X2 The Threat

Diche Bach · Post by **Diche Bach** » Tue, 27. Aug 13, 00:01

Recently purchased the Superbox on Steam. Have so far only downloaded and played X2 "The Threat." I am just getting to the system "Brennan's Triumph" where you pick your way through a minefield and search the broken Warpgate control panel.

Does anyone still play this game?

Am I doing myself a disservice by starting at the beginning and trying to play through the X2 storyline to learn the game?

Any mods or anything anyone recommends that would augment a play through of the X2 story?

Hemmingfish · Post by **Hemmingfish** » Tue, 27. Aug 13, 00:29

I started on X2 several years ago and still play it sometimes ( on a new file unfortunately, as I've changed computers since then ). It's pretty great and contains a lot of stuff that the other games removed, such as volumetric nebulae and station interiors.

As for doing the plot to learn the game, yes and no. The part you're up to is still pretty safe, but eventually the plot starts to assume you have a reasonably well-maintained empire and powerful ships at your disposal. If I recall correctly after doing a particular objective it tells you to go build yourself up a bit, so it's not entirely out of the blue.

All in all, it's a solid game and definitely worth your time.

Sabrina Bergin · Post by **Sabrina Bergin** » Tue, 27. Aug 13, 00:32

Not at all.

I remember playing X2 when it first came out and it is enjoyable in its own right and gives you some lore of the X universe and its characters.

As to mods I wouldn't bother the game stands up on it's own and once you've completed the plot it will be time to move onto reunion where it starts to get interesting.

Diche Bach · Post by **Diche Bach** » Tue, 27. Aug 13, 01:45

Have just realized X2 is actually number 2 or 3 in the series. Are X-BTF and X-Tension worth giving a whirl.

As for playing through the X2 plot: I'm not normally much into scripted campaigns, and this one is pretty heavily scripted. The 'chase' where you bring back the scientist from Arteus in an Argon Express was pretty laughable.

Not liking this space mine scenario with the broken gate to Earth. The mines seem to be completely invisible, despite Brett saying "Hey do your sensors say the same as mine. Looks like that lizard has mined around the gate . . ."

I am a huge sandbox fan. How is it to just play the 'X2 Universe" without the plot?

Diche Bach · Post by **Diche Bach** » Tue, 27. Aug 13, 02:56

Ahh! I'm actually liking X-BTF! Like the way it starts

Love that Teladi guy at the beginning LOL

Probably my favorite game ever was System Shock 2, back in the day when it was originally published. Fun to taste some sweet old school gaming.

ADDIT: Hold on just a minute! X-tension Gameplay

There is no overarching plot in X-Tension. It is an open-ended, sandbox game, filled with "microquests".[9] The player is free to choose "to be a trader with an unarmed Argon Lifter... or a bounty-hunter ... armed to the teeth with plasma throwers.";[8] free to choose "where [they] want to go, what to trade in and who to pick on".[7] Egosoft's Managing Director, Bernd Lehahn, described X-Tension as "[a] space game that allows you to live freely in a virtual universe and do whatever you want to do. At least that's our goal."[9]

And with graphics that are a bit more up-to-date. Sounds like X-Tension might be what I'm looking to start with.

Hemmingfish · Post by **Hemmingfish** » Tue, 27. Aug 13, 03:10

Diche Bach wrote:Not liking this space mine scenario with the broken gate to Earth. The mines seem to be completely invisible, despite Brett saying "Hey do your sensors say the same as mine. Looks like that lizard has mined around the gate . . ."

Buy 10 or so mosquito missiles and fire them in the general direction of the gate. That's the typical mine-clearing technique.

Diche Bach · Post by **Diche Bach** » Tue, 27. Aug 13, 03:17

Hemmingfish wrote:
Diche Bach wrote:Not liking this space mine scenario with the broken gate to Earth. The mines seem to be completely invisible, despite Brett saying "Hey do your sensors say the same as mine. Looks like that lizard has mined around the gate . . ."
Buy 10 or so mosquito missiles and fire them in the general direction of the gate. That's the typical mine-clearing technique.

Ah cool thanks.

Is it the thing that looks kinda like a broken gate, but when I target it, one piece says "Nacelle" but then other pieces say "Squash Mine?"

I figured it would say something like "Broken Gate" and I kept edging forward into its vicinity looking for mines and stuff. I had the glowing purple cloud as backlighting all the way so I guess mines really are invisible in the game?

Is there an easy way to find cargo and stuff that is dropped? For example, I have noticed some loose commodities floating around in space a couple times, trade goods and stuff. But I cannot seem to select it as target.

