X3:TC New Players Guide (No Spoilers)

[Deman]

Ok so without giving stuff away I will try to give a rough beginers guide without spoiling anything but the features of the game as the learning curve can be somewhat daunting.

For the Ultimate Guide, simple ask questions on the X3:TC forums. You are guarenteed a quick and honest response, unlike the majority of gaming forums.

Basic Tips

Ship Controls Default - The new default one which uses right mouse fire, left mouse or space to fly. This however only uses manual firing and not bore sight firing which you need to use for auto-aim when you purchase flight command software I. I insist you do this first and then bind right click fire to bore sight fire.

Ship Controls Classic - My prefered method is rebinding the controls, right mouse to Classic Mode, inverted mouse and left mouse as bore sight fire.

k key - This cycles through your flight command settings, auto-aim (red/blue flashing), normal guide (red marker trailing target), nothing (hardcore, good luck hitting 400+m/s ships)

Basic Combat - W,A,S,D These are your friends, just like in FPS games strafing is king. Keep to a simple clockwise motion 3 seconds on each key and you will soon dodge the slow HEPT gunfire (green stuff :P). Of course if they have beam weapons like khaak this doesn't work so well as they pew pew you.

Nearest Target/Cycle Enemies - Shift+T OR Home OR End will give you the nearest target to your ship, this can also be a missile which are very simple to shoot down if you follow the reticle.

Active Guidance - This helps you track the current mission you are one by highlighting the object your want with yellow brackets. To activate it press P then My Missions (enter) and select the mission you want guidance on by clicking on it and selecting Activate Guidance.



GOD - This is what players refer to as the Game Engine Economy self healing itself. Sooner or later you will find a Xenon/Khaak Invasion has settled itself into a zone and cleared it out of all Stations leaving a mass of debris. When these are killed off or moved on their way the Game Engine will respawn stations over time and the trading stations etc. This will also happen with Asteroids.

j key - This is your friend, this sets SETA speed, basically 6x faster than normal, you can go higher upto 10x however your PC may say **** you or if in a fast ship 300+ m/s you may well crash into an asteroid while your PC is saying **** you I cant process all this

Basic Navigation - Hit the . key and you will see a sector map, hit the , key and you get a universe map. On the sector map you see a radius around your ship (if in space). Terran start you have a duplex scanner which is a smal range radius, buying a Triplex scanner will increase this a lot. This is your eyes on the universe and is essential early on to uncover new stations and gates.

Gates - These are generally easy to find, they will mostly be on the N E S W access on the grid. Sometimes they will be visible, sometimes not so much and sometimes hidden cunningly behind an asteroid.

shift+J key - Jumpdrive. Essential item to purchase for your ship, however only available in a few places. This requires energy to jump however, 5 per sector but space is big, I think X3:TC is 120 sectors.

Starting Ship - This is generally pretty bad, a basic model of an M4 (if Terran Start). This is a light fighter, something thats not meant to take on big ships as you've weak shields and guns. However flown correctly you can take down an M6 if it does not have a rear gun.

The Terran Hate Me? - The Terran start is an odd one, they just don't like you snooping about. Best to wait until the plot tells you to go somewhere in Terran space before looking yourself else you'll be shot. Maybe Stalin won the war in this universe?

Everyone Hates Me? - Maybe your shooting anything that moves. The whole game is reputation based. Press P and p again, here you can see your titles which tells you what each race you've discovered think of you. These also unlock different starts. eg. 100% hated by all unlocks khaak (used to).

Autopilot Docking - While this is lazy mode it sometimes goes a bit wrong. Especially if your docking at a large solar plant it has a tendancy to slam you into the solar panels, so best to keep watch

Claiming Ships - Ok so your in combat shooting the crap out of that pirate and the ship turns red to blue STOP FIRING! This means the pilot has bailed out and you can now capture that ship. To do this fly slowly upto it (get real close) and hit shift+e this will eject you from your ship putting you in a space suit. Fly close to the ship, target and Claim. Then jump back in your own ship. Simply return the ship to a ship yard and repair or sell, upto you. Later on you can buy System Overide Software, this claims a ship but from a 5k range without you needing to eject.

How to Change Ship - So you've claimed or been given a new ship, there's a few ways to switch ships. The first obvious one is if you're claiming one then press Shift-E and you will enter the ship targeted if in range. Another method is have both ships docked at the same station and select Advanced -> Change Ship. Another method later on is using the Transport Device available for purchase which can beam you between ships within a certain range.

