# X3 - Terran Conflict



## Mooncat (Feb 11, 2009)

Anyone else play this Elite for the 21st century?  The previous X's that had an interface that I would gladly kill in the face but this one seems to be a lot better.  
There's just so much you can do and so little keyboard you can assign to do it. You can own pretty much anything  in the game and I guess destroy pretty much anything too 

I've no idea what this is:






Its also nice that in the future everyone will be Dutch - lets all go have crazy times in space yes?


----------



## kained&able (Feb 12, 2009)

ohh this actually looks tempting as its not an online thing as i thought it would be.

Docking had better be easier then in sodding elite

r
dave


----------



## Mooncat (Feb 12, 2009)

kained&able said:


> ohh this actually looks tempting as its not an online thing as i thought it would be.
> 
> Docking had better be easier then in sodding elite
> 
> ...



They all come with Auto Pilot as far as I know but there are plenty of things that will send you mad.  "So we need an advanced satellite you say?  Just like the ones sold in that shop we passed half an hour ago you say? Lovely."


----------



## A Dashing Blade (Feb 12, 2009)

Yup, always liked the X series.


----------



## tommers (Feb 12, 2009)

I played X2 to death.  I wish I had a computer good enough to play this.


----------



## ruffneck23 (Feb 12, 2009)

i like em but always found the lack of tutorial a bit daunting . How steep is the learning curve in this one?


----------



## tommers (Feb 12, 2009)

ruffneck23 said:


> i like em but always found the lack of tutorial a bit daunting . How steep is the learning curve in this one?



Yeah.  That's what I liked, loads of mods that made things run like they were supposed to.  Without em it would have been clunky as anything.


----------



## Mooncat (Feb 13, 2009)

ruffneck23 said:


> i like em but always found the lack of tutorial a bit daunting . How steep is the learning curve in this one?



Steep - without being able to check to forums I probably wouldn't be able to play is as the manual is fail.  You are chucked right in the middle of things and will quite often get pwned by huge pirate ships early on the in game.  I shall have my revenge though, oh yes...


----------



## tommers (May 17, 2010)

anybody playing this?  (I got a computer that could handle it.)

In some ways it is one of the best games I have played and in some ways it makes me want to throw the laptop out of the window.


----------



## Shippou-Sensei (May 17, 2010)

i was tempted  it's was cheap on steam   but  i couldn't justify it at the time


----------



## Mooncat (May 17, 2010)

tommers said:


> anybody playing this?  (I got a computer that could handle it.)
> 
> In some ways it is one of the best games I have played and in some ways it makes me want to throw the laptop out of the window.



Tell me about it - its like they've released a beta.  Some of the scripts and mods on the forums are essential - the cheat one that enables you to save the damn game with out spending credits being one. 

I almost wish someone like EA had realised it so at least it'd be a bit more bug free.


----------



## tommers (May 17, 2010)

Mooncat said:


> Tell me about it - its like they've released a beta.  Some of the scripts and mods on the forums are essential - the cheat one that enables you to save the damn game with out spending credits being one.
> 
> I almost wish someone like EA had realised it so at least it'd be a bit more bug free.



well, to their credit, they have just released another patch (2.6), a year after it was released.  And they've also made up a bonus pack which contains some of the most used mods.

I wouldn't say it was bugged so much as it's not very user friendly (and it can take ages to achieve anything.)  At the moment I have some factories making missiles and guns and things.  They keep running out of cash so I have to keep topping them up.  I can't find anything that lets them automatically take money from my account.  I'm sure there's an option there somewhere, but I can't find it.  Similarly, I have loads of transports all flying about and they need micro managing a lot of the time - outfitting a new ship with all the bits it needs is often a time consuming nightmare.

That said - the scope of it is absolutely amazing.  I've got a small battle fleet all ready to go, I've traded, mined, couriered, assassinated, invaded and been a pirate.  It was bought for me about 8 months ago, I've bought loads of games in the meantime but this is the one I keep coming back to.  It's massive.


----------



## Mooncat (May 18, 2010)

I'll try the new patch and give it ago - I just got fed up with launching marines only for them to vanish into space - they're not cheap!  Also the fact you can't actually do anything whilst paused drove me up the wall

I'm pretty sure you need a station management script to transfer money _to_ a station automatically but surely you're better off assigning a transport to the station and having that deliver the raw materials?  One of the side missions where you rebuild the Xenon station needs loads of materials and I had quite a little empire working on this pretty much autonomously.  I used a mod that linked all the stations in a system without the need to physically connect them.

I've not played for a while as I lost the save game of about 8 months play  which was pretty gutting but you've piqued my interest in it again.


