Hello,
I've taken the responses from when I last refreshed and compiled Questions and Answers for easy reading. Do bear in mind, that since I last refreshed they may have answered more questions or edited some responses. I encourage you to open up the original Q&A thread and read the Questions and Answers there, if something catches your interest. Also, another note, I have trimmed out the general comments from the question. So, in a understanding perspective, I've done my best to only include the question. All EGOSOFT responses were not touched / edited. Please pardon any typos and mistakes I may have done on some people's names. This was a lot to read.
Q&A Reddit link:
https://ol.reddit.com/r/IAmA/comments/dosb0o/im_bernd_lehahn_founder_of_space_simulation_game/
Legend:
White text - Question
Green text - Egosoft Response
Sorted By Newest from 3 PM CST(-6)
Mysterial_ asks:
What is the best place to for mod authors to make suggestions/requests for additional support or functionality? Making a forum post in the mod forums seems a bit too transient especially considering it doesn't seem visited too often (understandable!) and potentially reasonable items might not be seen before they fall off.
- Bernd: It depends on what you want to achieve. The modding forum on egosoft.com would be great for discussing it with the community, but if you want direct feedback from me personally then please write a mail to [email protected]. Also I can get you in touch with the right people on our team.
Nalim27 asks:
1a. Will 3.0 introduce some significant (not just small improvement) performance boost?
1b. If none from question will be in 3.0 then do you thinking to do something similar in future versions (e.g. 4.0}?
2. Are you happy with save file format (500 MB of XML code) or do you want it to replace it by binary format, Json, or something that will have better performance and thus decreased both save and load times?
3. Will we have better economy statistics available in 3.0? For example screen with list of all free trade and mining ships with average profit? And something similar for stations?
4. Crew management system is really boring later in game, when I still must hire employees manually in first person. Will you change this part of game?
5. Are you thinking about improving faction AI significantly?
NOTE: I snipped a large part of this person's questions. If you're curious for more context here, please look at this link directly here: https://ol.reddit.com/r/IAmA/commen...ahn_founder_of_space_simulation_game/f5q6mhv/
- Bernd: On performance: All the things you are listing we are already doing. But the problem with performance is that the game can only run as fast as the slowest link in the chain. For example if this happens to be the calculations for NPCs on a platform for example then all the GPU accelerations and particle system improvements are not going to make the game run faster. The extremer cases of performance problems in our game (especially those ewith extreme savegames after looong times of playing) are usually CPU bound. That does not mean that a larger universe is going to make things worse. Your problem is most of the time too much stuff too close to each other, not the rendering and not the other end of the universe. But this is just guessing...
- EGO_CBJ: We are always working on improvements and optimisations to improve performance, but I'm not expecting a big "jump" in performance in either direction. We also try to keep up with the latest improvements to things like Vulkan, but we always have to keep in mind that we have to support older hardware within our supported range as well as the latest. With regard to SSE, we've been using that since the early days of XR engine development, so I'm not sure why that's considered modern!
Bear in mind that objects in other sectors don't actually affect performance as much as you might think, and that they certainly aren't affected much by improvements in things like Vulkan because they're not being drawn. Moving particles to the GPU, for example, would make very little difference indeed, and absolutely none to objects outside the current sector as they have no particles.
Regarding the save file format, this has very little impact on save and load times. The latter in particular is very much limited by the speed at which we can re-create the in-game universe, rather than by whether the source data is XML or something else. Even changing to a "binary" format wouldn't help as much as you might think, and the game data is far to complex to simply "dump" the contents of memory.
I'll have to leave your gameplay questions for someone else to answer!
Sordahon asks:
I wanted to ask if you plan to include more lore text soon in your ingame encyclopedia? I always loved reading info about systems, factions, events and technology. Also if it's not secret I wanted to ask why you decreased size of warships by one level. Example being Behemoth/Titan being a frigate size now while Cerberus became a corvette.
Bernd: Lore: See the long posting. There is a section about the encyclopedia in there.
