X3: Terran Conflict - Our Preview to the Space-Sim
A universe full of beginners -this time also for the beginners
A short while ago, Bernd Lehahn of the Developer Egosoft from Aachen (Germany) visited us. In his backpack he had a playable, advanced beta-version of X3: Terran Conflict, the youngest and at the same time latest offshoot of the X-Trilogy. For an hour we fought ourselves a way through the universe to report you now, what is awaiting you in this independent addon.
For the first time in the history of the X-Trilogy, Egosoft did not use a new graphics engine for their newest offshoot. The focus of the development lies this time with the narration of a thrilling plot and with the enhancement of the content, which should make the game particularly more interesting for beginners, states Lehahn at the presentation. X3: Reunion lacked exactly these components.
While you had to invest reams of hours of gametime to get for example a big battleship in the main game, this consumes clearly less time in Terran Conflict. With a broader variety of ships (as well as new weapon systems) the developers want to close the gaping gap between small spaceships and huge cruisers. Also new are the so-called ‹ Boarding Crew ›, a group of brave soldiers. With them you board, depending on the skill level of the marines, big and small ships of your enemy. If the Boarding Crew survives, their skill level rises and with that their value as well.
http://www.pcgames.de/screenshots/original/2008/07/012_X3TC_2008-07-08_15-15-45-41.jpg
The Terrans appear in
Terran Conflict as
a new race. Additionally
you visit even Earth - a
wish of the fans since X2.
The story is meanwhile divided into different story arcs; a main and multiple, chronologically parallel side plots. The ones who are new to the X-Universe choose the new race of the Terrans (the humans), follows the main plot strictly and gets a solid overview over the complex build-up-strategy-game. You hunt pirates, upgrade your ships and build an economy empire.
If you want to dive deeper into the X-Universe, you start one of the side plots or navigate in the direction of countless, randomly generated missions. Similar to an RPG you are able to accept multiple quests which are listed comfortably in a questlog and can be activated as well as deactivated.
http://www.pcgames.de/screenshots/original/2008/07/010_X3TC_2008-07-08_15-02-59-75.jpg
The developers have added
numerous new weapon-
systems to the latest
offshoot of the X-Trilogy.
In spite of the aged engine (X3: Reunion was released in 2006), Terran Conflict looks very good: Fancy effects, diversified planet surfaces [The author most likely refers to the planet surface viewed from space] and formidable detailed space stations produce a coherent, atmospherical overall picture. The system-requirements are with 2 Gigabyte RAM and a CPU with 2,4 Gigahertz (Single-Core) not exaggerated high.
When you were in X2 and X3 imprisoned in the universe, Egosoft plans for Terran Conflict a surprise: a visit to Earth. While Bernd Lehahn didn’t want to show us screenshots, he promised a bombastic presentation for which the team especially takes trouble. We are anxious and hope that he fullfills his promise.
Thomas Wilke: Up until now, the X-Series flew past me. The universe seemed too complex, too hard the access. Terran Conflict was able to finally enthuse me for the series. If the developers really manage to fullfill their promise about the accessibility I look forward to pleasurable hours in space.
(text by Thomas Wilke, translation by enenra, proofreading by TXU Team and Roger Powell)
This translation was provided to you by The X Universe and the The X Universe Team.