X3 Guide, A complete Guide to everything

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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Apocholypse
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x3

X3 Guide, A complete Guide to everything

Post by Apocholypse » Mon, 7. Nov 05, 22:58

http://forum.2x-pensive.de/viewtopic.php?t=168 (Downloadable's by me)
This guide is relatively easy to understand and should tell you pretty much all you need to know. I also recommend that everybody looks at the precision station placement at the bottom. Note that this guide is focused on people new to the X series, so if your an exsperienced player it's maybe only worth looking the advanced sections (consumption onwards).
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X3: Guide Written by… Well me actually (Edit: Update 1.0-1.2-1.201-1.3-1.4)
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I will start from the very basics. First of all, I recommend that people new to the X universe start on easy, so we can get it into the game pretty quickly. Next, controls, may I suggest people change the controls to classical, by going to the menu (in game), controls, profile, classic, select. These controls are more logical controls I feel, but also, I can tell anybody using this guide any hotkey’s they might want to know.
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Contents of Guide
0.Title/Intro (important)
1.Bare Bones (starting at very beginning)
2.Factory planting (how to do it and get to the position)
3.Capturing Ships (how and the best way to do it)
4.Advanced Factory Planting (what to look out for when planting stations)
5.High Tech Fabs (what should you be looking for)
6.Complex’s (how and why)
7.Station size (what and why)
8.Resource Consumption
9.Energy Consumption/production
10.Global Consensus (unique races attributes and needs)
11.Examples of good station placement
12.Ship stats (basic info)
13.Equipment (where to get it)
14.Controls/Hotkey’s
15.How do you use 3D map and precision plant stations
16.Key
17.Credits

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Bare Bones

1) Right! Now that’s out the way lets start exploring. This is absolutely key early on in the game. The important sectors to have explored are, Argon, Boron and Teledi territory. I.e. Argon Prime area, kingdom end and Siezwell etc. Don’t go beyond this yet as your just wasting your time. Also I would advise not to go into the pirate sectors. Ignore Parinid and split territory for now! http://argonopedia.ppcis.org/sectors.php?cart=map Basically stick to the blue and green in the top left corner to start with. Don’t go out of this range yet, there’s no need. Plus it’s safer. There’s a lot of pirate activity to begin with.

2) Now we have explored the local area and uncovered all stations. But before trading, you must first switch from your Buster to your Mercury. Transfer your trading system extension from the Buster to your mercury (this is your most vital tool). Also transfer your best buyer’s seller’s locators to your Mercury from your Buster. This will enable you to see prices and quantities of goods on stations as well as being able to instantly see the best place to buy or sell your good in that sector.
To do this you must first dock your buster and mercury at the same station. Then go to the station menu, landed ships freight exchange, transfer to other ship. Then once you have done that jump in the other ship by going to the pilot menu then change ships, Mercury. To use the best buyers sellers locater go to Navigation map menu, next to the universe map option, there will be locator options. Experiment with this. Note: leave your Buster in Argon prime somewhere, as you’ll be selling products here and having a ship in sector will allow you to see the price and amount currently at the local stations.

3) Starting your trading run. You have a freighter and 100,000 credits, plenty! Now go to Herrons nebula and look at the stock of silicon on the mine there. If it’s 450c or below, buy it as at this point in the game you can sell it for the highest price in Argon Prime, so it doesn’t matter that you bought it a bit more expensively. Buy a full load and go to argon prime and sell it for the highest price there, you can either go through all stations on the map one by one, or use your best seller’s locator! Do not sell the silicon for any less than 700 credits each. If Argon prime doesn’t meet this requirement go to home of light. You should be able to sell in one of these sectors. If not though, this is where you decided to reduce the price that you will sell for and go for the highest price you can get for it. Still at a profit of course (you should always check).

4) Now you have made your first profit of the game and should have at least 130,000 credits in the bank as appose to the 100,000 you started off with. Now Silicon is one of the most valuable commodities you can trade and is the quickest way to make money. So you need to find another source of it as you cannot rely on one mine all the time. However north of Herrons Nebula there is power circle which also has a silicon mine and commonly sells at low or lowest price. This will be your second point of call. Again keep selling in either Argon Prime or Home of light. Home of light usually has better prices so it’s worth checking out first. Don’t buy silicon now for any more than 380, and don’t sell for any less than 600. Unless you have absolutely no choice. Inevitably there will be times like this. In which case you have to temporally look for other things to sell. Energy is one of them. Buy it from either the wall, or ore belt. Only ever buy energy if it is 12 credits, the lowest price. And always sell for 19. You will always be able to sell it somewhere for this price so the only thing you need to worry about is the purchasing price of 12 credits. If a Solar Power Plant is on 13 or 14, use seta for a few minutes sitting still for more to be produced and the price will go down. This same principle can be used for silicon but takes longer. Now when you buy energy for 12 credits (max cargo) and sell for 19 you will make a total profit of 21,000 credits.

