X3 Reunion: Q about the Reunion economy (is it broken?)

[siddham]

Still gearing up to play Reunion; doing some reading and I have come across a number of mentions about the Reunion economy being progressively broken by the GOD system as your game proceeds.

For example, apparently AI SPPs get progressively bunched into certain sectors leaving many sectors with no SPPs, and this results in eventually making UTs obsolete since they cannot easily get ECs for their jump drive and they get destroyed by Xenon or Khaak.
I guess it must also have bad effects on the AI traders & factories too.

I wonder is this still true or was it fixed in a patch?

I wonder about the economy in TCC and AP; are they better or the same?

I wonder are there mods that specifically improve the AI economy?

I would appreciate any views on this topic; and also any links to good discussions about it on the forums.

Thanks

[jlehtone]

I don't recall X3R economy being bad, but I was not really trading (100+ billion of assets were not a result of trade) so it's mainly hearsay. Worked for me.

GOD was new in X3R; version 1.0 did not have it at all. Recall that if a Factory was destroyed in X2, then it was dead. ("Government buildings" did respawn.)

Each sector has predetermined Factories in known positions. GOD events can turn them "on" or "off". When "off", there is no station to see. When "on", station is visible and functional. Turning from "off" to "on" requires that a NPC TL "delivers" a station there, and position might change a bit to avoid collision (should someone build there during their absence).

When does GOD event occur? Not certain, but "supply and demand" appear to influence the chance. Tractor Beam Forge was an early example of a victim; GOD turned them "off" in almost every game and never saw a need to "on" again. X3R Bonuspack contains an undocumented script that respawns one Forge during loading of a game, if that Forge has disappeared during previous session.


X3TC Terran economy is said to be pinnacle of death; a slide to permanent "off" like the TB Forges had. Furthermore, there are more stations that player cannot buy&build, so even the wealthy lack workarounds. Best way is supposedly to dock a M5 as early as possible into as many Forges (of interest) as possible. GOD should not turn "off" Factories that have a docked player's ship.

Again, my personal needs were limited to a few items of the Xenon Hub incident, for which the NPC economy is a bit lacking even on its best day.


IIRC, Lucike did have a script that made X3R NPC traders smarter. That has the downside that the player traders will lose many opportunities to the competition; the balance is very delicate.


Overall: No, not broken, IMHO.

[siddham]

Thanks jlehtone

I see you are #1 for cash & asset value! Well done

And #1 for factories...which to me means trading. Or at least, that is what I meant in my post.
By trade I mean involved in the AI economy.

What do you mean by "pinnacle of death" in reference to X3TC?

[Tabs]

What do you mean by "pinnacle of death" in reference to X3TC?

Unless the player personally intervenes there is a good chance that most Terran weapons/missile factories will disappear. This leaves you with no (peaceful) way to get quantities those items for a long time.

[siddham]

What do you mean by "pinnacle of death" in reference to X3TC?

Unless the player personally intervenes there is a good chance that most Terran weapons/missile factories will disappear. This leaves you with no (peaceful) way to get quantities those items for a long time.

Wow. I see. So unless the player builds their own factories; or parks a ship in the AI facts. Right?

How about X3AP?
Does it's economy have these issues too?

[jlehtone]

The problem in X3TC was, at least initially, that player could not buy&build any Terran Factories. X3TC 2.0 did add one Terran Shipyard with some Factories. X3AP Terrans do sell, so "unbuyable" is not a hard restriction.

And #1 for factories...which to me means trading. Or at least, that is what I meant in my post.
By trade I mean involved in the AI economy.

I know, but my "closed loops" were first and foremost "closed" as in "any interaction with the NPC is treason, punishable by immediate enema with a Hammerhead". There were couple delicately crafted trade setups, but for amusement only and very minor in scale.

[OniGanon]

How about X3AP?
Does it's economy have these issues too?

In my experience, the AP GoD is more benevolent than TC's. The Tractor Beam Factories will probably still be gone after a while, but the Terran/Aldrin/Yaki factories seem less likely to vanish.

Damn near everything is buyable in AP anyway, even if they do disappear. Even the Yaki stations can eventually be bought if you choose a particular plot path.