----------



## tommers (May 18, 2010)

Mooncat said:


> I'll try the new patch and give it ago - I just got fed up with launching marines only for them to vanish into space - they're not cheap!  Also the fact you can't actually do anything whilst paused drove me up the wall
> 
> I'm pretty sure you need a station management script to transfer money _to_ a station automatically but surely you're better off assigning a transport to the station and having that deliver the raw materials?  One of the side missions where you rebuild the Xenon station needs loads of materials and I had quite a little empire working on this pretty much autonomously.  I used a mod that linked all the stations in a system without the need to physically connect them.
> 
> I've not played for a while as I lost the save game of about 8 months play  which was pretty gutting but you've piqued my interest in it again.



ah right, you're loads further than me then.  I've just started that plot.

I also tried boarding with marines from a passenger ship.  Biggest waste of my time ever.  I lured a TL to my sector with the promise of wedges of cash.  Once there I attacked it, got rid of the shields and told my marines to go get it.  20 reloads later I think they'd got as far as trying (and failing) to get through the hull.  Most of them didn't even get to it.  And it was immobile.  And massive.  Waste of time.  I'm saving up for one of those missile frigates now so I can use them instead.

Must have hurt to lose that save.  Bloody hell.  I can see why you put it down.


----------



## Mooncat (May 18, 2010)

Yeah I'm going to give it a go today with one of the 'restart required' mods that change everything so I don't feel too bad 

That Xenon mission is a nightmare - you need something like 20,000,000 microchips and other 3rd level components. I had pretty much taken over Ore Belt with mines and factories - it was pretty tricky manoeuvring my TL around that system when I was in system.  I used the Factory Construction mod and the no tubes mod to make it look pretty

Forgive me if you already know this but the game mechanics are different when your in system or out of system.  When your OOS combat it worked out just by pure fire-power, tracking speeds aren't calculated so I have different loadouts.  Basically, big slow firing guns for when your OOS piloting on remote can be very effective.


----------



## tommers (May 18, 2010)

I'm struggling with the first one - 400 computer chips!

I think I might restart, once I've done the main plots.  Be a pirate.  One ship only, sell everything I capture unless I move myself into it and live life free of all these transports and universe traders and factories and boring things that tie me down.

Could be fun.


----------



## Mooncat (May 18, 2010)

Yeah I'm going to try a different path this time - I've just found a mod that lets you start with all the 2.0 missions completed.  

But then it crashed


----------



## tommers (May 23, 2010)

did you get it going?  I bought my missile frigate the other day and managed tpo finally kill the kha'aak M2 that was causing me all the problems.  Took about 50 missiles but it went down in the end.

I've also started the hub plot.  Just getting together 500 microchips.  Built 2 factories to do it.... 20 an hour.   God knows what I'm going to do when I need 750,000 or whatever.


----------



## Mooncat (May 23, 2010)

Yeah I had a problem with one of the cores but its sorted now.  Gonna have a bash tonight but its going to be a bit rubbish running around in some insignificant little ship when I used to run around with a fleet of M1's

I don't know what that guy in the hub mission needs all that stuff for - Think he's just ripping us off to be honest!


----------



## tommers (May 23, 2010)

ha!  I got the last final fury mission up.

I lasted about 10 mins.


----------



## Mooncat (May 23, 2010)

Is that the Khaak one in the big hive thing? I found it quite easy tbh - just blasted away at the nodes while the rest of the fleet dealt with the aliens. 

The one where you have to escort the TL to the asteroid was the one that stumped me - the game tailors the difficulty to your ranking so I was getting pretty done it.  The navigation of other ships is a bit off when your in system too - I had to figure out that I needed to jump first and the others would follow


----------



## tommers (Jun 3, 2010)

2.7 out now. 

I'm doing the hub plot.

450,000 ore and 150,000 teladianium


----------



## Kanda (Jun 3, 2010)

ooh.. there's a Mac Version. Might get this today.


----------



## tommers (Jun 3, 2010)

Kanda said:


> ooh.. there's a Mac Version. Might get this today.




do it... it's a bit clunky and it eats time but it's good.

You will need this... www.egosoft.com.


----------



## kyser_soze (Jun 3, 2010)

Given all the patches and suchlike, would I be better off dling this from Steam or buying physical media? Sounds right up my street...


----------



## Kanda (Jun 3, 2010)

tommers said:


> do it... it's a bit clunky and it eats time but it's good.
> 
> You will need this... www.egosoft.com.



aye, been reading the forums quite a bit since I last posted 

... and Moonpig is off to India Sunday morning.. loads of spare time


----------



## tommers (Jun 3, 2010)

kyser_soze said:


> Given all the patches and suchlike, would I be better off dling this from Steam or buying physical media? Sounds right up my street...



