Frequently asked questions and their awnsers.(recently updated!)

General discussions about the games by Egosoft including X-BTF, XT, X², X³: Reunion, X³: Terran Conflict and X³: Albion Prelude.

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nilof
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Frequently asked questions and their awnsers.(recently updated!)

Post by nilof » Sun, 27. Nov 05, 21:47

Okay, i think I will compilate most of the commonly asked questions here, the less questions are asked, the less the forums will be overloaded :P .

So, here they are:
People are referring to the ships be these designations like M1 and TL, what do they mean?
M1: A carrier, has strong shields, powerful weaponry, and carries a large number of fighter craft.

M2: Destroyer, has very very strong shields, very very powerful weaponry, does not carry strike craft, slowest class of vessel.

M3: Heavy Fighter, a large variety of craft are in this category and that makes them hard to pin down completely. They are more powerful than M4s, with better weapons and shields, about half of them have a rear turret, and are generally slower, but not always.

M4: Light fighter, reasonably good at combat and fairly speedy. In a players hands they are a match for M3s, but not in the computers hands.

M5: Scout, some are pretty good at fighting, but mostly they aren't suited for the task, they are built for speed, not strength.

M6: The Corvette. In X2 this took the role of a gunboat, however now in X3 it acts more like a very heavy fighter. All have at least one turret, the Centaur has 3, they have much more shielding than all but the toughest M3, and their weapons generators are more powerful. They are slower than M3s however. Can equip a tractor beam(explained later).

TL: This is a large transport vessel that serves many purposes. They can carry and deploy stations, Dock a small number of fighters, and have enough shielding and weapons to act as a poor mans destroyer, although they are nowhere near as powerful as an M1 or M2.Can equip a tractor beam(explained later).

TS: A Transport vessel for cargo, this is the broadest class there is with the addition of superfreighters. In general they are very slow, and carry a lot of cargo, with the larger tankers and superfreighters being even slower and carrying even more cargo. They are shielded about as well as M3s, but have very, very poor weaponry, and are slow, so do not last very long in fights.

TP: A passenger transport ship, generally faster than a TS, but carrying less cargo. One of these ships is required if you want to do the "Tour of a Lifetime" missions.
You say that there is a large variety of ships within the classes, what do you mean by that?

Each race has a different building style in their ships, compared to other ships of their class.

Teladi: Slow, large cargo bay, heavilly shielded.

Argon: Jack of all trade ships. They usualy have slightly slower engines and slightly more guns/shields the average however.

Boron:Almost as fast as split, slightly lower shields then argon, average weapons.

Paranid: Almost as fast as Boron, good generators, PSGs, perhaps the deadliest and most balenced combat ships. Achiles heel: Always have a bad cargo bay.

Split: Extremely aggresive ships. Low shields. Slightly lower-then-average bays, Lots of guns&firepower, Need for Speed engines, did I mention low shields?
What do those ship variants I see mean?


(roughly)
Hauler: More cargo, slighly slower
Sentinel: More shields, slower
Vanguard: More weapons power, slightly faster
Raider: Much faster.
Tanker: Only for TSs, much more cargo, slower.


Is there a way to search for a profile on this forum?


Managed to work it out,
type http://forum.egosoft.com/profile.php?mo ... profile&u=

In your browser and add the name of the person you are searching for, like this:

http://forum.egosoft.com/profile.php?mo ... le&u=nilof


What does trade sofware MK3 do and how do I use it?


The trade software MK3 is a software that automates trading.
It will look for bargains to buy cheap and then it will try to sell at max price.

Also, it will start with no experience and will be a total noob at trading in the beginning, but just like a player, it will gain experience and level up, so that it will trade better, so don't feel bad because you are the only one in the universe to follow a learning curve, there are noobs out there that you can recruit ^^.

It will start at level 0, when only the sector trader will show up.

Assign it to a sector, and it will look for trade opportunities and try to make profits.

When it reaches level 8, you will be able to activate the universal trader command, mind you, it will then require at least 25 MW of shielding to cover the risks. if the ship he's in cannot equip 25 MW of shielding, the req is the highest possible value for the ship.

Also remember to equip it with a jumdrive, TSs are slow, ye know.

That should be enough to get started.

Also, try FyreByrd's UT guide.

What is the SOS device? Have I wasted 600 000 cr?


It allows you to claim ships without having to exit your ship.

If you have just started and you don't have that much money, then yes, you have been riped off 600 000 cr.

I have picked up an Item called dark crystal, what is it for?


If you have 1.201 or later installed, look at 1 if not, look at 2.

1: Don't worry, plot item later, will respawn.

2: was a plot item, and if your version is earlier then 1.201, it won't respawn at the mission, your plot is broken, I recomand reloading+downloading patch.

What are the S M L ship designations?


