X3: Terran Conflict $10: It's like privateer/freelancer on steroids.

[bhodi]

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.

[Sir T]

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

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

[bhodi]

(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.

[Lantyssa]

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.

[Azazel]

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

(and does it have Starforce?)

[bhodi]

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.

[Lucas]

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

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

[Der Helm]

Then, install a bunch of mods that make the game more fun (seriously, mods are pretty much requisite).

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

[bhodi]

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.

[Mrbloodworth]

Multi player, persistent server?

[bhodi]

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

[Mrbloodworth]

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.

[Lucas]

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

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

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

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.

[Azazel]

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.

[Lucas]

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

[Yegolev]

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.

Fucker.  Bought.

[Lantyssa]

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.)

[Kail]

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?

[Lucas]

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

[Engels]

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

[bhodi]

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.

[bhodi]

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.

[Yegolev]

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.

[bhodi]

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

[Yegolev]

It is serviceable, sure, if a little 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.

[Lucas]

Nice default keyboard layout in Excel format:

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 (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

[Yegolev]

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

[Sky]

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

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

[Azazel]

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.

You should do this. Before Jan 3.

Hop to it!

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

/nod.

[Lucas]

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 

[bhodi]

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.

[Yegolev]

I'd probably want to play with my 360 controller.

Oh... genius.  Assuming it works.  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.

[Sky]

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).

[Yegolev]

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.

[Sky]

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).