X3: Terran Conflict

I gotta counter the enablers a bit here.

This game (and it's predecessors) are NOT space sims. Yes you have a space ship you fly around, but that's just a sad little ruse they've set up to lure people in. The actual game is a glorified overblown excel spreadsheet. Unless you get major wood from trading space rum for space silk so that you can hire more people to trade even more useless garbage, then this game is definitely not for you. Sure space trading games have been around before and quite a bit of fun, but this isn't one of them. It's tedium at it's worst and about as much fun to play as well I can't really think of a comparison because you don't play X3, you calculate it.

Tamren wrote:

I would caution against getting any boxed version, those may have copy protection on them. I know for a fact that Reunion did have DRM but it was since removed. TC has Tages which is AFAIK stable and not destructive but I am still going to wait on this one until they remove it. I figure by that point the game will have been well and truly patched up to spec.

If you are starving for a tactical space sim I would recommend Starshatter.

On steam the only DRM listed is for X3TC, and it's the Tages stuff. Also, X3 isn't just a tactical space shooter, it's a very open world.

I'm curious too about the keyboard and mouse control method. I don't have a joystick lying around any more to the best of my knowledge.

Sinatar wrote:

I gotta counter the enablers a bit here.

This game (and it's predecessors) are NOT space sims. Yes you have a space ship you fly around, but that's just a sad little ruse they've set up to lure people in. The actual game is a glorified overblown excel spreadsheet. Unless you get major wood from trading space rum for space silk so that you can hire more people to trade even more useless garbage, then this game is definitely not for you. Sure space trading games have been around before and quite a bit of fun, but this isn't one of them. It's tedium at it's worst and about as much fun to play as well I can't really think of a comparison because you don't play X3, you calculate it.

I disagree, completely. I have not run the "trader game" at all - and I'm 16 hours in (I know cause Steam tells me so). Your argument is that X3 = EVE, and it is not. While it has the complexity of EVE in there, especially in the econ stuff, it has what EVE does not - a real combat game as well. I was a Freespace 2 fanatic and I can attest that the combat in X3 is just as viseral and satisfying as FS2. Plus, if I so choose, I can fly whatever ship I want (if I have the cash) from a recon scout up to a super carrier. Plus I can make my own fleets under my complete control.

So, is there a real combat game here? Most definately. Is there an "Econ Sim" akin to EVE, yes (it might even be better in some areas). However, you only do what you want to do. You don't need to do the Econ stuff like build space stations and "buy low / sell high" to stay afloat in cash either. I routinely see combat missions for 1+ mil credits. Now whether or not I can complete them yet is iffy. I had a kill mission for 1.6 mil (equal to the cost of an M3 fighter/interceptor) but the target was in a light corvette. I could have easily solo'd him, but he also had a fighter escort. That was the edge he needed to defeat lonely me (my carrier and other fighters were on a different mission for me somewhere else at the time). BTW - that carrier I have was 490k, and the 3 fighters in it were free (to me ).

Robear wrote:

I'm curious too about the keyboard and mouse control method. I don't have a joystick lying around any more to the best of my knowledge.

I do have a joystick but I can attest that the mouse controls are the best I have seen in a space sim. Even with a joystick I have to use the mouse due to the menu interface so sometimes I use the mouse to fly around because my hand is on it. I could play this game with the mouse, and in some ways it might even be easier. I'm not just saying that either, I really mean it (in X3:TC - I heard the controls in the original/base game aren't as good).

Some time saving (read: frustration preventing) tips for new people to X3:TC.

-Just skip X3 Reunion and start out in X3:TC. It is just a better game and it was designed to be easier to start in. Starting in X3 vanilla can be B R U T A L.

-Know and use the time accelerator (call SETA) drive (default J key). When you have to travel long distances (gate to gate, anything over a few clicks in a system) using this saves you HOURS of your life (it even tracks how many hours it has saved you). It defaults to 600% x Normal Time but you can (and should) turn it up to max (1000%) in the options. Without SETA you might not make it out of the Terran Solar System before you die of old age.

-If you start out with a fighter craft (because you can choose to be a defender/fighter type or a merchant) as soon as you get ~3000 credits go buy Flight Commands 1 upgrade. This allows you to turn auto aim from “semi” to “ON” which is a HUGE difference to your accuracy. Did I mention it was a HUGE difference? Now, mouse only users may have to change an option (something to do with “Boresight fire” I think) so they aim off either the mouse pointer or the nose of the ship, depending on what’s best for you. The default works well for joysticks so I haven’t touched it.

