Downloaded X3: TC and figured I give this game a shot. I wanted to try X4, but apparently PCs made in 2020 aren't decently specced enough for a game made in 2018, so...X3 it is. Wanted a sandbox fleet building / RTS game after having a lot of fun in Kenshi, M&B Warband/Bannerlord, StarSector, Endless Sky, Rimworld, and similar titles. Saw lots of recommendations for X-series so, here we are.

Boy is this sandbox. You start off and the game doesn't even tell you how to navigate. You just click around and explore the menu until you figure out how to follow, initiate communications, dock, etc. That's fine, I can figure stuff out, but man, even Kenshi has tutorials/pop-up helper for basic UI.

First mission chain, fly around and kill off half a dozen Xenon. Grand reward, 3 pieces of debris worth $20 and <$3,000 credits, destroyed ships don't even drop loot apparently so my incentive to kill them versus letting allied AI deal with the fighting is....? My ship costs over $800,000, so, very generous offer of 0.33% of my ship's value for 30 minutes of work. Not that it much matters, even if you've got the credits you lack the reputation to even buy an extra copy of a weapon for your ship's 2 empty mounts.

Get a loaner ship for the next mission chain, a Rapier scout with no weapons and static electricity quality shields, pass, keep flying the Sabre. Fly around watching pirates disappear into thin air, a Xenon collides with my Sabre, no hull damage but my time accelerator is somehow destroyed and I guess I'm working the next 2-3 missions to pay to buy a new one.

Is this the devs' idea of a slow burn to extract hundreds of hours of gameplay? Pay you a shinny penny per hour of work and after 10 hours you can afford a missile to put in your launch tubes, repeat until you've completely 100 missions and can afford the next rung up the ladder of ship class hoping that nothing of yours is destroyed in the process costing you all that work? Pathing is a joke, I set to auto-dock with a station after the first mission chain and my ship decided to repeatedly ram the side of the station trying to navigate to the docking lane until my ship blew up, 20+ minutes of gameplay lost because you can only save while docked. Even during normal play pathing routinely realizes it might collide with something and adjusts course by turning 90 degrees, traveling 10 seconds, then turning back 90 degrees and hoping that corrects the issue. Even the Let's Plays I've seen, the streamers seem to have no idea what they are doing, and it mostly consists of watching your screen as you travel across 4 systems for 20+ minutes at 6x to get to the next objective site. When does it get to be fun, or does it?

Hello i don't find out where to see my OTAS rank and other corps ranks too, if someone can help me please i will know then where to push.

https://i.redd.it/azgnzit055yd1.gif

I was trying to join the Egosoft Discord channel to chat about X3 and ask for help. But it seems there is a technical issue that prevents me from joining. Can I use this instead? I never used reddit before and I only heard bad things about reddit. But maybe it is not so bad?

hey guys, i just bought the game for about 3$, i'm just wondering if this version supports mods like the steam one. thanks.

NB: to be specific, i'm talking about star wars mods, litcube's universe and mayhem 3

All the advice says to play vanilla first run. But it also says that the mods are what makes the game stand up to newer titles like X4.

I've never played a game for longer than 100 hours before moving on to something else. I'm enjoying the the first few hours of TC but I basically want to get into the good stuff as soon as possible because, knowing me, I'll likely only play one commited run through.

Any advice? Would love to hear your opinions on your favourite mods and why you like them more than vanilla. If there are any essentials I should install right away please share as well 🙂

Hi! Trying to get back to some X, but haven't been able to find the AP libraries by 7ate9tin11 ap libraries to run improved races. All links seem to be dead!

Thanks!

Hello! I played this game many years ago, and recently I recalled one particular ship I liked. It was an ATF ship, probably coming from a mod, not vanilla game, M6 or M7 class, so a bigger ship, but not a battleship, and it had an array of solar panels instalked. Three pairs.

Can anyone remember? I'm looking for at least the name, a screenshot is even better.

Thanks!

Hello it's years i try to finish my game i have started in 2018.

I have got the same problem and even i try to start up a new save i got it again and again.

I want to get quite all achievement from the game so i need some help because my stations and trade are not good and it is for sure a lack of understanding from myself. (Even of years with X series)

It is how the game is old and made that make difficult to understand why my stations are not profitable.

