Returning after a long, long absence

Kantall · Post by **Kantall** » Mon, 11. Sep 17, 01:19

So I haven't been around for a long time. X3 is still comfortably one of my favourite games of all time however at the time of release unfortunately I couldn't say the same about X Rebirth. I disliked it a lot, I felt the player ship wasn't really customisable (3 options for each component iirc, unless that was just an early game thing) that it was plagued by bugs and that it felt like it didn't have the freedom of X3. I gave up on it entirely and moved on.

This isn't a topic bashing the game though. I've been playing X3 a lot more recently and it's got me wondering - egosoft have been updating X Rebirth a lot and since it came up against so much overwhelming criticism upon release I imagine they've addressed most of the issues by now. Taking into account my complaints about it above, is it worth me trying to get into X Rebirth now? Or should I stick with X3AP until X4 comes out?

If anyone could outline the major changes since release I would really, really appreciate that too.

RAVEN.myst · Post by **RAVEN.myst** » Mon, 11. Sep 17, 01:52

Since it's about 6 hours past my bedtime, I won't get into a detailed analysis here, but I'll say the following, briefly:

- Since you (presumably) already own Rebirth and therefore no purchase investment is involved, it's certainly worth it to update it and give it another go.
- A lot has been fixed, and a lot has been improved. Granted, fundamental design elements haven't been reworked, but many player-requested improvements have been implemented.
- The game is due to receive another update soon (current version is 4.10, next version is announced as 4.21) so it's still being maintained

- However, in all fairness and in the name of balance, I must also point out that ultimately Rebirth, while it gets me heavily involved after every major update (just to re-experience it with the latest improvements), it still fails to give me the long-term satisfaction that X3TC/AP provide - the late game is just not as "fillable", it gets too easy and lacking in challenges. However, I find that while it lasts, it's a fun ride, and as long as I don't try to overstay my welcome (ie. recognise when I've run out of stuff to do and not try to force things, just move on), it's very entertaining (I am, in fact, currently giving it another go, been at it for a couple of weeks and see another couple of weeks of amusement, or perhaps even a little longer)

Post by **Sparky Sparkycorp** » Mon, 11. Sep 17, 10:20

Searching through the changelog for "New feature" will find 47 items listed by Egosoft between release and v4.10. Not a bad place to start. There are also lots of "Added" entries, which tend to be improvements to existing features.

https://forum.egosoft.com/viewtopic.php?t=347278

If you happened to have had the game refunded, you can try a substantial, free demo of v4.00, which can be found on the Steam Store.

RainerPrem · Post by **RainerPrem** » Mon, 11. Sep 17, 12:19

Kantall wrote:So I haven't been around for a long time. X3 is still comfortably one of my favourite games of all time however at the time of release unfortunately I couldn't say the same about X Rebirth. I disliked it a lot, I felt the player ship wasn't really customisable (3 options for each component iirc, unless that was just an early game thing) that it was plagued by bugs and that it felt like it didn't have the freedom of X3. I gave up on it entirely and moved on.

This isn't a topic bashing the game though. I've been playing X3 a lot more recently and it's got me wondering - egosoft have been updating X Rebirth a lot and since it came up against so much overwhelming criticism upon release I imagine they've addressed most of the issues by now. Taking into account my complaints about it above, is it worth me trying to get into X Rebirth now? Or should I stick with X3AP until X4 comes out?

If anyone could outline the major changes since release I would really, really appreciate that too.

Hi,

I bought X:R in summer last year. Then I started it and aborted it, when the mandatory boarding in the campaign epically failed - many times.

After X4 was announced I decided to give X:R another try and guess what? It is fun after a while. Basically you don't need to do the menial tasks as often as you needed in the early versions. I stopped searching for money in stations - only opening the boxes and closets I pass by anyway. Instead I concentrate on emptying lockboxes, which gives me enough cash to buy everything I want. Trading works, even with several freighters, and I managed to build the campaign station without too big problems.

You should try it
Rainer

Post by **Alan Phipps** » Mon, 11. Sep 17, 12:20

Also there is now a useful Wiki.

