About ready to toss this game. PLEASE help?

[Userfaulty]

I remember being frustrated with X2 (I bought it on a whim cause I was looking for exactly this type of game and had never heard of it). I remember that I spent months learning how to play the game. I would get pissed off and quit for a few months and then come back to it while looking for a new game to play. I didn't really know how helpful the forum was at the time.

Sometimes I wish I could back to that phase of being in awe of everything that the X series had. Now I mostly just lurk on the forum reading post after post and I will chime in occassionally. My X3 playing lately has been 1-2 hours every couple days to going weeks and weeks without playing but I always comeback and I always buy the next game in the series.

[PaulVette]

Hey I lived in Idaho for 5 years. Great state. I was stationed at Mt. Home then lived in Boise. Wish I could go back. One of the great unknown states in the country.

[Userfaulty]

You should put that in a spoiler cause we don't want it known how great our state is..everybody will move here

[Gazz]

because all those herculean gaming sessions added up to a lot of lost time, time that could have been spent learning skills, spending quality time with older members of the family (that may not be around for too much longer), travelling the real world and not a virtual universe, and being a part of the human race?

Now that really depends on how you see yourself.
If you don't feel that your contribution to the human race is a positive one, glueing yourself to the front of a PC monitor might just the the logical course of action! =P

[Mopy]

Heh, it's great to see a new player survive through the difficulty and begin to enjoy the game. I've been reading this one since it was originally posted. Grats for coming through Paul.

[PaulVette]

Thanks. It is hit or miss with me and this game as I have real-world things going on.

But when I DO get to play, I get immersed in the universe. It is a fun game. Probably one of the best I have ever played.

I wish I could spend more time with it, as it stands now I play it maybe once every two weeks! Bummer. But soon things will settle down and I'll be back playing it every day but not 14 hours per day. I have never played any game that long. I'll play an hour here or two hours there. I'm still getting a feel for the game. I printed out a LOT of posts, walk-thru's, Norman Fudge's exploits, etc. So now I have to take the time to read and digest it all and formulate some kind of a plan.

Presently I am a Humble Merchant, I haven't even fired one shot at an enemy yet! LOL So I have a LONG way to go.

Some of the stuff I have seen others do amazes me. First that you CAN do what they have done and second that they HAVE done what they did. It must have taken an extraordinary amount of time and planning to do what they have done.

I have a few projects to complete then I will be able to devote my free time to only X3. In time...in time...

[MarkusXL]

Once you get the hang of vanilla X3, you'll want to go diving into the world of mods and scripts!

So you can forge the X universe to your liking, to suit your style of play.

I settled on, for now, a set of scrips and mods that allows for a routine that goes like this:

Scan the universe to update Scorp's Map.
Find an abandoned ship.
Jump to the sector.
Target it with "Auto Target nearest Abandoned Ship" script hotkey.
Move, sneak or fight my way to it and claim it.
Fix it up at the nearest shipyard or part it out to fix op other ships or sell it.
Put it to work. TS as a ST, then after level 8, UT. TP can be CAG maybe.
If enough cash, expand space station Complex.
Do fleet management. They are so lost without me.
Repeat.

This process is often interrupted by pirates and by the capture of unusual ships which fascinates me endlessly. How to equip them? What job to give them?!?! I just started some Mineral Collection ships. Wow they are fun!!! Totally automated mining and they are even smart enough to sell the silicon or ore when they are full, then go back and start mining again!! And they make great CASH!!

For pirates, I can deal with them mostly with my Xenon XL, and its rough going, I will call on my wingman Blastclaw. Viscious!!

I see myself as running Space Salvage Corporation, a small outfit not afraid to make a space walk while capital ships are trading shots all around, to sneak in and claim ships bailed during the battle. heh.

All this mess is mostly allowed for by

XTM
BSE
RRF

These are mods and scripts for X3R. Not sure how to do it in TC. I can claim, fly, and use Xenon and Terran ships for example. So freakin COOL!!!

e.g. I loved using capped Karhk Scouts to run around with Explorer software to map out huge chunks of the universe in the early game. Still use them once in a while.

Ask if / when you want to know more.

