X3: Terran Conflict

Woot Woot! I just found the Toucan in Menelau's Frontier. 3x 25MJ shields & 9 fighter drones. I need to put some software in it to run it autonomously right?

You should be able to do some minor autonomous commands regardless of software, and most of the abandoned ships come with a lot of software.

I am finally comfortable with the UI and most of the mechanics in the game. I probably have 8 hours or so into it. I have only done one mission, and I am still not combat ready. I have a Buster (M3?) with the old school pew pew pew lasers, and I just bought some missiles. I'm loving this game! It runs like butter and I am constantly OOOHHHHing and AAAHHHHing over the visuals. I want to go find the abandoned ships, but the few sectors where I know there is one I enter and get emmeffin pwnd in seconds. What sectors have the "easy" ships to acquire? And once I find one do I just eject > jump in new ship> set auto pilot to dock at a certain station > eject again > return to my ship? I don't need a transport ship right?
EDIT: I figured out how to commandeer an abandoned vessel.

Ah man. I've played a lot today on my old bankrupt assassin character. Basically I've become a terrorist operating between Rolk's Legacy and Montalaar. I fly into Rolk's Legacy, attack Boron vessels until the surrender (or blow em up if they don't care to). I take control of the ship, and send them to the Argon shipyard in Light of Heart and sell them. Right now I have five slightly damaged super freighters, three small freighters and a fast vessel just waiting for me there. Plus, the Argons love me since I destroyed a ton of pirates for them, meaning I can buy every ship short of a titan, so cash is the only obstacle. Even though Rolk's Legacy is a Boron core security system, the main Boron fleet is usually elsewhere and the Police Makos are jokes. The only ships that give me trouble are the super freighters that love fighter drones. Oh, and I can't leave the Rolk's Legacy, Montalaar, Light of Heart systems because there are pirate bounty hunters that really want me dead.

Ah well.

Once I get my Centaur, bring it on

I have been unable to locate both the Harrier @ The Vault and the Vanguard @ Family Whi. Is there some kind of trigger to make these appear?
Edited typo

elewis17 wrote:
Yonder wrote:

If you are talking about setting specific coordinates in "Move to" commands, you should be able to use the number pad keys while on the map to move the cursor around, and it should show you the coordinates of the cursor. Insert is the button which rotates the axes, I believe, so that you can add a z component.

I read a decent chunk of the manual last night. I figured it out just as I was dozing off. Is there any way to manually enter the numbers?

No.

Yonder wrote:

Hmm, not that I know of Elewis.

Hey guys, does X3:TC have a similar scripting engine to the one that X2 had?

X3TC does have a script engine, I do not know how similar it is or isn't to X2. There is an entire forum for scritpting over at the official forums.

Grubber788 & Stylez wrote:

lack of FPS Issues

They've made a lot of performance improvements. Still, everyone please check and make sure you have all the latest drivers for your system.

elewis17 wrote:

I am finally comfortable with the UI and most of the mechanics in the game. I probably have 8 hours or so into it. I have only done one mission, and I am still not combat ready. I have a Buster (M3?) with the old school pew pew pew lasers, and I just bought some missiles. I'm loving this game! It runs like butter and I am constantly OOOHHHHing and AAAHHHHing over the visuals. I want to go find the abandoned ships, but the few sectors where I know there is one I enter and get emmeffin pwnd in seconds. What sectors have the "easy" ships to acquire? And once I find one do I just eject > jump in new ship> set auto pilot to dock at a certain station > eject again > return to my ship? I don't need a transport ship right?
EDIT: I figured out how to commandeer an abandoned vessel.

The visuals are awesome.

If you did a basic Terran start then you don't have many enimies except the Pirates, Yaki (also pirates basically), Xenon, and Kha'ak. Stay out of these sectors (if your not using a spoiler map then if you jump in a sector and they're all red, leave). You can get a really fast ship (M5), fly in super fast, claim the ship, and then jump in a small carrier to your position (there's several converted transports that are 4 slot "carriers" see earlier in the thread), load up, and jump out. Oviously this takes skill and timing, and a little luck. Or you can wait and get them later when you have a bigger ship/fleet.