Kantall · Post by **Kantall** » Mon, 11. Sep 17, 21:40

Thanks for the replies guys, I'll give it another shot

I notice SETA was in the patch notes which is a big deal to me.

I'm an empire builder when it comes to X so hopefully this will keep me going until x4 as I've played x3 to death.

RAVEN.myst · Post by **RAVEN.myst** » Tue, 12. Sep 17, 00:55

Happy hunting, and you know where to come for help/advice should you need any

Post by **Nanook** » Tue, 12. Sep 17, 02:17

Kantall wrote:I notice SETA was in the patch notes which is a big deal to me...

You should know that SETA is something you have to craft now. You can't just buy it as in past games. However, it's not that hard to do.

RainerPrem · Post by **RainerPrem** » Tue, 12. Sep 17, 05:48

Hi,

after a little less than 600 (Wow!) hours of X:R, here comes my global advice: Take your time (even more than in earlier X-games).

Play the campaign until you get the Plasma Cannon. Explore the Albion System completely, place trade agents on each and every station, improve your reputation with as many factions as possible, earn money with missions, trading and/or opening lockboxes. Explore the game mechanics like crafting, dealing with NPCs, finding persons you need, dogfighting and collecting the drops from destroyed ships, etc.

Don't continue with the campaign before you have enough experience and cash money (10 Millions or so).

cu
Rainer

RAVEN.myst · Post by **RAVEN.myst** » Tue, 12. Sep 17, 07:22

RainerPrem wrote:- a bunch of very good advice -

RainerPrem · Post by **RainerPrem** » Tue, 12. Sep 17, 09:07

RainerPrem wrote:Hi,

after a little less than 600 (Wow!) hours of X:R, here comes my global advice: Take your time (even more than in earlier X-games).

Play the campaign until you get the Plasma Cannon. Explore the Albion System completely, place trade agents on each and every station, improve your reputation with as many factions as possible, earn money with missions, trading and/or opening lockboxes. Explore the game mechanics like crafting, dealing with NPCs, finding persons you need, dogfighting and collecting the drops from destroyed ships, etc.

Don't continue with the campaign before you have enough experience and cash money (10 Millions or so).

cu
Rainer

Hi,

I just noticed that Steam is still accumulating play time although I'm not even at home. Since starting the game takes a long time, I just Alt-Tab away from it when I'm leaving. So, it's definitely NOT 600 hours.

Is there a way to see the real active playtime?

cu
Rainer

RAVEN.myst · Post by **RAVEN.myst** » Tue, 12. Sep 17, 09:44

RainerPrem wrote:I just noticed that Steam is still accumulating play time although I'm not even at home. Since starting the game takes a long time, I just Alt-Tab away from it when I'm leaving. So, it's definitely NOT 600 hours.

Is there a way to see the real active playtime?

Ah, so Steam counts the time between game start and game close, so you could be sitting in the menu the whole time and it would claim you're playing - good to know (as I assume this applies to all Steam games.) As you probably already know, Alt-TABbing doesn't even continue the game, as it effectively pauses (unlike X3TC/AP, where you could enable "Run game in background"). To see the real time spent *in the current game*, go to your player info (default Menu-2-1) then click Statistics or press 4 - game time is shown somewhere at or near the top. You also get time spent in various activities, as well as distances travelled in various ways, and other good stuff.

This won't give you aggregated total playtime across playthroughs, though, only the time stats for your current game.

Incidentally, it sounds like you use your PC in similar fashion to how I do, ie. long up-times, probably infrequent restarts. I've found an interesting (well, "interesting" is not the really the right word here) quirk - you might, after long PC (are you using Windows?) up-time, find that the "scan sweeps" on the weapon panels lose their smoothness, start getting jerky (it also seems to adversely affect the smoothness of the smalltalk click-the-squiggle minigame.) You *may* also find subtle degradation in general framerates (which may or may not be linked to the other issue - in my experience, I've found them to coincide, but I believe this isn't universal). Restarting the game, reloading, Alt-TABbing out and back in - none of these solve the issue. The only thing I've found that works is a PC restart (warm reboot is good enough, but mere log out and back in is not.) I believe the problem isn't within Rebirth per se, but rather is something in the OS (I'm using Windows Home Premium 64-bit). Just something to keep in mind in case you have or are experiencing this as a result of long up-times.

