Coming Soon - X3: Terran Conflict 2.0 Updated 18-Mar-09

[Nova Scotia]

If you really don't like fighting, and have a decent trade-empire set up you could try these missions in a fully decked-out Boreas.

Since the spawns are related to your combat rank you should have no problems managing your business whilst sorting these missions.

There are some "fiddly" missions, but these aren't too hard...

As I said, if you've got your trading empire sorted combat missions should be a simple matter of applying excessive force

Thanks ,sounds like the same plan I followed in XR,run ,run and hide
Nothing more enjoyable than coming to a knife fight with a bazooka

[Ormson]

I've checked with a few stores trying to pre-order. X3:TC is not going to be available in Canada. Since Steam is not an option for me, I guess I'll have to wait for the Egosoft store to have some in stock.

Ormson

[BigBANGtheory]

All the X series games need (once the bugs are squished) is an improved method of managing large numbers of player owned units and worthy AI opponent(s). Anything else is smoke and mirrors...

Will Egosoft reach that potential? Of course they will, they've got this far dammit

If I won the Euro Millions Jackpot I would set myself up as a publisher and make Bernd an offer... (which may or may not include the X girl)

[Rednoahl]

I was searching the forums this morning and the same thing kept catching my eye. It was regarding the Boreas being rebalanced for patch 2.0. Why does the Boreas need rebalancing? The Boreas is the only M2 I aspire to own, and I get the distinct impression that it's going to be made into another average M2. I really can't get my head round this IF this is the case. Is it because it may get spawned in high rank station defence/assassination missions and as is it's very difficult to kill?

[Dragoongfa]

Boreas's re balancing was a must by many, its weapon banks were only second after the Python (not by much) and its shield recharge rate was by far on the top, add its relatively low price and you got a super M2.

The re balancing kind off covers all of the above.

[GCU Grey Area]

Why does the Boreas need rebalancing? The Boreas is the only M2 I aspire to own...

I think that is precisely the reason - if you were having a difficult time deciding between the pros & cons of several different M2s it wouldn't need rebalancing.

[BigVern]

Can't say as a customer and user of the game I agree with all the tinkering and re-balancing or "nerfing". If there happens to be a super M2 in the game, which you can presumably only buy after gaining a high rep with OTAS anyway, leave it for those who aspire to owning it.

I mean where does it stop? Too many high yield roids in a sector? Let's "nerf" it. Oh the Vidar is a bit overpowered compared to other M6's, let's drop the shields to 600MJ from 1GJ.

A patch or update should be to squash bugs, fix broken content and add new features not to ruin existing gameplay features. We're all doing this for a bit of fun and alternative reality in our spare time so please keep it that way.

[Dragoongfa]

The OTAS Boreas is not linked to the OTAS rep, its linked to the Argon rep.

It hasn't been nerfed to the extent people think of anyway.

[Rednoahl]

Why does the Boreas need rebalancing? The Boreas is the only M2 I aspire to own...

I think that is precisely the reason - if you were having a difficult time deciding between the pros & cons of several different M2s it wouldn't need rebalancing.

Well thats the thing. I've a Hyperion Vanguard thats way better than anything in it's class as my personal M6. I looked at the Boreas as an evolution of the Hyp, for use as a personal M2 since it's way better than anything else in it's class (as far as I can tell.)

I've had X3TC just over a month but from what I've read about ES's rebalancing is it tends to be towards the negative side, and I think the reaction from noobs will be negative to certain aspects of X3TC 2.0. I'm having a hard time explaining myself and I don't want to rant but I'm really concerned that Egosoft are making a colossal error of judgement here. Making the game harder for noobs just to please the few that post regularly on this forum is commercial suicide in my view. If the station building gets rebalanced too, then getting a decent amount of money together in a shortish space of time is going to be nearly impossible for some of the later missions...and it'll be harder work than real work, and no FUN at all.

