X³: Reunion is a computer game in the X series developed by Egosoft and released late 2005. The game was intended to be Egosoft's first multiplatform release on both Windows and Xbox, but the plans changed and shortly before the PC release, it was revealed the Xbox version had been cancelled. X³: Reunion is also being ported to Linux and should be released May 2007.[1] It's successor is X³: Terran Conflict.
The game is the sequel to X²: The Threat (2003), which in turn followed X: Beyond the Frontier (1999). These games are best described as Space simulators which incorporate trade, combat, ship and station management. The open ended gameplay allows the player to achieve close to everything even without playing the plot line. Some events only happen within the plot.
The European, United States and Australian retail releases use StarForce copy protection. [2] In July 2006, the game was made available on Valve Software's Steam system. The Steam release does not include StarForce copy protection, but uses Steam's own DRM. As of November 10, 2006, the version 2.0.01 of X3 Reunion no longer uses StarForce copy protection.
Gameplay[]
X3 is a first person space simulator. The game is free roaming where the player can go and do whatever they like, wherever they like, whenever they like (permitting they have the in-game means to do so such as race notoriety, rank, and equipment). The player remains in a ship unless they eject into space wearing a spacesuit. Ships can dock at different stations depending of their class. When within stations the player remains in their ship but is protected by the stations shields. The main driving force of the game is to acquire ‘credits’, the universal currency in the X Universe. Credits can be used to buy wares to trade, equipment, space station schematics, and ships (both to fly and command). The player can own an unlimited number of ships and stations. All moving ship class objects which can be acquired by the player can be flown by the player.
Universe Structure[]
The X Universe is a collection of sectors connected by a system of two-way jumpgates. The total number of sectors is about 162 in X³: Reunion version 2. Each sector is vast in dimensions but the central area usually contains the stations and gates. It is theorised that all sectors in the X Universe are contained within the Milky Way, with some being cosmically close but not directly linked to each other by a jump gate. Likewise, sectors which are linked to each other by jumpgates could be on opposite sides of the galaxy, with many sectors in between. Due to the ease of use of the jumpgates and the prospects of many more undiscovered gates leading to new sectors, many of the races have not progressed much with interstellar travel technologies.
Trade[]
Wares[]
There are many different wares in X3. Some are produced, others are constantly available such as software upgrades. Example classes of ware include: Lasers, Missiles, Shields, Energy, Minerals, Foodstuffs, Technological and Biological.
Factories[]
Factories are stations which use resources to create one or many products. The needed resources and produced wares need to be transported by a ship. The many traders in the universe move wares between the factories to keep production going, although demand may be greater than the supply leading to no production. The player can build factories by buying them at a shipyard and loading them onboard a large transport ship (TL class). The player factories can own their own ships to buy resources and sell products. There are many factory options to configure the trader ships behaviour and job. Player factories can also connect to each other to share resources and products. The factories are connected through tubes and the docking bay is moved to a central complex hub.
There are stations which do not produce any goods.
Trading Stations[]
Trading Stations are usually found in every established sector. They each have a list of wares which they trade in, usually local goods.
Equipment Docks[]
Equipment docks are trading stations which are aimed at the distribution of ship upgrades and equipment. They trade in missiles, lasers, shields, software and upgrades. All types of ships can dock at these stations.
Shipyards[]
Shipyards sell ships and stations to the player. The player can sell their ships at shipyards.
NPC Trading Ships[]
Trading ships move wares from one station to an other. The NPC traders can specialise in one or more classes of ware and provide factories with their resources. Unlike previous games in the X-Series, all NPC traders are not owned by a single factory or station. They are all freelance traders, looking for the best trade runs between stations.
Ships[]
- M1 Carrier: Can hold many fighter class ships. They specialize in defence rather than attacking ability.
- M2 Destroyer: Can hold a few fighters. They have about 18 lasers spaced over 6 turret positions.
- M7 Heavy Corvette: A new addition with the V2 patch. Small capital ship. Between the M2 and M6 class vessels, it can carry up to 2 M3+ ships.
- M6 Corvette: Small capital ships. They are more manoeuverable than large capital ships and have better shields and weapons than the fighters.
- M3+ Armed Freighter: A new addition with the V2 patch. These ships have a larger cargo bay, more weapons and shields than the smaller M3.