I would love some help step by step to definitivly make it works please ^^!

https://preview.redd.it/1h6pu5vd50ud1.jpg?width=1920&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=d96c0a31562f1e9143818560537845999496894b

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https://preview.redd.it/prhvqywd50ud1.jpg?width=1920&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=fc3e09cd2b7926fe4ac087828b739edd8a00998e

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At the start of "Suicidal Squid" it's necessary to improve relations with both the Split and Paranid by at least one "you've have gained reputation". Otherwise, when you enter Argon M148 you'll be immediately dodging Split and Paranid missiles and when playing 'Dead is Dead' that is never a good idea.
However, getting that first Paranid and Split mission can be a firkin PITA. The 'god engine' can really string players along with this task. Has anyone stumbled across a shortcut?
Things I've tried:

1. Hammering the Military Outpost in Faded Dreams and the Pirate Base (and Rehabilitation Facility) in Veil of Delusion - flying a Kestral with cargo bay life support AND having a TP available - bingo game.
2. Flying to Getsu Fune and completing missions in the mistaken belief it would give me a better chance of picking up an easy Paranid/Split mission - bingo game.
3. Locating Paranid and Split stations in Pirate sectors thinking they might allow immediate docking - nope.
4. Thinking trading at Paranid product factories controlled by other races (two in Split Fire) might give Paranid reputation boost - nope.
5. Hammering sectors adjacent to Paranid/Split space thinking they will offer a greater chance of friendly missions - bingo game.

I know HOW to get this done using the random check every mission available at every station until something achievable appears. My aim is to remove/reduce this variable element as much as possible.
I believe it's currently impossible and that there will always be a variable - but I used to think it wasn't possible to buy the jump drive from the Goner Temple in Elysium of Light...but I found a simple method. So maybe someone has stumbled across a Paranid/Split reputation fix??

Basically what the title says.

Right now I'm very friendly with Argon, Borons and Teladi, but Paranid and Split outright hate me.

I'd like to mend relationships with them, even if it's just to the point where they might not attack me on sight, maybe even buy some stations off them (I'd like a majaglit producers so I can make my own advanced satellites, for example).

Problem is my lasertowers. I made a big defense complex with about 70 lasertowers on every access point to any sector I have factories in, plus on each gate on the hub, mainly to ward off xenon and pirates. Thing is they all have "enemy if enemy to me" on, so anytime a Split or Paranid ship shows up, even if they're all set as "friend" in global settings, they'll be attacked by them anytime they enter one of my systems. So I have "Aggresive" -100% at all times on them. Using diplomacy is useless because I can spend 1000 influence to increase my reputation by a couple of percentage points, and it'll go down as soon as any of their ships is shot down by me lasertowers.

If I set Mark enemy if enemy to me to off they won't attack them and I might end up fixing my relationship with them, but I'm not going to go and set it manually on all 400+ lasertowers I have right now.

Seems I'm the only one spamming questions here :) Is the Combo Mod recommended for a first playthrough? I mainly came across it for the bounce implementation. And to a lesser extend the TC/AP plots.

Couldn't find a feature list or documentation for it, or does the change log cover everything? Does it do anything I should be aware of?

Also are there any other recommended mods? Thanks!

Haven't been able to find a stand alone cockpit mod for X3FL. Or does this one work in FL? https://forum.egosoft.com/viewtopic.php?t=254635 And if not how hard would it be to make it work?

I did find https://forum.egosoft.com/viewtopic.php?p=5087801#p5087801 and https://forum.egosoft.com/viewtopic.php?t=459488&hilit=cockpit which seem to include cockpits. Are these mods recommended for a first time playthrough? Or would it be easy to strip out the cockpit part? Thanks.

Want to remote fly a ship (e.g. one that is many sectors away) into another UNMAPPED sector but you don’t have Explorer Command Software? Order the remote ship to FOLLOW another ship, one that ‘looks like’ it’s going towards the gate. It will follow the non-player ship through the gate.

Can I suggest players post other 'small' hints, but if it's a lengthy action you have to just 'hint' e.g. "Use CLS to quickly increase race reputation." OR "Find a way to remotely purchase and sell the space fuel at game start."

I'm new to X games in general and atm I'm just trying to learn the basics and getting comfortable with the UI. Is there a mod that disables the SETA auto turn off? I know it's there for safety and prevent collisions but I don't care. If I collide during seta it's my own fault and won't cause annoyance. Auto turning off all the time does.

