750k credits!

>>125170132
Aterus Headquarters is the only place I saw them traded (both sold and bought so prices always jump around)

>>125170481

fucking space jews...

>>125169019
>If you take hull damage, it will start to destroy your installed components/cargo

Man I hate that. Nothing running from a losing fight and hearing.

>Jumping in 10...9...8...*BANG* Singularity Time accelerator destroyer...4... 3... 2... *BANG* Jump drive destroyed... 1... "FUUUUUUUUUU-"


Anyone else love grabbing a TM early on? Its like a little mini-carrier/base. Stores extra missiles, jump fuel, other goods and can haul around captured fighters without needing to give them jump drives.

I like to play as a pirate who steals most of what he uses, so its invaluable.

>>125169415
You can get a script that makes complexes tube-less.

It counts as cosmetic, so it doesn't tag your game as modified, which means you can still get those glorious achievements.

lolwuts going on here

>>125170522
never heard of that company, whereabouts is it located?

>>125169910
There's an official bonus content mod that adds in-game cockpits, iirc.

WHATS TTHE BEST SHIP FOR A SECTOR TRADER?

>>125170893

For some reason I'm not a fan of the idea of cockpits (which is weird cause I LOVE them in flight sims and other games, like TIE Fighter). Maybe because most of them cover up way too much of the screen.

Except maybe for transports and capital ships, that could be cool. But I figure fighter pilots have a helmet display that shows an unobstructed feed.

>>125170132
as a general rule, if you want to find where to buy/sell stuff, use the encyclopedia.

Personal > Advanced > Encyclopedia

I find it's very useful to find what sectors buy certain products. Also helps me remember where to find Trade Software MK3.

Are there any recommended mods?

>>125170893
ITS PIKACHU!

How is, what is the new one?

Dat Griffon you get at the end of the Final Fury plotline...

4GJ shield
9 Hangar space
2,200MW laser recharge
4,800 XL Cargo
Thunderbolt Missile capability

HNNNNGGGGGGGGGGGGGG

I just bought a Springblossom though, and kitted it out with 5m worth of weapons. Feelsbadman.

>>125171777

>>125171233
i already mentioned this in >>125161811

>(OTAS Mistral, Argon Mercury, Boron Dolphin, are the best ships, in that order

>>125170893
in TC, its somewhere in the Boron districting way in the southwestern corner of the universe map.

in AP they moved it to Aterus's cloud for some reason.

>>125171233

I'd say the fastest TS you can get your hands on. Don't bother with the huge super freighter versions, the AI will pretty much never use all that cargo space (unless you've got them dealing in raw ore or something, but there are more lucrative goods out there).

Be sure to give them engine tuning. You want the fastest cargo haulers you can get. The faster they go, the sooner they make money and move onto the next trade. Also better odds of beating that other guy to the deal. Nothing sucks more than seeing a station full of low priced goods, docking to it and suddenly its all gone, and at the same time noticing some other freighter undocking.... fucker.


One thing I never understood about the Teladi, their ships are SO FUCKING SLOW. Don't they know time is money and money is profittssssssss.

I'm a the third mission as a soldier.
I must approach a great ship, and scan it.
But there's some combat ship around it, they come in my direction, 4-shot me, even at full speed I can't get past them, and I can't fight them either.

What do ?

>>125171233
Mistral.

the large version for small sectors, the regular for large sectors.

Got 50% off X3 Gold btw

If anyone is interested, I'm open to offers

http://steamcommunity.com/profiles/76561198002189804/home

>>125170893
Atreus Headquarters is the Boron corporation.

I believe it is in Queen's Harbour.

It is one of the Corporations that you can do a mission plotline for, and build up reputation.

list of available plot missions:

http://www.egosoft.com/support/faq/faq_answer_en.php?answer=1019&version=9&sid=50886f37868b5
8d4eb77afa50e71f4d3

>>125172258

Ah, that version.

The briefing is EXCEPTIONALLY poorly worded. You do NOT want to scan the ship. You want to follow it to its destination (a station) and scan the STATION.

Then run like hell cause you will attract company.

