Universe Trader

Kessica · Post by **Kessica** » Mon, 5. May 14, 19:31

I have just started playing X3 Reunion while waiting for the next patch for Rebirth. So X3R is in vanilla mode, so no mods at all apart from the Bonus Pack.

I have a pilot that has now got to level 9 doing sector trading using the Mk3 Trade System. However I cant get the Universe to start. It is greyed out and just beeps when I click on it.

The wiki says:

Trade Command Software MK3
Ship type M3, M6, TS, TP, or TM
Not personal ship
Pilot level 8 or higher (as shown in the pilot name for the ship)

which is all there... Any ideas why I cant get it working ?

Thanks,

Kess

Cpt.Jericho · Post by **Cpt.Jericho** » Mon, 5. May 14, 19:58

I might be wrong, but I seem to remember that you also need to have at least one 25MJ shield installed on the ship.

pr0nflakes · Post by **pr0nflakes** » Mon, 5. May 14, 20:10

For Universe traders:

Fight Command Software MKI

Fight Command Software MKII

At least 25MJ of shielding - can be made up of 5*5MJ if you cant get 25MJ shields, but I'd recommend getting the maximum that your TS can hold as soon as possible, there's a lot of time and credits invested in a UT

source

These should be good for X2 and X3 reunion i think requirements changed in TC/AP.

Kessica · Post by **Kessica** » Mon, 5. May 14, 20:16

Wow! Such fast replies! Thanks so much.

Ill have a play with some kit and try out what you have suggested.

Many thanks.

Post by **Nanook** » Mon, 5. May 14, 22:00

The FAQ is your friend.

Kessica · Post by **Kessica** » Tue, 6. May 14, 01:51

Wow! I'm sorry, I didn't know it existed so many thanks for the link. A lot more reading to do now

Kess

Kessica · Post by **Kessica** » Tue, 6. May 14, 14:52

I see in the FAQ that you can repair ships with the suit's repair laser. I tried this but despite holding the trigger with a rubber band for around 15 mins at a distance of 9m, it made no difference to the hull or anything else come to that. There were no sound effects or anything visible on the screen.

Does this apply to Reunion ? Or was there something else I should do?

I also see from another post on repair lasers that there is a place where you can set an option to show the hull/shield as a numeric display: http://forum.egosoft.com/viewtopic.php? ... ght=repair but I cannot find this anywhere.

It would seem that what was posted does not apply to my version

Unless I am doing something really wrong here... Any ideas ?

Thanks, Kess

Honved · Post by **Honved** » Tue, 6. May 14, 16:06

Something is definitely wrong. When you fire the suit laser on target, the selected target should "shake" slightly and the outliner box should flicker red momentarily. If it's not doing that, then you're not hitting the target. The repair laser should reach out to somewhere around a kilometer, and 9m is practically touching the target. Note that a few ships have "hollow" spots where you can see between the sections, and if you're firing at those gaps, you're missing the ship. I tend to sweep the laser across the target a bit while repairing, out of boredom if nothing else.

AP has much higher hull values, so unless they adjusted the suit laser, it'll take more than twice the frustratingly long repair sessions that were spent in TC. I less than fondly recall bringing a captured M6 back up from the 4 hull points (0%) condition it was reduced to when a late-arriving AI missile hit it, post capture. In AP, I'd have to sell it as-is, because the tedium would kill me.

pjknibbs · Post by **pjknibbs** » Tue, 6. May 14, 17:40

He's playing Reunion--the repair laser didn't exist in that game, it was added in TC.

Kessica · Post by **Kessica** » Tue, 6. May 14, 17:43

I guess it is possible that perhaps only certain ships can be repaired ?

I have also seen another anomalies with regards to the Universe/Sector Trader. Reading a lot of the material here, a lot of info does not relate to what I see in game. For example there is no way to limit the amount of sectors, and in UT there are no additional commands. In fact just 2 commands relating to the auto trader. Start Sector: and I always need to choose a sector and he stays there until manually moved. Then the start UT and no other options or inputs.

As before I am running Reunion and it states version 2.5. Could I be missing any updates or patches ?

