Want a (complex) single player space sim, but can't wait for the big Kickstarted ones to come around?

-Then forget that scandalous, insulting heap of console-reject dung, X Rebirth. Pretend it doesn't exist, please, and get X3 Albion Prelude. Then look up and install the X Rebalance Mod, colloquially known as XRM.
This text is actually a recommendation of XRM, as it makes Albion Prelude (and Terran Conflict) an almost absurdly better game compared to the release version, and I for one will never play TC or AP un-XRMed again.

It's very important to note that X3 is a peculiar game for a peculiarly patient type of player; if you just want to pilot a fighter through a neatly structured campaign of epic missions, like Tie Fighter or Starlancer, X3 does not really deliver, unfortunately.
What X3 *does* is provide a massive sandbox full of awesome but complex toys and pretty much leaving the rest up to you, giving very little help or guidance. If you're new to it, expect to be frustrated, irritated, outraged and annoyed, in heaps, but if you're up to the struggle of getting to proper grips with it, X3 is very, very rewarding of your patience, and so far the closest you will get to a properly realised single player space-economy-sim sandbox.

-Again, don't forget to install XRM! It's still very much the same game, but so much more and better.

As a service notice, Albion Prelude is Terran Conflict with different "plots" (campaigns), slightly updated graphics, some added scripts, and a couple of new ships. They are essentially the same game, and the only reason to play TC over AP is if you prefer the plots of TC. I personally especially miss Operation Final Fury in Albion Prelude.

This has to be one of my favorite games I've ever played in vanilla. I can enjoy games like Elder Scrolls with tons of mods practically forever, but this one is great out of the box. THEN you can mod it. Mod it forever. Play it for thousands of hours, modding it as you go, and never getting bored. Plus, it's really dirt cheap when you consider the content this game brings with it.

Play as a space pirate, dogfighting your way through in tiny ships. Play as an admiral, commanding those little minnows to fight as you sit comfortably inside your armored whale of a carrier ship. Be a mercantile tycoon, sitting in tugboat corvettes pulling asteroids to your newly-built space station complexes that ruthlessly harvest all resources in a sector for maximum profitsss.

If you like the fun of having a chance to change genres on a whim while slowly clawing your way up the ladder, and reveling in how far you've come from your shoestring budget days up to buying whole solar systems, this is one of the most engaging games you can lose a whole month playing.

This is the world's premier trading simulator. Don't let anybody trick you into thinking this is about spaceships or shooting ♥♥♥♥ with lasers. This game is all about middle management of trading convoys.

Have you ever dreamed of punching time acceleration in a game to 10x then letting it run overnight instead of actually playing it? Then THIS is the game you want. Grab it whenever it goes on sale, because no true merchant pays full price.

This is Still the Pinnacle of the X-Series, It has everything you could want, and a little you dont want hehe, If your willing to take the time to learn the game and not rush it, it has thousands of hours of value.

An amazing space sandbox. Lots of interesting elements to this game. Its a shame that x-rebirth could not keep these elements. If you play EVE online, you will immediately feel right at home with this game.