Games like Patrician 3 / Is X3 Terran Conflict any good?

[Damned Registrations]

Had a hankering for some jewgold collecting gameplay. I know theres some threads on this stuff floating around somewhere but I can't find the search bar for some reason and I wanted to ask specifically about the game in the title anyways.

So, suggestions/opinions?

 

[Turisas]

X3 (and TC) is all about feeding your megalomaniacal desires - if the thought of building a vast trading empire (and then wrecking shit up with a massive fleet) appeals to you, you'll have countless of hours of fun with it.

 

[Zarniwoop]

The X series is great for collecting insane amounts of jewgold and then spending it on big space fleets and factories yes. Just don't expect any real story/campaign/point to it, especially in X3 (R, TC or AP)

X1 and 2 had more of a campaign, but still no real endings.

 

[mondblut]

There are no games like Patrician 3, it's in the league of its own.

 

[laclongquan]

There are no games like Patrician 3, it's in the league of its own.

Unfortunately.

Even the successor, Port Royale 2 is just a bit too streamlined for P3 fans. Good, yeah, but streamlined.

 

[potatojohn]

The X games suck. Don't play unless you want to accidentally euthanize yourself.

 

[Gord]

X3 is a massive timesink, but what's cool about it is that it allows you to play in a number of ways.
You can trade, build up a massive mega-corporation, or just fly around and shoot stuff, become a bounty hunter, defend sectors against alienattacks, etc. Nice space porn.

Also contrary to what has been said, it's not completely devoid of any story, the story is just a minor part of it.

 

[titus]

X3(TC is better, imo) are more sandbox than story. Another expansion came out some time ago, Albion Prelude, but never I tried it so far.
Anyway, I can recommend TC, great stuff. You can build your own trading/manufacturing empire, you can do fedex quests if that's your style, you can hunt down other ships, heck, you can even be a pirate.
It's also very moddable, and there are a shitload of great mods available for it, just check their forums.

Here's hoping they won't fuck it up with the next game, X Rebirth!

 

[Renegen]

Trade Empires. I like it a lot more than Patrician. For that matter, The Guild 1 or 2 are also great jew simulators.

 

[Turjan]

I spent lots of time with with X3:TC (incidentally, my avatar is from the X series). It's a slow start, and the interface is somewhat obtuse, but I found building up your factory complexes and your fleets lots of fun. If you are too impatient, there are mods for nearly everything available. Of course, you have to be someone who completely forgets about real space physics and just takes the game as it is.

X3:AP got too many AI updates. The AI defense now makes sense, which unfortunately makes the game less fun. The game is somewhat more realistic (not much, physics is unchanged), but it doesn't click with me anymore.

 

[Tycn]

X3 is enjoyable until you find out that nothing you do really matters, since the game world isn't at all reactive it all comes down to LARPing. The scale of the game is really neat though, working your way up to capitals and so on.

Here's hoping they won't fuck it up with the next game, X Rebirth!

Seems like they've already fucked it up. More story driven, more emotionally engaging, you're stuck with a single ship with persistent NPC crewmembers.

 

[Turjan]

X3 is enjoyable until you find out that nothing you do really matters...

True. But in X3:TC, that takes a while. In X3:AP, you will notice very quickly.

 

[Tycn]

I never got that impression actually. In fact, TC and AP seemed almost identical in terms of progression and sameyness. Perhaps if you played AP after TC then you'd have foreknowledge of the static nuances of the universe? That or the mods I was using, I hear many of the improvements in AP were already available in mods for TC.

 

[titus]

the static nuances of the universe

There's a mod that kind of fixes that, if I remember correctly. Some dynamic galaxy creator or something like that. It's been a long time since I played this.

 

[made]

EVE Online > X3. I'm serious. Nothing beats EVE for grinding space gold.

 

[octavius]

Regarding Patrician, I was thinking of buying Patrician 1 from GOG, so I tested the more...accessible Amiga version first and and found out you can't choose Bergen as hometown. :-(
Being from Bergen - the only Hansa town with a surviving Hansa Kontor - myself, this is kind of disappointing.

How are the other Patrician games?
Can you start in Bergen?
Any annoying action mini-games that ruined so many other strategy/trading games, like for example Ports of Call where you have to land ships manually, or Star Control 2 with its annying twitchy ship to ship combat?

Also, are the different towns in the later games different or are they just generic towns with no character?