>>125170670
Could be worse

>>125172521
Thanks, I'll try then

>>125172258
>>125172521

I think he is referring to the pirate ships that come after you get close to the pirate station (and it becomes hostile).

There are many factors that will affect this

>the ship you are using
>your combat rank (spawns harder enemies)
>what weapons you have

If at first you don't succeed, get more shields and lasers.

If you still don't succeed, spam it with missiles.

>>125172623
at least it isnt an argon

>>125172623
The Posioned Paranid start is fucking amazing, because you get THE BEST SHIP IN THE GAME HANDS DOWN.

Dat fucking Hyperion Vanguard. There is no better combat ship in the entire game.

And you can cheese it to make it OP as well: http://forum.egosoft.com/viewtopic.php?t=289489

That feel when you always name your first TS in every new game "Loli Hauling Machine"

I have a problem with the Goner plot.

So, the description said I need to board the Lightbring (or whatever its called), I started fighting it, dropped its shields and sent in the marines. the boarding failed. I tried it over and over and it keeps failing.

Already lost 12 good marines to that stupid ship. 12 marines which cost me alot of money.

Whats wrong? why wont the boarding work?

>>125173193
Get better marines? I've never really bothered with the Goner plot.

>>125173148

Hey, the Hyperion Vanguard and the Springblossom and that one M3 are all so overpowered they become "I win" buttons that kill almost all challenge.

I just don't enjoy them, I'm sure others do, but I much prefer trying to use a normal, crappy ship and survive.

I do rather like the Overtuned Tedladi M3+ Enhanced Kea though. That thing is like my personal Millenium Falcon. Makes me wish smuggling Argon "Space Fuel" Moonshine/Whiskey and Space Weed was A) actually dangerous B) actually lucrative.

>>125164480
What's that ridiculously huge ship at the bottom? It's got no name plate.

I hope x: rebirth is basically stalker in spess

>>125173659

I assume you don't mean the Super Star Destroyer or Babylon 5?

>>125173454
What I must have spend 3 million on buying and training the marines I already sent in!

Also, I'd love to skip the Goner plots but its needed to start A New Home and Aldrin Expansion plots.

...What is this game? The screens look interesting.

>>125173822
where is Elysium of Light? I have explored most sectors in the game and I haven't found it yet.

Is it on the other end of a xenon sector?

>>125174243
X3 Terran Conflict.

>>125174243

>>125174243
it's "Freelancer of Steroids"

Not for casuals; most denizens of /v/ need not apply.

>>125174243
laswkfbhkjgbhlbjngklrjsdbnglipoeurhneailporuhnRPItgujhE8FGUIHPIBHRJHMNTGASRGHAJHERATHAERTer

>>125174331
Its northwest of Omycron Lyrae.

first go west of Omycron then head north.

>>125174331
North of Treasure Chest

>>125174243

X3 : Terran Conflict.

Warning, its not an easy game to get into.

>>125174582
It's like the Dwarf Fortress of space sims.

>>125164986
>>125164986
>>125164986
Is this accurate? If so I'm buying it

>>125174770
no not really. it's just a space sandbox

>>125174770

YES in the sense that is a huge sandbox to play around in
NO in the sense that it has a really crappy story (though the universe background fluff is decently well developed).
YES in that it can be somewhat intimidating to get into (moreso X3:TC IMO)

>>125175097
well that sounds ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ

SpaceBros, is there a good cockpit mod for TC out there?

I've tried to get into the X series over the years, and it just didn't push my spaceboner like the I-War series did at the time.

This thread is getting some blood moving, might have to give it a burl.

>>125176033
>Playing open ended games for the plot
Doing it wrong son.

>>125176161
google.com

>>125176033

Its a lot better than EVE in my opinion (if thats what you're implying).

However, if you ONLY play games for the story, than yeah, this one will leave you very wanting. It is great if you like sandboxes like dwarf fortress.

In this game you can fly anything from fighters to capital ships to freighters, and eventually own an entire corporation worth of space stations, trade ships and combat vessels.

Last thread someone mentioned starshatter the shadow something something.

