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Messing around on Steam and noticed this news item (http://www.steampowered.com/index.php?area=news&id=699) from 21 July, announcing that X2: The Threat and X3: Reunion are now available via Steam.

From what I've heard X3 should be worth throwing $20 at - more immersive Elite (or a single-player EVE with more detail and less grind) ... but until now I've been avoiding this game like the plague because the only version available was "protected" by StarForce.

Seems like the Steam version doesn't include starforce (http://forum2.egosoft.com/viewtopic.php?t=147538), which seems to make sense given what steam does and the general hate SF inspires in people.

Anyone tried the Steam version of X3 already and got any thoughts they'd like to share?

I was tempted by the prospect all weekend, but after looking into it, I read a lot about instability and incomplete game features. But it also appears to have an extraordinarily rabid, albeit not particularly huge, fanbase, so it might have something going for it.

I was going to download the demo off their site, but, well... the demo has StarForce. :|

X3 looks like the kind of game I wish I had time to play.

I've been mucking around with it lately.  I have to say that combat has improved markedly from the original X, and there's a plotline to complete, but otherwise it's just the same old sterile-feeling elite-alike with the capacity to remote control ships and own space stations.

Are there missiles? Are the missile graphics pretty? Do they swoop around?

Really, I'm a sucker for good missiles in space, period.

Double points if they're nuclear missiles.

TRIPLE EXTRA BONUS if it lets me design them.

Edit: fixed the accuracy of the statement. I pee little puddles of happiness every time there's Defcon news from Introversion.

Combat's a real bitch.  I've had my ass handed to me multipule times.  Trading has a one major thing I'm not used to, the NPC's can now totally fuck up your trades.  If they happen to move in a dump off a load right before you the price will be all depressed and you make shit for profit.

There are missiles.  Dumbfire, seeking, and of greatly varying payload.  The cheapest ones, Mosquitos, are best fired off en masse because they've about as much payload as a fire cracker.  I use them to pick fights with faster ships.  The more expensive ones can cause severe pain.  One type of missile I found, not normally available for sale, can severely hurt capital ships.  The graphics of the missiles themselves are clean but not overremarkable, however, there is a cockpit cam showing the missiles' flight in action.

There are space stations whose only purpose is to build missiles.  You can even own your own missile-making space stations in time.  However, you cannot design your own missile in game.  There is a bit of a company-supported mod community around X3, so you could design your own missile outside of the game.

There's even remote controlled fighter drones you can drop that will seek out and attack targets or protect your ship.  They're not quite missiles, but they're cool.

Now for the bad news:

Missiles are easily destroyed.  Spray enough laser shots in the general direction of a missile and they pop.  When missiles pop, they tend to apply their damage in an area of effect.  This means that if you're under fire and shooting a potent missile, there's a good chance that missile is going to pop and deliver its payload to you.  I've killed more than one pirate ship this way - opening fire on it while it was firing missiles, killing them with their own payload.

The player has one advantage in combat in E3: The strafe keys.  WASD.  Learn em' and love em', they'll give you a definate edge.  In the original X, equipment was all that mattered - the bullets traveled slow and evne if they impacted you'd need to be able to overcome the shield generator's capacity to damage ths hip.  In X3, you can take the weakest weapon and knock down some pretty strong shields with them.  That's one of the ways X3's combat has markedly improved over the original: it's not all equipment anymore.  (Granted, having three 25 MW shields certainly makes wrestling pirates a bit safer.)

Just looked at some Defcon screenshots...

They just make me think, "PEW PEW PEW!!"

If I ever get around to infecting my system, I'll let y'all know if the game is worth getting through Steam.  I bought it before I knew it had Starforce and I haven't been bored enough to risk it.

Well, that's no instant sell right there. I hope they put out a demo on Steam. As is, September's going to be gaming luv what with The Guild 2 and Defcon coming out.


How about a nice game of chess?

(http://www.f13.net/images/necropost.gif)

Non-herpified DVD version (http://www.ebgames.com/product.asp?product%5Fid=646878) out. Version 2.0, whatever that means. Seems to be a couple of features added.

We come up third on google for image search on necropost.

Another Necropost.

