NikG

You got scanned? I just get the message "thanks for cooperating" like I wasn't cooperating I had no choice, because the com system doesn't work properly. I have to initiate coms twice to contact a station and when talking to someone only the last line of dialog gets played, I didn't have a clue how much I was paying to get my station shipped and for all I knew it could have been something outlandish like the changes made to station prices. 4 million for a solar power plant, they were common as muck in X1 and X2.

I now have an empire of cows. I've discovered I can make more profit by buying other cattle farms argnu at low prices compared to relying on the solar power plants as there seems to be about 5 in argon space. Some changes are welcome, especially the controls but when it costs as much to join two stations as it did to build one in X2 it can be extremely annoying. Who runs their economy?!

Well I'm off to continue reviewing The Movies... I wonder if my next romance film is going to end up as a lesbian sex flic, the mistakes in casting

Ahdkaw

I did write a huge post about my current X3 gaming situation, unfirtunately I stuck it in the Fast Reply part, and after clicking Post, got an error, only to click back and find the post entirely gone.

Nevertheless I'll try my best to reconstruct the post from memory and CTRL+A, CTRL+C before I hit the post button.

I rarely ever communicate with space stations, as I simply rely on the autopilot for docking, which is just hit 'T' (or use navmap) and then when close enough (usually 10Km) i just hit Ctrl+D to activate the autopilot docking sequence. This is much quicker than going through the Automated Communications Service (or whatever they call it). So I haven't noticed these comms issues you mention.

I now have two traders running, who have earned me 1.5 million credits while I wandered the universe in my Discoverer, the first trader (now a lvl 23 pilot) started off Sector Trading in Rolks Fate and sometimes Queens Space, and is now a fully fledged Universe Trader, getting attacked by pirates and all that - yes he's gone up in the world.

My second trader, a level 6 pilot, is now undertaking the Sector Trading that my initial pilot did, and he's making good progress so far (and money - which is the most important bit). I'm not sure whether Trade Command Software Mk. 3 was available in X2, I certainly don't remember it, but for 500,000 Cr, it's definitely worth it (the initial trading is slow, but it provides the perfect opportunity to go discovering without having to worry about having empty cargo bay).

It's said that SPP Stations are the way to go in Argon space, but then you have the issue of the crystal shortages...

I've yet toi decide where I want my station, and as yet and unsure as to how it will all go, I fear it is a disaster waiting to happen, which may explain my lack of eagerness at spending well over a million hard-earned credits on something that may well make me a huge loss.

NikG

I've not been on it in a while, was planning to break it out again and give it a play. I've been stuck playing The Movies and once I reached the 60's it got incredibly boring just trying to keep in the black, but I'm free now!

My position last time I played X3 was making a hefty profit with argnu beef, it's a good station to start with. It makes smaller profits than a SPP but if you're efficient you can make a huge profit, I was near buying a Cahoona bakery. Instead of relying on the crystals being in stock I planned on creating my own source and simply not sell to outsiders to keep my solar plants stocked. It takes more time but it'll make sure the cost of a solar plant won't go to waste and unlike X2 you won't have transports coming back with 2 crystals in their bay.