Those have nothing to do with the size of the ship, but with how much starting equipment they come with. An S comes with a minimum amount of shields and equipment and weapons, while the L comes with pretty much everything fully decked out. The only purpose of the M and L is convenience, you don't have to track down all the weapons and shielding separately.

What is the Unknown Object I picked up?


That's a Kha'ak missile, fairly powerful actually, although you might argue it's better to sell them because the most common variant will net you 26k at an equipment dock.

Where are the cockpits?


There are no cockpits in X3, since it requires work to design cockpits, Ego's philosophy is: rather a good noncockpit UI and lots of ships with no cockpits then fewer ships with functional cockpits. However there is a mod which puts some cockpits into the game. Mostly X2 cockpits, but there's a few new cockpits thrown in too!
You can find it in Ego's Bonus Downloads section.

Can TS/TP ships dock with TLs or M1s?


No they can't, this has been changed in X3 because some of the freight ships are so huge in X3.

Can you dock any ships with an M2?


No, not in X3.

Can you move stations after they have been deployed?


After patch 1.4 is downloaded, you can get a tractor beam to move your stations.
I recomand RavenIII's tutorial on tractor beam usage

The Manual says I can dock an M5 with an M6, but I haven't been able to.


The manual is incorrect in this case, as it is in many other cases as well, you could dock an M5 to an M6 in X2 since the M6 class was a very fast(teladi M6 obviously not included in this statement) capship-type ship(my fave actually)

The Manual is wrong about the controls.


The manual was completed before the game and does not have fully updated information, if you switch the control scheme to "classic" the controls will be correct.

-------------

Okay, I think this sums it up.

Thanks to Yonder for ccontributing to This FAQ.

Oh, and, by the way:
General hints & tips.
(copypasted from my guide compilation :)

-You CAN buy every fab in the game, except for Shipyards. There are also some unique stations, like the Boron Research Station that are not buildable.

-When hiring a TL for station deployment, all commands have to go through its Captain. Simply move within 8km, comm the ship and ask to speak to the captain.

-To switch ships, you either need to eject and fly to the other ship in your spacesuit while in space,
have both ships at the same station and use the command "change ship" in the station menu, or be within 5km and use the Goner Transporter device. M1 also obviouly work, but if your'e that far, then you prolly know how to change ships :P .

-Combat in a sector when you are not present is called Out Of Sector Combat, or OOS. The game does not render any sector except for the one you are in,
which means ALL OOS combat is handled mathematically by the game. So M5s are almost useless then when fighting,
since they can't dodge the shots. They can still be used for distracting the enemy however.
To engage the enemy and win, the formula is Guns*shields, but if you are sure the patroling ship can kill all the enemies without losses on your side, you should go for intercept speed, so the enemy ships get destroyed before they attack your belongings.

-To collect bounties when killing pirates, khaak, and xenon, a few conditions must be met. First, you need to purchase a Police License from a given race's Trading Station.
Second, you must be in a sector owned by a race to collect the bounty (so hunting in Unknown or pirate controlled areas will net you nothing).
Third, you can lose your police licence if you attack a ship belonging to the race you have the police licence on.

-Scanning is illegal unless you have a police licence for the sector you are in. However, if those conditions are met, you can scan ships for illegal goods.
If they do carry some, you can shoot at it without fearing to lose reputation or your police licence, instead, you get paid for it.

-Registering your game can be useful, since there are no downsides and you need to register if you want to post in the tech support forum.
Last edited by nilof on Fri, 5. May 06, 18:01, edited 7 times in total.
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giskard
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Re: Frequently asked questions and their awnsers.

Post by giskard » Sun, 27. Nov 05, 21:53

nilof wrote:
I have picked up an Item called dark crystal, what is it for?
Destroying your plot.

There is a plot mission where you have to pick it up, if you pick it up early, your plot is broken. Reload.
Actually, thats only true if your still using the 1.2 patch because that paticular issue was fixed in 1.2.01. :)

Giskard
This signature has been stolen by the well known Teladi Signature Thief X Siggy.

nilof
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Post by nilof » Sun, 27. Nov 05, 22:01

It did?

Okay, edited.
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Yonder
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Post by Yonder » Sun, 27. Nov 05, 23:50

