f13.net

Did you like privateer? Did you like freelancer? Want freelancer on steroids?

* Have a dream about starting with a barely functional space rowboat and working your way up to a fleet of capital ships, borne upwards on the bodies of your foes?
* Want create a financial empire from trade but not have to do the boring flying yourself because that shit is boring?
* Want to build and own stations and entire station complexes for profit or to outfit your growing ship army?
* Want a large, dynamic universe of the sandbox variety?

This is the game for you. Oh also, it's pretty. Here's me flying around a space station when I was testing fraps
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-OxHcwUfuzw


Don't buy the gold pack, don't buy X3: Reuinion, Don't buy X2. X3: Terran Conflict is all inclusive as far as the world goes and the UI revamp makes all the other ones obsolete.

http://store.steampowered.com/app/2820/


Just buy X3: Terran Conflict. It's stable now since they've been patching for 2 years.

Then, install a bunch of mods that make the game more fun (seriously, mods are pretty much requisite). I've played this fucking game for like 30 hours and I feel like I'm just getting started. Make a thread about it and I'll throw you in the right direction since the start of the game is kind of slow and confusing. It's not eve levels of confusing, but it's still "Hi, welcome to the game here's your space ship good luck!" confusing.


Seriously, it's $10. If you even think you might like a space ship combat game with a lot of depth, do it. Dooooo Itttttttt.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p_vS_kDOGRs

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z_nYTOI658E <-- better vid

(skip to 50 seconds in on the second video for in-game footage)

Buy this game so I have someone to talk about it with.

Do they have a mod to ramp down the ship sizes yet?  I like staying in the small fighters and I was having to fight capital ships within a few hours, which went very poorly for me.  It killed what was an otherwise all-around improvement from other X games, which I loved.

I've got X3: Reunion. What's X3: terran Conflict and how is it different?

(and does it have Starforce?)

There is no mod to ramp down ship sizes but I think you're talking about your combat rank - you download Mycow's cheat script which combat rank editor and more. It's a great script and super easy to use.

Some people complain but I never had that issue; if you follow the terran storyline and get a few free ships out of it, at least the scimitar, you're well equipped to handle all the ships that come at you for a good while. I tooled around in the scimitar for a long time then went back and got the vidar after. If you run into random capital ships, well, that's because you're in crazy sectors that you shouldn't have gone into. Also, you can generally avoid them, just keep your distance and they generally ignore you, too.


X3: TC has a bigger universe than reunion (adds the terran sectors and a few others), a completely revamped UI, and additional ships / ship classes and weapons. It also has about a dozen storyline missions spread throughout the universe, one for each race, one for each corp, which give you various free ships and goodies (like a home base, or a sector that you can take over and own with configurable jumpgates).  It's overall a more polished and better game, plus all mods and scripts have moved to X3: TC exclusively. Reunion is no longer "supported" by the community as it has been surpassed by TC in every conceivable way. At it's core, it's got similar gameplay.

There is *NO* copy protection at all. It was removed in the 2.5 patch, as promised, a year after the game went on sale. That's a good thing, since it used TARGES previously. If you buy through steam, targes is not installed and then removed or anything dumb like that - your initial download includes the 2.5 patch sans copy protection.

Have any of you guys also played one or more games of the "Evochron" franchise?

http://starwraith3dgames.home.att.net/go.htm

How does steam handle mod downloads/installs ? Much like the HL2 mods ? Or would I have to install them manually ?

Manual install. Extract files into the install directory. If they are mods and not scripts, you also have to rename two files. It's a bit of an annoyance, but you only have to do it once.

Multi player, persistent server?

No. Single player only. Next game will be that.

Ah I see. Well, multi player and persistent server (player hosted) is what made freelancer awesome to boot back up. I have heard good things about this game though, and it sure is perdy.

I have purchased this yesterday night, and about 12 hours later I'm basically still reading documentation and stuff  :why_so_serious:.

For now, I just started to familiarize with the interface (especially the various menus of the sidebar, of course).

- For a game like this, manual is obviously lacking, but read it just to get a hang of the general feeling: maybe play a couple of sessions in windowed mode so at the same time you can  follow what the manual is saying regarding a specific section of the interface;

- Egosoft (the developer) published a nice FAQ for the absolute beginners, with straightforward info about the most common topics (types of missions, abbreviations,  how to repair ships, station building and many more) :

http://www.egosoft.com/support/faq/index_en.php (http://www.egosoft.com/support/faq/index_en.php)

There is an homongous, gigantic, 393 pages long Community Handbook, located here:

http://apricotmappingservice.com/X3TCdownloads/ (http://apricotmappingservice.com/X3TCdownloads/) (File called " X3-Handbook-v4.zip " ; already downloaded, safe file)

It's a collection of guides for both X3:Reunion and X3: TC, but everything is colour coded in order to distinguish them. Someday, sooner or later, I'll find the courage to read it.

