Just started this game in Dec 2017 in prep for X4. Here is what I find helpful. Will continue to add to it. Critiques Welcomed!
**Many thanks to DrSuperEvil, who without his vast knowledge and assistance, I'd still be wondering around in the dark. In addition I want to thank the fine folks who have been feeding me game info (like FourGreenFields) in this X3 AP Newb Questions thread:
http://steamcommunity.com/app/201310/discussions/0/1635237606655816333/. Very much appreciated!
UPDATES
* 22Jan- Added How to Select a Ship and Associated Menus, plus How to Position Ship on a Sector Map.
* 21Jan18- Added Remotely Place a Satellite Network Section
[h1]Contents[/h1]
* Misc Links
* Getting Started
* Maps and Resources/Exploration
* How to Select a Ship and associated menus
* How to Read Sector Maps
* How To Position Ship on Sector Map
* How to remotely map a sector.
* How to remotely place a satellite network.
Misc Links
•X3 Wiki Main Page:
http://www.x3wiki.com/index.php/Main_Page
•Albion Prelude Downloads, includes Bonus Package:
https://www.egosoft.com/download/x3ap/bonus_en.php Description of Bonus Packs:
https://forum.egosoft.com/viewtopic.php?t=276039 Note these can be downloaded at Steam. There is supposed to be a manual in the package. Where? Not sure.
•Set Up a Profitable Station Thread:
https://www.reddit.com/r/X3TC/comments/17mwo0/x3ap_setting_up_a_profitable_station/
Getting Started
•Albion Prelude Beginner’s Mega Guide. This is a must Read: Albion Prelude Beginner’s Mega Guide.
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=180463026
•X3 Albion Prelude Survaival Guide:
https://www.egosoft.com/download/x3ap/files/X3AP_SurvivalGuide_EN.pdf
•X3 Terran Plot Walkthrough:
http://www.x3wiki.com/index.php/Terran_Plot_Walkthrough
•Cdr Dave X3 Terran Conflict Videos:
https://www.youtube.com/user/CdrDave
•William Ferrel X3 Albion Prelude Videos:
Maps and Resources/Exploration
•Terran Conflict Map:
http://x.wikia.com/wiki/X3:_Terran_Conflict_sectors
•
http://www.x3wiki.com/index.php/Universe_map
•Albion Prelude Map:
http://x3ap-eng.x3tc.net/x3_albion_prelude_map/?c=NDk3NzkxNjEx#1
•How Enter Grid Coordinates on Sector Map:
https://www.egosoft.com/support/faq/faq_answer_en.php?answer=985&version=9
•How to Input Coordinates and Fly to them:
https://forum.egosoft.com/viewtopic.php?p=3081855
•Explorer Command Software:
http://www.x3wiki.com/index.php/Explorer_Command_Software
•Xadrian a factory complex calculator:
http://kayahr.github.io/xadrian/
•X3TC: Is there a way to auto "map" the grid sections of the game world?
https://forum.egosoft.com/viewtopic.php?t=255448
[h1]How to Select a Ship and associated menus[/h1]
To Select Your Ship
On the left top side of HUD, select
Current Ship.
-
Associated Menus: Info, Autopilot, Freight, Advanced, Locate in Sector Map, Display on Monitor.
- The
Command Console is found under “Autopilot” above.
Command Console Commands: Navigation, Combat, Trade, Special, General, Turret Control, Additional Ship Controls, Configuration.
-To Move Your Ship Select Navigation: Dock at My Target (for your remote ships), Dock at…, Fly to sector…, Follow…, Return Home, Move to Position…, Move to Coordinates.
To Select Remote Ship
On the left top side of HUD, select
My Property. Move the cursor over the ship to select. The row turns green. Click on it for the same menu choices as for your ship: Info, Autopilot, Freight, Advanced, Locate in Sector Map, Display on Monitor.
- To go directly to the Command Console for the remote ship, as you highlight a ship in the list, hit “C”.
