X3 Online experience coming June 1st, yes it's magic!

[Phier]

The problem is X3 is in no way designed to work with mutliplayer. You could make a multiplayer game for the X3 universe, but it wouldn't be the same as any of the X games.

If it was the same, it would be awful unless you could play 24/7.

[IceFire909]

The only multiplayer X universe I'd want to see is a LAN hosted one for friends.

I used to host freelancer and it was fun, we'd do missions together, the other 2 would get into a fight for some reason, I'd profit from that, and I'd find awesome loot all the time.

Now I've only got 1 friend who plays X³:TC and he plays a very different style to me.

I'm the combat pilot, he's the trader. I'd love to be able to run in the same universe and build an empire with him being the empires Chief Tycoon and me as the Military Overseer.

IF X were to ever go multiplayer, I think it should be LAN only and very few people (max of ten at the most). Like someone mentioned, a DnD styled X universe. As for the basic question of SETA, it would have to be either edited to create a time field around the ship, removed, or replaced with an afterburner or an engine similar to that of Freelancers Cruise Engines

[Dis Astranagant]

Ironically, x2 the threat is the reason why i never liked freelancer much because it felt shallow after using capships and stations and blowing everything up.

[Nanook]

That's because it is shallow. Freelancer is a one night stand, whereas the X-Universe is a life-long committment.

[Dis Astranagant]

Freelancer is a one night stand, whereas the X-Universe is a life-long committment.

So true, so true. Been with X-verse since 2004 and can say that gameplay wise no game came even near x2 let alone x3 tc. I can say that x2 is my Elite and i don't see myself leaving x-verse anytime soon.

[LV]

That's because it is shallow. Freelancer is a one night stand, whereas the X-Universe is a life-long committment.

That's quite harsh

I went back to her house a few times, can't say a relationship developed but we had fun for a while

[kizito]

the thing is one person, group, clan ect. would get total control and be almost impossible to move forward in the game... now as for it being fun yea it would if there were like 4-8 players in each galaxy but i dont think thats gonna happen...

[Sam L.R. Griffiths]

I voted option 2 why???....

The X-Series are best played as single player (due to mechanics and feel) and the MMO alternative "Eve" is subscription based and I do not like the economy factors of Subscription based games. I had a bit of a discussion with a friend/colleague of mine who is an "Eve" player and on the face of things the game rule principles on which it works seem quite reasonable, but then it would not be X.

WRT Freelancer, that game is pretty good but the one thing I wanted out of it (that I could not have) was to be able to own a couple of extra of ships (not for necessarily for multi-player purposes though). In single player, a couple of wingman might have been nice to have when I was in a trading ship - or the ability to switch between the trading ship of my choice and a fighter almost at will. The main fun of Freelancer when playing multi-player was the co-operative part of it... you act as an escort for your friend in a trading ship (or visa-versa) and you split the profits. Modify X like this case, it would also not be X.

WRT an Online game based on the X-Universe, that might be interesting but the only way I see it working to most people's satisfaction would be to operate a trading post type principle to player owned facilities (i.e. player owned "facilities" that are located on "indestructable" AI owned stations) as well as other compromises. But again... it would not be the X I have come to know and enjoy.

[SirDeity]

I played Eve Online for about 3 years. The original poster is describing something similar to Eve Online. Your stations and other structures that aren't protected in high security space docked at a high security stations are vulnerable to attack whether you are online or not.

