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X3: Tips and Links

Huntn

Huntn

macrumors Penryn
Original poster
May 5, 2008
24,025
27,105
The Misty Mountains
X3 Tips and TrickUpdates

  • ▪ 16Jan18- Added content
  • ▪ 8Jan18- Added some tips.
  • ▪ 11Dec17- Established.



Note: Copying and pasting this into the forum thread generates a lot of substandard formatting. Eventually this is going to be turned into a goole doc. Don't hold your breath though. ;)

Intro
What this is not at this point: a comprehensive walkthrough or getting started guide, and for the time being it’s sloppy.
This game is pretty special, but if you walk into it unprepared, it’s like a cliff, just fall off and die. However if you watch the videos in the Getting Started section, you’ll discover it’s not that daunting. It’s just that the developers spent just about zero time, investing in tutorials. Something else, you may think that this game has oppressive grind. Overall this is a misimpression. At first yes, grind, but when you get your first Sector Trader out there, buying and selling on your behalf, the appearance of the galaxy changes drastically. When you get 5 Sector Traders running, and use accelerated time, and let your game run over night, you can easily make 40 million credits a night while you are sleeping.

Is that cheating? No, the developers allow this. Sure it’s up to you whether you want to grind out every credit just when you are playing the game, but my point is when the grind burden is lifted, it frees you up to go do other things. Not that I’m a expert on this. I’ve only been playing it a couple of weeks. I have earned about 450 million credits, er my minions have, but I made it happen! :)

What follows consists of what I consider to be valuable information I’ve discovered so far, but it’s not everything. I’m just not there yet.



The Near Future- be advised that X4 is just around the corner. When I started playing this, I was only 5 years late (Dec 2017). ;) Terran Conflict and Albion Prelude, are both X3 games, but AP is the latest downloadable content and it does differ from Terran Conflict somewhat, but I’m not prepared to say what exactly. You might have to do some research. Play either game. :p





Contents
  • • Misc Links
  • • Getting Started
  • • Maps and Resources
  • • Pilot Stuff
  • • Ships
  • • Ship Equipment List
  • • Weapons
  • • General Equipment
  • • Player Owned Stations
  • • Trade
  • • Commodities
  • • X3 Sectors and what’s there.

Misc Links









Getting Started



Maps and Resources/Exploration


Pilot Stuff


How To Fly/Combat



https://www.egosoft.com/support/faq/faq_answer_en.php?answer=1422

To jump to different sectors you first need a jump drive, and some energy cells. This FAQ article explains where you can buy a jumpdrive. Energy cells can be purchased from Solar Power Plants.

  • • To activate the jumpdrive you can either use Shift+j (only for your personal ship) or one of the jump commands in the Navigation menu in the command console. Note that jumping using a Navigation command will cause the autopilot to bring your ship to a stop before the jump commences.
  • • Whichever method you use, the galaxy map will be displayed so you can select the sector to jump to.
  • • As you change sectors on the galaxy map the energy cell cost for the jump will be displayed in the right panel of the map. For normal sectors, the cost is determined by the class of ship and by the number of sectors travelled (including your starting sector)
  • • Cost: Small ship (M5/M4/M3) - 5 cells/sector. Big ship (TP/TS/TM/M8/M6) - 10 cells/sector. Huge ship (TL/M7/M2/M1) - 20 cells/sector.
  • • For gateless sectors the cost is fixed, but still based on the class of ship: Small ship - 60 cells, Big ship - 120 cells, Huge ship - 240 cells. If the ship does not have enough energy cells onboard then the cost will be displayed in red.
  • • Once you have selected the correct sector, press Enter to confirm it. This will bring up the sector map. Now select the specific gate to jump to (unnecessary for gateless sectors) and press Enter again. The 10-second jump countdown will begin.
  • • If you're playing X3: Albion Prelude then some sectors will also contain jump beacons, which you can jump to. In contrast to gates, which are often located at the borders of the sector map, jump beacons can be found everywhere in the sector and might provide a shorter way to certain locations. Another difference to gates is that you must have enough notoriety (rank 3) with the owner race (usually the sector owner) of the jump beacon to jump to it.
  • • Note: You can abort the jump process by pressing Shift+j again before the countdown expires (although you will still use the allocated energy cells).
  • • Once the countdown has finished, the ship will jump to the selected sector and gate or beacon.
  • • Note: It is not possible to jump to Trans-Orbital Accelerators, which connect most Terran sectors and the Albion sectors in X3AP.