5) Another good one to bide time while the Silicon mines stock up is to buy ore in ore belt (only ever for 50 credits) and sell for a 100 or more. This will usually net you about 26,000 credits. Then you can go back to silicon after a few runs of energy or ore. The big money maker, silicon usually fetches around 40,000 credits minimum. I usually go no less than 60,000 or sometimes 80-100,000 if your lucky.

6) So recap:
---------Buy-----Sell
Ore-----50c-----100c
Silicon--380c----600c
Energy-.12c-----19c

7) Remember always to get a full cargo hold. Note: This was my exact trading route for 90% of the time and it got me up to 2 million. When you get to 1.2 (approximately) million you are eligible for a station (wheat farm). You can either do this or keep trading until you can buy a silicon mine. I wouldn’t go for any other station at this point. Argon prime, the wall, home of light etc… are good areas for a wheat farm. If you buy a wheat farm you can continue to buy and trade silicon, whereas you obviously you can’t if you have a silicon mine as you will impede it’s profits but the station itself makes less money, so you decide. Buy type S freighters from the shipyard in Argon Prime and buy only absolute necessities like engine tuning, seta, duplex scanner and trade command software and a couple of rudder optimisation(s). (You need one ship buying and one ship selling).
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Factory Planting

8. To buy the station get within com range of a TL (7k) and hail it. Click want to transport something and agree to the asking price. You have a deal. Now com the captain again and ask him to move to ship yard. Then wait till he’s docked (seta for a minute or two). Dock at the shipyard and you now have the option to buy a station. Buy and then go to ships docked menu and click Mammoth (TL). Then Com the captain and tell him to move to position, and then select where, e.g. argon prime, trading dock. He will proceed to around that vicinity. Then tell him to unload and your station is built.

9) Now assign your ships. By going to the command menu of you selected vessel you want to work for that factory. Once in the command menu, scroll down to home base, click on it a set it to your station. Then order the ship to buy wares for best price, energy. Do the same with the other ship but sell wares for best price wheat etc.

10) Now set the parameters on your station. Buy resource for lowest possible price and leave your selling price at average. (This is best option for now)

11) Then you want to transfer 200,000 credits approximately to the factory, 100,000 at minimum. Then set the jump limit to either 3 or 4. Now your factory will start working.

12) I suggest leaving it on seta for an hour to get a feel of what the fact is like. Maybe two. I suggest getting about 150k out of sector in somewhere like red light, which is less intensive on the PC. This is the best way to find out if your factory is going to be profitable. You won’t need to do this often once you get into it, but for beginners it’s a logical step.
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Capturing Other Ships

1. So far all we’ve talked about is trading; trading a side, there’s got to be an alternative. Well there is, and it’s usually referred to as “Capping”. So how do we capture ships? Well, what does a pilot do when he knows he’s beaten? He bails of course. On X3 the AI does just that, at least for some of the time. Now there are two ways in my experience to go about capping ships. There’s the hands on, approach where you go all out guns and hope the opponent will bail on your opening run. Works for me 90% of the time capping falcons for some reason, with excellent hulls as well. Usually average at about 90% hull I should think. This manoeuvre is done with firepower, so make sure you out match your opponent and can take downs his shields in seconds and start pounding his hull, he should bail pretty prompt if he’s going to but nevertheless just watch out for the target to turn blue just encase. Lets say we caught this one, how do we claim our prise. Simply get out into your space suit get within 30m (varies from ship size) and then go to the target menu and click the button claim ship. Then you will be able to control it or even enter it and you will also get a note in your message log, which will say you caught Pirate Buster for example.

2. The other way to do things is through a much more calm and sophisticated fashion and takes a lot more planning and perhaps money to do but tends to get you much better results much more frequently if you do it right. The basic principle is to do as little damage as possible to your opponent and thus make the most money on your capture assuming your selling. Now the best way is to use Ion Disrupters to break down the shields and use low-level weapons like Impulse Ray Emitters to slowly nip away at the hull. Don’t take forever obviously but you may take a lot longer on this type of capturing so don’t get worried that he won’t bail and frantically fire away. However if you’ve just started and have little money your not going to be buying things like Ion Disrupters, however you can still use the same concept but you just have to spend time getting down the shields as a pose to draining them pretty quickly with Ion D’s. If you’re in a Buster (your starting ship) you will have to disable all but one of your weapons as you will do too much damage to the hull for this technique (but may use all to get down shields). To unselect weapons either go to the command console or use the hotkey shift-w.

