Glad to have you aboard!

I remember I was still playing X2: The Threat when Reunion came out. I really liked the idea behind X2, but the graphics (especially the weapon effects) and station docking model, I thought were not that great.

X3: Reunion was a jewel at that time, but also a resource hog - I specifically went out and bought a better graphics card with the little money I had as a high-schooler at the time in order to play the game without watching a slide-show.

Looking back at it now, I have to say I am horrified by how slow the game start was, that is if you didn't stick closely to the actions dictated by the main story-line (which I usually ignore). There are a lot of massive improvements brought by X3:TC and X3:AP. X3:AP is, under the hood, the most polished and well cared for game in the X3 series, however its story-line is minimal. To fix that, however you have the X3:TC story mod for X3:AP which brings TC's extensive campaign to the X3:AP improved engine & game mechanics, which I strongly recommend campaign-lovers do instead of playing X3:TC directly.

Are there still annoying bugs in both these games? Well, yes, they never seem to go away :), but that's hardly important once you get sucked into the X universe. As a former X3: Reunion player I think you'd be pleasantly surprised and mesmerized by how the series has evolved :).

Ah this is good. Someone entered. I'm happy this didn't fizzle out. A giveaway style like this needs to catch on!

Having a multicore CPU doesn't help with this game as everything is calculated on a single thread. It can be mitigated somewhat by overclocking, but flying into a Xenon sector and engaging in a massive battle will bring any current system to its knees. Maybe those guys that cool with liquid nitrogen and overclock to 7GHz can run those battles smoothly.

I remember nothing about the story. Was it really a good way to get cash in the beginning? Once familiar with the game it's typical to go straight to your favourite trade routes. I'll never forget when I first discovered that now infamous trade route in Herron's Nebula, I thought I'd stumbled upon a marvellous secret! Trade space fuel without having to leave the sector? Yes, please! I wonder if that trade route is still viable in AP? :D

Some optimizations were introduced in X3:TC and then some more in X3:AP, so it's not that bad any longer. There are occasional slow-downs you may notice during large battles, but it's not that serious any more. However I do agree with you that for getting a smooth performance you definitely need a CPU with good single-core performance, rather than one with many cores and reduced single-core performance.

From what I remember you do get some free ships during the campaign which you could then sell for money - sometimes a lot of money. It's still very viable and space fuel is still somewhat lucrative to trade in the early game, but in X3:AP at least there are a lot of other better ways to earn money and invest it besides trading/smuggling ;).

OK, now I'm just getting excited like some kind of idiot.

<Latches tractor beam onto thread and pulls it up>

Yessssssssss, recruit more victims* to the cause. >:D

*pilots! I meant pilots!

I was actually pretty tempted to enter this but I feel guilty. Getting a GoG copy would be just the push I need to get me to fire this one back up again and see how far along I could go (I put a solid month or so of playtime into it my first go around - maybe more - enough to wander the galaxy and assemble a small fleet of trading freighters that would pick up and drop off goods every minute or so LOL).

And it'd be nice to have a fully patched up version. But I already have a boxed copy of "X3 Gold" (don't remember if it includes Reunion, but it certainly has TC and Albion I think). I had actually only vaguely heard of the game on release, and it was a dedicated group of X players here that turned me on to the game - I was able to get my boxed copy pretty cheap and easy shortly after! And later it even (obviously) ended up here too, so that was nice.

I did manage to track down several official patches when I played it, so I think it was more or less up to snuff but probably not the same as a GoG installer.

But I think I'd rather someone who never played the game have a shot - maybe if you do Mark IV ;)

The owner of the Pirate Kestrel with the license plate U8MY-XOST please report to the docking bay immediately.

Please don't wave at the security camera. Distracted operators leads to undetected crime!

Less than 48 hours left for anyone still willing to sign up... or reconsider not signing up.

For now ofthenexus and Dzsono are in this incredibly exciting game of chance - both have a winning probability of 1. Yes, you heard that right: 1.

Ironically, that's the same probability I currently get for dying when trying to board a Xenon I, which shows the X3 universe is still a dangerous place even for experienced players with adequately sized fleets. Must be why I keep playing the darn thing.

Well, since no one is having any late fits of enthusiasm, I declare this third edition of the X3 giveaway closed.

As I've previously mentioned, ofthenexus and Dzsono had a very good run at defeating life's very own rule about the impossibility of absolute certainty. Still, it's not really that uncommon, considering the previous giveaways' track records. We usually only get a few participants, but in the end they're the ones that really get to appreciate the games and the journals they're writing - which was the main idea in the first place.

The winners will get their codes via PM shortly. Thanks for participating and don't forget your assignments, space cadets! I want to see those fresh journals, clean and spotless showing up in the X universe forum thread. Good luck and may the Xenon yelp at the very mention of your names.

Fantastic, thanks WinterSnowfall. congratulations Dzsono.

Congrats to the winners, and another thanks to WS for luring more meat into Xenon territory! Have fun you two, and good luck on your adventure.

This is going to be good :)

Thanks, WinterSnowfall!