Ships

Ship Discussions


Ship How Tos

  • • Repair Ship- Eject from ship, repair laser auto equipped. Point at ship and right click mouse. A red beam will hit the ship. How do you tell if ship damaged? Don’t know.
  • • How to do a fast repair for free?
    Check that you have a SETA Singularity Engine Time Accelerator Singularity Unit installed onboard your ship and that you are next to a station that sells them. While not docked at the station, but stationary, eject the SETA unit from your freight list. Then exit the ship Shift-E and fly over it. You’ll get a message that it’s now store in your cargo (you that is). Approach the ship, hold J and Command simultaneously to engage SETA and do a fast repair on your ship. After you are finished, reenter your ship, dock at the station and buy a new SETA unit for your ship.
  • • How to Install Weapons. Some gear on your ship is designed to be installed an only installed, such as a Triplex Scanner. When you select this item for trade in the window at the bottom it will say ‘not installed”. And when you buy it, it then says “installed”. However weapons seem to be different. When you install them, they just go into your freight. But if you open your Property Owned> Select the Ship>Select Freight>Select the weapon for exmple: Impulse Ray Emitter, a window opens up with an install choice.
  • • How to Control Turrets source. You need Fight Command Software. Go to Your Ship Menu--->Autopilot--->Command Console. Then find Turret Control and click "Command for all turrets" if you want to set up a command for all turrets or you can choose each command for each turret. By the way, you can creat your own turret configuration - Options(Esc)--->Gameplay--->Turret Command Configuration. Note: For more combat commands for ship and turrets you need to buy a Fight Command Software MK1 and Fight Command Software MK2.
  • • How do you move an experienced A.I. pilot to a new ship?
    https://www.egosoft.com/support/faq/faq_answer_en.php?answer=707
    *Have your new ship and the other MK III ship move to your position.
    *Make sure you have the Special Commands Software installed on the ship you are moving the pilot from.
    * On the ship you are moving the pilot from access the move pilot option by using the Menu Ship, Orders Special or the [ Shift+C ] keys, then Special, then select ‘Move Pilot to New Ship’.
    * Select the sector and the MK III ship and repeat with the new ship. Then choose the sector and station where the move is to take place. After the above has been done, you just give the pilot the Universe Trading command again.
    * Be aware that only the pilot will be moved - if you want to transfer any equipment or installed software you will have to do it manually.
    * Note: In X2 and X3:Reunion this functionality is only available if you have the Bonus Pack installed.
    * Author Note: When I did this, if I tried it from the ship I was in, the move pilot option did not appear. However when I used it from the ship, I was moving the pilot from, it did work. And although I picked a station which we were next too, as soon as I picked it, they switched, the ships did not have to dock at the station. Also note I had Teleporter installed and have no idea if that kicked in to move the pilot.
  • • Moving equipment from one ship to another. Equipment can be moved from one ship to another. However Rudder and Engine upgrades can’t be moved. And as far as I know, if you take your ship to a station to buy something like a Trade System Extension, you can buy one for your ship. But you can’t buy a spare to take to another ship. However, you can transfer equipment from one ship to another using the following:
  • • Moving Upgrades from one ship to another. Moving Upgrades from one ship to another: No need to uninstall the other equipment. Simply dock both ships at the same place, go to "Landed Ships" Station Menu. Click on your new ship the ship that needs the equipment moved to, and select Advanced - Freight Exchange. This will bring up a menu. At the bottom both ships will be listed. You can move anything on your current ship, to the ship you selected. Your equipment is listed. When you click on it, you’ll see a quantity by your ship. Hit “Home” and it will be moved from it’s current location to the other ship and it will be installed automatically. For something like a scanner, the number (1) will move from your current ship over to the new ship. No muss, no fuss. https://www.gamefaqs.com/boards/944742-x3-terran-conflict/58550995





My Ships


Ship Equipment List

Earth

Elysium of Light

  • Home of Light
  • Legend's Home
  • Queen's Harbour
  • Althes
  • Segaris
  • Note acquiring Jump Drives: Don't forget the TRADER-method to get a JD. Start any freighter as sector trader and switch to Universe Trader after rank 10. When the trader reaches rank 12 it will make the AI deliver (!) a JD to him - provided there is enough cash on the trader's account.
Weapons

Argon

Argon Sector M148

Boron

▪ Queen's Retribution

Paranid


Upgrading Shields

How Many Can Your Ship Hold?

In the Ship information Window amongst the basic information should be a line like :Max Shields 3x25MW.

This means it has 3 shield bays that can use up to 25MW shields. So you have the option of using any comination of 1MW/5MW/25MW in those three bays.

If your just starting out your ship may have some shielding already but not necessarily enough to fill all bays or the heaviest shields it can use

If the shields don't auto equip eject them then run over them. If playing the older X games, be sure to open the cargo bay before running over them.

Shields won't auto-equip if you buy them remotely. It treats them as Trade items when you do that.



Weapons



Navigation Satellites

There are two types of satellite available; Navigation Relay Satellites and Advanced Satellites. The most important difference between them is the scanner range, with the Advanced Satellite having roughly double that of the standard Navigation Relay Satellite. When you are in the same sector as an Advanced Satellite you can also receive a video feed superimposed onto your sector map.