The reason I think an X-universe MMORPG would be more appealing to me than returning to Eve Online is because in Eve strength is determined mostly but how long you've had an account, so it is overwhelming for many players just starting out or for those who realize they'll never catch up to players who've been playing longer than them. To clarify, in Eve online you don't gain levels. Instead, you learn things in real-time whether online or offline by selecting them. Some skills take 30+ days to train, which requires a monthly fee to obtain. The monthly fee+real time leveling system (it technically isn't leveling, but its as close to leveling as it gets in Eve) are the main attributes which set Eve apart from a potentially free to play X-universe. I think players should be able to insure their ships or whatnot in a persistent x-universe game similar to Eve online, though (this would be necessary only assuming a x-universe wouldn't include AI to protect players in secure systems like in Eve online). The games would share a lot of similarities, but I think the differences would be significant enough to attract a lot of interest. Would it survive as a standalone game (requiring millions in revenue to cover the cost of development, advertising, publishing, and maintenance costs)? Probably not. But a huge MOD which requires a one time fee to purchase (with NO monthly fees) would definitely interest me and I suspect it would interest enough others to make for a worthy investment (worth the two or three years of part time work by a team of up to 10-20 people necessary to creat the MOD).

I think a coop mod which allows anywhere from just 2 to as many as 10-20 players in a persistent world would interest me just as much. Even if the MOD is made such that a player has to host the game (the game isn't hosted by officially dedicated servers), it'd still be something highly desirable. By leaving it up to players to rent their own servers or host their own servers you'd eliminate the costs associated without server maintenance for the developers/publishers of the mod. For example, I'd be willing to dish out 20-30 bucks a month for at least a few months to play a stable, fun X3TC coop mod with a handful of friends.

These are just my opinions, though. I haven't done modding so I could be entirely underestimating the amount of work necessary to create any mods capable of turning these ideas into reality. For X4 though (if there ever is an X4), I will be a little disappointed if there isn't at least a 2 player coop (since more and more PC games are coming out with coop these days - and coop significantly enhances any gaming experience).

[Twest09]

Well I guess the open polling part is closed so I can't cast my vote for #2.

I would not play an online version of TC. As it is the OOS combat is flaky, some ships are overpowered while others are so completely underbalanced that they should not even be in the game as is, complex building is a long and arduous task that once complete can give you the feeling that doing it again would be like pulling teeth, and boarding sucks as is and if there were no reload button would be completely a useless waste of time and resources.

The entire game would have to be rebalanced. There would have to be at least a year and a half of beta testing WITH developers who listen to the players/testers instead of just doing what they think works. And then they would have to emplace a system that would prevent 'bullies' from grieving people who were offline. A workable clan system would have to be developed with benefits, an experience system of some sort, etc, etc, etc.

Now if all that was done and the game was out for some time and was receiving praise from the gaming community (not just this one) then I might give it a try. But the task is so daunting that I actually think that it is not conceivable to create an X-Universe MMO.

However I would enjoy the ability to connect to say 3 other friends and have them take part in my Universe and theirs as a coop group. Coop multiplayer is fun and there wouldn't be too many obstacles in development and design to enable this... well not nearly as many as MMO would require.

[SirDeity]

I actually agree with you, Twest09, with respect to the MMO. My ideal X4 would include coop which enables at least 3-5 players. Two would be better than one, though.

[Morty_Porky]

Have any one of you play freelancer in lan?? I am. And i play one night the game is good but multiplayer is not for more than 1 session. Why? You can't have more than one ship at the time. You drive or fighter, or cargo ships. When you want to change you must sell your ship.
I don't see x series as it is now that is good for MMO it is not. But for lan night's it is more than good. You have all rpg elements, mission in lot tipe.
You can have Corp. (GULIDS) garage, big universe, trade, you can build, fight wars...For lan session the game have everething. Only thing what is mising is Better mission logs so that i can share missin with other...
Clan wars on lan 32 on 32....SO egosoft think about LAN Update or expansion for 19.99 i will pay..The much worse games and dlc cost this much.

[Gavrushka]

I'd vote against it, the main reason is that every society has a group that can be loosely labelled 'social misfits' - Inadequate little people who are unable to compete on any level in the real world and in the desperate need to acquire some ill-conceived idea of self worth they would feel a deep-rooted need to make other peoples gaming experience as miserable as possible before they too go back to their own pointless little non-existant real life snarling out of their window at passers by.

Am I making myself clear?

[Nanook]

Well I guess the open polling part is closed....

And so is this old thread.


SirDeity: Please do not dredge up old threads.