What are the S M L ship designations?
Those have nothing to do with the size of the ship, but with how much starting equipment they come with. An S comes with a minimum amount of shields and equipment and weapons, while the L comes with pretty much everything fully decked out. The only purpose of the M and L is convenience, you don't have to track down all the weapons and shielding separately.
What is the Unknown Object I picked up?
That's a Kha'ak missile, fairly powerful actually, although it's usually better to sell them because the most common variant will net you 26k at an equipment dock.
Where are the cockpits?
There are no cockpits in X3, the work required to design a cockpit for each ship would have meant there would have to be fewer ships in the game, however there is a user made mod which puts X2 cockpits into the game. http://forum.egosoft.com/viewtopic.php?t=104846
Why do the Osprey and Hydra look the same?
This is a bug most likely, and will hopefully get fixed in an upcoming patch. In addition to this, the Disco and Buster share the same model, the Goner ship and the Nova, as well as a few other.
Can TS/TP ships dock with TLs or M1s?
No they can't, this has been changed in X3 because some of the freight ships are so huge now.
Can you dock any ships with an M2?
No, not anymore.
Can you move stations after they have been deployed?
No, once you have placed a station, that's where it stays, so choose carefully!
The Manual says I can dock an M5 with an M6, but I haven't been able to.
The manual is incorrect in this case, as it is in many other cases as well, you can now dock M6s at normal stations, so it was seen as unnecessary to have an M5 dock with it.
The Manual is wrong about the controls.
The manual was completed before the game and does not have fully updated information, if you switch the control scheme to "classic" the controls will be correct.
People are referring to the ships be these designations like M1 and TL, what do they mean?
M1: A carrier, has strong shields, powerful weaponry, and carries a large number of fighter craft.
M2: Destroyer, has very very strong shields, very very powerful weaponry, does not carry strike craft, slowest class of vessel.
M3: Heavy Fighter, a large variety of craft are in this category and that makes them hard to pin down completely. They are more powerful than M4s, with better weapons and shields, about half of them have a rear turret, and are generally slower, but not always.
M4: Light fighter, reasonably good at combat and fairly speedy. In a players hands they are a match for M3s, but not in the computers hands.
M5: Scout, some are pretty good at fighting, but mostly they aren't suited for the task, they are built for speed, not strength.
M6: The Corvette. In X2 this took the role of a gunboat, however now in X3 it acts more like a very heavy fighter. All have at least one turret, the Centuar has 3, they have much more shielding than all but the toughest M3, and their weapons generators are more powerful. They are slower than M3s however.
TL: This is a large transport vessel that serves many purposes. They can carry and deploy stations, Dock a small number of fighters, and have enough shielding and weapons to act as a poor mans destroyer, although they are nowhere near as powerful as an M1 or M2.
TS: A Transport vessel for cargo, this is the broadest class there is with the addition of superfreighters. In general they are very slow, and carry a lot of cargo, with the larger tankers and superfreighters being even slower and carrying even more cargo. They are shielded about as well as M3s, but have very, very poor weaponry, and are slow, so do not last very long in fights.
TP: A passenger transport ship, generally faster than a TS, but carrying less cargo. One of these ships is required if you want to do the "Tour of a Lifetime" missions.
You say that there is a large variety of ships within the classes, what do you mean by that?
Each race has a different building style in their ships, compared to other ships of their class.
Teladi: Slow, large cargo bay, heavilly shielded.
Argon: Hmm, lets just call this "normal" still good ships though.
Boron:Almost as fast as split, lightly shielded, but not as powerful weapons.
Paranid: Almost as fast as Boron, good generators, PSGs.
What do those ship variants I see mean?
(roughly)
Hauler: More cargo, slighly slower
Sentinel: More shields, slower
Vanguard: More weapons power, slightly faster
Raider: Much faster.
Tanker: Only for TSs, much more cargo, slower.

Christ
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Joined: Wed, 6. Nov 02, 20:31
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Ships designations like M1 and TL ...

Post by Christ » Wed, 22. Feb 06, 15:26

As far as I can see, the ship designations are not mentionned anywhere in the ship information.

Am I the only one to find this strange or did I miss something ?

It should at the least be mention in the ships detail information.
And I would think it would be mentionned in the sales speach at shipward.

The only place it is mentionned other than in this forum is in the BBS missions, but you have to come to the forun to figure out what class you ship actually is or you try to apply for the mission and get a NastyGram from the BBS telling you off for not readign properly or not knowing what kind of ship you are in.

So I would suggest, for the next patch, to add the ship class in the ships deatail info screen.

And if it is feasable in later updates or game ver to the sales/info speach.

Another thing that would be nice in future gave ver, and i'm not the only one asking for it :), is the ability to land on planets and if you are really ambitious you could even incorporate a Starcraft and/or SimEarth and/or SimCity ... Just imagine how much more complete the game would be if you could land and settle on planet and develop it or conquer already developped planet, build your onw city, fight off local wild life and previous civilization, mine planet for ore ... Adapt or research new technologie to better use available resources...

I know it is a big project but since these game types already exits you could make a deal to incorporate them in the game sell them as add on module or even just make a deal with other game creaters, each continue to develop and sell their onw game but agree on progammation standards so that the games are compatible and if installd in the same computer, can interract together. You could the even make this deal with a fighting type game and we could participate in the Universe Matial art tournament.
Or with just about any other kinds of game to incorporate each specialty.

I know it won't be done tomorrow but I would gess that this is the futur or Gaming.

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