How to transfer freight - So you own a few ships and have that 1 Jumpdrive that cost you a lot. Simply dock both ships and go to Advanced -> Freight Exchange. Then shift the freight left/right between the ships. An alternative method to this is to use a Transport Device which costs 56k and allows freight movement at a limited range without docking. A third method is to use a Player HQ or Warehouse however I'm not sure these made the move to TC yet.

Repair Laser! - So this is new to X, basically you can eject in some safe space and repair your ship with a repair laser in your space suit (press fire). It takes a bloody age and is obviously easier to dock at shipyard and pay for repairs but in the early stages its a viable option to make more cash on that knackered out pirate ship you just captured.

Salvage Insurance - A must for early on when you made your first few hundred thousand. Save anywhere in space per 3k. Having to dock each time gets a real ball ache.

Satellites - If your planning on trading at all a good idea is to drop a satellite in each sector. This basically tells the game you have a ship in sector and you can now see the stock/price of everything in that sector as if you were in it. Advanced Sats simply give you a bigger range to see on the map.

Deploying Satellites - Obviously you need to buy or build them first but there is 2 ways to deploy satellites. One is to fly to a sector and do it yourself via opening your freight bay (Shift+F) and selecting the satellites then dropping 1 into space. The other more player friendly method is to have a ship do it for you say an Argon Discoverer. To do this send the ship to a Teladi Equipement Dock and buy Explorer Software. Once equiped buy the satellites with the same ship and you will have a new option in Navigate Menu called Deploy Satellites. Select a sector and an area (middle of map) and off he will go covering the X-Verse

Exploring Zones - Sometimes it can be tedious to fly around a huge zone trying to find them gates, however your troubles are solved! Send a fast ship, say Argon Discoverer to buy explorer software from a Teladi Equipment Dock. Then you will have a new option in Navigate Menu for this ship, order him to fly to that huge dust cloud filled zone and explore. It asks for parameters so enter 99999 and he will cover the entire zone area. It may also be a good idea to equip him with a Triplex Scanner.

Border and Core Sectors - Each Nation has it's core sectors where shipyards etc reside. You can not enter these if the race doesn't like you very much else they will attack you. Simply raise your rep by shooting some pirates, trading or doing missions for their border sectors.

Xenon Sector - Don't **** with them or you'll die. These places will generally have capital ships along with a 46" LCD screen load of fighters. This is for later on unless your feeling frisky.

Trading:-

Obvious basics really, buy cheap sell high. Items will always be at their cheapest if the stock bar is full and will always buy for the most if stock bar is low. You obviously cant buy Energy from one solar plant and sell to another as they are producing it so run the energy to a weapons plant or something that consumes a lot of it.

Starting as Terran a simple single sector route is in scale plate green. Story will guide you here early on and theres simple Flower Farm -> Sun Oil sales route. However this zone is adjacent to a Xenon sector and can get dangerous.

Sector Trader and Universal Trader - You get this option when you buy a Trade command Software III (500k). Sector trade does as it says, select it and click a sector and it will do it's best to buy low and sell high everything in that sector. The pilot will gain experience per trade varying on money earnt and eventually at lvl 6 you can tell him to become a universal trader. These guys fly all over your explored zones buying and selling just like before but with a larger scope. Eventually these guys will earn you a fortune, but they need clear space to work and are pretty dumb if attacked. If you find yourself losing them in an area then you need to setup a patrol of some kind to defend the territory.

Factories - Simple rule really, only build if needed. For example if an area is always low on energy, build a solar plant. However that plant will need crystals to produce energy and that crystal plant requires food etc etc. You need to do your homework when buying stations. However a simple start would be a Silicon Plant which only requires energy.

Asteroids - You can't miss them really, huge balls of rock. Silicon, Ore, Ice (new) and Nvidium. You can build mines on these or mobile mine them. They can be blown apart and scooped up and can be towed to a station your building in the sector. If they get destroyed GOD will eventually replace them.

Tractor Beam - You can purchase a Tractor Beam at some Equipment Docks. This is a mounted weapon (rear) which requires a fairly big ship like an M6 so not something you'll do early on. With it you can tow asteroids into place out of a cluster for easy access or drag a station you built in the wrong place.