The recent 2.6 patch supposedly gave the steam version achievements and it automatically updates with any new patches etc.

The disc version doesn't have this but you can download the patches from egosoft with no bother.

It's up to you really.  I still use the disc version.


----------



## Mooncat (Jun 4, 2010)

2.7 has just come out. Still haven't sorted out the sketchy mission descriptions though.  
"Oh, you've fought your way across 3 Xenon sectors but decided to use a tricked out corvette rather than a rusty old mining barge with a tractor beam - sucks to be you I guess." 


The mission I'm on now seems to be - jump to a sector in a TP - get pwned by HUGE #cafe destroyer and its bitches. Repeat. 
x2

Still - one of the missions is supposed to reward you with your own sector at the end so...


----------



## tommers (Jun 4, 2010)

Mooncat said:


> 2.7 has just come out. Still haven't sorted out the sketchy mission descriptions though.
> "Oh, you've fought your way across 3 Xenon sectors but decided to use a tricked out corvette rather than a rusty old mining barge with a tractor beam - sucks to be you I guess."
> 
> 
> ...



Yeah, the "new home" plots.

You'll need 



Spoiler: what you need



about 400 million credits. 



I've done that #cafe one.  Do you have to board it?  Is it the terran plot?


----------



## Mooncat (Jun 5, 2010)

This is from the New Home missions where you've got to (it now turns out) rescue people from a station.  For some reason you need a (I think) TS - a small carrier anyway.  I've not really used wings and fleets before so its quite interesting to learn.  Found a good script that organises the fighters a bit better - adds pilots that can gain rank and such.

CODEA Weapon System

To do that mission 



Spoiler



I had to do about 6 unfocused jumps - this was not mentioned at all in the mission briefing


----------



## tommers (Jun 5, 2010)

Mooncat said:


> This is from the New Home missions where you've got to (it now turns out) rescue people from a station.  For some reason you need a (I think) TS - a small carrier anyway.  I've not really used wings and fleets before so its quite interesting to learn.  Found a good script that organises the fighters a bit better - adds pilots that can gain rank and such.
> 
> CODEA Weapon System
> 
> ...




Oooh, that's an interesting script.  I've always shied away from fighters cos I can't bear losing them and having all the trouble of re-equipping replacements... it just all seems so complicated.

I think with that mission I jumped in one of my docked fighters and kept the enemy busy whilst my TM docked at the station... is that what it tells you to do?  I knew about the spoiler from the forums.  Loads of people moaning about it. 

When you set up your complexes for the hub, which scripts did you use?  You said something about tubeless complexes?  Does that reduce the lag?  Did you use the complex construction script?

I've been meaning to set them up for a few days but I'm just dithering.


----------



## Mooncat (Jun 6, 2010)

I think so - thought it might only become avalanche after you've got the hub but if you're doing it... Its only after I UFJD into the system that I got a message saying to dock at the station, or rather, take out a few fighters then dock at the station.  

The tubeless complex script is here - its in German but you just have to install it.  It reduces lag and self pwning immensely!  
I also used the complex construction script - if you worried about lagging you can just roll all your factories into one 'borg cube' type thing which makes life easer.
This might also help http://forum.egosoft.com/viewtopic.php?t=225042

When you've got a good industrial base behind you, you can just make all the weapons you need - it really is a nightmare equipping ships and having to find the right factories and some of the bigger carriers can hold 50 or more fighters!


----------



## Epona (Dec 27, 2010)

Just got this from Steam.

Can someone please point me in the direction of an online tutorial/manual that goes through the very very basics.  It looks very pretty but I don't know how to do anything!


----------



## Epona (Dec 27, 2010)

Jesus H Christ I finally managed to a) move my ship, b) crash several times, and c) dock and save.  Steep learning curve!  Will get there eventually. 

ETA: OK I've now found out how to use the autopilot


----------



## tommers (Dec 29, 2010)

Epona - go to www.egosoft.com

Most of the stuff you need will be on there, the manual is beyond useless.

I bought a joystick specifically for this (well, for x2) and that makes it a lot easier to control your ship.  Most of the time you're using autopilot anyway, except for any fighting.

Ask questions as you go... if I can remember the answers then I'm more than happy to give you them... I remember what it's like to start with!


----------



## Epona (Dec 29, 2010)

Cheers tommers.  I'm actually finding the ships easy enough to control now I'm used to it, I much prefer a mouse for that sort of thing because it's what I'm most used to.  Ta for the egosoft link as well.

This game has completely sucked me in, don't know how the series managed to completely pass me by up until now!  I have more questions than I know what to do with at the moment after 2 days solid playing the game (plenty of games would have been finished after the time I've put into this already, and I've barely got started, what an absolute bargain!)

