NEWS: X3: Terran Conflict news, all in one place for your convenience - 22-10-08

[KennethX3Freak]

I have to disagree. When capital ships light up like match boxes that completely eliminates the purpose and the feel. Capital ships have capital class equipment and capital class weapons. Even with those equipped, most powerful space warfare gear it still allows those capital ship to withstand in battle for hours. That's why they are capital, they are the last line of defence, when everything else fails around capital ships are still standing and exchanging the fire. Well that's at list how its supposed to be. Capital ships can't dodge and shouldn't dodge. They supposed to take all the hits dead ahead.

true, but a battleship (navy) doesnt destroy another battleship in just a few hits.

most go at it for hours, read about how long the bismarck lasted

[Jashashunter]

Don't Panic! It's still on the steam site!

If your ok with having to play an offline game, online, which for me means leaving your antivirus /spyware running while you play.

Common misconception about STEAM and its not true at all. I play X3 on Steam and most of the time do it offline. You only need to be online when you download it. Once its on your computer you dont have to be online. Steam has a mode called OFFLINE MODE. If you close Steam or restart your computer you have to login again but once it has your login info you can play offline all ya want.

[Dragoongfa]

@KennethX3Freak

There is your mistake, capital ships must be able to make combat maneuvers, no sane captain of any nation will allow his ship to get hit if he can avoid it, if you interpret those maneuvers as dodging you are seriously mistaken about the nature of naval combat and the theory of space combat, which as a matter of fact is 3D combat.

Battleship Bismark survived its first engagement unscathed thanks to its mobility and maneuverability but once its rudder controls where destroyed (by a single torpedo hit mind you) the ship was more or less a sitting duck, the ensuing battle was a turkey shoot where inferior ships and a few fighters took out a state of the art battleship.

There are plenty examples of Battleships and Carriers that where taken out by just a few hits:

The Japanese carrier group in Midway, Battleship Musashi, the super carrier Sinano, the battleship Arizona.

They were all destroyed with relatively few hits, and those examples are the main reason why no navy since WW2 (with the exception of carriers, the Aegis Class cruisers of the US and 4 Soviet missile cruisers) commissioned heavy capital ships, they cost too much and they can be sunk in a matter of minutes by inexpensive weaponry, while most of their roles can been covered by destroyers and frigates.


EDIT: Correction and added an example.

[buxtonm]

I'm with Dragoongfa on the capital ship combat, as technology has advanced naval warfare has usually been quick, decisive battles. Bismarck did last a long time before sinking, but leaving it there is disingenuous. If my memory serves me correctly, she was struck in her inital encouter with Hood and Prince of Wales (in which Hood was sunk something like 5 min into the battle with a total of 3 survivors of some 1400 men) and was leaking fuel. Forced to return to a friendly port, she was pounced upon by British torpedo bombers and survived again but took rudder damage and was stuck turning in circles. In two brief, decisive moments the fate of Bismarck was all but sealed.

With the addition of more missile based combat in TC, I think we'll see capital ship combat become even more decisive, as there are better options to avoid getting into a situation where you expose yourself to a dozen or more GPPC's. There's also potential for the Heavy Missile Gun from XTM making an appearance, which is certainly an interesting weapon as it travels much faster than GPPC, making it more difficult for the player to avoid by strafing. I believe I saw artillery referenced someplace as a new type of weapon for TC, and the HMG is what comes to my mind when I think of artillery in X3.

[em3e3]

Time for another update of the (english) game review sites and release dates for X3: Terran Conflict.

Gamespot, rank 2,131 of 52,414 (click the orange More Info button). Release date Oct 10, 2008 (EU)

GameFaqs, release in Europe, now 10/10/08.

GameStats, popularity guage was 0, #28,745, now 64.7, #224 overall, #24 within PC Library. Release date still 9/30/08.

IGN, release date was 9/30/08, United Kingdom, now it says TBA.

1Up.com, still no user hype, release date still 9/15/08.

GameZone, North American release still Q3 2008, no comments.

Game Rankings, no rank, release date is now 10/17/2008.

Play.com, Pre-order, release date 10/17/2008 (UK I assume)

Amazon.co.uk, available for pre-order at £17.98, release date October 17, 2008.

Amazon.de, EUR 36,95, release date 10. October 2008.

TotheGame.com, UK and Nordic release date, 10/3/08. US release, TBA. Online play, TBA!

Google search of site:Amazon.com "terran conflict" returns 4 results, two of which are Amazon search results pages with the title 'X3: Terran Conflict'

Google search of site:Enlight.com "terran conflict" returns 0 results

Google search of site:DeepSilver.com "terran conflict" returns 660 results, from a high of 1000+

Gamers Daily News actually lists Enlight as the publisher, and an empty US box image.

GameSpy, basically no info.

Giant Bomb lists Deep Silver and Enlight as the publishers, 10/10/08 US release date.

Gamershell.com says Deep Silver is the USA and UK publisher, no release dates.


Okay, now for my take on all of this. The German version of the game is finished, and has been ready to go. There was a problem with the English version, and the publisher decided to hold off releasing the other versions until they could fix it. At the same time, Koch Media/DeepSilver are fighting with Enlight on the North American publishing rights - there was a contract in place, but now that Koch has US operations for DeepSilver, they want to keep the sales in house. Steam is/has been a separate distribution method, so they might be able to release to the NA customers.