  • • Advanced Satellite- $11000-16000C- Military Outpost Elena’s Fortune (Argon), Argon Prime @ Advanced Satellite factory.
  • • Buy Advanced Satellite Factory @ Argon: Argon: Cloudbase Southeast, Legend's Home, Light of Heart; Military Outpost- Aladna HIl.
  • • To manually deploy a satellite just eject it from your cargo bay - the satellite will appear behind your ship. You can also use a ship to automatically place satellites in every sector by using the Deploy Satellite Network command.
  • • To retrieve one of your deployed satellites you can simply fly into it, as you would for a floating cargo crate.
  • • To use the video feed on an Advanced Satellite you have to be in the same sector as the satellite. Bring up the sector map and press k to toggle the feed on and off. You can zoom in on an object by selecting it in the sector map list and using the Home and End keys.
  • • Note: Satellites have minimal shields, and are often targetted by passing enemies. For this reason you may want to consider deploying your satellites quite a long way from the centre of the sector - although the scanner will be of little use, you can still see sector prices, and there is much less chance of the satellite being destroyed.
  • • The encyclopedia entries are misleading. Relay satellites are not required to control remote systems, Trading Extensions are. Any ship or station in a sector permits control and access to sector station services, shipyards for example. This assumes the ship you currently pilot has a Trading Extension, without a Trading extension, you may still control your own assets, but may not directly interact with other stations.
  • • Satellites grant slightly larger sensor bubbles than corresponding ship sensor packages. Nav Sats grant 2 km more range than Duplex Scanners and Adv Sats grant 5 km more range than Triplex Scanners. Advanced Satellites have the greatest sensor bubble range in the X-universe.
  • • The primary function of satellites is to monitor sectors for traffic, particularly hostile traffic to better inform players on safe routes or sending combat patrols. Satellites may also be deployed into combat to improve sensor radius.
  • • The Albion Prelude's Bonus Pack adds an option to use the player's Satellite network as an early warning system, with customizable controls for when and what kind of alert to sound.


Player Owned Station

Build A Station

  • • LInk: https://forum.egosoft.com/viewtopic.php?t=295456
  • • Go to a sector the Shipyard you want to buy buildings from.
  • • Either Buy or Rent a TL Class ship. Argon Supply Mammoth in Argon Prime usually within 20km of the shipyard.
  • • In the sector ship list, you can identify a ship to be TL by it's special symbol in the sector map. If you select a ship and look at the ship details you can see behind the ships ID the type of ship between brackets. For example a buster shows (M).
  • • Look for a big ship with TL class ( not the smaller LT ships) and fly towards it within 5km range.
  • • From there you can use the communication option (keyboard shortcut C). Talk to the Captain. Choose the option that you want him to transport something for you. He will respond with his 'fee'. I've found this is usually 3k per jump gate passed.
  • • Next you contact him again with the com (c) and you ask him to dock at the shipyard.
  • • Once the TL docks, you should have the option to purchase the stations, provided you have the required rep. Either Dock or use the Trading Extension.
  • • Buy the station and the screen changes so you can select the ship to carry it. Select the Mammoth and leave the station. **Note** Make sure you don't need any freighters for this station before you leave.
  • • When you buy a factory it will be moved into the TL ship.
  • • Contact the ship to move to a position in the sector or any other sector (will cost you extra). Once away from the station, comm the Captain again and you have a few options. You can have him follow you, you can have him move to a position in any sector, or you can tell him to drop your freight.
  • • With com you can ask him to place the building somewhere. Please note that with the keypad keys it is possible to choose the exact location of you're new factory. It doesn't matter where the TL ship is in the sector.
  • • Once you and the TL are at the location you want your station parked, comm the Captain and tell him to drop your freight. You will be given a choice of what station to drop (if you have more than 1 on the ship). Once you are in 'overhead' view with your station blinking...you can use the numpad keys to move the station placement to where you want it. 7) Once at the correct position...click on the blinking station and your station will be placed. You will get a message from the Captain and he will fly away (unless there is another of your stations in the hold).
  • • IMPORTANT- If you are tight on cash and you can't afford the transportation costs..the captain will sell your station and you're SOL. so make sure you have the cash before you jump too far.
  • • Once your station is placed, make sure to transfer at least 200k to it for operating costs and set at least 1 freighter to buy materials and sell the end products (unless you are making the products for yourself)..then you need to set the station to not trade with NPC's.


Trade


Set Up Sector Trader:



They’ll auto source stuff in that sector. You can then click Info on the ship and it’ll show the Pilot level next to the Pilot. It’ll only show up once they’ve started the sector trader.



Starting level is (1). Max level is (25). From level (8) you go through the same process and Universe Trader will be an option you can select.



And yes, use SETA. Set to 1000%, fly way out into space so nothing crashes into you. Enable SETA and leave her running overnight. You’ll come back to find some fat stacks in your account, providing your trader hasn’t been blown up by pirates.