When reviewers get copies of the game, if they can't get far enough into the game in the time they have to review it, then I think all they will see are the faults and I'll bet the scores will go down and sales will be bad because of it. Maybe I'm overreacting - I hope so, but I get the distinct feeling that 2.0 isn't going to go down well at all.

[Dragoongfa]

Why does the Boreas need rebalancing? The Boreas is the only M2 I aspire to own...

I think that is precisely the reason - if you were having a difficult time deciding between the pros & cons of several different M2s it wouldn't need rebalancing.

Well thats the thing. I've a Hyperion Vanguard thats way better than anything in it's class as my personal M6. I looked at the Boreas as an evolution of the Hyp, for use as a personal M2 since it's way better than anything else in it's class (as far as I can tell.)

I've had X3TC just over a month but from what I've read about ES's rebalancing is it tends to be towards the negative side, and I think the reaction from noobs will be negative to certain aspects of X3TC 2.0. I'm having a hard time explaining myself and I don't want to rant but I'm really concerned that Egosoft are making a colossal error of judgement here. Making the game harder for noobs just to please the few that post regularly on this forum is commercial suicide in my view. If the station building gets rebalanced too, then getting a decent amount of money together in a shortish space of time is going to be nearly impossible for some of the later missions...and it'll be harder work than real work, and no FUN at all.

When reviewers get copies of the game, if they can't get far enough into the game in the time they have to review it, then I think all they will see are the faults and I'll bet the scores will go down and sales will be bad because of it. Maybe I'm overreacting - I hope so, but I get the distinct feeling that 2.0 isn't going to go down well at all.

The problem with the above is that the Egosoft guys know how NOT to listen to the loudest forum members, if they did that we would get a very nasty multi/arcade game that would most likely be a port from the X 360/PS3.

They don't nerf because they think that the hardcore base moans about it, most of the hardcores don't moan at all, they nerf some aspects because those aspects were never supposed to be that strong at the first place.

The Boreas is a good player ship, it will remain a good player ship even after the few minor tweaks/nerfings.

Certain missions were simply a "get rich now" button, getting a 80 million reward for a 1 million station and its building was ludicrous.

The earlier combat missions where it spawned a gazillion corvettes and escorts, even more ludicrous, i even liked those missions BTW.

[BigVern]

Just wondering if it's feasible to have simultaneous separate installs of TC on the same PC? That way I can keep my 1.4 going in all it's unbalanced (sic) glory but have 2.0 running off another drive so I can experience the new missions?

Either that or as previously stated, don't make the patch a one size fits all and make the non essential alterations optional for users.

[Dragoongfa]

Yes you can do that, the main problem will be savegame compatibility, from 2.0 back to 1.4.

Simply copy/paste the entire X3:TC directory to an other directory, then run the game from that directory, the saved games will still be in the My documents folders, so back them up.

EDIT: The games copy-protection system won't cause any problems with that.

[grbaker]

Re-balance fine... but they should link the avaliablity of the Boreas to the repulation of OTAS... thus you have to complete all of those OTAS HQ missions to get your rep up high enough to buy ot (else cap it).


I hope they make the other OTAS ships avaliable (M3, M3+ etc).... and some new ships at the other HQ's too would be nice.

" oh and give at least one M7 Guass Canon's up front.... "

[phoenix-it]

Why does the Boreas need rebalancing? The Boreas is the only M2 I aspire to own...

I think that is precisely the reason - if you were having a difficult time deciding between the pros & cons of several different M2s it wouldn't need rebalancing.

I haven't tried that ship yet, but if it tips the scales a rebalance is fair.

The question I have is; are they doing ANYTHING about the PBGs? I'd like to see it brought in line with the damage output of other fighter weapons. This thing is an absolute trump card in a dog fight and has turned them into a skill-less exercise. The first one to fire thier PBGs and hit is the winner.

