Questions from an X3 player.

[Sir Protagonist]

Hello all! Found this game, and ive been really enjoying it so far! I do have some questions, in particular some that may have been answered before. As the space sim ive played the longest, some of these are going to be from my experience from that game, but the one im most curious about is secrets right now.

Would there be a good way to go about searching for them, aside from going into each sector and looking around by hand. I would rather be able to discover them by myself, but still some tools to find them would be nice.

Secondly, are nebula's dangerous? I enter them for mining operations, and my computer basically says "Why are you even here?!" although i have been in them for a little bit, i have not noticed any side effects, aside from a fear that I may be struck by lightning (Which I would be very impressed by if that actually could happen)

Thirdly, (Even though I am no where even close to this in the game) if i set up some manufacturing complexes, will the NPC ships come in to trade, or will i need to manually sell stuff that the stations produce?

and fourthly, and quite possibly the most rookie question, how do I actually go to other systems, I cant really see a way out of Pearl.

Thanks in advance to anyone who could answer my questions (hopefully someday ill actually be good at this game )

[Sinbad]

Hi Sir Protagonist, welcome to Evochron!

I'll try to answer your questions as follows...

1. Searching/exploring can be carried in out in several ways

1. Ask NPC pilots for info. Sometimes you get coordinates for secret locations.
2. Visit points of interest on the Nav map, and watch for any purple blips on radar... who knows, you may find a beacon with some clues.
3. Do the quests in SP.
4. Use one or more of the exploration tool mods created by other players. You can find them on Seejay's website.
5. Hire a crew, kit out your ship, and choose a random direction to fly in... eventually you'll find something.
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   2. Nebulas aren't dangerous per se. But some nebulas interfere with jump drives, leaving you with a long way to go to get out again. Those same nebulas also interfere with missile lock targeting. But it would be interesting if some nebulae were dangerous for radiation exposure or chemical corrosion of hull plating
   
   3. Yes. When you build a station, other NPC ships will start using it for trade. In that way you can affect the economy of the local area.
   
   4. Look around on the Nav map for the purple icons. Those are the jump gates to other system. (You'll probably need to zoom out the Nav map to locate them).
   
   Hope that helps

[Marvin]

You can actually scout the gated star systems by opening the Navigation map, selecting the Quadrant button, and then right-clicking over any of the systems. You will automatically zoom in on the chosen system. To get back to your own system, use the button near the bottom (IIRC, it's called "Center" ... 'though I could be wrong). Note: scouting star systems this way will show you the planets, moons, etc ... but not any stations or cities.