X2 The Threat news

Games
1

I know there are still a few of us here playing the excellent X2 The Threat space game. The devs are close to releasing the V1.4 patch for the game. After this they will be working on the expansion pack for X2TT.

Here are some details about the V1.4 patch :

This is to keep everyone updated about what is going on with update 1.4, as we are aware that everyone is very keen for news

Beta testing has been going on extensively for a considerable time now - as has been suggested several times, with an expansion planned, work on updating X² must cease at some point and work on the expansion commence. We are currently testing build 3 of the 1.4 beta, and before you all ready anything into this message, it is by no means sure that this will be the final version, or that it is about to be released. For the reasons detailed above with the expansion, it is of course vital to make sure that everything possible is done to make 1.4 polished, and also contain everything that Egosoft and players want.

So, to give you a taste of what will be in update 1.4 (not a re-hash of "what is being fixed / looked at in 1.4), here goes. Enjoy

Game Fixes

Firstly, the ‘boring but necessary’ stuff. Various issues causing games to crash or freeze have been located and fixed - this is much improved. Some textures which were not loading into the game correctly have also been corrected. The universe is now more beautiful than ever before! Other graphical improvements include the capital ships view in thh warp tunnel now looking good.

Jon’s thread in the Technical Support Forum lists most of the known issues. We can be a little more specific about these now, including the following confirmed fixes:

  • some joystick throttles causing the cockpit to judder
  • the game freezing when the player died
  • Pressing H did not open the help menu
  • Pressing Shift J twice no longer cancelled a jump (no flames please - this is the way it’s supposed to be )
  • Pirate ‘hacks’ now fixed and will hack all stations in range
  • Various BBS missions updated, specifically no more negative rewards
  • Player-owned ships will notleave their homebase jump range radius any longer
  • Escort ships now have smoother, more consistent speed
  • collission avoidance improved along with AI in general
  • and of course, the now in-famous change of max cargo size for TP class ships from XL to L

All good so far, but if Egosoft were just fixing bugs, 1.4 would be a patch. It’s not - it’s an update

Game Updates

Now for the great stuff. Every game has AI these days. In 1.4 you will also experience the Artificial Life Engine (AL). What does this do? Well, it adds some more atmosphere and life to the universe. Never seen a TP liner going about it’s business, ferrying passengers to and fro? Well, you will now.

Every wondered why a race with whom you are best buddies stands by whilst your freighters and stations are attacked and destroyed? Meet the new policing in the X Universe, the race Sector Patrols. And without giving too much away (we all like nice surprises!) there are a couple of other new things going on around you as well - for these you’ll have to wait and see . And because Egosoft is being especially nice to you, if you are crazy and don’t like the AL plugin, you can turn it off as well.

Other little tweaks include less notifications about enemy attacks on your property. Police licences will not now be lost when that ‘stray shot’ (yes officer, it was accidental) hits a friendly ship. Don’t push your luck too far though. And as mentioned before, the AI will now certainly put up more of a fight than before . Lasertowers now defend themselves against missiles, are stronger, turn faster and are generally offering more bang for your buck, which should hopefully put them on more player’s shopping lists and also create a new threat in the universe.

Strangely, some players seem to have built up large empires in the X universe. Now, you can manage it more easily. Filters in the ‘Property Owned’ menu have been added as follows:

  • optional hull/shields indicator
  • optional additional ship activity details
  • filtering by ship type
  • filtering by action
  • filtering by status (e.g. under attack)
  • filtering by homebase setting

For the factory owners out there, we have some new features in the station menus:

Adjust Settings Menu

  • information about average price for all products and resources
  • information about jumps per product (nearest jump at which the product can be sold at the given price)
  • information about the suggested minimum selling price of the product to make profit (this depends of course on the the current resource price settings) - this one is my favourite
  • price and jump settings will now update immediately in the product / resource lines whilst you are moving the price selector bar

Station Information Menu

  • information about required resources per production cycle now included

Other Cool Additions

Scripts

There are several new scripts in update 1.4 (and maybe some more to follow), including:

  • you’ve already enjoyed the Sector Trader. Galaxy Trader will take your TS just that little bit further - a whole lot further in fact if you want!!!
  • improved station accountancy tools

Anything Else?