How to Buy Stations - You will need a TL class ship to do this, they are very cheap to hire and easy to spot since they're huge. If unsure fly upto one, press i and see if the class is TL. There's usually one in or around the sector of a shipyard. Simply Comm him and ask to transport something, he will state a fee per zone and then Comm again and ask to dock at shipyard. Once docked you can then purchase the station and tell him to fly to sector you wish it built. Alternatively you can buy your own TL which range from 9-40mil. Originally many people used the Split Elephant TL as a mini carrier as it was well shielded, had a few fighters and good weapons.

Stations - You need a fairly high faction to start building Stations not to mention a big bank account. For Example a simple single station would be a Silicon Mine. This will require power constantly and you might want to also sell the Silicon produced and for this you'll need a TS of some form like a Mercury to be assigned its Home Station to it. Once this is done you need commodity logistics software and tell it to commercially represent the station (In Trade Menu). However it's best off to start with to jump start it's economy by buying up any initial Primary resources required, usually Energy.

Illegal Wares - If you've played previous games this may come to a shock to you as Illegal Wares are now very much taboo. You can no longer build Space Weed Productions in the likes of Elena's Fortune as the Argon Fleet will not stand for it. Soon enough you'll be faced with a Defence fleet attacking your station. You will now have to build and protect your illegal stations in the Pirate Sectors. If you or your transports are caught carrying illegal wares by a scan the security forces will shoot you or your freighter down.

Complex Maths - You may have noticed stations come in M, L and XL if this has changed ignore me since I'm at work ;P Simple math calculation M = 2, L = 5, XL = 10. So when building complexes you need to take these sums into account, there was a previous very good Complex Calculator out and I will try find a new one for TC. But basics are if your building a Space Fuel M you will need a wheat farm M or L. If you use an L then you can obviously add another Space Fuel M and still have enough wheat.

Complex Building - Now we are talking big money, these cost a lot as you can be connecting 2+ stations together. For a full closed loop Solar Power Plant XL you're looking at a cost of around 100 million. However it will then supply power to whatever you want (within reason). To build a complex simply place 2 stations near each other and use a complex construction kit here which is also bought from a shipyard. If its the creation of a complex it will then ask where to place the terminal (where ships fly to dock). Make sure this is nice and clear so ships don't crash into your station giving you reputation lose! To add more simply join another station with the complex construction kit. The hard part and probably the most anoying in the entire game is lining it up right so its neat else you end up with spaghetti complexes.

Complex Calculator - This is a life saver when making large complexes to work out exactly what's required. - http://forum.egosoft.com/viewtopic.php?t=197763

Updates
30/12/08 - Added Complex Calculator
29/10/08 - Nearest Target, Active Guidance
24/10/08 - Illegal Wares
23/10/08 - How To Change Ship, How To Transfer Freight, Boarding Crews
22/10/08 - Deploying Satellites, Autopilot Docking, Exploring Zones, GOD, Tractor Beam, Buying Stations, Station, Complex Maths, Complex Building, Ship Controls Default and Classic, k key.

[Deman]

Missions:-

Combat - Protection ones seem straight forward, defend an object be it station or ship against xx amount of enemy. Early on this is easy but gets hard as soon as your combat rank increases. eg. An avaerage patrol mission for me currently spawns 4 M6 with a lot of fighters. I die.

Delivery - Fairly simple, fly here collect ship dead in space and return it. Be careful though some say its stolen which means you need to capture it back which can be very hard.

Build - Forget these early on, they are for the rich however can be fun late on with your own TL and empire.

Follow - I find these missions incredibly anoying. Basically you follow a target at around 10k range and at some gate a small group of pirates will jump you while you must continue to follow the target. If he gets to a long range he will simply gate away and the mission is failed.

I've finished the story, is that it? - No No No. The best part about all X games is the freedom. You can do anything, be anything, kill anyone. You can build armies, Build an empire, Take on a Nation it's upto you but it wont be easy You can also work towards unlocking other start types, for example being a Pirate.

Strange Things Happening? - Are you randomly blowing up, losing ships without notice, losing cargo somehow? You sir are a Pirate and I don't mean the space kind. You could also have something interfering with your Copy Protection system. This is a symptom of TAGES.

Advanced Combat

Combat Rank - So you think your hot stuff as it's all easy combat so far, well take a note of that combat rank increase you keep getting, as soon it will get much harder as ships begin to use a full array of weapons on you instead of sitting still like sheep.

