Thinking of playing earlier X games

[Ragnos28]

Entirely the other way round for me. Vastly prefer the fleet combat in X4 compared to previous X games. X2/X3 destroyers felt so monstrously overpowered that I simply didn't need a fleet, even bringing a second M2 to a fight felt utterly superfluous.

I suspect that you did not experienced the taxi missions you got at high combat ranks. Like....hey, need help to get at my destination....great, hop on...so that you know, I have a slight problem with the xenon...what problem?...juuuuust a slight problem, nothing to worry about....start the mission, baam 50 xenon K, 50 xenon J, 25 xenon Q....what did you do man, what did you do !?
Or having to dodge the atacks of 5 xenon Q that camp a gate while you go in with an ATF Tyr. , in my experience, the only destroyer that could manage that. Ahh, those were the days

Find the fleet combat in X4 much more engaging, with a viable role for almost every ship type.

I just bring my super carrier in the middle of the most concentrated cluster of enemy forces, select launch status for S bombers and interceptors, I win.
In X4 fleet combat, fighters are the counter for everything, and the carriers are the best platform to deliver, retrieve and rearm fighters...hence carriers + fighters = X4 fleet combat.
The only thing fighters can't do is station demolition, and that only because explosion dmg....and in that case I need to bring the ....lots of micro requiring wonder, the "DOH" squad, the most proned to form a blob, the "here they come to wreck the daaay", the "will unsuccessfuly try to aim my main batteries while eating graviton turrets fire from xenon capitals"...my "beloved" destroyers. Whenever I can remove the destroyers from my fleet composition (actually, everytime station demolition is not involved), I'm a most happy fleet admiral.

[GCU Grey Area]

I suspect that you did not experienced the taxi missions you got at high combat ranks... what did you do man, what did you do !?

Did them with a fast M6 loaded with Tornado missiles, with a TL full of reloads parked right by the gate in the sector next door & an unarmed, high capacity M3 to bring me fresh missiles whenever I was beginning to run low. Guess since there were 3 ships involved it technically counted as a "fleet", but only one ship ever did any fighting & was an entirely different order of magnitude to the fleets I tend to build in X4 - typically around 40-50 S fighters, 10 M frigates, 10 destroyers, carrier & auxiliary, along with a bunch of L freighters carrying additional missile parts for on site resupply of carrier & aux.

I just bring my super carrier in the middle of the most concentrated cluster of enemy forces, select launch status for S bombers and interceptors, I win.

Prefer the smaller carriers myself. They tend to be faster, so it's more practical to mod their engines so they have a similar travel mode speed to the other capitals in the fleet. Much better for fleet cohesion when the fleet's on the move. They also tend to have fast launch tubes for fast fighter deployment.

The only thing fighters can't do is station demolition, and that only because explosion dmg....and in that case I need to bring the ....lots of micro requiring wonder, the "DOH" squad, the most proned to form a blob, the "here they come to wreck the daaay", the "will unsuccessfuly try to aim my main batteries while eating graviton turrets fire from xenon capitals"...my "beloved" destroyers. Whenever I can remove the destroyers from my fleet composition (actually, everytime station demolition is not involved), I'm a most happy fleet admiral.

I just shift-select my destroyers, give them a fly & wait order ahead of the attack order in the queue, then fan out the fly & waits on the map. Takes moments to setup & produces incomparably better results than a single attack order.

By the way, that order queue is another thing I simply couldn't manage without if I tried to play any of the older games. Essentially lets me script manoeuvres & attack orders for the various of my fleet, which means in fleet battles I can pretty much leave them to it, while I jump in a fighter & fight alongside them.

[jlehtone]

...juuuuust a slight problem, nothing to worry about....start the mission, baam 50 xenon K, 50 xenon J, 25 xenon Q....what did you do man, what did you do !?

I don't recall them missions having quite that much fun, but yes fun they had: deliver customer and undock a second before Xenon blow up the station. No chance of client surviving that, but I got paid.
Besides, if you did want Xenon K in X2 or X3R, these missions were the only source; boarding had not been invented yet.

[Ragnos28]

Did them with a fast M6 loaded with Tornado missiles, with a TL full of reloads parked right by the gate in the sector next door & an unarmed, high capacity M3 to bring me fresh missiles whenever I was beginning to run low. Guess since there were 3 ships involved it technically counted as a "fleet", but only one ship ever did any fighting & was an entirely different order of magnitude to the fleets I tend to build in X4 - typically around 40-50 S fighters, 10 M frigates, 10 destroyers, carrier & auxiliary, along with a bunch of L freighters carrying additional missile parts for on site resupply of carrier & aux.