Is that game any good? Where can I get it best in order to try it out?
Also: I am not a huge RTS or 4X player (i love the space setting but I just suck at strategy games), is Sword of the Stars good (the old one, I mean)... and last but not least: Sins of a Solar Empire, yay or nay?

>>125159149
Hey /v/ - I'm looking for a planet/evolution simulator like Spore , just not as disappointingly shitty and something a decade newer than SimEarth - what's out there?

>>125176340
>Implying I wasn't asking for a recommendation.

>>125176462
Theres more than one?

got the superbox, all the games in this series during Xmas, and I'm not going to play it. First person to add me on Steam can have it ;P
steamcommunity.com/id/jevity

>>125177770
Do want.
Already got most of them already though.
Oh well.

>>125174331
It's northeast of Omicron Lyrae

Every X3TC thread should really include 2 links in the OP. Dave's tutorial videos and http://eng.x3tc.ru/

Also Boreas all day erryday. 32 PPC and 8 IBL/FAA.

guys guys guys, I just bought 3 mistrals. Should I put them all in the same sector while trading or all in different ones?

>>125179036
3 different ones.

>>125179128
thanks. first i gotta jumpdrive and freight exchange trade command mk 3 on all of them jesus christ

>>125173193
still need help with this.

I recently restarted X3TC since I got it off Steam and wanted the achievements. And fuck me I should have kept a save. The start is just so painful if you have to do your own trading even if you get the extra cash from Humble Trader start, Ended up grabbing 2 abandoned ships in Yaki space and selling those to outfit 2 Mercuries into mk3 traders to get a steady cash flow with minimal input. Then grabbed the abandoned TP in Boron space to do taxi missions. Two days later and I now have 20 Mistral SFs and most importantly I'm sill friendly with the Yaki. Fuck yes, some people are going to get shit on once I get the rep and money for a Boreas.

Does the stock market in AP remove the need for trading whatsoever? Cause sometimes I just want to pewpew but you can't afford shit just doing combat missions.

>>125179509
>Does the stock market in AP remove the need for trading whatsoever?

Depends, if you had fun trading no.

if you did trading just for money the yes. you can make turn several thousands into millions within a few hours by playing the stockmarket. all while doing combat missions for extra money.

>>125179036
Hands down the best sector to train traders in is Empire's Edge in Paranid space. Once they hit level 6 let them jump once and immediately turn them into UTs when they hit level 8. The only time you want them to remain STs is if you want to jump start a sector's economy.

I got a 50% off coupon from the Steam Holiday event for this... I am sooooo tempted to grab it now.
Loved Freelancer, hoping that this can fill the gap that left.

>>125176161

I've been using this one for a while and so far I think it looks pretty decent.

http://forum.egosoft.com/viewtopic.php?t=262446

>>125179811

Ore belt or whatever it is in the southern Core Argon regions isn't too bad either.

Basically you want a place with lots of raw commodities and the facilities that use them, be it ore, energy cells, food products, whatever.

I've never played an X game before. could somebody give me a rundown? I want to work out if it's worth trying.

>>125179915

I don't like that, it looks nothing like the Discoverer's cockpit windows.

yes, I am unfortunately that nitpicky, feels bad man.

>>125179811
What do you mean by jump once?

>listen to ship description
>argon frighter
>voice says it's exceptionally well defended thanks to it's turret
>one turret that can take one gun

I really wish this game had some sort of smarter turret system.
Something along the lines of different sized turrets.
So basically there would be ships with a lot of small turrets (against fighters) and bigger ships (like corvettes) would also be able to mount anti-ship weapons in medium turrets (or a bunch of small weapons) ...
It'd turn out somewhat liek this:
>Fighters can load small weapons (anti fighter) in spinal mounts
>heavy fighters also have one small turret
>bombers have two or 3 small turrets (and can load better missiles)
>Freighters have a few small turrets which actually protects them from groups of fighters
>Corvettes mount a few small turrets, and can load medium weapons (ant-destroyer weapons) in their spinal mounts
>Destroyers can load a bunch of small turrets, have one or two medium turrets and can load heavy weapons (anti-cap-ship weapons) in their spinal mount
>Cap-Ships have a load of small and medium turrets but also one or two heavy turrets that can load anit-cap-ship weapons.

it would be something like this:
Small weapons take one slot, Medium take 3 and Heavy weapons take 6, so you could load 6 small weapons into the space one heavy weapon would normally consume.

how open is this game?
do I need to be a strategic captain of a whole fleet or can I survive as a lone wolf pirate?

i have bought x2 quite a while ago, never touched it (don't ask). what can i expect, when i put it in now?

