History XUniverse / Tropes0ToF

* DefeatMeansPlayable: Pilots of fighter-class ships and freighters would sometimes bail when critically damaged in order to save their butts. The player can then exit their own ship in a spacesuit, and claim the ship to add to their fleet (or to pilot it themselves). This is the only way to acquire Pirate, Xenon, and Kha'ak ships. Unfortunately, unless outside of cheats, it's impossible to acquire [=AGI=] Task Force fighters in gameplay because of [[UnusableEnemyEquipment their AI refusing to bail out their ship]] [[GoingDownWithTheShip and would rather go down with it]] even after peddling it with continuous CherryTapping after their shields are out. . ''X3: Terran Conflict'' added [[BoardingParty marine boarding]], allowing the player to steal capital ships after draining their shields and killing the crew with a squadron of marines. By using the PlayerHeadquarters, the player can then reverse-engineer captured ships to put them in mass production.

* DefeatMeansPlayable: Pilots of fighter-class ships and freighters would sometimes bail when critically damaged in order to save their butts. The player can then exit their own ship in a spacesuit, and claim the ship to add to their fleet (or to pilot it themselves). This is the only way to acquire Pirate, Xenon, Kha'ak, and AGI Task Force ships. ''X3: Terran Conflict'' added [[BoardingParty marine boarding]], allowing the player to steal capital ships after draining their shields and killing the crew with a squadron of marines. By using the PlayerHeadquarters, the player can then reverse-engineer captured ships to put them in mass production.

* AsLongAsItSoundsForeign: The person who discovered the theory that made jump gates possible was supposedly a Japanese man named "Kazuko Ashizava". There is no "va" sound in Japanese. Not to mention that "Kazuko" is a girl's name.

* BloodSport: The Split are fond of arena deathmatchs. Taken to the next level in ''Xtended'', where the Split have created an incredibly violent version of the ''TheCannonballRun'' [[RecycledInSpace in space]]. A random set of checkpoints are given to the racers at the start of the race, and they must fly through the checkpoints. Any time a pilot doesn't fire on another race when they have the opportunity, they lose points. When the winner crosses the finish line, all the racing ships will explode after 7 seconds. Because it has such a high mortality rate, the Split have declared it the [[ItsTheBestWhateverEver best sport ever]].

*** "A Place of Sunshine": New sector distributed over {{Steam}}.

* BigBad: The Xenon in ''X: Beyond the Frontier''. The Kha'ak in ''X2'' and ''Reunion''. The Plutarch Mining Corporation in ''Albion Predule'' and ''Rebirth''.

** To a lesser extent, the way how [[AttackDrone fighter drones]] work in the X3 trilogy, the information states that only TS and TM-class freighters can carry fighter drones and is made evident in gameplay with these ships offloading them when they're under attack by hostile ships. Yet this information doesn't hold water and omits the capability of other ships to carry these drones; fighter drones can actually be carried by ships of any size as long as they're capable of carrying cargo that is higher than S-class. In other words, a ship ranging from a small interceptor to a big destroyer can carry them as long as they have space in their hold. This makes fighters drones [[DiscOneNuke Disc One Nukes]] in some sort.

** Played straight in the first two games -- most ships, planets, and stations are laid out on a two-d plane. Averted and repeatedly lampshaded in the third game.

*** In a possible case of [[TruthInTelevision Truth In Video Games]], this kind of makes sense as almost all Terran sectors are in the Solar System, and the planets are mostly on the same elliptical plane anyway. By extension, Lagrangian 'points' (stable 'places' which are suitable for constructing stations) tend to trace elliptical orbits on the same plane.
*** ''Albion Prelude'' adds varying station altitudes to the Sol System. The Asteroid Belt demonstrates why this trope can be an AcceptableBreakFromReality: they put the system's equipment dock way "below" the system ecliptic with the docking ports on the ''bottom''. And the station still has an autopilot docking corridor longer than a Commonwealth station, meaning it takes ''forever'' to dock.

* AbsentAliens: Subverted in the backstory. The only reason the Terrans didn't meet any aliens during their early explorations is that the Ancients had modified the gate system to keep the Terrans isolated.