Minimum Equipment for a Trader

  • Jump and Fly to Station
  • • Special Command Software (Allows to move the pilot to another ship)-Special Command Software is a ship upgrade that allows a wide range of miscellaneous commands to be issued to the vessel it is equipped with. The options added to the autopilot depend on the ship type.
  • • Trade Command Software 1,2, 3
  • • Mk3 Trade Command seems you do need the Mk 3 regardless of sector or universal. Mk 3 allows to start a Sector Trader or a Universal Trader.
  • • The Pilot Level determines if they can cope with universal trading. The Training also appear to carry on regardless.
  • • The Transporter Device A transporter device permits transport of wares and personnel instantaneously between locations.This typically occurs between ships, but may also include pilots returning to ships or Marines being picked up by their boarding ship. Transport is typically limited to 5 km.
Terracorp HQ in Home of Light

Jonferco Headquarters in Belt of Aguilar

Free Argon Trading Station in Heretic's End

Saturn Research Station in Saturn

Military Base in Mercury

Military Base in Unknown Sector, southmost of Oort Cloud

Military Base in Unknown Sector, south of Pluto

Military Base in The Moon

Orbital Defence Station in The Moon

Earth Torus in Earth

Goner Temple in Elysium of Light


Trading on a Mission: How this functions. When you accept a mission, say the delivery of goods that are requested and you are directed to pick them up from Point A and deliver them back to Mission Giver, you simply go get them and bring them back. When you arrive at the pickup location, as soon as you dock, the goods will automatically be loaded. When you arrive back at the origination station, as soon as your dock, the mission will be complete and you’ll get a message and paid.



If the mission is to deliver 3000 energy cells to a station without a designated pick up point, you have to buy them yourself, and when you deliver items to the Mission Giver’s station, the person you are delivering them too should automatically take them off you hands. Do not sell them to the station! This is a mission and is separate from the normal buying and selling that goes on at a station.


Commodities

* Misc Components and volumes: http://x3wiki.com/index.php/List_of_Miscellaneous_Wares

* Argun Beef $42-166 http://www.x3wiki.com/index.php/Argnu_Beef

* Crystals: $1432-1684C http://www.x3wiki.com/index.php/Crystals- used by most Tech and Solar Farms.

- Crystal Fabs located: Argon: Argon Prime, Cloudbase Southeast, Omicron, Lyrae, Light of Heart, Legend's Home



- Crystal Makers Used by?: Argon: Argon Prime, Cloudbase Southeast, Omicron Lyrae, Light of Heart, Legend's Home

-Manufactured: Home of Light,


* Energy Cells: $12-20 http://www.x3wiki.com/index.php/Energy_Cells

- Solar Farms need Crystals.

*Engine Components v5

* Meatsteak Cahoonas $34-72 Volume 5 http://www.x3wiki.com/index.php/Meatsteak_Cahoonas

* Ore: All Tech stations: http://www.x3wiki.com/index.php/Ore

Best Price $50.

-Ore Mines: Argon: Argon Prime, Cloudbase Southeast, Legend's Home, Omicron Lyrae



* Rimes Fact (makes Cloth Rimes $152-432) needs wheat and energy.

-Used by Weapons Component Factory as primary resource, and secondary recource in many tech sites.

-Weapons Component Factory found in Argon: Argon Prime, Cloudbase Southeast, Legend's Home, Omicron Lyrae



* Silicon Wafers: http://www.x3wiki.com/index.php/Silicon_Wafers $232-776 Vol: 18

- Silicon Mines: Argon, Argon Prime, Argon Sector M148, Cloudbase Southeast,, Legend's Home, Light of Heart, Omicron Lyrae

- Used at Most Tech Sectors.



*Space Fuel $204-1252 http://www.x3wiki.com/index.php/Space_Fuel

Produced by: Space Fuel Distillery

Primary Resource: Incendiary Bomb Launcher Forge

Secondary Resource Marine Training Barracks



* Delexian Wheat $10-54: http://www.x3wiki.com/index.php/Delexian_Wheat

- Needed By: Bakery, Rimes Fact, Space Fuel Distillery, Plankton Farm, Stott Mixery

-Wheat Farms: http://www.x3wiki.com/index.php/Wheat_Farm- Need Energy Cells.
 
Last edited:
keysofanxiety

keysofanxiety

macrumors G3
Nov 23, 2011
9,539
25,302
Albion Prelude master race man, if you haven't played that I'd fully recommend it.

I LOVE X3. Seriously adore the game. I played it first with X3: Reunion over a decade ago, I think even before Steam existed. Almost ruined my education I played it so much. Boy that game looked gorgeous for the time, still does. I think I've bought it 10 times over... digital copies, physical copies, more DVD copies for friends...

I historically played as that hunted assassin person but AP made that almost impossible if you played as that character. Reason being that the Borons 100% hate you from the start (though to hell with them, stupid trunk-nosed cowards), but on the joint plot when you're in space loading up for an assault you get a face-full of Boron capital ships' guns and it means you can't play the AP plot. Shame because the AP plot looks awesome.

