[X3TC] Nostalgic Argon (Vanilla v3.2b) - experiences, observations and maybe bug?

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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donzi
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[X3TC] Nostalgic Argon (Vanilla v3.2b) - experiences, observations and maybe bug?

Post by donzi » Mon, 30. Jul 12, 19:20

This is my second game start with TC, did the Terran start the first game.

Still trying to get over the hump. I'm really poor. Early on capped to easy ships that flew into Argon Prime or close buy. Luckily one was a Harrier Raider.

All money, mainly from scavenging for scraps, went to getting the buster a bit more workable -- velocity and tiny bit of cargo. Rest into the harrier.
The buster starting 1x 1MJ shield and 2x IRE lasted until I got to Omicron Lyrae, as I funneled required Cr to get the harrier speeded up and just flew it around to reveal sectors.

At this point I had a working fleet of:
1 Buster 3x 5MJ, 2x PAC w/various software and life support system
1 Harrier Raider, 2x 1MJ, 4x IRE

The Harrier seemed to be a useful wingman and useful as a fast tender ship to dock/save. The other 2 ships (M5 bare hulls) are just stored for later upgrading as money permits.

After doing Terran plot up to Terran Recon/New Ground point after getting the M5 I have to lay this one to rest for a while. Flying in Terran space is so painfully long at 175m/s.

One thing that was confusing is that during the Terran missions I was always having the 'target enemy' (SHIFT + T) lock onto the Terran missles. What a PITA. Have no idea why it was doing this but it interfeared with fighting the Xenon pretty badly.

IIRC this was considered a 'normal' start. Seemed a bit of a challenge, perticularly since I left Argon prime very early and have don't virtually no buying selling between stations. Figure I could have rampped up cash a little faster if I'd have used the Buster for hauling freight early on. I did miss out on some decent M size loot also since I was using the harrier for exploration.

I suppose this is 'normal' rated since it seems to have all main plots available.. Going to begin the Goner plot now until I see a reasonable stopping point. Hope to boost my holdings of ~1200cr a little. I think a jumpdrive will help get me over the hump. The last required purchase of 2x PAC cleaned me out.

Sure wish I'd have stumbled on an Arrow very early but the harrier does make it bearable (I unbind SETA in my games).

It'd help if I could tell more easily if a taxi run would be workable with the harrier + life support. Think so far have only found 1 Teladi willing to travel. Rest either way too many passengers or wouldn't get in the cargo hold. ;-)

X3TC 3.2B

Nanook
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Re: [X3TC] Nostalgic Argon (Vanilla v3.2b) - experiences, observations and maybe bug?

Post by Nanook » Mon, 30. Jul 12, 20:04

donzi wrote:...
One thing that was confusing is that during the Terran missions I was always having the 'target enemy' (SHIFT + T) lock onto the Terran missles. What a PITA. Have no idea why it was doing this but it interfeared with fighting the Xenon pretty badly.
All missiles except your own are considered 'hostile' by the game mechanics and will be targeted as such. This is normal. Although it can be annoying, I agree.
IIRC this [Nostalgic Argon] was considered a 'normal' start...
NA is meant as a re-creation of the X-Treme start in X2. As such, it should be considered quite hard, even if the description may say otherwise. This start was added in a patch due to popular demand. :)
Have a great idea for the current or a future game? You can post it in the [L3+] Ideas forum.

X4 is a journey, not a destination. Have fun on your travels.

donzi
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Post by donzi » Mon, 30. Jul 12, 20:15

Ah, thanks for the information. I can't recall ever noticing this missle thing before. Kind of a surprise to me. Do you know if this is the case with X3R too?

..maybe just that I've not had ally missles in my face so much and never noticed.

I so far am quite happy with the NA start. Demanded exploration to get to Terran plot and starts close to familiar and well clustered, usefull sectors.

Well, I forgot about the goner.. lol Won't be following up that one with a fleet like mine.

Forgot to mention on the nice early find, the harrier raider -- very useful ship if can keep from being hit by area of effect weapons. The built in triplex and Flt Cmd Mk 1 and 2 is quite helpful both for player and wingman roles.

vradchuk
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Post by vradchuk » Mon, 30. Jul 12, 20:38

What is "Vanilla v3.2b"? The latest patch was 3.2, wasn't it?

vradchuk
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Post by vradchuk » Tue, 31. Jul 12, 09:55

Found the announcement of Steam 3.2b on 12 Jul 12.

donzi
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Post by donzi » Tue, 31. Jul 12, 17:58

Hi, sorry was playing. Also, since you had "vanilla" in the question -- in case you also was wondering about that..

Vanilla = no bonus pack or third party scripts or mods.

SilentOmega
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Post by SilentOmega » Wed, 13. Nov 13, 19:09

Hi guys,

didn't want to clutter the forum so I searched some relevant thread and rather post here. New pilot, glad to be here and again Hello everyone.

I'm completely new to the series. Although I knew about it for a long time I never really was in such mental state do dive in due to work and time and other obligations. Well that's changed now so I thought I'm going to try this out and with Albion Prelude right away.