Also, when you blow up a ship, does it ever drop stuff?

I'm finding the combat in this game very difficult even on Easy. I guess that little Argon Discovery just sucks for combat.

I got luck once and blew up one Pirate and I (think) I got about 300,000 credits for that; I had just bought the Argon Police License but ever since I have failed to kill any more pirates so I'm not sure if that was the bounty or not. The other possibility is that the Terracorp had just given me that much in the scene where I go to the Goner Temple and they 'enlist' me to help them find the AP Gunner).

What ship do you guys recommend that is fast, agile, and has good weapons for opportunistically taking on pirates?

It is a fun game. I actually cannot believe that I have never heard of this series. I'll muddle through and get the hang of it. However, learning the controls was in and of itself quite challenging, and even now that I can dock and maneuver quite well, combat is just crazy hard. Probably just a matter of me using a weak shielded ship with weak lasers against pirates that are too strong.

Ormac · Post by **Ormac** » Tue, 27. Aug 13, 05:19

The "Nacelle" should have the information that your looking for so don't damage that any further. If the ship can detect a "Squash Mine" It can shoot at it.

Commodities
If it's out in space it can be targeted from the sector map otherwise you'll have to point your nose at it. and destroyed ships sometimes drop stuff when killed.

Combat
I'd move in to a Bayamon (an M4) which your Discoverer can handle, unless you would rather pay good credits for a ship and then consider an M3 a more permanent home.

Kal Ryper · Post by **Kal Ryper** » Tue, 27. Aug 13, 13:42

I'm still playing X2.

If you haven't already completed this part of the mission, you need to exit your ship and get close to the nacelle. You have a 50/50 of picking the right one first. This is why you need to clear the mines first.

I find the Disco is best for courier missions due to its speed (upgraded to max).
I skipped the M4 and went for an M3, which you can pretty much stay with although it is fun to fly the bigger craft in to combat.

Free Stuff:
When you dock in a station, don't just hit [escape] but fly in and you might (not always) find some discarded cargo canisters floating about. Depending on your ship (what cargo it can carry and cargo space available) you can pick them up to sell on.

Enjoy

Diche Bach · Post by **Diche Bach** » Tue, 27. Aug 13, 15:21

Thank you fellas!

Decided to leave the 'story line' for a while. I'm getting the impression it is a bit like The Elder Scrolls Oblivion main story in that, it leads you to believe it is absolutely essential to completely it immediately; when in fact, you can get past the initial phases and then just leave it interminably?

As I said, I much prefer sandbox than being led along a story on rails so I'll see about figuring out the trade and building parts for a while and when I got some decent stuff head back to the main story.

Thanks on the ship advice!

One last question: I get the impression that your transports must have a "home base" of some sort, meaning they berth in a station that you own, in order for you to be able to give them auto-trade commands?

I've installed several of the trade software modules into my Argon Mercury (the one Elena Kho gives you) but not getting any auto trade command options. Guess I'll just fly it manually until I get a station of my own setup

Diche Bach · Post by **Diche Bach** » Tue, 27. Aug 13, 16:27

So far, I'm finding the trade part of the game rather tedious and exceptionally slow.

I rigged up my Argon Mercury with full engine upgrades, and most of the Trade software (nice that I can now see commodity values without docking). I left my Discovery back in Argon Prime.

So I noticed that the Shield factory in Argon Prime was paying about 177 for ore. I figured I'd go check out ore prices in Home of Light, Ore Belt. and Red Light. Home of Light actually has no mines in it (obvious place for a player mining op I guess), and the best price on ore in Ore Belt was at the "Gamma" mine, 137 and the other mines were selling it for about 170ish.

I figured I'd check the mine in Red Light, but prices were worse, so headed back to Ore Belt. In the couple minutes it had taken me to pop into Red Light and back checking station info from the gate, the price had jumped to about 165!?

Few Questions:

1. Is this type of price volatility typical?

2. If so, how do you make a living as a trader/freighter?

3. My God . . . even with all engine upgrades the Mercury has a top speed fo 45 m/s !? versus the 490 for the Discovery . . .

4. I'm getting the impression that the game expects the player to make dozens of trading runs back and forth, enduring the silly feckless auto-pilot, else to buy the docking computer?

5. Where can I find a "Best Buy" software thing that was talked about in the tutorial? What about the "Docking Computer?" I have yet to see either one of those in any Equipment station.

6. Any general tips on getting a trading business up and running? I'd like to get into this game, but I'm honestly right on the cusp of just shelving it.