3. Capping with missiles. Now the traditional way is simply to use wasps. So first of all you obviously need to find a factory selling wasp missiles (Argon or Split).
Then load your hold with about 30-40 missiles. Then find something to cap and get within 1k and fire. 1 Wasp does 5MJ’s of damage so a ship with 50MJ shield for instance is going to need 10 missiles and some to damage the hull unless you want to use lasers for that. Note this can be done in a scout like a Discover for example which is probably the best choice.
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Advanced factory planting
Now you’re underway, your probably wondering what to plant next, and where.
So, a few very helpful tips.

1. Choose a certain resource which many factories in the same sector or near by use. If it’s constantly stocked on zero then go for it.
2. Look at secondary resource needed. These are nearly always on zero as most of them are required from other races. Make sure though that there are other race facts to supply them Stott spices sells well in Argon space but requires plankton from Boron space.
3. My famous one though is Bofu in Kingdom end. Fetches millions.
4. Always make sure that resources and locations to sell are no more than 3 sectors away. 4 at an absolute maximum.
5. Always buy resources at lowest price on fabs!!!!!!!
6. My Bofu fab only sells to 4-5 fabs (approximately) that need it but, that’s plenty as it never stocks up. A good tip when planting fabs if you don’t think there’s enough facts to sell to is to check whether trading stations will take the good. As this is great for buying time until factories run out of stock and require you to refill them.
7. You will encounter situations where a certain resource is needed now and again by a few factories but not often. When this occurs, add up the total quantity of that resource that is required (adding totals from each fact) and then have a look at the total the producer fact can hold at a time. If they are similar quantities overall then that is likely a profitable fab. It’s always good to have a bit of breathing room though to be certain like a trading station. If not, these are the sorts of fabs you place when you got a bit of cash to splash about.
8. Note: One Cahoona Bakery L (or other race equivalent) supplies 3 stations on nothing (at good profit) so if there’s 6-7 factories requiring Cahoona Meatstakes for example and are on either very low or nothing, do not hesitate to plant 2 stations. Normally though I just plant M’s but if there’s enough demand then L’s are certainly good course of action.
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High Tech Fabs

1. Low level shields and weapons are needed almost everywhere and are very reliable and profitable.
2. Certain high tech fabs like Crystal Fabs for instance are need all over the universe by a wide variety of stations e.g. satellite facts. Again you should always look at what resources factories require, primary and secondary. A key tip for planting high tech support fabs is to nearly always look at home sectors, or ones of great importance. Basically ones with shipyards in. These are where things like crystals, are going to be profitable. Note: most fabs with secondary resources are usually on zero. So this is a huge opportunity.
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Complex (hub) creation

1. Right, it’s time to get to the real nitty-gritty, what are complex hubs and how are they created and why are they good? First of all, a complex hub means that two stations or more act as one unit (when you link them with a complex hub).
Basically they share resources and overall profits. So for example, if you have two wheat farms, one with no or little energy and the other plenty, you could link them with a complex hub, meaning they both have equal amounts of energy, so neither has too little or to much. Also profits made by each factory will be merged, so you’ll have one big pay packet instead of two smaller ones. Which is easier when transferring money. So basically complexes can be used for anything, and can be good linking any factories together to maximise profits. Of course if there’s no need, then it’s a waste of money and space.

2. Right, for most of your stations it’s probably absolutely pointless putting them in a complex. However for some it will be compulsory. For example, if my Shield factory can’t buy meat stake Cahoona’s at lowest price or cannot buy them at all, I would be incline to build a Cattle Ranch and a bakery and link them with a complex. Note: energy is the cheapest resource, so it is often more profitable to manufacture all the resources your high tech fab needs, and then only have to fork out for energy instead of silicon for example which is obviously pricey.

3. Okay so we now have the basics, but we might want to take this a step further and produce the goods for free. That’s right, for free. You can produce your end product with no manufacturing costs what so ever. Now to do this, you will have to own every stage of the production line. Now there are severally ways to do this, you can either work backwards or from the base. I will do it backwards however for easier understanding at the beginning, so…

