Wow that looks really cool. The picture in the thread is crazy. I'll get back to you on whether its good or not once I've played another 300 hours or so and can afford it
I remember two summers back, I would leave the game running overnight to earn more credits. I love automated traders.
I considered that option, however considering how it'd eat up large chunks of electricity and my vast knowledge of cheating from my Amiga days using an Action Replay mk3 I simply hex edited the files to give me the money I wanted after i'd already completed the game a few dozen times. (plus other stuff)
Notes for hex editing cheaters:
The X3 saves are compressed using zip, however they are compressed with no file name. Meaning if you try to re-compress the decompressed file using a normal compression utility such as winzip, winrar etc then it won't work. You'll need to compress it using gzip and the no-name command.
For example (working from memory here), after decompressing X01.sav to X01, hex editing the cash you then make a copy of the original X01.sav then do the following "gzip -n X01" it will create a file called X01.gz, you then rename X01.gz to X01.sav. Hey presto you've got yourself an edited X3 save game, you can do more than just edit your money too...
Also, you can actually re-compress your saves to a smaller file size than X3 uses thereby saving on space if you have a fair few. (example: "gzip -n9 X01")
Using the above also deletes the file that you're compressing, if you don't want it deleted then use the stdout method: "gzip -n9c X01 > X01.sav". The bonus to this method is you don't have to go renaming a file.
It's been a while since I last played X3, think i'll dig it out tonight and play.
If I remember correctly originally the X3 saves weren't compressed at all, I think people were complaining on the Egosoft forums about how large the X3 saves were so in a patch they made it that when it saved it compressed it down. I would install from my original game cd/dvd (can't remember which it uses) just to look but then i'd be installing starforce... therefore i'll be playing X3 via Steam tonight I think.
GrimReaper on
PSN | Steam
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I've got a spare copy of Portal, if anyone wants it message me.
i remember someone saying that if you install from dvd, then patch (without ever running the game), it will remove the starforce and it never actually gets installed on the machine. but i don't know if thats the case, and i went with steam. but it could save you the time of downloading it.
as far as editing the saves go.. i'm not horrible with cheating, but i find sometimes if i know i can easily give myself money i'll just do it again and again. not sure if i wanna go that route or not. i did start over last night using Quickstart for extra funds, and only did the initial patrol mission. then it was back to sandboxing for me. i got myself up to about 350k (from the initial 100k) and full rudder+speed upgrades on my mercury and a trade extension and a few nav sats. much better start than my custom games
Yeah that's how it went for me. I got the multiple CD version ages back and recently reinstalled it, expecting to have to use the starforce removal tool. But after going through all the steps with installation and patching, I found I had no starforce to remove in the first place. It won't install on your system until you actually start the game up.
Any specific advice starting out? I think I'm doing alright - I took the quick start route, found an empty Hauler and took it over, and managed to capture two pirate fighters (One of which I then proceeded to crash into my Hauler twice before I discovered autodocking and realized parking my largest ship across the docking area of a shipyard was a bad idea).
I've seen a few posts about autotraders, but not much explanation on how they work. If I sold off the hauler, I could easily outfit my smaller freighter (Or possibly the other way around, I haven't checked how much I can get for my Mercury), but what's required to do that, and where do I buy it? For the most part, the ships I'm interested in keeping are just parked around Argon Prime taking up space while I try to scrape a profit capturing what I can manage.
this is a good read for an overview of trading early in the game. covers the basics about ST/UTs (sector traders/universe traders) and has some nice tips. its a short read and should get you started.
i need to make the trip up and grab that abandoned hauler as well. not sure of its stats, so i'll either sell it for another mercury or get it ready for UTing eventually. i still need to work up more cash before i can afford setting up ships for that. i finally capped a ship last night, too bad he bailed at like 10% hull in his Falcon. i'm not sure how much they sell for but i bet with all that damage i don't see much.
I'm still very much on the upward slope of the learning curve, but I'm making progress. Specifically, I learned today that my buster is no match for a pirate harrier. Especially if there's two of them.
