In X3: Albion Prelude the player cannot visit planets without burning up in the atmosphere so interacts with races in the form of stations. Stations are key to the economy of the game, receiving missions and for equipping new ships. The NPC placed stations have several features that differ from player placed stations including a demand for secondary resources, NPC trading ports and equipment docks count towards demand on the Stock Exchange, ship equipment is only available at NPC stations, Solar Power Plants owned by NPCs do not require Crystals to operate and some station types cannot be built by the player (eg. shipyards).
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