4. I have a Bofu Chemical lab. It needs energy and Biogas. So first, I plant a Biogas factory and an SPP to supply both with energy. However, my SPP needs Crystals, so I plant a Crystal fab, but in turn that need silicon, Bofu (depending on race) and energy. Now I already have an SPP, but I need a silicon mine, and another Bofu Chemical lab, and in turn another biogas factory. Now I’ve planted all those stations, I need to link them all together with the Complex Hub. First of all choose which station you want to link all the others to, it doesn’t matter which, preferably the middle one though. Let’s say in this instance it will be the Crystal Fab, now link every station to that. When you do so the name will change to Complex Hub Alpha, rename it once your done to something more appropriate. Now once you have done that you need to get the whole process going. Now to do this, I would get the biggest freighter you can find, (any race super freighter will do) fill it with energy and then dock it at your complex and unload the energy by going to landed ships…. transfer (to market) and then all the energy you have on board. Now it will start producing. Bare in mind that one Solar Power Plant is enough to power 8-10 Stations. If you really have energy problems you can set up another energy loop within the complex so you have 2 SPP’s running but 1 should be fine. Now the complex is very clever as it gives out resources too stations in order of priority. The first thing it wants to do is to start producing energy on it’s own, so it will supply the silicon mine and biogas factory first. Then it will move onto the Bofu, and then the Crystal Fab, and then the SPP. The surplus of the Bofu (as you have two facts if you remember as that’s the product you are selling but also your resource) will be sold for profit as you originally intended. 1 Bofu Chemical Lab (M) is enough to supply one Crystal Fab to maximum so don’t worry, your other Bofu fact will be untouched and will sell its product as normal in identical quantities (well actually slightly more).

5. Now to plant a complex you first need to buy a complex hub, then you go to plant it like an ordinary station but then choose two stations and it will link them. They have to be within a certain distance, I wouldn’t recommend going further than 10k personally. You have to buy a complex hub for each station except the one your linking it too, remember it’s always best to link them to the same specific location or it tends to get very messy not too mention takes a lot longer to do.
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Station Size Selection

1. We know all the basics now; we even know the complicated stuff. But! As always, we are going to take it that final step further. Okay, in my game I have a HEPT loop which has 3 Crystal Fabs (M), 3, Solar Power Plants (M), 5 Cahoona Bakery’s (M), 5 Cattle Ranchs (M), 3 Ore mines (of various yields), and 1 Silicon mine (56 yield) and 2 HEPT forges.

2. Now that’s a pretty complicated loop and it’s just about to get even more complicated. We’re going to make it more efficient as we don’t want to start clogging up sectors with a big mess unnecessarily now do we? Pipelines across every gate. Now that’s a scene we want to avoid. (Disclaimer: this is an exaggeration, do not take seriously).

3. So what do we do? Well for starters all those stations are size M’s. So can you guess what we’re going to do? Make them size L’s. Now by doing so we can eliminate 4 stations immediately. So we have 3 Cahoona Bakery’s and 3 Cattle Ranch’s so that will be a bit tidier. Also why do we need 3 SPP M’s? Well we don’t, however it is really down to personal preference whether you just get 1 XL as L won’t be enough, but if you add an XL it will need 2 more Crystal Fabs so you might as well not change it. Not to mention it costs. So for the most part all you have to keep an eye on is the intermediate facts. However if you had 4 Solar Power Plants in one loop, you might as well go for the XL.

4. On subject of station size, remember you can use size L’s for maximum profit not just increasing complex efficiency. Size L’s can contain a lot larger stock than size M’s (2.5 times the amount) and also produce a lot faster. But it has to be worthwhile.

5. The Consumption section in my guide explains all you need to know and more so don’t get to bogged down with this section. It’s just a general incitement to why you would want to use different station sizes.

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Resource Consumption

Now this is where you probably want to get a hot drink, as this is something that has had me confused for a little while. To start with I’ll just explain the basics. 1 normal size factory (M) in X3 is twice as big as a normal one in X2. Now for those of you that have played X2 or any other X game this will make perfect sense. However for those of you who haven’t and only own X3, you’ll be asking what the hell I’m on about. Well it doesn’t matter so don’t worry about it. Okay so let’s cover the basics, how many factories can another supply. Well all you need to know at this level is that one size M of anything is enough to supply another size M of anything. Simple enough. Now size L’s on the overhand can supply 2.5 size M’s of anything. So if I have five facts size M for instance, I only need two size L’s to supply them as appose to five size M’s. Let’s say you have 3 Crystal Fabs, you could use three size M’s, or one size L and one size M (so two facts instead of three) and get a slight surplus of resources. If we had 4 Crystal Fabs, we could either use two size L’s (recommended) which would also have enough surplus to supply one more size M factory. Or we could use four size M’s, which obviously is not the course of action you should probably take. Because it takes up more space, costs more, requires more ships or complex hubs. High Tech factories work the same as standard M’s except for energy.
An SPP size M, also only needs one Crystal Fab size M to power it. However an L needs 3 Crystal Fabs and an XL needs 5 (to run at maximum). Just something too keep in mind. This last bit is obviously going to be essential information.

