History YMMV / X

* BetterOffSold: Most of the ships/weapons/items you sometimes obtain tend to fall under this. Examples include the [[JokeCharacter Teladi Vulture]], any abandoned ship whether or not it was piloted, the Fragmentation Bomb Launcher, any dumbfire missile that isn't the Tornado, [[{{Unobtainium}} and Nividium]].

** ''Rebirth'' has an elaborate and highly modifiable ship the player can fly - but in order to switch the emphasis on the ''Albion'', they removed the ability to fly other ships in the game. This had been a staple of the series since the days of ''X-Tension'' - indeed the addition of other fliable ships was, at the time, hailed as a massive improvement over ''Beyond the Frontier'' - and many players did ''not'' take its omission well. Cue a lot of angry flaming and a big split between players who thought the new gameplay style deserved a chance and those who decried the choice as completely nonsensical.

** The Xenon "LX" heavy fighter. While it isn't as common as the M and is a tad slower, it has turret coverage in both the front and rear arcs that can easily swat out non-swarm missiles. Meanwhile, it's got the same Pulsed Beam Emitters as any other Xenon craft not an N which makes the [=LX=] dangerous for any non-M7 craft. Players try to [[CherryTapping Cherry Tap]] it in hopes of capturing the fighter for personal use, as it is one of the better M3+ craft around.

** Any ship with a Plasma Burst Generator. They're nigh-impossible to dodge, fire quickly, and burn through shields and hull in seconds (unless you're flying an M7 or higher). At least the weapon is incompatible with Xenon craft, which were already dangerous to begin with (otherwise they'll become even more dangerous than they really are).
** Kha'ak ships M6 and above. Their ultrafast laser beams can do quite a number on even an M2-class ship and they can easily one-shot non-swarm missiles. Your best bet is to take an M7(M) or better if you want to deal with these bad boys.
*** Only if your idea of an M2 is a Split Python or similar. The Terran Osaka can take on multiple Kha'ak [=M2s=] at once and come out none the worse for wear.

** The "auto-pillock" is ArtificialStupidity in ship guidance.
*** "Bug-splatting" is a subtype where an NPC freighter doesn't turn soon enough to avoid an oncoming capital ship and runs right into it.

* NightmareFuel: The Xenon, if you think about it. Imagine a robotic race that only has one desire: to completely rid the universe of all organic life. They do not breathe. They do not eat, sleep or anything like that. They do not care about resources. They do not even ''think'', they act purely on instinct. Their sole purpose is to kill, kill, and kill, until nothing remains. ''Terran Conflict'' shows that the Xenon have been expanding exponentially since the first game, even without the help of jump gates; their expansion has been increasing faster and faster, and now they possess fleets in the dark space between galaxies. The Xenon's exponential expansion is one of the factors that led to the PortalNetwork [[EndOfAnAge being shut down]] after ''Albion Prelude''. See what happens when you don't double-check your bugs in the software before implementing them? Essentially, ''[[IdiotPlot the entire plot]]'' of almost all the ''X-Universe'' games (X2 is an exception) is due to the Terrans' incompetence of troubleshooting a faulty software update and not having the proper decency to test it out before implementing it on their terraforming robotic fleet. What should have been an easily preventable problem turned into one of mankind's biggest and most inexcusable mistakes in history that only got worse as time went by, not at all aided by their xenophobic paranoia.