Most of the abandonded ships are unique - remember that before you sell them.

elewis17 wrote:

I have been unable to locate both the Harrier @ The Vault and the Vanguard @ Family Whi. Is there some kind of trigger to make these appear?
Edited typo

No trigger - If you're at the proper X, Y coords, check the Z. A common trick with these abandonded fighters is to put them at +/- 30 or 50 Z axis, so you can literally be right above or below it but not see it (radar is a sphere around your ship, and just like it only goes so far left and right it goes up and down). Then keep an eye on your ship list. The ship might not catch your eye on the map, but if its in radar range it will be in the ship list on the right. Then you can just right click and auto-pilot straight to it.

I even went and got the duplex scanner, but still turned up with nada. The Toucan I did find is worth over 1 Million Cr! I typically don't sell things that are "rare" or unique in games. I am kind of a pack rat. What is the deal with the fact that you cannot order a wing to travel to specific coordinates? It just doesn't make any sense.
The mouse control is flawless. There if definitely no real need for a joystick.
This game is going to consume my life.
If anyone has not pulled the trigger on this game yet- You need to. I imagine it will be on sale this weekend since I purchased it on Saturday.

I am more or less sold. Think I'm just waiting for the Steam sale at this point.

elewis17 wrote:

I even went and got the duplex scanner, but still turned up with nada.

Like I said, make sure you're in the correct coords, X, Y, and Z. If you are, then they might have somehow been destroyed already (also make sure you're looking at the coords for X3TC ships, and not X3R or X2 - the guide has both X3TC and X3R). Also, get a triplex scanner

The X-universe has a GOD Engine, and GOD will do crazy things. After the game starts, everyone's game changes. GOD typically will start to remove unprofitable factories and adding in others, so your economy is always changing. Pirates, Kha'ak, etc, can wipe out sectors (or be wiped out) based on each game. I don't think I've lost any sectors yet, but I think I'm unusual in that as well. However, my combat rank just went up enough where on a Hard mission I've seen a Kha'ak M2 (Destoryer) show up. I can't kill a destroyer yet... I need a Typhoon missle factory, like, now... But this also means Kha'ak and pirate patrols/invasions are going to start to have M1s and M2s in them... An M2 can easily wipe out an outlying sector.

elewis17 wrote:

What is the deal with the fact that you cannot order a wing to travel to specific coordinates? It just doesn't make any sense.

You can, you just can't type in the coords. I think everything has a navication > travel to position command, that opens the map, and then you can click the location. If you click a rock or a station they won't crash into them (generally) - I was worried about this at first.

elewis17 wrote:

This game is going to consume my life.

Yep. I also agree we need an X3TC vent channel.

I was feeling froggy - Here's a list of commands, and the software (bold) required to run those commands. The italics are for what sub-category those commands are added to.

Basic - All ships, all the time.

Navigation
Idle
Dock at my target
Dock at...
Fly to sector...
Follow me
Follow...
Return Home (reqs a home base)
Move to position
Jump to Sector (reqs a jump drive and energy cells)

Trade
Drop off Freight (launched freight drones only)
Fetch Freight (launched freight drones only)

Turret
Attack my target (reqs a turret)

Carrier Command Software

Combat
Launch Fighter Attack
Deploy Fighters and Retreat (TM)

Explorer Software

Navigation
Fly through gate
Map sector
Deploy satellite network (reqs at least one satellite to start)
Scan Asteroids (reqs mineral scanner)
Survey Debris (reqs mineral scanner)

Fight Command Software MK1 Allows: assisted auto-aim when using bore-site fire like Fight MK2 (i.e., joystick or keyboard)

Combat
Attack...
Attack all
Protect me
Protect...
Attack Fighters
Attack Capital Ships

Turret
Turret Protect Ship (reqs a turret)
Turret Attack Enemies (reqs a turret)

Fight Command Software MK2 Allows: assisted auto-aim when using bore-site fire like Fight MK1 (i.e., joystick or keyboard).

