[Flipside]

I don't think the universe is so much 'small' as 'cramped', my problem has always been with the tiny physical size of each sector, it still boils down to the game aspect, but it plays merry hell with the purpose of sensors, after all, if you can plainly see a Solar Power Plant halfway across the sector, you would think that it would easily be in range of any sensing systems on board, but often you have to fly closer to get your system map to display it, so because of the tiny size of each sector, sensor range is actually considerably less than visual range

[Roanoke]

Like Mafia, I was keen to get this but never got as far as installing the bugger...

[asyikarea51]

I don't think the universe is so much 'small' as 'cramped', my problem has always been with the tiny physical size of each sector, it still boils down to the game aspect, but it plays merry hell with the purpose of sensors, after all, if you can plainly see a Solar Power Plant halfway across the sector, you would think that it would easily be in range of any sensing systems on board, but often you have to fly closer to get your system map to display it, so because of the tiny size of each sector, sensor range is actually considerably less than visual range

To me it's actually both, "small" because it's easy to jump here and there with the script, "cramped" because everything is stuffed in one small space; good luck with the "auto-pillok"... I agree it's more on the latter though, since I tend to keep playing even when I spam jumps... kinda. Sure there's a mod or two out there that sees this issue and scales up the distances across the board, but then you get the feeling that the ships are slow (even with a double-digit % boost to all ship/weapon speeds and ranges) and the sensors... suck, like you mentioned

And yet if they took Freelancer's trade lanes idea, it would just look like a major rip-off despite how it helps the game mechanics. At least the planet sizes/stars/background nebulae looked believable in return...

I never got an empire going for more than 3-5 days regardless of mod, though not directly because of the reasons above (every so often I'd find some oddity or minuscule nitpick which somehow kills my immersion into the game outright and I'd stop playing within the next hour or two).

Well damn now I feel like reinstalling it but it'd probably just sit on my hard disk (which is 98% full) and do nothing... XD

[ShivanSpS]

The thing is, the game get boring after a while...

The main campaign is nothing more than a "Tutorial"...

The only way to get some fun in this game is choose a race and start a war whit it from hour 0.

[GoulMeister]

i downloaded a bab5 mod for this, its still in the alpha stages but it looks good so far, u cant buy stations though i think. the mod team is german but the mod is in english, heres the link http://b5.hc-gamer.de/index.php

[AlienTermite]

I bought X3 off of Steam for a very cheap price a few months ago and just play it for the pretty scenery. I've tried to really get into it but simply don't have the time or desire to do so... its just too frustrating IMO. Maybe one day when I've caught up on my long games-I-need-to-play list I'll give it another shot

[Cyker]

I just impulse bought Reunion 2.0 from a Game bargain bin; Maaan, it's like playing Frontier for the first time again, only worse!!

I made the mistake of following the campaign orders and just kept getting killed, and on reading the faqs I'm told I should completely ignore the campaign until I get some money and a better ship

I've only really just adjusted the interface to something usable; This game is almost as ridiculous as Falcon 4 for controls (One thing I do like is I can use my Sidewinder and the mouse at the same time! I might nick my brother's cougar throttle for all the extra buttons too so I can call up and control the menus a bit easier)

My main problem atm is finding trade routes; Frontier at least gave you the Ross 154 - Barnard's Star route to start off with but it looks like with X3 I'm going to have to start building my giant traderoute table from the start!

The game does seem like it has a lot more depth than any other 4X game I've played n a long time tho; Just wish it wasn't so arrrrghtfwtfwtflostlosthelp in the beginning. Heck, even X1 gave you a useful starting point!

I think my ideal would start off something like Freelancer (Stunning visuals, esp. nebulas etc., trade lanes and cruise mode!), but with the scale of Frontier/First Encounters (Moving through the galaxy, going tree-top on planets!), the level of control and expansion of X3 (Remote control resources and fleets, sortof a Battlezone 2 in space on a galactic scale!) with the ship handling and combat mechanics from FS2/XWing

[Flipside]

I've found it's a good idea to get onto the Egosoft forums and download some of the plugins available, there's some pretty useful stuff in there, including the ability to create new Jump Gates (so you can skip past those Xenon sectors that your Traders insist on flying through and being destroyed). Also learning to use the Commidty Control plugin means that a single Transport vessel can supply and sell for the same station, which pretty much halves the outlay when building a new factory.