Khaak - These are mean mofo's and not to be treated lightly. Sure you kill the fighters and scouts. When corvettes and destroyers come knocking with their big kyon beams you'd best run unless your packing some serious firepower to compete.

Pirates - As you develope so do the pirates and soon they will be fighting with the new Plasma weapons. Easy to spot really if you get within range, It's a damn big flame thrower! This thing will eat your shields in seconds if you stay around to watch the pretty colours. Even that big fancy M3+ you bought for 5mil!

Xenon LX - Previously the best fighter in the game and firm favourite of 80% of the X population as there fighter they use. A group of these can really **** you up.
Xenon PX Upgrade on P, not so easy to destroy but still not that hard given practise.
Xenon Q The bigger brother and much meaner, this can be very hard to fight. A cheese method is to run like a girl with a rear cannon doing the dmg while dodging his fire.
Xenon K & J Big nasty and lots of PPC's (Big white balls of death) Previously though you could take them with a long fight and a lot of gun fire as the PPC's are slow moving. Not tried it in TC yet though.

Borading Crews
Ok this is not as tricky as it sounds, heck in the Terran Plot you even get a tutorial to help!
So the basics:
1. You need to take the shield down to below 10% and only for when the Marines are actually boarding.
2. You command the marines to board via Command, Piracy, Board.
3. Once they board it's out of your hands and upto the skill levels of the marines you send. You no longer need to damage the shields.
4. If the fights going badly you need to send more marines (can only be a maximum of 6 on board the vessel) and again drop shields to 10% to allow boarding.
5. If successful you will now own a new capital ship.
6. Profitsssss

So who can you board? Well any ship, of course should you try it on a friendly you will take a Reputation hit however it is possible to capture some ships in the game which can not be bought, for example the Terran Valkyre M0. Of course this won't be an easy task.

[Deman]

Spoiler Below - Highlight To Read
You can buy Jumpdrive At..

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Home of Light - Terracorp HQ (In Argon Core Space)
Queens harbour
Legends Home

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Spoiler Below - Highlight To Read
Free Empty Ships To Claim

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Dotted about the X-verse are pilot less ships, these can be claimed for Profitsssss. Will add when I uncover a list.

Menelaus' Frontier - Toucan Hauler - x 43000 - y -7000 - z 35000
Family Whi - Iguana Vanguard - x 38000 - y 0 - z 35500
The Vault - Harrier Sentinel - x -18000 - y -375 - z -51625
Unknown Sector - Falcon Sentinel - x -20000 - y 3000 - z 2000
Tkr's Deprivation - Buzzard Hauler - x -4204 - y -58 - z 62714
Hila's Joy - Advanced Barracuda - x -33000 - y 1500 - z 36000
Akeela's Beacon - Buster Sentinel - x 100125 - y -10000 - z 77242
Treasure Chest - Buster Sentinel - x -32675 - y -5400 - z -33520
Savage Spur - Enhanced Pericles - x 44750 - y 9125 - z -28062
Xenon Sector 101 - Scorpion Raider - x 20125 - y 0 - z 61625
Ocracoke's Storm - Advanced Eclipse - x 30100 - y -1500 - z -8000
Gaian Star - Elite - x 66000 - y 0 - z -10000
LooManckStrat's Legacy - Mamba - x -12061 - y 1163 - z -19316
Depths Of Silence - Mako Raider - x 2349 - y 729 - z 40383
Duke's Citadel - Advanced Perseus - x 42250 - y -250 - z 31000
Unknown Sector - Pericles Vanguard - x 13754 - y 17303 - z -27013
Menelaus' Oasis - Skate Prototype - x 38500 - y 1000 - z 32500
Vestibule of Creation - Eclipse - x -7000 - y -13500 - z 37500
Veil of Delusion - Blastclaw Prototype - x 47600 - y 3500 - z -41500
Unkown Sector - Enhanced Jaguar - Terran Mission - Picking up Scientist - He is ejected next to it ( Goes 602m/s!!!)

Oh, and the coordinates are in meters, rather than kilometers

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Spoiler Below - Highlight To Read
All the Stats

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Weapon, Shield, Missiles Stats
Ship Stats

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Spoiler Below - Highlight To Read
Terran Plot Help

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Scanning Pirate Base - Nothing fancy needed, Fly upto the base and be within 500m. Yes this is very close.
Jumping to Aldrin - To do this you must use a navigation command "jump to sector", Shift+J for Jumpdirve does not work.
Docking at Earth Taurus - You need to do this manually as auto pilot takes you outside the defensive corridor. Simply Comm the station, request docking, manually fly to the green dot and slow down! It will then grab you when you get to it. Worth doing on all Terran stations.