- M3 Fighter: A heavy fighter which can double as a personal ship. Most have one turret.
- M4 Interceptor: Medium shielded and armed fighter. Quick and effective on patrols.
- M5 Scout: The lightest ship. Minimal shields and weapons. The fastest class of ship.
- TL Large Transporter: The largest ships. Can carry stations to their building location. Can dock fighters. Vast cargo space.
- TS Small Transporter: A ship made for hauling bulk quantities of wares between stations. Slow, well shielded with light turret defences.
- TP Passenger Transporter: Fast ships with good cargo space.
| Argon | Boron | Paranid | Split | Teladi | Xenon | Kha'ak | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| M1 | Colossus | Shark | Zeus | Raptor | Condor | J | Kha’ak Carrier |
| M2 | Titan | Ray | Odysseus | Python | Phoenix | K | Kha’ak Destroyer |
| M7 | N/A | N/A | Hyperion | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A |
| M6 | Centaur | Hydra | Nemesis | Dragon | Osprey | P | N/A |
| M3+ | Eclipse | N/A | Medusa | Chimera | N/A | LX | N/A |
| M3 | Nova | Barracuda | Perseus | Mamba | Falcon | L | Kha'ak Fighter |
| M4 | Buster | Mako | Pericles | Scorpion | Buzzard | M | Kha'ak Interceptor |
| M5 | Discoverer | Octopus | Pegasus | Jaguar | Harrier | N | Kha'ak Scout |
| TL | Mammoth | Orca | Hercules | Elephant | Albatross | N/A | N/A |
| TS | Mercury | Dolphin | Demeter | Caiman | Vulture | N/A | N/A |
| TP | Express | Manta | Hermes | Iguana | Toucan | N/A | N/A |
Storyline[]
The game is set in the region of space known as the X Universe. The Kha'ak, a bug like race with a hive like behaviour continue their campaign against the X Universe races. X³ is a sequel to X²: The Threat. The game follows Julian Brennan who is the son of Kyle Brennan, the explorer from Earth stranded in the X Universe. The name suggests that you finally find the jumpgate to Earth again, and the picture on the front resembles some kind of planet like the one we live on. The plotline, as advertised, is massive, with even the easiest difficulty level most likely requiring several days of gameplay to complete. Some of this is due to the fact that except for in the initial first "tutorial" mission (which has very little plot significance) you are told what the objective is, but not where it is, and in a few instances you must spend some time exploring the universe to find your destination.
Template:Spoiler
Escort[]
The game picks up where X2 left off- The Kha'ak are assaulting all areas of the X Universe, and Julian's father, Kyle, is still in a coma after being rescued from the Kha'ak. Julian is contacted by his friend, Ban Danna, on board the Argon One. He asks Julian to help guide a group of rookies from the academy in a patrol mission, due to a lack of experienced pilots (Most are off fighting the Kha'ak assaults across Argon space). The player will encounter some Kha'ak raiding parties, which they have to take out.
After the patrol ends, Julian is contacted by another acquaintance of his, the Goner Noah Gaffelt (The Goners are a cult consisting of priests trying to find the truths of the origin of the Argon race, Earth, and other mysteries. Some Argons poke fun at the Goners, due to a belief that Earth is simply a myth). He asks Julian to be in a transport carrying a mysterious crystal to a facility planet side to be kept safe and to be researched on. He is joined by Saya Kho, another returning character from X2, and a Goner priest named Dogan. The player is tasked with defending the ship from attacks(The Goners can't use the turret due to their practice of non-violence).
As the transport proceeds to the planet, it gets harassed by pirates demanding the crystal, from whom the player must defend the transport against. The transport arrives on the planet surface, and Saya unloads the crystal. However, a pirate ship swoops in and steals the crystal, prompting Julian and Dogan to chase after it. Once again, the player is tasked with defending the ship against pirate ships as Dogan chases the pirate through the city.
Julian and Dogan chase the pirate into space, where it is confronted by the local Argon authorities. Refusing to give up, the pirate fires disruptor missiles (A weapon which can destroy the electrical systems of a ship, rendering it useless). The missile leaves the police and the transport powerless, allowing the pirate to destroy them with ease. Julian proceeds to eject out of the ship, but unfortunately Dogan is unable to do so, as he can't teleport into his suit from the bridge. He says farewell to Julian, and is killed as the ship drifts into an asteroid.
