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The Space Sim Megathread | Getting a Barbarosa from the Vigor Syndicate is Hard

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    ThawmusThawmus +Jackface Registered User regular
    Okay. I've added X3 to my wishlist, thanks guys!

    Twitch: Thawmus83
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    ElvenshaeElvenshae Registered User regular
    Yep, X is all about the economic empire creation.

    The combat is, at best, anemic.

    Don't get X Rebirth; get the latest version of X3 (probably X3 Gold Box?).

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    ThawmusThawmus +Jackface Registered User regular
    Elvenshae wrote: »
    Yep, X is all about the economic empire creation.

    The combat is, at best, anemic.

    Don't get X Rebirth; get the latest version of X3 (probably X3 Gold Box?).

    Is X3: Reunion okay?

    Twitch: Thawmus83
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    ShadowfireShadowfire Vermont, in the middle of nowhereRegistered User regular
    Elvenshae wrote: »
    Yep, X is all about the economic empire creation.

    The combat is, at best, anemic.

    Don't get X Rebirth; get the latest version of X3 (probably X3 Gold Box?).

    See also: thread title.

    WiiU: Windrunner ; Guild Wars 2: Shadowfire.3940 ; PSN: Bradcopter
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    Sir CarcassSir Carcass I have been shown the end of my world Round Rock, TXRegistered User regular
    Shadowfire wrote: »
    Elvenshae wrote: »
    Yep, X is all about the economic empire creation.

    The combat is, at best, anemic.

    Don't get X Rebirth; get the latest version of X3 (probably X3 Gold Box?).

    See also: thread title.

    I wouldn't call it a pile of dogshit. Maybe a pile of dying leaves. There's a little fun to be had if you look hard enough (and mod the hell out of it), but not a whole lot.

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    AxenAxen My avatar is Excalibur. Yes, the sword.Registered User regular
    edited July 2018
    Thawmus wrote: »
    Elvenshae wrote: »
    Yep, X is all about the economic empire creation.

    The combat is, at best, anemic.

    Don't get X Rebirth; get the latest version of X3 (probably X3 Gold Box?).

    Is X3: Reunion okay?

    Yes.

    Though I believe most people would say Terran Conflict (+Albion Prelude) is superior. Also why it is like $15 bucks on Steam while Reunion is $10.

    You can buy Terran Conflict and Albion Prelude for $20. Well worth it I'd say.

    Albion Prelude requires Terran Conflict and adds a number of very nice QoL improvements for the venture capitalist in us all.


    edit- Man, it has been a long time for me since I played X3, but IIRC I think most of the best mods are focused on Terran Conflict. Hm, I should reinstall it.

    edit 2- Isn't there some sort of crazy super mod that requires all three? Oh man, I don't think I should be poking my head in to this rabbit hole, by the I time I come back up there'd likely be Christmas lights everywhere.

    edit 3- Goddammit

    CNxLaAx.png

    Axen on
    A Capellan's favorite sheath for any blade is your back.
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    ThawmusThawmus +Jackface Registered User regular
    I'm finding this difficult to grasp for reasons I find difficult to grasp.

    So what is the X3 base game, or is that just not a thing?

    Twitch: Thawmus83
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    Sir CarcassSir Carcass I have been shown the end of my world Round Rock, TXRegistered User regular
    Thawmus wrote: »
    I'm finding this difficult to grasp for reasons I find difficult to grasp.

    So what is the X3 base game, or is that just not a thing?

    Reunion is the base game.

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    AxenAxen My avatar is Excalibur. Yes, the sword.Registered User regular
    edited July 2018
    Reunion is standalone. (it was the first X3 game)

    Terran Conflict is a standalone not-a-sequel-but-kind-of-is.

    Albion Prelude is an expansion for Terran Conflict.


    Terran Conflict has a huge array of additions and improvements over Reunion. Albion Prelude introduces a number of new features for Terran Conflict with most of them being business-centric.

