The first link ought to be to apricot's guide. That's pretty much the X3 bible.

Agreed. I actually printed the thing out AGAIN when he revised it for X3TC. Terrific amount of info in that one big source.

A couple of quick questions from Mr. Remedial about X3TC.
As I understand it I can grab a copy of X3TC from Gamersgate, install the game, and patch the game immediately to V2.6 to remove the Starforce-like DRM for play?

Also, I see that GamersGate has X3 Terran conflict for $15USD. is it worth getting this version or the X3 Gold Edition as seen in Rook_336's post?

Thanks!

Standing in for The One Who Knows...

1. Yes, so long as you do not launch the sim prior to that final patch!

2. Doesn't the Gold Edition include the earlier X3 Reunion? So if you want that one also, there you are.

I must disagree with the general tenor of this thread (and the hordes of other positive reviewiews).

This isn't an old fashioned space-sim. It isn't a joystick sim. It's very hit and miss when it comes to first person view (often there is no cockpit).

It has a time consuming 4x element that I could never fully get used to and the craft aren't as different as they initially appear. Plus the craft/environments look silly.

I'd pick up Wing Commander III or X-wing vs. Tie-fighter in preference. Even "Tachyon the fringe" was more engaging. (in my experience anyway).

imo it is a joystick combat sim if you want it to be. i have a ton of commands programmed to my ch hotas and find the combat pretty great. i can also control rolls, pitch, yaw, and incremental side to side thrusters on my stick, throttle, and rudder pedals. the game (especially x3tc) allows the player to make lots of money from combat, so it is easier to ignore the trade and build aspects of the game.

as far as the ships looking silly, to each his/her own. i don't think there's a space sim that comes close to even looking as good. install the remove fog mod, the immersive backgrounds mod, the draw distance mod, and the colored engine trails mod, and the game looks freaking marvelous. add to that the ability to install really gorgeously rendered ships from pretty much all the most influential sci fi tv shows and movies.

agree that egosoft blew it by not making cockpit lines, though. at least the modelled the nose and side wings of the ships though.

I found a mod to remove fog and dust but I guess I don't know how to install it. Got a cockpit mod which worked fine, but this thing I don't know what to do with. The dust is a little annoying.

most mods you can install as a fake patch (which makes them not a mod in that they run by default and don't have to be selected in the intro x3tc config window)- open the x3tc directory, take note of the highest numbered cat and dat file. then rename the patch into the next highest number (which is 11 i think if you have the 2.6 version of x3tc). also, you should get cycrow's plugin manager lite, which is excellent for handling mods and scripts.

thanks for the info.

I will have to read up on X3 reunion to see if I may want to play it.

Thank you, I read about people installing as a patch, but had no idea what that meant. LOL
I'll give that a shot and also that plugin manager.