Once I managed to creak into Terran space, there were a solid 7-8 Juggernauts between the Terrans and the Argons just throwing weapons fire at the other. It looked absolutely gorgeous. I still have the screenshots somewhere. Made it to Saturn and got smashed up from there.

Other times I've been in the absolute nowhere sectors and saw some crazy weird scary ships passing through - not the Xenons but some weird, creepy, small ships that were really quick. Darn it's such a big game, so many Easter eggs. Horrifically difficult to initially get into but once you do, you can easily piss away hours playing it.

They've recently updated it I think with new graphics, a few performance fixes too. It ran like arse on OS X so I'm looking forward to trying it again. Might play some tonight.

...sorry, that ended up being a longer more rambling reply than I first anticipated. I guess I didn't realise how much I loved it :oops::oops:
 
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Huntn

Huntn

macrumors Penryn
Original poster
May 5, 2008
24,025
27,105
The Misty Mountains
For the last two nights I’ve played Humble Merchant following along with the Cdr Dave tutorial (post 1). This option starts with 2 ships, the Discovery and the Mercury. Following the tutorial, up to the fourth video, I sold the Discovery, upgraded the engines and rudder on the Mercury, added the trading software, expanded my cargo space using a “compression technique” which is very expensive. My ship has 3000 slots, and to expand that by 133 slots cost $10k credits.

I am currently building up funds to about 700k credits, I suppose to buy another ship. The next video will tell. So far no combat, looking forward to that.

Also have yet to get into the Missions. Note from this link (http://forum.egosoft.com/viewtopic.php?t=234882) is an eye opener. I already see that long term, just like for ED, I’m going to get bored with trading only, even though I spent most of my time in ED collecting bounties. Got bored with that too. :) So, hopefully building a fleet or space stations will keep me interested without excessive grind.

General Notes :

Note about mission enemies : X has a history of what you take with you defining what you get. So the higher your combat rank, and the bigger your ship or fleet with you, the more baddies you get to fight. In the final mission of X2, the temptation was to take in a carrier with as many M3's as you had, but all this did was increase the numbers of enemy ships and their respawn rate making the mission impossible to complete. All you needed was an M3.

Having said all that, taking an M5 into most missions is suicide. Don’t even think about it. 75mj of shielding is barely adequate imo. M5 wingmen are just cannon fodder.

Increasing your combat rank by taking other non-plot missions, only increases the difficulty of the combat oriented plot missions. Once you get to high combat ranks, the plot combat missions become impossible, or require big fleets or substantial missile spamming to complete. Be warned.

Comparing TC to Elite Dangerous (based on what I’ve seen so far):
  • ED is newer and definitely more immersive. However, traveling from system to system psychologically is more of an ordeal, probably cause I’m impatient. Possibly, an advantage you can fly directly to another system instead of traversing multiple gates.
  • TC has convienent jump gates so that while you traverse the length of a sector quickly with the use of SETA, a time altering setting, the jump gate transports you instantaneously to the next sector.
  • ED has a better trading system. If I recall right, this is a mod or something equivalent (?) , which provides current buy/sell pricing across systems.
  • TC will provide the best buy/sell pricing from your current sector, but unfortunately if you are buying with the intention of selling outside the current sector, you are doing so in the dark (my impression) as you cant pick up any info about pricing in other sectors. This can be awkward when you have to decide how much time you want to waste finding a buyer to break even or to cut your losses and sell at a loss.
I also have Albion Prelude. I may jump back into ED. :) One thing about ED, before I played it, I anticipated that I would be participating in an online community, but the entire time, I felt like I was in a solo game.
 
Huntn

Huntn

macrumors Penryn
Original poster
May 5, 2008
24,025
27,105
The Misty Mountains
In TC as a Humble Merchant, flying around the Argon System/Section, I'm finding it very difficult to find convenient reprisal trades from nearby sectors. Anyone playing, suggestions? Also the trading software you can upgrade your ship to, while it does a decent job of providing best places in the current sector to buy, it offers no help when to looking for best selling price of commodities you don't have in your cargo hold you may want to sell in the near future. Is there a way provide the latter info?
Thanks!
 
Janichsan

Janichsan

macrumors 68040
Oct 23, 2006
3,131
11,993
Huntn said:
  • TC will provide the best buy/sell pricing from your current sector, but unfortunately if you are buying with the intention of selling outside the current sector, you are doing so in the dark (my impression) as you cant pick up any info about pricing in other sectors. This can be awkward when you have to decide how much time you want to waste finding a buyer to break even or to cut your losses and sell at a loss.
Click to expand...
I mostly only played X3: Reunion and it's been a few years, but this should also apply for TC and AP: you can get a trading system extension, which allows you to get trade data from remote systems. If I recall correctly, it's fairly expensive, though.

In the X games, you normally start out trading between stations in a single sector to make your first money, while occasionally switching sectors when the profits start to dwindle in your current system. Inter-sector trading is already some more advanced technique.