Well, it might have been a different story if I saw both, but the other one came up from behind me. And I don't have the max weaponry, I was just planning on doing some trading for a while, while getting the hang of stuff. I only went against them because I was following this little mission I got to help rescue some woman's daughter. We might have gotten there too, if she had given me some directions on how to get there.
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MorninglordI'm tired of being Batman,so today I'll be Owl.Registered Userregular
edited December 2007
How good is the dogfighting in this game. Does it have super realistic physics or is it all lolol jetplanes in space? Not that I mind this, in fact I love this, it being one of my favourite unrealistic space game mechanics and one which I will always not just allow, but almost require.
What I'm trying to say is can I suddenly backburn to let a bogey on my tail over shoot me and then send a volley of screaming high tech death up his six?
Do the destroyers do broadsides or front on? How is the tactics with capital ships and stuff, is it worth maneouvering?
Morninglord on
(PSN: Morninglord) (Steam: Morninglord) (WiiU: Morninglord22) I like to record and toss up a lot of random gaming videos here.
How good is the dogfighting in this game. Does it have super realistic physics or is it all lolol jetplanes in space? Not that I mind this, in fact I love this, it being one of my favourite unrealistic space game mechanics and one which I will always not just allow, but almost require.
What I'm trying to say is can I suddenly backburn to let a bogey on my tail over shoot me and then send a volley of screaming high tech death up his six?
Do the destroyers do broadsides or front on? How is the tactics with capital ships and stuff, is it worth maneouvering?
Physics are Newtonian. No 90 degree turns here. As for capital ships, it's mostly strafe strafe strafe to avoid enemy gunfire. The enemy capital ship AI is pretty simple, so you'll be taking almost no hits while laying streams of fire on them. It only gets complicated when you engage multiple capital ships at once. Then you have to be realy good at dodging PPCs.
How good is the dogfighting in this game. Does it have super realistic physics or is it all lolol jetplanes in space? Not that I mind this, in fact I love this, it being one of my favourite unrealistic space game mechanics and one which I will always not just allow, but almost require.
What I'm trying to say is can I suddenly backburn to let a bogey on my tail over shoot me and then send a volley of screaming high tech death up his six?
Do the destroyers do broadsides or front on? How is the tactics with capital ships and stuff, is it worth maneouvering?
Haha, in X2 not maneuvering, and instead purposely parking a large ship, was a good way to get the AI to crash all its small craft into you and die. I think I heard that they fixed in this in X3, but some players strongly dislike the new combat system for some other reason that I don't remember.
I think the consensus is that the combat in the X games is nothing to write home about, although the plot is generally acknowledged to be the worst part of the series.
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MorninglordI'm tired of being Batman,so today I'll be Owl.Registered Userregular
edited December 2007
Hmmm. Modified newtonian or do I have to fully stop my momentum with an opposing burn?
Morninglord on
(PSN: Morninglord) (Steam: Morninglord) (WiiU: Morninglord22) I like to record and toss up a lot of random gaming videos here.
To be extremely technical, it's strict Newtonian with automated reverse burns. If you pilot a fast ship that's got readily visible strafe/turn thrusters, you'll see the opposite ones fire when you stop strafing/turning.
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MorninglordI'm tired of being Batman,so today I'll be Owl.Registered Userregular
To be extremely technical, it's strict Newtonian with automated reverse burns. If you pilot a fast ship that's got readily visible strafe/turn thrusters, you'll see the opposite ones fire when you stop strafing/turning.
That's actually really interesting. Dammit. I think I'd better stop talking about it since I can't afford it for a few weeks.
Morninglord on
(PSN: Morninglord) (Steam: Morninglord) (WiiU: Morninglord22) I like to record and toss up a lot of random gaming videos here.
Multiplayer in X3 wouldn't be a lot of fun, except for maybe massive epic space battles.
It might let you see some actual fleet action for once. Using a fleet in X3 is generally a bad idea, since the capital ship AI is so terrible. In multiplayer though... mmmm. Of course, nobody has a computer that can handle that many ships going at it at once. Maybe in X4?
