A solar power station here, a bakery or weapons factory there, and before you know it you're running massive self-sufficient industrial networks that span several solar systems.ĭon't see yourself as an interplanetary industrialist? Well, how about being a metaphorical tapeworm in the gut of an interplanetary industrialist? Piracy is X3's most exciting occupation but plays havoc with your race rankings (how players are regarded by the eight game races is crucial to trade) and your relationship with the ever-vigilant forces of law and order. By tramping around the game's 130 sectors (uncharted at the start) buying low and selling high you can, if you've got a lot of patience and skill, eventually build-up enough credits to get into factory building. Egosoft has created an amazing 'living' economy involving AI merchants, dozens of different commodities and factory types, and prices that alter to reflect levels of supply and demand. One of the most important things you can devote time to is trade. Although you can't visit planets outside of the plot missions and the range of quest-style one-off jobs offered by NPCs is a bit on the slim side, there is a ton of stuff to do and lots of bustling interesting space to do it in. The Merchant of Venus Ship polishers are never short of work in the X3 universe.Īs in all freedom-based games, X3's success depends a lot on the richness and size of its play environment and the variety of activities available within that environment. There is a ranking system similar to an RPG level ladder but there are no hard-and-fast character classes so every activity is open to every avatar. There is a plot but it's one you can opt out of any point. Just in case you're unaware of X3's father and grandfather, this is an Elite-like freeform space entertainment in which you trade, fight, and construct your way to galactic greatness. The pity of it is that many players new to this impressive, ambitious series may well give up after an evening or two of head-scratching, missing out on an engrossing experience.
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To be fair there is a small printed manual (85 helpful pages) and there are occasional pop-up advice windows but still, the lack of guidance verges on the scandalous.
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Big complicated space sims obviously need to ship with fat manuals or loads of in-game tutorials so what do Deep Silver and Egosoft include with theirs? A 350-page sci-fi novel and no tutorials whatsoever.
Ah, the games industry, such a sweet, mad, baffling creature.
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