I now have 2 ships because I found an abandoned one so I'm using the slower/larger capacity one for short trading runs to keep a bit of cash rolling in and using the faster one for exploring (so I can run away from pirates!)  I am going to be saving up forever for the Mk 3 trading software but that is my current goal.  Until my goal changes again anyway!  I haven't started on the plot yet   Doing the Terran Defender start.

I have to say that this is the only game I've ever played where I've felt like I _needed_ to have more than 1 monitor hooked up but the OH will go spare if I commandeer his


----------



## Shippou-Sensei (Dec 29, 2010)

i'm beginning to feel more intrested... but  i'm betting this is an epic time sink


----------



## tommers (Dec 29, 2010)

Do the Terran plot.  You get lots of good ships.

Mk3 trading is great.  You can set up sector traders and once they get a decent level you can make them into Universe Traders, with jump drives....


----------



## Epona (Dec 30, 2010)

Shippou-Sensei said:


> i'm beginning to feel more intrested... but  i'm betting this is an epic time sink


 
Time sink and a half - I was getting a bit concerned that I might chew my own fingers off waiting for TESV:Skyrim next November, now I'm concerned that I might not have finished this game by then   It's kind of slow to start off with but once you put some time into it and start making money & upgrading your ships and whatnot it becomes more interesting - when I only had 1 ship I was focussed on making money through trade, now I have 2 I can explore a bit more while still making money through trade with the other ship...



tommers said:


> Do the Terran plot.  You get lots of good ships.
> 
> Mk3 trading is great.  You can set up sector traders and once they get a decent level you can make them into Universe Traders, with jump drives....


 
Yeah I'm exploring far enough afield now and seeing more distant trade opportunities that jump drives look to be a very attractive option - can't afford it at the moment tho!

I haven't started the Terran plot yet simply because I'd rather trade or get into mining or building than fight, and I bet there's fighting


----------



## Epona (Dec 30, 2010)

Oh dear god, I got a third ship (found another abandoned one!) and my head hurts trying to keep track of what they are supposed to be doing!  I've gone from making cups of tea while my 1 ship was going somewhere on autopilot, to a tidal wave of messages telling me that my ships are awaiting new orders!  At least I am making more money though, but I am working harder for it without doubt.  My head is fucking spinning.

Haven't had this much fun with a game for ages


----------



## Random (Dec 30, 2010)

I've got X3 Reunion, but it just lost my interest, although I could see the potential.


----------



## tommers (Dec 30, 2010)

Epona said:


> Oh dear god, I got a third ship (found another abandoned one!) and my head hurts trying to keep track of what they are supposed to be doing!  I've gone from making cups of tea while my 1 ship was going somewhere on autopilot, to a tidal wave of messages telling me that my ships are awaiting new orders!  At least I am making more money though, but I am working harder for it without doubt.  My head is fucking spinning.
> 
> Haven't had this much fun with a game for ages



When I stopped playing I think I had about 50 ships and 25 stations.

I won't even start to tell you about the Hub plot.

I might go back to it all but it'll take me a day or two to get my head around what everything is doing.

There is fighting in the Terran plot but it takes you through all the basic stuff.

Once you get a few ships and a station or two there are lots of scripts that can really help you with the logistics of everything.  You can set most things to run automatically... which saves the head spinning a little bit. 

Oh, and those abandoned ships are usually pretty rare, so don't sell em!


----------



## kyser_soze (Dec 30, 2010)

This game is completely incompatible with fatherhood, I've sadly found.


----------



## Epona (Jan 6, 2011)

Just had a scary autopilot experience - bounced 3 times off the hull of a huge freighter like a stone being skimmed across a lake while I was pissing about with menus giving orders to another ship... had to limp off to a quiet spot to get the old repair laser out because by the time I'd exited from the menu my shields were gone and so was most of my hull  

I have just bought my first TS class freighter and am kitting it out for sector trading - I already have 2 TP class sector traders (I found the ships abandoned) but I'm debating whether it's worth making them universe traders as they can't carry the XL loads.  They are both at level 10 but they're doing quite nicely in financial terms so I think I might just leave them as they are for now.

Still haven't started on any of the plots, I'm just not that into the combat aspect!


----------



## golightly (Jan 7, 2011)

Wow!  You have got much further than I did.  As I recall I only got as far as getting four small craft and I spent hours and hours travelling from system trading without making much progress so I lost heart.  Maybe I should dig this out again but I don't think that the other half would be too thrilled.


----------



## tommers (Jan 7, 2011)

Bigger the better for UTs I think.  I wouldn't use TPs to do sector trader.  If you don't want to sell them then use them to ferry round Energy Cells or something.