Combat
Attack my target
Attack nearest enemy of...
Defend Position
Defend Station
Defend Sector...
Attack target of...
Attack shields of...
Attack enemy and land (reqs a home base [carrier only])
Attack all enemies, land (reqs a home base [carrier only])
Missile Barrage... (reqs M7M or M8 )
Retreat

Piracy
Board Ship (reqs at least 1 marine/merc in cargo bay, M6 or TP only)
Launch All Marines... (reqs at least 1 marine/merc in cargo bay, M6 or TP)

Turret
Turret: Missiles Only (reqs a turret)
Turret Missile Defense (reqs a turret)

Navigation Command Software MK1

Navigation
Jump and Fly to Station (reqs a jump drive and energy cells)
Jump and Fly to Position (reqs a jump drive and energy cells)

Patrol

Combat
Patrol sector (reqs M3 or M4s)
Patrol sectors (reqs M8, M6, M7, M7M, M2, M1, TM, or TL)
Scout for enemies (reqs M5)

Special Command Software MK1

Trade
Mine and Trade Minerals (reqs XL cargo bay, Ore Collector, Mineral Scanner)

Special
Collect wares in sector... (reqs M5, M4, M3, TS, or TP)
Collect ware... (reqs M5, M4, M3, TS, or TP)
Collect Rocks in sector... (reqs XL cargo bay, Ore Collector)
Collect Astronaut... (reqs M cargo bay, Cargo Life Support; M5, M4, M3, TS, or TP)
Drop station (reqs TL)
Mine Minerals... (reqs XL cargo bay, Ore Collector, Mineral Scanner) - Works for Ore, Silicon, and Ice; not Nividium
Move pilot to new ship (reqs a sector or universe trader)

Supply Command Software
Special
Resupply Ships
Rearm Ships
Refuel Ships
Equip Ships Like...

Trade Command Software MK1 (built-in on TS; useless for M7, M2, and M1)

Trade
Buy ware (reqs a home base [station or carrier])
Sell ware (reqs a home base [station or carrier])

Trade Command Software MK2 (Buy/Sell commands unavailable for M7, M2, and M1)

Trade
Buy ware for best price (reqs a home base [station only])
Sell ware for best price (reqs a home base [station only])
Transfer Freight via Drones (reqs at least 1 freight drone?)

Trade Command Software MK3

Trade
Start Sector Trader (reqs M4, M3, M6, TS, TP, or TM non-player ship)
Start Universe Trader (reqs Level 8 Sector Trader pilot and M3, M6, TS, TP, or TM non-player ship)

Trading System Extension Allows: Remote trading and price checks (if installed on the ship you're piloting)

Trade
Manual Trade Run
Remote Best Buy... (reqs Best Buys Locator)
Remote Best Sell... (reqs Best Selling Price Locator)

So, I figure after a couple more hours of active piracy tonight in Rolk's Legacy, I should have about 10 million (not including my M5 value, which I will not sell). I plan to buy a Centaur and make it my flagship. Any opinions as to how I should equip it?

Shoal07 wrote:

Yep. I also agree we need an X3TC vent channel.

I jump on the single player cafe, but yesterday the SoaSE guys swooned me into playing a game with them. X3 only channel would keep my temptations at bay.

So in order to trade remotely with my Toucan I need to install Trading System Extension onto my Buster? Any thing else I need?
How about an automated milk run in between safe sectors? Could I automate it and then just let the game run while I'm at work and make wheelbarrows full of cash?

Shoal is to X3 what Rorschach is to Swords of the Stars. Shoal you da man!

FYI for anyone new to the game- set up macros. streamlining commands makes playing the game much more enjoyable.

I keep hearing about plot lines and such. I have not encountered any missions as of yet that are not the Think Trade Build Attack. I chose custom startup, and I was just thrown into space. Using the custom option did I lose out on the plot of this game, or I am I just not digging deep enough?
Did I read correctly that this is the final installation in this series? If so what a shame; they finally made a playable game and the plot is already over??

elewis17 wrote:

I keep hearing about plot lines and such. I have not encountered any missions as of yet that are not the Think Trade Build Attack. I chose custom startup, and I was just thrown into space. Using the custom option did I lose out on the plot of this game, or I am I just not digging deep enough?
Did I read correctly that this is the final installation in this series? If so what a shame; they finally made a playable game and the plot is already over??

Did your custom option have story enabled = yes or no? More than likely it was yes. If so, all the plots are there (Terran, Fatal Fury, Hub, etc) you just have to discover them and meet the minimum reqs to start them. If you had started with a base character (always reccomended you start with Terran) you would have started with that character's plot line. I.E. Terran defender starts off in the Terran Plot.

elewis17 wrote:

So in order to trade remotely with my Toucan I need to install Trading System Extension onto my Buster? Any thing else I need?