There are of course lots of little other changes, too numerous to quote here. There are also a few things left out - Egosoft still want to suprise you sometimes - and there are still some larger changes which could be put in which are not yet certain. But for now, I hope you enjoy what will be coming up!

2

That sounds great, apart from the lowering of max cargo size on the TPs, which I’ve used exclusively in my empire. That’s going to be very inconvenient.

3

This sounds really cool. I picked up X2 the instant it came out but I’ve held off playing it knowing a string of improvements were probably on the way. After 1.4, I’ll have to really jump into this (must get my backlog cleared by then…)

4

What’s planned for the expansion?

5

I am most excited about the Artificial Life engine. Seeing a living breathing universe go about its business in a realistic manner is something many of us have wanted in X2TT.

There are also rumors that this update will allow large space battles to develop which will give your space fleets something useful to do instead of just sitting around looking pretty.

6

Finally, a reason to dust off my Titan. :)

7

No, it’s not.

:lol:

Didn’t know any of those were still around.

:shock:

8

Looks promising…but I’ve heard too much bad press on this one. Still waiting for the price to drop before I take a flyer.

9

It’s a great game and has had mostly good reviews. But you need to be prepared to invest a lot of time initially learning the interface and the economic model. I also wouldn’t recommend it if you are mainly interested in space combat as this part is under-developed compared to other space sims like Freespace and Freelancer.

But as a complete space combat/trading/economy game it is very good.

10

collission avoidance improved along with AI in general

This alone will probably make me fire up the game again for the first time in months–mainly, because I’ll need to see it with my own eyes to believe it. Definitely a promising thing to actually mention, however, although it probably should have taken less time for the official party line to change from “It’s the player’s fault!”

11

I am most excited about the Artificial Life engine.

The cute Artificial Life stuff is nice and all, but I’d be much more excited if the patch made it so that combat doesn’t completely suck.

12

I’d be much more excited if the patch made it so that combat doesn’t completely suck.

As Drastic pointed out, they’re improving the collision avoidance, which should make combat much more satisfying. Although considering the state of collision avoidance in X2, “improving” must be the German word for “adding”.

 -Tom
13

Both of those would be fantastic additions. It’s already the sort of sandbox game that I’ll likely play off and on for years, especially since there’s little comparable in the pipeline, but those two additions would do a lot to retain my interests for longer periods of time.

It’s depressing that this game sold under 2,000 copies in North America.

14

Under 2,000? Seriously? Is that NPD (which leaves out some outlets), or from the publisher.

Of course, I never did see it on the shelf at EB. I had to pre-order it. So it never really got a shot at retail.

15

I think it did much better in the UK. It was in the top ten at gameplay.com for a long time, and still makes comebacks every now and then. I bought mine in PC World, a major retailer, and they uncharacteristically had it on the shelves, day one, so the UK Publisher at least did their share of the work. I also saw it hang around the top ten at Tesco (largest UK general retailer) for a long time, and they only stock exactly ten PC titles at any one time.

16

I think it did much better in the UK.[/quote]

Yes, it did well in Europe.

17

I was one of the 2,000. I bought mine off the shelf at my local EB. Never reallly got into it far but it is on my list of games I will play during the typical late summer game drought this year.

– Xaroc

18

Oh my god. :shock:

Was there ANY sort of advertising for X2TT in the US ?

2000 copies is just … unbelievable.

19

2000 copies? :shock:

I’m afraid to ask, but does anyone know many copies of Universal Combat sold in the USA?

20

I bought mine off the shelf at an EB in New Jersey, but I had to go to 3 Eb’s to find it. I really don’t think there was any push at all for htat game here in the US. The X series has always had a following in Europe, so I’m glad the fanbase there came through.