Saw the missiles barage as the ultimate bore fest and cheat, no, I much prefereded the destroyers duels, like battleships of old, big arse ships, firing balls of death at each other.

Prefer the smaller carriers myself. They tend to be faster, so it's more practical to mod their engines so they have a similar travel mode speed to the other capitals in the fleet. Much better for fleet cohesion when the fleet's on the move. They also tend to have fast launch tubes for fast fighter deployment.

The Shark pretty much solved the faster issue, nothing is faster that instant travel drive, and also have instant launch of fighters. Its only downside is that I can't bring the numbers I would want, I have a composition of 40 torpedo Irukandji for capitals and 40 interceptor Mako for escorts. It works like this: https://youtu.be/HEwJ0hcWByw.

But I'm still fond of the Raptor, because there is no substitute for 93 flak turrets, and with the composition of 60 torpedo Chimera + 40 interceptor Chimera (w/o using the ocuppy the landing pads trick), is a "I win every combat scenario I might encounter in X4" ship. And the beauty of it is that win is acomplished by forces entirely under AI control, I just click the launch status. Another advantage over the Shark, is the weapon loadout for my torpedo Chimeras, 4 neutron Gatling + 1 torp launcher, they are basicly interceptors with bombing capability, so if I encounter a huge swarm of fighters, I can bring 100 interceptors to the fight, while my wing of 40 torpedo Irukandji are helples in anything other that bombing, and the 40 Mako are the only interceptor force I have.

I just shift-select my destroyers, give them a fly & wait order ahead of the attack order in the queue, then fan out the fly & waits on the map. Takes moments to setup & produces incomparably better results than a single attack order.

Still with the individual move to orders for each destroyer in the wing?
My tactic consist in making a separate fleet with the destroyers, bombard for commander, standard formation for bombard is forward X shape, move to order at about 12 or so km from the station, order just the leader to atack, w8 for subordonates to get in formation, issue direct atack order, go make some tea or work around the house because that station is dead. A bit similar with yours, but just a single move to order, the initial one.
Works like so: https://youtu.be/ynRRGVrOFFI?t=148, go mighty Behemoths.

[Ragnos28]

...juuuuust a slight problem, nothing to worry about....start the mission, baam 50 xenon K, 50 xenon J, 25 xenon Q....what did you do man, what did you do !?

I don't recall them missions having quite that much fun, but yes fun they had: deliver customer and undock a second before Xenon blow up the station. No chance of client surviving that, but I got paid.
Besides, if you did want Xenon K in X2 or X3R, these missions were the only source; boarding had not been invented yet.

For me it was something along the line...oh goodie, a huge xenon fleet for me to fight w/o me having to go find them (no travel drive then). Those taxi missions were basicly instant fleet combat action button, right in the sector you were in, just add water (click accept on the mission).

[Old Drullo321]

I am only interested in playing these games as far as completing the main plots. Not really interested in late game sandbox. I don't know how long it would take me to complete the plots in these earlier games. I know some plots in X3 required truly massive amounts of resources, which could make things take a while just waiting for money to accumulate.

If that is the case and if you can bear with some of the caveats (e.g. X3 series has no UI scaling, UI is a bit tiny on 2K or 4K resolution), then i think it is absolute worth it. While I really like X4 with all of its improvements over the previous installments, in my opinion X1 up to X3:TC have the superior story and plots.

While X4 ships are way more balanced for simulation reasons, it can be especially enjoyable to fly many of the outliners of the previous titles or experiment a bit with them. Or to read all the sector flavor texts. There are alot of things to discover or enjoy. And you can enjoy the aesthetics of the earlier Xenon. In my opinion they look more what you expect of Xenon and not like bugs in XR/X4.

[jlehtone]

For me it was something along the line...oh goodie, a huge xenon fleet for me to fight w/o me having to go find them (no travel drive then). Those taxi missions were basicly instant fleet combat action button, right in the sector you were in, just add water (click accept on the mission).

No J nor Q, and less than 50 K in taxi, IIRC, but yes "bonus action". Besides, they did beeline for your ship. They would even follow you to other sectors, so that created an opportunity for "collateral damage". Furthermore, the ship they beelined to was the ship you did the mission with; send it far and jump on another ship to wait along the route.

In a way the X3R was a pinnacle of fleet control once Bonuspack did add couple scripts. The built-in options in X3TC/AP were more limited.