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Energy Consumption

So we understand how we are meant too match up station sizes. However we haven’t yet covered energy consumption, which is where things start to get complicated.
To start myself off, I will just note: that every single size M station in X3 uses 30 energy cells per minute or equivalent. Now an L uses 75 energy cells per minute.
Simple enough wouldn’t you agree? So to work out how much energy our loops or complexes will need, we also need to know how much energy each SPP produces.
Now you’re probably just going to quickly peak at an SPP and look at it’s cycle time and how much it produces. But there’s just one problem with that. The cycle time is 1:58 minutes or 118 seconds. So we need basically halve what is produced to work out the production per minute (equivalent).
Now each SPP produces energy as follows:

M = 552 energy cells every 1:58
L = 1380 energy cells every 1:58
XL = 2760 energy cells every 1:58

Like I say that’s every 2 minutes, so to get the amount for one minute we are obviously going to have to divide each output by 118 x 60, which would equal:

M = 280 energy cells every 1:00
L = 700 energy cells every 1:00
XL = 1403 energy cells every 1:00

The SPP’s cycle time is not quite 2 minutes but only 59 seconds. And those extra 2 seconds gives us extra energy cells, which is quite important. So there’s the figures, now we have to use them. So if a standard factory (size M) uses 30 energy cells per minute, each SPP can support:

M = 9 factories
L = 24 factories
XL = 48 factories

Now if use size L’s (75 energy per minute) as we will probably being doing in a lot of cases, each SPP will be able to support:

M = 3 factories
L = 9 factories
XL = 19 factories

Those are the general statistics but for absolute accuracy I’m sure you can work out the figures yourself. But this is really what you need to know so don’t worry too much if your not sure on the decimals. However if anybody wishes me to add them, I can very speedily do it! Now this brings me on too another little niche. High Tech Fabs. These are not sized as I’m sure you have noticed, they are just 1MJ Shield Factory etc… Now these do not use 75 or even 30 energy cells per minute but only 15. Don’t ask me why they just do. So when your working out your loops or complexs, make note that any High Tech Fab only uses 15 energy instead of 30. Which means each SPP can support:

M = 36 High Tech Factories
L = 92 High Tech Factories
XL = 184 High Tech Factories

However, obviously your going to have resource factories as well in a loop so don’t plant 92 High Tech Factories and hope it can be powered, as you will be bitterly disappointed.

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Global Consensus

-Boron Space is the safest but has the least opportunities and is generally less profitable
-Parinid some trouble with pirates but very profitable and not scarce of opportunities
-Teledi the most profitable of all and the most opportunities but also the most dangerous
-Argon fairly numerous opportunities at fair profit margin
-Split quite safe moderate profit but not that many opportunities

What Sells in other races space
(Secondary food fabs)
- Argon Meatstake Cahoona’s don’t sell anywhere but Argon space
- Split Rastar Oil sells in Split and Parinid space
- Parinid Soya Husk sells in Boron, Split and Parinid space
- Teledi Notstrop Oil sells Parinid, Split and Teledi space
- Boron Bofu sells only in Boron space

(Primary food fabs)
- Argon Argnu Beef sells Boron and Argon space
- Boron Biogas sells Argon and Boron space
- Soyer Beans sell only in Parinid space
- Sunrise Flowers sell only in Teledi space
- Split Chelt Meat only sells in Split space
(Tertiary food fabs)
- Boron Plankton sells in Argon space and Boron space
- Argon Delaxian Wheat sells in Boron and Argon space
- Split Scruffin Fruits sell in Argon and Split space
(Quaternary food fabs)
- Boron Stott Spices sell in Argon, Teledi, and Parinid space
- Split Massom Powder Only sells in Split space
(Illegal goods)
- Teledi Swamp plant can be sold in Teledi space and Pirate space
- Teledi Space weed can be sold in Teledi space and in Pirate space
- Argon Space fuel can be sold in Teledi and Pirate space
- Split Space fly’s can be sold in Split space and Pirate space
- Pirates Slaves can be sold in Parinid, Split and Pirate space
(Other)
- Teledi Teledianium sells in Boron, Parinid, Split and Teledi space
- Parinid Maja Snails sell only in Parinid space
- Majaglit sells in Parinid and Argon space

This is just general need to know information on each race which will come in use as you progress further into other races sectors and start to search for new trading opportunities. Note: Although the above resources can be sold to other races and sometimes only sold to other races, they need resources which only the indigenous race can provide them. So basically don’t plant a Stott Mixery 50 sectors away from Boron space and expect it to get it’s much needed Plankton.
The Following is a table of each races unique resource factory and also what it need’s as a secondary resource from other races.