Kantall · Post by **Kantall** » Wed, 13. Sep 17, 21:41

Wow. I'm pretty blown away by how smooth the experience has been so far, it seems far more optimised, less buggy and just more polished.

One thing that's taking adjusting is working out the map, as coming from X3 where it was all really neat and easy to work out, I often have in XR no idea where I am or how to get anywhere but I'm sure that will change. I'm also not sure about this "Information on a station" thing for discounts etc. I spent a couple of minutes randomly flying around the station and I was up to 2% info and got bored of that, but it seems optional so that's fine.

Thank heavens that litte trade lane/highway minigame is gone, but is there an easier way to quickly leave while in transit other than ramming against the side until it decides to eject me?

Also I notice some reds are just marked "Enemies" rather than having a faction assigned to them, are these just generic pirates?

I'm not too far, but I can happily report my experience is way more positive than last time. Feels a lot more confusing than X3 though.

Post by **Alan Phipps** » Wed, 13. Sep 17, 21:54

Leave Local Highway is same key as cut engine power; BackSpace as default.

Kantall · Post by **Kantall** » Thu, 14. Sep 17, 00:03

Thanks! That's a lot more of a smooth way to exit.

I wonder if anyone could advise me how to get a fighter repaired. I can't even work out how to make it dock!

I was fighting the Reivers and one of their pilots bailed from a Maelchon. Now, I don't know if that's any good but I had a pilot so I figured why not? If I add it to my squad will it be able to keep fairly close, or constantly lag behind like (understandably) the plot freighter I got earlier (And lost, I think, after I went through the jumpgate)

Ezarkal · Post by **Ezarkal** » Thu, 14. Sep 17, 00:35

you need to contact a small/medium ship dealer at a small/medium shipyard, and ask him to repair your fighter. It can be done by disembarking and finding him on the station, or simply calling him from space. (Repair is in the "modify ship" option) Your fighter will then head to the dock to proceed with repairs.
The thing is, you have to do that for every single fighter. It's one of the most tedious part of the game in my opinion, and one of the reason I chose to stick to capital ships.

Kantall · Post by **Kantall** » Thu, 14. Sep 17, 00:55

Thanks! I don't know if I've seen a shipyard yet, but my fighter got blown up in the first fight anyway - I don't think it was very good.

Post by **Sparky Sparkycorp** » Thu, 14. Sep 17, 02:15

Capital crew in XR includes Engineers who can repair hull, and they do it for free. Since Pilot's cannot repair their fighters and fighters have relatively few HPs, it makes sense to sell XR fighters and but capitals.

RainerPrem · Post by **RainerPrem** » Thu, 14. Sep 17, 05:47

RAVEN.myst wrote: ...
- you might, after long PC (are you using Windows?) up-time, find that the "scan sweeps" on the weapon panels lose their smoothness, start getting jerky (it also seems to adversely affect the smoothness of the smalltalk click-the-squiggle minigame.)

...

Hi,

yes, I noticed that. In the meantime I alt-tab away from the game a lot, because the reload time is too long. (Yes, I admit, I save before each shot on a lockbox...) In my case the lack of smoothness disappears after ten seconds or so. It's most likely Windows swapping out another process in that time.

cu
Rainer

Kantall · Post by **Kantall** » Thu, 14. Sep 17, 14:28

So as part of the plot I was asked to capture "Taranis" a prison ship. Great, done, then it warped away. Whenever I give it commands now it does nothing, I'm assuming I need to drop off an engineer to repair all the damage we did during boarding before it can move.

Thing is though, this early on is it worth keeping/repairing that capital ship, or should I just sell it? I can get 30M for it which I could use to max out the skunk (Except weapons, I can only find tier 1 weapons anywhere)

Returning after a long, long absence

Returning after a long, long absence

Re: Returning after a long, long absence