~mXL

[PaulVette]

Markus, this is awesome. You put a lot of thought and effort into it. I am going to save this post so I can go back to it later when I need it. I too would love to see the automatic mining in progress. However, I am a LONG way away from your level. Right now all I have is my original TS? and dropped a couple of satellites to use with the buy/sell. I'm still exploring.

I would say I have only explored 1% of TC.

[Apollo303]

Some tips/ideas for you......

If you`ve started as the `Humble Merchant` then you will have both a Mercury TS class ship and a Discoverer M5 class ship. The Mercury by now you will have been using for trading, but the Disco however can be used for scouting other sectors while you trade.

The way i do things with that game start is to.....

Spoiler

Show

Trade in Space Fuel from either/both distilleries in Heron`s Nebula, and then sell it to the Trading Station also in Heron`s Nebula. Becarefull though as Space Fuel is classed as `Illegal` and if you get scanned will be told to eject it or face being attacked by the ships scanning you, i.e police/military/customs ships.

The purchase price on the above never lowers like in other stations/factories and you can do a couple of runs before risking getting caught. After that start trading in Energy Cells. Heron`s north gate runs you into `Power Circle`, buy EC`s from here and try to keep Ore Mines and Silicon Mines topped up, this way you can buy the Ore/Silicon at the lowest price and sell on to factories/stations that use it for a high price thus making a profit.

Onething you will learn quite quickly is the supply and demand the game uses, so if you see a presentable profit then jump on it quickly otherwise the AI traders will beat you to it.

Hope this is of use !!

[MrUgly]

Thanks for your reply but I need answers soon without wading through all the FAQ's. I WILL read them, I just want to at least follow what the manual says on page 32, the first paragraph. This is driving me bananas. I would not think I would need the stickies or the FAQ's for something so simple...
<snip>

Wow...No kidding. My wife bought this game for me for as a Christmas present. This has got to be the single most annoying game I have ever played, I'm to the point now where I hate loading it, but simple bloody-mindedness keeps me coming back. It looks visually stunning, but why were the developers so sadistic on the interface?

Why do I have to get on an Internet forum devoted to the game to figure out how the freaking thing works? Cripes. My Search-Fu is weak, but would someone point me at a sticky for managing my Wing? My first combat with them and they get eaten by Xenons.

Thanks.

[PaulVette]

Thanks Apollo. That is precisely what I have done. It was funny when I first got caught red-handed with space fuel but I made it to a station to sell it by mere seconds.

My Ugly,

I know this seems difficult and sometimes it is but I went through the same thing as you. What I did was look at all the posts, FAQ's, stickies and copied and pasted them then printed them out and put them in a 3-ring binder.

I have been using this as a reference for a while now as this game has a VERY steep learning curve. I still have long way to go and a lot to learn but if you keep at it and learn it you WILL get the hang of it. After that it is all thought, you have to plan what you want to do and such. THAT is the beauty of this game, it is SO open-ended that you get mired in all of the choices you have.

Good luck.

[Slake]

Now that really depends on how you see yourself.
If you don't feel that your contribution to the human race is a positive one, glueing yourself to the front of a PC monitor might just the the logical course of action! =P

LOL Nice logic there Gazz. There is hope for the Vulcan race yet!

You started a good topic here PaulVette. The force is strong with you.

My method as a n00b to space sim games has kept me in good stead, so I'll share it with you. After setting up the graphics, downloading the patches, etc etc etc...

#1 Work out what the buttons do. If the game has a key config menu, go have a look. If it doesn't, hit the buttons individually and then try using shift keys etc. See if you can alt+tab while you're at it. A stitch in time saves nine.

Try out all the features you can, explore the menus/sub-menus/shortcuts and hot keys.

This is also the Enjoy the Intro Movie stage. The Honeymoon Period. Bear in mind that the Honeymoon Period goes a lot smoother and lasts a lot longer if you spend the time working out how all the bits work.

#2 If the game has an economy, no matter how simple, spend your first few days of existence being thrifty - live off the salvage, save the cash from the missions instead of blowing it all on stuff you don't need at the time. Set up a base of somekind, such as a salvaged ship you can't afford to do up, that stays docked somewhere nice and safe. This way you'll have somewhere to store your salvage, and work out what's useful and what can be sold.