[h1]How to Read the Sector Map[/h1]
- Coordinates are written as X, Y, Z where X and Z are the horizontal planes and Y is the vertical plane. Each coordinate is separated by a comma. Example: “-56850,0,-69375” no quotes. Individual coordinate numbers for X, Y, and Z can be positive or negative depending on what side of the map centerline they exist on.
-
The Sector Map
When the Sector Map (default key “.”) is opened, on the edge of the map you will see x on the right edge, -x on left edge, z on top edge, and -z on bottom edge. These are the horizontal planes of the map. Use the INSERT key to rotate the map 90° to a vertical orientation to see the Y plane. This is the method to visually place satellites.
- The coordinates of the green cursor are found on the right bottom of the Sector map and are stacked X (top), Y (middle) Z (bottom). They have no labels that identify them. Note, they are listed as kilometers such as 38.5 km. The green cursor can be moved to a position on the map to identify it’s coordinates followed by flying to that position if desired.
-
Coordinate Readout: Note about reading versus entering coordinates: If you are reading coordinates from the lower right of your HUD, or from an online source, they may appear as meters or kilometers. Possible variations might be 58.5km, or 58,500 meters, or minus the thousands designator, 58500 meters.
Note that when you see a comma in a coordinate position, it is only used to separate the coordinates. It is not used as a thousands designator for the number. So 56,850 when entered as a coordinate would be 56850.
In the Sector Map, coordinates of the cursor are presented as 58.5km, but when it comes to entering coordinates for navigation, kilometers have to be converted to meters so 58.5km if entered into the “Go To Coordinate” Command (described below), would be entered as meters. Example 58.5km entered as 58500.
-
Move the cursor while looking at the Sector Map: This is usually part of visually placing a satellite referencing the sector map. The desired position is marked, followed by flying to that position. Using the 8,2,4,6 to move the cursor in the horizontal plane of the map. To set the height of the cursor, press the INSERT key to rotate the map to the vertical orientation and use the 8 or 2 to move the cursor in the Y plane. After it’s properly set, you could hit the ENTER key and your ship would fly to that position as described in the next section "How To Position Your Ship on the Sector Map"
How to Position Ship on the Sector Map
This applies to your ship or a remote ship.
Using the Go To Coordinates Command:
- To access your ship: Current Ship> Autopilot> Command Console> Navigation> Move to Coordinates.
- To access a remote ship: Personal>My Property> Click on Ship in List> Orders> Command Console> Navigation> Move to Coordinates.
Used for movement within the ships current sector. For known coordinates, this command can be used directly or remotely to position a ship. It will ask you to enter coordinates, separated by a comma. The meter, kilometer distinction is important to note, because when you enter coordinates for the Move To Coordinates Command, that entry is made in meters, leaving out the comma that designates thousands. Using the Moo-Kye’s Revenge Sector info (
http://www.x3wiki.com/index.php/Moo-Kye's_Revenge), to fly to the South Gate, type in “-3400,0,-31297” no quotes and note commas are used only to separate each coordinate.
- Of Note, I have not yet found a way to designate the cursor as a fly too target that is persistent and remains on the map. There could be a way.
Using the Move To Position Command:
- To access your ship: Current Ship> Autopilot> Command Console> Navigation> Move to Position Command.
- To access a remote ship: Personal>My Property> Click on Ship in List> Orders> Command Console> Navigation> Move to Position Command.
This method allows you to move your ship or a a remote ship to any position in any sector using the universe and sector maps for visual reference. The mechanics of this method were referenced in the Move The Cursor Section above and can be used to place a satellite or referencing external information to navigate to a gate that has yet to be discovered in game. The “Move To” position is designated by the green cursor which is visible in the Sector Map.
When Move To Position is selected, the Universe Map appears. Pick a sector. When the sector map opens, you’ll be looking at the X,Z plane of the map. Move the green cursor with the 8,2,4,6 number pad keys to the desired position. Hit the INSERT button to rotate the map to the vertical orientation of the Y plane and use the 8,2 keys to set the height of the cursor above the horizontal X,Z plane. When the green cursor is where you want it, hit ENTER and the ship you have selected will travel to that position.
