[Nanaki]

Im suprized this game hasnt been mentioned on these forums yet. Its been out for awile. I found it while going through my games. My computer couldnt run it well when I first got it, but now that I upgraded my system, im going to give it a try again.

EGOSOFT · Games · X³: Reunion · Info

[Jump]

We announced it when it went live and it's in our game link database so it indeed has been discussed.

[Nanaki]

*blinks* Must have missed it, I saw a thread that had a rather long list of games in the genre and X3 was not listed.

[Jump]

Well, if you look in our News forum that posts the articles on the front page you will find X3 announcements going all the way back it's first announcement. Plus if you look at the top of the page you will see our game links link. Plenty of games in there, feel free to add any that aren't.

Either way, feel free to discuss it.

[Harvester]

If he does manage to get it running, and likes it, we may never see him again. I spent waaaaaay too much time immersed in that game. You can spend months amassing an armada (if you don't just get 10 universe traders and leave SETA on overnight, I find that akin to cheating >:P) and building complexes to fund said armada. There is nothing more exicting than entering a Xenon sector with an extermination fleet (well, a Ka'ahk fleet will just about distroy anthing it comes in contact with, unless your great at managing your fleet.)

But anyway, I got by copy around new years last year, and never really touched it untill last summer. By then all the bugs that the game shipped with were mostly worked out.

[Duodecimal]

In my game of X3 i cleared out the pirate bases in what were originally the Xenon sectors form X:BTF. My own Headquarters is now sitting in Brennan's Triumph, with a pair of enormous distilleries in Elana's Fortune funding my growing empire along with 20 Universal Traders.

My next project was going to be setting up another big distillery in Hatikvah's Faith. All these will go towards building sufficient cash flow to create a series of factories to feed equipment and raw materials to my Headquarters, which currently has queued up several unique ships (like the Arrow) for disassembly so that I can build them myself.

[Nanaki]

My inital problem was getting past the whole 'Im an Argon M4 with two pop-guns and barely any cargo space, and I make 50 credits per cargo run' part. Not hard, just mind-boggling boring.

I just updated to a brand new patch and officially recognized mod that adds over 90 ships, 90 new systems, dozens of new components. The biggest addition being the Terran race, complete with it's own systems, ships, stations, and weapons. The Valhalla (The Terran M0) is a beautiful ship.

[Duodecimal]

My big problem with that add-on is that it shows the cheater's "Modified" flag on your game if you use it. It's not official.

At least it's not as bad as the horrid watermark they stuck on your screen back in X2.

[Nanaki]

Doesnt bother me, I dont think anyone gets too fussy over the 'Modified' tag anyway (especially since most people probably use mods in some way shape or form)

I started a new game, I have a Silicon Mine in Ore Belt (thats made me a tidy profit) but an energy cell shortage in Argon space is really cramping demand. Next station im going to build is probably going to be an SSP, but, it costs about 20 million for an XL SSP.

I just explored the Xenon Core regions, although, one of the core sectors is bugged (your instagibbed as soon as you jump in due to a really bad bug) which means I cant explore the rest of the core (as well as the two Xenon Grid sectors). I plan on writing a script tommorow that reveals the coords of the two Xenon sectors adjacent to the bugged sector, as well as Earth (The Terran sectors are not linked to the grid network) and two unlinked (No Gates), empty sectors. Those sectors are technically 'disconnected' from the gate network so I gotta use Jumpdrives to get there.

[Karash]

I have this game but find it very difficult to learn (not flight, just mechanics)...any helpful hints you guys want to throw out? I tried to read some of the tutorials on their forums but they all sucked tbh.

[Nanaki]

The early game is just retarded with it's grind. The problem is that you have to grind high enough to buy a Merchant ship (Such as a Mercury).

The start 'Humble Merchant' already gives you a Mercury and a Discoverer, so your able to skip past the worst part of the grind. You still have to ship stuff around, though. Buy new Mercuries as soon as you can (but ALWAYs keep at least 100-200K in the bank, 400-500K later on), and try to get a station up too. I recommend a Silicon mine in Ore Belt, its cheap (1.1 million) and it generates quick profits. Theres a XL SSP (Solar Power Plant) which means energy is cheap. Ore Belt also has some high-yield silicon asteroids which make perfect targets. The only problem is the Pirate Base in the sector, although, the Pirates in Ore Belt are extremely timid (at least in my games).

