X-Rebirth

I got an email recently from Egosoft about X-Rebirth. This included some details about the changes from the previous games. Some of the things I want to highlight and ruminate on:

You will only control one ship directly.

I was concerned with this idea when I first read it, but after reading it, I’m cool with it. You’ll still be able to command capital ships and fighters. You can fly small ships through VR control, which means the ship blows up, you don’t die. You don’t have to try and maneuver the behemoth capital ships, just give them orders. Should make for a nicer control experience.

Subsystem Targeting

It looks like all ships will have visible and targetable subsystems on the surface of their hull. This will allow you to target specific weapons, shield, jump drive, etc. You can also upgrade these things on your ships. Will make for a more exciting fight as you strafe along the hull of the big capital ship, taking out its weapons. I’m seeing an X-wing skimming across the surface of a Star Destroyer here.

NPC

Apparently, you will be interacting with NPC’s in person, instead of via comms. They will do most of the work for you, you’ll just give them commands that can be detailed or general. This should add a much needed element.

Boarding

In addition to NPC’s, you will also be able to board your ships. It’s unclear how much freedom to walk around you’ll have, but it talked about seeing and interacting with your crew, docking with your capital ships, etc. There was also a mention of boarding parties, so you may be able to board and seize enemy ships, but who knows how involved that will be.

True Scale

Apparently, the new fast travel system is being described as ‘high ways’. Space will be truer to real life scale and you’ll use these high ways to get places quickly. But you’ll also have the option of dropping out anywhere along the way. So instead of small spaces with jump gates, you can fly from planet to planet and explore the void in between. Not sure what will happen when you drop out in the middle of nowhere.  It almost sounds like a mix between gates and warp drive, since you’re accelerated to high speeds, but can still maneuver and stop where ever. They made specific mention of intercepting ships in the high ways.

The email with links:

• The Rebirth ‘Big Picture‘ – clarifying what Rebirth is and is not, dispelling some misconceptions.

• ‘Technology‘ – covering what technology the game uses, what the system requirements will be and what support will be available for modding and scripting.

• ‘Navigation and Universe Design‘ – describing how the new X Universe will be structured and how the player will move around compared to previous X games.

• ‘Ships and Stations‘ – clarifying much-discussed topics like the playership and capital ships and explaining how important drones will be to the overall gaming experience this time around. Also here Bernd and the team will be explaining the importance of NPCs to the player and the universe’s economy.

• ‘Building‘ – how X Rebirth adds a lot of new depth and endless possibilities to the aspect of building stations and ships.