Station---------------------Race---------Secondary Resource
Cahoonas Bakery--------Argon--------.Stott Spices/Delexian Wheat
Cattle Raunch----------...Argon--------.Plankton/Scruffin Fruits
Bio Gas Factory-------....Boron--------.Plankton/Soja Husk
Bofu Chemical Lab-------Boron--------.Stott Spices/Delexian Wheat
Soyery--------------------Parinid------..Teledianium/Biogas/Nostrop
Soyfarm-----------------..Parinid----....Teledianium/Soja Husk/Nostrop
Chelt Space Aquarium--.Split-------....Nostrop Oil
Rastar Refinery----------.Split----------Bogas/Teledianium
Sunrise Oil Refinery-----.Teledi--------Swamp Plant/Stott Spices
Sunrise Oil Refinery-----.Teledi--------Bogas/Teledianium/Nostrop
Snail Farm----------------Parinid----....Bogas/Rastar Oil
Space Jewlary-----------.Parinid---.....Bogas
Wheat Farm-------------..Argon--------None
Rimes Fact-------------....Argon--------Delexian Wheat
Plankton Farm---------....Boron--------Delexian Wheat/Soja Husk
Stott Mixery-----------.....Argon--------Bogas/Teledianium
Dream Farm------------...Teledi--------Ore
Teledianium Foundry-----Teledi--------Stott Spices/Delexian Wheat
Bliss Place----------------.Teledi--------Teledianium/Nostrop Oil
Scruffin Farm-----------...Split----------Soja Husk/ Nostrop Oil
Massom Mill-------------...Split----------Soja Husk/ Nostrop Oil
Space Fuel Distilary----...Argon--------Stott Spices/Delexian Wheat

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Examples of good Station placement (going from lowest profitability to highest)

1. Wheat Farm in the Wall (your target is Boron so set to 4-5 jumps)
2. Silicon mine in Ore Belt (26 Yield)
3. Biogas in Siezwell
4. Shield 1MJ Facility in Argon Prime
5. Stott Spices in Hurron’s Nebula
6. Rastor Oil in Tharkar’s Sun
7. Soyery in Parinid Prime
8. Bofu in Kingdom End (my first and fav)
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Ship Stats (not including Cap ships M1’s/M2’s/TL's)

Fastest Ship = Split Jaguar Raider (M5) 596.42
Most Heavily Shielded Ship = Falcon Sentinel 250MJ Shield (M3)
Most Powerful Ship = Argon Centaur 11 Guns – Beta High Energy Plasma Throwers
Biggest Cargo Ship = Dolphin Super Freighter 14000cu Size XL (TS)

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Equipment – Where to go

Advanced Satellite – Advanced Satellite Factories or all race trading stations
Best Buyer’s Seller’s locators – Teledi Equipment docks
Boost extension – All Equipment docks
Cargo Bay Extension – All Equipment docks
Cargo Life-support System Pirate Bases
Docking Computer – Parinid Equipment docks
Duplex Scanner – Argon, Split, Teledi Equipment docks
Ecliptic projector – Parinid Equipment docks
Engine Tuning – All Equipment docks
Fight Command Software – All Equipment docks
Freight Scanner – All Equipment docks
Jump drive – Gonor Temple or Terrorcorp HQ
Mineral Scanner – All Equipment docks
Mobile Drilling System – Teledi or Split Equipment docks
Navigational Relay Satellite – All races, certain trading stations or Satellite Factories
Navigational Command Software – All Equipment docks
Navigational Beacon – Unable to purchase
Ore Collector – Teledi or Split Equipment docks
Police license – All race trading stations (applies for race you buy it form only)
Rudder Optimisation – All Equipment docks
Salvage Insurance – Gonor Temple
Singularity Engine Time Accelerator – All Equipment docks
Space fly Collector – Split Equipment docks
Special Command Software – All Equipment docks
Strafe Drive Extension – Split Equipment docks
System Override Software – Pirate Bases
Trading System Extension – Argon/Boron Equipment docks
Trade Command Software – All Equipment docks
Transporters Devise – Gonor Temple
Triplex Scanner – Boron or Parinid Equipment docks
Fighter Drone – Some trading stations (all races)
Flak Artillery Array – Some Boron Equipment docks or FAA factories
High Energy Plasma throwers – Parinid or Argon HEPT Factories
Impulse Ray Emitters – Alpha Teledi – Beta Argon – Gamma Boron
Ion Disruptors – Boron Equipments docks Special Weapons Facilities
Kyon Emitter – Capture from Khaak ships
Laser Tower Weapon – Some trading station (all races) and Laser Tower Factories
Mass Driver – Special Weapons Facilities in Boron or Argon space
Mass Driver Ammunition – Argon Equipment docks or Special Weapons Facilities
Particle Accelerator Cannons – Alpha Split , Beta Argon, Gamma Boron (EQ’s/Fact)
Phased Shockwave Generator – Parinid Equipment docks or PSG complex’s
Photon Pulse Cannon – Alpha and Gamma Argon, Beta Boron (EQ’s) or PPC forges
Pulsed Beam Emitter – PBE forges (Boron)
Repair Laser – Cut Scene Only