Multiplayer in X3 wouldn't be a lot of fun, except for maybe massive epic space battles.
It might let you see some actual fleet action for once. Using a fleet in X3 is generally a bad idea, since the capital ship AI is so terrible. In multiplayer though... mmmm. Of course, nobody has a computer that can handle that many ships going at it at once. Maybe in X4?
The real problem with high level X3 isn't with the ship AI really, it's just that there's nothing for you to actually take a fleet against, other than going and splatting some Xenon. I mean, it's cool being able to have a carrier containing 30 ships, but there's no real benefit to it.
The top two difficulty settings in Race Response Fleets are nice for adding bigger battles, though if you aren't actively helping the friendly races they'll be beaten pretty badly.
Edit: late night grammar
Edit2: I hate you Burgu for making an X3 thread. I have other things to do.
I never got very far in the game last time I played, but just reinstalled. I have two questions:
I have a Best Buy Locator, Trade Software Mk3, a Mercury, and a Discoverer at the moment. I'm ready to start the Mercury as a System Trader. Does the Best Buy Locator provide a benefit for the System Trader ship, or should I move if off of there?
I've explored some Paranid space, and it was mentioned that there are some good systems there for making money, but their stations won't let me dock. How exactly do you build reputation with the Paranid when you can't really interact with them?
Allright, you guys have me convinced. I don't feel like playing $10 bucks a month for Eve again, but this looks really interesting.
Question though: Some people have expressed that X3 doesn't improve much over X2 beyond cosmetic changes and gameplay tweaks. Would it be better to play X2 and avoid some of the hassles that come with X3?
Allright, you guys have me convinced. I don't feel like playing $10 bucks a month for Eve again, but this looks really interesting.
Question though: Some people have expressed that X3 doesn't improve much over X2 beyond cosmetic changes and gameplay tweaks. Would it be better to play X2 and avoid some of the hassles that come with X3?
I'll have to admit that X3 has a much easier interface to navigate than X2.
Allright, you guys have me convinced. I don't feel like playing $10 bucks a month for Eve again, but this looks really interesting.
Question though: Some people have expressed that X3 doesn't improve much over X2 beyond cosmetic changes and gameplay tweaks. Would it be better to play X2 and avoid some of the hassles that come with X3?
X3 has a bunch of stuff that is more goodest than X2, like complexes. It's also balanced better, until the Bala Gi missions screw everything up.
To be extremely technical, it's strict Newtonian with automated reverse burns. If you pilot a fast ship that's got readily visible strafe/turn thrusters, you'll see the opposite ones fire when you stop strafing/turning.
That's actually really interesting. Dammit. I think I'd better stop talking about it since I can't afford it for a few weeks.
Actually, it's very lightly Newtonian. If you want a game that has Newtonian physics then you need to play Elite 2 or 3.
If X3 had Newtonian physics in any real sense then when you had the engines on you'd keep accelerating faster and faster until you hit the light speed barrier at which point you'd have spacetime general relativity issues.
I miss Elite 2 & 3, think i'll dig them out.
GrimReaper on
PSN | Steam
---
I've got a spare copy of Portal, if anyone wants it message me.
If you think the ships would eventually break the light barrier I would question your grasp of newtonian physics.
You're thinking relativistic physics. In newtonian physics, there's no relativistic correction. c is not a constant or a limit, and both mass and linear measurements are constant. As a result, an object with finite mass requires finite energy to exceed the speed of light. In relativistic physics, c is a constant, mass and linear measurement are variables, and there's a third term added to all of the forumlas. So an object with finite mass will require infinite energy to reach c, and will have infinite mass and zero dimension (if measured from a stationary frame of reference) when it reaches c.
Arrgh. So I bought the Trade System Mk3 for my Mercury, and set it up as a Sector Trader. It is now Level 9, but I cannot set it to Universe trader. The option is below Sector Trader, but is hollow (not selectable) rather than filled (selectable). In fact, the first four items (Buy, sell, buy at best price, sell at best price) are also unselectable, but ST works fine. Is there some other requirement for UT?
