X3: Reunion

[TinCow]

I've suddenly gotten an itch for a great space combat game. I've played Freespace, Homeworld, Freelancer, X-Wing Alliance, etc. to death and need something new. While browsing, I came across X3: Reunion, which looks like it's exactly what I'm looking for. However, the metacritic score on it is 71, and there are a lot of reviews saying the game isn't finished.

Has anyone played this? If so, can you give your thoughts on it?

[Greyblades]

Its definitely a good game but you might want to get the sequel called X3 terran conflict instead, It's alot easier to get to grips with.
As for whether its a good space combat sim its quite competent the ships are many and varied you can fly anything, from space suits through to fighters, Cargo transports, bombers, frigates all the way to huge battleships and carrier ships like this one:

[Veho Nex]

Flying big ships is such a pain, atleast... for me it is, i can't ever seem to get the controls down.

[aimlesswanderer]

The controls are exactly the same as if you were flying a normal ship - and a docking computer is your friend! The biggest problem is that the interface is clunky, and it is really quite complex. If you are the kind of person who loves (or can bear with) complexity you'll love it. The economy is very intricate, and everything affects everything else in some way. So if half the power plants get wiped out, the energy price will go ballistic. It can be fun to have fleets and factories of your own, but they are difficult to manage I have found.

[Whacker]

The controls are exactly the same as if you were flying a normal ship - and a docking computer is your friend! The biggest problem is that the interface is clunky, and it is really quite complex. If you are the kind of person who loves (or can bear with) complexity you'll love it. The economy is very intricate, and everything affects everything else in some way. So if half the power plants get wiped out, the energy price will go ballistic. It can be fun to have fleets and factories of your own, but they are difficult to manage I have found.

This.

The game was great fun for a good amount of time.

The big thing for me was mods saved the overall game. X3 Xtended was originally rather buggy, but by the end they fixed quite a few of the problems. You can try playing the base game, but I'd highly recommend installing the Xtended mod at some point. Further, this is one flight game that I used the mouse/WASD to fly, because it was just much easier that way. You can certainly use a joystick if you want.

As aimlesswanderer said, it is ridiculously complex. There's no one good tutorial either. I don't remember what I was following, but you will need to Google for some guides and sources to learn how to play it. There weren't any terribly outstanding ones IIRC. There is a basic fighter mission you can play that does give you somewhat of a 'playground' to learn the flight controls at least. Learning how to buy, build, and maintain factories and stations is a nightmare unto itself. Truthfully I never really got into this aspect of the game much, because it really is complex.

It's also somewhat modable, BUT be warned, if you try to install too many mods they can heavily conflict. Modding for that game is an honest nightmare. The scripting can ONLY be done in game using their very clunky scripting engine, and adding assets or making changes is mind numbing to say the least. Thankfully, there are a good number of major and minor mods to be had that can enhance the game. I ended up installing a few on top of Xtended and modified them a bit to suit my needs.

tl;dr. Try it, if you have the patience. You'll like it.

[aimlesswanderer]

Yeah, I remember when I first started the first X, and it was a massive challenge to figure out WTF was going on. If not for my brother and I combining our knowledge about every Privateer type game we'd ever played we would have given up after an hour. I'd have to agree that you should find some guides, or else you'll be flailing around in the dark. Normally I like to figure out games by myself, but the X series is far to complex for that!! Maps of the universe, factory guides and some strategy guides are a must, unless you love an extremely long hard slog! And the games require a serious amount of computing power too.

Yep, investigate some mods after you've played it for a while, so you can get some which suit your style of play.