Big ships: We want ships to be believably long. That means the surface of the ship has to fit. Just scaling them up is not as easy as it sounds for that reason. But yes we are working on larger ships... stay tuned!
MikeAndBike asks:
Any chance in seeing something like a space casino or shopping centers in the future?
- EGO_CBJ: The first part sounds almost like you are asking for loot boxes!
More seriously, though, probably not. Neither of them really fit into the core gameplay, and as pure decoration they would be very complex and probably not an effective use of our a artists' time.
MikeAndBike asks:
Will you introduce better and more complex interiors of ships? I would like to be able to visit the living quarters and just roam inside my ships in general... so far the bridge is the only real explorable place.
- EGO_CBJ: More interior space just for the sake of it is unlikely. There would need to be a real gameplay reason to go there, otherwise it's just very expensive decoration which most players would see once and then never bother to visit again.
Apoll76 asks:
Would we see some lenience on some usability mods and not complete cut off from achievements? Also would we see support for more than 10 cores?
- EGO_CBJ: Determining exactly what things a given mod changes and whether it affects achievements or other aspects of gameplay is, by definition, very tricky. We do want to look at solutions for this, to enable certain mods or types of mods, to be used without side-effects, but I'm afraid I can't give any kind of timescale on this.
With regard to the number of cores used by the game, it will use whatever is available, but with diminishing returns in terms of additional performance. The game's two main threads are likely to remain the limiting factor, so raw core performance will always trump additional cores after the first few. Of course we are always looking for ways to optimise things running on those threads, or even better move things to different threads, but with a complex game universe with even more complex interactions, that's frequently easier said than done.
Specialsymbol asks:
Will we see ship models from X³ reappear, especially the different variations of small ships or the Terrans?
- EGO_CBJ: Not directly. Models used in X3 were much, much simpler than those used in X4, and there's no practical way to reuse them in the newer game. However I believe that our artists have been taking inspiration from X3 for certain new ships that they are planning, so you never know what might show up!
Tomonor and
Bernd Answers Combined:
With advent of the second DLC release, is there a possibility that they break habit and work on a third, possibly Boron related DLC?
- Bernd: We really do not know yet. I have said it before: If we add the Boron, then we want to do it right and that means it is not going to be easy. Character animations (totally different physiology), environments (under water) and also quite unique ships all mean a lot of new experiments. So no promises right now.
Can we get a revamp on the character designs?
- Bernd: We are constantly improving characters. Our character design expert Damiaan is currently working on a completely new setup to produce a wider and better looking set of characters and also improve animations. All of this is a constantly happening and will continue also after 3.0.
Will you improve the Player HQ functionality? For instance, Research shouldn't be so easy and light on functionality, the HQ model should be "completable" (instead of its permanent chunky unfinished appearance), and should be considered a threat for some factions maybe?
- bernd: Yes absolutely. The new 3.0 plot also includes a lot of improvements around research and the HQ in general. Your criticism about the HQ design however is something else, the idea with the HQ is that it is a cool and unique relict station with special features that make it very valuable for the player. How you then design it and build on it however is intentionally left to the player.
The current universe is kind of boring visual-vise. I'm aware that the Split DLC will bring at least one cool looking system with the Blackhole consuming the sun thing (Blackhole Sun - what a missed opportunity there!), but could we also get a revamp on the original vanilla cluster/sector visuals?
- Bernd: Again: I hope the Split Expansion video shows you already where we are going. Yes there will also be new systems in the base game and indirectly we also always improve these. However we have no plan to do a complete redesign of the environments of the existing base game as that would not be possible in a savegame compatible expansion.
How are you going to revamp the Mission system?
