History XUniverse / TropesSToZ

* SpaceFlecks: In X3, which also features a variation in which star flecks are accompanied by region-themed clumps of other stuff, such as red nebula gas.

** Stations pop out fully-built from TL ships - and always ''exactly'' where the player orders it built, regardless of distance. Cheap factories like Wheat Farms are commonly used to "station-bomb" enemy capital ships - by building the station ''inside'' the enemy.
** Because gates both receive and send ships through the same portal, one can easily wipe out entire squadrons of Pirates or race ships as they enter or leave a gate, by ordering a capital ship to jump through the gate right before the targets cross the event horizon, causing the ship to go barreling through the gate and telefrag anything in its way. ''Terran Conflict'' (thankfully) made this more difficult, as smaller ships approach from the rim of the gate rather than the center.

* TheShepherd: Most of the more senior forumgoers. ''X'', especially the later games, is a complicated and time-consuming series with iffy documentation and players don't forget their noob periods.

* SequelDifficultyDrop:
** The "main" game start in each game has gotten progressively easier (or less EarnYourFun, depending on who you talk to). ''Beyond the Frontier'' starts you off in a painfully slow ship with no weapons or shields, ''The Threat'' starts you off in an upgraded Argon Discoverer scout ship, ''Reunion'' starts you off in a somewhat upgraded Argon Buster interceptor ship, ''Terran Conflict'' starts you off in either a Terran Sabre interceptor or an Argon Elite advanced interceptor. ''Albion Prelude'' starts you off in an Argon Enhanced Nova, and gives you a free 9 million credit corvette within the first hour of the plot.
** Never mind the Enhanced Nova. The Terran start in ''Albion Prelude'' starts you off in a Katana corvette. However, it should be noted that both Terran and Argon military starts are meant for players that want to quickly jump into action, without lengthy buildup. There are additional starting profiles that start with the [[EarlyGameHell traditional piss-poor characters in a crappy ship]].

** Or, you can invert this trope and use it as your personal fighter like some players do. After all, compared to other heavy fighters, it's very fast, heavily shielded, and has a large cargobay. Not to mention the compatibility with the [[HitScan Pulsed Beam Emitter]].

* ThemeNaming: Some ships in ''X3'' have names of swords. Others use names from Earth mythology, biology, or geography. The full list of naming conventions is as follows:

** Argon (Other humans): Fighters appear unthemed; [[ReligiousAndMythologicalThemeNaming Greek mythology]] for capitals (but not those used by Paranid) e.g. Colossus, Minotaur; {{Stellar Name}}s for some ships (e.g. Eclipse, Magnetar)

** Split: [[AnimalThemeNaming Predators]] e.g. Python, Tiger

** The major powers themselves: Argon, Boron, Xenon.

*** Kha'ak: Pointy things (Sting, Needle and Thorn), referencing their insectoid nature.
*** Terran: [[ReligiousandMythologicalThemeNaming Mythological ghostly beings]] (Poltergeist, Ghoul, Spectre, Phantom and Wraith), with the exception of the Shadow (which anyway could refer to a LivingShadow).

* TeleportersAndTransporters: A couple different varieties. The PortalNetwork allows interstellar travel. Meanwhile, ships can be equipped with a Transporter Device that allows you to transfer people and cargo from one ship to another (provided they're no more than five kilometers apart) without needing to dock both ships at a station. X4 takes this even further, allowing the player to teleport to ships in other star systems.

** In German, the sector "President's End" is named "[[Literature/{{Foundation}} Trantor]]"

* StandardTimeUnits: Time is measured in Sezuras (1.7 seconds) Mizuras (96 Sezuras; 2 minutes and 43 seconds) Stazuras (96 Mizuras; 4 hours and 21 minutes) Tazuras (7 Stazuras; 1.27 days) Wozuras (7 Tazuras; 8.89 days) Mazuras (7 Wozuras; 62.23 days) and Jazuras (8 Mazuras; 1.36 years). Many players did not like this, so X3: ''Reunion'' has a ratio to the Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) units used in RealLife.
** In ''Terran Conflict'', the "-zura" based system was dropped in favor of Earth time units.

** [[AllThereInTheManual The Encyclopedia]] mentions that the Ancients cut off aliens that are starfish to each other, presumably for their own safety. One species known as the "Won" is given as an example; apparently somewhat close to Earth, but completely cut-off from the jumpgate network due to being utterly incompatible with all other forms of life. Their reasoning turns out to be well-founded: the Kha'ak slipped through the Ancients' safeguards by unexpectedly inventing jumpdrives, and [[GuiltFreeExterminationWar look how well that turned out]].
* StarfishLanguage[=/=]TheUnpronounceable: "Boron" bears no relation whatsoever to what the species actually calls itself. That would be kind of difficult when you consider that the Boron language [[StarfishLanguage consists mostly of clicks and pheromones]]. Similarly humans can only approximate Paranid words because our vocal structures are different. The Split are close enough physiologically to humans that we can speak the spoken language, but the sign language that complements it requires six digits on each hand.
* StarterEquipment: The different game starts available from ''X3: Reunion'' and later games change your default starting ship, gear, and reputation. Typically, you're given either a M5 scout ship, M4 interceptor, or a TS small freighter, along with a small amount of credits, a few guns, and poor or neutral reputation with the various races. ''Terran Conflict'' offers a few better-equipped starts, such as the Bankrupt Assassin, who starts off with a M3 fighter, or the Terran Defender, who gets a M4+ heavy interceptor. ''Albion Prelude'' goes even more extreme, with Terran start start off with ''an M6 and 200k credit in bank''.

