Terran Conflict X3; Extreme Addiction!

[Lionheart]

Oh man....

What have I done..

I bought a simple SciFi game that could take my mind off of things in the evenings... EEEEEKS!

This is one awesome game! or is it a sim? I have traveresed so many solar systems, just out of curiosity. I have been learning to make money on their shipping, (I am a merchant pilot with a ship that hauls frieght).

I can only tell you that I am massively fascinated....



Bill

[mike_cyul]

That actually looks pretty cool. May have to give it a try!



Mike

[Lionheart]

That actually looks pretty cool. May have to give it a try!



Mike

Mike,

Beware... This is a huge game or sim or whatever it is. The amount of learning you have to do is pretty huge. For a week, I was only booting it up and playing with controls and things, trying to figure things out. I am now at the point that I am getting some things working, doing some discoveries into other star systems, learning how to trade, etc.

There are different things you can do, like being a fighter pilot, pirate, trader, manufacturer, running things, etc. There are so many directions to take that at first it leaves you sort of lost.

You have been warned...


Right now, I have been going through the jump rings, discovering the new systems and sectors, finding manufacturing plants and things. The NAV system doesnt show you every detail till you are right up on things, so I have to cruise up to rings to find out where they jump you too, get near fascilities to find out what they do, etc.

I have been scanned quite a few times now for illegal cargo. The Argon fighter pilot police force are in quite a few places. You can haul illegal things like 'space fuel' (whiskey?) which is illegal to be traded (I dont know why), and so if you are caught with that or other things, you are out of business.

So far, I am trading fuel cells to a fascility in the Argon Prime sector, from a manufacturer in the 'The Wall' sector.


The ship in the screenshots in the foreground is my baby. I need to get the hull lengthened (cargo sections added) so I can trade more and then make more. There are a ton of things you can do to them at the upgrade fascilities. There are also cheat scripts at the X3 website. I havent installed those yet.


Pretty wild...


Oh.. The planets and asteroids are amazing. They look real like you cannot believe. Some planets are absolutely beautiful and different from Earth and have these cloud systems over them that you can barely see move gently accross the landscape below. I found one planet last night that looked like Mars a bit, but lighter colored soil throughout. It had a red dwarf sort of sun, so everything was reddish.



Bill

[gigabyte]

Hey Bill, I see you are hooked...lol It is an amazing game/sim/world of it's own. Once you build up enough credits, get into Asteroid Mining, that is a BLAST (in more ways than one...lol).

I see from the Screen shots you have the Terrian Conflict, that is the latest, I have been messing with the previous version X3 Reunion, almost the same as far as I can tell, the interface is slightly upgraded, and the story line is expamded, but the gameplay is pretty much the same from what I have read so far. I must get to EB Games and pick up Terrin Conflict, I never tire of this game and that looks like the next logical step to me.

I have been playing off and on for a couple of years, I charted almost 100 systems and thought I had most of them, then I came across a map another player posted of the systems he had charted... I am not even close. There are jump gates that are very hard to find and some that I think do not appear until you reach a certain level of wealth or "renown", I am not sure? I am at around 5.5 million credits and I am shooting for 20 so I can buy a couple of ships and hire some good pilots as wingmen to help me, then I will do some serious Bounty Hunting, or maybe a little Privateering, who knows.

I have to say it is an amazing game, you can choose many different paths, and the whole experience is totally different depending on the path you choose.

I am playing the role of Explorer right now, just a short diversion from my regular character, quite fun actually, and it is very different from the grind of the trade routes.

[FengZ]

looks like a cool game/sim bill! Hmm....soooo tempting. Do you ever see people (not other players, but AI pilots walking around in lounges, etc) in this game? Or just outsides of spaceships? Cuz it'll be cool to dock your ship and go for a drink at the local cantina....chat it up w/ some crusty fighter jocks...

I too have been addicted playing another game called Fallout 3. I bought it last week....and man, the game is just too awesome. Games such as Fallout 3 and Oblivion (same developer) are completely open for the community to "mod." (way more than FS). And a lot of the content is super professional (and all free). So it's best to wait about 2 years before playing. Cuz now, these games have been completely modded by the community; from re-balancing them to adding thousands of new content.... i haven't even booted up FS9 for 3 weeks now...