Julian is picked up by the Truelight Seeker, piloted by the Goner priest Ion. Due to a faulty space suit, Julian is put into medical recovery. Afterwards, he meets up with Saya to track down the pirates who stole the crystal, which is revealed to be a tool used by the Ancients (An advanced race who built the space gates) to build powerful technologies. Ion tells the two that a pirate named Don Toni Marani is in possession of the crystal, and is currently repairing his damaged ship, the Talon, onboard a pirate spaceport, the Marauder, in the Farnham's Legend star system. When Julian and Saya reach the sector, they ask Don Toni Marani to give up the crystal. He gives a sarcastic response, and sends some ships to attack the two as he prepares to jump away. Julian and Saya take care of the ships, and jump after Don Marani. During the chase, Julian sights a strange ship appear and immediately disappear afterwards. After awhile, Don Toni gives up, and hands over the crystal.
Betrayal[]
Julian and Saya return to Ion, who they hand over the crystal to. He thanks them for their assistance, and jumps away. Once again, Julian sees the mysterious ship. Saya decides to look up any information on the ship, and tells Julian to return to Noah and warn him of the ship, in case it posses a threat to their efforts. Once Julian returns to Noah and tells him the news, he informs Julian that Ion was in fact behind the first robbery of the crystal, and tricked Julian and Saya into retrieving another crystal in possession of Don Marani. He tells Julian that they should speak with a Goner priest, Thomas. However, he is reclusive, and only a friend of his on the trading dock in the Freedom's Reach system may have knowledge of his whereabouts.
Once the player reaches Freedom's Reach, Noah finds Thomas's "friend", a Teladi, who is enraged at Thomas for making him lose money in a space race that Thomas lost. The Teladi says that if one of the two can win a race for him, he will tell them of Thomas's whereabouts. Reluctantly, they agree, and Noah puts Julian to the job. After winning the race, the Teladi says that Thomas is in the East Nebula of the Ore Belt sector.
Once Julian arrives in Ore Belt, Noah informs him that Thomas pilots a ship named the Solitas, and reminds him that he's in the East Nebula. Initially, he ignores the hail. He says that he told the temple of Ion's intentions, and says he's in Ocracoke’s Storm, but says that he will more than likely run if they get too close to him. Julian decides to go to Ban Danna, who tells him that he has some spy drones, but he needs some escorts for a convoy. He tells Julian if he helps the convoy, he will get him the drones.
Julian meets with the fleet leader, who turns out to be Saya. He helps fend off a Kha'ak attack, and Saya promises to get the drones from Ban Danna, and to meet him in Ocracoke's storm.
When Julian reaches Ocracoke's storm, he is joined by Saya and Noah. They locate Ion in an asteroid, where he is meeting with pirates, and Julian takes control of a spy drone. After guiding it through the asteroid. They see Ion near a device in the asteroid, and find out that Ion has found a way to Earth and how to build a gate there. As they leave back to Argon Prime, they once again encounter the mysterious ship. Noah decides to go back and talk to Thomas, and Saya goes back to looking up more information about the ship.
A cut scene of a news broadcast is shown, stating that the Paranids have suffered a massive Kha'ak attack, and blame the Argon Federation for provoking the Kha'ak into an attack. They close off their border to non-Paranids, seize control of the outsiders' factories, throw out outsiders, and threaten to destroy any ships ignoring this command. They state that this will keep Paranid space safe, as they believe no contact with the outside world will keep them safe from future attacks.
Don Marani[]
Julian is ambushed by Don Marani, who accuses him of being a "Yaki" pirate and kidnapping his little girl. Julian denies this, but the Don doesn't listen, and sends some pirates to try and kill him. After destroying the fighters, Julian convinces the Don that he isn't a Yaki pirate. Don Marani tells Julian that the Yaki mafia kidnapped his daughter, and blackmailed him into stealing the stone for them to get his daughter back. He asks Julian to rescue his daughter, and promises to help him with whatever he needs if he is successful. He tells Julian that she was last seen onboard a Split trading station in Thuruk's Pride, and he should start his search there.