TMs are the best ship early in game.  You can use your M3 to attack the target and have a TM as backup and a base if it all goes pear shaped.  They can also collect any fighters you cap and keep them safe until you can get them to a shipyard.  They're really cheap for all the things they can do.  Kind of a poor man's carrier and TL.

You know you can switch the pilots to new ships?


----------



## Epona (Jan 8, 2011)

tommers - thanks for the info.  I have nothing else planned for the TPs right now but as you say I can always switch out the levelled up pilots to other ships when I want them for something else, and I will do eventually.  I got a Mercury Superfreighter as well, nice balance of speed and cargo space.

I have a couple of TMs (Split Boa) and am organising my fighters onto them (I have M3/4/5s that I've randomly collected dotted about all over the place), what weapons would you recommend for a TM for if things go tits up?  I planned on using a lot of the cargo space on them for missiles/ammo (and energy cells for their own and fighters' jump drives) so that my fighters can restock from them, is that the best thing to do?

I am loving the game but my god I still don't know what half of the stuff is for, especially the various types of software.  I've got to grips with the trading stuff OK but the rest of it is still a bit of a mystery at the moment!


----------



## tommers (Jan 9, 2011)

that doesn't change!  I spent the last few days playing it trying to board a stationary TL with my marines, which had taken about 2 month's game time to train.  It was an exercise in futility - I had no idea what to do.

I used my TM as a backup ship early on.  Stuck a jumpdrive in it and called it in if I was in trouble with a combat mission.  I can't remember which one I had but it had 600MJ shields and 4xPACs so it provided a bit of extra firepower.

Then I used it as a mobile store.  Send it off round the Universe picking up guns and shields and energy cells and you can outfit fighters with it.  You can also use the store space of all the fighters, useful if you want a load of jumpdrives - equip each fighter with one, transfer them over to the target ships and then send your TM back off to Terracorp HQ and fit out all the fighters with more, ready for the next lot.

Then I used it as a mobile hangar - collecting up fighters that I'd capped and keeping them safe before I sold them.  You could also stock it with one of each type of ship - so that if you get a taxi mission for example you have an M5 there ready and waiting.

Then I used it as a refuelling ship.  Capital ships can't dock with SPPs, so give the TM a transporter device and get it to ferry energy cells back and forth.

By the time you get to M7s and 6s and whatever then they're pretty fragile in a fight but they will more than hold their own at the beginning.


----------



## Mooncat (Jan 17, 2011)

The X-Tended Mod has just come out.  Its a complete re-jig of the game: More weapons, stations, ships and 200 new sectors plus the UI has had a bit of a re-jig too (still no proper pause tho )  I kind of gave up on the original after losing my save game but this mod requires a re-start anyway. Only just installed it to make sure it works and found my self with an M3 I don't recognise with weapons I don't know in a sector I've never heard off - awesomes! 

http://www.thexuniverse.com/content/

ETA - there's huge factory ships to be had too.


----------



## tommers (Jan 17, 2011)

Mooncat said:


> The X-Tended Mod has just come out.  Its a complete re-jig of the game: More weapons, stations, ships and 200 new sectors plus the UI has had a bit of a re-jig too (still no proper pause tho )  I kind of gave up on the original after losing my save game but this mod requires a re-start anyway. Only just installed it to make sure it works and found my self with an M3 I don't recognise with weapons I don't know in a sector I've never heard off - awesomes!
> 
> http://www.thexuniverse.com/content/
> 
> ETA - there's huge factory ships to be had too.




oooohhhhh, nice one!  I'll give that a go*





*once I've finished NWN2...





I've just had a look at the features.  It's massive!


----------



## Epona (Jan 22, 2011)

Mooncat said:


> The X-Tended Mod has just come out.  Its a complete re-jig of the game: More weapons, stations, ships and 200 new sectors plus the UI has had a bit of a re-jig too (still no proper pause tho )  I kind of gave up on the original after losing my save game but this mod requires a re-start anyway. Only just installed it to make sure it works and found my self with an M3 I don't recognise with weapons I don't know in a sector I've never heard off - awesomes!
> 
> http://www.thexuniverse.com/content/
> 
> ETA - there's huge factory ships to be had too.


 
Hold on, 200 new sectors?  I'm not so far in that I can't restart!


----------



## Cid (Jan 23, 2011)

Anyone played the mod much? Also is it worth choosing one of the set classes, or can you get similar missions etc playing custom?

Oh, and is anyone using a 360 controller? I quite like the feel of it and imagine combat would be much better, but it's poorly ported. There are a couple of complicated fixes around by the looks of things, but looks like a right headache/might interfere with using it on other games.