Thanks

PS: Oh, I am actually a she IRL, but I take the "He" as a compliment. Perhaps I should download the next in the series

Kess

pr0nflakes · Post by **pr0nflakes** » Tue, 6. May 14, 18:33

If you want the best features the newer the game the better generally speaking.
(Applies to the X trilogy, Rebirth is a clean slate as it were.)

Timsup2nothin · Post by **Timsup2nothin** » Tue, 6. May 14, 18:46

pr0nflakes wrote:If you want the best features the newer the game the better generally speaking.
(Applies to the X trilogy, Rebirth is a clean slate as it were.)

This.

I played Reunion on a beeline through the plot just to get the story, but recently on the forum someone suggested just reading the walk throughs to get the story and moving directly to TC and I thought that was brilliant advice.

I've also said that any time anyone gets frustrated with the limitations of the user interface in TC the surest cure is to play Reunion for thirty minutes, because you will immediately recognize that TC's UI is a Cadillac by comparison.

ancienthighway · Post by **ancienthighway** » Tue, 6. May 14, 19:11

Of course, if you don't have TC or AP, playing one of those isn't an option. I would suggest buying either or both of those rather than Rebirth though. Maybe Rebirth will be ready for real around November or December.

Kessica · Post by **Kessica** » Tue, 6. May 14, 19:12

Currently downloading TC and Prelude from Steam

No doubt there will be some more questions later on, but I have a reasonable start from playing with Reunion.

Reunion blew away BTF and XTension which I also have. Makes sense to have the full set I guess, as I really like the space sims.

Kess

Post by **Nanook** » Tue, 6. May 14, 23:05

While the UI in TC and AP is definitely better than Reunion, Reunion is the best of the best when it comes to pure dogfighting and flying fighters. If that's the aspect of the games that gets you the most excited, I'd recommend sticking with Reunion a while longer.

However, if you prefer empire building, building huge fleets and flying capital ships, the latter games are superior.

To quote a famous Morrowind-ism, "The choice - is yours."

Kessica · Post by **Kessica** » Wed, 7. May 14, 16:24

Now that I have TC up and running, everything now makes so much more sense!

I tried a few of the combat starting points and I think that after hardly finding any combat missions around, I may just end up re-starting as a Trader and build up enough cash to by a decent ship to get past the first part of the plot in the Unknown Sector. Although I have to admit, I do like the Elite!

I am determined to keep it a Vanilla version. It is so easy to mod it and give yourself 100m credits, and that is quite a cheat and totally destroys the essence of the game, so I really don't want to go there.

It looks like the next few weeks will be tied up now LOL

Kess

hisazul · Post by **hisazul** » Thu, 8. May 14, 07:26

Nanook wrote:While the UI in TC and AP is definitely better than Reunion, Reunion is the best of the best when it comes to pure dogfighting and flying fighters. If that's the aspect of the games that gets you the most excited, I'd recommend sticking with Reunion a while longer.

However, if you prefer empire building, building huge fleets and flying capital ships, the latter games are superior.

To quote a famous Morrowind-ism, "The choice - is yours."

He spoke the truth about dog fighting. It was probably best in X3:R, while similar control scheme is present, as option in TC/AP, it's still not it due to other factors. Plus reunion had missions that were unique. Inside asteroid, chase etc. TC had nothing of the sort except maybe jump gate wormhole sequence but thats pushing it. AP had achinonix lost far far away and broken... that mission is GOLD but anyhooo.

Kessica wrote:Now that I have TC up and running, everything now makes so much more sense! I tried a few of the combat starting points and I think that after hardly finding any combat missions around, I may just end up re-starting as a Trader and build up enough cash to by a decent ship to get past the first part of the plot in the Unknown Sector. Although I have to admit, I do like the Elite!

I am determined to keep it a Vanilla version. It is so easy to mod it and give yourself 100m credits, and that is quite a cheat and totally destroys the essence of the game, so I really don't want to go there.

It looks like the next few weeks will be tied up now LOL

Kess

Don't forget bonus pack(main website page in downloads section). Its vanilla. And makes huge difference both for trading and fighting. Never leave your house without CAG/CLS2 and turbo booster.

No idea why it was never just fully incorporated into the games. I mean its official bonus pack...