X3 Opinions

[JasonPratt]

I almost bought the Steam sale, because I have always respected the X series (but have never bought one).

Is there any point at all playing earlier games in the series?--aside from the story plots? (And are those any good?) Or would it be better to just play the latest game?

[Yskonyn]

The story is borked anyway so you can ignore that for the most part I would say. That leaves gameplay; and that only got better with each new game so far. :)

[Huw the Poo]

The story is borked anyway so you can ignore that for the most part I would say. That leaves gameplay; and that only got better with each new game so far. :)

Agreed.  The story is awful; always has been and apparently always will be.  You may as well just jump straight into Albion Prelude, Jason.

[Huw the Poo]

I've hit the same problem Bison did; doing the tutorial with the humble merchant start, you can't progress because you have no weapons on either your Mercury or your Discoverer.  What a stupid bug.  I also have no idea how to trigger the "story".  I may just take the cheesy route and pick up abandoned ships for cash, or scrounge for unspent missiles in conflict zones.

It's running nicely on Linux! :D

[Yskonyn]

That is weird; I've always started with the Humble Merchant option and my Discoverer always had some blasters...

Haven't played in a good while though. Perhaps they changed this in one of the patches, but why on earth would they rip off the weapons of a scout ship?

[Bison]

I need to get back to this one this weekend.

[son_of_montfort]

Well, I "cheated" a little. I played TC and found a ship (listed on abandoned ships list) that was worth 3 million credits. It helped me to jumpstart my empire as the Humble Merchant, so I bought another freighter and outfitted my other freighter with a variety of different upgrades. I placed a farm in the wrong sector, but it occasionally makes some money. My major triumph was getting the Teladi up in rep enough to purchase a Kestrel, the fastest ship in the galaxy. Now I tool around at 600 speed while I send remote orders to my two freighters.

[JasonPratt]

Actually, Albion Prelude requires X3TC. But I'll keep the advice in mind. (I'm too late for this sale.)

[son_of_montfort]

Actually, Albion Prelude requires X3TC. But I'll keep the advice in mind. (I'm too late for this sale.)

Note: Albion Prelude removes the static locations of abandoned ships and makes them random. That means you can't look them up for a quick start. Just FYI.

[Huw the Poo]

Note: Albion Prelude removes the static locations of abandoned ships and makes them random. That means you can't look them up for a quick start. Just FYI.

Balls!  I may need to play TC instead then.  Starting up as a trader takes waaaaaaay too long.

[son_of_montfort]

Note: Albion Prelude removes the static locations of abandoned ships and makes them random. That means you can't look them up for a quick start. Just FYI.

Balls!  I may need to play TC instead then.  Starting up as a trader takes waaaaaaay too long.

Albion Prelude included a stock exchange which many people have said is basically a money exploit. But it also is dreadfully boring.

I went back to TC to get the abandoned starter ships and because fewer sectors are at war.

[Huw the Poo]

Yeah, sounds like a plan.  It's weird, I played X2 and X-Tension as a trader and had my first stations in no time, but in X3 it seemed to be taking forever.  I've done my time; I'm happy enough to cheese it in TC. :)