But yes, due to the sheer size of it, it's one of those games where you learn something new everytime you play, even months later, I guess.

hm.. I might have to give this a miss, given all of the required docs. I don't really have the time these days for all of that.

Yeah, well, to me it seems one of those games where it takes really a LOT of time to "take off", so to say, but once you grasp the basic mechanics (in this case, trading of goods, fight, and eventually building of your own factories) you basically go on "autopilot" (no pun intended :P) because they are processes you repeat a lot of times. Then of course you discover new features and strategies along the way.

At the beginning of the game, there are a few "story modes" profiles: you can start, for example, as a military, merchant or assassin; there are more profiles that are unlocked and playable once you reach some goals with the other profiles.

You are given different kinds of quests (plot related and side quests of various nature), but unless the mission requires a certain timing, the plot will wait for you while you build your fortune and do your own thing.

Then, there is the so called "Custom Game". From what I understand, there is NO plot, NO missions, nothing. It's basically a Huge sandbox universe where you can do whatever you want. But I'll let others who played more than me chime in, maybe it's better :P

Fucker.  Bought.

You can turn most of the games into a sandbox.  I did that with the Assassin.  (Do not play her until you have some experience under your belt.  It is a tough start even for veterans.)

Got the game, but I'm having a bit of problem with the voices (keep cutting out).  Forums indicate it may be a codec problem, but I have no idea how to disable the problem codec(s).  Failing that, is there some way of turning on subtitles that I didn't see?

Subtitles: once you are in-game, Shift-O or ESC to access the Options Menu ---> Audio ---> Show Subtitles

gah, you guys have to stop posting these deals! Another 10 bucks thrown into the 'if I'm ever hard up for a game' cache :P

Yeah. I think we have a few people who have done a lot of everything in this game. If you have questions, make a thread and we can answer. If something seems stupid, there is probably a mod that makes it better or a way to play the game to avoid the issues.

I HIGHLY recommend doing the Terran campaign, it's straightforward. When you get wingman, if their ships are worse than yours, strip the guns off and then sell the ships. You'll eventually get a scimitar (M3). Once you get that, I'd put the missions on hold (there is no time limit) and start exploring the galaxy. Put the stripped guns off your other ships onto it. Go for a sector with a jump drive, that makes things a billion times easier.

Get out of terran space, it kind of sucks. I can do detailed guides or suggestions of what you should look into doing if people like. I almost did a radicalthon on this game, as sort of a walk through, and I am still thinking of doing it, to be honest.

Seems like I'm going to want to either rig up the old Sidewinder (MIDI) or find a new stick.  Pretty sure I just tossed out a SBLive last week, not that I'd want that in my PC really, so maybe one of those MIDI-to-USB dongles will work.

I use KB+Mouse. Sort of like that underrated game tachyon: the fringe, the mouse is perfectly serviceable.

It is serviceable, sure, if a little :uhrr: right now... but I'm sensing a stick would be better.  Also, I'm just kinda sad that the last time I used the Sidewinder was with Mechwarrior 2 or something.

Nice default keyboard layout in Excel format:

http://apricotmappingservice.com/X3TCdownloads/ (http://apricotmappingservice.com/X3TCdownloads/)

Scroll down to about the middle of the list, and look for the "X3TC-Bugmeister-Keyboard-Layout.xls" file.


Here is a little cosmetic mod so you can change the colour of the interface (ice blue, amber and green):

http://forum.egosoft.com/viewtopic.php?t=228851 (http://forum.egosoft.com/viewtopic.php?t=228851) (Don't mind the general description, the author dropped the idea of changing the HUD size/layout, now it's just the colours)


Also, there is a nice WIP that will change the sector illumination/background/nebulas. A beta version should be available soon:

http://forum.egosoft.com/viewtopic.php?t=267427

Awesome, great lead-in to my next question: what mods?

I'd probably want to play with my 360 controller. I remember trying to get X2 working with my logitech wireless rumblepad, it was  :uhrr:

I'd love to dig into this game, but just don't have the time to invest, I think.  :sad_panda:

You should do this. Before Jan 3.

Hop to it!



/nod.

Another "utility" mod:

Savegame Manager - http://forum.egosoft.com/viewtopic.php?t=249129 (be sure to download the one for X3:TC)

There was something similar for Oblivion (and maybe for Fallout 3, haven't checked in a while). Useful if you are playing two or more different careers and want to have separated, different sets of savegames when you load up the game.

