GETTING STARTED
One thing I'll be brutally honest about is how frustrating X3TC can be at first, Especially if you have never played any of the X games. The command console is fairly complicated, and gameplay in the first few days can be somewhat spirit crushing and I've seen the game uninstalled in a flash through impatience! If you persevere with X3TC then you will find it to be a great game, free open gameplay and of course the Battlestar Galactica ship mod. Once you have installed the game it's time to install the mod and extra scripts to enhance the gameplay. I personally use Cycrow's Cheat Package, An artificial life script that allows mercenaries to repair carriers and docked fighters and Hawkbs BSG Mod 1.7. All of these scripts/mods can be found on the links given to either Egosoft or Xai Corp websites. Once installed its deciding whether to go for the plotline game or play a custom game, I personally go for the Anonamous Argon start which starts in Caprica system (Argon Prime) armed with only 1000 credits and a Argon Discoverer M5 scout ship. I avoid the plot (a) because I already have the benefit of hindsight with the controls and (b) the plotline is very thin and tedious and will lead to temper tantrums and frustration. Now once the game kicks in and you are sat in the cockpit you soon realise that you need to make good rank with the Argon and make some much needed credits. This is you're first dilemma...and the decision made now can affect the whole take on the game. With a cargo bay of only 30 units approx and 1000 credits the realisation that it will take months to make any cash kicks in, don't panic! I'm not going to tell you where they are as that would be too easy, but there are hidden free ships and crates of misslies/credits/shields etc to be found...roughly 6 million credits worth. These are dotted all over the Xuniverse and can save you a lot of time trying to save up for a freighter, as this is the ship you really need to start making money. My advice is to take the first few hours at least just flying around as many sectors as possible, get used to the ship controls and try and trade in some small goods. Solar power plants are the first stations I've noticed that fill up to maximum capacity, the higher tech fabs take a while and the heavy weapons take a lot longer. My choice would be to trade in Energy Cells for a while, in turn you will fill the tech fabs up with energy!
1, Trade in Energy
2, Fill up tech fabs
3, Trade chain begins to work
Race Rank is very important in this game, you can't buy certain products or ships if you don't have the correct status. You can increase this by
1, Trading
2, Taking on BBS missions
3, Killing pirates
4, Cheating
5, Playing the plot game
SHIPS & EQUIPMENT
Depending on how you decide to start the game, ship's at a basic level may not be available to buy until a satisfactory reputation has been established (see above). I began with the Terran (or Argon) start as I wanted to start as close to home as possible. You start with a Terran Sabre M4 class ship, it is an interceptor fighter and is slightly better equipped for basic trading than an M5...it is also armed! Trade in local sectors if you can to begin with and avoid the sectors close to Earth as you will get smashed to bits by the Torus, Therefore I would suggest playing the Terran plot only as it will equip you with plenty of decent ships including an M6 Corvette. The advantage of playing the Terran plot is that it gives you access to Earth and the surrounding sectors and Aldrin. Once you have access to Aldrin it is worth youre while putting a sector trader in there as it can be very lucrative early on in the game (ship will need trade command 3 software). Then I would go into the sectors directly below the Solar system and into Argon space and trade with them to gain reputation as they have a more rounded selection of ships to buy. It is worth noting that Terran ships can only use Terran weapons and missiles, very important if you are exploring the X universe and run out of missiles or ammo, in comparison Argon ships utilise many types of weaponry and ordnance. The ship that I think is the best all round trader would be the standard Argon Mercury, they are well balanced ships, good speed and weaponry. I've found that equipping these traders with weapons sometimes attract Pirates which can become costly to replace so I tend to go for missiles only, set to a percentage of around 25%+. Generally something of heat seeking type or image recognition will do the job, This wont guarantee your ships safety but it may give it time to dock at a station and hide. If I don't use the mercury then I use the Terran Baldric which is better armed and just a lot more less likely to get blown up, but it is a lot more expensive than the Mercury. These first trading ships can be controlled via your ships interface so you can explore space and remotely control your growing empire, my ship load outs are as follows.
Argon Mercury = 3/ 25MJ Shields, Duplex Scanner, Explorer Command Software, Best Buy + Best Selling Locator Software & Navigation Command MK1, Singularity Engine Time Accelerator (s.e.t.a), Boost Extension.
With the Mercury I buy full Engine and Steering upgrades and add Cargo Space as I can afford it, If you wish to have weapons on board then you will need Fight Command Software MK 1 and 2 to command turret control. If you decide to explore the X universe then you will need to equip your personal ship and any ship you fly a little diferently to the traders! So if you used your Terran Sabre M4 to explore and you wanted to control your other craft then you would need to install the Trading System Extension and this will allow you to communicate to your other ships where ever they are in space. It is also worth installing the Triplex Scanner as it gives extra range in scanning which is handy for locating items in space and also steering clear of Pirates until you are better equipped to deal with them. When you have your trader set up and ready make sure that you have selected the ship to contact you when it has completed it's task, you achieve this by going into the ship command console and scrolling down until you reach "recieve message when ship completes assigned orders" the rest is pretty straight forward. That should get you started on the road to making money and gaining reputation, one tip would be to put a trader into Teladi sectors and control from your ship, some of the wares there can reach nearly five times the buying price and can be a source of good profit, but be warned...the Teladi sectors have generally more Pirate activity so profit may have a high price and that would be a bad start early on in the game. The aim early on in the game is to raise reputation, make money and eventually buy an M3 fighter, If you have the Hawkbs v1.8 BSG mod installed then the Colonial Viper MKVII is the one to have, it's a beast! It will handle pretty much anything up to an M6 Corvette class ship and TL class. These are my reasons why :
Great speed of 472mps
6 weapon bays +
Good cargo space
Looks awesome!
Now to make me feel the game is as close to the real thing as possible I load out my MKVII with Mass Drivers, which will need amunition. Read the game manual for full weapons description. High Energy Plasma Throwers are my second choice but they can run out of energy in a dogfight pretty fast. The MKII has been beefed up somewhat from the last Hawkbs patch and is now a worthwhile investment but it has poor cargo space and I only use them as my red/blue squadrons aboard Galactica. My advice is stay away from anything dangerous until you are used to flying youre ship, one major upset caused by this game is the total lack of mercy from Pirates, Cylon, Eastern alliance, yes Hawbs has changed the Xenon and Khaak to Cylon and the Eastern alliance...the Xenon also now spawn Basestars and Raiders (heavy also). I've just installed v1.8 of the BSG mod and its a vast improvement on the last one! Just a few conflicts with a couple of scripts but nothing too bad as yet. The next Part of my guide will be basic trading and Factory set up.