----------



## Epona (Jan 29, 2011)

Decided against the mod (for the time being at least) on the basis that I haven't yet finished the vanilla missions and completely got to grips with the vanilla game, and from what I can see it is set in a different universe, all new sectors and ships etc with no access to those in vanilla.  I have it bookmarked though, for when I want something different.

In terms of my progress in the game (for those that are interested, thanks Tommers for all the help you've provided so far!) I have restarted a couple of times after realising that I was doing it wrong, I'm now on an "Anonymous Argon" start and started out with a bit of manual trading and set myself up as a "used ships salesman" - either buying and repairing broken down ships and selling them for a profit, or keeping those that I had a use for (have discovered that looking out for and buying wrecked fighters can net you between 20k-30k profit for an M5 and 500-800k profit for an M3, you soon learn which prices that you are offered will turn you a profit, TP/TS class not worth the effort because it's too boring repairing them and they are not as profitable as buying and selling M3s, unless someone offers me something at a good price that I actually want to keep and use that is when I might buy a damaged freighter) have got a few sector traders up and running, bought myself an M6 (Terran Katana) and done some Terran plot missions at last!  

I'm not so hot at doing combat under my own control as I have very slow reactions (and arthritis in my hands), so a corvette with decent shielding and several turrets set up with instructions to do stuff automatically is working well for me!


----------



## Epona (Jan 29, 2011)

Bloody hell some things are just not straightforward.

Please help:  I bought some Marines at a marine training barracks, now I know that they can only gain combat ranks in the field, but I want to train them in other stuff (hacking, engineering etc), how in the holy fuck do I do that?  I mean in really simple terms.  ie. Where do I go, and what menu do I use to start them being trained?  Because I can't for the life of me figure it out, and nearly an hour of googling and forum searches hasn't provided an answer!  They are currently watching the latest movies on show and getting fat and lazy in my nice TP while I work out what to do with them!


----------



## tommers (Jan 29, 2011)

You can train them at military bases or military outposts... one of them.

It takes AGES.  And it costs LOADS.  And you'll need an M7M to get them to board anything.


And then they will all be killed by the completely untrained crew or be unable to get through the bulkhead.

They made it loads more difficult in one of the updates cos people were just making shedloads by boarding and stealing capital ships and then using a little bug where you broadcast "sorry" to the police and they all stop attacking you.


----------



## Mooncat (Jan 31, 2011)

In that X-Tended mod there's a device that can teleport your marines directly inside a ship once you've knocked out its shields (although I'm sure there's a mod for the vanilla too) 
There's a whole new reputation system too - basically you can't go around blatting people willy-nilly without someone, somewhere getting pissed off. 
Also -  no plot missions to speak of so its a little daunting getting started


----------



## Mooncat (Jan 31, 2011)

Epona - there's a mod called MARS Fire control which overhauls the turret commands - basically it'll switch between different weapons in your hold depending on the range and class of the target. 
It'll affect you're Steam achievements if you mod the game though. 

Personally the combat is the reason I play this and not EVE


----------



## Epona (Feb 3, 2011)

tommers said:


> I won't even start to tell you about the Hub plot.



I am on that at the moment.  HOW much ore?  I now have a fleet of freighters dedicated to it   I have over 400 hours clocked up on the game so far according to Steam, and I still wish there was a help function - a little button you could click by each command that would tell you exactly what it does and give you an example of how to use it - it took me half an hour of googling to find out that I needed to keep my hub stocked up with e-cells if I wanted my freighters to restock when docking so they could use their jump drives, and I only googled it after realising my freighters doing ore runs had run out and were flying through pirate sectors instead of jumping.  I thought that because I'd set the resupply quantity and jump range etc. that they would go buy some automatically when they were getting low like my sector/universe traders do.  It's sorted now I've worked out what to do, but it's amazing that after 400+ hours there is still some stuff to learn!



Mooncat said:


> Epona - there's a mod called MARS Fire control which overhauls the turret commands - basically it'll switch between different weapons in your hold depending on the range and class of the target.
> It'll affect you're Steam achievements if you mod the game though.
> 
> Personally the combat is the reason I play this and not EVE


 
Cheers I'll look into that, I have absolutely appalling reactions and hand to eye co-ordination so anything that makes that aspect of the game easier is fine by me.  I don't care about achievements, I managed a couple of decades of gaming without them and there's something about it that reminds me of scout/guide badges and I don't need an achievement on steam for completing a certain thing within the game any more than I needed that badge when I was 10 for being able to do washing up - probably just me though, achievements seem to be a popular feature of games these days.


----------



## tommers (Feb 3, 2011)

Epona said:


> I have over 400 hours clocked up on the game so far according to Steam,



  do you?!?