-Fight pirates, alot. Unlike the other “default hostile” races, pirates have a small chance to give up and bail out, providing you with a free ship. These ships can be anything from a nearly destroyed M5 class (scout) to a nearly pristine M3 class Nova (I had a pirate bail on one of these at 80% health... It’s sale value was 1.4 mil). I have gotten in the habit of popping shots off at a ship (instead of a stream of pain) once the shields are gone to see if they’ll bail. I’ve heard one or two surrender only to find my stream of plasma vaporize him anyway... The other hostile races like the Kh’aack and Xenon don’t seem to bail, ever.

EDIT
Also,
X3:TC Beginners Guide

Hmmm. That's good news about the mouse, maybe I'll try this series again.

Someone mentioned Starshatter. It reminded me I was waiting on a new patch to install, and I just read they have a new beta available via the publisher's members only section. I have to give this one a whirl.

Are they multiplayer? I would love to play with a friend.

I purchased this on Steam during their massive sale, but haven't been able to play it yet because I won't be around any capable computers until later this week. I am really looking forward to it though. Thanks for the tips Shoal.

Kier wrote:

Are they multiplayer? I would love to play with a friend.

No, alas, single-player only (assuming you're asking about X3).

Built my first "space station". It cost a lot more than I thought, and I can only hope it will pay off. Basically a silicon mine, ore mine, and wheat factory all connected with a central hub thingy (those are the "cheap" factories). It's kinda cool, and an easy way to manage multiple facilities in the same area. I started with the wheat and added on the other two once I got the hang of it. All in all I probably dumped 3 mil on it (everything I had, and then some). If I could get a steadier supply of energy (read: my own 11 mil power plant...) I'd really be in business.

Next I'll probably add a sat factory, cause it's also cheap (like 700k). I really need a solar power plant, and then I plan to make probably 25mj shield factory (they are needed in almost everything and they are hard to find) and whatever weapon floats my boat. Right now I can't keep enough energy to keep up with demand. Do I run missions and save for the power plant or buy a 1.5 mil super freighter or two to get the energy for now...?

I am OBSESSED with this game and I am saddened it is not getting its fair share of love. I guess the space sim genre is as small of a market as people say it is (which is why we have so few games).

Anyway, to beat the dead horse more...

Here's some additional resources:
X3 - Terran Conflict: Online Complex Calculator
This is awesome for planning "closed" systems (no need to import anything) or to try and design a profitable system (or at least NOT design one that bleeds money). It's actually pretty hard to design a bad system, but I like how it also gives me a return on investment time (most ROIs are about 1-1.5 in game days, no matter what kind of system you build). Plus it stopped me from building a satellite manuf plant - it's cheap but it bleeds $$.

The only real X3:TC Wiki (but it doesn't call itself one). There's some spoilers to be had, if you consider not hunting for every little thing blindly a spoiler. For example, there's some abandoned ships in the universe for you to claim - which is very helpful once you get to the early mid-game and the conflicts start to outpace your finances (i.e., you start to need either a small fleet of M3s or some bigger ships but you can't make money because you NEED the ships!). I went out and picked up the 4 "easy" to get M3s. If I had good pirate faction I think I could get 4 more. There's a bunch of M4s too, and a few TPs. The map is a godsend if you're a newb.

My status:
I now have a complex with a silicon mine, ore mine, wheat farm (it's a major meat producing system and no wheat farms), and crystal plant (for my future solar plant). Once I have the solar plant my only import will be meat steaks, which is ok, because they're overabundant in the system I am in. Combat wise I have my 4-fighter transport w/ a jumpdrive and 4 M3s, moderately equipped. I do ok even against 2 corvettes (M6?) but M7s kick my butt! I need a corvette... or 2.

So, if you build a station that needs items, you'll likely homebase a transport to it that goes out and buys those items. Here's a little trick for those that need to travel out of the system (for me, my energy buyers are set-up like this):

Spoiler, kinda, for those who want to figure it out on their own wrote:

[color=white] Equip your transports with jumpdrives and make sure you set their "refuel" limit to a number that's high enough for them to jump to the farthest station you allow your transports to go to AND come back. The default is 9 (I use less) so you'll have to tell your transports to fuel up for 18 if you leave it at the default. Then, they'll jump, but unlike you, they jump right to the station, get the goods, and then jump back. Not only is this SUPER fast, but the odds of your transports getting jacked decrease exponentially. At 100k a drive, they're invaluable. [/color]

I am going to be all over this game as soon as my new computer arrives. It sounds exactly like something I would love.