Another tip: in the X3 games, you can find a bunch of abandoned ships floating in space that you can claim. These are very useful if you want to expand your fleet essentially for free and/or want to make some extra money by selling them.
 
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Huntn

Huntn

macrumors Penryn
Original poster
May 5, 2008
24,025
27,105
The Misty Mountains
Janichsan said:
I mostly only played X3: Reunion and it's been a few years, but this should also apply for TC and AP: you can get a trading system extension, which allows you to get trade data from remote systems. If I recall correctly, it's fairly expensive, though.

In the X games, you normally start out trading between stations in a single sector to make your first money, while occasionally switching sectors when the profits start to dwindle in your current system. Inter-sector trading is already some more advanced technique.

Another tip: in the X3 games, you can find a bunch of abandoned ships floating in space that you can claim. These are very useful if you want to expand your fleet essentially for free and/or want to make some extra money by selling them.
Click to expand...
I’ve heard about the abandoned ships. I’m not clear if and how you might be able to use multiple ships to trade with, either that can be done by putting them on some kind of auto pilot, giving them commands externally or you can transfer items to the other ships for hauling and have them follow you around.

With the Humble Merchant start I had 2ships and regardless of which one I was on, Imwas able to,tell the other ship to,go,to a station and dock. What I’m not clear about is ifmthat other ship had it’s own pilot or was it an autopilot?

I’ll research the trading extension that allows you to see pricing in other sectors, but that would also ideally include prices to sell things you don’t currently have in your cargo bay, which I can’t currently get even in my current sector.
 
Janichsan

Janichsan

macrumors 68040
Oct 23, 2006
3,131
11,993
Huntn said:
I’ve heard about the abandoned ships. I’m not clear if and how you might be able to use multiple ships to trade with, either that can be done by putting them on some kind of auto pilot, giving them commands externally or you can transfer items to the other ships for hauling and have them follow you around.

With the Humble Merchant start I had 2ships and regardless of which one I was on, Imwas able to,tell the other ship to,go,to a station and dock. What I’m not clear about is ifmthat other ship had it’s own pilot or was it an autopilot?
Click to expand...
As I said, it's been a while and I'm a bit hazy on the details, but if I recall correctly, every ship in the X3 games comes with a remote controlled autopilot by default that allows it to perform at least basic manoeuvres on its own (e.g. docking, flying to a specific location, following you). You can expand the autopilot's capabilities with specific expansions. There's one that allows you to fully automate trade runs, at a higher level also universe-wide. Other expansions gives the autopilot combat capabilities, so that you for instance have a computer-controlled fighter as escort.

You can manage these automated ships via the rather convoluted fleet management menus in-game.

I’ll research the trading extension that allows you to see pricing in other sectors, but that would also ideally include prices to sell things you don’t currently have in your cargo bay, which I can’t currently get even in my current sector.
Click to expand...
I seem to remember that the trade system extension allows you to get all the prices of all goods, but I'm not 100% sure.
 
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Huntn

Huntn

macrumors Penryn
Original poster
May 5, 2008
24,025
27,105
The Misty Mountains
Janichsan said:
As I said, it's been a while and I'm a bit hazy on the details, but if I recall correctly, every ship in the X3 games comes with a remote controlled autopilot by default that allows it to perform at least basic manoeuvres on its own (e.g. docking, flying to a specific location, following you). You can expand the autopilot's capabilities with specific expansions. There's one that allows you to fully automate trade runs, at a higher level also universe-wide. Other expansions gives the autopilot combat capabilities, so that you for instance have a computer-controlled fighter as escort.

You can manage these automated ships via the rather convoluted fleet management menus in-game.


I seem to remember that the trade system extension allows you to get all the prices of all goods, but I'm not 100% sure.
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I have installed a trade extension already that provides buy prices in the current sector, but only provides sell prices for items I am carrying. If you are planning a trade, for something you don’t possess, you don’t get potential sell pricing at least with what I currently have installed. Maybe there is an upgrade I don’t yet have.
 
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Huntn said:
I have installed a trade extension already that provides buy prices in the current sector, but only provides sell prices for items I am carrying. If you are planning a trade, for something you don’t possess, you don’t get potential sell pricing at least with what I currently have installed. Maybe there is an upgrade I don’t yet have.
Click to expand...
Yeah, there might have been an extra step or module involved, but I don’t really remember.
 
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The Misty Mountains
Janichsan said:
Yeah, there might have been an extra step or module involved, but I don’t really remember.
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I purchased an Advanced Satellite based on the online description thinking it you give me buy and maybe sell prices, of adjacent sectors, except it’s not doing this and maybe it is operator error. More research is called for!
 
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Ok this is TC not AP, but they are both X3 DLCs so I’ll plop this here:

keysofanxiety said:
Currently 100% PC with X3: Albion Prelude. I'm blaming you personally and your goddarn thread last week which reminded me that game existed. I haven't stopped playing it since then and it's currently running AFK on 1000% SETA for my universe traders while I'm at work.