Upon entering Thuruk's Pride, Saya meets Julian, and he informs her about the situation. She also states that the mysterious ship belongs to a little known alien race, the Sohnen, who are believed to be in contact with the Ancients. Saya says that she will look around the system for her whereabouts, and tells Julian to go to the trading station and look at the Bulletin Board at the station for any clues. Julian finds a message from the Don's daughter, a Miria Marani, leading to a silicon mine in the sector. When Julian and Saya reach the mine, the Split manager denies seeing the girl. Once he knows that the Don sent Julian, he states the heard that she got abducted by pirates and is being held in a pleasure complex in Teladi Gain.
Saya lets herself get captured in order to free Miria, but Julian has to make a distraction by destroying the explosive mines around the station. He then gets in a dogfight with some pirates, destroying a part of the station, causing it to get in danger of exploding. He goes into the station and is able to free Saya and Miria, as well as the other slave girls.
Search for the Crystals[]
Another crystal, the Don gathered, is in the possession of a Paranid, Armanckessilon. Julian and Miria aren't able to go into Paranid space due to the blockade, but she tells Julian of a contact in the border sector of Emperor Mines at the trading station. The Paranid is Nolmancketnun, who has only two eyes (Paranids have three eyes, and this makes him an outcast). He is desperate for money to get a third eye in, and decides to help the two relay a message to the Paranid with the crystal, in exchange for 30,000 credits. Afterwards, he states that the two should go to Elena's Forture with 200,000 credits ready. Upon meeting Armanckessilon, they get attacked by the Kha'ak. The strange ship is seen again as well. After the fight, Armanckessilon accuses them of controlling the Kha'ak to kill him and take the crystals. He then moves towards a gate, which turns out to be an illusion from the mysterious ship, sending him crashing into an asteroid. Julian rushes in to take the crystal, which the ship also wanted as well. Julian is successful, and the ship disappears again.
The last crystal was onboard the Xenon M0 ship, a massive battleship that Julian's father, Kyle Brennan, destroyed in X: Beyond the Frontier. The remains of the ship were towed by the Xenon to Xenon Sector 101, where Julian and Miria have to go and retrieve it. Julian has to scan for the crystal amongst the wreckage of the ship, and leaves as soon as he gets it.
The Disruptor Facility[]
The Don tells Julian that the Yaki Disruptor Factory is in Olmancketslat’s Treaty. When Julian and Miria reach it, she tells him that attacking it outright will probably get them destroyed, and destroying the station will leave them with no knowledge about the missiles. She tells Julian to get about 10,000 credits worth of computer components, and meet her at the Quantum Tube factory at Bala Gi's Joy. Julian does so, and he meets a friend of Miria, Jesan, an expert at computers. She gives Jesan computer components as a payment for a service- to hack into the missile factory and get the plans for the disruptor missiles. Julian flies Jesan to the station, where he hacks into it and get the information they need.
After getting the plans, the two return to Argon Prime to give the information to Ban Danna. Ban invites Julian to come onboard and see his father, Kyle, who is still in a coma inside his medical tube. Julian wonders why people like Ion are going so far just to get to Earth, and why his father spent his life looking for a way back (Kyle originally was from Earth, and got stranded in the X Universe after testing the Xperimental Shuttle, a space craft able to make its own jump holes). Saya says that Earth is really important to Kyle, and shows Julian a holosphere showing an image of Earth. Julian realizes that the planet he saw Ion boasting about didn't look a thing like the one in his father's hologram, and wonders what planet was it that Ion was trying to open a jump hole to.
Trap[]
In order to lure out Ion, Thomas leaks information that the crystals will be moved in a fleet. Ion attacks with Yaki help, and they get ambushed by Julian and other fighters. With their distruptors rendered useless, they are able to defeat them and capture Ion with the crystal. He is arrested under the grounds of Treason, causing the deaths of Argon citizens, and being in league with pirates (Yaki). He protests that he did this for Earth, but they show him the picture of the planet he saw, and show him the real picture of Earth. He then states that he was being used by a creature called Sargon.
