Question about the Earth system

[Siddha]

Do you get to visit the Earth system in Reunion?
Once the storyline is completed does the Earth system become available for general play?
Can you buy and sell stuff there?
Can you build factories etc there?

Thanks

[Gim]

Originalmente postado por Siddha:

Do you get to visit the Earth system in Reunion?

Yes, but only in a cut scene.

Originalmente postado por Siddha:

Once the storyline is completed does the Earth system become available for general play?

No, not in the vanilla game. The XTM mod allows that, though, after finishing the plot or right from the start in a storyless game.

Originalmente postado por Siddha:

Can you buy and sell stuff there?

Can you build factories etc there?

Not in vanilla, as you can't visit it in the first place, but you can in XTM.

After finishing the plot in the vanilla game, there is a whole bunch of terran ships in heretics end that are protecting the gate to earth. However, if you fly through this gate, nothing happens. You just pass through the event horizon.You can abuse the terrans to gain combat rank and for loot.

[Siddha]

Thanks a lot Gim; I appreciate you making that clear for me
and also that you used the spoiler thing

I have a save in the early game and trying to decide whether it is worthwhile to persist and complete the story or just just jump ahead into TC.
I'm finding the going slow and hard to generate cash and rank to get a ship capable of playing the main story through

[Gim]

Originalmente postado por Siddha:

I have a save in the early game and trying to decide whether it is worthwhile to persist and complete the story or just just jump ahead into TC.

Depends on your playing style, honestly. The X games lack a deep story, the plots should be seen as an introduction to the game itself, rather than reason you play the game for. The plot in Reunion takes about 15-20 hours depending on the ship you use and your skill.

Playing the story makes sense if you wanna see the progress from X, X2, X3 to X3 TC or if you want to understand the background of certain things you encounter in TC, but it's not worthwhile to be played just for itself.

The greatest strength of all X games is the open world feature, doing whatever you want just for the joy of it. Many players agree that Albion Prelude and TC are easier for casual players, while Reunion is harder. Reunion also lacks certain features that are available in TC an AP, but some of them can be obtained with the XTM mod.

If you are a casual player I would suggest to look into AP in particular, or just go along with TC. If you want a challenge go for Reunion, especially with the XTM mod I mentioned. If you have a hard time at the beginning, you can ask me anything. It's easy to have millions upon millions of credits in the first day if you know how.

[Siddha]

Once again thanks Gim
I do have a hankering to play the story of Reunion before moving on to TC or AP
I have been learning the hard way that Reunion is a challenge and slow going compared to X2
I played Beyond the Frontier some years ago and although the story is thin it was satisfying and it gave a structure and a purpose to the exploring and trading and building I did. I enjoyed BtF a lot.
Some time later I eventually played through X2 and was disappointed by the story and its presentation. I especially disliked Saya Kho being visually portrayed as a space bimbo. I felt the story and dialogue was written by an adolescent. Overall I preferred the feel and ambience of BtF, in spite of the shinier graphics.
So now I am looking at Reunion to follow the story and move on. I have put in over a hundred hours but my cash income and ranks were only improving very slowly, and I ran out of heart for it and uninstalled. But I kept the saves.
So, yes if I decide to have another run at it I would appreciate your advice; but I wont waste your time unless I mean to do it.
Had a look at your profile - Spellforce!
I have played that game and really liked it. Will go back to it definitely for another fix :)
Finished Gothic 1 and really liked it. Got stuck a couple of times in Gothic 2. Hope one day to finish it and play Gothic 3. How do you like it?
I have a lot of time in Skyrim over the years and not done with it yet.

[Gim]

Originalmente postado por Siddha:

Some time later I eventually played through X2 and was disappointed by the story and its presentation. I especially disliked Saya Kho being visually portrayed as a space bimbo. I felt the story and dialogue was written by an adolescent.

It's quite similar in X3. Even though i didn't play through X2 (Started with Reunion 10 years ago), I can feel what you're talking about.

Originalmente postado por Siddha:

So, yes if I decide to have another run at it I would appreciate your advice; but I wont waste your time unless I mean to do it.

I'm always glad to help! So yeah, if you decide to reinstall Reunion, just ask away. I know that many players have had difficulties in Reunion and with the limited game content and slightly better graphics in the other games, it's not surprising that most players moved on to AP and TC.

Generally speaking, you can can easily make huge amounts of cash either by combat or by finding hidden treasures. Getting money from trading is also possible, even though it's not as quick as the other two.

Originalmente postado por Siddha:

Had a look at your profile

Thanks for your invitation, glad to accept it! I'm not going to talk about the other games here, because it's slightly OT.

[Siddha]

Great :)
Think I'll go for the hidden treasures!

[Gim]

Here is a map[www.pagemark.nl] Note that most of the eastereggs listed there are for XTM. The ones that are also available in vanilla are the concussion impulse generators, the free credits, all of the free ships and some minor other freebies.

The basic idea is to chose "Quickstart",change your buster for a discoverer, unveil the universe and collect all the CIG's for a basic capital, to do the Bala Gi mission. I also prefer to go directly for the nova at other side of the universe, to be able to do xenon invasion right from the start. If you are lucky, you are offered a xenon in Getsu Fune 8 hours after the game start, which should solve all your money problems (An additional Xenon K always spawns in Getsu Fune, so even with 0 Combat Rank you earn 6 million+ Cr if you can kill that K).

How advanced are you in your game anyways? Perhaps you already have loads of money and don't even need to do that.

[Siddha]

It has been a year since I played, but I think I have about 5 mil in cash; one Solar Power Plant; a few sector traders; and other ships; total asset value approx 8 mil; but I dont have enough rank yet to buy any of the good hardware even if I had the cash.
I just got worn out with it. Progress was very slow compared to my memory of X2. I also dont like the UI.
The small bit of TC I've played left a very positive impression. I was quickly earning decent cash just scavenging missiles etc in Elena's Fortune. I also found the universe more dynamic and alive than Reunion; and the UI is light years ahead. I also tried out a UI graphical mod that I liked a lot.
At one point I had Litcube's Universe installed to have a look at it, but never played it. That mod looks incredible.