Be aware that trading stations all have different item lists, but one of them in each race will sell what you need. Depending on whether it is available to that race though.
_____________________________________________________________________
Classical Controls/Hotkeys

Flight:
A – accelerate z – decelerate Backspace – Full Stop
Pitch up – down key
Pitch down – up key
Yaw left – left key
Yaw right – right key
Roll left – q
Roll right – w
F1 – Select Cockpit view/cycle through views
F2 – External View
F3 – Target View
H – Toggle Hud Display
F4 – Select Monitor
+/- _ Zoom in/out (only in external view)
Ins 0 (Num) – Change camera mode
Num 5 – Default camera mode

Ship Interface
F – open freight bay menu
O – open cargo bay doors (twice to close)
Alt – Video Enhancement Goggles
E – Eject
M – Switch Gravidar modes
K – loose targeting mode
J – Seta Engine Time Accelerator
G – Ecliptic Projector
M – Install Missile
L – Launch Missile

Targeting
Shift L – Target Enemy under cursor
T – Target nearest enemy (caps lock engaged) lower case t for target nearest
Ship/station
Home/End – Cycle to next and previous station
Insert/Del – Target next and previous player ship

Command
U – move to selected target
D – dock at selected target
Shift C – Open command menu; 1.Navigation 2.Combat 3.Trade 4.Special
Example – Shift C, 3,1, Enter (will order the selected ship to buy wares for best price)
(However that sequence will obviously only work on Freighters set to home base)
Enter (Num) – Open Menu (classical menu)

Options
Esc – Cancel
Shift S – Save game menu
Shift L – Load game menu
Enter - Select

Precision Station Planting (something nearly everybody doesn’t know)
(First you have to select the station you want to plant) How to move it’s position:
Num8 – Move North
Num2 – Move South
Num4 – Move West
Num6 – Move East
To adjust elevation (height) press insert to change to height view (press again to go back):
Num8 – Move higher
Num2 – Move lower
Num4 – Move left
Num6 – Move right

Downloadable's
http://www.savefile.com/files/5790707 (Bugmeisters Controls Map)
_____________________________________________________________________
Key:
Relatively SimpleBit complicatedChallengingGlobal StatisticsGeneral Information
_____________________________________________________________________
#Credits
Author; CGO (Apocholypse)
Copyright; do not copy or use this material in your own work/website without the authors consent!
Assists; Storm666 (for explaining energy consumption)/Capt Scarlet (for donating some nice info)
Hope this was of use! Cheers!!!!!
Last edited by Apocholypse on Sun, 9. Apr 06, 20:27, edited 55 times in total.

Vectistar
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Post by Vectistar » Mon, 7. Nov 05, 23:17

Thanks very much - I need all the help I can get, and this gives me a good start. Much appreciated.

JimmiG
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Post by JimmiG » Tue, 8. Nov 05, 06:12

Thank you. This should be useful. As a complete newbie to X I find it all quite overwhelming. The manual only explains in brief how certain things work and there doesn't seem to be a very thorough tutorial or anything in the actual game. The manual claims tutorials can be found under the Simulator option but the only option I found there was a combat scenario.

So for the first couple of hours I just pottered about in my little ship and didn't really have a clue what I was actually doing :lol:

I feel that if you don't "get into" a game rather quickly at the beginning, there's a big chance that you'll just get bored and give up before you've even scratched the surface of the game. Any links to other newbie-friendly resources would be appreciated.

grimdar
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Post by grimdar » Tue, 8. Nov 05, 08:42

wow cool! This helps out.
5 min ago I had no friggin clue what i was doing

Apocholypse
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Post by Apocholypse » Tue, 8. Nov 05, 10:25

Glad to see its of some use. Post if you have any further questions or you can PM me. Let me know how your doing anyways guys!