7. The time-limits (even playing Easy difficulty) for the courier missions seem _very_ tight. I think out of the 4 I've tried, I managed to make the client happy once, by managing to get him from Argon Prime to a next door system in under 6 mizuras. So I waited to transport him to his next stop (this game seems to involve an exorbitant amount of time spent staring blankly at the screen waitig?) which was also in an adjacent system with a 7 mizuras time limit. As far as I could tell, I was nearly as fast as the first trip, but nonetheless he refused to pay me!

I appreciate a game that doesn't just point you in a direction and tell you "Push space bar to _win!_"

but in this case the tedious game play combined with lack of sufficient in-game clues is making it difficult for me to break into the "fun cruising" stage of the learning curve.

ADDIT: one more question

8. Where do the save files for the Stem version of the game live? Or else, how can I delete them in the in-game dialoque window?

Diche Bach · Post by **Diche Bach** » Tue, 27. Aug 13, 18:30

Ohhhh! Squash MINE, meaning an explosive mine not a mining operation that extracts "squash"

Pal101 · Post by **Pal101** » Tue, 27. Aug 13, 19:26

Where to start.....

I am currently paying x2 as well.

- your mercury is very slow because it is badly damaged when you get it. Go to a wharf and get it mended, it will speed up considerably, especially it you have bought the engine upgrades.

- use seta if you aren't already.

- prices change every time anyone buys or sells at each station. You need to be quick in x2!

- trade silicon - you can buy at about 270 and sell at over 700 if you time it right, and the prices are more stable as the ai doesn't tend to trade it as often.

- get a jump drive from the goner temple in cloudbase southwest. Also get a stock of navigation satellites and deploy them in the sectors where you buy and sell most, so you can check prices from outside the system.

- when you arrive at a station, check the bbs board before you sell, as often you can get a mission to retrieve what you are already carrying. E.g. Collect 49 silicon wafers. The trick is to accept the mission, then sell all of your wares except the stock you need for the mission. This will drop the price at the station, however you can then leave the station and immediately redock, when you will automatically sell the remaining stock to complete the mission at the full price plus the bonus payment that they originally offered. If you complete the mission before you sell the price will fall for your remaining stock.

You can even use this method to sell a station more of a product than they can actually store e.g. Sell them a full stock of silicon then sell some more to complete a mission.

Buying and selling silicon should get you c.1m credits in a couple of hours. You can then start setting up factories and sector/universe traders, which is where the money is.

I recommend downloading the Plug in pack here: http://forum.egosoft.com/viewtopic.php?t=55445

they are not mods, but are approved scripts that are a great help with the empire building process.

Cheers

Pal

Diche Bach · Post by **Diche Bach** » Tue, 27. Aug 13, 20:32

Thanks Pal! That was very kind and helpful of you !

Looking forward to getting those plugins installed, though I'm guessing a few of them might already be in the most recent version of the game from the Steam Superbox?

Any idea where the save files for the Steam version live?

Kal Ryper · Post by **Kal Ryper** » Tue, 27. Aug 13, 21:12

Diche - you can follow the story at your leisure. There are some nag points, where you keep getting reminders. Also, the "enemy" get a bit more persistent so it's a good idea to build up your empire before progressing too far.

Auto-trading - assigning a home base helps the ships "buy for best price" and "sell for best price" when you have your own stations. These ships will assist the running of the station.

Ship speeds - as mentioned you need to repair your ship. Degraded hull slows you down and if you don't have shields, your hull will suffer more quickly. (Be aware of shield-eating nebulas - acidic clouds in space).

Best buy software - Teladi stations
Docking computers - Paranid stations (and your rep with them isn't great at the start)

Can't help with the Steam question.

Kal Ryper · Post by **Kal Ryper** » Tue, 27. Aug 13, 21:15

Also, it's an old site for X2 but good to see it still being hosted:

http://www.compurees.org/index.htm

Diche Bach · Post by **Diche Bach** » Tue, 27. Aug 13, 21:23

Oh no. I've installed X3 Albion and I think I'm probably ruined as far as X2 and the older ones go!

Amzing how far games have come these past few years. The interface on X3 is of course complex but it is soooo much better than X2. Not to mention the realism of the celestial bodies and vessels is pretty remarkable.

pjknibbs · Post by **pjknibbs** » Tue, 27. Aug 13, 23:16

Well, it would be odd if they HADN'T made any advances with the newer games, although there are still a few things X2 did better--for instance, the lighting model and the way nebulae worked were better in the X2 engine, IMHO. There's nothing in X3 to match the cold beauty of cruising into Akeela's Beacon in X2, for example, and an oft-repeated complaint about nebula effects in X3 is that you can see the background stars and planets through them, even though closer objects will only appear when a few kilometres away!