* TheAestheticsOfTechnology: [[AvertedTrope Do not rely on what a ship looks like as a measure of how dangerous it is.]] Terran ships, despite being the most advanced ships, [[http://i.imgur.com/SyPVb.jpg don't look much more advanced than the modern Space Shuttle]] -- just a lot more clean and streamlined. This becomes particularly egregious by the time the 2900s take place, since they should already have sleeker and more visually appealing designs by then to complement their [[HumansAdvanceSwiftly sufficiently advanced technology]]. The Paranid, the second-most advanced race, on the other hand, use [[http://i.imgur.com/VG130.jpg very high-tech looking ships]] with lots of curves and shiny hulls. The Split [[FollowTheLeader follow a similar pattern]] to the Paranid by both design and technology, [[http://www.elite-games.ru/images/x3tc/ships/ss_sh_s_m3p.jpg only with more angular and spiky ends]]. Argon/[=OTAS=] ships look like sleek DieselPunk-styled craft with rusty, scorch-filled marks in their design ([[http://www.elite-games.ru/images/x3tc/ships/ss_sh_otas_m3.jpg specifically their fighters when looking like the latter part]]), despite being bought fresh out of a shipyard. The Teladi, who buy or reverse engineer all their technology from the other races and use lower tech weaponry, have [[http://i.imgur.com/Z17s7.jpg cobbled-together ships]]; in other words, they're the ugliest ships aesthetically speaking (with a few exceptions: the [[http://www.elite-games.ru/images/x3tc/ships/ss_sh_t_m3p.jpg Kea]], [[http://www.elite-games.ru/images/x3tc/ships/ss_sh_t_m5p.jpg Kestrel]], and [[http://www.elite-games.ru/images/x3tc/ships/ss_sh_t_m8.jpg Peregrine]] look surprisingly sleek among the [[UsedFuture usual Teladi design philosophy]]), [[WhatAPieceOfJunk but don't judge them by their looks alone]]: they are usually just as effective as the other race's ships. The Pirates on the other hand, use scavenged and spot-repaired ships, with their capital ships cobbled together from the hulks of old transporter ships, and it shows when you look at their stats - almost all the Pirate ships have terrible stats compared to the original race's ships. Boron ships ''look'' like they ought to be superior to everything else, but really only excel as transports.

* AllPlanetsAreEarthLike: Averted. A good number of planets in-game look Earth-ish (most likely due to the Terraformers, well, ''terraforming'' them) but plenty look and are described as fairly different -- the Boron homeworld being an aquatic planet with an ammonia-based atmosphere, for example.
** Actually, when the network was first explored by the Terrans, it was noted that there were an unusual amount of worlds that were similar to Earth. They only had small differences (geological differences, etc.), which is why Terraformers were required.

** As mentioned in AwesomeButImpractical, the Valhalla is a subversion in ''Terran Conflict'': it's so wide it clips the gate when it enters a sector, stripping it of its shields and rendering it a sitting duck for other capital ships. ''Albion Prelude'' fixed it so it warps next to the gate rather than through it.

** The FlavorText for Paranid ships states that their race-based weaponry tends them towards this trope. However, it is subverted in gameplay in which their ships don't always follow this trope and they can mount any weaponry like all other ships from other races.

* ConvenientlyClosePlanet: Partially averted by [[BlindJump Unfocused Jumpdrive]]'s [[RandomlyGeneratedLevels Sectors]]; they never contain planets, but almost always have star, even if if you are in the intergalactic void. And even then, there is always an AsteroidThicket ready to be [[AsteroidMiners mined]], often rich of [[{{Unobtainium}} Nividium]]. Likely to be guarded by random enemy ships. (Though, it might be possible that the drive locks on masses.)

* CrewOfOne: One man scout ships? Sure. Corvettes the size of a large yacht? No problem! Battleships that are 5 kilometers long? Piece of cake; I don't need a crew! The player never needs a crew on any of his ships (save for Sector and Universe traders, which still has just one pilot), though this is averted for the AI - if you open a comm channel with an AI corvette, frigate, destroyer, or carrier, you'll get a list of names, such as the Captain and navigation officer.

