[X3TC] X-TREME fighter and trader reached, with some player feedback

General discussions about the games by Egosoft including X-BTF, XT, X², X³: Reunion, X³: Terran Conflict and X³: Albion Prelude.

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gnu.beef
Posts: 21
Joined: Mon, 12. Aug 19, 17:51
x3tc

[X3TC] X-TREME fighter and trader reached, with some player feedback

Post by gnu.beef » Sun, 1. Sep 19, 00:59

After 498 hours according to steam and 42 days according to the ingame clock, I was able to reach X-TREME fighter and trader ranks in vanilla X3TC (with bonuspack) on Linux from the Bankrupt Assassin start.

Trading reached first. I think selling food has made the most rank overall. Having a lot of extra NPC stations around the universe from all the 'build stations' missions definitely helped.

Fighting up to Hero 26% was done by just playing normally (plots/missions etc), fighting some Xenons/Khaaks in their sectors using Boreas and Hades. Hero 26% -> X-TREME was done by declaring an all-out war on the Borons and wiping their sectors using Boreas. I did want to use Tyr because I think it is a better M2, but unfortunately due to a still unresolved bug I cannot use some Terran ships.

Final screenshot:
https://i.imgur.com/FUHFeqJ.png

Final pilot stats:
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Final station list:
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Final ship list (a few things were lost in the war; lasertowers and satellites not shown):
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What I liked about this game:
  • Availability of native Linux port on steam. This is by far the most important feature, without it nothing would be possible as I don't use windows
  • Gorgeous graphics. The ships are beautiful. The sectors are stunning. Everything looks so good.
  • Fantastic music in many sectors
  • The scale of things - so many different sectors to visit and things to do
  • Interesting economic system
  • Variety of ships and weapons to try
  • History and lore. I find the sector descriptions and all the encyclopedia entries very interesting.
Things that I think could use some tweaks or changes
  • There should be a way to skip the animation during station placing
  • I would have liked if ships M6 and above had a switch on their main gun battery to toggle between "turret" and "manual" modes
  • I would have liked if every bigship (M7 and above) could dock one fighter and one supply ship (TS). This could be even available as an upgrade (like turboboost) - to add an external, Griffon-style docking port.
  • I think all ships (especially small ships and M6) and stations (especially trading station and eq dock) should have bigger cargo holds
  • Terrans need a frigate-class weapon (CIG/IPG sort of thing)
  • Shadow missiles are too strong
Things that I really disliked
  • I was not able to understand what some plots have asked for me during some stages because the audio briefings cut short (this is probably some bug), so I had to rely on a website (rogueys) to understand what is going on.
  • My biggest issue apart from bugs is that destroyed NPC stations will get indefinitely rebuilt, and NPC ships will always respawn out of nowhere. This removes the possibility to substantially alter the universe, something I expected a sandbox game would have.
  • Ships of all sizes and everything else in general (missiles etc) is too slow. There is probably some reason for this, but I just cannot bring myself to like it.
X3TC (vanilla+bp): X-TREME/X-TREME 2019-08-31
X3AP (vanilla+bp): Opportunist/Harmless

jlehtone
Posts: 21801
Joined: Sat, 23. Apr 05, 21:42
x4

Re: [X3TC] X-TREME fighter and trader reached, with some player feedback

Post by jlehtone » Sun, 1. Sep 19, 18:15

42-08 == 1016 hours. 24-05 (581hours) saved by SETA. Still, 435--500 hours active. Not bad amount of hours per Euro?

IMHO, the Boreas was boring. :split:


X2 had faster ships. There were a lot of discussion when X3R introduced new speed schema. One thing is sure: auto-pilots on fast ships in sector are not pretty.


The game attempts to create impression that you are not alone in space. You can witness one race raiding other's sectors. Ships and stations do get destroyed. Space could get empty. A passive player could end up quite alone. (A warmonger would get there faster.) Terran space is said to easily "dry out economically" in TC. Wrath of GoD or something.

Respawn may not be the most realistic solution. Simple though. I have not seen Rebirth or X4, but presumably at least the X4 has more "dynamics".

Why does shoveling sand out from sandbox seem such a good idea?
Goner Pancake Protector X
Insanity included at no extra charge.
There is no Box. I am the sand.

fig
Posts: 376
Joined: Sun, 19. Nov 06, 13:26
x2

Re: [X3TC] X-TREME fighter and trader reached, with some player feedback

Post by fig » Sun, 22. Sep 19, 08:45

Well done gnu.beef! I'm glad you made it.

When I eventually finish my X2 game, I will make a similar post. There are a few really minor things that I don't like in X2 but the reason I'm still playing is because of all the things that I do like!

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