P vs Paranid

[Sovereign01]

@deca.death - What kind of weapons was the Deimos carrying? I had a similar experience in Ore Belt and got hammered (flying Hyperion) as the Deimos was armed with PSGs. In the end I was forced to retreat and pepper it with missiles.

I'm guessing you had to use a LOT of missiles, with PSGs being what they are and all

If you can't beat the bigger guy with a stick, then you have to throw a lot of rocks! That's why I always carry large amounts of Typhoons and Wraiths just for these occasions.

I prefer Typhoons, Wraiths have a habit of exploding in range of my Hyperion

[Sovereign01]

Plus doesn't it have a blindspot below?

Yes, but with the ability to mount PSGs on all it's turrets makes it very dangerous...Luckly I've never run into one that has full PSG coverage.

It's the Agamemnon that has 2 blindspots, directly above and below the ship- though the area effect of the PSG doesn't guarantee safety by trying to hide there.

[deca.death]

I prefer Typhoons, Wraiths have a habit of exploding in range of my Hyperion :lol:

It's not a same missile class, comparison is pointless. Wraiths should be launched from a safe distance btw, not in dogfight. They are clumsy things for something like that anyway.

[Darshu]

And really, the bottom line is having fun, not having some nebulous 'balance', IMO.

(I don't say I disagree with most of things you said but i must add something related to your upper sentence)

But can't you see that's exactly the point? Fun arises from balance. Fun is built from the structure of game balance glues together. No balance - no structure. No structure - no fun. Just antother brainless shooter that will become boring in days. X lasts for years because of it's balance.

X lasts for many years because its a sandbox game, allowing endless replay value as well as the player to impose his or her will and vision on the game world.

Fun does not arrive from balance. Balance can contribute to the fun factor surely, but is not the prime cause for fun.

As an example, I refer you to "Nintendo Hard" difficulty games, or some of the Japanese space shooters. Some of these games are so insanely hard that it is regarded as impossible to beat them. Yet many find these games and the challenge of unbalanced gameplay extremely fun.

It can work in the opposite direction as well, take the KOTOR series for example. Once you become a Jedi and get Master Force Speed (a speed buff how ironic lol) the game is quite easy with ANY build. Yet it received many awards and accolades and some regard it as a pinnacle of CRPG entertainment.

But the basic point is that unbalanced gameplay can be extremely fun because its amusing and hilarious, regardless of whether its in the player's or NPC's favor. Balance is definitely important and contributes to fun in a multiplayer game, but for single player games is all but unimportant.

A much more game breaking feature in X3 is the M8 and M7M class of ships, allowing the player to destroy entire sectors, races and the known universe from a comfortable and safe distance. Yet these were part of the core game design, so the logic that the TB is somehow unbalanced and bad for gameplay and that its inclusion in the Bonus Pack is bad is fallacious.

[perkint]

M8 and M7M class of ships [...] these were part of the core game design

Actually, really, they were both one of the extra bolt ons added in X3TC rather than part of the core.

But I do agree with you that balance is not necessarily a requirement - but it can help. Personally I like to be over powered. Because my gameplay style is solo - I never fight as part of a wing or have back up ships for combat (all my AI combat ships are for OOS defence only). I need a ship which is over powered because it is effectively me against the universe.

If I only had a ship wish was comparable with the ships available to the AI, I would not be able to play the game as I want to, so it would probably not interest me as much!

Having just added all that, you do realise this was a fairly old thread, don't you?

Tim