I love eve but eve needs time compression, which is impossible in a MMO.

Kier wrote:

I am going to be all over this game as soon as my new computer arrives. It sounds exactly like something I would love.

I love eve but eve needs time compression, which is impossible in a MMO.

That and real combat.

Thats true. The combat in eve is just not as engaging because its so passive.

Kier wrote:

Thats true. The combat in eve is just not as engaging because its so passive.

Understatement of the year! :p

This game has its hooks in me something fierce.

Some pro tips for people starting

Little documented fact: Your space suit comes with a repair laser! Instead of spending upwards of 100,000 credits fixing your ship jump out and lase it.

The Terran start is actually pretty difficult, as you are nowhere near a station that sells jump drives. Your best bet is to buy a small fast ship, make a run to "Home of light" (find a map here . This way you can make jumps between sectors. It saves time.

Hiring a ST class ship: Want to buy a station but can't afford the 27,000,000 for the ship? Hire one! Just find an active station-transport ship in any sector, and communicate with them. They will build a station for you for a relatively low cost (usually ~3500 per sector it needs to travel to).

This game improves upon X3 in so many ways. It is no longer a slog to get credits, and there's all sorts of interesting side missions you can do to build credits. I wish the missles were a little more useful, but no doubt there will be combat mods on the way like there was for Reunion.

I think I read that there is a ship-to-ship boarding mechanic in X3? How does that work? Do you have to breach an enemy hull? Do you manage marines for such missions? Do they have skills/expertise that grow, or is it a numbers game?

Sorry to bombard with questions, but I didnt find any info on this other than one cryptic reference.

I felt really burned by X2- The Threat. I really wanted to like it, but I started the campaign and it was soooo buggy and poorly realized, it really turned me away.

I'm curious to see how X3 has improved over X2.

Irongut wrote:

I think I read that there is a ship-to-ship boarding mechanic in X3? How does that work? Do you have to breach an enemy hull? Do you manage marines for such missions? Do they have skills/expertise that grow, or is it a numbers game?

Sorry to bombard with questions, but I didnt find any info on this other than one cryptic reference.

If the ship has no pilot then you can hop out, fly close, and claim it. If it's a ship w/ crew and you want to capture it, then:

You need a TP (transport), M6 (corvette), or M7M (Missile Frigate) class ship. All three can:
Buy Marines
Train Maines at stations (up to 5 stars/max) in either Hacking (taking over the ship), Mechanical (Cutting into the hull) and Engineering (Preventing damage while taking over the ship). The Fighting skill is the Marines chance at survival to make it to the bridge and hack, and that can only be trained by actually doing it. For Mech and Hack the top two Marines with those skills will be used for "checks". Engineering and Fighting affects each Marine accordingly.
Use:
Drain the target's shields to <10% (and keep them there until the Marines are onboard) and then drop the Marines out of your cargo bay and infront of the ship (anywhere else and they'll be swimming through space playing catch-up) at around <500m (the closer the better) using the the pirate>board command (this will show when you have Marines in a ship - it launches 1 at a time). Then, it's up to the Marines.

The M7M can use boarding pods which are fired like missles, hold 5 at a time, and help the Marines break through the hull. Most people launch a swarm missle, boarding pod, swarm missle, in that order, so the enemy turrets have something else to shoot at besides the pod.

Other than that, there's a few quirks. Success is based on if the opposing ship has Marines/defenses or not. Kha'ak are not cappable at all, I believe, but I think Xenon are. Fighters aren't cappable. Also, you can only load the amount of Marines a ship can carry +1. So, an M6 can carry 5, so you could launch 6 at an M6. Any more and they'll float in space outside the ship until a Marine dies, then they'll go in.

Save, save, save. Many boarding attempts are Save>Try>Fail>Reload, especially before your first "success". Good luck.

Thank you for that explanation. It sounds even more fleshed out than I had hoped. I like how you mentioned that you can distract enemy turrets by firing off a missile or two, increasing the chance of your marines to reach their target. Very cool.

I am buying this tonight. I just got a new machine and its going to be glorious. ( I hope.)

Kier wrote:

I am buying this tonight. I just got a new machine and its going to be glorious. ( I hope.)