    Axen on
    A Capellan's favorite sheath for any blade is your back.
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    Sir CarcassSir Carcass I have been shown the end of my world Round Rock, TXRegistered User regular
    Axen wrote: »
    Reunion is standalone. (it was the first X3 game)

    Terran Conflict is a standalone not-a-sequel-but-kind-of-is.

    Albion Prelude is an expansion for Terran Conflict.


    Terran Conflict has a huge array of additions and improvements over Reunion. Albion Prelude introduces a number of new features for Terran Conflict with most of them being business-centric.

    Yeah, I should have said first X3 game instead of base game. You don't need Reunion to play either of the other 2.

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    OrcaOrca Also known as Espressosaurus WrexRegistered User regular
    I hate on the X series for its shitty flight model, crappy combat, and terrible writing, but the one saving grace is the Econ simulation. If you want to space merchant, I have not yet found a game as good as X3 for space merchanting.

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    yossarian_livesyossarian_lives Registered User regular
    If you’re going to play any game in the X series I strongly encourage you to view some YouTube tutorials. The games are not very intuitive.

    "I see everything twice!"


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    DarmakDarmak RAGE vympyvvhyc vyctyvyRegistered User regular
    Orca wrote: »
    I hate on the X series for its shitty flight model, crappy combat, and terrible writing, but the one saving grace is the Econ simulation. If you want to space merchant, I have not yet found a game as good as X3 for space merchanting.

    I like the music and atmosphere in the X games too. Just fucking around in space, listening to the chill music, looking at pretty stuff. It's why I keep playing Rebirth, because it's the prettiest and none of the combat/economic stuff in the X games interests me

    JtgVX0H.png
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    OrcaOrca Also known as Espressosaurus WrexRegistered User regular
    There's also a mod for turrets that will make them shoot down incoming missiles that is IMO essential, and by the same author a mod that will let you collapse factories into a single enormous cube that is maybe not as interesting to look at, but improves performance dramatically when you're doing a full blown production chain in one system. In X3:R, there was also a mod that let you drop a bunch of laser turrets in a ring at a point which was helpful for defending your factories from roving pirates: just drop a ring of turrets at the jump point and maybe leave a defending ship or two there.

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    AxenAxen My avatar is Excalibur. Yes, the sword.Registered User regular
    edited July 2018
    Well the X series does come from a dark time when the space sim genre was all but dead and just about the only people keeping it alive were small German and Polish studios. So yeah, there is a fair amount of weird in em.

    Axen on
    A Capellan's favorite sheath for any blade is your back.
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    OrcaOrca Also known as Espressosaurus WrexRegistered User regular
    edited July 2018
    I was just thinking about this, and here's why it's so good for space merchanting: there's an econ model that plays fair with inputs and outputs, and production chains. The one external input is it will spawn merchants to ship stuff from factory to factory and ships that may buy the end products (e.g. weapons or drugs or whatever), along with pirates and other things to be a nuisance.

    So you start off in your small ship, doing small time trading. You get enough money to buy a bigger trading ship and keep trading. Eventually you decide you either want to keep getting bigger and bigger, at which point you start saving for a capship, or you decide to start multiplying your efforts and you buy a second trading ship and load it with trade and defense software. Now you're starting your trade empire! With the passive income your income goes up. Maybe you buy a second or third ship. You by now know there are certain factories that are always missing some raw input, and you have a large nest egg, so maybe you decide to build a factory in a nearby system to supply that raw input. Then you realize you can make much more money by just producing that intermediate output yourself, so you add more factories to that system and set up a trade network going from that system to some other system that uses that intermediate output. Then you get the bright idea that you want to produce it all, so you buy a constructor capship calculate the optimal factory and build a system-spanning factory with 30 modules in it that does nothing but produces endgame guns or whatever. And that's cool and all, but now that you have that it's time for the game to get more interesting, so you install a mod that allows sector takeover and war, and now you start throwing your weight around as you buy capships and take over sectors for their raw materials to produce this that or the other thing and...

    and then you realize 200 hours have passed. But there's that nearby system with some convenient raw materials for something else you'd like to produce...
    It's been years since I last played so some details may be wrong. But there's a lot of depth on the econ side if you can tolerate the poor UI and other problems

    Orca on
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    manwiththemachinegunmanwiththemachinegun METAL GEAR?! Registered User regular
    I like the medium path of Freelancer, being able to be a wealthy trader or mercenary with powerful allies for support, but never really being able to affect governments or wars single handedly. To me, it makes the universe feel more dangerous and realistic.

