X3:R new pilots; before you build your empire: must read guide list..

[rafezetter]

Ok, I've been playing X3:R for a few days, built a couple of stations and bought some trading ships, but I've also had to do a lot of reading to try to figure out WHY some things have been happening (unexplained ship losses, why my fabs arn't making money) and the following are guides and other info I've found that have explained in better detail the in-game mechanics and how they affect you. This isn't meant to be another "how to" more a "If you're going to play an X universe game (X2 and beyond), to save yourself some big headaches I suggest you read this...and this .. and that one...and this bit...and all these..."

For new pilots I suggest reading early on as this info shows that some things should be learned or dealt with sooner rather than later (like mission difficulty explained in "SETA and you": drop rank).

I'm aware all this is available elsewhere, but if you're not looking for it, you won't see it, and some of these ALL new(ish) pilots should see BEFORE they get busy building their empire.

Excellent starters guide:
http://www.theengineeringguild.co.uk/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=57:x3-reunion-new-players-guide-v16&catid=15&Itemid=110

Seta and you: what the manual doesn't tell you...and why it should:
http://www.politespider.com/x3tc/X3-SETA_usage_Guide.pdf

Starting your empire: Sector and universal traders:
http://forum.egosoft.com/viewtopic.php?t=121043

(there are several different scripts to modify the behaviour of the vanilla game AI for ST and UT, I suggest you look at several to find one that suits, be aware it will require to change to modified game version so you won't be able to compare stats with other vanilla players using the new system introduced in 2.5)

The X3 economy and your profitssss:
http://www.theengineeringguild.co.uk/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=55:the-x3-economy-guide&catid=15&Itemid=110

For station trading opportunities for maximum profitssss (for X2): contains spoilers
http://forum.egosoft.com/viewtopic.php?t=44238

IS vs OOS combat explained...sort of (this is IMPORTANT for people with lots of trading ships and why they keep getting destroyed, read all posts):
http://forum.egosoft.com/viewtopic.php?t=319684

And finally a few other bits of info contained in posts I consider helpful:

Don't let the AI (autopilot) fly you through asteroid fields, ESPECIALLY under SETA - the AI just isn't fast enough to compute all parameters in a dense field (confirmed by me, crashed more than a few times)

If there are lots of ships around, take over and steer the ship yourself - as above, AI may struggle to avoid collisions (became roadkill during seta to a Teladi Albatross pissing about trying to work it's way through the asteroids in Seizewell - 1st time was funny, 3rd time...not so much). *it came from...behind!* KABLOOIE!

When docking with the autopilot, check to see if there are other ships already docked. If there are, you might find them undocking while you approach, which may well mean an unavoidable collision. (done that too - docking computer solves that; instadock )

(applies to X3:TC) Don't use the autopilot in Terran space unless you area long way from stations or gates. The same applies to any sector with a large amount of ships, or a battle you are involved with.


Many thanks for all the creators of the above guides and information, all of which is available here : http://forum.egosoft.com/viewtopic.php?t=162408 but I thought certain ones needed a bit more highlighting. The other guides listed on that link go into far more detail, on many other topics, but are less "essential" to new players.

Hope that helps

[Fuschl]

thanks for taking the time to post this information. It is very helpful and I appreciate you dling this for us noobs

[rafezetter]

Your welcome some things just didn't make sense until I read some of these.

(barely disguised bump )

[Nanook]

There's a rather complete list of guides for all the games in one of the stickies at the top of this forum. Just in case you missed it.

[rafezetter]

@ Nanook

Yes I'm aware, but considering the length of that list, and that brand new players might not even know what exactly they are looking for let alone under what subject, I just thought I'd provide some highlights - I did say so:

"I'm aware all this is available elsewhere, but if you're not looking for it, you won't see it, and some of these ALL new(ish) pilots should see BEFORE they get busy building their empire. "

"Many thanks for all the creators of the above guides and information, all of which is available here : http://forum.egosoft.com/viewtopic.php?t=162408"

Like the Seta thing, trying to find out why my ship has been destroyed whilst collecting minerals with 2 escorts in a friendly sector.... not enemy fire..the AI crashed it, didn't even get a warning, because damage to shields/ hull caused by collision doesn't seem to be covered by the "one of your ships is under attack" verbal warning. Not a well covered subject and took some digging to find the answer. I was looking for combat, but that wasn't the problem, I only found it buried in another guide regarding the Seta drive listed under X3T - which, as it has a heading for another different version, many would have ignored it completely.

There's a reason why I've seen posts like "help, I'm not making any money" or "help I keep losing ships (myself included)" posts, because when confronted with that wall of threads, guides and info, some people simply yell for help instead.

To glean those pearls took more than a few hours of reading, and much of what I read was either; irrelevant, or too specific to just one given situation. I have that time, many don't, some people don't like to have to do homework to play a game. Sometimes giving it on a platter is what's needed. Anything that makes people stay and play, instead of give up in frustration is good for us all, bigger fanbase = better & continued development of the series, and as this is as close to elite as it gets right now, I'm all for making it simple for people, some members of the forum seem to think otherwise.

I'm not making light of what Graphil did, I'd be sunk without it, but it's like throwing the entire library of books at a kid on the 1st day of school - so:

"I thought certain ones needed a bit more highlighting. The other guides listed on that link go into far more detail, on many other topics, but are less "essential" to new players."

I'll say this: if you believe as a moderator that this post adds nothing and that new players should have to wade through a wall of text list to find the few bits of info they need NOW amongst the probably hundreds of pages. then delete the entire thread, and I'll stand by your decision.

It's not helped by the fact the forum has no internal search engine that I'm aware of, so you have to use an external one which half the time (more than, infact) leads to dead links.

I personally think that wall of guides needs some fine tuning. If it were up to me I'd redo that entire set with stickies for each version with cross referencing, and beg egosoft to add internal search. After all, with X-rebirth coming there will be even more reasons to need one. It's pretty short sighted for a game series this old and with such a dedicated fanbase not to have one.