Regarding gameplay mods, I'm still avoiding them 'cause first I want to actually understand what is going on my screen with the vanilla version  :ye_gods:

First, the giant listing of mods/scripts: http://forum.egosoft.com/viewtopic.php?t=216690&sid=a23f66cf55389e7ec560202d4c1a2e90

100% (IMO) necessary mods:
MARS (makes turrets useful/intelligent, i wouldn't play a ship with turrets without it)
CC Cleaner (for when you build factory complexes, it makes it easy)

100% necessary scripts:
Teladi Information Service (or best buys locator) - this will hunt for any item in all the sectors you know about (or have satellites in for best buys locator). This is needed for equipping ships so you don't have to fly all over the galaxy or hunt for that shield you need. It'll tell you where one is for sale.
EST / CAG / CLS: autonomous traders for general trading, ware delivery, and for your stations
X3TC Cheat Package: What it says. Can do just about anything. It's very useful if you for example shoot a station by accident and want to turn it friendly, or to get past buggy/frustrating missions, stuff like that.
Automated Satellite Network:  Basically, it's EST for explorers. It's not quite as robust, but if you're looking for something in between manually dropping sats in systems one by one either manually or cheating (drop sats in every sector instantly), this script is for you.

The difference between mods and scripts are that scripts you can just unzip into the install directory; mods you have to take the files and rename them into 01.cat/dat or whatever the last number is. It's called installing it as a "fake patch". This is due to software limitations and is a way to get around the "only one mod at a time running" thing.

Oh... genius.  Assuming it works. :oh_i_see:  Hats off, and a why-didn't-I-think-of-that, sir.

EDIT: It is probable that X3 doesn't have force-feedback and so my pre-lawsuit stick is somewhat useless.  An elegant controller from a more civilized age, it is.

Let me know how that works out, like I said, I had a heck of a time with the logitech rumblepad 2, which was pretty widely supported before the 360 controller took over. The game could also use a tutorial (or a better one, I forget), I never was really able to do anything right off the bat. I like depth, but buy me dinner first, baby.

If you can get the 360 pad working, it might be worth it just for that time I need a scifi fix (like reading Hamilton and right now a Modesitt scifi standalone).

The wireless 360 pad works, but not entirely.  The right stick doesn't register.  I mapped LB to Strafe Left (maybe I did not save the config) but LT is what does the strafe for some reason.  The pointing of the ship using left stick works as I had hoped but the general lack of buttons on the 360 pad is kinda stinky.

A = J1
B = J2
X = J3
Y = J4
LB = J5
RB = J6

Also when you run out of battery, the game forgets all about the pad.

EDIT: The USB dongle had died but smearing some solder over the F1 fuse took care of that. :oh_i_see:

My cat, in a fit of cat mania, has pulled my wireless dock for my keyb/m out of my front USB ports. Twice. Smashed the shit out of them, the little fucker. Now I've got this frankenstein arrangement with two extension cables from a rear port with a clamp halfway along.

Anyway. I'll have to think about this one on Jan. 3rd. That's going to be an interesting day, I've got another couple of titles I'm holding out through the dailies for (HoMaM V expansions and ChampO, and I saw Stormwaltz bought Vanguard...for $5, I might even check that one out for the free month).

Ok, this game is frustrating.

The starter mission for Terrans is ridiculous. Jump here, jump there, fine, boring, but doable.

After about an hour of just hopping about and shooting the random enemy, you're asked to follow a pirate to his base and scan 'it' when it has reached its destination. First of all, the writers forgot to mention you're meant to scan -the pirate base-, not the pirate ship you're meant to follow. Oops. If you get too close to the pirate, a non-descript 'anxiety meter' shows up on your bottom left of your fabulously moronic gui and the pirate jumps away. So that took me a bit to figure out that the 'it' in the dialogue did not refer to the pirate ship, but to his base.

Now, after following the pirate at his snail pace (takes about 25 minutes, even with the time acceleration), we get to his pirate base sector. I follow him to his base, without triggering his anxiety respons (about 2.2 km). Then suddenly, a host of pirates launch from the base, and in my attempt to scan the base, blow me to smithereens.

Remember, you can only save  the game when docked, so essentially, that's 30-40 minutes of game play I will have to do over. I have done it twice, with the same result of just being shot out of the sky before I get close enough to scan the pirate base.

Are space sim developers the 'special' crowd of gaming coders? Sorta like obscure unix coders that can't hold a coversation among fellow human long enough before going on a rant about raiserfs partitions?