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    ThawmusThawmus +Jackface Registered User regular
    I have purchased X3: Terran Conflict.

    And after a little bit of fucking around with the launch options and tossing some libraries into the game folder that needed to be there, but weren't there, the game runs, and runs well I might add.

    Looking forward to playing it tonight!

    Twitch: Thawmus83
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    AxenAxen My avatar is Excalibur. Yes, the sword.Registered User regular
    Thawmus wrote: »
    I have purchased X3: Terran Conflict.

    And after a little bit of fucking around with the launch options and tossing some libraries into the game folder that needed to be there, but weren't there, the game runs, and runs well I might add.

    Looking forward to playing it tonight!

    When you start a new game it'll ask you to select a character. The name, age, sex, species is mostly just fluff. The big thing though is that they each start with different stuff, faction ratings, money, and location. You can see what they all offer here.

    For you though, since you want to be Space Rockefeller go for the Humble Merchant start. You'll get some starting cash, a nice hauler ship and a scout ship/escort.

    So right out the gate you can get in to trading and building a financial empire. Your escort ship, called a Discoverer, is not really that useful in a fight. However it is useful for scouting.

    A Capellan's favorite sheath for any blade is your back.
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    ElvenshaeElvenshae Registered User regular
    Axen wrote: »
    Thawmus wrote: »
    I have purchased X3: Terran Conflict.

    And after a little bit of fucking around with the launch options and tossing some libraries into the game folder that needed to be there, but weren't there, the game runs, and runs well I might add.

    Looking forward to playing it tonight!

    When you start a new game it'll ask you to select a character. The name, age, sex, species is mostly just fluff. The big thing though is that they each start with different stuff, faction ratings, money, and location. You can see what they all offer here.

    For you though, since you want to be Space Rockefeller go for the Humble Merchant start. You'll get some starting cash, a nice hauler ship and a scout ship/escort.

    So right out the gate you can get in to trading and building a financial empire. Your escort ship, called a Discoverer, is not really that useful in a fight. However it is useful for scouting.

    ... it's also useful for "being sold for spare parts and a slightly larger starting budget."

    :D

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    Banzai5150Banzai5150 Registered User regular

    50433.png?1708759015
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    BasilBasil Registered User regular
    edited July 2018
    I'm reminded of a lovely bit of horror Eve runs on, where Capsuleers, the quasi-immortal players, are said to be so disconnected from reality that they forget that ships are crewed-
    And those who are aware don't care.

    Or they just get so busy with capsuleer things that they won't notice their ship or capsule being destroyed until they come back to find they're a fresh clone.

    Basil on
    9KmX8eN.jpg
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    RoyceSraphimRoyceSraphim Registered User regular
    I get melancholy about warframe running slow on my pc, then i do some gundam shit in my arcwing and then shit goes cray.

    I mention this here because the railjacker video is essentially player fighters and a player controlled Corvette attacking a frigate and coordinating boarding forces with Corvette forces to criplle the vessel, shit ive seen in comics are now gameplay.

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    TychoCelchuuuTychoCelchuuu PIGEON Registered User regular
    I get melancholy about warframe running slow on my pc, then i do some gundam shit in my arcwing and then shit goes cray.

    I mention this here because the railjacker video is essentially player fighters and a player controlled Corvette attacking a frigate and coordinating boarding forces with Corvette forces to criplle the vessel, shit ive seen in comics are now gameplay.
    You could do this back in 2005 in Battlefront II and in 2006 in Eternal Silence (HL2 mod).