X4 supports multiple controllers. X3 did not. Before X4 I had one HOTAS device. Now I have three controllers. It takes extra software to present "one controller" for the earlier games.

[Ragnos28]

Besides, they did beeline for your ship. They would even follow you to other sectors, so that created an opportunity for "collateral damage". Furthermore, the ship they beelined to was the ship you did the mission with; send it far and jump on another ship to wait along the route.

I think I remember taking the taxi ship and park it aboard my Valhalla, that had 6 Tyr destroyers subordonates, and an Odin filled with Thors and Fenris, also M ships, don't recall the names atm.
Man, my full ATF fleet was a thing of beauty and death. took a huge amount of time to deconstruct for BP and build their capitals, but was a sight to see.

[GCU Grey Area]

Saw the missiles barage as the ultimate bore fest and cheat..

Agree about missile barrage tactics. Didn't use Tornado that way. Tornado's dumbfire & unsuited to long range barrage. Instead treated the missile launcher as an extra gun. If missile launch key was held down Tornado submunitions would fire sequentially & continuously (at a rate of 4 per second). Found it was best used for fast, close range strafing runs along the full length of capital ships. Up close & personal, absolutely thrilling. Damage & shot speed roughly equivalent to a battery of PPCs (200k dps against both shields & hull).

The Shark pretty much solved the faster issue, nothing is faster that instant travel drive, and also have instant launch of fighters. Its only downside is that I can't bring the numbers I would want, I have a composition of 40 torpedo Irukandji for capitals and 40 interceptor Mako for escorts. It works like this: https://youtu.be/HEwJ0hcWByw

Yeah, Shark's a damn fine carrier. Still didn't use full capacity though. Found 50 S was sufficient for my purposes (20 H.Swarm Barracudas & 30 Arc+Gatling interceptor Makos), along with 10 L.Smart interceptor Threshers.

But I'm still fond of the Raptor...

Least favourite carrier for me. My carriers rarely get close enough to enemy forces to use their turrets, so the direct firepower of the Raptor's turrets is essentially useless for me. Found it awkward to mod speed to match Rattlesnake & delayed deployment of fighters (due to lack of fast launch tubes) on occasion caused loss of expensively modded Rattlesnakes when their fighter support was late in joining the battle. For my second Split game pretty much ignored the Raptor for IS work & stole a couple of Colossuses from the Argons to use in my demolition fleets instead.

Still with the individual move to orders for each destroyer in the wing?

Yep, provides good, consistent results & enjoyable admiral level gameplay; plotting routes & assigning targets for each of my fleet's major assets.

[Ragnos28]

Yeah, Shark's a damn fine carrier. Still didn't use full capacity though. Found 50 S was sufficient for my purposes (20 H.Swarm Barracudas & 30 Arc+Gatling interceptor Makos), along with 10 L.Smart interceptor Threshers.

I have fond memories of Baracudas not being able to catch a moving xenon K and forcing me to have the interceptor wing atack the engines so that the Baracuda wing could catch up.
That was the last time I used Baracudas for anything, 160 m/s !?, what a joke of a fighter, and good luck dodging graviton turret fire with that speed.
I need my Shark to be able to deal with 1 I, 5 ks and about 50 escorts, your composition would not last long against that kind of force. Hell, I think that if I send a wing of 20 H.Swarm Barracudas against a single xenon K I would lose about half of them, if not all. Actually, that is a good idea for a test, and I do love Baracudas being blown up , whats the load up, launchers only or 2 guns and 1 launcher? I plan to clip it and ship it.

Least favourite carrier for me. My carriers rarely get close enough to enemy forces to use their turrets, so the direct firepower of the Raptor's turrets is essentially useless for me. Found it awkward to mod speed to match Rattlesnake & delayed deployment of fighters (due to lack of fast launch tubes) on occasion caused loss of expensively modded Rattlesnakes when their fighter support was late in joining the battle. For my second Split game pretty much ignored the Raptor for IS work & stole a couple of Colossuses from the Argons to use in my demolition fleets instead.

The split are the kings of fleet combat, because of the Raptor + Chimeras combo. But in a split only (ships/tech) playthrough, they will suffer teribly in station demolition, because of the abysmal range of the Rattles.