I had some stupid mod on the Mac version that I couldn't remove even after uninstalling/reinstalling the game through Steam. So that's why she's running through BootCamp at the moment.

But otherwise... it would depend what I want to play. Mac for Civ 5 online with friends. Console for GT Sport on the PS4. Other than that I don't really play any other games.
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LOL :D:D

X3: I heard you can do that AFK ON SETA with Universe traders. As you probably know I got frustrated when I got my second freighter, and I was having to hold it’s hand, and think I ended upless efficient than when I had one freighter. How did you learn to do that Universal Trader Thing? Just how automated is it? I found that the Best Buy, Best Sale software did not work for a remotely controlled ship or maybe it was operator error.
 
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Huntn said:
Ok this is TC not AP, but they are both X3 DLCs so I’ll plop this here:


LOL :D:D

X3: I heard you can do that AFK ON SETA with Universe traders. As you probably know I got frustrated when I got my second freighter, and I was having to hold it’s hand, and think I ended upless efficient than when I had one freighter. How did you learn to do that Universal Trader Thing? Just how automated is it? I found that the Best Buy, Best Sale software did not work for a remotely controlled ship or maybe it was operator error.
Click to expand...

You need Trade Command Software MK3 and upgrade the trader ships (not your own) with that. That will automatically put a person in that ship. Then on their ship go to orders> Command console> trade & start sector trader. Set a sector for them to trade at.

Once they reach level 8 they can become a universe trader and use jumpdrives etc. to find the best deal. They auto stock with Fighter Drones at a higher level. You go through the same command setting to then put them on universe. Don’t bother with the Best Buy/sell stuff for them. Ensure they’re heavily shielded. Tip: at the shipyards you have the same ships as S/M/L. They’re all identical specs m but the L ones have the full daddy shields already fitted. It’s often tough to find stocks of 25MJ shields.

You can’t get a universe trader without sector trader first, then they level up. Can’t get sector trader without MK3 Trade Command Software.

I started as the Bankrupt Assassin (Boron & Paranid 100% despise you) so it took about a week and a half to win them over with missions/killing pirates & Xenons in their sectors. Once I got a police licence for all 5 it meant I could set up the sector/universe traders without much chance of being blown up by them, sans the odd Lasertower that still detected them as enemies.

It feels like there is some grinding but not really if you start as an Argon. Nobody hates you and I think you start with 2 ships on one of them. It’s just a bit complex to get into at first and it’s quite overwhelming as there aren’t really any directions, you just make what you can out of it. Though I thoroughly believe the more you put into it, the more you take out!

Remember, SETA is your friend. Set that bad boy to 1000% by pressing Esc> Gameplay> SETA factor. At work earlier it was dragging until 6PM and I subconsciously pressed J on my keyboard to speed up the time, then was confused why it wasn’t working. I have a problem... lol

Let me know if I can clarify anything. Sorry for my late reply... you know... X3. Haha
 
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Oh also:

Trade Command Software MK3 is only available in a few places (see:http://www.x3wiki.com/index.php/Trade_Command_Software):
If you begin as the 'Umble Merchant then I think you're pretty close to Home of Light. However the TCS costs 500,000!

So you'll need to make some money. My housemate is doing the Merchant route as he hadn't played it before. Ore/Energy cells is a good one to trade. Buy as many energy cells as you can carry, then take them to an ore mine. Sell all the cells to the ore mine and fill up with ore. These are all the places that buy ore (primary/secondary resource): http://www.x3wiki.com/index.php/Ore

When you first begin you'll need to dock manually to see the prices of the wares (go for the lowest buys/highest sells), but once you get trading upgrades then you can see it on the info panel without having to dock each time.

Press "," for universe map, "." for current sector map. Again ensure you use J at all times to smash through the long journeys. You can also click things while still in SETA such as stations and do comms; as long as you don't press anything on the keyboard or click to move your ship then it will stay in SETA mode.

You'll see a missions above some stations. These are very useful to make a lot of money quickly. Red crosshairs are attacking missions (defend places, destroy pirate ships), whereas other missions like the currency icon or white light-bulb would be missions for carting people around or hauling freight (e.g., deliver me 100 wares of ore in the next hour).

Don't go for the carting people missions as you will need a pretty fast ship/jumpdrive and also you'll need a Cargo Life Support System upgrade.
 
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keysofanxiety said:
Oh also:

Trade Command Software MK3 is only available in a few places (see:http://www.x3wiki.com/index.php/Trade_Command_Software):
If you begin as the 'Umble Merchant then I think you're pretty close to Home of Light. However the TCS costs 500,000!

So you'll need to make some money. My housemate is doing the Merchant route as he hadn't played it before. Ore/Energy cells is a good one to trade. Buy as many energy cells as you can carry, then take them to an ore mine. Sell all the cells to the ore mine and fill up with ore. These are all the places that buy ore (primary/secondary resource): http://www.x3wiki.com/index.php/Ore

When you first begin you'll need to dock manually to see the prices of the wares (go for the lowest buys/highest sells), but once you get trading upgrades then you can see it on the info panel without having to dock each time.