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    ThawmusThawmus +Jackface Registered User regular
    Banzai5150 wrote: »

    I already awesome'd this post, but seriously, thanks for posting this. I jumped right in with my xbox360 controller, trying to fly, and it's like, "No, Thawmus, let's stop doing this, go back, watch some videos, then use the mouse."

    I need to watch the rest of them today but I was able to do some basic scouting and trade last night, after watching the first 3. Holy shit this is a complex and really good game.

    Twitch: Thawmus83
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    Banzai5150Banzai5150 Registered User regular
    Thawmus wrote: »
    Banzai5150 wrote: »

    I already awesome'd this post, but seriously, thanks for posting this. I jumped right in with my xbox360 controller, trying to fly, and it's like, "No, Thawmus, let's stop doing this, go back, watch some videos, then use the mouse."

    I need to watch the rest of them today but I was able to do some basic scouting and trade last night, after watching the first 3. Holy shit this is a complex and really good game.

    I had meant to write more than just post that video but was at work at the time and didn’t want to forget. Anyway, I used his series to learn quite a bit about the game then picked the brains of forumers who were always willing to help!

    50433.png?1708759015
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    ThawmusThawmus +Jackface Registered User regular
    Banzai5150 wrote: »
    Thawmus wrote: »
    Banzai5150 wrote: »

    I already awesome'd this post, but seriously, thanks for posting this. I jumped right in with my xbox360 controller, trying to fly, and it's like, "No, Thawmus, let's stop doing this, go back, watch some videos, then use the mouse."

    I need to watch the rest of them today but I was able to do some basic scouting and trade last night, after watching the first 3. Holy shit this is a complex and really good game.

    I had meant to write more than just post that video but was at work at the time and didn’t want to forget. Anyway, I used his series to learn quite a bit about the game then picked the brains of forumers who were always willing to help!

    Well I'm at the point where I've got 4 freighters (2 auto, 2 doing manual remote trades), and a Personnelle Transport (Express) that's making major dollars doing taxi runs and passenger transports (passenger transport missions make between 6 and 7 figures per run, and they're usually very short runs that don't even require the use of my jump drive. It's ridiculous.), dropping advanced satellites everywhere, and keeping about 400 Energy on hand at all times for scouting and running.

    So I'm earning quite a bit of cred and I'm ready to build stations, and the video series is really good at explaining how to do this correctly. I didn't even know I could hire a TL to do the work for me. Or how hard it would be to place the damn things (it is seriously damn hard to do right).

    Twitch: Thawmus83
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    OrcaOrca Also known as Espressosaurus WrexRegistered User regular
    edited August 2018
    Thawmus wrote: »
    Well I'm at the point where I've got 4 freighters (2 auto, 2 doing manual remote trades), and a Personnelle Transport (Express) that's making major dollars doing taxi runs and passenger transports (passenger transport missions make between 6 and 7 figures per run, and they're usually very short runs that don't even require the use of my jump drive. It's ridiculous.), dropping advanced satellites everywhere, and keeping about 400 Energy on hand at all times for scouting and running.

    So I'm earning quite a bit of cred and I'm ready to build stations, and the video series is really good at explaining how to do this correctly. I didn't even know I could hire a TL to do the work for me. Or how hard it would be to place the damn things (it is seriously damn hard to do right).

    Once you get more than two or three stations in a single system, I strongly recommend looking for a mod that simplifies station handling. It can seriously bog things down when you have a dozen stations with pipes snaking all over creation.

    Orca on
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    OrcaOrca Also known as Espressosaurus WrexRegistered User regular
    edited August 2018
    This is the mod I recommend: https://forum.egosoft.com/viewtopic.php?t=225042

    In fact, do a search for mods by Gazz and install them all, you can't go wrong. :D

    Orca on
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    ThawmusThawmus +Jackface Registered User regular
    Cool, I'll check that out.