Arrgh. So I bought the Trade System Mk3 for my Mercury, and set it up as a Sector Trader. It is now Level 9, but I cannot set it to Universe trader. The option is below Sector Trader, but is hollow (not selectable) rather than filled (selectable). In fact, the first four items (Buy, sell, buy at best price, sell at best price) are also unselectable, but ST works fine. Is there some other requirement for UT?
Jump drive, think they need a shield of some kind, and whatever the best trade system is (think it's mk3 but been a while since I played so I can't remember well). They may also want a best buy/best sell upgrade.
Actually, I just tried that, and no dice. It has Trade system 1,2,3, nav system 1, Special command system, a jumpdrive, Trade Extension, Combat System 1 and 2, and the Best Buy and Best Sell Locators. It only has two 5 MJ shields, so I suppose that might be an issue. When I get a chance, I'll try to dig up some 25 MJs to stick in there, and see what happens. Though the manual says the he'd just buy any of that stuff himself, if he wanted it.
I thought you needed some other kind of upgrade...I don't remember, it was in that guide someone posted earlier in the thread, but which I now cannot find.
Posts
http://forum.egosoft.com/viewtopic.php?t=172015&postdays=0&postorder=asc&start=0
tell me how it is
Wow that looks really cool. The picture in the thread is crazy. I'll get back to you on whether its good or not once I've played another 300 hours or so and can afford it
I considered that option, however considering how it'd eat up large chunks of electricity and my vast knowledge of cheating from my Amiga days using an Action Replay mk3 I simply hex edited the files to give me the money I wanted after i'd already completed the game a few dozen times. (plus other stuff)
Notes for hex editing cheaters:
The X3 saves are compressed using zip, however they are compressed with no file name. Meaning if you try to re-compress the decompressed file using a normal compression utility such as winzip, winrar etc then it won't work. You'll need to compress it using gzip and the no-name command.
For example (working from memory here), after decompressing X01.sav to X01, hex editing the cash you then make a copy of the original X01.sav then do the following "gzip -n X01" it will create a file called X01.gz, you then rename X01.gz to X01.sav. Hey presto you've got yourself an edited X3 save game, you can do more than just edit your money too...
Also, you can actually re-compress your saves to a smaller file size than X3 uses thereby saving on space if you have a fair few. (example: "gzip -n9 X01")
Using the above also deletes the file that you're compressing, if you don't want it deleted then use the stdout method: "gzip -n9c X01 > X01.sav". The bonus to this method is you don't have to go renaming a file.
It's been a while since I last played X3, think i'll dig it out tonight and play.
If I remember correctly originally the X3 saves weren't compressed at all, I think people were complaining on the Egosoft forums about how large the X3 saves were so in a patch they made it that when it saved it compressed it down. I would install from my original game cd/dvd (can't remember which it uses) just to look but then i'd be installing starforce... therefore i'll be playing X3 via Steam tonight I think.
---
I've got a spare copy of Portal, if anyone wants it message me.
as far as editing the saves go.. i'm not horrible with cheating, but i find sometimes if i know i can easily give myself money i'll just do it again and again. not sure if i wanna go that route or not. i did start over last night using Quickstart for extra funds, and only did the initial patrol mission. then it was back to sandboxing for me. i got myself up to about 350k (from the initial 100k) and full rudder+speed upgrades on my mercury and a trade extension and a few nav sats. much better start than my custom games
I've seen a few posts about autotraders, but not much explanation on how they work. If I sold off the hauler, I could easily outfit my smaller freighter (Or possibly the other way around, I haven't checked how much I can get for my Mercury), but what's required to do that, and where do I buy it? For the most part, the ships I'm interested in keeping are just parked around Argon Prime taking up space while I try to scrape a profit capturing what I can manage.
i need to make the trip up and grab that abandoned hauler as well. not sure of its stats, so i'll either sell it for another mercury or get it ready for UTing eventually. i still need to work up more cash before i can afford setting up ships for that. i finally capped a ship last night, too bad he bailed at like 10% hull in his Falcon. i'm not sure how much they sell for but i bet with all that damage i don't see much.