Issues I've encountered:
- the short range of Rattlesnakes mean that I must do the station defanging personally
- you need to have some forces to deal with incoming xenon capital ships. Well, usually that would be a job for my torpedo Chimera wing, but bombers need protection from enemy interceptors. Not a problem, if my trusty interceptor wing would not go chasing afterwards drones under the turrets of the station.
- again the Rattles, being the glass cannons that they are, with M ship level shielding, can't take much fire from the drones. So, I needed to send the interceptors...and that lead to the "chasing drones" episode. I know that I often show how destroyers can deploy LTs to defend agains drones, but with Rattles, you need to be quick about that, because once they start to take dmg, time is really short.

This was my attempt, it was awfull: https://youtu.be/Tddm-TzKV_k

PS: no, I could not be bothered to mod my Rattles, in my book, if a destroyer is good, it should be good w/o any mod on them. My demolition Behemoths, for example they don't have a single mod on them, I just take them from the SCA and put plasma on the L turrets and flak on the M turrets, and they're ready to go, and sometimes, I even give them 3 star pilots.

Yep, provides good, consistent results & enjoyable admiral level gameplay; plotting routes & assigning targets for each of my fleet's major assets.

Different playstyles, I want to reduce micro as much as posible, you want micro as much as posible. I find it most enjoyable when the AI does most of the work, you remove the AI from the decision making process as much as posible (not that I blame you, given the status that the destroyers AI is in atm). And while I do also asign targets, having to also plot the routes for individual ships....neah, that is basically admission that the AI is retar..I mean less than optimal.

[Scoob]

I have an X2 The Threat game in progress currently, I started it last year. Not played it much lately, but do dip in from time to time. I was not a fan of the balance of X2 - bullets are too slow - so I re-activated my modding brain cells and tweaked things to my liking, before applying a couple of other mods. Had a total blast and became totally hooked again. X2 was such a leap after XbtF and still a great game in its own right.

X4 is a better game, but there's something special about X2 that brought me back. I did start a new X3FL game - long after its release - a while back, it's still there to load up whenever I want.

[GCU Grey Area]

I have fond memories of Baracudas not being able to catch a moving xenon K...

I mod my Barracudas. Combination of Polisher chassis & Nudger engines gets them moving at a reasonable pace. Still not exactly what I'd call fast, but sufficient for my purposes.

I need my Shark to be able to deal with 1 I, 5 ks and about 50 escorts, your composition would not last long against that kind of force. Hell, I think that if I send a wing of 20 H.Swarm Barracudas against a single xenon K I would lose about half of them, if not all. Actually, that is a good idea for a test, and I do love Baracudas being blown up , whats the load up, launchers only or 2 guns and 1 launcher? I plan to clip it and ship it.

You're forgetting the destroyers in the fleet. Don't need my Barracudas to kill enemy capitals, just slow & distract them enough to buy time for my Rays to blow them to bits from long range (which incidentally is significantly longer than standard due to Expediter mods). Barracudas were armed with 2 launchers + backup Gatling.

The split are the kings of fleet combat, because of the Raptor + Chimeras combo. But in a split only (ships/tech) playthrough, they will suffer teribly in station demolition, because of the abysmal range of the Rattles.

Had similar issues with Rattlesnake in my first Split game, where I used their ships exclusively. Even modded to improve range they performed poorly, particularly against HOP stations armed with L Plasma. For the second I stole a couple of dozen Behemoths, to go with the Colossuses in my demolition fleets. Amused me greatly to smash Argon stations with their own guns.

PS: no, I could not be bothered to mod my Rattles, in my book, if a destroyer is good, it should be good w/o any mod on them. My demolition Behemoths, for example they don't have a single mod on them, I just take them from the SCA and put plasma on the L turrets and flak on the M turrets, and they're ready to go, and sometimes, I even give them 3 star pilots.

Completely the opposite for me. Majority of my ships end up modded. L freighters & miners get modded chassis & engines to improve efficiency, Demolition Fleet capitals get a nearly full set (apart from M turrets), fighters & frigates get whatever they need to mitigate deficiencies (e.g Barracuda speed as mentioned above). Modding my ships (& acquiring all the resources needed) is an important part of the game for me. Fleet capitals are commanded exclusively by 5* captains; fighters, frigates & support ships by 4* captains.

Different playstyles, I want to reduce micro as much as posible, you want micro as much as posible. I find it most enjoyable when the AI does most of the work, you remove the AI from the decision making process as much as posible (not that I blame you, given the status that the destroyers AI is in atm). And while I do also asign targets, having to also plot the routes for individual ships....neah, that is basically admission that the AI is retar..I mean less than optimal.