The "Seed" and Kyle's awakening[]
Julian is then tasked with securing another object, referred to as a "seed” which is buried in an asteroid in the Priest Rings sector, which may help to lead to Earth. But since Priest Rings is deep in Paranid space, and non-Paranids are not permitted in, Julian is forced to contact Nolmancketnun again. He agrees to get a mine set up in Julian's name, but demands 200,000 credits to get things taken care of. He also gets a pass for Julian to get into Paranid space, but says that he had to change his name, due to the fact that Armanckessilon's death is tied to Julian. After awhile, Julian goes to his mine, and retrieves the seed that gets excavated. A cut scene with a news broadcast is shown, showing parts of the core world of Argon space was assaulted by the Kha'ak. Upon reaching Ban Danna, Julian is told that his father gained consciousness, and ran off with an Argon military Nova. When he awoke though, his brainwaves were matched to the Kha'ak jump events, and the Senate of the Argon Federation then believes that Kyle is somehow linked to the Kha'ak, and is considered an enemy of the state.
Ban Danna believes that Kyle could not be a traitor, and wants Julian to go to Nyana's Hideout, where Julian found the AP Gunner starship in X2, as his father will probably be at the same site. Julian encounters Kyle at the same asteroid where the AP was, comprised mostly of Nividium(a very expensive mineral, especially sought after by the Paranid), and hails him as Argon security. Kyle tells him to back off, and goes into the asteroid. Julian follows, and they both see a group of Kha'ak deep inside the asteroid making a jump event. The two escape before they can do so, in order to prevent being sent deep into Kha'ak space with them. Kyle states that he knows the answer now, and Julian demands to know what he knows. He refuses, and says he needs to go back to Ban Danna. They get interrupted by Argon forces, who take Kyle and Julian. Julian reveals his name, surprising Kyle. Julian learns from Kyle about how Nividium could have something to do with the Kha'ak attacks.
Back on the Argon One, Kyle states that the AP Gunner, en route to the X Universe, crashed through their space. The Kha'ak, who were alone at the time, followed the ship to the X Universe, and began examining the new found life around them. One day, a Paranid recon force found the Kha'ak homeworld, and they took this as a threat. They attacked all the races in the X Universe, as they couldn't distinguish them from one another. The Paranid are the only race that uses Nividium extensively, but the asteroids that contain it are rare to come by. They found lots of asteroids containing Nividium in Kha'ak space. The Kha'ak use Nividium asteroids as their homes, and they saw the mining as a threat to their lives, and stepped up the attacks. But there is still one question- why did the Paranid need to use Nividium?
Paranid Nividium Scheme[]
Julian and Saya are sent to discover exactly what the Paranid are using the Nividium for. Using the Terracorp Nividium transport contracts, they go to three known Nividium processing plants. Using Julian's grant, they are able to get into Paranid space. They find the first two nearly empty, making them wonder why the Paranid needed to use that much Nividium. Along the way, they get harassed by Paranids trying to avenge Armanckessilon. When they go to find the final plant in the Duke's Domain sector, it is not at the location according to the Terracorp records. They watch a transport fly towards the station, and see it uncloak before them, using the same technology they saw the Sohnen ship use. Saya picks up large amounts of Nividium within the plant, but more Paranids come looking for the two. They escape back to Argon One to relay the Information to Ban Danna.
Enemies of the State[]
Upon returning to Argon Prime, Julian is ordered to lower his shields and is transported onboard the Argon One. There, Ban Danna informs Julian that he is wanted by the Paranid for "murdering" Armanckessilion and "stealing" the seed. In order to prevent a conflict and open up a war on two fronts, one with the Paranid and another with the Kha'ak, the Senate of the Argon Federation declared both the Brennans enemies of the state. In a sign of honesty and good faith, Julian is to fly the ship with his father and Ion onboard to be handed over to the Paranid. Ban Danna hints that Julian will probably be able to escape to Don Marani while he does so. Ban Danna does this to allow Julian to escape, but can't guarantee that he will be safe, and will probably try to destroy his ship as soon as he tries to run.
Julian bails, and his father re-enables the jump drive, enabling them to escape from the Argon Military. They jump to Farnham's Legend and meet up with Don Marani, who is working with Ban Danna. En route, Ban Danna contacts Julian, stating that they are all officially declared renegades, and the Argon and Paranids will kill them on sight. The Argons handed over the seed that Julian retrieved to the Paranids. Don Marani helps Julian find the Paranid convoy carrying the seed, and see exactly what they are going to do with it. A cut scene shows a news broadcast of Julian, Kyle, and Ion escaping, and the Paranid accusing the Argon Federation of aiding Julian, Kyle, and Ion. The Argons deny it, and point out that the Paranid withheld information about the Kha'ak.
