3001

holy cow - Where can you get that? That, and its sequel, Deuteros , was amongst my favorite games on the Amiga.

3002

Er…Dueteros is a sequel to Millennium…not Millennia…

It’s confusing I know.

Millennia came out four years after Dueteros too.

Oh, also, you can only legally buy Millennia on disk via Amazon or Ebay, it’s sadly not available anywhere digitally.

3003

Welcome, my friends, to another week of polite promotion! This week’s game of the week is the baffling X3: Albion Prelude, in which I try to find the fun. I really do try.

Tonight on the podcast at 5:30 PM Pacific, we’ll be talking to the developer of the open-space combat and trading game, Drifter!

On Thursday’s Multiplayer Madness (also at 5:30 PM Pacific), we’ll be giving Vendetta Online the old college try.

Finally, I have the day off today, so join me in a little bit while I stream some Evochron Legacy!

Thanks y’all!

3004

Brian, I thought you liked X3: Terran Conflict. Isn’t Albion Prelude pretty much the same, only shinier?

3005

Albion Prelude is Terran Conflict with a lot of QoL upgrades, mostly. I love it a bit too much. ;)

3006

I’ve never really clicked with the X games. They’ve always felt like business sims wherein your office is a spaceship. If I want a business sim, I’ll play Capitalism.

3007

Well, once you have an empire running and you manage to buy a M7M and also produce missiles for it… it’s kind of gaming nirvana, really. So awesome.

3008

Well, once you have an empire running

Therein lies the rub. The amount of sheer grinderly grind it takes to build up even your first installation is mind-boggling. In all of the X games, I think I’ve grinded up enough scratch to create an ore mine exactly once.

3009

Hahahahahahha, yeah, like I’m gonna play hours and hours of a game I find kinda boring just to get to that part. Hahahahahahahahhahahaha.

Sorry, don’t mean to sound like a dick, but still, hahahaha.

On brighter news, Starpoint Gemini: Warlords was formally announced today. It looks pretty damned great.

3010

I’m ever hopeful. Let us know if and when you get your hands on a preview copy!

3011

Well, it is a good point, actually. I never found it dull or boring, so I enjoyed it all the way to that moment, but I can imagine it wouldn’t be worth it for someone who doesn’t like the moment-to-moment gameplay.

In any case, if you want a savegame, let me know and you’ll be able to see for yourself. ;)

3012

Working on it as we speak, likely won’t be for at least a month though. :/

3013

Hahaha, that’s okay, the interface for handling one ship makes my head hurt. ;)

But yeah, I’ve never really felt connected to the moment-by-moment gameplay. I feel like I’m a disembodied head welded to some spaceship, rather than a pilot in a universe doing things.

3014

Really? I don’t remember taking too long to get my first factory. That said, I do have over 100 hours played on Albion Prelude according to Steam (and a lot more in a non-Steam version of Terran Conflict, so I already knew what to do when I started Albion Prelude), so I’m not really sure how long it took.

Albion Prelude actually reduced the grind considerably, IMO. The smarter local/universal traders help a lot with reducing the early-game grind (namely, trading ore and similar stuff). Once I had about 7-8 universal traders, I could easily afford a factory, and it didn’t take much longer to build a few complexes and all. It took a lot less time than Terran Conflict in my experience, but it might be partly due to my better knowledge of the game at that point.

But I totally get it’s not everyone’s thing. I love Mount & Blade too, and I know a lot of people who think it’s boring and aimless. People are different, and that’s ok.

3015

Universal traders? What is that?

Also, I tried M&B, but once I saw how horrible I was at actually hitting anything, I shied away from it.

3016

There’s a software you can buy for ships that does trading automatically within a sector. That software “levels up” with experience. As it levels up, it becomes able to trade also in nearby sectors, and when reaching a certain level, if you add a jumpdrive, that trader is able to look up trading opportunities in any sector that has a satellite deployed and figure out good deals (and jump everywhere). So basically, a universal trader is an automated trader, and if you have a good satellite network, it can make a LOT of money on its own with very little intervention.

Here’s more info: http://www.x3wiki.com/index.php/Traders

Universe traders were responsible for the most part of my revenue in the mid game, and a significant part of my revenue even in the late game. Albion Prelude includes two other types of automated traders (CAS and CLG) that help with other chores, like keeping factories supplied with base materials to be processed, or selling what they make in the appropriate places. Those automated traders liberate the player to do other interesting stuff like missions, exploration, or anything else really.

3017

What’s this coming out of my ears? OH GOD IT’S BLOOD OH GOD

3018

On the list of reactions I’d expect from Brian concerning a spaceship game this one had to be near the bottom.

3019

I’m sorry, I just start reading rhamorim’s well-written and helpful post and I can feel my brain shutting down. It’s so weird.

3020