- Bernd: I had posted this answer before: Many things going on at once: We are adding new generic missions and improve on those that are there with more text and better balanced gameplay. We improve the mission guidance system by having better UI elements that show you what to do and better objective display (not just in the corner). This is actually a big task which again might continue beyond just 3.0 We also have plans for a new “mail” system which will be used in addition to the logbook and briefings to help you better organise what is going on doing missions (again possibly beyond 3.0) We will add new sources for generic missions on and around stations. Especially the NPCs on stations will often offer missions when you talk to them. And most importantly we add longer stories with more depth. Special characters, special activities etc.
How are you going to handle the aforementioned story plot missions (regarding the dynamic nature and uncertain outcomes of the game)?
- Bernd: It really works like a puzzle. There are individual chains that sometimes have connections to each other (e.g using the same character / location / scenario). You as a player may not always be able to play all missions, and they are not all in a fixed linear order though.
Are you ever going to finish up the ingame Encyclopedia, and if not planned, is there a possibility for us players to help to fill it?
- Bernd: Again this is an area that is constantly being improved. We are adding a lot more content already.
We have made bad experiences with opening up game content too much for the community in the past but more than willing to try: Any fans who feel they are competent authors can contact us
Are there plans for addressing the map's awkward post-deep space exploration state (stays super out-zoomed)?
- Bernd: The fact that the map zooms dynamically and per system is definitely not going to change. There was a bug in a previous version where some ships strayed off way too far away from systems and thereby making the map zoom out too much. Unfortunately it is hard for us to tell retroactively where this might have been caused by bug and where it was intentional exploration.
Is there a possibility of rethinking the Encounters/Deep space exploration mechanism?
- Bernd: We are improving it by adding more variety and integrating it better but I still believe that this mechanism in general is good.
Are you going to reconsider adding Jumpdrive back?
- bernd: No. Jumpdrive does not fit with the rest of the game mechanics. It would be easy to add of course, but it makes all strategy obsolete. The idea is that in late games scenarios, while the player can move around inside his fleet almost completely free (thanks to teleportation), the ships can not suddenly move “behind obstacles”.
Can we expect more end-game content? (eg, dynamic race relations, factions responding more aggressively to player actions, full-scale galactic war(s), new threats [could even be a new faction or a more advanced Xenon branch])?
- Bernd: More end game content: YES, very much so. This is our main focus for 3.0 and beyond.
Dynamic race relations: Again YES this is what we want to build up on a lot more. X4 is a great foundation in this regard. I believe dynamic faction relations have a lot of potential and are also our best way to allow the universe to be modified into the direction each player prefers (more war? more peace? etc.)
Are you going to improve the Kha'ak any time?
- Bernd: We have just worked on the Khaak balancing very recently (as part of 3.0 internally). This is not yet anything new (as in new ships or other assets), but we wanted to make them more true to the original Khaak from X2.
Can we expect NPC Training Centers/Seminar functionality added or utilized?
- Bernd: Version 3.0 will bring a rebalance of NPC learning as well as a method of applying seminars to individual NPCs. No plan for training centres like in X3. The idea is that the masses gain their XP through actions (as they do already just in some cases quicker), while the best ones are manually taught even further. Of course the star scale is exponetial, so gaining full 5 stars is still very very hard.
Also, can we expect hireable NPCs with randomized skill-sets? They are already, just on a lower level.
- Bernd: Again the scale is not linear. The masses of NPCs are in the zero to two star area and this is of course intentional. We want to make the really well trained captain or manager really valuable
Are you going to touch-up on the balance of ships/turrets?
- Bernd: We are always working on all balancing a little but there are no plans for a major rebalancing at this point.
apoptosist asks:
Just out of curiosity, why did you decide to build X4 from the XRVR engine with Vulkan rather than the XR engine?
- EGO_CBJ: We've wanted to move away from DirectX for some time, mainly to make building versions of the games for other OSes such as Linux easier. There didn't seem much point in NOT using the latest, and hopefully fastest, alternative graphics API, especially as we'd already developed the necessary code to use it.
rovermicrover asks:
Any chance of y’all looking at Teladie ships for rebalance? The Buzzard, Phoenix, and Condor are all out gunned and/or out shields by their Argon counter parts.