Mopy
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Post by Mopy » Tue, 8. Nov 05, 10:36

Nice one Apoch :)
Sig

Deadlock3345
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Post by Deadlock3345 » Tue, 8. Nov 05, 10:58

thx .... the hardest thing about the game is getting a foothold ...
yay this is almost fun now..... thx again :wink:
all ways outnumbered never out gunned...

gerrythegremlin
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Post by gerrythegremlin » Tue, 8. Nov 05, 11:10

Makes sense to me from X2 - might add that instad of idly setaing (assuming you have you jumpdrive in working order) you could do a few Solar Power runs in the Wall (assuming there are still 5 Power Stations there) by monitoring them for good prices and jumping in with your Speed-maxed Trader when they don't expect you and grabbing the goods at lowest price.

That way wherever you sell them you will make profitsss!

Check it out... :D
dis is der 'orrible old baldy geezer wiv da bump on is ed
We were suspended in the void. Chapters 1-5
http://www.egosoft.com/x2/forum/viewtopic.php?t=31946
my reputation may be in the hands of others, yet my honour is my own. gerry the gremlin

Apocholypse
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Post by Apocholypse » Tue, 8. Nov 05, 11:35

That was in the guide :lol:

Apocholypse
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Post by Apocholypse » Tue, 8. Nov 05, 18:13

If anybody just wants to know a few specific things rather than a lecture thats fine too... :D

grimdar
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Post by grimdar » Tue, 8. Nov 05, 18:18

Like I said, great guide.
I do have some other questions though...

Is there a weapons/equipment/ship guide anywhere? Going to a station to trade and I have no idea what to get for my own ship because I don't know anything about them.

Also, how do you fix the hull of your ship? I went on a pirate run last night just to get to know the game and damaged my ship's hull pretty badly, I can't figure out where to fix it, and I didn't find anything in the manual (unless i missed it)

Apocholypse
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Post by Apocholypse » Tue, 8. Nov 05, 23:19

Go to the ship yard, and at the top will be a repair option in the trade menu. Be careful not to sell your ship :lol:

Specifically there isn't a guide for X3 yet....But there is for X2 which is virtually identical!

http://argonopedia.ppcis.org

Work yea way through that.

JimmiG
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Post by JimmiG » Wed, 9. Nov 05, 04:42

Note: leave your Buster in Argon prime somewhere, as you’ll be selling products here and having a ship in sector will allow you to see the price and amount.
Can you clarify this? Ie how do I see the prices in that sector when I'm in my other ship in some completely different sector? I tried the command console but didn't find anything..

CybrSlydr
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Post by CybrSlydr » Wed, 9. Nov 05, 04:54

Excellent guide. :)

My main turnoff with X2 was the INSANELY slow startup...

Even getting that 400k by selling the Express Shield and laser... Soooooooooo sloooooooooooooooow.....

This should help immensely. Thanks!

Bane_v2
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Post by Bane_v2 » Wed, 9. Nov 05, 04:56

JimmiG wrote:Can you clarify this? Ie how do I see the prices in that sector when I'm in my other ship in some completely different sector? I tried the command console but didn't find anything..
Open the Universe Map and select Argon Prime. Then select any station and view it's details. You can see the prices and quantities of the stations in any sector you have a presence (like another ship or a navigation satellite).

Apocholypse
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Post by Apocholypse » Wed, 9. Nov 05, 23:55

Nav satelites are very useful!!!

SSR
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Post by SSR » Thu, 10. Nov 05, 00:02

Are there any cheats? The idea of spending hours ferrying crap back and forth in a slow ship doesn't appeal to me. Is there a console?

Apocholypse
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Post by Apocholypse » Thu, 10. Nov 05, 14:46

No there are not cheats. But there are ways of modding the game so you can get money or something, by creating your own script in the game editor. However I know from exsperiance that this is no fun at all.
It defeats the object of the game, why build factories to make money when you have infinite money? Your aim, or what most people aim for is to build an Intergalactic empire.

I have 42 stations now, and I have no worry's about money at all. I make about 27 million an hour. (no seta except flying through sectors).

If you really don't like the trading aspect but want to play the game for it's over atributes. You can either go round and gather the hidden ships and build a small fleet for free. Or you can start the game over as bankrupt assassin where your aim is not to trade but be a pirate and earn money by stealing other ships and selling them. Note: you start off in a very powerful ship, a Split Mamba, which cost around 3 million to put it in perspective. Capping is much more fun than trading and gets alot more money, but isn't always rewarding.

Mopy
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Post by Mopy » Thu, 10. Nov 05, 14:55

SSR wrote:Are there any cheats? The idea of spending hours ferrying crap back and forth in a slow ship doesn't appeal to me. Is there a console?
http://forum.egosoft.com/viewtopic.php?t=97281

Some general dirtyness going on in the scripting forum that may be interesting to you :)
Sig

Apocholypse
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Post by Apocholypse » Fri, 11. Nov 05, 00:10

Mopy you rebel :wink:

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