TC vs AP

[Red-Spot]

Have been toying with TC and love the crap out of the game. Had started AP before but only recently really put in the effort of starting a true game.
Am loving the war and the new light M7's. Not too fond of the lack of being able to supercharge ships speeds (used a 400 speed Eclipse in TC).

That being said. Is it me or is AP littered with AI? There seems no need to support the AI, no need for ST/LT/UT's, heck I can hardly even level ST's without putting some of my factories in a sector as some extra workload for the ST's as else they never grow. Kind of makes me feel there is no place for me in the game except for the war.

Is this the standard of the game or is it just the first days or so, does the games flow change when the war ends? Seems there are a load of pirates as well, all blue and none seem to get attacked on route. Bonus is that P-stations do seem to remain at their original location.
Simply put, is AP mostly about fighting the war and doing combat and best to ignore the rest, or will the game settle a bit and allow the other aspects of the X games to shine eventually or not?

(As is I am playing both games very similar and find combat in TC somewhat lacking, not to mention setting up carriers. AP seems to take my money in factories and traders but they seem not worth it, feels like I should have just saved up for an M2 and do the war instead.)

[Cycrow]

Its strange you mention Supercharging ships, as its TC that lacks pandora tunings, Reunion and AP both have them

[Red-Spot]

In TC you can supercharge speed and rudder but cargo has been hardcoded/limited. In AP it all has been hardcoded/limited.

Spoiler

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Use the old 'I have HEPTs' on my ships while a CLS2 trader takes them away while I have the equipment tab open-cheat.
Some others can be mentioned, but AP does a good job taking them away. In turn you can easily generate money with the stock exchange, without cheating.

[Cycrow]

Actually its the same in AP, its just that you cant do it via certain exploits anymore. You can still do it via scripting, for example the turbo booster does exactly that.

but you can also find pandora creates that you can collect which gives you additional tunings.

certain starts also have overtuned ships you can get

[Red-Spot]

Yeah, I guessed so seeing the turbo boost and was mildly wondering how the pandora's would go about it (global script?).
But I am playing 'unmodified' (almost feels dirty to type it out loud ).

[Cycrow]

Pandora are just flying wares that you can collect, they just contain engine and rudder tunings, and are applied when you collect them

they are in an unmodified game. There is a fixed number randomly spawned in the universe, and additional ones can be found at random in unfocused sectors

[jlehtone]

That being said. Is it me or is AP littered with AI? There seems no need to support the AI, no need for ST/LT/UT's, heck I can hardly even level ST's without putting some of my factories in a sector as some extra workload for the ST's as else they never grow. Kind of makes me feel there is no place for me in the game except for the war.

I disagree.

First, there are two parts to the "AI" (NPC, I presume). The NPC Stations and the Free Traders.

Are there enough NPC Traders in X3AP to haul efficiently all the wares? Definitely not. There are plenty of trade run opportunities. (Alleged) Quantity of ships does not cover up the lack of quality that we have learned to trust in the gerbils.

Does the War affect NPC economy? I have not noticed.

Are there so few NPC Stations that a Trade Mk3 has nothing to do? Not true. Empire's Edge can still train almost non-stop.

Are there so many NPC Stations that there is no shortage of any ware? Not really.
(1) You stated that you have to add Factories for your ST. Sounds like a shortage.
(2) NPC Stations are good for profitsss. More places to buy cheap stuff from.

Do the NPC need "support"? They have never needed it. They have never depended on credits. Face it, the player is insignificant.

The only one who needs anything is the player. Credits are cheap, but Trade Mk3 does contribute towards the Trade Rank. Whether one needs that Rank is debatable.

[Red-Spot]

Pandora are just flying wares that you can collect, they just contain engine and rudder tunings, and are applied when you collect them

they are in an unmodified game. There is a fixed number randomly spawned in the universe, and additional ones can be found at random in unfocused sectors

I know what they are, but since adding extra tunings via the equipmentmenu does not work I presumed they had to be added via script.

I disagree.

(I tend to name them "AI" as NPC stands for non-player controlled and I do not feel like I can not control the NPC traders (at the very least influence). I love to nitpick btw )

I am currently in a game that has literally got the argon core sectors saturated as well as the boron ring around those sectors as well as the paranid core cluster. I.o.w. the entire north-west corner of my uni has been saturated, to me that indicates more than enough traders. I am not talking nearly filled up, but filled up so that every station will be visited by 3-5 'NPC''s cause they have nothing else to do.
The reason I am looking at the war is cause albion has little to offer and the war-sectors are completely devoid of stations. Seems most of the traders have gravitated to the west part of the uni and beyond wacking half the 'NPC' trade-fleet I do not know how to restore any sort of balance/opportunity without massive investments.

Empire Edge is a mere single sector that is not the same in your game as is in my game. The reason I am asking here. In my game there is no profit to be made in EE. Argon Prime has become a better nursery, simply by putting down a simple string of stations (Solar M, Cattle M, Cahoona M) with a CAG on buying crystals.
So I can buy all I want, and pretty cheap as well, I just can not sell it. As soon as a station runs out of energy up to the point they will spend average credits there are already 3-4 energy traders on route to it, same for food and minerals. Mk3's start buying wares when 'NPC"s are already on route .. and make me loose money.

Guess I'll just restart this game and see what happens in the next. Cant say I find playing this game bothersome so who cares about a little game-time lost

Edit: ps .. the player sucks .. worst faction eva!