What games u play for your X4 fix?

[Diziet Sma]

I'm also in the crowd disappointed by Rebirth. When considering re-installing X3:TC (I own TC) -- Is AP really necessary? How much different / improvements over TC when considering playing with XRM mod? Which do you recommend?

I just started playing AP the other day and I was a little disappointed to find that - at the moment at least - its almost identical to TC.

Mind you, I'm not doing one of the military starts where I suspect most of the changes are. I started with Anonymous Argon and so far have hardly noticed any difference at all.

Couldn't tell you about XRM, none of my games are modded.

[Mauzi!]

But what I'm really after is another X game or a game that I can treat as an X game and sadly it appears that Eve aint it.

There's nothing like that right now. Though, I am peering at Star Citizen which seems to cover many X aspects while it obviously offers 1000x more in many areas. You are one person only though, dunno if they plan on hirelings to allow for more active ships.

It's just - wellfunded! - paperware yet, and only a very first pre-alpha portion is released to allow for a glimpse. At least they have constant videos with updates about the development, etc. and so far all looks most promising. That doesn't help any immediate space sim needs though - which is why I am back to e.g. Civ 5 or the like until the above mentioned has more to show.

About X³AP: Yes, it's just a couple of mods added to X³TC - way to make money, especially since the content mainly was collected from the community... If you want fun add the XRM mod - it'll change the game to become worthwhile again, don't why away from "modified" - it won't kill you.

[stars2heaven]

I played #1 of that game. It was a lot of fun. Smile

I heard they changed a lot of things in the second one, so I'm unsure about getting it.

Well from what I can tell all the changes are for the better. The voice acting so far is significantly better, you can have more than one ship, the game is 3d based rather than 2d, and it's one big universe instead multiple zones like in X3 and SPG1. Tgates just help you get around faster.

You don't have quite the same number of options with equipment in SPG2 as you did in the first, but you still get plenty of choices and can upgrade even the things you can't replace. For instance, you can't buy new power cores but can get certain enhancements for it. You can still buy the different special equipment though, and you have to pick and choose.

The difference in quality between the two is vast. SPG1 is clearly an indie game. With SPG2, the fact that it is indie is not so obvious.

[SteveMill]

Finally installed to x3 AP rebalance mod - and it is sensational. It has improved the game 100 times. Furious action. Battles going on everywhere. Pirate capital ships slugging it out with the Navy. Fantastic new models.

Absolutely awesome. Just wow!

Great work modders.

THIS is what the X games should have been all along.

[Diziet Sma]

I'm back at EvE myself. It's basically X, except that every ship (except cannon fodder enemies) has to be piloted by a human. You can't physically pilot your ship but don't take that wrong, but during an actual heated battle, you have enough to worry about.

I'm still a bit hazy on the the control aspect of combat so let me clarify with a question.

If 2 opponents have the exact same ships is is possible for the smarter one to win consistently without luck?

Ship operations depends on your trained skills, not your flinch skills or (to a point) your equipment.

You control your ship by either telling it to orbit a ship or keep it at a distance. You can also give it a direction to go by clicking with the mouse. Most things come down to the orbit command, keeping your ship moving as fast as possible from their perspective while keeping their ship still from yours. Hit/miss are determined by calculations.


Also as has been pointed out, this is a Social game. Why fight against someone on equal footing? bring a couple of friends along. It's not good to lose a ship. Don't pick a fight you haven't won.

The reason my hypothetical question specified "equal footing" was so that I could get a feel for how much a player's tactical thinking and intelligence ALONE affects combat in EVE. I was wondering if it were possible for a smart player to beat a dumb player just by out thinking them, doing the unexpected or gaining some other sort of unexpected tactical advantage.

Sadly the answer appears to be no. It seems to be all about fixed stats, equipment and numerical superiority. Not very interesting to me unfortunately, I don't think I would enjoy Eve.