At some point you're going to need a work-horse trader/hauler/transporter. You carry more cargo/loot in a big cargo bay. Plus it's a good way to get aquainted with the stations and the universe. X3 rocks in that you can have your traders working for you while you're galavanting around firing lasers ( refer http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mLn_aNRd ... re=related ).

#3 Be bold and brave. Learn how to fly the ship, and then work out how to make it dance. Experiment with the weapons and satelites and so on. Work out how to get stuff that is floating in space into your cargo hold in a very quick manner. Do crazy acrobatic maneuvres while flying at white-knuckle speed through the bases. Learn to dock as fast as you can without crashing into a hangar wall, or overshooting the docking hook.

Be real open to experimenting with your gun rig, and check out the stats of the different items available. Learn the weapons when you come across them. Work out what works for you, and what doesn't. Some people like missiles, some like guns. The name of the game is survival, so I'd reccomend to practice both, despite preference.

Instead of panicing the first time you hear a missile warning, try and shoot it down. When in combat, keep an eye on the position of your targetting nacelle, and the actual effect of your fire upon the enemy.

This goes for the large-scale ship management as well. Learn the menus, work out how to get your minions to do your bidding. Upgrade upgrade upgrade. Once the money starts coming in spend it on setting yourself up. Set a base of operations (wherever you keep your stuff) to help equip your squadron, serving as a depot for the reception and distribution of guns/shields etc.

Upgrade your supply line, get those work-horse traders moving instead of sitting uselessly in dock, and check their status after each mission done in far-away systems.

Bite the bullet and set up the supply line some more, and set it up some more, and then some more. Get a fleet of traders going; a steady income really helps. Keep enough cash in the bank for your supply line to keep purchasing so it can continue generating cash.

#4 If you're lucky enough, this is a good time to teach your girlfriend/sister/brother/grandpa/Charlie the Wonder Dog how to turn the game on and keep the trading stuff going while you're off answering phones/heavy lifting/playing rock'n'roll to a packed stadium/etc.

This strategy is so much easier to implement if you do the IT support around the home (the power, the power!) and they start having issues that they need you to fix, eg, accessing the internet, making their myface-spacebook game work, and so on.

#5 Build the War Machine. Carriers, fighters, big stuff, little stuff, drones. Get the satelite networks deployed. Work out how to get your fleet co-ordinating automatically under combat conditions. Go on epic exploration missions in a small fast ship. Follow the storyline. Bite of more than you can chew and keep chewing.

Now at this point I tend to read the manual, and maybe access the online forums. This is because it's at about this stage I find it cool to see how other people approach solving the same problems. It's at this stage that reading a spoiler in a forum won't actually have any "negative" effect on my own game (for example, I've yet to find a "free" ship - the ones I got were either gifts or combat salvage).

To each their own eh?

This topic has been a real interesting and entertaining read. Thank you. In all my years as a member of these forums this is the first time I have participated (it was that interesting).

Slake
Intergalactic Space Dude.

[PaulVette]

Thanks!

Right now I am still in space DIAPERS! I don't have a shipyard, no weapons, BARELY know the keys, not much time to play it.

However, I will soon.

At least I use this PC for ONLY X3. No one messes with it. It is just me and my wife anyway and we have six computers. My Mac I use to access forums, my new notebook for writing my novels, my old laptop for older games, the new PC I built for X3, my wife has two laptops, a Mac and a PC. And I have to maintain ALL of them! At least the Macs are easy. PCs? ARGH!

[Lord Dakier]

That's some serious computing power.

[PaulVette]

LOL

Yeah, if I could link 'em I'd have a parallel machine.

Here's my spces on the X3 PC:

i7 920 D0 Quad 2.66 GHz 8 MB clocked up to 3.5 GHz
ASUS P6T Deluxe V2
6 GB DDR3 1600 mushkin REDLINE Triple channel RAM
Cooler Master V8
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 285 2 GB DDR3
Thermaltake V9 VJ4000 case
OCZ 800 PSU
Win XP Pro x64 running on a 630 GB WD
Velociraptor 300 GB 10,000 RPM dedicated to X3 TC