Anyone play X3? Reviews and comments appreciated

Like the title says, anyone play any of the X3 games? How does it play like? What can you do in the game? Does it have multiplayer?

Yeah, I do, and like it a lot, though I don't play it at the level of depth "Serious" X3 players do. I prefer zipping around in a fighter or heavy fighter to trading or empire building.

Do a search in this forum because there are about 10 of us here who play, and we've discussed the game, along with tips and resources, at length.

Latest thread:

http://simhq.com/forum/ubbthreads.php/topics/3469614/all/X3_Albion_Prelude_new_x3_expan.html

But there are more informative older ones, which would be helpful for a new player.

Your best bet is to check out the egosoft forums. Very helpful.

Ha, I start playing X3 reunion again. I also have X3 Terran Conflict...but one game at a time.

In X3, you can be a trader (buy low, sell high), miner (mine asteroids), pirate, police and whatever you can think of. You can also own a fleet of ships (huge capital ships or tiny scout ships) and factories.

I do every few months, right after forgetting what I'm doing. LOL
I've never gotten to the point of building stations, which I regret. It's pretty fun following the story and horsing around some on your own. You can beat down ships just short of destroying them, the crew bails and then you can leave your ship to claim it. You can set your fleet to automated duties while you do your thing, but that's about the point I get sidetracked with something else and I don't learn to make good use of that.

Get the cockpit mod if you go with X3:TC, see the big sticky thread for info. I throw in some cheats sometimes too, to get moving again. There's a nice menu style mod for that.
I don't bother with my flightstick, the game is better suited to kb/m IMO.

The videos show you what you can do pretty well. Plus the cool soundtrack.
These are for X3:R, but same thing. TC has far better controls than the mess of menus from R.

You should give X3 Albion Prelude a shot

Can someone tell me how combat plays out? Do you just click to select a target and start firing ala-EVE or do you have to aim ala-Freespace?

Do your crews level up?

I'm also guessing there is a storyline that you can follow... so is this kinda like "Skyrim in space"?

auto-aim software will aim for you, to a limited extent. there are two modes of fire- straight ahead, and aimed via the mouse cursor. if you are good with programming your HOTAS, you can set it up to do both, which is handy.

think your marines can get better, but just for boarding other ships. not sure about crews.

re: skyrim, sort of/kinda

pepper, have you tried the Poisoned Paranid start in either TC or AP? Nice reward when you complete the mini plot for it.

No, I haven't- might have to

Such a good game, my only warning is that it can be a real monster to get used to and learn. There are some good guides thathelp a lot though. It is definitely worth the effort. My current game I have a decent couple of factories running and some freighters configured to sell my product and do general trading. You can do some pretty cool stuff.

It really is a freeform game that you can really play how you want.

If you get frustrated at the sstart, just post here for some help.

I have played since 1999 with X-BTF and have follwed every game they have. in my X3 Reunion I have literally a year in time which is about 5 months in game. I just restarted a X3 TC game after 6 months of playing it. The games are kinda sand box which I hate to say can keep me going for a while.
If not familiar there is no multiplayer and combat to me is easy. The auto aim software makes hitting rather easy. however you have to ahve a good ship or they can pop yea in no time,lol.
The community is a lot like here, folks have lots of knowledge and for the most part rather friendly. They get #%&*$# when yea post in worng forums after being told several times,lol. There is lots of guides to explain everything so any questions the guides will help.


Bullet

As a long time Wing Cmdr/Freespace/X-Wing/TIE Fighter player, I found myself unable to get into X3. Granted I only tried for a few hours, but it seemed very different from what I was used to and couldn't make the leap with the time I had.

Just as a contrasting view, since I don't know your background and what you might expect.



The Jedi Master

Yeah, it is not a straight-ahead shoot 'em up. Then again, one of the great things about the game, especially TC and Albion Prelude, is that it allows you to play it how you want to play it. I ignore the empire/station building component entirely, and focus more on combat, a few basic trades, site seeing (it's a gorgeous game), and exploration (abandoned ships, etc)


PS- I think it plays MUCH better with a full HOTAS. Like a flight sim, really- all the axes of movement, track ir, and ability to use throttle, stick, and rudder pedals. I rarely use the keyboard or mouse. The key is to have a good HOTAS profile. I have a CH HOTAS and use the x3 profile on CH Hanger from Abe Besson, though I've modified it to suit my needs.

I started play TC last year after I found it in the bargain box. Great potential and can be addictive.

I only scratched the surface and installed only a few mods. Was exploring and slowly building up my ship.

Then my SSD died and my save-games were gone. ATM I`m too frustrated to start again.

Hmmm... the lack of multiplayer is really disappointing though...