I was getting some stuttering with mine in busy areas and larger battles until I forgot I had turned 8xAA and 16xAF on in the global graphics controls for WAR. When I turned them to application controled and set that (ingame) to 4xAA & AF everything was a lot better.

And remember, don't bother with Reunion, just start off with TC (the expansion).

I would love to come back to this game, because piracy was so much fun, but I'm getting technical issues too. Maybe one day I'll go back to harassing Paranid and Boron High Tech Freighters, but for now, I'll have fun harassing the Advent in Sins.

Pics to entice those who need enticing... Some of the ship designs really are spectacular.

My Skiron M6 Corvette. 8 HEPTs in the front and Phased Repeaters (good against figthers) in the R, L, and B (6) Turrets. OTAS Design. Siginifigant shields for an M6 - 5x 200MJ.
IMAGE(http://x3tc.ru/x3_img_ship/c3a30d22dd258sc.jpg)

My new Carrier, also OTAS design. Slightly faster and with 3x 200MJ shields (as compared to my old Magnetar). The price difference is negligable, it's finding and being able to buy OTAS that's the problem (OTAS is like Argon special forces or something).
IMAGE(http://x3tc.ru/x3_img_ship/75deea9fa6257sc.jpg)

My Advanced Perseus (Paranid). She doesn't look like much (yes, it has a very small profile, which is good) and it's the best M3 I've found. Almost 200m/s speed and 4x 25MJ shields - large energy reserves too.
IMAGE(http://x3tc.ru/x3_img_ship/29f00dfcce343sc.jpg)

The Nova Raider (Argon), or my old dependable. Probably the M3 you should be looking at getting into early in the game. I got this one off a pirate who bailed, but they also are sold at most Argon stations. Typical - 3x25MJ shields, laser energy good enough to run 4x HEPTs for a time (what I run on most fighters, if I have them).
IMAGE(http://x3tc.ru/x3_img_ship/1adee6d5b2180sc.jpg)

My Skate Prototype (Boron). I found it - seems as good as any other typical M3. Pretty quick. Big and green.
IMAGE(http://x3tc.ru/x3_img_ship/6a27714299345sc.jpg)

My Barracuda (Boron). Got beat up bad in a fight and sold for good credits (more than it was worth to keep her). Didn't have a rear turret which is fairly standard on these ships. Horrible cockpit view because it has that massive nose taking up the bottom of your screen but the texture detail on this ship is amazing.
IMAGE(http://x3tc.ru/x3_img_ship/8f22335a8a347sc.jpg)

Solano (OTAS). Replaced the Barracuda. This is actually an M4 but it has M3 shields (3x 25MJ) and can mount 4-6 Phased Repeaters up front. Speed is 210m/s. While you give up a little firepower with these, they are SUPER cheap comapred to an M3. I wouldn't field only Solano's, but mixing a few in (1/4 or 2/4) in fighter group is a good way to fill out numbers on the cheap. What they lack in anti-cap ship firepower they definately make up in anti-fighter ability. I might start keeping some of these in a seperate wing just for fighter defense... They also look cooler in game than in this pick.
IMAGE(http://x3tc.ru/x3_img_ship/d091b0d7f4256sc.jpg)

Damn you... wish I had time to actually play this...

PAR

Okay, okay, I'm sold. I just don't know when I'll get around to it.

Christ! You just scored a direct hit with your Goodjer-enabler ray with those screens Shoal07. Thank god I am at work or I would already have steam open and card in hand :). I don't have time for something like this!

This is one of my new "steam deal" games. I'm in my Nova (an M3 class fighter) and docked with my ... ?Mamba? carrier transport are some fighters donated by pirates who decided to bail out. Sexy!

IMAGE(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v357/Shoal07/x3screen00001.jpg)

polypusher wrote:

So any updated impressions? Is anyone who got it at launch still playing?

If you enjoyed X3, is X3: TC just as fun, or more or less fun?

X3TC is easier to get into, more forgiving at the start, and way better than X3:R. There's more ships, stations, factions, and minor details to make it the only version really worth your time.

I'm tempted too, but I know I don't have the time. I spent so much time in X3, but after a long break from playing I lost interest in picking it back up.

What's with the Tages DRM on this one? Is it a limited number of installs on top of Steams typical DRM or just a separate activation of the install?

I'm not against DRM or anything, but I just went through a 'winter cleaning' exercise in my gaming closet and I ended up tossing some games purely because of that 'copy protection that will not be named' drm that I won't be infecting my computer with anymore. It left me wary.