So, my prediction, Europe will get X3:TC on October 10th, UK will get it on the 17th, and the US will see something by the end of the month.

[Incubi]

Too bad there won't be any standees of the Xgirl in Gamestop. That is about the only way I can afford to get one

[Aro]

There's an image posted not so long ago with an install screen listing english as a language one can install. Doubt that's the problem (who knows, could be full of all you base are belong to us).

Really wonder how much steam will be selling it for. Guess we will know on the 3rd.

Edit: Thought I added this... it would be really interesting to capture a khaak capital ship. Would be the first time we could actually do it (vanilla). Those things are so much more deadly with a human using the weapons. A KM6 would be really cool if they add one. Guess this being the third game with the little friends it would be good to get away from the combat ranks required to capture them.
Sounds like it will be cheaper to capture compared to outright buying a ship, will just take quite some time to obtain the might able to overcome the target. Would make obtaining Yaki ships simpler too. Mmm, my HQ will have a ton of blueprints

[happycamper]

I hope that large (M1 M1) to very large (M0) capital ships play a more significant role in TC. Boarding a large ship with actual spacesiuted marines sounds intriguing. I like the M0's in XTM as far as design, I love to fly by them in a large scale battle (that is when I own them) and when one is engaged in battle as well. The sheer awesome size of them is a sight to behold however, in X3 the present state for such battles is limited due to issues; ie collision detection, restricted movement (which could be part of a strategic plan). Lets hope in TC having wings and a more robust group management system will useful in a tactical/strategic capacity. Waiting with great anticipation for X3TC!

[VincentTH]

Don't Panic! It's still on the steam site!

If your ok with having to play an offline game, online, which for me means leaving your antivirus /spyware running while you play.

Common misconception about STEAM and its not true at all. I play X3 on Steam and most of the time do it offline. You only need to be online when you download it. Once its on your computer you dont have to be online. Steam has a mode called OFFLINE MODE. If you close Steam or restart your computer you have to login again but once it has your login info you can play offline all ya want.

OK, so I have a question for you:
Let say at home I download X3:TC to my laptop, login then play the game. Without login out, I put the laptop to Hibernate, then go to school, where port 27K have been blocked. Can I still play X3:TC? (Note that at school I will then have a different IP address than home, or I can choose to not connect to the NW).

At school, all HTTP, HTTPS ports are open, except the game ports in the 27K range are blocked, and there is no way to convince the IT guys to open them.

TIA.

[KennethX3Freak]

OK, so I have a question for you:
Let say at home I download X3:TC to my laptop, login then play the game. Without login out, I put the laptop to Hibernate, then go to school, where port 27K have been blocked. Can I still play X3:TC? (Note that at school I will then have a different IP address than home, or I can choose to not connect to the NW).

At school, all HTTP, HTTPS ports are open, except the game ports in the 27K range are blocked, and there is no way to convince the IT guys to open them.

TIA.

when you downlaod off of steam, you download the WHOLE game and unzip it and install it to your computer. basically you can download it, then lose internet connection for life, and itll always be there like a built in x3 CD

{Quote-a-thon shrunk - esd}

[Sandalpocalypse]

Never had a problem with hibernate and offline mode... a laptop that can run TC though, that's impressive.

[nirwin]

Yes, when you get to school and exit Hibernation mode, steam will notice it can't connect to it's server. It will then enter 'offline mode' where all the games that you played/installed whilst online, will still be available to you, but you will not be able to install a new game that requires steam until you have an internet connection.

NOTE: This only applies if you have the option for "remember my details when I'm offline" (or something similar) selected.

Never had a problem with this system myself, so doubt you will either. You may do well to read the FAQs on the steam website if you are still unsure.

Hope we get the Fight trailer soon.

[Marodeur]

One question about the blog.

Originally we asked Owen Lake, the guy behind the Terran plotline and one of the mission programmers, to write a little article for the blog today.

Unfortunately he had to catch up on his sleep after some really stressful days, trying to kill plot bugs. So while he gets his well deserved rest, let me introduce Ivan Tefalco:

Have you forgotten Owen or is he still sleeping ?

Maybe a youg beautiful woman should kiss him awake because it would be nice to see his entry about the missions.

[VincentTH]

Thanks to nirwin and Kenneth. That sells it for me. So I only need to log on to Steam when at home, when I need to install an upgrade. That works for me!

[Hob Anagerik]

The one thing that puts me off Steam games is the price. I can get them far cheaper from other online retailers than Steam. So much for Steam cutting out the middle mean leading to cheaper games.

Steam are selling CoD4 for $69.99.

Play.com are selling it for £15 with free delivery. Amazon for £14.

The last game I purchased through Steam was quite expensive after the exchange rate and tax calculations had been made. I'll check when I get home and see how much it works out but suffice to say, if I can get it from anywhere else I don't buy it through Steam.

[Chris79ita]

Someone know when TC will be downloadable (on steam)?

[Demolisher 2]

Someone know when TC will be downloadable (on steam)?

Available for preload on the third of october (last time I checked)

[mojo lojo]

danleach wrote:

I hope someone makes a Universe map for this REALLY quickly
Im dying to see the new full X Universe

Talking of maps, does anyone know how many new sectors there are going to be?

I love to explore

[jordan kirwan]

90 i think

only 9 days till release whoooo

[xeon_1]

90 i think

only 9 days till release whoooo

That's XTM
I thought i read somewhere in one of the release threads that the number would be arround 240