When comparing X3: Terran Conflict vs EVE Online, the Slant community recommends EVE Online for most people. In the question“What are the best Space games on Steam?” EVE Online is ranked 14th while X3: Terran Conflict is ranked 18th. The most important reason people chose EVE Online is:
You can do anything. literally anything. You can become a massive entrepreneur and deal with billions of ISK, set up a pirate base in wormhole space, explore anomalies, build massive ships, become CEO of a player-run industrial corporation. There's tons and tons and tons of stuff. This is likely the most sandboxy of MMO sandboxes.
Specs
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Pros
Pro You can own an empire, not just a ship
You start in a small fighter or trade ship, but can own and control as many ships and stations as you care to build up, including some unique facilities tied to the story.
Pro Deep, open-ended gameplay
You can fight, build, trade, pirate - so much to do!
Pro Real freedom
You can do anything. literally anything. You can become a massive entrepreneur and deal with billions of ISK, set up a pirate base in wormhole space, explore anomalies, build massive ships, become CEO of a player-run industrial corporation. There's tons and tons and tons of stuff. This is likely the most sandboxy of MMO sandboxes.
Pro 360' freedom of movement
Up, down, left and right simply stop having a meaning when it comes to space. Making for a true space simulator in that the controls mimic how objects would behave in a real space environment.
Cons
Con Graphics look a bit dated compared to a game like Star Citizen
Con Daunting for new players
This series has a long pedigree. It has a lot of complexity that you get dropped into pretty quickly, and the plot has some quirks. If you don't mind sometimes checking out a wiki to wrap your head around something or to get unstuck, you'll be fine.
Con Spreadsheets in space
At the very core, that's what it is. You'll be looking at tons of stats, calculating % resistances and DPS. It's a paradise for math savants and economics geeks, but not so much if you just want to blow things up quickly.
The graphics are there, but combat takes place at a few kilometers at least, so you won't be ever seeing your ship and the enemys' at the same time (unless as tiny silhouettes). Which only enhances the feeling that combat is a set of dynamic spreadsheets rather than a real visceral thing.
Con On the decline
The player number is about half of what it used to be and continues to decline. The game has been around for 10 years so it's hardly a surprise.
Con Requires lots of time invested
Because of the open market thing even going out on a quick mission may require you to gear up your ship first, which takes ages as you jump across multiple stations to get the two dozen different modules required to outfit your ship.
EVE feels a lot like a second job sometimes.