    I sold my Express for a Zephyrus and a Solano, and I've been driving the Zephyrus as my transport (though I have to pass on the Luxury passengers but they haven't been paying me well anyways).

    I then did my first combat mission (escorting 2 freighters being attacked by Xenon constantly), and man that was fun. Having my Solano go out and chase them down while I was just stayed on the freighters and tore the Xenon down with my turrets, so much fun.

    One thing I do wish is that the freighters would FUCKING MOVE IT!!!! Like, you're at the station! Dock! Dock now! Simon says "Dock!" Pretty please dock? Can we negotiate about your hesitancy when it comes to docking?

    Also is it normal for pretty much everyone's supply chains to be broken as shit? I'm trying to take advantage of that whenever and wherever I can, but holy shit is it hard to get 25 MJ shields, and getting basic laser weapons requires an act of God.

    Twitch: Thawmus83
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    ElvenshaeElvenshae Registered User regular
    Thawmus wrote: »
    Also is it normal for pretty much everyone's supply chains to be broken as shit? I'm trying to take advantage of that whenever and wherever I can, but holy shit is it hard to get 25 MJ shields, and getting basic laser weapons requires an act of God.

    Yep!

    Very, very few stations have everything they need to churn out products in their own sector, and the AI will attempt to keep them stocked, but can't always do so. That's where you come in. :)

    If you keep that station well-stocked, they'll eventually start spitting them out.

    There's even a software you can buy and install (Commercial Agent) which lets you assign a trader to a station, and they'll go out and source the raw materials that station needs. Not sure if it has to be your station, though ...

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    ThawmusThawmus +Jackface Registered User regular
    Elvenshae wrote: »
    Thawmus wrote: »
    Also is it normal for pretty much everyone's supply chains to be broken as shit? I'm trying to take advantage of that whenever and wherever I can, but holy shit is it hard to get 25 MJ shields, and getting basic laser weapons requires an act of God.

    Yep!

    Very, very few stations have everything they need to churn out products in their own sector, and the AI will attempt to keep them stocked, but can't always do so. That's where you come in. :)

    If you keep that station well-stocked, they'll eventually start spitting them out.

    There's even a software you can buy and install (Commercial Agent) which lets you assign a trader to a station, and they'll go out and source the raw materials that station needs. Not sure if it has to be your station, though ...

    Commercial Agent apparently requires the use of a homebase, so yeah, it can only be assigned to my own station.

    I might be best suited to use the Commodity Logistics scripts instead.

    As far as my own station is concerned, I have a small freighter that's assigned to it and is buying Energy Cells for it constantly (per the tutorial videos), and that seems to be working out just fine.

    Twitch: Thawmus83
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    Lord_MordjaLord_Mordja Registered User regular
    No clue how many people this will interest, but it looks like the first act of Inferno Nostos came out a month ago. For those not in the know, Nostos is a remake of an old, infamous Freespace 2 mod that's been in development for, like, 50 years or something. Anyway, I liked the original Inferno and recently got back into playing FS2 mods, though I'm currently in the middle of another campaign so I'll admit I haven't been able to check it out.

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    ThawmusThawmus +Jackface Registered User regular
    Thawmus wrote: »
    Elvenshae wrote: »
    Thawmus wrote: »
    Also is it normal for pretty much everyone's supply chains to be broken as shit? I'm trying to take advantage of that whenever and wherever I can, but holy shit is it hard to get 25 MJ shields, and getting basic laser weapons requires an act of God.

    Yep!

    Very, very few stations have everything they need to churn out products in their own sector, and the AI will attempt to keep them stocked, but can't always do so. That's where you come in. :)

    If you keep that station well-stocked, they'll eventually start spitting them out.

    There's even a software you can buy and install (Commercial Agent) which lets you assign a trader to a station, and they'll go out and source the raw materials that station needs. Not sure if it has to be your station, though ...

