🚀 go-pugleaf

On Wed, 02 Nov 2005 20:31:12 GMT, Jeff Holinski <nospam_Holinski@shaw.ca>
wrote:

>I liked space games, but I'm not sure what to make of X3. The info on
>their web site shows a lot of the games graphics, but not much about
>gameplay. (and the video told me NOTHING)
>So far, my favorite space game was Freelancer and X3 has some pretty
>high competition to live up to.

IMHO it is a much better game than Freelancer.

>First of all, is your ship controlled from an invisible cockpit, or do
>you use an arcade type chase view? Or better yet, does it have a real
>cockpit view? 

You are viewing the world from your cockpit but there isn't a virtual cockpit
unfortunately. You can view the craft from almost any angle from outside the
ship if you wish and fly it that way as well.

>Is it joystick control only, or can you use a mouse? If you can use a
>mouse, is the vertical axis reversable? 

Mouse or joystick. Don't remember a reverse control but default is down to
pull up.

>I assume you can buy different ships as the game goes on. Can you own
>more than 1 ship at a time?

You can own as many as you can afford I guess. But considering some of the
larger capital ships can cost up to 100 million that will be a ways of unless
you cheat.

>How's the sense of scale? One of the few flaws in FL was that
>everything seemed too small. (the stations, the planets, and the solar
>systems)

You can't actually visit the planets but they do look huge, as if you were in
low orbit. Other space ships and stations are huge. Factory complexes are even
bigger.

>What happens when you dock at at a station? Just a trading screen, or
>something a bit more elaborate like in FL?

They have removed internal docking in stations, except for the trading
stations. Each station will have a docking pylon to which 5 or 6 ships are
clamped. In game the reason for this was station owners were tired of having
internal structures repaired because of lousy pilots. I suspect the real
explanation for this may be a for gameplay issues, although I can't think of
one at the moment.

>How is trading in X3? 

Same as in X2 really.

>One of the things that I didn't like about FL is that once you found
>one of the REALLY high paying trade routes you could just repeat it
>over and over till you got rich. You'd think after a few dozen runs
>supply and demand would change.

The economy goes up and down very fast so you will have to change your routes
every so often or you make next to no money. For instance I bought a large
freighter that can hold 9000 units of cargo. Different containers are
different sizes so the size of the goods affect how much you can carry. I went
to a station selling energy crystals and pretty much bought them out. The
price went from 12 credits to 17 straight away. Similarly when you go to sell
them the price will be high till you dump everything on them and then the
price normalises.

>Is it all scripted missions, or can you just fly around and explore if
>you want?

You don't even have to follow the plot if you want but they are scripted up to
a point. When you start the game you have six choices. The first three have
the main plot and are marked Easy, Normal and Hard. The difference being start
money and equipment. The last 3 choices are the same but no plot to follow.
But you can completely ignore the plot if you wish after the first 2 missions.

>While Freelancer was my favorite, I've also played and liked EVE
>online, Homeworld, and the first Independance War. (didn't like the
>2nd one) Feel free to compare X3 game features to any of them.  :)

Many comparisons really. The seem to have stolen some ideas interface wise
from Eve. The trading is much better than Freelancer although I suppose is not
as good as Eve as it is player driven being a MMORPG. Not as combat oriented
as Homeworld although you can play it like that if you wish. I-War wasn't
really freeform without mods so is difficult to compare really. I-War 2 is a
big favourite of mine but X3 is hands down better looking than any that you
mentioned except maybe Eve.  But the flight model in I-War elevates it to a
special place for me not really comparable to anything except Frontier.