When comparing X3: Terran Conflict vs Space Engineers [Early Access], the Slant community recommends Space Engineers [Early Access] for most people. In the question“What are the best Space games on Steam?” Space Engineers [Early Access] is ranked 9th while X3: Terran Conflict is ranked 18th. The most important reason people chose Space Engineers [Early Access] is:
Space Engineers makes it easy to build any items or objects making sure any skill level can easily have fun in game. All one needs to do is select what they would like to build from the menu and then choose the parts they would like to add.
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 Easy to build
Space Engineers makes it easy to build any items or objects making sure any skill level can easily have fun in game. All one needs to do is select what they would like to build from the menu and then choose the parts they would like to add.
Pro Destructible ships
Players are able to smash ships into each other with satisfying destruction physics.
Pro Prefabricated ships available in game that are modifiable
For those that do not want to build a whole ship from scratch there are prefabricated ships available upon start that are also modifiable so users can customize to their liking.
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 Servers are a "lag hell"
Due to the nature of physics simulation of custom built ships, the game requires top hardware to host the game, still making it a "lag hell" if there are more than 10 players.
Con Still not a whole lot to do
Being an early access game there is still a lot of missing features such as missions, thus leaving no much to do other than the free building mode.