[chikatilo]

Decided to go with a fresh playthrough of vanilla Albion Prelude, Terran side this time, some cosmetic mods to make it feel fresh. Even though I played the ****** shit out of this game before, one hour in and i'm already having fun building my empire.

How could game devs with this much skill, talent and passion for the genre, the absolute kings of spacesims, **** up the sequel so bad.

They were forced to release half-finished and with 3/4 of the content missing, I can think of no other reason why these wonderful people would let us down this much.

They have to slap loads more content, flyable ships, a deep and working economy, decent UI and all the X3 goodness on Rebirth post-launch, it would be such a waste not to.

Must resist stockmarket abuse. Resist free 100.000.000 for an M1 ship -& 50 Fighters. So tempting,...

[Panzerman]

The reason my hypothetical question specified "equal footing" was so that I could get a feel for how much a player's tactical thinking and intelligence ALONE affects combat in EVE. I was wondering if it were possible for a smart player to beat a dumb player just by out thinking them, doing the unexpected or gaining some other sort of unexpected tactical advantage.

Sadly the answer appears to be no. It seems to be all about fixed stats, equipment and numerical superiority. Not very interesting to me unfortunately, I don't think I would enjoy Eve.

The answer is actually an emphatic yes. Equal footing isn't a particularly good example though, because a very big part of being the smart player is scouting appropriately and making sure you're bringing the right tools to the fight. Information warfare is HUGE in Eve. That said, you can often "punch up" in Eve, defeating a better equipped enemy with a smaller, more agile ship (and maybe holding him for ransom if that's your thing).

Still though - with you as a newbie player, if we could clone my account (same skills) and put us both in identical Nano-fit Hurricanes, you'd probably have about zero chance of surviving the encounter. Piloting, approach, capacitor management, and heat management can all absolutely make or break a fight, even if it's not a fair one to begin with.

There are a million ways to outsmart people in Eve, and it doesn't end with combat. Piracy, scamming, protection rackets, politics, corporate espionage, heists...the list goes on.

And to answer the thread, I've been back to Eve

[Diziet Sma]

Still though - with you as a newbie player, if we could clone my account (same skills) and put us both in identical Nano-fit Hurricanes, you'd probably have about zero chance of surviving the encounter. Piloting, approach, capacitor management, and heat management can all absolutely make or break a fight, even if it's not a fair one to begin with.

There are a million ways to outsmart people in Eve, and it doesn't end with combat. Piracy, scamming, protection rackets, politics, corporate espionage, heists...the list goes on.

Now *that's* interesting! Previous posters lead me to believe that stats and equipment were pretty much everything, but if your tactical decisions - as a player - make a significant difference then I would find that very interesting. Maybe I should give Eve another look?

[Panzerman]

Now *that's* interesting! Previous posters lead me to believe that stats and equipment were pretty much everything, but if your tactical decisions - as a player - make a significant difference then I would find that very interesting. Maybe I should give Eve another look?

I don't want to overstate things. As a player, if you're competent at managing your heat and not capping yourself out, you'll smoke dumb players 1v1 every time in an even fight. But overall the resource and heat management skill cap isn't tremendously high. As was stated above, piloting boils down to keeping your transverse with respect to your enemy high, and his to you low.

But it can't be emphasized enough that a lot of your smarts in Eve will pay off best by engaging with the right setup at the right time. A huge amount of tactical play basically revolves around 1) surprising a vulnerable enemy and 2) jamming their warp drive (this is known as tackling) to force an asymmetric engagement. This might be a small, fast frigate jumping a cruiser that's busy killing NPCs in an asteroid belt, or it might be a fleet of battlecruisers ganking a mining op. The two sides to PvP in Eve are basically the art of ganking, and the art of not getting ganked (blobbing up and pressing F1 counts as PvP too, I guess but...whatever). It's got potential to be hugely satisfying, but fair warning - it can also be boring and frustrating.

[Arcturas]

I play Battlefield 4, Minecraft, and X3AP. Plenty busy.

