Yet, while realistic, the economic system is also tedious at the start. It can take hours of trucking back and forth before enough money is saved up to buy even one little laser. Back and forth, back and forth, blah blah. It's like a talky, no-phasers episode of Star Trek. Because combat is only one aspect of life in X, the ship's controls are somewhat simple as compared to dedicated-combat sims like latter Wing Commander titles or Freespace.
Some fighting is, of course, inevitable.
Hardcore space-combat heads will probably find X slow and frustrating. But people looking for a game that takes them away to another world where they can really live, at least for a while, will enjoy X 's otherworldly immersion. I really like the idea of building a huge corporate empire just to get home.