Ok, some generic newbie questions/considerations:

- At the very beginning, at least 'til I purchase the three most important trading equipments (Best Buys, Best Selling and Trading System Extension), it's just a matter of manually flying to each Station and taking notes of the prices, writing them down, right? Or, look at the generic info of a station while docked at another and take a look at the stock indicator;

- To get a somewhat good deal, of course it's important that a good you are actually attempting to sell it's integrated in the production cycle of that particular station, right? For example, while the stock might be low, I noticed that "Logistic stations", just to mention them, are pretty average, it's better to head to power plants, water purificators etc;

- Regarding this first playthrough I'm attempting (Terran Defender), I was thinking about mostly following the plot, maybe become somewhat wealthy, probably helping Defence with Smugglers (with the freight scanner tool, life support system and similar) and Pirates, but not really getting into the "multi-sector tycoon" bonanza; I would like to unlock more profiles to see if there are more interesting ones (Yes, I know there is a cheat to unlock them all from the start).

 So,  this is for you guys who have been playing this for long: do you currently have just one save where you are all-ecompassing tycoon emperor of the universe and building on that, or have you tried out many of the proposed storylines, stopping when it ended 'til you found your favourite one? And once you found it, then you decided for a longer, let's say "career game"?

As for the missions, you can actually pick up and start any mission chains no matter what your start is - the start sets your starting faction rep, your money, and your starting ship. Once you get powerful enough or friendly enough with whatever factions you like, all mission chains have a 'starting' point in the universe that you can use if you've got the rep. For some of the starts, just getting off the ground is tough and where the real challenge lies (bankrupt assassin, for example).

The universe map - know it, love it, I keep it up in a window beside me. Obviously, spoilers abound so if you want to explore and discover the universe for youself, don't use it. You'll still need to explore in-game, since you can't jump to or see any sector you haven't explored yet.  http://eng.x3tc.ru/x3_tc_map/?c=NTc4Nzc5NzMx#1

Turn your time acceleration from 6x to 10x in the game options. This is the first thing that you should do, and it helps make the game less boring.
You can buy "savlage insurance" which lets you save without docking. I use Cycow's cheat to give myself infinite salvage insurance because paying 2k for it early game is crippling and late game it's pittance.


Regarding the terran (and missions in general): Yes, some of them aren't all that clear on what you have to do. It's annoying. Use this walkthrough to help: http://forum.egosoft.com/viewtopic.php?t=234882

Trading: If you want to manual trade, owning the 'trading system extension' allows you to look at the prices of any station in any sector that you have a ship in (satellites count as a ship, which is why you'll want to build a satellite network), and that you have explored visually (gotten within scanner range of). In the sector screen (.) you can mouse over any station and hit 'u' for it's info. In general, I didn't start trading until I had about 5 million credits - small scale isn't really worth it, do combat missions instead, until you can afford to buy a ship to do autonomous trading.

I made a real thread: http://forums.f13.net/index.php?topic=18544.msg750112, so questions and chatter can go there for greater visibility.

:uhrr: :mob: :facepalm: :tantrum: :nintendo: :tinfoil: :ipod:

Thanks for the write up, bhodi. I do appreciate you dedicating some time and effort to help people get started in this game.

That said, unfortunately the link to the Terran walkthrough was not helpful; it provides no solution to my current stuckiness, which is getting blown up at a critical point. The walkthrough is rather blase about what to do with the spawn of pirates at the pirate ship, suggesting that sometimes they spawn, sometimes they don't. But they have for the last two times, and that's an hour and a half of my life I'd like back :)

Thanks for the tip on accelerating the time from 6 to 10. Should I decide to come back to this soviet-inspired anthem to useability, that will come in handy.

I succeeded at that quest last night after several failures.  You want to stay away from the base until the ship you're following docks. At that point I got chased around a bit by the pirates but they eventually went away and let me get within 500 meters of the base so I could scan it.  Scanning takes forever. You definitely won't be able to do it while taking damage. Just running away worked well enough though.

They should spawn once you get near it and/or when the ship docks. When they spawned from the pirate base for me, I stayed just out of firing range, led them away, and then cut in a wide circle past them and scanned the base before they were able to get back. They only travel 200m/s and I think you're at 380 or something. I also was not able to kill the pirates at that point.

The forums say to use this: http://xpadder.en.malavida.com/

I haven't messed with it yet, but I do like to have a controller of some sort for driving/flying.

This was mentioned in the other X3 thread, but I thought I'd bump this here so no one misses out. X3 is again on sale for 10$ till the end of the week. So in case you missed out on the many other times they have had this on sale for 10$, here is your chance to pick it up.

Then, install a bunch of mods that make the game more fun (seriously, mods are pretty much requisite). I've played this fucking game for like 30 hours and I feel like I'm just getting started. Make a thread about it and I'll throw you in the right direction since the start of the game is kind of slow and confusing. It's not eve levels of confusing, but it's still "Hi, welcome to the game here's your space ship good luck!" confusing.

There's a real thread about X3 up one level in the main PC gaming forum somewhere. It had  a lot of good info. Search around for it.