[Diziet Sma]

I don't want to overstate things. As a player, if you're competent at managing your heat and not capping yourself out, you'll smoke dumb players 1v1 every time in an even fight. But overall the resource and heat management skill cap isn't tremendously high. As was stated above, piloting boils down to keeping your transverse with respect to your enemy high, and his to you low.

But it can't be emphasized enough that a lot of your smarts in Eve will pay off best by engaging with the right setup at the right time. A huge amount of tactical play basically revolves around 1) surprising a vulnerable enemy and 2) jamming their warp drive (this is known as tackling) to force an asymmetric engagement. This might be a small, fast frigate jumping a cruiser that's busy killing NPCs in an asteroid belt, or it might be a fleet of battlecruisers ganking a mining op. The two sides to PvP in Eve are basically the art of ganking, and the art of not getting ganked (blobbing up and pressing F1 counts as PvP too, I guess but...whatever). It's got potential to be hugely satisfying, but fair warning - it can also be boring and frustrating.

Hmm, a lot of the terminology you're using appears to be Eve - specific so I'm not following some of it. Does sound kinda interesting though, I like the part about surprising vulnerable enemies. I guess the only way to know for sure whether I'll like it is to dive in and give it a go.

[venkar]

Eve compared to the X series is apples to oranges imo. With EVE it's more focused on the autopilot and the 'waiting game' skill system. After I waited 29 days for a single skill I realized what I was doing and canceled. With the X releases you have complete freedom of movement, the battles are more interactive than Eve where you just lock target and turn on/off the repair systems.

The only thing Eve has over the X releases is an MMO vs a single player game.

However...if anyone on this forum is looking for a fix outside of X Rebirth...reload one of the three X3 releases. Explore the years of MODs that have been created (XRM for example). Go back and revisit what the current best sandbox space sim game is supposed to be like. I reloaded X3:AP and within 30 minutes was so immersed that my 'Rebirth Rage' was forgotten.

[WizardGrey]

X3TC. Then I close my eyes and imagine it having better graphics.

[Alucard291]

Posting in the Stockholm Syndrome thread. ^^

Sorry just had to say it

[Ceeege]

XRM.

Played Rebirth over the "launch" weekend.

Got sad.

Played 20 minutes last weekend and got bored and frustrated.

THOUGHT

Installed KRM and have since spent 30+ hours of my very limited free time BUILDing, TRAD(E)ing, FIGHTing & THINKing. Love it - now if only we could port XRM to a nice shiny new engine!

[WarChicken]

I play the only X game I skipped until now - Albion Prelude.
Also Modded the crap out of it
It will satisfy my X craving until Rebirth is playable.

[firestorm79]

yep, XRM. AP XRM.

seriously going down the modded route has opened up soooo many new possibilities!

just want to go around collecting bounty? do it and get good money for doing so!

want to trade against a artificial life magnate? just add phanon corp mod!

want to take over sectors? just add trickmov sector overtake mod.

want to collect random ships? install salvage mod + NPC bail mod

....

I fly around in my xenon K (a very rare bail - as I've set my bailing settings at the very lowest!) destroying xenon and khaak sectors for fun (yes khaaks are back in AP! beware of the khaak destroyer) - nets me quite a nice sum in bounty each forray.

all the plots apart from the main AP plot are in there. And you can do the Terran plot too! Treasure hunt plot is in there too strangely...

it's everything rebirth should have been.

[Naroku]

Play eve. It is a nice fix, but if your the butt hurt kind of person and hate losing something, its not for you.

One advantage the forums are more liberal with less admin interference, less damage control.

[birdtable]

Back to Terran C Xtended 1.2 ... 2.0 was crapped out with mission bugs ...cannot still believe Egoshite made Terran/Albion and Rebirth ... Snake Oil man planted idiot cell in Bernd brain.

[edqe]

Crusader Kings 2 and developing tools for X series.

I will continue play X: Rebirth immediately once the next patch is out. I can wait, it takes what it takes.