I'll be sending you the questions in future then!


----------



## Epona (Feb 3, 2011)

tommers said:


> do you?!?
> 
> I'll be sending you the questions in future then!


 
Yeah I'm not working at the moment   I've done the Terran plot and have done the first couple of Operation Final Fury missions but that's on hold for the moment cos since I started the hub it's like someone pulled the plug out of my bank account and let all the credits drain out!  That's even though I homebased all my ST/UTs to it to keep it topped up.  So I'm doing a lot of station defence and patrol missions to keep my personal funds increasing, I want to buy a carrier soon.


----------



## tommers (Feb 3, 2011)

which ship are you using at the moment?


----------



## Epona (Feb 7, 2011)

Sorry, having trouble with my internet for the last few days - sometimes it lets me post and sometimes it doesn't!

I'm currently using a Springblossom as my personal ship.  I ended up finishing the Hub missions and getting income again (despite my fears early on I only actually lost 5 million or so credits during the time I was supplying it to get the gates set up, drop in the ocean) so I bought a Tokyo carrier once I was sure my bank account was stable - I am enjoying having somewhere to organise my fleet of fighters.


----------



## Mooncat (Feb 8, 2011)

Feel like I'm cheating when flying around in a Springblossom  - its just so damn fast you can out run anything that can hurt you. 

(I load out with matter/antimatter for killing things and electro-magnetic plasma cannons for missile defence)

I'm currently running scared in an Argon Elite - damn you restart required! 

Just noticed there's an X3 wiki http://www.x3wiki.com/


----------



## Cid (Feb 10, 2011)

I've played this for some ridiculous amount of time and still only have a couple of Mercuries and a couple of Discoverers... It's an absurd game. Great though once you start to get the hang of basics, I've found the easy ownerless ships now, so might actually be able to do a couple of missions!


----------



## Epona (Feb 12, 2011)

I keep finding mods that I want to try that require a restart 

Just installed DDTC - for those who haven't tried it, it adds various shipyards each with a line of missions (sort of like the Corporation missions) leading to them building new ships that you can buy.  Also added an Advanced Jumpdrive script which adds (expensive) jumpdrives that generate their own energy, I was finding e-cell management a bit of a headache tbh so I'm quite enthusiastic about that even though I haven't really tried it out yet!


----------



## Cid (Feb 12, 2011)

Is there a mod that separates ships from satellites on the property console? it's irritating to say the least.


----------



## Epona (Feb 12, 2011)

Cid said:


> Is there a mod that separates ships from satellites on the property console? it's irritating to say the least.


 
Just hit r to open the property owned page, go to the "options" tab, and change "show satellites" to NO.  This takes them out of the all/ships displays, but if you want to view a sector that you have a satellite in you can do it in the "sectors" tab instead - all sectors in which you have property (be it a ship, satellite, or factory) will be listed there.  (Or you can do it on the universe map, sectors you have property in have a just-visible green box around them).


----------



## Cid (Feb 13, 2011)

Can't believe I missed that... 

Too much to take in...

Got my mercurys running as STs now, supplemented by the odd mission and raids on pirate space. Have been flying an advanced Barracuda for the speed, but might try the Eclipse now that I've nicked a couple. Have also taken to doing my own repairs on them by taping down right mouse, might be more sensible to up a macro or something... . Next task is to get a few stations up and running, looks like a whole new leap in working shit out again though.


----------



## Epona (Feb 13, 2011)

I'm really not keen on the Eclipse as a personal ship, it's so ridiculously slow for an M3 - any enemies are off your radar before you can catch up to them (bear in mind that combat missions will generate hostile/target ships based upon your combat level and your current ship class, if you have an M3 and an average combat level you will by and large be up against varying numbers/waves of M3-M5s in missions, and the Eclipse is the slowest of all of them, you'll be at a distinct disadvantage in for example timed assassination missions and escort missions) - it's ok if you're going to shoot a couple of missiles (something cheap like mosquito, they do at least have a decent cargo bay for missile storage) to get their attention so they come to you, but IMO they're really not that fun to fly and combat comes down to either trying to get them to come to you, or watching them disappear into the distance - if you're wanting an M3 for dogfighting you'd be better of stripping them down and selling them so you can buy something a little faster IMO - the Split Mamba is better in terms of action, it's shields aren't anywhere near as good but it's very fast and agile, the Argon Nova Raider is a superb player M3 with a good balance of speed, shields, and weaponry, and if you can get one (they're not for sale, but there's an unclaimed one that you can get for free in the vanilla game and you can sometimes capture one from pirates if the pilot ejects) the Blastclaw Prototype is a well shielded M3 with 4 front mounted weapons (if you can get hold of any, put Plasma Burst Generators in those 4 slots, they're short range but very powerful) + 4 turret mounted weapons, an absolutely ginormous cargo bay (650), and although it's not the fastest ship, it has a bit better speed (159 m/s) than the Eclipse and its other features make it far better ship to fly.  

