Posted this on GAF, reposting here because FatalT wanted some detailed impressions of the game per a convo in an earlier thread.
I searched and found one thread on this game when it was annouced, but wanted to start a new thread since A) I think that this game is really special and deserves some serious appreciation and B) some console tool shat the bed in that thread asking for a console port.
I had always wanted to try out the X series from Egosoft, but never got around to it. However, when both X3: Reunion and the recently released X3: Terran Conflict were on sale on Steam during the Holiday Sale, I pulled the trigger. I figured I had spent far more money on much worse gaming products, after all I do own a next generation console and at one point purchased a Nintendo Gamecube.
I've been totally absorbed in X3:Terran Conflict ever since I started playing it. To the tune of about 50 or so played hours over the last 8-9 days. It's a game that doesn't shy away from details and the complexity of its simulation, and lets the player literally build their own economic and military empire from scratch while allowing them to manually control and experience that empire at any level they wish.
The X series has a trademark line to it-
Trade. Fight. Build. Think.. I think the best way to describe my enjoyment for the game is to talk about each of these elements individually. Oh, there's one more unspoken part to that phrase-
and MOD. . More on that as I ramble on.
Trade-At the very heart of the game's simulation is that of free trading and capitalism. No matter what, at some point you're going to want to start building a economic empire-whether its for the goal of just building one or to fund your own personal military, credits are what make the X Universe go round. X3 has a wonderful, dynamic trading implementation, where supply and demand is completely dynamic-if there is a local shortage of a needed good, chances are that if you're willing to find a place that produces it you can ship in into the factories needing it and make a ton of money in the process. However, that factory might fill up with the good and not pay out as much for it as its reserves fill up. So you'll need to find another place to sell the same good, or swap to a different good. Similarly, if you buy out all the stock of a mine or factory, it'll cost way more to buy goods there until it restocks. Space trading 101, but I can't emphasize how much the fully dynamic implementation enriches the game.
What makes trading part of X3 really stand out is the elegance by which the trading in the game scales. You don't have to ferry all of the goods yourself-I started out this way, but now I have about 25 fully automated traders that search indentified systems (don't want to trade with pirates who will shoot my traders down!) and their factories for good deals. They travel and buy and sell completely without my interaction, and as they trade more and more they learn abilities like how to manage basic defenses like fighter drones and missle defenses so that they can defend themselves long enough for the jump drives to whisk them to safety if they run into aggressive patrols.
This is all possible due to some of the scripts that the fan community has written for the game to improve on some of the build in functionality in the game. The X community is incredible and the some of the trading stuff you can add in helps reduce the micromanagement of the game by huge amounts, letting you focus on other things.
Meanwhile, I can focus my attention on other parts of the game-build and fight, or the game's missions-while still earning money in the background to support those efforts, which can get really expensive.
Fight - For as unique as the trading simulation is in X3:TC, the combat system is even more unique. Most space combat simulations focus on letting the player control a simple fighter through scripted missions. Instead, the X3:TC simulation lets you control
any ship in the game, ranging from the smallest of scout fighters to huge carriers and battleships. The combat system is unique in this scaling, and lets the player enjoy anything from a simple fighter furball during a routine patrol to a full blown fleet engagement, where captial ships, their frigate and corvette screens, and fighter and bomber compliments all can be commanded by the player with spectacular effect. Capital ships will exchange huge plasma fire at long ranges and conduct evasive manuvers, bombers and missle frigates will launch huge waves of torpedoes, etc. Combat drones and countermeasures will go flying, turrets will lay down flak fields to shoot down fighters, and so on.
There really isn't a singleplayer game that offers this kind of large scale ship combat. Last night, for example, one of my corvettes ran into a frigate, and we exchanged fire for about six minutes until the stalemate was broken when I ran out drones and countermeasures, and his missle barranges started to land. I jumped out with no damage , he lost his fighter escort to my repeater turrets but I avowed to come back with a frigate of my own to finish him off and then board his ship so I can steal it and call it mine.
(yes, the game allows boarding and capture of ships).
Build - Another key part to X3:TC is building things. Building weapons, building shields, building factories to provide raw materials, eventually building entire ships. You can create huge factory complexes in the game that can produce almost any good availble, and you can either use the good yourself or sell it on the open market for a huge profit. Again, this can all be automated with scripts-right now I have eight factory complexes with a complete logistical network supplying goods to the factories and a merchant fleet selling the finished goods to the place within 20 sectors with the highest asking price. Later on I'll need to build factories to produce weapons and missles to keep my fleet supplied and equipped as I grow it-once I get a carrier or two I'll need my own factories to equip its fighter compliment, especially as ships are destroyed in combat.
Again, really there isn't anything like it out there. The factory complexes are massive and fit in perfectly with the game's trade and combat focus.
Think- Perhaps the best part of the game. X3:TC will always demand you to think about what you want to do next. Sitting on 50,000 credits and a decent fighter? Think about jacking the cargo of a pirate frieighter or two, selling the cargo for huge $$$. Sitting on 500,000 credits and have a transport? Think about using the game's brilliant buy/sell interfaces to find a ore route that will earn a 300% return on investment. Sitting on 5 million credits? Think about comissioning two more Economy and Supply Free Traders to earn more cash. Or think about saving up a bit more and buying your first corvette.
And so on. The game is always allowing you to think about what you want to do next, and providing the means to do it no matter what choice you make. Heck, you can even think about doing the missions that form the plot of the game!
Or, you can alt-tab and review the mod library and think about how much awesomeness the game would be if I downloaded and installed this script.
In closing, the game is unique and completely awesome. It's far from being a game that's for everyone-it's very micromanagment heavy and detail oriented, and to call it a spreadsheet game would be a very accurate description-but if you are into space trading games and don't mind huge detail, X3:TC delievers with a depth and scale that is unrivaled.