Exposing the Paranid[]
Julian and the rest get ships outfitted with jump drives, and receive fake ID's to get into Paranid space. They warp into Duke's Domain, where they wait for a lone patrol to come their way. Julian disables it with his Ion Disruptor, and takes the ship as the pilot bails. Julian and Miria use the ship to get close to the cloaked Nividium processing plant. They go on to destroy the power generators, knocking out the cloaking system. They can now clearly scan the Nividium, and see an incomplete jump gate near it. The Paranid just need a seed in order to form a jump event inside the gate. Julian hooks up with the convoy, and they jump off to a distant sector, Heretics' End. There, they see that the Paranid were making jump gates and making synthetic seeds and crystals of their own in order to try and dominate the economy of the universe by making their own gates. Sargon originally worked with the Paranid to achieve its goals, but the Paranid realized they could use it to get lots of credits, and pushed Sargon aside. They witness the Paranid misusing the crystal, creating an unstable jump event. Ion explains that without a gate, it will come unstable and collapse, sending shockwaves that will decimate many surrounding sectors.
The Kha'ak Assault[]
The Paranid begin opening fire on Julian and the rest, prompting them to defend themselves. Ion says that Sargon taught him how to get a gate to stabilize the jump event, and asks Julian to get him to the plant. There, he begins the process of stabilizing the jump event. Kyle volunteers to go to the other side of the jump hole to reach Earth, despite Julian's protests. He tries to follow, but Ion says that the hole is too unpredictable. The Kha'ak suddenly arrive, and begin attacking the area. Ban Danna then jumps in the sector with the Argon one and an Argon fleet, informing the Paranid fleet that the Paranid Pontifex has placed them under his control. He states that he read the power fluxation from Kyle entering the event, and was able to track them. Now, Ban Danna has the evidence he needs of the Paranids' deeds, but he knows that the Kha'ak is a greater priority. A battle starts between the united Argon and Paranid fleet against the Kha'ak. Don Marani also joins in, and Saya comes in with a Boron fleet to help.
Ion sends in a call that Sargon is moving the station off course, and is putting it in the jump hole. Ion tells Julian to destroy the station by hitting the power cores in order to keep the station from reaching Earth, thus allowing Sargon to attack the planet. Julian destroys it, and Ion dies, believing he did it for Earth. The explosion causes Julian's ship to get out of control, prompting him to eject. He finds himself on the other side of the gate, and sees the planet Earth surrounded by a defensive ring and a space fleet.
Julian on the other side of the gate, with Earth and its fleet in view. Notice the orbital ring.
Earth Fleet Arrives[]
Back in the X Universe, the Kha'ak keep sending in reinforcements, and Ban is unable to get more as there is a Kha'ak invasion happening all across the universe. After awhile, Ban considers retreating, saying they can't risk Argon's safety for that of Earth's. He tries to escape with the fleet, but is cut off by more Kha'ak forces. Ban Danna orders the fleet to fight until death. Then, the Earth Fleet arrives into the battle, and swiftly destroys the Kha'ak fleet. Kyle was able to convince the Earth fleet to aid in the fight. Julian and Kyle are ok, but the Earth Admiral informs them that the sector is now under Earth's control, and any non-humans (as in not being from Earth) will be destroyed if they try to go to Earth. Kyle explains that the Earth government is nervous and unsure about the X Universe and their races, including the Argons, and he will try to straighten things out with the Earth government.
The game’s ends story with a news clip showing the entrance of the Earth forces/ Terrans, and how Julian gets awards for his actions, and is forgiven for what he has done. The game ends leaving the player to do as they wish, and to ponder over what may happen.
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New features[]
The game uses a new graphics engine amongst the new features in the game, along with improvements to the dynamic economy of the X Universe. The interface was redesigned to be more user friendly, and you can now link factories together so you don't have to do everything manually, which was a massive disadvantage in the second game, being mainly about building up a massive empire with factories and ships.
The HUD now has markers over all ships, stations and large asteroids currently in your view. Each one is selectable by the mouse, or by lining your target crosshairs up with the hud marker and pressing "t".
The mouse is now usable for menu navigation, gameplay and flying. It is very good now while the previous games had bad mouse support.
