more modern x games

[lucky2539]

Hi folks, hope your all well, i would like to ask game players their advice, at the moment i have x3 reunion, and enjoy playing it a lot, although i must admit i do pick it up and put it down. ive been thinking about buying prelude or even the new online game..but...my hand and eye reactions have never been great and recently through health i find myself very slow in anything to do with a dogfight situation, in reunion i can use the auto fire and just cut in for evade if my sheilds get low, so, the question is would i struggle or even not be able to play in attack/defenceplay in more modern games..
thanks for any input
jim aka lucky

[Chips]

I think, outside of X2 and perhaps the first X3, my dog fighting days are only when I chose it to happen (missions, mainly). I tended to fly M6's in the later games once I was able to, and against fighters it was moderately simple. I'd basically just build up my trading/station empire instead.

Fly even bigger ships to avoid dog fighting, though there may be a lot of collateral damage done

So yes, I think you can get by without dog fighting if you wish to - although if doing the storyline then perhaps that's not possible. But generally, the bigger the ship the slower the gameplay requirements I'd say

My games tended to just be about exploration and then building a healthy empire with it's own defensive ships. Then I'd get bored as there wasn't any real threat to anything by that point. One thing I liked about X2, the Khaak were always a risk!

[Morkonan]

In X3:TC, the only dogfighting I had to do was early in the game and in a few of the Story Missions where it was pretty much required.

After I established my economic base with about a dozen traders (Manual trading, furiously, until they ranked up.) I was able to start assembling a decent little fleet of fighters. Then, after I started building complexes, I never had to fight anything "personally" unless I felt like it. Xenon incursions? Press a button and my fleet(s) responded. Pirates harassing my stations? Build dedicated defending wings. Pirates, Xenon or Khaak harassing the trade routes, bothering my "friends", making things more difficult for my business? Establish patrols to keep the trade-lanes safe for making profitsssss...

And, if I felt like dogfighting? No problem, I'd be sure to have some support ships nearby if needed. But, they weren't needed, since I could afford the best ships and weapons.

If you wanted to start out and basically not ever have to dogfight unless you wanted to, I think X3:TC has some of the best starts for that. There are a few Story Missions that do require it, though. But... you don't even have to do the Story Missions if you don't want to. (They do, however, unlock great assets and zones that you can't get any other way. But, you don't have to have those.)

I have no idea how much dogfighting the newest addition to the franchise would require. X3:AP is more focused on combat and the like, so it may not be the best choice either. Though, I imagine one could even play that without much actual fighting if one didn't want to.

[Alan Phipps]

Moved to X Trilogy Universe and where you may find this similar thread helpful.

[AleksMain]

Hi folks, hope your all well, i would like to ask game players their advice, at the moment i have x3 reunion, and enjoy playing it a lot, although i must admit i do pick it up and put it down. ive been thinking about buying prelude or even the new online game..but...my hand and eye reactions have never been great and recently through health i find myself very slow in anything to do with a dogfight situation, in reunion i can use the auto fire and just cut in for evade if my sheilds get low, so, the question is would i struggle or even not be able to play in attack/defenceplay in more modern games..
thanks for any input
jim aka lucky

It is data from the X3 Wiki of the X3: Albion Prelude:

X3 is not about glorious endings but about humble beginnings.
Anything can be achieved if the player works towards it but how challenging that can be is often decided within the first 24 hours of gameplay and that is determined by what starting scenario the player chooses.

Some scenarios does not requre fighting abilities, for example:

Humble Merchant

Starting Ship(s): Discoverer (M5) and Mercury (TS)

Starting Equipment/Wares: Discoverer: 2x 1MJ Shield, SETA and 2x Engine Tuning

Mercury: 5MJ Shield, SETA, 5x Engine Tuning and 5x Rudder Optimisation

Starting Credits: 9,000-9,900

Start Locations: Herron's Nebula

Starting Race Ranks: Argon 0, Boron +3, Paranid -1, Split -1, Teladi 0, Terran/ATF -1, Goner +3

Unlock Requirements: None

Scenario Misson/Available Plots: Commonwealth Main Plot when Argon Race Rank is +4, Terran Race Rank is <0 and the player is in Argon Sector 418

Fastest Unlock Method: None

Hints/Comments: Player starts with a TS for trading and an M5 for scouting but minimal shielding and no weapons making it a priority to avoid hostile ships early on. As the Mercury is the largest source of income early on upgrade it first and get a Trade System Extension.

Using trade you can earn Credits to buy necessary for you equipment and ships.

You can create fleets for OOS (Out-of-Sector) combat and look for fights of your own fleets.

If you have ship with Jumpdrive and Energy Cells, then you can complete Return Ship missions. Not necessary to return ship, you can sell it (in the any Shipyard) and earn more Credits, than you can get as reward for completed mission.


If you can buy M7M Missile Frigate with sufficient amount of missiles, then you can destroy any ship or ships yourself being far from targets.

Generally speaking they are the deadliest ships in the game since they can overwhelm anything with the size of their barrages, though their reliance on missiles makes them expensive and supply intensive

[Triaxx2]

Try again in Terran Conflict, they vastly improved the ability to fight without having particularly precise skills dog fighting. Gimballed weapons and mouse following instead of static center of the screen flying helped a lot.

On the other hand, consider fighter drones. Buy them en masse, deploy them from your hold and set them on a target.

[Timsup2nothin]

I find that controlling fleets of ships and fighter drones requires more finger dexterity than dogfighting, myself. I also fly with a joystick that I thought for years wasn't a big deal...but when I got one for another game it became immediately indispensable.

[DrSuperEvil]

You can either just have a bigger ship and overpower smaller opponents. Ships like the Panther Raider have turrets so you just need to focus on evasion during combat. Also missiles can win fights before they even begin.

If anything combat in AP is easier than reunion since PSGs are no longer a figher weapon.

[Triaxx2]

Hotkey's are the trick to Drones. Attack my target and defend my ship each have their own hotkeys. Select target, order attack. You can target them from the map.