* CriticalExistenceFailure: Averted in ''X2: The Threat'' and later games. Once the shields go down, the ship starts taking damage to the hull. When hull integrity goes below ~85%, the ship starts to lose speed, and upgrades and weapons randomly break.

* DesignItYourselfEquipment: Subverted. You don't actually get to see the equipment you've installed in your ship other than the guns. You can, however, give custom paint jobs to your ship in the PlayerHeadquarters. The only ships you can't give a color makeover to are Boron ships, thanks to their organic construction.

** This is easily subverted when the player realizes that the trader start is the best for a fighter character. It gives you a light freighter you're supposed to trade with and a light fighter to defend yourself, but if you sell the freighter you'll get enough money to kit out the fighter and arm it to the teeth. Then you start looking for medium pirate fighters to capture and resell, and before you know it you're sitting in an M3+ superheavy fighter.

* EasyLogistics:
** Hyper-averted. Your ships ''will'' run out of ammunition, ''will'' run out of jumpdrive fuel, and they ''will'' run out of missiles.
** Played straight with actual spaceship fuel. No one ever needs to refuel, though the ships clearly don't have any ReactionlessDrive and leave behind an exhaust trail.
** The actual commodity known as "space fuel", is, in fact, an illegal alcoholic drink. [[DamnYouMuscleMemory A new player may easily be stalked by the police for accidentally salvaging it from a destroyed pirate ship without knowing]]. Actual spaceship fuel is nowhere to be found; the series enforces this trope by giving all ships an unlimited amount of fuel (matter/antimatter for Terran ships according to the literature, but left unspecified for Commonwealth ships).

** Argon Federation and Boron Kingdom.
*** To be specific, the Argon government is a parliamentary democracy where every station and planet gets a senator. The Argon are led by a president or prime minister (the games use the first title, the ''X-Encyclopedia'' uses the second).
*** The Boron are a [[TheKingdom constitutional monarchy]]/parliamentary democracy hybrid not unlike the United Kingdom: the queen is a figurehead for the parliament.
** The Terrans may also qualify, but their xenophobia might also make them a subversion.

* FixedForwardFacingWeapon: All fighters and corvettes and every frigate except the Panther has these, usually putting their [[WaveMotionGun most powerful weapons]] there. Averted in [=M1s=] and [=M2s=].

* FrictionlessReentry: Averted, surprisingly enough. Planets in the games aren't just backdrops, but physical objects with atmospheres and all, and you can actually reach them in a ship if they're not on the other side of the InvisibleWall.[[note]]Though it takes a while; see SciFiWritersHaveNoSenseOfScale below.[[/note]] However, ships in the X-Universe are not meant for atmospheric flight, and will burn up. The planet in Split Fire has gotten some notoriety for this, as the atmosphere starts about 1 kilometer behind one of the jumpgates.

* ChargedAttack: The Incendiary Bomb Launcher, Photon Pulse Cannon, Point Singularity Projector, and the Ion Cannon are all already very powerful capital ship weapons to begin with, but all of them have the ability to be charged up [[ForMassiveDamage for even greater damage]], [[AwesomeButImpractical at the cost of significantly high energy drain]] and [[HeroTrackingFailure aiming difficulty]].

* ConvenientlyClosePlanet: Partially averted by [[BlindJump Unfocused Jumpdrive]]'s [[RandomlyGeneratedLevels Sectors]]; they never contain planets, but almost always have star, even if if you are in the intergalactic void. And even then, there is always an AsteroidThicket ready to be [[AsteroidMiners mined]], often rich of [[Unobtainium Nividium]]. Likely to be guarded by random enemy ships. (Though, it might be possible that the drive locks on masses.)

* ConvenientlyClosePlanet: Partially averted by [[BlindJump Unfocused Jumpdrive]]'s [[RandomlyGeneratedLevels Sectors]]; they never contain planets, but almost always have star, even if if you are in the intergalactic void. And even then, there is always an AsteroidTicket ready to be [[AsteroidMiners mined]], often rich of [[Unobtanium Nividium]]. Likely to be guarded by random enemy ships. (Though, it might be possible that the drive locks on masses.)