* TierInducedScrappy:
** The Teladi Vulture. The basic model has only 50 MJ of shields, it's the second slowest TS class overall, and has only mediocre cargo space. You'd think the setting's ProudMerchantRace would build a better freighter...
** To a lesser extent the Boron Dolphin, for being slower than molasses in January. On the flip side, it's extremely durable and the Super Freighter XL model has the second largest cargo bay of any TS.
** Continuing on the low-tier spectrum, the Boron Manta and the Paranid Hermes are two of the slowest [=TPs=] in their class (the former being 110 m/s and the latter 105 m/s respectively). Time is everything when doing the Marine/Passenger Transport missions and, even with Jumpdrives installed, these two craft are just not cut out to perform these missions.
** Then there's the Teladi Kea (not including the [[SuperPrototype Enhanced variant]], which is slightly better than its standard version in every category). Dreadfully slow by M3+ and even Teladi standards (a lumbering 104 m/s), this heavy fighter is treated as nothing more than CannonFodder by other ships.
** Ditto for the [[SpacePirates Pirate version]] of the Argon Nova, with even worse speed than the Kea (97 m/s) and an even weaker gun generator, thus making it even more CannonFodder.
** All variants of the Teladi Buzzard, due to their poor performance as [=M4=] vessels. The Pirate versions drastically improve on their shortcomings, but still suffer from weak energy gun generators that befall almost every Teladi vessel.
** In a rather bizarre way, the Mistral Super Freighter, the only TS to beat the Dolphin SFXL for cargo space and shielding. However, a fully equipped Mistral SF will run you two-million-plus, and considering that under AI control it won't make effective use of its cargo space (except when moving high-volume cargo like energy cells and minerals) most veterans don't consider it worth the price tag.
** On the other end of the scale, the Osaka and Boreas destroyers get some hate for being functionally indestructible in player hands in TC. In AP missile frigates can counter them thanks to their AI now working properly.
** Terran and ATF ships in general. They get bashed for having some of the [[LightningBruiser best equipment]] the games have to offer and yet start off having a ''really'' [[ArtisticLicenseEconomics awful economy]] for their ships. Not only that, [[CripplingOverspecialization but their fighters have a damning lack of fast hitting weapons]] to ward off [[GoddamnedBats M5 scout ships]], making them practically helpless in fighting them unless the scouts start flying in a predictably straight pattern towards them. Also, save for the overwhelmingly powerful [=M7M=] Skirnir missile frigate, their regular frigates also lack a frigate-class gun, making them glorified anti-fighter vessels and impotent capital ship killers unless they're regularly equipped with the Wraith missile; this solves the latter issue since the Wraith is essentially a watered down version of the Shadow missile specifically carried by the Skirnir.
*** The Terran Cutlass, their M3+, is an exception, more than fast enough to dogfight with regular [=M3s=], mounting turrets to help it deal with [=M5s=], and shielded enough to work as an attack fighter against capital ships. Still expensive and hard to equip, but it works wonders as a carrier fighter.

* ThatOneComponent: The questline to reactivate the Hub--an extremely useful megastructure that can be inserted between up to three pairs of jumpgates to create shortcuts across the PortalNetwork-- in ''Terran Conflict'' requires the PlayerCharacter to deliver, among other things, a total of 75,500 Microchips, a relatively rare VendorTrash item that is basically impossible to get enough of by just relying on the {{NPC}}s. Completing the questline in a timely manner requires the PC to build entire dedicated, fully self-sufficient Microchip manufacturing complexes comprising dozens of stations linked together, costing over 100 million credits apiece before you even consider buying and upgrading freighters to run the cargo. On the upside, by the end of the questline, the PC will have cornered several commodities markets by default and be swimming in money.

** "Pirate Alley", also called the "Pirate Highway", is a cluster of [[SpacePirate pirate]] sectors in the northwest region of the universe map in ''X3''.[[labelnote:Specifically]]Farnham's Legend, Bala Gi's Joy, Olmancketslat's Treaty, Split Fire, Brennan's Triumph, Danna's Chance, Nopileos' Memorial, and Hatikvah's Faith[[/labelnote]] Fleets clash there all the time, and scooping up {{random drop}}s is a good source of income in the early game.

* UncannyValley: The Argon race portraits frequently dip down into the valley, and the Terran portraits to a lesser extent.

** "Ship computer control transferred." Translation: "Yay! New ship!" Good when it's a bigger ship than what you've got, or a transport ship when you're looking to get in on trading. [[VendorTrash Still good if it's smaller as you could always just sell it at the nearest shipyard.]]

** The Fragmentation Bomb Launcher sounds like a dangerous weapon. It's [[SpaceIsNoisy loud]] and produces a pretty explosion. But it burns weapons energy fast, and unless you manage to hit the target ''before'' it detonates and produces its FlechetteStorm, you're not going to hit anything smaller than a corvette. To make matters worse, the FlechetteStorm has no actual [[AreaOfEffect AoE]] damage due in part of a programmer's oversight. Its only saving grace is its price tag: as VendorTrash a salvaged or manufactured FBL will net you roughly a quarter of a million credits.

** The Concussion Impulse Generator ''sounds'' like it can deal a lot of damage, but in reality, it's merely a scaled up corvette-sized version of the High Energy Plasma Thrower. The difference is that it has a terribly low rate of fire, and its improved range hardly matters when it uses up more energy than the HEPT. [[VendorTrash It's better off sold as a commodity in any space equipment dock]]. However, it is entertaining watching fighter craft being spun wildly out of control by the concussive shots. [[ItAmusedMe Or by using it to push freighters into each other]]. However, it does make a pretty good all-purpose weapon for frigates, which have the reactor strength to power it. That is, unless you're flying a Teladi Shrike or Xenon Q, both whom have terrible generators to recharge their weapons. ''Albion Prelude'' buffed all M6 weapon generators so they are much more practical there.