- EGO_CBJ: We're always looking at balancing and trying to make improvements. I can't promise exactly which ships will be rebalanced, though.
Hayrou asks:
do you play your own games ? Also, I take it that means you also play it for fun ? any games you geek out on or draw inspiration on ? Was this your dream job growing up as a kid ?
- Bernd: Yes. A lot. Of course a lot of this is testing, as in: you always restart from scratch in order to reproduce problems. But I also try to get some longer sessions when I can. Not as long as many of you of course (we can see that in the Steam stats), but long for my standards compared to other games I own on Steam
Many of course. I have a large Steam library and not enough time to play them all but I think the majority are smaller indie titles. I love unusual and creative games so my favourites are all over the place really. More mainstream I also love good old Mario jump and run or things like GTAV... a lot really 
next to astronaut I think game programming was there quite early on 
Kliosan asks:
1. How much will the story be expanded in version 3.0?;
2. Will there be global storylines in the game, requiring billions in the account (somthing like rebuilding Xenon HUB)?;
3. Will a FOV-slider be added to the settings?;
4. Will new types of missions be added to the game?;
5. Will it be possible to build or rebuild something realy HUGE?
- Bernd:
1 + 2) See my answer about mission improvements in another posting in this thread... In short: A lot. Story and mission content is our main focus right now.
3) Not so easy without breaking part of the UI, but we consider it.
4) Yes
5) Well we improve the HQ plot. This includes the ability to build something huge, but thats not really the main point of it.
Hellspawn_xxx asks:
the Station builing aspect of the game is realy nice and i realy liked the improvment you implemented in 2.6! Im also highly addicted to factory building games like Factorio (1500h and counting). Did you noticed this kind of games and the hype (see also "satisfactory") around them? Do you think that the Station building /ware logistic aspect of X4 could be improved by learning what game mechanic makes this game so sucessfull?
- Bernd: As with all areas of the game there is almost everywhere infinite room for improvement. Thats what makes our development interesting and fun but also a permanent "balancing" struggle.
So: No I have not played this game (yet), but the idea to have modular stations and allow more free design was there for a very long time (X3 had complexes as you may know but that left a lot room for improvement ... So yes improving the building aspect would also be nice, but is not a priority at the moment.
apoptosist asks:
Would you please consider having an extremely high-level interface with a planet as a very simple "resource sink", with some station very low in orbit (like in X:R) operating as the "interface point"? This was one of top-voted requests in a recent reddit survey. As a bonus, it would add more vertical movement to the map, as many have complained about it feeling too 2D.
- Bernd: yes we do consider something along these lines! Not in 3.0 though.
hort_wort asks:
Are there any fun ideas you can share with us regarding the Boron? Has your team discussed having them wander around in little suits with fishbowl helmets? Would there be a swimming pool on the bridge of a larger Boron vessel?
- Bernd: yes, we had lots of concepts of how Boron spacesuits could look like. But as I wrote in the long answer somewhere hidden in this thread about a potential Boron DLC... It is VERY hard to do the Boron right, so no promises here
UFeindschiff asks:
1. Are there plans to focus the game back on a space sim and less of an empire management game?
2. Are there any plans to do anything else with the old X3 engine or is that one just dead?
3. If the awnser to the previous question is no, are there plans to open-source the old X3 engine (just the engine, not the assets, just like e.g. Doom did)?
- Bernd:
1) X game development is a constant balancing act between mutltiple things. It is not one game or genre and never was, but instead a hybrid between many. That is also the reason why it attracts a lot of different audience with different wishes. So no I would definitely not say that X4 ever moved away from being a true space sim, but yes it added new aspects. You criticise the progression curve and that is something we are always trying to fine tune. Currently I would agree that the first few days could be slower but I also do not want to go to extremes here as we also are adding more content and have a lot moree things to do later on in the game. Again: It is always about finding a compromise that works for as wide a variety of players as possible.