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Spoiler Below - Highlight To Read
Operation Final Fury

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Jumping to Khaak - Same as with Aldrin, jump to sector and leave auto-pilot. Drop an advanced sat then jumpe to sector back to Argon Military Sector.

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[Deman]

This games a bit easy

This is something I've seen banded round a bit by those that have completed the Terran Campaign and now have those free ships including the very good M6. Sure you can do those Patrols that have the odd Xenon P and PX in or maybe the odd Khaak Patrol however this is all building you to end game play.

When your combat rank increases to the higher levels these missions will become a real challenge. Forget those 4-5 M6's your getting right now, you'll be getting 4-5 M1's and M2's all the fighters that go with it and 20 M6's. You'd best be building up a real fleet to meet this challenge and trust me, if this is a Khaak fleet you'd best have an exceptional fleet or you'll be taking some heavy loses.

To manage that kind of fleet you are going to need a full production resupply chain for the weapons, missiles, ammunition, shields. For those kind of factories to keep up the production you'll need a whole lot of Power, Mines, Food Production etc etc.

Let's not forget while you're building up to this you might be attacked for Xenon, Khaak, Yaki and Pirates all have their own agenda and will not always pop up for missions alone. They will invade sectors and if your factories are in they way you'd best have a good defensive force ready and waiting.

A few quotes of people currently playing at Warlord Rank:

Heh, the Xenon Invasion missions just get crazier and crazier. I've already posted about having 46 Ps flying around Bad Debt after the invasion was over.

This time I took an invasion mission after I had made Warlord. Would you like some Ks to go with those Ps? Yes please.

There are now 19 Xenon Ks flying in the Wall. I'm guessing the Argon aren't going to get any energy anymore.

[Deman]

Can I have a P please bob

Decided to get properly moving on some patrol missions tonight after much talk of people earning 20+ mil a mission. Well after a few and feeling cocky I now have 96 P's on my last count living in Thuruk's Pride. Triple that for the L's, M's and N's.

Ironically its the L's that do more damage with so many using PBE's which are near insta hit weapons you get hurt fast!

Continuing on now when I hit Vindicator rank there was a few K's and loads of P's spawning and now I'm at Warlord there's a whole lot of K's spawning next Patrol. Luckily I now have a Boreas almost fully equiped and ready to go!

[Deman]

Profitable Factories

http://forum.egosoft.com/viewtopic.php?t=219906

[Deman]

To make things exciting for top end game I highly suggest trying the Conflicts script and Combat Mod.

[Deman]

There is a nice discussion on profitable complexes and the complications of the economy here.

[Deman]

Version 2.0 is currently in public beta for anyone with Level 3 forum account. Many improvements and fixes along with a bunch of new missions etc.

[Deman]

Version 2.0a is now out, go download or if on steam it shall auto update!

Anyone that lacks motivation in this game should read up on Nuklear_Slug's Dead is Dead game exploits. Gives you a lot of ideas on what to do in this Sandbox game

[Deman]

Bad news, Nuklear Slug died After over 220,000 page views he has finally met his maker. Lets hope he starts a new game and reports on it.

Good news is there is a new patch in the works with many signed off scripts being tested for approval and a treasure hunt. Should be out in the next few weeks!

[Aardvark]

Deman I hate you for making me buy this game. My spare time is dead.

[Deman]

Patch 2.1 is in it's final stage of testing now, has a bunch more fixes

I was thinking of making a few video tutorial guides for the more difficult parts of the game but I'm not sure I am good enough!

Oh and for most of the stats use http://eng.x3tc.ru/ I say most as they are missing turn speed etc on ships.

[Deman]

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-= *X3TC 2.1 Update - A Community Mission and Much More!* =-
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X3: Terran Conflict 2.1 is now available! In this update we see the
addition of a community-developed mission, written by Ketraar. This
mission is called Treasure Hunt and will have you chasing your tail
around the X-Universe looking for the next clue to lead you to what is
arguably the ultimate prize. Speaking to Ketraar regarding the
development of the mission, he said, "The Mission Director is a great
tool and as an X-veteran, I wanted to bring a little nostalgia to TC
through a mission. With Xenon_Slayer on hand to provide some guidance
on the trickier parts of the mission's development, the process of
making it was both educational and fun and I hope that gamers will
find it as fun to play."

