I've created this thread as a sort of journal to show you around my X3:AP universe.

First, my resume: was first introduced to the X universe when I finished the campaign in Freelancer and was looking for my next space adventure. I tried X2, and despite its many shortcomings, the idea of being able to build your own stations in space, be part of a galactic economy, explore, switch ships and command fleets pulled me in.

I won't lie to you, the graphics were horrible, even for those days. And there was the in-station navigation part which was supposed to add more depth, but was really just an extra annoyance. And man, the learning curve was brutal.

When X3: Reunion first showed up I had to upgrade my PC in order to get a decent framerate out of it, but I was sold. It still had bugs (of course!), but the graphics and game mechanics were greatly improved.

X3:TC was another step forward. The way station missions were redesigned helped a new player get early access to a decent source of finance (profitsssss!!!) without having to sell energy cells for two weeks in order to buy an M4 fighter. I spent a lot of time in mapping the sectors and discovering new aspects of the game in TC.

When X3:AP came out, I was a bit conflicted. For a long time I kept on playing TC, but was eventually convinced to switch to AP and start over again from scratch by a single, ridiculous thing: turret AI. In TC, you see, if you give a turret the order for "Missile Defense" it will of course also shoot at nearby enemies when they attack you... but the fire rate will be slower than a spitting cowboy with a dry mouth.

This and other small, yet annoying things in the long run, which were redesigned or fixed in AP convinced me to start the game I'm still playing today.

About the game: I'm playing a no-campaign "Custom Game" sandbox. I set my own goals, do what I want, explore what I want, build my own empire as I please (unless the Xenon invasion fleets have other plans).

Right now I'm setting up a forward operating base in Guiding Star (no spoilers as to where the sector is located, you'll have to find it yourself :). Attached you'll find a view captured on my XL Solar Power Plant.

I have a start-up fleet budding already, after having won millions on the stock exchanges. I have a Colossus which I have yet to fully equip (PPC fabs are working fervently still), a fully equipped Titan guarding the north jump gate in Getsu Fune, a Cerberus also guarding a Silicon Mine in Getsu Fune, an Astraeus Hauler which is for now my capital ship of choice due to its high speed... and many others.

Next thing on the agenda is to buy an Aquilo and setup a production chain to equip it with a ton of missiles. That will help with the persistent Xenon incursions I've been facing for a while now - believe it or not I had a Xenon J jump up behind my back in Getsu Fune and almost beat the crap out of my Titan.

After a lot of stock market speculation, it's done: I finally have my Aquilo! I've also built two missile fabs in Guiding Star (for the Flail Barrage Missile and the Hammer Heavy Torpedo, which are both compatible with M7M class ships, like my new Aquilo).

I have yet to produce sufficient missiles to feel confident enough to deploy the Aquilo in action, against the Xenon, of course, but its devastating potential is second to none, especially if I team it up with my Titan.

Right now it has 3x 2GJ shields mounted and the usual ship extensions you'd expect to see in a warship. I'm planning to equip it with at least 80 torpedoes and 160 flail barrage missile before taking it on a raid. I'm also close to having the two CIGs that will be mounted in its rear turret for missile & fighter defense.

Meanwhile I've also bought the final Buster model I was missing (the Vanguard). I'm now closer to owning every possible Argon ship out there!

Coming up next, I plan to dive deep in pirate space (most likely in a very fast M5 and do a bit of first hand scouting) in order to clear the negative reputation on one of the pirate IBL fabs and hopefully be able to buy a couple for my capital ships and M7s.

I've already done that in order to buy several PBGs and all I can say is what it was worth every micocredit of the 400.000 credits I paid in order to be able to dock and purchase these babies.

Spamming the more expensive missiles is expensive but I would not like to be the target of a swarm of that. Would spamming mosquito missiles work to keep a capital ship's turrets busy so one could hammer away at it with guns?
Do you only have factories in that one sector? Any UTs or such setup?

Yeah, I've seen the kind of damage Flail missiles can do and it's not pretty at all. I've seen about 10 Xenon Ls get pulverized by several volleys. That's the kind of damage I'm hoping to do now.

Mosquito missiles are a decent and cheap option, but I would not rely on them too much either against fighters or as distractions for capital ship turrets. Their best use is as cheap anti-missile missiles. The bane of capital ships are M8 bombers (and Tomahawk Heavy Missiles).

I have factories in several sectors in fact, but most of my current operations are in Guiding Star. I also have a lot of weapon production bases in Herron's Nebula, Argon Prime and Ringo Moon. I make my own IREs, PRGs, HEPTs, CFAs and PPCs.

I don't use UTs since I like to micromanage everything, but that's just a matter of taste. If you want to make money on the sidelines without looking too much into your trading, UTs are a decent option. The stock markets though are second to none.