How to Remotely Map a sector:
Use a fast scout equipped with Exploration software, Trade Command Software Mk1 & 2, Trading System Extension, Navigation Command Software, Special Command Software, and Tranporter Device.
-Technically, only the Exploration Software is required to tell a ship to map a sector and to place a satellite, however all of the other software and devices mentioned make the job of remotely transferring satellites (via teleporter device) to the exploration ship, or buying new supplies, and to precisely fly to specific location, say the coordinates of a jump gate that you have no clue where it is (but got the gate coordinates from x3wiki.com.
- If your explorer is in a sector with known gates, but adjacent sectors have not been explored, use the “Console>Navigation> Fly Through Gate” command.
- Once through the gate you can have a look at what your Kestrel sees by clicking on the ship in the Property Owned list, and select “Locate in Sector Map”. This is not exactly required because when you use the “”Console>Navigation>Map Sector” command, a universe map pops up.
- Select the sector that you want to map. Make a educated guess where the center of the sector might be, place the cursor (using your mouse), click the Left Mouse Button to set the cursor, and then hit ENTER..
- A box pops up asking for a radius number. I’m not sure of what they represent, but I pick something between 400-800, Enter. The ship will start exploring and mapping the sector.
-When it finishes, if close to a station it will auto dock. If too far away cause you picked a big number, it will sit there, of if you have the ship set to tell you when it’s finished, it might send you a message. Normally if it’s been a while and I’ve not heard from it, I look at the sector using the Universe>Sector maps and if the ship is completely out of sight, I’ll tell it to move on to the next sector, using the steps previusly mentioned.
How to Remotely Place a Satellite Network
With a ship equipped with Explorer Command Software (
http://www.x3wiki.com/index.php/Explorer_Command_Software), sectors can be remotely mapped, and establish satellite networks. Use Advanced Satellites (
http://www.x3wiki.com/index.php/Navigation_Relay_Satellite). Advanced Sats sensor range is 35km and reveal Pandora Crates (
https://steamcommunity.com/app/201310/discussions/0/1496741765139295058/). These crates offer super performance buffs to any ship they are applied to. Navigation Sats see about 25km and do not see Pandora Crates.
-The technique I’m using, is to have a staging ship (TS class) equipped with satellites to dock in the vicinity of where satellites are being placed. And since I do not yet have a Springblosom with 2000 storage capacity, I’m using a Kestrel (
http://www.x3wiki.com/index.php/Kestrel), which has a small cargo capacity. My understanding is that these ships are supposed to go buy more satellites if there are any close by to buy. If not, send them back to your supply ship to get more.
- To Engage: In the Property Owned list, select your satellite deploying ship, that is stocked with satellites: Orders>Command Console>Navigation>Deploy Satellite Network.
- A Universe Map pops up. Click on the sector where you want the first satellite to be deployed. The sector map opens, allowing you to designate where in the sector the satellite should be place. The recommended position is the center of the sector 7 squares above the horizontal plain. The 7 squares up (4.25km per square) is a satellite survival strategy. Pirates don’t venture that high or low looking for targets of opportunity.
- When the sector map is first opened, you’ll be looking at a top down view. There is a green cursor which is moved buy using the 4,8,2,6 numbers on your keyboard number pad. Move the cursor to the approximate center of the sector.
- Hit the INSERT key (keyboard) to rotate the sector view to the vertical orientation and then use the 8, 2 keys to elevate the cursor 7 squares above the base of the sector and complete the placement process by hitting the ENTER key. The ship should accept the command and start laying satellites to the same position you designated for each sector until it runs out.
- For Reference: Use the -X, +X, -Z, +Z references on the edge of the sector map for center references. So for the vertical view, the -X, +X icon on the edge of the map draws a line through the center of the sector, which I consider the base of the sector.
- Later in the game, for full sector satellite coverage, for the purposes of spotting ships for boarding or locating Pandora crates, you may want 14 satellites place in each sector. More on this later.
