What's a good place to start with on the X series for someone who's never played it?

Much appreciated mate, and it's a good offer. But as X2 is only $5 at GG, I can vote with my own money. Unless you want to gift it to me from there! I know, some people you just can't do anything nice for... ;)

Seriously though, very generous of you, and you and Licurg have convinced me a need to give X2 a chance. So thanks very much for that!

Imho the more recent games are even better. I've played them all ;). Think about it for a couple of days, the offer stands. For me GG is in euros btw :(

Ouch! Not that I seriously intend for you to buy me the games on GG anyway. But still sorry to hear they price it that way for you.

Thank you again for the offer, we'll see how I feel tomorrow. :)

what about a VM?
e: whoops sorry blotunga beat me to the idea, thats what you get posting as your back reading! will leave this as its a quote and youll end up with a notification count!

Not in front the children! Er, what does it stand for? :)

I think he meant VM... Virtual Machine

yep i did, sorry! bad typo!
sorry!

so are these worth me getting and giving them a go? Ive never tried any of them! and if so is it worth me getting the BTA ones as well?
funds are a wee bit tight so im having to be careful what i pick up lately, normally id just dive right in.

now pick to bits that sentence given the recent context of comments!

Ah, I had somewhat suspected that was your intent as well. Just wasn't sure if you were referring to an alternate type of DRM or similar that went by those initials. Yes, it's entirely possible to get around some DRM concerns using a VM, especially if you've prebuilt an appliance package that you can simply clone and drop the game in. As I say, my opposition is as much philosophical as it is practical.

And if the genre of games appeals to you, it sounds like the basic tier is worth a gamble at least. These types of games usually offer a lot of play, so if you like the product, it's good value for the money on that count.

For this price yes. Totally worth it. You can play alone with Terran Conflict for months.

Thanks! ill try find a good concise video to get a full idea. its one of those that i seem to really like but suck terribly at!

I was, terribly sorry i didnt check before i pressed post! Yeah to be fair ive only set up and spent a few hours with VMs myself, i never actually "worked" with them. oh and i understand your opinion, the idea just struck me and i thought ooo that might be an idea for you then posted in my excitement at a possible solution.

Lets see if I got this correctly. In order for Licurg (and IAmSinistar and anyone else in their shoes) to get the games from the current HWS he'd have to:
1. Register with Steam.
2. Register with Egosoft.
3. Install the Steam Client.
4. Download and install the games through the Steam client.
5. Move the game folders.
6. Download the no-cd files.
7. Install the no-cd files.
8. Uninstall the Steam client and make sure there're no left overs.
9. Play?

Putting the principle aspect aside, isn't that a little too much hassle?

EDIT: format

Basically yes. Depends on each one for himself it's too much hassle or not. The linux steam client has no malware :D, but also I'm not sure about how to run the games without linux. Anyway for me the games are worth the $6, steam or no steam. Compared to the old disc based copy protections, steam is almost bear-able...

I actually think you'll really like it (you can pretty much ignore the economy side of things - or the plot if you want) and with mods you can even start out with a big lugging cruiser or as a pirate OO AR!

definately get the non BTA at least - x3 reunion is worth a try at that price.

i actually spent a week in that just piloting a big trade tug around and enjoying the atmosphere whilst writing a short story inbetween stops.