Also featured in this update is a much-awaited performance upgrade,
which streamlines graphics rendering to produce better frame-rates and
a generally smoother gameplay. This patch will also bring further
improvements to Tractor Beam towing, the Universe Trader, a number of
scripts and the 'mine minerals' command. For those of you who like to
keep things ticking along while you do other things, this update also
brings a new 'run in background' option, so you can chat to friends or
surf the Egosoft forums while your factories churn out wares! If
you're using this option, you may want to park your ship somewhere
safe before you alt-tab out of the game - you could end up in an
asteroid or 400km from the sector's centre! The update also adds a
number of new Mission Director variables and attributes, in addition
to a couple of script commands. There will also be more info available
about marines in menus, as well as more ship information available in
shipyard and HQ menus.
As well as adding in new content and features, we've also fixed some
of those annoying little bugs. Some graphical and turret configuration
issues have been fixed. The patrol and defend sector commands have
also been fixed. Additionally the rear turret compatibility of the
Springblossom has been reverted to its pre-2.0 configuration.

Once more the testing of this update has been extended to our Devnet
Level 3 friends, so special thanks go to them and to the regular beta
testers and volunteer developers for making 2.1 the update it is. We
at Egosoft sincerely hope you enjoy the improvements, fixes and
features it brings.

[Deman]

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-= *Complex Issues - Building Factory Complexes in TC* =-
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The ability to join two or more stations together to form a factory
complex was introduced in X3: Reunion and since then it has become an
important aspect of many players' X-gaming. From a simple two-station
'plex to a so-called gigaplex, there are very few limitations on the
scale of complex one can create. We're going to take a look at
complexes and what they're all about for the benefit of those players,
who haven't yet tried complex building or for whom it just seems like
too much hassle. We're not going to go into too much detail here,
because members of our community have already created some excellent
guides.
In basic terms though, how do complexes work? You can link just about
any two or more stations together using Complex Construction Kits
(CCK) that can be bought from shipyards. There are some stations you
can't join to a complex - a trading station, equipment dock or Player
HQ, for example. The process of linking the first two stations
together using CCKs creates a complex hub, which becomes the focal
point for the stations' docking and station management functions.

Why do I need a complex? A time may come when you need to build a
complex to get a regular and reliable source of a particular ware.
Missile production complexes are quite popular for those who like to
board and capture ships with M7M class ships. If you plan to play the
Hub plot in TC, you'll need to build some fairly substantial complexes
in order to acquire the volume of resources that the plot requires.
Some players have complexes that produce everything there is to
produce, thus reducing their reliance on the regular economy. The
right complex in the right place can be a huge money-spinner. Put a
spacefuel or spaceweed complex in a place where there's a demand and
there's no law enforcement around to get in your way and you can earn
a small fortune.
How important is size? That depends entirely on the volume of product
that you need to generate. The bigger the complex, however, the more
messy the complex could potentially become. This is where the art of
complex building comes into play. It's very simple to keep adding
stations to a complex to increase capacity, but if it's not done
tidily, you could end up with a big clump of interstellar spaghetti
with stations bumping into each other and it becoming more and more
difficult to add more stations. There are a number of ways of getting
around this issue. If you are playing or are willing to play a
**modified** game, then there are scripts and mods available to make
building and maintaining complexes much easier:

Gazz's Complex Cleaner:
egosoft.com :: View topic - [MOD] Complex Cleaner v4.04 / Modular Complexes
Dusty's Factory Complex Constructor:
egosoft.com :: View topic - [Script] Factory Complex Constructor [4.01]
Laux's Tubeless Complex Mod (German):
egosoft.com :: View topic - [Mod] [07.01.07] TCM Tubeless_Complex_Mod

If you are playing the 'vanilla' game, it takes a little more work and
practice to produce a pretty-looking complex. Some complex builders
like to make them as compact as possible, while the more artistic
builders like to produce eye-candy complexes. Whichever approach you
take to your own complex building, the key to the complex's success is
prior planning. Decide what you need to produce, which resources are
needed to produce the product and what other resources you may need to
get from elsewhere (this may also determine your complex's location).
To determine which stations you will need and which size (there are S,
M, L and XL sized stations to choose from) you may want to use one of
the few "complex calculators" that are available. The layout of your
complex is really up to you to decide on, but the types of station
you're adding to the complex will play an important part in how you
lay it out. Similarly important to the layout is how the tubing, that
the CCKs employ, joins stations together; getting this bit right can
avoid the spaghetti effect mentioned earlier. A great guide to getting
this bit right is available from here:
egosoft.com :: View topic - Sexier Complexes Guide: 2nd Edition!.