>>125180485
depends on how far you want to go. if you want to go all out war then you will need multiple ships. if you're just talking about simple piracy, lone wolf works fine.

>>125180112

Open ended sandbox space sim. Somwhat similar to Freelancer.

You can do pretty much whatever you want (assuming you've got the knowledge and money).

You can be a trader, run a corporation worth of automated traders and space factories, be a pirate, do faction quests (kinda mediocre), explore, etc etc.

Its a bit hard to get into, and not for everyone, definitely, but those that like it generally get a lot of milage out of it.

>>125179875
Loving Freelancer doesn't mean you'll like X. Freelancer is so casual-friendly it may as well remove the entirety of trading if you compared it to this game. That's not a bash on Freelancer, it's just that X has such a horrible UI and slow start that most people will give up on it fast. Take me, I tried getting into the series with X2, X3R and X3TC when it was released. It only clicked after I watched CdrDave's youtube tutorials. You don't even need to watch the entire playlist, just get up to the 5th video so you get the basics.

Once you get into it though, this game is amazing. I haven't touched anything else for a while now.

>>125180641
let me rephrase that to: compared to what's being said about x3 here

>>125180641
worse graphics.

cockpit view

better ship design (in my opinion)

bizzare model for Saya Kho.

and a great game.

>>125180936
screenshot that depicts that games ship design?

>>125181272
dont have any, try google.

>>125180381
Once you hit level 6 you can restart a sector trader to allow it to jump to adjacent sectors. The number of jumps can be increased by 1 every two levels to a maximum of 10. So at level 6 a ST can jump to an adjacent sector and 2 sectors at level 8. But in my case I turn them immediately into universe traders at 8. Normally you limit the jumps if you don't want them to venture into hostile space.

>>125180485

As an example of how varied thing scan be, while most go off and play hero or build massive trade empires, *My* favorite way to play uses the following rules:

DEAD IS DEAD/IRONMAN - no reloading if I fuck something up. If I die, thats it, delete the save and start over.
YOU ARE A PIRATE - No buying anything (except from pirate bases, but they have a shit selection), you must steal everything, ships, ship parts, ammo, etc. Keep only the pirates friendly, except before I installed a pirate guildmod, then I'd keep the Teladi friendly so I had someone to sell captured ships to (but that was my only business interaction with them).
NO REPAIR LASER ABUSE - Only allowed to repair my person ship using my space suit's repair laser. Everything else has to be taken to a dock for repairs.

This is honestly a slow, kinda masochistic way to play, and I doubt too many would find it "fun", but I love the challenge of trying to survive and improve myself as long as I can.

>>125180789
I know; Freelancer was pretty casual-friendly, though that was one of the things I didn't really like about it. Though if you say that its amazing, I guess I'll have to pick it up... I'll watch those videos though.

>>125180407
There are smarter turret mods.

The current game has limited options for turret slots. Generally you want to equip the biggest guns that the ship can use. Otherwise you're wasting your ship's potential.

>>125179713
>you can make turn several thousands into millions within a few hours by playing the stockmarket. all while doing combat missions for extra money.

I'm thinking I just want enough to get an M6. An M2 or M7 is probably too much to hope for considering I have to outfit it with guns too. I imagine an OTAS M3 will also be pretty decent since I heard you can buy them now in AP. Mostly I want to participate in the supposed war system then introduced in AP. Cause you know, fuck Terrans.

So I haven't played any X games yet, which one should i get first?
They seem pretty cool.

