X-Tended - Terran Conflict

X-Tended - Terran Conflict brings much needed balance adjustments and introduces many gameplay enhancements to the original game. This includes a completely new weapon spread, streamlined ways to manage your assets, plus many other new features. X-Tended also adds new weapons, wares, missiles, missions, ships and even a new universe that is faithful to the in-depth lore and background created by Helge Kautz in his books, and by Egosoft in their X series of games.

The aim of X-Tended is to expand the game beyond the vanilla experience, providing a larger challenge and greater benefits to you, the player. A lot of effort has been devoted to keeping X-Tended strictly within the X3 canon, so from the very first moment you jump into your cockpit, you can rest assured that everything featured in X-Tended will feel completely natural in your game.

{{Information about the Mod's history (not the in-game history but that of the modification and its development)}}

The first difference that defines X-Tended - Terran Conflict is the completely new universe. This was a design decision taken in the early stages of development and every other aspect of this mod has been made with this new playground in mind. The old sectors such as Argon Prime, Black Hole Sun, Maelstrom and many others have all gone for good, with 199 new ones taking their place. Each new sector has been meticulously planned starting with the visual look, then choosing each station and its position, keeping the overall economy in mind, and finally deciding on asteroid and debris placement, as well as the choice of soundtrack we felt was appropriate for a consistent feel. A specific background story was made for every sector, fleshing out its character and integrating it into the greater story of the mod.

A large amount of planning went into seamlessly integrating the Terrans (and Aldrians) into the universe. No longer are they just a small sideshow, they now frequently collaborate with other races, influence the universe, and take part in interstellar trade whilst offering the player everything that the other races do. In short, there are now seven main races instead of five, all equally unique and none of them restricted to a closed-off remote section of space.
It is intended that the player is no longer the Lord of everything. He is but a small fish in an ocean of sharks, taking part in events that happen regardless of his rank, reputation or participation. As time goes by, the player will witness the races expanding their territories, discovering gates to further regions and populating the empty sectors opening up new trade opportunities.

Within X-Tended - Terran Conflict exciting new missions and events have been included. As before missions are designed for the player, offering both substantial rewards and the opportunity to trade, fight, build and think on a much grander scale than the original game ever allowed. Naturally they have all received a complete balance overhaul, so you should no longer expect to receive tens of millions for simply constructing a mere Wheat Farm.

The events on the other hand occur on their own and have absolutely no correlation to the player’s activities. They have been made with the idea of creating a living and breathing universe and giving the other factions a life of their own. There are rewards for the player, should he choose to get involved, but there is no requirement to do so; the action will still play out even if you do not get drawn in. Time after time, you may come upon the traces of an event you missed - a crate here or there, a dent in a station’s hull or even a fleet of warships keeping watch over a newly liberated sector. Then again, don’t expect to be the only person involved in these events. In some situations, other mercenaries may choose to do the job themselves, and if you decide to wrong a race in anyway, expect to see yourself on their wanted lists and bounty hunters hot on your heels. The events, no matter how big or small, will be fully reflected in the Galactic News System, giving its readers a good idea on what is happening all around them.

The Galactic News System itself is a vastly improved version of the famous BBS technology that was missing from X3: Terran Conflict. Accessible with a simple push of a button this service gives an overview of what is happening in space and on the actual planets themselves. In addition to the wide variety of plot and event texts, more than 250 completely new articles have been created for X-Tended - Terran Conflict that fully reflect the lore and background of the new universe. Race ideologies are more prominent than ever, new characters are unveiled, and each reporter on the Galactic News System has his own take on what is happening out there. Expect to see varied opinions, double-takes, and even in extreme cases, propaganda and censorship from one or more governments.

All of the weaponry has undergone a drastic change and it will now require a whole new approach from the player’s perspective. The total weapon count has been dramatically increased, allowing for fully independent race-specific weapon groups to be created. Weapon capability is now a significant factor in choosing your next ship, as only a few basic items are now shared between all the races. The latest and greatest designs are often kept restricted to the originating race only, thus there is the additional factor in choosing the best race ship for the right role; and then mixing and matching them to gain the best possible results.
Missiles have also undergone significant changes, and are now much better organised and balanced against each other, as well as being tailored to suit their intended purpose. Torpedoes are the large, slow, and heavy-hitting monsters they ought to be, and light missiles are generally leaner, more agile, and just occasionally meaner as well. A new warning system has therefore been designed to give you more information on whether that incoming hostile object can barely harm you or rip a hole in the space-time continuum. Shields have undergone a revamp too; you will no longer see interceptors with 75 MJ shields or heavy fighters with better defences than a corvette. All these items have been intentionally altered to interact with each other in the best possible way, with almost everything being built for a specific purpose.

Missiles have also undergone significant changes, and are now much better organised and balanced against each other, as well as being tailored to suit their intended purpose. Torpedoes are the large, slow, and heavy-hitting monsters they ought to be, and light missiles are generally leaner, more agile, and just occasionally meaner as well. A new warning system has therefore been designed to give you more information on whether that incoming hostile object can barely harm you or rip a hole in the space-time continuum. Shields have undergone a revamp too; you will no longer see interceptors with 75 MJ shields or heavy fighters with better defences than a corvette. All these items have been intentionally altered to interact with each other in the best possible way, with almost everything being built for a specific purpose.

The difficulty level in X-Tended - Terran Conflict is now a meaningful influence on gameplay instead of simply being a reference to your starting point and equipment. An underlying difficulty system has been implemented that influences many gameplay features. This can affect the type of weapons and amounts of wares other ships have on board, how brave and resilient their pilots are, how easy it is to gain or lose reputation with other races, and ultimately, how hard or easy the challenges awaiting you will seem. This system does not affect only combat, it has a significant influence on trading as well.

For traders and empire megalomaniacs, new surveillance and management tools have been created. You will be able to see a complete overview of your assets as well as their individual and cash sum value, the efficiency of production in a sector and the profitability of your automated traders. Bulk renaming of ships and issuing them commands, as well as re-arranging ships into wings and re-assigning them to different homebases is all now possible.

{{Credits of the modification - who worked on it?, who contributed to the mod?, etc.}}

Gallery for the X-Tended - Terran Conflict (XTC)