The Next X: X Rebirth

[Markbnj]

http://www.egosoft.com/x/xnews/201104_44_xr_news.html

Not much to go on at all, but I liked X3TC (still playing it, actually) so I'll be keeping an eye on this one.

 

[GodlessAstronomer]

Wrong forum brah.

 

[shortylickens]

Win

 

[Markbnj]

Wrong forum brah.

X Universe, not X Windows .

 

[Nox51]

cool, always liked them. One of the few remaining space games.

 

[Nintendesert]

I'll buy it. I buy all their games just to support further development of the series after having spent so much time in the original X and X2. I want to play more of XTC but just don't have the time.

I really hope the UI has been streamlined and from what their little blurb stated it sounds like this was a major point for creating it anew from the ground up.

And multiplayer...

 

[AyashiKaibutsu]

I hope they make it a little easier to get into without losing it's depth. I couldn't get into x3, but the concept is very appealing to me.

 

[CottonRabbit]

X3TC was awesome. I really hope they don't streamline it too much.

 

[Markbnj]

I hope they make it a little easier to get into without losing it's depth. I couldn't get into x3, but the concept is very appealing to me.

The interface grew too complex and clunky, but I don't think the game mechanic itself was overly complex. I'd like to see the ship management interface streamlined a bit. And I'm sure they will be reworking station and complex construction and placement.

 

[Elcs]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LabrDe4XJo0

Uhhh.....

 

[atticus14]

i probably put about 30 hours or so in X3TC and really didnt get very far, but I was amazed at the depth of the game...

I dont want the game simplified at all but I really wish they would put some major time into in-game tutorials and just make the learning curve easier I found myself having to browse their forums for a lot of info, and despite liking the game, when I only have a couple of hours a night to play I dont like spending that time on their forums looking for information and winding up with hardly anytime to play...(an hour goes by before you know it in that game).

regardless I'll probably buy this game just because im in awe of their work and will support them for their wonderful contributions to sci-fi gaming.

 

[Nox51]

Biggest thing for them to do is just to streamline that damned UI. Make it easy to use, and fast to get to the command you want to give.

On the old one you were guaranteed to learn the shortcut keys withing a day, and have your fingers dance on the keyboard till they were in pain. Ordering fleets around was horrendous.

 

[Puppies04]

I loved X3 right up until the point you end up with a load of automated cargo ships that keep getting themselves blown up, reload, manually move them away fromt the dangerous system, carry on for half an hour and watch them get blown up again, reload......

 

[BurnItDwn]

Ooooooh!!!!

X3 R and X3 TC are among my favorites!!!!

This I will have to play!


I just wish X3R or X3TC supported 2-4 players in multiplayer ... I realize that wouldn't work with SETA, but it would be fvckin awesome to team up with friends or go head to head with friends ......

 

[PhatoseAlpha]

More then anything, the game needs to give you an office where you can manage your trading empire more along the lines of an RTS or even TBS game. The X-series had a lot going for it, but it's main problem was always the disconnect between the flight sim oriented UI, and the economy where the meat of the game lay.

 

[lozina]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F6UAB-YNXns

The stuff he is describing sounds AWESOME!

I am really looking forward to it, but I really dont think it will be out by 1st quarter 2012 as much as I wish it would... there is just too little info out there to suggest this game is near complete now...

Some cliff notes from the video presentation linked above:

• Space highways. Planets/Systems may still be connected by gates but a new form of travel will be space highways which allow your ship to move faster than normal if you travel along them. there will be different grades of highways which have different effects on your speed, and for the most part you can take a highway only for a certain distance and jump off, unless it is a superhighway which does not allow that.
• Instead of sectors there will be star systems more like natural space
• Ships will have interiors, so you can move around in your own ship
• Ships will have crews, so it's not just you operating a ship by yourself anymore
• Ships and stations have 'surface components' which can be independently targeted, so you can for example target a ship's engine for example, or a stations communication dish.
• Player owned stations still in, looks like it is more streamlined and more depth here too
• You can hire NPCs, like a station manager to operate your stations, who has varying skills and you can interact with. You might hire him somewhere, then physically transport him on your ship to your station. You can interact with them and they will reach out to you if they have problems running the station.
• No multiplayer (no surprise there, right?)

Overall, you hear them talk of more depth, more options, more resources and streamlined interface. I am loving the sounds of it!!

 

[Via]

I can't wait for this.

 

[brandonb]

I didn't have much problems with the X3 interface. It was fine, but it needs to be more "windows like." Typically in a 1920x1080 resolution each window is like 640x480 resolution. And you can only have a single window open at a time. If you could just resize the windows to fit more things into it, or have more than one window open at a time, the interface would be fine.

Funny how such simple things don't make it into games.

 

[Elcs]

Fix the interface. Make it more friendly and accessible.

Fix the combat. I find it a little stale compared to other space based games.

Then EgoSoft will have the perfect game.

 

[lozina]

Fix the interface. Make it more friendly and accessible.

Fix the combat. I find it a little stale compared to other space based games.

Then EgoSoft will have the perfect game.

Yeah combat was a bit too simplified before. Did you ever play Independence war 2? In my opinion that game had a perfect space sim combat engine... I loved it! If X-Rebirth had that on top of all these other improvements mentioned in the presentation I think I would not ever stop playing it!

 

[Elcs]

Yeah combat was a bit too simplified before. Did you ever play Independence war 2? In my opinion that game had a perfect space sim combat engine... I loved it! If X-Rebirth had that on top of all these other improvements mentioned in the presentation I think I would not ever stop playing it!

I never played IW2 but I did play Freespace 1+2 and expansion(s?). That combat was absolutely fantastic. It could have maybe done with being 20% faster.

The main lure of Freespace 2's gameplay was the beauty of flying fighters against Capital ships were several thousand times larger than your little fly. You feel almost insignificant but you know your squadmates and capital ships will support you as best they can. Add in a control element as well as customisation of all of the ships in your fleet? Could be scary if they scripted in some epic missions

 

[Liet]

Oh god, Independence War 2 was a BRILLIANT game. Excellent combat mechanics. A few mods and it comes close to being one of the top 3 spaceship "sim" games ever released, imo.

If you can find if cheaply, Elcs, you should definitely give it a shot.

 

[boran]

I loved X3 right up until the point you end up with a load of automated cargo ships that keep getting themselves blown up, reload, manually move them away fromt the dangerous system, carry on for half an hour and watch them get blown up again, reload......

For this I reccommend some mods that improve the autotrader AI, there are mods that let you state safe and unsafe sectors and a max trading range etc.

Most of my X3 mods were around this (and auto satnav placement)

 

[Martimus]

I have X3, but had a really hard time playing it without a joystick. What kind of joystick do you use for it? I will look into picking one up for it, but don't know much about the current joystick market.

 

[lozina]

I used a Logitech Force 3D pro.

It served me very well for X3, IWar2, BF1942/BF2, etc...

It has alot of buttons, highly customizable and readily detected by the games I played. No problems. Not sure how well it behaves with Windows 7 nowadays though, havent used it in a long time.