Examples of complex calculators: X3 - Terran Conflict: Online Complex Construction Calculator
and egosoft.com :: View topic - Xadrian: Factory Complex Calculator for X3TC Xadrian
Complex Calculator

One of the best ways to get into complex building is to just
experiment until you find your own particular method and style. One of
the key things to remember during complex construction is to save
regularly. If you incorrectly place or join a station, you can simply
reload and try again. From a complex-building point of view, one of
the glorious things about X3 is that in the game's sandbox, you have
all the time you need to hone and perfect this "art" although you may
need quite a few million Credits too! There are many guides and forum
threads dedicated to this complex topic (groan - ed.) far more than
can be listed here and there are hundreds of community members, who
will be pleased to help and advise you. Good luck and happy building!

[Deman]

Capping Guide egosoft.com :: View topic - Capping, stealing, boarding and carjacking ships in X3 Terran Confict - THE HOWTO

[BeLaww]

Blimey i didnt realise X3 had got so advanced , tho it has been a while since ive dragged it out and played it.

[Deman]

Beta 2.5 Release 1 is out for L3 users.

Sounds good

[BeLaww]

Looks interesting (im an L5 user )

[Deman]

Transcendance II mod is out now, complete MOD new ships, universe etc.

Last one for X3:R was pretty good, shall check it out.

[BeLaww]

got a link to info on that mod Deman ?

[Deman]

egosoft.com :: View topic - [MOD] Transcend II for Terran Conflict - released

[Deman]

egosoft.com :: View topic - X3: Terran Conflict 2.5 has arrived!

The X3: Terran Conflict 2.5 update is now available to download. As you have come to expect, this update brings new features, improvements and bugfixes. On top of that, Copy Protection has been removed!

It has now been a year since X3: Terran Conflict went gold and we hope you have enjoyed the ride so far. In 2.5 we have included several improvements to excite moguls and battle-masters alike as Complexes and Marines receive new features to aid in their management. Also, as many of you have experienced, keeping track of a huge fleet of Fighters, Freighters and Marines can be a mind boggling task. That is why we have added new filter and sorting options to the property menu, as well as a whole page dedicated to Marines.

There are many other improvements and fixes in 2.5 which are listed in the change log. Bored Universal Traders no longer stray into Xenon Sectors looking for trouble and the long standing Flak Misfire issue has been addressed by Commonwealth weapon engineers. Older savegames can also expect a nice performance boost as a memory leak has been fixed.

With the Copy Protection removed, DVD users can now play without the DVD and Online Activation users no longer need to worry about how many times they reinstall.

Terran Conflict players who bought their game from Steam are reminded that their Steam client will automatically update the game and that there is no need to download the patch from Egosoft.com.

Click here to be taken to the 2.5 update download page


New Features and Improvements:

* Removed copy protection
* New options for marine training, including multiple skills and duration
* Several boarding aspects improved and corrected
* Rebalanced boarding Xenon ships
* Added a new menu for access to factories connected to a complex
* Production can be toggled for connected factories
* Show wing orders in the context menu for ships in a wing
* Improved Defend Station command
* Added gateless sector option to several flight commands
* Added more information to the property menu including marines
* Added option to change the sorting method for ships in the property menu
* Improved Best Buys/Best Selling Price Locator menu
* Added "Locate in Sector Map" option to context menus
* Added laser bay information to ship info menu
* Added new instructions to script editor and mission director
* Enabled mods to add news articles to the encyclopedia


Fixes:

* Disabled use of more than 2GB RAM again due to bugs
* Renamed Mercenary stations as Rehabilitation Facilities
* Fixed flak weapons becoming inactive after saving
* Fixed references to destroyed homebases of wings
* Fixed Jump and Fly to command for ships and wings
* Fixed wing jumpdrive energy display
* Fixed Attack Shields command
* Fixed Universal Traders flying into hostile territory
* Fixed issue when launching many marines
* Fixed missile resupply settings on boarded ships
* Fixed mission memory leak which led to slow savegames
* Minor improvements and bugfixes