The Eclipse does have uses - they are ideal for short-range station defence under AI control (once you have your own stations), escorting your freighters, or because they have a decent cargo bay manual trade runs of expensive high-tech low-volume goods such as crystals (or once you have stations of your own, selling high-tech goods that you have produced, or moving them between stations), or to patrol a small area or sector - but as a player M3 I don't really rate them highly.


----------



## Epona (Feb 25, 2011)

I have just started getting into building factories and complexes.  My head hurts again!


----------



## ruffneck23 (May 6, 2011)

OK right , I thought id bump this as Ive just taken the plunge and didn't want to derail the newer thread, 

so....

I can even open the game yet , im on a Win 7 machine, I have full admin rights but it says I need to have admin  to start the game for the first time  , Ive turned UAC off, set permission on the folder and tried what has been suggested around and about the internets ( mind you I was quite pissed last night when I tried it ) anyone else encounter this ?

good start not


----------



## ruffneck23 (May 6, 2011)

Its ok , Ive been told i need to patch it up first, il giver it a go again tonight and lose the weekend...


----------



## ruffneck23 (May 6, 2011)

im taking a look at the forums etc but in your view what are the best mods to start with or should i just go for the origianl game , all advice will be greatly recieved


----------



## Mooncat (May 6, 2011)

I think there's a mod pack of all the best ones Ruffneck - Apricotslice merge mod I think its called  What you wanna get first is Cycrows mod manager as it makes it easy installing the others.  Other than that the ones I use the most are the tubeless complex mod and one whose name escapes me that allows you to re-position factories. 

One you don't wanna get just yet is the X-Tended mod as I've just spent the last few months playing it only to discover the saves won't be compatible with version 2


----------



## ruffneck23 (May 11, 2011)

ok im rubbish, decided to follow the manual and do some trading via ' the hole ' to ' argon prime ' via the south jumpgate, but can i find the basrtard gate ? ive trawled around for ages looking for the bugger


----------



## tommers (May 11, 2011)

you could look at the map of the sector and target it from the list....

is there def a south gate?


----------



## ruffneck23 (May 11, 2011)

yeah it mentions it in the manual , thing is about ' the hole' is you cant see any thing til its right on top of you  and nothing shows up on the sector map til you've found it from what I can tell. Saying that ive literally just got co-ordinates for it in the manual so il give it another try tonight , Im not giving up on it yet....


----------



## Epona (May 11, 2011)

There is a south gate there, it's just not where you'd expect it and it's a bit of a bugger to locate.  You should be ok now you've got the co-ordinates.  As it's a fairly busy sector it's also worth seeing whether you can see on the map any patterns in the traffic heading in a particular direction and follow them, if there are a load of other ships travelling in a line in that portion of the map they're probably heading towards the gate themselves.

Oh and if you haven't already, buy a triplex scanner as soon as you can afford it!


----------



## ruffneck23 (May 11, 2011)

cheers for the advice


----------



## Epona (May 11, 2011)

Oh and if all else fails, you can always go East then South to get to Argon Prime.


----------



## ruffneck23 (May 11, 2011)

yeah , funny you should say that i was just looking up info about the triplex scanner, took a look at the map,  and noticed that route , that's it , me and the manual are over


----------



## Epona (May 11, 2011)

Put the manual down!  If you're following the trading suggested in the manual tutorial you could find yourself buying high and selling low, because the economy is dynamic and the prices at factories will not be the same as in the manual.  Just check the average price, minimum, and maximum price for the commodity you want to trade (you can find this info in the Pilot's Encyclopedia which you can find from the top button on the small bar at the left of your screen) to check prices before you buy and sell.

ETA: Best to start off with something like energy cells because many factories need them and you won't have too much trouble finding somewhere to sell them at a decent price.   Also as you're in Argon space, Meatsteak Cahoonas and Delexian Wheat are fairly easy to start with.


----------



## ruffneck23 (May 11, 2011)

thanks , the manual is going in the bin , well at least being put away in the draw..


----------



## tommers (May 12, 2011)

Burn it!


----------



## ruffneck23 (May 12, 2011)

it has crossed my mind...


----------



## Mooncat (May 12, 2011)

Your better of with the handbook from http://apricotmappingservice.com/


----------



## Mungy (May 17, 2011)

bought this the other day. installed cheat. was playing for a few hours and thought it was taking ages to do anything. then discovered the joys of pressing "j"


----------