** Your wingman at the end of ''X2: The Threat'', who rams the Kha'ak doomsday weapon to destroy it. All well and good, except that his kamikaze run doesn't seem quite as noble when you've got three capital ships, laden with multiple {{Wave Motion Gun}}s and entire squadrons of fighters, sitting in firing range.

** Saya Kho's destruction of the Torus - the colossal ring station around the entirety of Earth - in Albion Prelude intro may arguably fall into this category from a political standpoint. The Argon and Terrans are locked into a cold war with localized conflicts. The Torus was a hybrid military and civilian installation, providing defence for Earth, but it did not threaten Argon interests directly. Blowing it up constitutes something between Hiroshima bombing and 9/11 in space, as it had a staggeringly high casualty rate among both military and civilian personnel, not to mention those killed by debris falling to Earth. Naturally, this incident became the spark for a full scale war. Saya Kho is previously portrayed in the series as a reasonable person and is said to show remorse for the deed (she could evacuate the Torus in time but chose not to), but no justification is provided for her deed.
* SubspaceAnsible: In addition to allowing starship travel, the jumpgate network acts like a subspace ansible, allowing lightspeed radio signals to travel across the galaxy fast enough for real time communication. (This is mainly because a sector's gates [[SciFiWritersHaveNoSenseOfScale are rarely more than 100 kilometers apart]].) The fact that this is not true FTL communication becomes a plot point: after the gate network shuts down following ''X3: Albion Prelude'', interstellar communication in real time becomes impossible and all organized interstellar governments in the X-Universe[[note]]except the Earth State, whose population is mainly confined to the Sol System[[/note]] break up instantly.

* SuppressedHistory: the Argon Federation erased all records of the period prior to 0 Argon Stardate (2170 AD) and presumably created a new history to replace it, in order to keep anyone from leading [[AIIsACrapshoot the Xenon]] back to Earth. Earth eventually became a fairy tale kept alive by the Goners, a pacifist fringe sect, who were proved right in ''VideoGame/XBeyondTheFrontier'' when a [[PlayerCharacter Terran test pilot]] suffered a jumpdrive malfunction and landed in the X-Universe.

* TeleportersAndTransporters: A couple different varieties. The PortalNetwork allows interstellar travel. Meanwhile, ships can be equipped with a Transporter Device that allows you to transfer people and cargo from one ship to another (provided they're no more than five kilometers apart) without needing to dock both ships at a station.
* TeleportSpam: Possible in the ''Xtended Terran Conflict'' mod for... Terran Conflict. Battleships / Motherships (M2+) mount Point-To-Point jumpdrives, which lets them jump anywhere in a sector after 10 seconds of charging. This allows players with enough energy cells to jump in circles around enemy ships, whittling them down while taking almost no damage.

* TheTheocracy: The Paranid Empire is ruled by one Priest-Emperor Xaar, with each Paranid settlement having its own priest-duke.

* TooAwesomeToUse: The Xperimental Shuttle is available in ''Terran Conflict''. It's one of very few ships that cannot be reverse engineered at the Player HQ. You'll fly it around the universe once, then park it someplace safe and never touch it again.

* TranslationConvention: All the races speak in a version of Japanese (it's backwards), but the player hears them as English (or whatever language they have selected).
* TronLines: Pirate Buzzards have orange neon lights lining the hull panels.

* UnexpectedGameplayChange: The starship race course in ''X3: Reunion's'' plot, which in early versions was extremely buggy and difficult. As of the final patch, it's still a pain in the ass because the {{NPC}}s are [[TheComputerIsACheatingBastard able to fly the course flawlessly every time]]. ''Reunion'' also has an on-rails mission set on a planet, where the player uses a hilariously overpowered cannon to blast ships chasing them through a futuristic city.

* UniversalDriversLicense: The player character from ''Xtension'' and beyond are capable of piloting almost anything they come across, be it a tiny scout ship, MileLongShip.

*** ''VideoGame/XRebirth'' reveals that Nividium is just a fancy space word for... platinum.

* VideoGameLongRunners: Counting the currently unreleased ''X Rebirth'', seven games spanning a decade and a half.

* TimeSkip: ''X2: The Threat'' takes place in 2934, 22 years after ''X: Beyond the Frontier'', set in 2912. ''X3: Reunion'' is set a year after ''X2''. ''Terran Conflict'' is in 2938, three years after ''Reunion''. ''Albion Prelude'' is set in 2946, 8 years after ''TC''. ''VideoGame/XRebirth'' is set 27 years after ''AP'', in 2973, and ''X4 Foundations is set 22 years after, in 2995.