Yep. The Toucan (a TP) comes with Trade Command Software MK1. You'll need Trade Command Software MK2 for him to buy or sell "at best price" - otherwise you're just doing a MTR (manual trade run) because you'll tell him what and where to buy and what and where to sell.

elewis17 wrote:

How about an automated milk run in between safe sectors? Could I automate it and then just let the game run while I'm at work and make wheelbarrows full of cash?

What you're asking, no. But, there's a few ways to do it (in order cheap to expensive). And there's no safe sector - passing pirates or Kha'ak can always ruin a day, but in some places odds are really, really low (especially early).

First, equip the toucan with Trade Command Software MK3 ($500k!), Fight 1&2, at least 1 25MJ shield, and set it to be a sector trader. It will trade away and make you $$ all day, never leaving the sector. No sector is 100% safe, except for Terran space. Make sure you are in a different sector than your trader. When you're not in a sector collision detection is off - so it can't accidently ram something or someone and blow up. It will take 1-3 game days to make your $ back if you buy everything from scratch. Also, he'll gain XP, and if you want to make him a Universe Trader at 8 or 12 you can. Read the entry in the guide before starting either.

Second, you can build a factory or a complex - let's say an Ore mine (they're cheap, under 500k I think). You build the mine, then tell the Toucan to homebase at the mine and then "sell at best price" the ore. It will load up, go out and sell, then come back, restock, repeat. However, if you're going to have an ore mine, you need energy. So, you can stock the mine and leave it, but if you'll be gone all day, it's a good idea to have a second TP (toucan or whatever) that "buys ware at best price" and buys energy. This is 2 traders and they will keep the ore sold and the mine stocked. Under station parameters, the mine should start with 200k to buy energy, and then set a rule that it gives to player any money over 200k.

The last is a trade loop. For this you need your own $50mil trade station. Similar to option two, instead of a mine or complex this serves as a homebase for freighters to buy and sell a variety of wares (not just what you need or make). You have to put 1 item of a type into the station first (like energy, or a HEPT, etc) then you can buy at best price and sell at best price that ware as much as you like. Once you have multiple trade stations you can move items all over the universe from station to station, and a little know-how (it's a trick with pricing).

elewis17 wrote:

Shoal is to X3 what Rorschach is to Swords of the Stars. Shoal you da man!

Thanks!

And... I just bought it. Downloading now...

...Filthy enablers.

elewis17 wrote:

I imagine it will be on sale this weekend since I purchased it on Saturday.

Hey, back off! If it goes on sale this weekend I take full credit!

Yonder wrote:

Ooo! I just had a great idea!

I have been spending way too much money on these weekend steam sales. It's really getting sorta ridiculous how much time I am going to be spending once I retire clearing through my backlog. With that considered I have decided not to buy X3:TC. I promise. Even if it goes on sale on Steam I just can't afford it! I swear.

There we go, should be up next weekend. You're welcome everybody.

Dammit! Me too.

If you have never played an X3 game before start as the Terran Defender - It's the easiest to get going into the game with. See you all on vent in a bit.

Vent is down, else I would be on. Kind of feels like going through withdrawal.

How in tarnation are you supposed to complete timed missions? I had an hour and a half to fetch a ship 3 sectors away. The damn thing goes 34 m/s! Grrrr.

elewis17 wrote:

How in tarnation are you supposed to complete timed missions? I had an hour and a half to fetch a ship 3 sectors away. The damn thing goes 34 m/s! Grrrr.

Yeah, I haven't had much luck with those. Honestly, it would be much faster if you repaired it. You can do this with your ejected pilot's laser, it doesn't take too long if it's a fighter class ship, and you can repair it to 80% if it's damaged then upgrade the speed only at an EQ dock. This would give you max speed.

Mostly I stick to combat missions, since I'm fighting off the Kha'ak all the damn time anyway. Build missions are good if I have a TL sitting around waiting to be hired, but you need a few mil to buy the station to build, so you have to usually wait a bit to do them.

Having SETA affect the mission timer makes them nearly impossible.

I wish I knew how to mod the missions. My one complaint are the mission times. They need to be quadrupled in some cases. Later on there are trade missions that are supposed to be finished in 18 minutes flat. Without "cheating" you can't beat these!

Is there any wiki with pictures that I could use to browse the ships?

Andon wrote:

I wish I knew how to mod the missions. My one complaint are the mission times. They need to be quadrupled in some cases. Later on there are trade missions that are supposed to be finished in 18 minutes flat. Without "cheating" you can't beat these!