Yeah, not interested in just watching a battle. Want to play a pivotal role in the proceedings. Setting up firing lines at what I consider to be an optimal position, configuring order queues to indicate the order in which I want enemy capitals handled, etc. Then I jump in a fighter & hope everything goes to plan, because at that point I'm generally too busy dodging bullets to update the plan.

[Ragnos28]

You're forgetting the destroyers in the fleet. Don't need my Barracudas to kill enemy capitals, just slow & distract them enough to buy time for my Rays to blow them to bits from long range (which incidentally is significantly longer than standard due to Expediter mods). Barracudas were armed with 2 launchers + backup Gatling.

That's the thing with super carriers, and why I enjoy using them so much, a super carrier does not NEED a fleet other that its stored fighters. I don't even bother with M ships, because of the abysmal time it takes for them to land, and certainly no destroyers, ugh perish the thought, I don't need the blob, the derping around, all the "fun" stuff.

For example the structure for my argon fleet:
1 flagship carrier + 40 Eclipse bombers on bombard/defend
1 carrier on follow the leader command + 40 Eclipse interceptors
10 destroyers on combard or defend the command flagship carrier
1 aux ship on supply fleet role + 20 corvettes on intercept + 20 frigates with torps on bombard, asign to the aux.

One Raptor + 60 torpedo Chimera + 40 interceptor Chimera, or the Shark with 40 torpedo Irukandji + 40 interceptor, are replacements for that entire fleet.

And once all opposition is dead, all fighters return to the carrier, get repaired, rearm, I select dock status for all, and the carrier goes on its merry way, no ship in the fleet remain behind because is slower, no ship drop out of travel drive, while others does not, no need to waste time and resources modding the engines of the ships in the fleet to have the same speed, I only need to keep an eye on a single ship, the carrier. That makes traversing hostile sectors a breeze, not the long "sausage" I get when I try to do the same with my argon fleet.
And all that is required for that "opposition is dead" to be achieved, is for me to give two mouse clicks, to select launch status for my fighter wings.

As for the Baracudas, hmm that's a problem, I need those 20 Baracudas to do this: select the wing, atack the xenon I, atack the first K, atack the second K...same for all K, and I would be done with them. And not even that, I need to select launch status for them, and they need to kill all the capitals in the area, with one maybe two casulties, like my wing of 40 Irukandji does.

In regard of modding, I enjoy the added challenge of using unmodded forces in my combat engagements, is right out there with my self imposed rule of not using tech that the factions have no acces to (no plasma and flak on terran ships for example).

[GCU Grey Area]

I don't even bother with M ships, because of the abysmal time it takes for them to land...

Can see that being an issue with Raptor - single M dock is a distinct disadvantage. Carrier with 3 or 4 M docks (as all of my favourite carriers have) is an entirely different matter.

...and certainly no destroyers, ugh perish the thought, I don't need the blob, the derping around, all the "fun" stuff.

Don't get that with the way I use my destroyers. In the current version they're extremely good at following my orders - they're effectively nailed in place when they reach the firing line I've set up for them. Barely move an inch until it's time to give them new orders to move on to the next position.

And all that is required for that "opposition is dead" to be achieved, is for me to give two mouse clicks, to select launch status for my fighter wings.

You are however using at least double the ship count to achieve that. Only need 40 or so fighters if they're given good orders.

As for the Baracudas, hmm that's a problem, I need those 20 Baracudas to do this: select the wing, atack the xenon I, atack the first K, atack the second K...same for all K, and I would be done with them. And not even that, I need to select launch status for them, and they need to kill all the capitals in the area, with one maybe two casulties, like my wing of 40 Irukandji does.

I do things somewhat differently. I divide up my heavy fighters among all enemy capitals present, with a double amount assigned to harass an I if present. This generally means only a handful per ship, however all I need them to do is keep it under fire (mainly to prevent it activating travel drive) & maybe smash some of it's subsystems with their missiles (particularly happy if that includes it's engines). Meanwhile my destroyers get an order queue to attack each enemy capital in turn, usually starting with the nearest. As each enemy capital goes down fighters assigned to harass it are automatically reassigned to a new capital target by their Bombardment role.

In regard of modding, I enjoy the added challenge of using unmodded forces, in my combat engagements, is right out there with my self imposed rule of not using tech that the factions have no acces to (no plasma and flak on terran ships for example).

Agree on the appropriate tech rule, tend to do the same. However do very much enjoy modding my ships to get the best out of them & balance the game by using as few of them as I can get away with to achieve a particular objective.