(http://www.f13.net/images/necropost.gif)


Thinking of picking this up this week. Have read the reviews and all that. How does the combat in this thing feel/play compared to, say, Freelancer, or even WC3?

Seems like the kind of game I could spend playing in small doses for a long time. A MMOG sandbox without other people to stink it up..

Pretty sure X2 is on GameTap.

keke

Gametap? Please explain the keke?

checked - X2 is there. And so is X-Com!

People (you know who you are) seem to need reasons to sub to GameTap and I am forced to pimp it, despite the fact that it's really a loud, annoying program that is pretty sure people that want to play Mr. Driller are of the same demographic as those that are totally into the Tony Hawk series.  X-COM, Sam+Max, Planescape, swaths of titles from Genesis, NeoGeo, DOS, Atari 2600, the various Zorks, Ultimas up to, uh, five.  Many Things Roberta Williams Designed, as well as Things That Don't Suck As Much.  You can also try out that Myst thing and no one will be the wiser.

If you have kids, there are lots of JumpStart programs and other things like that, the great achievement there not just because you get them all with a single sub but also because you don't have to have a CDROM in there for a program that doesn't copy any of the media to disk in its native form.

The "keke" is really just because I like saying "keke".

It looked really cool from what I saw. Good community to learn how to play...but unfortunately it seems like you need it. A bit of a learning curve in there. I haven't surmounted the curve and started playing just yet. I got about as far as trying to set up the gamepad to work with it. Flying felt more WC than Freelancer in the few minutes I messed around with it.

I wish I had more time to play games  :|

Oh, Sky, you can get Universal Combat on GameTap.

Game is evil, stay away. 

To be more specific, it sucks donkey cock.  Combat is nothing like Freelancer (to me).  This is just my opinion... Donkey Cock, big rancid Donkey Cock.

Thanks for the fact-filled post, which is sure to sway someone with nothing but your unsupported opinion.

You can also get UC for $10 at most Best Buys. In bulk.

Around here, you can even get UC at pharmacies, stocked right alongside umpteen cheap hunting games...

They really should have called GameTap GameBulk instead.  No need to even look at the point-of-sale stand near the register at Family Dollar if you have a subscription.

I bought my copy of Outpost 2 at Burlington Coat Factory.  Truth.

I played a lot of X2, quite enjoyed it.  X3 I think was only supposed to be MOTS++.  I haven't played it but I am pretty sure it was the same engine and basics with a lot of extras.  No, the combat is not like freelancer and really isn't intended to be but it was fun, I think.  The controls were very touchy which caused a lot of people to just give up and call it shite but if you could control your base motor functions you could easily take a solo heavy fighter up against a dozen or more of your favorite baddie in a HUGE furball.

The X series is really more of a 4X game in an FPS wrapper.  Most of the time you are establishing trade routes and manufacturing capabilities while amassing a fleet to use at your whim.  It is very much a sandbox, which can also be a big negative to a lot of people.

The thing about the X series is that it is one of those niche games with a VERY hardcore following.  The type of following that will overlook very obvious flaws for those things it offers that no one else does.

That's why it's appealing to me. Big sandbox that seems to reward several gameplay styles, lots of exploration and trade, crazy space battles.

It also glaringly shows how little time I have to delve into such games anymore  :|

I recall one battle that I had that was pretty cool, my heavy fighter (the one that looks like it came from The Last Starfighter) and what started off as three baddies and eventually grew to several more in a massive asteroid field.  Lots of cat and mouse and zipping in and out.

A lot of people talk(ed) crap about the space battles, I thought they were pretty good in a fighter.  I never really got into the capital ship combat they were just too slow to move around and I got board before I got enough cash for my own carrier and fleet of fighters.

Hey!  Look there, he asked for people's opinion on if the combat played like Freelancer or not.  I gave mine.  If you don't like it... Jog off and move on.   Thanks for giving yourself postcout +1, looks I got it too.  Woot!  Or something.  Why don't we just leave the bullshit in politics where it belongs eh?

I've played both, liked one and not the other.  If you want the detail fine, pay your ten and try it, but it's not worth it if your looking for something in the Freelancer vein.  Building your trade empire was fun and all, but there were bugs in the trade system even after the first patch.