PS - If you're interested in modding your game, which is what many people do, you don't have to be limited to an either/or situation concerning gameplay 'features.' Many mods add many of AP's gameplay features to X3TC. And, there are hostile aliens to contend with, too, and some of those are very powerful. In X3TC, certain races will launch border attacks on others. That isn't saying that X3TC doesn't have faction hostilities,though. If you play for awhile and notice you'd like more large-scale fleet combat action (A LOT), the restart and play X3AP. There will be a lot more combat and more combat opportunites as well as a new story-plot revolving around the war. What this means for a new player is that X3AP is a tougher game if you're starting as a Human or Argon. There are new routines for generating AI Response Fleets that will respond to hostile incursions into their territory, as well. It also added a general war between Humans and Argons and some faction adjustments. IMO, AP brings a few things to the table, like revamped combat mechanics for In-Sector (Where the player is) and Out-of-Sector (Where other ships, like player-owned ships and stations, might be at any given moment.) It added a 'Stock Exchange' sort of system, too, which is just a way of making large amounts of money, fast. In my time playing, I find TC to be a more 'safe' universe, allowing you to agress when you want to instead of being forced to fight the highly repetitive stalemate that is the Argon-Terran war in AP.Both games are the same as AP essentially uses the same X universe with a few new ships sprinkled here and there as well as entirely new plots.ĪP is an expansion for X3TC that merges seemlessly with the game. However, they are not entirely eliminated as this game is notorious for very long and tedious missions that will require many ships and stations.īut TC does not, by any means, lack combat. In AP, the indroduction of stock exchanges makes it ridiculously easy to make tons of money, so you no longer need to rely on large trade fleets and complexes as much as you would in TC in order to generate income. Not to mention, OOS and IS combat greatly affects playing experience and leaves a lot to be desired. You also cannot start a game in TC and load it in AP, and vice versa.ĪP is mostly based around combat, although according to some it gets stale and annoying after a few hundred hours if you haven't completed the plot necessary to ending the Argon-Terran war. TC's story and AP's story are quite different and hardly lead to one another imo so it doesnt necessarily matter which one you start on.

To get the full story in each game would take many hundreds of hours, depending on your pace and experience.

Terran conflict vs albion prelude