EDIT: Bind your strafe keys and use them, often.
EDIT 2: Make sure you've got your maximum shield and lasers equipped, if you have the cash. Your starting loadout isn't fully pimped.
What I'm trying to say is can I suddenly backburn to let a bogey on my tail over shoot me and then send a volley of screaming high tech death up his six?
Do the destroyers do broadsides or front on? How is the tactics with capital ships and stuff, is it worth maneouvering?
Physics are Newtonian. No 90 degree turns here. As for capital ships, it's mostly strafe strafe strafe to avoid enemy gunfire. The enemy capital ship AI is pretty simple, so you'll be taking almost no hits while laying streams of fire on them. It only gets complicated when you engage multiple capital ships at once. Then you have to be realy good at dodging PPCs.
I think the consensus is that the combat in the X games is nothing to write home about, although the plot is generally acknowledged to be the worst part of the series.
Not sure if they explain it with technobabble or not, never bothered to read up on the backstory.
*grumblegrumble*
To be extremely technical, it's strict Newtonian with automated reverse burns. If you pilot a fast ship that's got readily visible strafe/turn thrusters, you'll see the opposite ones fire when you stop strafing/turning.
That's actually really interesting. Dammit. I think I'd better stop talking about it since I can't afford it for a few weeks.
It might let you see some actual fleet action for once. Using a fleet in X3 is generally a bad idea, since the capital ship AI is so terrible. In multiplayer though... mmmm. Of course, nobody has a computer that can handle that many ships going at it at once. Maybe in X4?
The real problem with high level X3 isn't with the ship AI really, it's just that there's nothing for you to actually take a fleet against, other than going and splatting some Xenon. I mean, it's cool being able to have a carrier containing 30 ships, but there's no real benefit to it.
Edit: late night grammar
Edit2: I hate you Burgu for making an X3 thread. I have other things to do.
I have a Best Buy Locator, Trade Software Mk3, a Mercury, and a Discoverer at the moment. I'm ready to start the Mercury as a System Trader. Does the Best Buy Locator provide a benefit for the System Trader ship, or should I move if off of there?
I've explored some Paranid space, and it was mentioned that there are some good systems there for making money, but their stations won't let me dock. How exactly do you build reputation with the Paranid when you can't really interact with them?
Also the best buy locator thing won't really help a sector trader but it might come in handy, who knows. It's pretty cheap either way.
Question though: Some people have expressed that X3 doesn't improve much over X2 beyond cosmetic changes and gameplay tweaks. Would it be better to play X2 and avoid some of the hassles that come with X3?
I'll have to admit that X3 has a much easier interface to navigate than X2.
X3 has a bunch of stuff that is more goodest than X2, like complexes. It's also balanced better, until the Bala Gi missions screw everything up.
:winky:
Actually, it's very lightly Newtonian. If you want a game that has Newtonian physics then you need to play Elite 2 or 3.
If X3 had Newtonian physics in any real sense then when you had the engines on you'd keep accelerating faster and faster until you hit the light speed barrier at which point you'd have spacetime general relativity issues.
I miss Elite 2 & 3, think i'll dig them out.
---
I've got a spare copy of Portal, if anyone wants it message me.
You're thinking relativistic physics. In newtonian physics, there's no relativistic correction. c is not a constant or a limit, and both mass and linear measurements are constant. As a result, an object with finite mass requires finite energy to exceed the speed of light. In relativistic physics, c is a constant, mass and linear measurement are variables, and there's a third term added to all of the forumlas. So an object with finite mass will require infinite energy to reach c, and will have infinite mass and zero dimension (if measured from a stationary frame of reference) when it reaches c.
Solved. The 25 MJ shield did it.
Jump drive, think they need a shield of some kind, and whatever the best trade system is (think it's mk3 but been a while since I played so I can't remember well). They may also want a best buy/best sell upgrade.