I've managed to build my homebase/shipyard and am currently working on pushing out a fleet for a rampage through Gaian Star and the surrounding Pirate systems, I reverse engineered the Truelight Seeker and a squadron of those armed with PPCs and Phased Ion Arrays can make pretty short work of most targets, be they caps or fighters.

[Nemesis6]

I've put the final mission of the "Final Fury" campaign on hold. I've obtained an M7(?) Cerberus, but it seems I'll need much more to wipe clean the Kha'ak Sector 931(hive system). So, having put it on hold, I've taken up station building. Got my grubby hands on a Mammoth, and started doing station deployment missions.

However, I'm thinking - How does owning my own station pay off financially? The only experience I have is the fact that they seem to need primary and secondary resources to function. So do I just find a very populated system, find out what most of the stations need, and construct a station or two that produce these wares? In the same vein, is there any way to automate supply of my station? I mean I can do it myself, but it would be awesome of I could get a freighter to do it for me.

Edit: Just looked up the Commodity plugin thingy, found it here: http://forum.egosoft.com/viewtopic.php?t=151490
It really does look like it makes supplying stations pretty damn easy, or rather, it makes it possible, as I otherwise probably wouldn't even bother trying! 

[Flipside]

This is going to be a long post....

Start with something that produces using only Energy Cells, something like a Wheat Farm in Home of Light or a Swamp Plant Factory in Greater Profit, these are the cheapest to maintain, since you can set the buying price for resources down to around 13-14Cr and sell for at least average price. Another good hint is that Herrons Nebula, north of Argon Prime, is the only place in Argon Space where you can legally build a Space Fuel Distillery, if you link that up to a Wheat Farm, and get a Transport buying Energy Cells, it can prove pretty profitable (but risky, mostly Space-Fuel sells in Pirate Stations, be prepared to lose the odd seller now and again).

The trick to automating a station is the Homebase setting in the ship control panel menu, always set your Transport ships up as well as possible, make sure they have the usual Trading System Extension, Navigation/Special Command Software, Fight/Trade Command Software 1 & 2, and Best Buys/Sells locators, a Jump-Drive helps greatly as well, but can be hard to get hold of outside the Argon Homeworlds, the Freighter will usually be more expensive to buy than the Station it works for (and, in my opinion, don't have nearly the survivability/cost ratio they should have, but there you go).

Open up the control panel for the new freighter, and make sure everythings assigned properly, particularly make sure the Homebase setting is set to the station you intend the Freighter to work for and that any Jump Drive settings are assigned. One little personal note of experience here, look for the Mosquito Missile Defence plugin here http://forum.egosoft.com/viewtopic.php?t=226431, load up with about 100 mosquitos and switch it on using the 'additional commands' list just under the standard list in the command console, remember to assign the mosquito to the freighters missile launchers. It adds a lot of survivability to the Freighter.

Once you've assigned your homebase, the Trade Options should have the Buy/Sell for Best Price option available, which allows you to order to the ship to perform simple buying or selling for the station, the ship will repeat the command until told to stop and will auto-drop the bought resources into the station. The Commodity Control software is more advanced, you need to assign which materials the Trader deals in, when to buy or sell, and where to buy or sell, it's probably best to get more to grips with how the whole market structure of the game works before tackling it, I'm still working on getting beyond the most basic use of it, to be honest

One final hint, one of the best ways to make money is to build goods that require Silicon and mining that Silicon yourself, if you get a Demeter Miner from Paranid Prime, or simply fit any TL with an Ore Collector and a Mineral Scanner, once you have assigned a homebase, there is an option in the Special Commands menu called 'Mine Minerals', you can tell the freighter where to mine, what to mine and where to deposit the minerals once it is full. The only down side is that it doesn't auto repeat. Find a nice Silicon Asteroid, blow it up, and get the miner to collect the pieces, it can save a fortune for things like Crystal Fabs or Chip Factories.