Edit: Also what is the best place to look for info? I haven't found a comprehensive wiki so far. Is this guide thread on the egosoft forums the best place? https://forum.egosoft.com/viewtopic.php?t=162408

Still trying out different things in X3AP.  So I’m 4-5 hours flying time into the game and have managed to make 300,000 credits (net). I noticed that Space Fuel shares can be traded at the Paranid Prime Stock Exchange. So I have 300 space fuel in my Mercury and I’m jumping the ship into Paranid Prime, buying as many space fuel shares as I can, jumping the Mercury back to Argon space and then selling the shares which have jumped in value - typical profit on a cargo hold of 300 space fuel is 600,000 credits.

This type of trading is a well known exploit and I’ve used it hundreds of times usually with Nividium or EMP Rifles in PTNI HQ and Mars respectively. I’ve also done it with Tempest missiles in Queens Retribution. But every time I did so the shares in those products would always be available for sale. What I noticed with this Space Fuel exploit is that eventually the product disappears from the listings at the Paranid Prime Stock Exchange - that’s something new for me. I thought it was something I was doing wrong but no, the demand for the ware falls to NONE and then the item is ‘deleted’. Never seen that happen, although apart from the products previously mentioned I don’t often ‘play’ the local stock market - just the Corporate Indexes. (I should add, this was after I successfully increased my credit balance to 4.5 million - but when you do this with Nividium you can keep going as much as you like.)

Hello all,

I was into X2: The Threat for a little while, I remember I played long enough that I had a second ship doing trading runs. I fell off it it a long time ago and would love to get back in. I've tried some but the learning curve ends up turning me off although I know they're known for it.

I love the concept of the X games and have never found anything else that quite matches it. Does any one have any suggestions of one of the games and/or mods that make the game a bit more approachable?

I have X:Beyond The Frontier (I'm not above playing an old game) X2:The Threat, and X3:Reunion and Albion Prelude. I don't have X4 yet, although I might consider it if it had a better go of it (and it was on sale!)

Thank you!

Part 1

https://youtu.be/9wxueVTKy_E

Enjoy!

For the Nostalgia lovers out there.

Vanilla (no mods).

Enjoy!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hhET8CMWfM0

I can't find an active link for this mod at all. I downloaded and played with it, I think a year ago but can't find it anywhere now. Someone sharing a link or a download will be greatly appreciated!

It basically adds extra stuff like ships in Litecube's Universe that kinda increases replayability.

Link to Forum topic:-

https://forum.egosoft.com/viewtopic.php?t=394558

If possible please share the latest version!

Thank you for the time!

So today I installed all the collection of X3. I have 4 icons. Usually the most recent one in games is the one to play. But I opened all 4 and all them are diferent. Are all of them separate content? If so, cannot find on the internet what are the diferences, can someone tell me?

https://youtu.be/ZV6RAQSAiW4

They really dropped the ball story wise with X4.

Part 4:

https://youtu.be/-4Vgat8UQXQ

Bringing in my father. More about the Kha'ak. My first station.

Things are rolling rolling rolling ;)

i everyone, I need some help optimizing my Mercury trading ship. I'm just starting out and have 100,000 credits. My goal is to get into the Argonian stock market, but I'm struggling to make good money. Right now, I'm barely getting by trading power cells.( X3 Albion Prelude)

Playing on my 4K TV in salon with Xbox Controller. Changed it to resemble more closely the X3:FL scheme. Running on my PC at 1080p, streamed to TV via Steam Remote Play. No third-party apps or mods used. Resolution is, well, because of the UI not scaling. Doesn't matter tho. Even at "only" 1080p on a 4K55" screen, it looks absolutely gorgeous.

Heck, in my opinion, it looks a LOT better, than X4.

https://youtu.be/08WiYd68sAs

I apologize for asking this again because I'm sure it's been asked over a million times. I did do some searches but I found different answers in different threats, and they were also a bit dated... so here we go again!

Is it worth it to start with TC for the story? What about Reunion. Actually why are they all seperate games and not addons? I saw the massive battles of Litcube it looked awesome, am I missing out if I just start with AP + Litcube?

I know the obvious response is play vanilla a bit and see if you like it, but sometimes imo one small change/feature can be the difference between the game clicking or not. Thanks!

And did I understand correctly that in X it's much easier to hit enemies using "classic controls" like in X2: The Threat?