I ALWAYS Recommend to use your Mercuries to ship stuff. Without shipping stuff you could end up paying 17 credits per energy cell and only get around 500 credits per silicon wafer sold (Each silicon wafer costs 24 energy cells). If you shipped the requirement and product yourself, you will likely be buying energy cells for 12-14 credits a cell and selling silicon wafers for nearly 750 a wafer.

Use software on your AI-driven Mercuries. You need MK3 Trade Software (Available at the Terracorp HQ) for Universal/Sector Traders. You need MK1/MK2 Trade software, MK1 Nav software, and Trading System Extension for Commercial Agents. Set up your mercuries that are shipping stuff to your station to use Commercial Agents. However, you will have to manually sell stuff from your station until one of your Commercial Agents levels to Auxilliary Courier (level 2, basically). More information about Commercial Agents can be found on Egosoft's site.

Any mercuries that arent shipping stuff to and from your Silicon Mine, should be setup as Universal traders. UTs are basically traders that operate completly on their own, they buy low and sell high. They require no input at all. Basically, they make money for you without you having to give them any iota of attention. Initially, they start out as Sector traders. Sector traders can only trade within the same sector. Home of Light is a good training spot, actually, anywhere where Freighters can ferry stuff between stations in the same sector is a good spot. When your Mercuries reach level 8, they can be assigned as UTs. UTs need MK1 Trade software, MK1 Nav software, 25 Megajoule shield, and MK1 and 2 fight software, and of course MK3 Trade software.

It will take awile to get your empire up and running, but eventually your making a tidy profit. I havent gotten past here, but my next station is probably going to be an XL Solar Plant. Argon Space needs energy cells almost constantly, and if the Argon economy grinds to a halt becasue of energy cell shortages, your silicon wafers dont sell.

More or less, in order to make great profits, you must find places where commods are in high demand, and in shortage, and try to meet that demand. When you get rich enough, I hear Space Fuel Distillaries make tons of money.

When you get to the point where you can spare enough money for a fighter. I recommend the Nova. Its a solid heavy fighter, but most importantly you dont have to grind reputation to get it (If you kept your operations in Argon space, by the time you decide you want a Nova, you should have the rep to buy it) and it has a rear turret.

You can than go out and start shootin stuff. Pirates are a good start, unless your playing XTM, unless they outnumber you significantly, you should be able to take them down. Occasionally enemy pilots will bail their fighters. You can either add these ships to your fleet, or sell them for a nice profit.

Continue building stations to meet demands across the universe. Once your at a point where you are bringing in millions of credits quickly, you can than think about building your own self-sustained complexes. Complexes are basically groups of structures that share resources with eachother that are designed to provide the resources of higher-level commods or starship components. Your going to need Component complexes, especially if you want to equip that new M2 that you just bought.

Capital ships are effectively endgame. Unless your playing XTM, the only use for Capital ships you have is if you happen to either have a Khaak problem or you want to clear Xenon space. Although an M1 is a great mobile base for your squadron of M3s.

If your playing XTM, than things are going to be a lot more interesting. I HIGHLY Recommend getting the Rapid Response script for XTM. Rapid Response is basically, if the Pirates show up at say, an Argon-owned sector, the Argon will throw Rapid response fighters, corvettes, and sometimes Destroyers/Carriers at the pirates. Pirates are actually a real threat (I will almost say unbalanced) and possess Capital ship fleets. Ive seen Pirates invade President's End successfully, but only because the Argon rapid response didnt throw the zerg of Titans/Collossuses into the sector that it usually does.

The Xenon dont change much, although they get a bunch more sectors now. You also have to deal with other threats, as well.

The Khaak occasionally invade, but with Rapid Response, their invasions dont get far before being zerged by the race's capital ships. A Khaak Destroyer is a hell of a lot less fearsome if theres 3 titans and one collossus hammering it.