I really miss the furballs in X3:R. The one vs many fighter engagement is almost impossible now because it only takes 1 PBG equipped fighter 1/2 of a second to kill you.

[pjknibbs]

The question I have is; are they doing ANYTHING about the PBGs? I'd like to see it brought in line with the damage output of other fighter weapons. This thing is an absolute trump card in a dog fight and has turned them into a skill-less exercise. The first one to fire thier PBGs and hit is the winner.

Then use longer range weapons so you can damage them before they get into PBG range...

[Rednoahl]

Certain missions were simply a "get rich now" button, getting a 80 million reward for a 1 million station and its building was ludicrous.

The earlier combat missions where it spawned a gazillion corvettes and escorts, even more ludicrous, i even liked those missions BTW.

I hear you. By the time I was getting 80 million for a station build though, I was already earning a large amount from my factories so even a large payout was unlikely to get me to perform the mission, because it's not fun. The flip-side are the corporation missions, which are poorly paid in comparison (even if you get an extra reward or two,) yet I felt compelled to do. The balancing with station building is already fine IMO, because if you build too many stations in the same sector you suffer with lag.

As for the combat missions, the last station combat mission I took in my first game (1.4) spawned three corvettes and a lot of escorts....I was in a sabre and it was supposed to be "easy." Needless to say I didn't win. I'd put everything I owned into seven ST/UT's and they didn't work. The sudden realisation that my combat rank had got too high for me to complete combat missions in my current ship hurt to be honest, since earning money suddenly became a chore rather than fun. I felt cheated and I almost stopped playing at this point; I'll bet a good number of noobs would stop playing at this point too.

I'm on my fourth start now, and I've learned what works and what doesn't in the game vanilla at the moment (and I'm fairly satisfied with it,) and I've been fairly proud of my accomplishments, and had a lot of fun. From a fairly noobish point of veiw though, 2.0 doesn't look attractive at all. Up until yesterday I was really looking forward to 2.0 and was going to pre-order a copy this weekend. That's not going to happen now until I know for sure what's fixed or not. I expect 2.0 to be an exiting prospect to seasoned players of X3TC. However from a distinctly noobish point of view, I can't see a single positive thing about 2.0 apart from the bug-fixes, and that's disheartening to say the least.

[Daratach]

Anyone know what retailers that will sell the X3-Gold box with both R & TC?

And if someone already posted this please direct me the link, didnt want to read through 14 sites of posts ^^

[CBJ]

You'd have to ask the publishers or the distributors about that. I doubt they'll be reading this thread so the chances of getting an authoritative answer here are pretty much zero.

[phoenix-it]

The question I have is; are they doing ANYTHING about the PBGs? I'd like to see it brought in line with the damage output of other fighter weapons. This thing is an absolute trump card in a dog fight and has turned them into a skill-less exercise. The first one to fire thier PBGs and hit is the winner.

Then use longer range weapons so you can damage them before they get into PBG range...

That works on the head-to-head approach. However, once you are mixing it up with three and two more "add" to the engagement you might not see them until you're roast turkey. If the weapon wasn't so much more powerful than the other fighter weapons this wouldn't be an issue.

I realize that some less enterprising dog fighters might want to keep the i-win gun around.... but to me it has taken the ability to have a 10 minute furball out of the game.

If things aren't balanced out so that a single fighter can't roast a heavy corvette in a couple of seconds flat I'll probably end up digging into the mod forum and writing something to replace the weapon in the loadouts and removing it from my game.

[perkint]

I actually like there to be an ubership in each class. However, it should be like the Hyp in X3R ie the NPCs can't use them (or in X3TC very limited). That way, if the player wants to use it they can, if not they can simply leave it out of their game!

Anyway - version 2.0 still has the extra missions and stations which are available for all. It has been suggested that you will need to complete some combat based missions before being able to get these - well, you can still do that by building up your trade empire enough to do all that with fleets. You can now actually control fleets well enough. Even if equiping them can be a pain...

Tim