When comparing No Man's Sky vs X3: Terran Conflict, the Slant community recommends No Man's Sky for most people. In the question“What are the best Space games on Steam?” No Man's Sky is ranked 15th while X3: Terran Conflict is ranked 18th. The most important reason people chose No Man's Sky is:
This game procedurally generates almost everything. Your spaceships are procedurally generated, so are the planets, moons, every animal on these planets, the resource nodes, trade routes, languages, etc. When discovering new species or planets, players get to rename these and leave their mark on the galaxy.
Specs
Ranked in these QuestionsQuestion Ranking
Pros
Pro Endless procedural generation
This game procedurally generates almost everything. Your spaceships are procedurally generated, so are the planets, moons, every animal on these planets, the resource nodes, trade routes, languages, etc. When discovering new species or planets, players get to rename these and leave their mark on the galaxy.
Pro Good graphics
The art style of this game is very colorful and saturated and uses hues in a way that it gives you an otherworldly feel. Graphics like these tend to remain good for a much longer time than classic 3D graphics.
Pro Massive galaxy to explore
Thanks to the fact that the entire galaxy of No Man's Sky is procedurally generated, the amount of planets to explore is almost endless. The number of planets would be 18,446,744,073,709,551,616. However, the fact that 2 players managed to find each other in game on the first day, seems to make this number quite questionable.
Pro Seamless space to planetary flight
Pro Freedom to choose how you want to play
Ally with factions, trade or just be a pirate. When trading with NPC aliens, you build up a positive reputation with the faction they belong to. Alternatively you can also be hostile and attack trade ships, or even be attacked by NPC pirate spaceships. Both can be ways to get what you need, so do whatever suits your play style.
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!
Cons
Con No clearly defined missions
The objective of the game is to ultimately reach the center of the galaxy. However, the player is completely free and unguided from the beginning. You figure it out for yourself as you start mining, crafting and upgrading your ship and gear. This game doesn't have a big story to tell.
Con Expensive
No Man's Sky is a pretty big production for an indie game as the team of devs and artists consisted of 14 people in the later stages of development. The game stands out above most indie games in size, features, technology and graphics. Along with the amount of enthusiasm from the gaming community, this has allowed the studio to set the launch price at $60 (or €60).
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.