Press "," for universe map, "." for current sector map. Again ensure you use J at all times to smash through the long journeys. You can also click things while still in SETA such as stations and do comms; as long as you don't press anything on the keyboard or click to move your ship then it will stay in SETA mode.

You'll see a missions above some stations. These are very useful to make a lot of money quickly. Red crosshairs are attacking missions (defend places, destroy pirate ships), whereas other missions like the currency icon or white light-bulb would be missions for carting people around or hauling freight (e.g., deliver me 100 wares of ore in the next hour).

Don't go for the carting people missions as you will need a pretty fast ship/jumpdrive and also you'll need a Cargo Life Support System upgrade.
Click to expand...
Well I have earned 1M credits so a lot of this I know, not that I don't appreciate your write up. :) I was in the Humble Merchant route. My goal is to find a place (not necessarily a physical place) in the game where I can get trading mostly automated. A link to a guide for that would be great . :)
 
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Huntn said:
Well I have earned 1M credits so a lot of this I know, not that I don't appreciate your write up. :) I was in the Humble Merchant route. My goal is to find a place (not necessarily a physical place) in the game where I can get trading mostly automated. A link to a guide for that would be great . :)
Click to expand...

Find a sector where there are resources to sell and places that buy those resources. You need to wait until your traders are a higher level.

When they’re level 8 you can set to universe traders and they’ll automate. Recommend level 10 though before you do that. Use SETA
 
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The Misty Mountains
keysofanxiety said:
Find a sector where there are resources to sell and places that buy those resources. You need to wait until your traders are a higher level.

When they’re level 8 you can set to universe traders and they’ll automate. Recommend level 10 though before you do that. Use SETA
Click to expand...

Is it just one thing you tell your trader to buy and sell, or can it be multiple things...automated. :)
 
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Huntn said:
Is it just one thing you tell your trader to buy and sell, or can it be multiple things...automated. :)
Click to expand...

You don’t. Set a sector trader in a sector and they do it automatically. But within that sector. So pick a sector that has a lot of different resources.
 
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Huntn said:
For a single item or different Items?
What about a Universe Trader?
Thanks!
Click to expand...

Basically when you put them as a Sector trader (available to you when you upgrade them as MK3), you pick a sector for them and they automatically trade stuff. Nothing you need to do, all automated.

However you will need to pick a sector with lots of stuff that can trade between each other otherwise they’ll have nothing to trade.

Once they start trading they’ll level up the more they buy/sell. At level 10-12, go back and the option for universe trader will then be available. Again, all automated. You don’t have to do anything - just ensure they’re armed and shielded!
 
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The Misty Mountains
keysofanxiety said:
Basically when you put them as a Sector trader (available to you when you upgrade them as MK3), you pick a sector for them and they automatically trade stuff. Nothing you need to do, all automated.

However you will need to pick a sector with lots of stuff that can trade between each other otherwise they’ll have nothing to trade.

Once they start trading they’ll level up the more they buy/sell. At level 10-12, go back and the option for universe trader will then be available. Again, all automated. You don’t have to do anything - just ensure they’re armed and shielded!
Click to expand...
Thanks. I anticipate I’ll jump back into this. :)
 
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Played my first X game many moons ago on the emac. However I have Albion Prelude and went straight in for the pew pew.... then put it aside. But never got to grips with the games as they stand alone? One X3 for fighting and another for trading?
 
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The Misty Mountains
400 said:
Played my first X game many moons ago on the emac. However I have Albion Prelude and went straight in for the pew pew.... then put it aside. But never got to grips with the games as they stand alone? One X3 for fighting and another for trading?
Click to expand...

You can do both fighting and trading in the same game.
 
Huntn

Huntn

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The Misty Mountains
keysofanxiety said:
Basically when you put them as a Sector trader (available to you when you upgrade them as MK3), you pick a sector for them and they automatically trade stuff. Nothing you need to do, all automated.

However you will need to pick a sector with lots of stuff that can trade between each other otherwise they’ll have nothing to trade.

Once they start trading they’ll level up the more they buy/sell. At level 10-12, go back and the option for universe trader will then be available. Again, all automated. You don’t have to do anything - just ensure they’re armed and shielded!
Click to expand...
Difference between a sector and universe trader- Universe Trader you set up 2 sectors to trade between?
Thanks.
 
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Huntn said:
Difference between a sector and universe trader- Universe Trader you set up 2 sectors to trade between?
Thanks.
Click to expand...

Universe trader automatically goes between sectors/buys upgrades etc. You don’t pick a sector for a UT. Set up the sector trader & wait until they’re level 10, then you can go back and change them to a UT.

they can become UT at level 8 but best wait for level 10 or preferably 12 as they’ll be better with how they avoid enemies.
 
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