All objects are now redesigned and new. Stations do not contain internal docking ports as in the previous games, (most now contain spider-like docking clamps) but the stations themselves are far more vast and detailed. The small ships are basically the same size but the larger capital ships are now huge, although unlike in other games you still cannot dock with them except in very limited points in the storyline which happen automatically. Carriers carry smaller ships, but you may only order a ship to dock with a carrier if you own both the smaller ship and the carrier.
Although the game certainly doesn't require your constant attention all the time, sometimes even playing itself at some points, leaving a ship on autopilot or especially stationary either in a nebula or in front of a jump gate can frequently result in your ship being rammed and usually destroyed by very large transport ships and capitol ships, whose captains will not take the time to move out of the way to avoid you most of the time.
Pirate behaviour has also changed. Many now regularly travel in groups of 3 or more, and depending on the sector may be heavily armed, making attacking them with an ill-equipped ship usually unwise unless your combat skills are very good. Some pirates, on the other hand, are now smugglers who stay hidden until you scan their cargo for contraband wares, although to scan them you must have a police licence for the race who controls the sector you're in. If you don't have a licence then they will report the illegal scan and your race relations will usually decrease for the respective race. Under the proper conditions, particularly if you don't have good relations with the local race, they may even attack you for this.
Version 2.0 Bala Gi Missions[]
On the 11th of November 2006 Egosoft released version 2.0.01 of X3 Reunion. This contains many new ships, features and bug fixes. The Starforce protection is now removed, allowing the users to play the game without the disk in the drive. Bala Gi's missions are available to players who have logged 10 game hours, have at least 5 million credits on account, have a good reputation with the Boron, are not an enemy of the Split or Paranid, and own at least one station. Rewards include the Player Headquarters, the M7 class prototype battleship, and the ability to build the new M3+ class of Heavy Fighters. The availability of these missions is not dependant on the main plot, and saved games from previous versions will be able to receive the new missions and mission rewards.
Earlier Versions[]
The original release version of X³: Reunion was plagued with a vast array of bugs and issues, including certain spacecraft having problems doing tasks, a temperamental autopilot system, massive drops in frame rate during gameplay, complete and sudden loss of sound requiring computer reboot to restore, program crashes, and even in the earliest versions of the game a bug that prevented completion of the storyline. These problems were not helped by the confusing manual that contains a number of mistakes, such as describing non-existent tutorials for beginners, and several typos, some of which the game itself contains. To Correct this the developer, Egosoft, has released a number of patches to fix these errors. The V1.4 and V2.0 patches have cured most of the show-stopping bugs that affected release copies. Egosoft are still continuing to support X³: Reunion.
As of December 31, 2005, an updated manual was released for the game in a PDF file. This can be obtained from the downloads section of the Official page and is 97 pages long, 16 pages longer than the first version. It contains information about the changes in the V1.3 patch, and corrections to errors in the earlier manual that shipped with the game. You need to be registered to download the updated manual.
Steam[]
On July 22, 2006 it was announced that both X³ and it's predecessor X² would be available via Valve's Steam online content delivery system [3]. The Steam version includes the most recent 2.0 patch and has the StarForce copy protection system removed.
References[]
External links[]
- Official X3 page
- Official X3 Wiki
- Linux Game Publishing X3 Page
- X3: Reunion, First ever Review at BytePress.com
- X3: Reunion, 92% Review at PC Zone
- X3 Demo Download
- X3 Reunion Video Game Preview
- Wikipedia:X3: Reunion
Fan Sites ('X' Games' Guide)[]
- http://www.elite-games.ru/x3/ - in Russian
- http://www.seizewell.de/ - German Fansite
- http://www.x-lexikon.xibo.at/wiki/ - German X-Wiki
- http://roguey.co.uk/ Covers both X3 and TC
Resource Sites[]
- X-Wiki A wiki site devoted to modding the X-Universe. The site is currently down.
- Apricot Mapping Services HQ (Apricotslice) (Excellent X3 Handbook (pdf/Zip 5.5mb Download), Plus Guides and Mods links)
Modding Sites[]
- Tensin's XSP page A site devoted to XSPs, a portable ship format.
- Xperiment Fusion Project A large mod with both original content and content gleened from across the X3 community
- Xtended Mod another large and influential project of entirely original content.