Many ways to play :-)

No stock exchange in X3TC, right? That was added in X3AP I think. My current game is with X3TC. If I want easy money I can do another start, even a modded one, that gives you a good starting capital, say fifty million creditsss.

Ah, right. Forgot you've started with X3TC :D. Well then, missions and traders are your best shots at getting rick. In AP, of course, you can just make millions on the stock markets if you're patient and have sufficient investment capital.

It's all about the profitssssss!

I have read about the stock exchange. It seems to offer substantial profits with little risk for those who know what they are doing. A good way for those who have played a lot to accelerate their progress, but perhaps not the best way to play the game for the first time?

It depends. It's not exactly unfair, since you can still get burned in some cases. The overall idea, once you get the hang of it, is to be patient and profits will come to you. If you're lucky you might even double your money.

You need to watch the flow of the goods before you can trade, and the flow is heavily dependent on the game's economy. I'd call it an economical mini-game. Like everything in the X3 universe, it has a learning curve.

You can still do the regular things in game and explore whatever you wish. I use the stock exchange a lot, but still take up missions whenever I can and still get my hands dirty as a bounty hunter in my Nova Raider whenever I miss it.

I can only tell you one thing: when you get to building a fleet and buying capital ships, the stock exchange is unavoidable. The only option X3TC players had before was to leave the game running overnight with a couple of UTs in order to afford things.

Friday is the day for profile picture updates it seems :D.

Now, back to our regular program:

In the end I did not manage to get any IBLs, but I'm still working on it. Might need to clear off a few of the pirates surrounding the stations before I can get my hands on anything, but IBL fabs are only present in well defended sectors, so I don't yet feel up to the task of taking on groups of pirate capital ships (also I'd rather kill Xenon :P).

But I did see an older wish come true yesterday...

My experience with boarding in X3 was horrible. I've tried it once in X3TC (failed miserably) when it was semi-broken and quite hard to pull off and never looked into it since.

I can tell you that things have improved in X3AP. It's still hard, requires a lot of coordination, but it can be done. As a result, after about 3 attempts (the save/reload type), I've managed to capture a Pirate Centaur. Can't say it brings much of an advantage over the regular Centaur, though it is a bit more nimble, but it definitely looks cool.

Future plans are to expand my operations into a nearby Teladi sector and start producing my own EBCs as well as their ammo. I'm also thinking about what to board next, of course :). Maybe some Yaki ships, if I play my cards right.

I think it was nine days ago that I changed my avatar. Sure took a while to appear.

Spiffy looking lit... eeerh, big ship there :-) Congratulations on capturing it!

Thanks! :)

Onward with the operation log!

In the meantime I've started my very own little "Teladi Branch" down in CEO's Wellspring, just enough to get some EBC + EBC ammo fabs running. I've not built everything in the chain myself since I don't like operating in a closed loop... I rather prefer using NPC stations when possible, in fact.

Also got another station defense mission and guess what happened to show up! Did you peak at the screenshots already? Yes, it was a Pirate Osprey.

While my first X3AP boarding operation was a bit sketchy and I ended up losing 6 well-trained marines in its wake, capturing this Pirate Osprey seemed like a piece of cake (it was experience talking this time round). I took no losses, although it ended up with a 67% hull strength after capture and I can't blame this one on the marines, so I could have done better at keeping the shields in check without doing any hull damage.

In any case, now I have an equally cool looking corvette to match my Pirate Centaur.

Still planning to assault some Yaki, but I've got to buy some recon drones and plan things out carefully in advance. I'm hoping I can get a Yaki Ryu if it wanders into Ocracoke's Storm, but maybe I'm aiming too high. We'll see.

Ok, I've got a Ryu now (wasn't all that had to get it either :).

Next up I've got my eyes on a Pirate Brigantine patrolling in Maelstrom, but I'm still planning things out. I have to train my marines a bit more, since I've scanned the Brigantine on a daring scouting run in my Kestrel and apparently it has the dreaded "Internal Security Lasers" extension installed. Well, at least it does not have any enemy marines on board.

I've also built a Gauss Cannon Forge along with an ammo forge for it in CEO's Wellspring and plan to equip my Titan with some before going after the Brigantine. GSs deal the most hull damage in X3AP, so I'm hoping they'll be useful in rapidly crippling the myriad of escort fighters which is tagging along.

Nice catch :-) A TL is always good to have even if it has one of the smallest cargo bays of its class. Off to do station building missions now, are you? The speed of that Ryu will help there (a JD too, of course).

Trivia: The Ryu went from being the TL with most hit points in X3TC to the one with the least in X3AP. It has a decent sized hangar.

Neah, I did not capture it for that in particular. Mostly I wanted to train my marines in combat a bit more and test myself out against the Yaki. It worked out well in the end. Maybe I'll capture an Akurei next since I saw one flying around in the same sector.

Anyway, I already have a Mammoth which I use for station building (it was actually the first capital ship I bought ages ago).