-feng

[gigabyte]

Feng, there are no station shots or interaction in Reunion, I am not sure about Terran Conflict but I don't think so, you dock at different stations and you get little Comm Windows where you interact with the AI characters. I was kind of hoping for that type of thing as well, but the only space sims where I have seen that so far are the old Wing Commander/Privateer series, Star Lancer, and Dark Star One, there were a couple of short cut scenes in Freelancer. I really like the off ship aspect of those games, and if that was added to X3 it would be close to the holy grail of sims for this old space dog.

Still in all it is a great experience and very wide open, there is a huge modding community, I have messed with a few of the Mods, but I am not quite at the level of most of those players so I don't bother too much with that I just enjoy prowl;ing around space exploring.

[djscoo]

looks like a cool game/sim bill! Hmm....soooo tempting. Do you ever see people (not other players, but AI pilots walking around in lounges, etc) in this game? Or just outsides of spaceships? Cuz it'll be cool to dock your ship and go for a drink at the local cantina....chat it up w/ some crusty fighter jocks...

I too have been addicted playing another game called Fallout 3. I bought it last week....and man, the game is just too awesome. Games such as Fallout 3 and Oblivion (same developer) are completely open for the community to "mod." (way more than FS). And a lot of the content is super professional (and all free). So it's best to wait about 2 years before playing. Cuz now, these games have been completely modded by the community; from re-balancing them to adding thousands of new content.... i haven't even booted up FS9 for 3 weeks now...

-feng

I just finished Fallout 3 on the Xbox, I liked it so much I got Oblivion off of Steam. You can tell they are both Bethesda. They know their RPGs, they actually made a Pirates of the Caribbean RPG for that was really good (and oft overlooked). You started off as an apprentice with a schooner and could work your way up to cargo ships and massive warships. There was a main storyline but you could also just explore and discover islands, trade goods between islands, or become a pirate or a privateer. It had a karma system like Fallout. The best part was that you had full control of everything, sailing, battle, and then you could go into town and talk to people and buy stuff.

[Lionheart]

Hey guys,

Nope.. Cant wonder around talking to people in X3-TC. That would be cool...

Man Giggabyte! Over 100 worlds!!!?? I am up to 18 systems and freaking out that I find more.. over 100???? dang.. Double dang..


So many wild things to discover. I watched a dog fight for a moment between AI before I went back through a gate, (run away, run away...!) I am not heavily shielded presently, nor heavily armed.. More like a scout.

In a few ways, its like a game I used to play long ago. I think it was called the Puritan? About an early European trader in the year 1200, I think.. 1200 or 1400.. 1402 AD? Great sim. Different music for different docks/towns. Different architectures, etc.. Same systems of trade and all, pirates, etc..


Bill

[FengZ]

Feng, there are no station shots or interaction in Reunion, I am not sure about Terran Conflict but I don't think so, you dock at different stations and you get little Comm Windows where you interact with the AI characters. I was kind of hoping for that type of thing as well, but the only space sims where I have seen that so far are the old Wing Commander/Privateer series, Star Lancer, and Dark Star One, there were a couple of short cut scenes in Freelancer. I really like the off ship aspect of those games, and if that was added to X3 it would be close to the holy grail of sims for this old space dog.

Still in all it is a great experience and very wide open, there is a huge modding community, I have messed with a few of the Mods, but I am not quite at the level of most of those players so I don't bother too much with that I just enjoy prowl;ing around space exploring.

thanks for the info. Yeah, the latest Freelancer had the "space lounge" thing, but you can tell that the developer just copy/pasted them all over the place. Everyone says the same thing and assigns the same missions...no matter what factions they were part of. I got bored of Freelancer after about 3 days...

this game does seem appealing. I love space exploration games...makes you feel so small in a vast universe. Might have to buy it now. It looks like EVE Online...but single player?

-feng

[Brian_Gladden]

I just wish that whoever was developing the long rumored Firefly/Serenity MMOG could get it approved by Fox and Universal and released.


Brian

[Lionheart]

Feng,

When you were asking if you see anyone else out there, by meaning other ships as well, there are tons of AI ships.. Tons.. While you are docked at a station or factory fascility, ships will come in and dock next to you. There are tons of little fighters and private ships (civilian) flying around, as well as naval dreadnaughts and small and large frieghters.

When you come up to a jump ring (giant stargate looking structure, 4 in each system, called East, West, North, and South gates, and each goes to a certain ring in another system), as you get close to it, these approach lights go off. If someone is going through the other side, it reverses. The rings are always going off from all the traffic going through them.