If you use mouse controls like in Parkan or War Thunder, the accuracy is significantly worse. Or am I not aiming correctly?

In the sense that there are two separate fire buttons: one for shooting straight ahead and one for shooting at the round mouse cursor.

And shooting at the round mouse cursor, even with auto-aim, is significantly less accurate.

What could be causing this?

reunion 2.5b broke cutscenes.
In 2.5a everything was alright.
I just updates and found out the bugs))

It could be seen right at the beginning of the game. The camera is inside the ship.
And moves back again each time the new dialogue line is started.

It's really easy to check.
You can see it right at the start of the game.
You start a new game, and there it is.

I suppose it somehow breaks the dialogue lines, making them a little more abrupt, and it could mess up some phrases. But I'm not 100% sure about that.
I watched a YouTube streamer named Romitch, and he had problems with cutscenes (the issue I explained above), and some dialogue lines were used at the wrong times.

He thought it was because of the widescreen resolution, but I tried even the lowest 4:3 resolution, and the problem still exists.

Hello there.

As I am learning how to even space, I was wondering about two things:

-I bought a freighter and equipped it for mobile mining, but I also have a fighter still. I don't mind keeping it as an escort, but would like to dock one of them (for a combat mission for example) and fly off in the other. Maybe I haven't waited for long enough, but ordering a ship to follow does not seem to make it dock with me when I do.

-Assaulting a lone freighter with your basic fighter isn't working for my novice @ss, so I'll get better weapons/ shields... but what even are good targets for pirating? Last time I tried, all the local authorities disliked it... Working with the Argonian people atm.

Any suggestions? <3

Hello, can someone suggest a good mod list for FL. I've never played FL before, but I played most of the major TC/AP mods like LU, Mayhem, XRM, etc.

From what I understand, FL is the X3 version to go now. Are there any mod packs that include both QoL and some spicy stuff to make things exciting. Or a list of mods compatible with each other.

Thank you!

Whilst a small fleet of CAG Springblossoms are collecting ore for the HUB plot I've been programming CLS Springblossoms to keep non-player chip plants auto-stocked because we all know THAT'S the real PITA part of the HUB plot.

1. Identified 19 chip plants and first maxed their Primary Resources. Then I observed the ware usage for manufacturing one microchip - typically X-amount of 'food', 5 silicon wafers and 120 energy cells. The food amount varied quite a lot but the silicon and energy were constant.
2. Springblossom with 200 fuel and calculated the local waypoints required to purchase those three wares. Typically energy use (jump drive) would be 70-130 but I used precise figures for each ship. One station had all the necessary resources in sector or one sector away so I didn't use a jump drive for that.
3. Use 'L' size factories - they seem less prone to energy cell outages. But that's something you have to monitor and 'fix' - which is an another PITA.
4. Dock a basic TS at every chip plant with CLS programmed to purchase every single microchip produced.
5. Using Springblossoms helps the CLS avoid the Kha'ak, Xenon and Pirates - obviously it requires the Terran Plot to be completed. I'm harmless and don't do any fighting myself but I have an M7M which I sometimes 'summon' when there's trouble - best to be 'in sector' for that. remote missile barrages when OOS rarely seem to work. If 'in sector' then enemies stand no chance vs. an M7M - total annihilation.
6. Make sure immediately after completing the Terran Plot you purchase at least one EEMPC in Aldrin so you can shipyard clone future wares. They add an extra level of defence since Springblossoms in X3TC can't use Mosquitoes. Also equip every Springblossom with at least 12 fighter drones.
7. Twenty Disco Raiders 'running laps' around the primary Argon sectors to train my CAGs/CLS to Logistician prior to assignment.
8. Small fleet of Mistral Super Freighters to initially max the resources at the chip plants.
9. Takes a lot of time...

I cloned wares and sold them to give myself the credits - I could just as easily clone the wares to complete the HUB plot in a few hours but I'm trying it this way.

Hey there! I have a Mercury with Trade Command Software MK2 and the Trade Extension, which I've been using to set up some Manual Trade Runs but all the Best Buy/Sell stuff is grayed out (remote or otherwise).

I've looked through the reddit and some Steam discussion posts to see that some of these options require a HQ and others require a different set of software but I'm still confused what at what I need to do to make it work.

I've been trying to avoid looking at any direct guides because I don't want to rob my first playthrough of discovering and thinking through things myself but this is leaving me stumped. I'd love some help!