Not true at all. What about jump drives? Also, use a docking computer. With a docking computer, when you're 5km from where you want to do, you hit shift-d and you dock instantly. Load up, jump, burn, and dock again to finish the mission.

They're all possible, but anything Hard or Very Hard is just that. Also, just check the official forums and the scripting forum - maybe the fix you'll like is out there.

Shoal07 wrote:
Andon wrote:

I wish I knew how to mod the missions. My one complaint are the mission times. They need to be quadrupled in some cases. Later on there are trade missions that are supposed to be finished in 18 minutes flat. Without "cheating" you can't beat these!

Not true at all. What about jump drives? Also, use a docking computer. With a docking computer, when you're 5km from where you want to do, you hit shift-d and you dock instantly. Load up, jump, burn, and dock again to finish the mission.

They're all possible, but anything Hard or Very Hard is just that. Also, just check the official forums and the scripting forum - maybe the fix you'll like is out there.

Yes, I'm aware of the jumpdrives and such. But tips from the forum say basically you have to "game" the system to do difficult missions. For example some trader missions later on request: 8000 energy cells in 12 minutes. In order to do this mission you would need the appropriate ship and time to jump to 2 SP plants. I've cheated in a few ship and tried them. It's not possible. The solution. Go get the energy as quickly as possible, park outside the station, accept the mission, then dock and accept the reward. Seems backward to me.

I haven't seen a mod to extend mission times, but I think today I'm going to take apart the Mission Director files and see if I can figure it out! That's the one major thing that takes me out of the game world fast! Mission times are ridiculous when you get higher up in rank.

Andon wrote:
Shoal07 wrote:
Andon wrote:

I wish I knew how to mod the missions. My one complaint are the mission times. They need to be quadrupled in some cases. Later on there are trade missions that are supposed to be finished in 18 minutes flat. Without "cheating" you can't beat these!

Not true at all. What about jump drives? Also, use a docking computer. With a docking computer, when you're 5km from where you want to do, you hit shift-d and you dock instantly. Load up, jump, burn, and dock again to finish the mission.

They're all possible, but anything Hard or Very Hard is just that. Also, just check the official forums and the scripting forum - maybe the fix you'll like is out there.

Yes, I'm aware of the jumpdrives and such. But tips from the forum say basically you have to "game" the system to do difficult missions. For example some trader missions later on request: 8000 energy cells in 12 minutes. In order to do this mission you would need the appropriate ship and time to jump to 2 SP plants. I've cheated in a few ship and tried them. It's not possible. The solution. Go get the energy as quickly as possible, park outside the station, accept the mission, then dock and accept the reward. Seems backward to me.

I haven't seen a mod to extend mission times, but I think today I'm going to take apart the Mission Director files and see if I can figure it out! That's the one major thing that takes me out of the game world fast! Mission times are ridiculous when you get higher up in rank.

Could this problem have something to do with the dynamically changing world? For example, perhaps the mission creator doesn't realize that the closest Solar PP is farther than a 12 minute round trip away? I played X3: Reunion for over 200 hours and never remember having trouble with these sorts of missions when I'd pick them up.

elewis17 wrote:

I keep hearing about plot lines and such. I have not encountered any missions as of yet that are not the Think Trade Build Attack. I chose custom startup, and I was just thrown into space. Using the custom option did I lose out on the plot of this game, or I am I just not digging deep enough?
Did I read correctly that this is the final installation in this series? If so what a shame; they finally made a playable game and the plot is already over??

OK so I started over last night from square one. I chose Terran Defender instead of the custom I had chosen previously (and invested about 15 hours into over last weekend). The game makes sense now. I started off in Terran space whereas in the Custom game I started in Argon space (Argon Prime). Now I have story missions! There are some minor cut scenes and all.
At this point I have bested the learning curve, and it looks as if it will all be gravy from here. Don't get me wrong, it isn't going to be easy, but at least it is primarily up to my skills at this point and not my understanding of the mechanics of the game. I foresee my 15 hour trial and error session being well worth my time, but had I chosen the Terran Defender from the beginning I believe I could have learned to play this game in a 6 hour session or so. Don't be discouraged by the steep learning curve- it really isn't that bad. Read all the links provided in this thread, then play for a few hours, and then read them all again.
My investigations have turned up dry, but does anyone know if I can mark waypoints and notes on the map with software or a mod?