[Ragnos28]

Can see that being an issue with Raptor - single M dock is a distinct disadvantage. Carrier with 3 or 4 M docks (as all of my favourite carriers have) is an entirely different matter.

Oh, is not a matter of docking pads is an matter of M ships taking 3 minutes to land.
Check out this wonderful example: https://youtu.be/gnmCnybJrrQ, almost 3 minutes on the clock. Like a viewer sayd "Like watching someone learn how to parallel park for the first time." I imagine is even more fun with 4 of them trying to land in the same time. , if you have a wing of 8...I really don't have that kind of time.

Don't get that with the way I use my destroyers. In the current version they're extremely good at following my orders - they're effectively nailed in place when they reach the firing line I've set up for them. Barely move an inch until it's time to give them new orders to move on to the next position.

Really? Lets take this fine example: https://youtu.be/zk4xwPkpgJM. How would I go to "nail" the destroyers in place"?
I need it to destroy the threat now, not in an hour, but now.

You are however using at least double the ship count to achieve that. Only need 40 or so fighters if they're given good orders.

Yes, but then again, a single destroyer cost about 20 fighters. If you have 10 destroyers, thats 20 X 10 = 200 fighters equivalent.
Here for example, I replace the losses of my boron fleet: https://youtu.be/QGoluFbvDyg?t=4846, cost of a Mako = 988k, cost of a Hydra = 6 kk, you don't get to see it, but if memory serves me a Ray is 20 kk, and an Irukandji is about 1.2kk.

I do things somewhat differently. I divide up my heavy fighters among all enemy capitals present, with a double amount assigned to harass an I if present. This generally means only a handful per ship, however all I need them to do is keep it under fire (mainly to prevent it activating travel drive) & maybe smash some of it's subsystems with their missiles (particularly happy if that includes it's engines). Meanwhile my destroyers get an order queue to attack each enemy capital in turn, usually starting with the nearest. As each enemy capital goes down fighters assigned to harass it are automatically reassigned to a new capital target by their Bombardment role.

Yeah, like I said, different play styles, fast heavy fighters are perfectly capable to eliminate capital ships on their own, with low to zero casualties, they only need protection from escorts, and interceptors will do that.
Zero need to involve destroyers or M ships, and if the flagship carrier is in the perimeter, the AI will handle target selection and elimination, w/o any intervention from me.
If the carrier is away, interceptors get an atack all targets in the area order (because we still don't have an atack all fighters/all capital ships in the area in X4), they do seem to favor S/M targets over capitals somewhat, while the bombers get atack orders for capitals in sequence. I do sometimes order the interceptors to atack the turrets of capitals, but only if no escorts are present, but that is a rare occurrence.

[Falcrack]

Back on the topic of earlier games, I think I might shelve X:BtF for the time being. I've started X2, and it looks to be about 100X better. Actually has a universe map, and I can select stations within the sector on the map using my mouse. Production quality looks massively improved.

[RainerPrem]

I suggest to skip X3R - it has some tedious parts in the plot like sitting in the backside of a ship and fighting fighters. I didn't like it.

I started the X series with X3 Reunion, there is too much nostalgia there, so I most likely will not skip that one!

Nostalgia often leads to disappointment, because one only remembers the good parts and not the bad ones. Sure, I will always remeber the first time I entered a ship in X3R, but it took several hours IIRC, so I won't repeat that experience.

[Steel]

Video Enhancement Goggles.

I miss you so...

[sMull]

XBTF is definitely worth playing, but it will test your patience. And doesn't hold your hand at all.
X-Tension is a big improvement as far as empire management goes. You can remotely manage your assets. Has in game universe and sector maps. Can fly multiple ships. I consider it the first true X game and what the devs probably had in mind when they started making the series. Has no storyline however its all sandbox. But if you wanted to go back to the old games but find XBTF too bare bones, consier X-Tension instead. Uses the same graphics engine and assets and is bascailly XBTF expanded.

[Falcrack]

XBTF is definitely worth playing, but it will test your patience. And doesn't hold your hand at all.
X-Tension is a big improvement as far as empire management goes. You can remotely manage your assets. Has in game universe and sector maps. Can fly multiple ships. I consider it the first true X game and what the devs probably had in mind when they started making the series. Has no storyline however its all sandbox. But if you wanted to go back to the old games but find XBTF too bare bones, consier X-Tension instead. Uses the same graphics engine and assets and is bascailly XBTF expanded.

As I'm only playing the old games for the plots, there is very little to entice me to play X-Tension, though I did fire it up and watched the introduction.