>>125179036
Shove them all in Empire's Edge.

It is BY FAR the best sector for trading. They will level up super fast. Once they hit lvl 12, Start Universe Trader.

I hope in X4 or whatever the next game is its mostly the same with 3 changes.

1. You can actually conquer sectors.
2. The Autopilot AI is vastly improved. Its bullshit that I can't have any large ship do anything because it crashes into a dozen ships per sector and when I tell it to dock it runs into the fucking space station.
3. Along with changes to the former, I hope they make the proper adjustments so capital ships are actually worth using as your ship. There is just no point in X3.

>>125182255
you can, it will just take another hour or two

The Stockmarket is an infinite well of money which just increases profitability the more you invest - assuming you invest right.

>>125182255
Guns are cheap compared to ship hulls, but HARD to find. It's very important to get a healthy economy going, so that gun production keeps going strong.

Take up every single "build weapon factory" mission you can get. You get a 100% refund they're the most expensive factories in the game, extra cash for your trouble, and they'll get weapon production going.

Piracy is also very effective. Stealing capital ships is one of the quickest ways to get large numbers of capital grade guns.

If you want to break the game: get an M7 and a .5bil complex to build M7 missiles.

>>125180407
The game calls the Boreas a 'light destroyer'

>best ship in the game that can obliterate ANYTHING within seconds
>light destroyer

sure.

I got X3:Tc and AP in the steam sale when they were a steal. Played them a bit but they didn't seem to plug the gaps that X3 Reunion had (which I bought on release) to my satisfaction. Then I read about the new mod for TC from the Xtended team. It should be coming out very soon, within the next couple of months at least. The feature list sounds awesome, so I shelved the games until it comes out. I'm really looking forward to its release.

>>125180485
>captain of a whole fleet

you'd last about 10 seconds before all your ships bumped into each other and killed themselves.

>>125182077
>Generally you want to equip the biggest guns that the ship can use. Otherwise you're wasting your ship's potential.

Mostly for OOS combat. For in sector AI controlled ships you want the big guns up front since the AI doesn't understand the concept of broadsides that well. And throw in some flak to get rid of fighters.

My usual fleet are just Boreas with 32 PPC and 8 FAA. Sometimes I bring in Aquilos for artillery but I hate playing the logistics game, those missiles are a pain to resupply.

For a player ship Hyperion Vanguard all the way.

>>125182710
>autopilot
pic related
Left is what it does, right is what it ought to do
>>125183379
Lore for the ships is kinda funny from time to time.
>mfw I name my capital ships after japanese WW2 ships matching details from the lore to history
My Split Panther is the 'Akagi', the Otas Sciron is called Shikinami, the Argon Cerberus is called 'Tone' and Boreas is called 'Yamato'.

>>125183379
The Boreas is pretty small. It just happens to have shielding better than almost anything (only 2 ships are better?) and can load the best capital killing loadout in the game while being decently fast for it's class.

The only real downside is if you leave them out of sector Qs might get lucky and kill them. That and IBLs can be a pain to get unless you get lucky and manage to jack a TL carrying a factory.

Is combat in this game actually fun?

>>125184884
Solo? Pretty much like any space combat game. Commanding a fleet? Well it comes with all the logistics nightmare that actually ordering a fleet comes with compounded by the fuck stupid ai that will crash your ships into oblivion. If you want to command fleets do it out of sector since collisions don't happen unless you're actually there to see it.

>>125185684
so... you shouldn't control ship while being next to them? i want to see them fight

>>125184862
OOS combat was drastically changed, at least with Albion Prelude. Ships don't 1-shot each other like that, anymore.

>>125182077
>Generally you want to equip the biggest guns that the ship can use. Otherwise you're wasting your ship's potential.

Not nessecarily. If you equip too many big guns, your ship will run out of energy too fast. For example, in the Springblossom and Vidar, it's better to gear the front slots out in full EMPC, opposed to Starburst Shockwave Cannons, because if you use SSC you will run out of energy almost instantly.

You should put SSC on the side turrets though, because the 2k m/s is really good for killing fast scouts and interceptors.