Just to let you know I'm an immersion orthodox player. Big Silent Hunter fan, recently Euro Truck Simulator 2 - just before you tell me folks - I'm not comparing anything here, right?

Well to get to the point - WHAT A FANTASTIC GAME this is. Just flying around doing nothing, fly close by objects and stations, observing other ships and being amazed how inferior buster is compare those transport giants there, love it.

Let me assure you I've read tons of stuff around many different forums (and I'm still reading) which is actually a must isn't it since there's no in-game tutorial (not even mentioning the flight school). At least I've read the pdf version which I did find helpful, but still nothing compared to what you've all been doing for all those years having answers for MANY questions. Thank you for that.

Well now I'm in for some 40+ hours of gameplay and still enjoying it very much. I dare to say I've learned about the core game mechanics. Buy for less, sell for more means everything here, right? Improve reputation here and there, improve your vessel, build your own factory/mine/anything, join it together so the complex is self sifficient, manage your own fleet (I'm obviously way far away from that), be a trader or be a bad guy - it all make sense to me and I love the idea. Game for years to come which is a massive achievement.

I picked Nostalgic Argon start. Going through the start menu, checking difficulty I thought this will be ok. And let me stress here it is ok for me. I've read about 1000 times that Humble Merchant is way to go, but I read that after I started my game and I'm telling you I'm not going to revert anything here. I AM A NOSTALGIC ARGON from now on :roll:

However as you can imagine I found out pretty soon it's not the easiest start out there. With that small Buster ship and 1.000 Cr I realized this is going to be a challenge. Which again I do not mind at all.

Like I said I'm big immersion fan so just cruising from the power plant with 83 units of cells (hey I improved the cargo bay from 65 units to 85, right?), nobody knows me, no one cares, just get that delivered and get lost. Sometimes, when I'm in the mood I make myself a coffee and travel in real time which is great experience. I did realized this may take ages to earn some cash to be able to purchase something bigger, such as Mercury. But again people, don't get me wrong here I like this fact that I have to make my way up all the way from the bottom. Got lucky yesterday, scavanged some containers with missiles, if I remember correctly two of them where some guided ones (bear with me if I don't mention the exact type, still learning, same with the actual lore of the whole series) so I sold them straight away gaing some 60.000 Cr to those 20.000 Cr I've already earned.

Got the Trading System Extension, planning to get Best Buy/Best Sell software for my ship, my plan is to get my hands on that Mercury vessel and start making bit more Cr per run, improve cargo bay and start making even more.

I do not want to visit Stock Market, at least not yet. Correct me if I'm wrong here, but I read the Stock Market was added to AB and is not present in TC. Well although I'm completely new to me it feels like a money maker for those who want to jump in right away with some decent cash. I don't want to do that intentionally. Later in the game sure, but not now. I'm simply enjoying digging my way up, because I already do see the light at the end of a tunnel :)

I'd have few questions though, I guess they were answerred many times, but still I'd really need some solid confirmation just for myself (selfish I know). And maybe you'll tell me they're totally stupid, but I just want to know everything about this series.

1) yesterday in Paranid territory I witnessed their huge cargo shooting down a pirate. And that cargo suddenly dropped few containers with missiles. So I collected them and that's how I got that boost to my current cash. Just want to ask if this is normal that ships drop such containers, or if it's some bug? Because I don't want to earn my Cr because of a bloody bug, I want it to be the result of my work obviously.

2) So far I've only encountered very few pirates in certain sectors, one even got aim on me, but was shot down by the police ship, which I was glad for, because I do know I'd be no match for him. Is low or close to none pirate activity also normal in early stage of the game when I'm active mostly in sectors around Aragon Prime and only yesterday I scratched Palanid territory for the first time?

3) Found couple of different answers so I'd like to ask again. Is there a main plot in Nostalgic Argon scenario? I know already there has to be certain rank in trade/combat combined with reputation and amount of credits, possibly vessels at player's disposal. I'm just looking for a solid confirmation that I will or will not be able to trigger the main plot. I've read the main plot is not such a big deal, but I just want to experience everything since I have the rest of my life to do that :)

4) What does Global Frien-Foe Setting do, please?

Well as you may have noticed I'm not asking about the controls, or all the menu possibilities since I dare to say most of it is clear to me now. I'm not being cocky here, thing is I'm not stupid :)

Anyone who read that far I thank you very much, any help is appreciated. Just got impressed with this so much that I had to let it all out. Like I said at the begining I've fully and gratefully accepted Nostalgic Argon start, I'm not really looking for suggestions I should have chosen something else to start with. I have a plan and it's working out for me, slowly, but it is and I'm enjoying it thoroughly.

Sorry for such novel, my future posts will be shorter, I promise. Thanks a lot to all of you folks.

SilentOmega out.

Nanook
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Post by Nanook » Wed, 13. Nov 13, 19:13

It's generally better to 'clutter up the forum' with a new thread rather than dredge up one that's a year and a half old. It avoids lots of confusion that way. I'm going to lock this now, but feel free to cut and paste your post into a brand new thread, if you wish. And welcome to the forums.
Have a great idea for the current or a future game? You can post it in the [L3+] Ideas forum.

X4 is a journey, not a destination. Have fun on your travels.

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