* TimeSkip: ''X2: The Threat'' takes place 22 years after ''X: Beyond the Frontier''. ''X3: Reunion'' is set a year after ''X2''. ''Terran Conflict'' is three years after ''Reunion''. ''Albion Prelude'' is just over a decade after ''TC''. ''VideoGame/XRebirth'' is a millennium after ''AP''.

* WelcomeToCorneria: Non-plot [=NPCs=] regardless of race usually have one or two lines to communicate with the player when hostile. This can get [[DarthWiki/MostAnnoyingSound rather annoying]] when you keep hearing the same lines over again when you attack them, especially if they're flying a capital ship and you keep pouring shots at them until they die.

* WelcomeToCorneria: Non-plot [=NPCs=] regardless of race usually have one or two lines to communicate with the player when hostile. This can get [[MostAnnoyingSound rather annoying]] when you keep hearing the same lines over again when you attack them, especially if they're flying a capital ship and you keep pouring shots at them until they die.

* StandardTimeUnits: Time is measured in Sezuras (1.7 seconds) Mizuras (96 Sezuras; 2 minutes and 43 seconds) Stazuras (96 Mizuras; 4 hours and 21 minutes) Tazuras (7 Stazuras; 1.27 days) Wozuras (7 Tazuras; 8.89 days) Mazuras (7 Wozuras; 62.23 days) and Jazuras (8 Mazuras; 1.36 years). Many players [[InternetBackdraft did not like this]], so X3: ''Reunion'' has a ratio to the Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) units used in RealLife.

* SuperPersistentMissile: [[CaptainObvious Unless they're of the unguided dumbfire variety]], missiles will ''always'' continue to pursue their targets, so long as they have fuel. The only way to stop a missile is to shoot it down or outrun it. Missile Frigates fire especially long-ranged missiles which are RoboTeching, [[RecursiveAmmo recursive]], and will target new enemies upon the destruction of their original target; which can lead to fighter craft spinning around wildly, attempting to avoid the hundreds of missiles spinning around them furiously and attempting to out-turn the fighter.

* SuperPrototype: "Prototype" ships in ''Terran Conflict'' and ''Albion Prelude'' are almost always superior in almost every way to the standard production models. They can only be gained by capturing them, or by doing plots (such as the Corporation missions). Their rarity and power are usually handwaved as being too costly for mass production. In practice, despite their rarity, they actually can be reverse-engineered in the PlayerHeadquarters, contrary to what most players think. The only problem after reverse-engineering these ships is the humongous amount of resources needed to produce a single ship, and depending on the ship, it will take about more than a full day ''in real time'' to both reverse-engineer and construct it.

* SpaceNavy: The Terran United Space Command and the AGI Task Force, its special forces equivalent.

* XMeetsY: Gameplay is typically described as "''VideoGame/{{Freelancer}}'' [[note]]You actually pilot your ship, emphasis on side missions, silly physics[[/note]] meets ''VideoGame/EVEOnline'' [[note]]being able to pilot any ship in the game, emphasis on the economy, SceneryPorn[[/note]] meets ''VideoGame/{{Elite}}''[[note]]WideOpenSandbox trading and combat.[[/note]]" -- though the ''X-Universe'' series predates both ''VideoGame/{{Freelancer}}'' and ''VideoGame/EVEOnline''.

* TryAndFollow: A decent pilot with a small enough ship can invoke this trope. Simply fly through tight gaps in space stations (the bigger the station, the better), or (if the opportunity presents itself) make like Han Solo in ''TheEmpireStrikesBack'' and fly through an AsteroidThicket. The AI's collision avoidance software will force your pursuers to give the obstacles a wider berth, while you open the gap.

* SuicidalOverconfidence: Any ship will attack you if you shoot it, even if you're in a superheavy prototype fighter and they're a tiny scout craft whose weapons caress your armor more than they hurt it. This can scale up to hilarious levels, with light fighters attacking your ''capital ship''. For the Xenon and the Kha'ak, [[AttackAttackAttack it's nothing but pure instinct]]; for non-Xenon/Kha'ak pilots, they act like they want to be the biggest {{Badass}}es around [[FearlessFool by thinking they'll overcome any odds and any opposition]] while [[SmugSnake smugly]] [[TheComputerShallTauntYou taunting their opponents]] at the same time.

* TakeThat: ''Xtended Terran Conflict'''s in-universe news system has a report on a new cult of Split who believe that "The [[EveOnLine Eve]]" is coming, which will cause the collapse of all governments and cause people to begin to constantly [[ChronicBackstabbingDisorder murder and backstab each other]] with no second thought. The newscaster calls it crazy.

* SpecialEffectBranding: Every faction that builds ships does it differently.

* SpaceIsCold: ''Albion Prelude'' has a {{Steam}} achievement titled "It's Cold Outside" for forcing another pilot to eject.