* TheComputerShallTauntYou: Attacking enemy ships will make them taunt you, [[SuicidalOverconfidence even if you're in a carrier and they are in a M5 scout ship]]. The Xenon and the Kha'ak, however, do not take any time at all taunting their opponents, [[OmnicidalManiac given their reputation]].

* TheComputerShallTauntYou: Attacking enemy ships will make them taunt you, [[SuicidalOverconfidence even if you're in a carrier and they are in a M5 scout ship]]

*** The [[SpacePirates Pirate]] version adds roughly 30 more m/s than the standard version, making it the fastest pilotable armed ship and the third fastest overall in the game.
** The two fastest ships in the game, Starburst and Arrow, aren't even ''meant'' to fight -- they are completely unarmed. They have shields, but they might as well not -- good luck hitting something this tiny going at 1000+ meters per second.

* ColorCodedArmeies: The Color-Coded Indicators variant. All ships visible on the screen are enclosed by square angles, with the ship class' icon placed above the upper-left angle. Stations don't have the icon on-screen, but they have double-lined angles. On map, ships are indicated by the class icon, while stations have large icons enclosed by the double-lined square angles. Now, ships have color-coded icons and angles, while station are coded by the angles. Player is green, enemies are red, and neutral are blue.

* ClownCar / ClownCarBase: The player's headquarters and a few of the trading stations have room for a ''potentially unlimited'' amount of fighters. And thanks to how the out-of-sector battle simulation works, a couple hundred scout ships bought with (end-game level) pocket change can keep the station safe from heavy invaders with little attrition costs. Some stations are ''far'' larger than the large freighter that built them - build almost any Terran station and it'll dwarf the ship that assembled it. With a [[UnnecessarilyLargeVessel Terran Military Outpost]], a single component of the station will be larger than the largest large freighter in the game.

* BigBad: The Xenon in ''X: Beyond the Frontier''. The Kha'ak in ''X2'' and ''Reunion''.

** The Xenon are pretty much the [[BattlestarGalactica Cylons]], except that they are faceless and had [[TurnedAgainstTheirMasters turned on their creators]] [[AIIsACrapshoot by means of a faulty software patch]] instead of [[UnwittingInstigatorOfDoom a person goading them to become self-sufficient]].

* FlechetteStorm: The Fragmentation Bomb Launcher use flechettes to damage targets.

** The Split are the X-Universe's version of the [[Franchise/StarTrek Klingons]]. Also, their culture is reminiscent of the [[BattleTech Clans]].

** [[spoiler: Aldrinite]] ships also qualify thanks to their prototypical (but rather inferior) versions of Terran guns.

** Kha'ak craft take directed-energy weaponry to one extreme with their (near) HitScan Kyon Emitters. While this makes them terribly effective against missiles (especially if they aren't of the [[RecursiveAmmo Swarm variety]]) and any craft below M7-class, they don't rely on any weaponry other than their own, they don't scale well against the bigger capital ships, and the shielding and hull strength of Kha'ak ships are so painfully below average that they can easily be defeated by a concentrated assault of [[MacrossMissileMassacre missile barrages]] and [[WaveMotionGun Wave Motion Guns]]. Or, better yet, [[AttackDrone fighter drone]] [[ZergRush swarms]].

* EarlyBirdCameo: One forum member developed a software capable to visualize 3D models and stats of Ships, Stations and Missiles (and even some Easter Eggs) from X2 to X3. If you look at the Terran Conflict files, you can find the Heavy Fighter ''Aamon Prototype'' and the Super-Destroyer ''Valhalla''. Those ships are not used in that game, but actually appear in the ''Albion Predule'' {{Mission Pack Sequel}}. It's also possibile to create these ships in-game using the [[LevelEditor Galaxy Editor]].

* ChainLightning: The Ion Disruptor will arc between multiple ships and deal shield damage to all of them, provided the ships are within a kilometer of each other and are somewhat lined up. It's also the best way to deal with enemy [[MacrossMissileMassacre missile spam]], as the lightning effectively instagibs missiles and can arc between them. Beware its ability to make the local police angry as hell with friendly fire, as it doesn't distinguish between friendly or enemy targets. The Ion Pulse Generator is essentially the Ion Disruptor scaled to corvette-size [[CoolButInefficient but drains far more energy when used and is inefficient in most situations]].