    Commercial Agent apparently requires the use of a homebase, so yeah, it can only be assigned to my own station.

    I might be best suited to use the Commodity Logistics scripts instead.

    As far as my own station is concerned, I have a small freighter that's assigned to it and is buying Energy Cells for it constantly (per the tutorial videos), and that seems to be working out just fine.

    BTW, I was right about Commercial Agent, but wrong about Commodity Logistics, it also requires a homebase. I'll just have to put my manual remote traders on it.

    In other news, my station building skills are improving but my first station is apparently super difficult for the AI to get into because the docking ring is pointed away from the gate they frequent the most, so if I'm in the same sector they zip around it and never land. Oh well, I'll do better with the next station.

    Twitch: Thawmus83
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    ElvenshaeElvenshae Registered User regular
    edited August 2018
    Thawmus wrote: »
    Thawmus wrote: »
    Elvenshae wrote: »
    Thawmus wrote: »
    Also is it normal for pretty much everyone's supply chains to be broken as shit? I'm trying to take advantage of that whenever and wherever I can, but holy shit is it hard to get 25 MJ shields, and getting basic laser weapons requires an act of God.

    Yep!

    Very, very few stations have everything they need to churn out products in their own sector, and the AI will attempt to keep them stocked, but can't always do so. That's where you come in. :)

    If you keep that station well-stocked, they'll eventually start spitting them out.

    There's even a software you can buy and install (Commercial Agent) which lets you assign a trader to a station, and they'll go out and source the raw materials that station needs. Not sure if it has to be your station, though ...

    Commercial Agent apparently requires the use of a homebase, so yeah, it can only be assigned to my own station.

    I might be best suited to use the Commodity Logistics scripts instead.

    As far as my own station is concerned, I have a small freighter that's assigned to it and is buying Energy Cells for it constantly (per the tutorial videos), and that seems to be working out just fine.

    BTW, I was right about Commercial Agent, but wrong about Commodity Logistics, it also requires a homebase. I'll just have to put my manual remote traders on it.

    In other news, my station building skills are improving but my first station is apparently super difficult for the AI to get into because the docking ring is pointed away from the gate they frequent the most, so if I'm in the same sector they zip around it and never land. Oh well, I'll do better with the next station.

    I think there's a way to reposition owned stations ... Might need a rented TL for it? Or a ship with a tractor beam ...

    EDIT: Cycrow's cheat scripts, too, of course.

    Elvenshae on
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    TaranisTaranis Registered User regular
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AozXPfEq3Z0

    X4 is looking pretty good!

    EH28YFo.jpg
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    ElvenshaeElvenshae Registered User regular
    ... so did Rebirth at this point.

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    GONG-00GONG-00 Registered User regular
    At PAX West, the Rebel Galaxy folks are making a prequel that is effectively a Privateer remake. Apparently, one can also 3D print their in game ship!? My interest is piqued with Rebel Galaxy Outlaws.

    Oh and the same person that put together the first soundtrack is doing the same for this.

    Black lives matter.
    Law and Order ≠ Justice
    ACNH Island Isla Cero: DA-3082-2045-4142
    Captain of the SES Comptroller of the State
    xu257gunns6e.png
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    OrcaOrca Also known as Espressosaurus WrexRegistered User regular
    GONG-00 wrote: »
    At PAX West, the Rebel Galaxy folks are making a prequel that is effectively a Privateer remake. Apparently, one can also 3D print their in game ship!? My interest is piqued with Rebel Galaxy Outlaws.

    Oh and the same person that put together the first soundtrack is doing the same for this.

    Wait WHAT?

    You have my attention!

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    GONG-00GONG-00 Registered User regular
    Smaller ships so it plays more like X-wing than the original's Assassin's Creed Black Flag ship play.

    Black lives matter.
    Law and Order ≠ Justice
    ACNH Island Isla Cero: DA-3082-2045-4142
    Captain of the SES Comptroller of the State
    xu257gunns6e.png
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