I went through one right last night, and stayed in front of it for a moment. Bad move. Another ship warped through and came out right next to me. Almost rammed me. So remember to get clear of it as you come out.

When you blow up, its game over, no saves. So all your hard work is gone and you start over from scratch. Well, there is saves, but only when you dont explode. You must go to a station and dock to save your level.

There was a huge dreadnaught naval ship that exploded under me at a ring last night. I wonder if a ship came through and collided with it? There was nothing else around it, so thats all I can think that it was. Giant sections of that thing were flying past me when it went up, lol...

Supposedly I have 2 ships, so I have to find out how to jump to the other and check it out. The freighter is a bit slow, sluggish. I would be curious what it would be like to fly through several gates in a nice little fighter, doing close fly-bys past all the huge space stations. That can be tricky as the stations sort of drift, some rotate.


The hard part, for me, is not getting tempted by all the gates. It seems that each gate has at least one gate to a new system, and at least 2 gates to systems you have already been too. 4 Gates to a system, each linked to other systems, only once, so its a netted network of single jumps per system. So to get to a system on the other side of the Universe (see the Universe map in the game), you would then do a series of ring jumps to get to the other side of your discovered space. Also, some gates are hidden. I spent one day looking for one gate in a sector, (called the Hole, all green like a green nebula). I figured out if you can find other systems to that link to 'The Hole' or 'a missing Gate', you can then get there and find the Gate and it is saved on your Nav computer.


Oh, and your maps are only going to show what you have found, and you must come close to the objects to find out what they are, and some are not acknowledged, like enemy federation craft, and I think pirates..

One system I found last night had a bunch of abandoned, rusted, burned up dead ships in it. I slowed past one, and it was half blown up, reddish in color. My onboard computer registered it as spacecraft debris.



Bill

[gigabyte]

Oh Bill, you are just getting to the good stuff, you can easily switch to your other ship, just doc at a station, then open the Pilot Menu, select "Property", and a menu will appear listing all your posessions. Select your other ship (which is operating on AI following you ) and tell it to Dock at the station with you. Once it is docked you should see the Change Ships Button go active, hit that and poof you are transported to your other ship - it should be a Buster, great little all purpose ship. If you installed the bonus pack (not a cheat file a bonus pack) there is a transporter on that which will allow you to change ships in space, you have to be close but it works. Once you start playing with the pilot Menu you can learn to tell your freighter to fock and trade with a station, buying something then have it go off somewhere else and sell it, while you take a little "Explore", if all goes well your freighter will be waiting at the last station when you get back.

Some of the controls and menus may be slightly different in Terran Conflict but the game play looks close.

[Lionheart]

Oh Bill, you are just getting to the good stuff, you can easily switch to your other ship, just doc at a station, then open the Pilot Menu, select "Property", and a menu will appear listing all your posessions. Select your other ship (which is operating on AI following you ) and tell it to Dock at the station with you. Once it is docked you should see the Change Ships Button go active, hit that and poof you are transported to your other ship - it should be a Buster, great little all purpose ship. If you installed the bonus pack (not a cheat file a bonus pack) there is a transporter on that which will allow you to change ships in space, you have to be close but it works. Once you start playing with the pilot Menu you can learn to tell your freighter to fock and trade with a station, buying something then have it go off somewhere else and sell it, while you take a little "Explore", if all goes well your freighter will be waiting at the last station when you get back.

Some of the controls and menus may be slightly different in Terran Conflict but the game play looks close.

Awesome awesome awesome!!!

Many thanks Mike! I will be checking that out tonight. I didnt think it was that easy.

One thing I want to check out is automated trading.


Bill

[djscoo]

I have succumbed to peer pressure...it's downloading on steam right now.

[Lionheart]

DJScoo,

Just note that you will probably spend a couple of days figuring things out, so beware..

Get the SEMI engine drive, and use J key (keyboard) to use it. This basically speeds up your craft when traversing a system.

To buy things, you need to make money. If you do the freighter, you can buy Ore in the Heron Nebula, and sell it back in Argon Prime to the weapons manufacturing fascilities. It is a good profit margin from what I have found. I could be wrong. Its better then trading light power cells.




Mike/Giggabyte,


I got into the Discoverer! Wunderbar! lol....

Cool looking little craft. Sort of a mix between a 57 Chevy and General Geavis' personal launch craft.



Bill