2) not impossible
Apoptosist asks:
Could 3.0 or later include the ability to use Text To Speech for unvoiced content, like mission briefings (optionally at least)?
- Bernd: We have thought about this as it would make our development infinitely easier, but we are not there YET. Maybe in a few years.
Korvre asks:
Is there going to be a split start that does not require being a pirate?
- EGO_CBJ: I'm pretty sure you won't be forced into piracy!
Belisarius7487 asks:
X3TC added a lot of side plots with plenty of rewards. So as a story gamer I'm highly interested in more story content. Is it or will it be possible to play more plots in the future of X4?
- Bernd: Y E S in capital letters. See my other posting about mission content development ... let me quote it:
Many things going on at once
- We are adding new generic missions and improve on those that are there with more text and better balanced gameplay.
- We improve the mission guidance system by having better UI elements that show you what to do and better objective display (not just in the corner). This is actually a big task which again might continue beyond just 3.0
- We also have plans for a new “mail” system which will be used in addition to the logbook and briefings to help you better organise what is going on doing missions (again possibly beyond 3.0)
- We will add new sources for generic missions on and around stations. Especially the NPCs on stations will often offer missions when you talk to them.
- And most importantly we add longer stories with more depth. Special characters, special activities etc.
Shinymegafarfetchd asks:
Will the Split have a XL Destroyer? if so,is there any plan for other factions to have their own? also,is the the arrow shaped medium ship with 6 forward guns the dragon?
- Iinolafett: The split will get a mighty destroyer! The medium ship was inspired by the dragon, yes.
Nathuz asks:
will the message system of X4 get an update in the future? Right now (atleast in the german version) many messages are cut off due to there length.
- Bernd: We are currently experimenting with a new "mail" system. This is to improve mainly mission instructions. It is more asynchronous and would allow the player to read things when he wants to.
Sh1pman asks:
Do you consider adding bigger ships to X4 at some point? Maybe XL size battleships?
- Iinolafett: Bigger is not always better. We struggled to make ships look big in the base game, but i figured something out for the Split ships. The ships in there are not really bigger, but just finally look big. Much better appeal! No XL battleship planned so far.
Apoptosist asks:
Will we get to see more of the fantastic sectors and ships from X Rebirth in X4 vanilla? You did such amazing work on those assets, and I think people need to experience them in X4.
- Bernd: No, we do not want to simply "back-port" X Rebirth assets into X4. Sometimes there may be exceptions, but generally this is not a good idea.
There are multiple reasons, including performance and GPU memory consumption. So while it may work well (for some) in a MOD, it is not a great idea for the majority.
But we are making even better and cooler new systems in the expansions (and also free for the updates). So stay tuned
Apoptosist asks:
- Why did/does X4 include X Rebirth assets in its files but not use them, such as improved effects?
Iinolafett: To develop x4 quickly we used placeholder assets from the older game and replaced them bit by bit with new assets. We never had the manpower to port the effects properly to X4, a shader switch made them look different to the XR effects. We are working on creating new and better looking effects for 3.0
The shockwaves are coming back in 3.0 (will be spawned with a certain chance for each capital ship explosion).
Apoptosist asks:
Will/could we eventually have combat missions the player can create and hire NPCs to do?
- Bernd: No. We did play with the idea of NPCs accepting missions from the player for some special activity but not as broad as you suggest here
- EGO_CBJ: Having the player hire NPCs to perform missions, rather than the other way around, is always an interesting idea. It's something that has been discussed on a few occasions, but we've not got as far as coming up with a way to make it work in-game, so don't expect anything in the near future.
Apoptosist asks:
Will 3.0 have hotkeys like wingman command hotkeys?
- EGO_CBJ: We would certainly like to add more hotkeys for important commands, but we do have to be careful as the number of hotkeys available is limited and the number of things people want hotkeys for seems to be pretty much unlimited!
J_DoesGAMES asks:
When 3.0 drops and the dlc should i restart to take full advantage of it? for example will there be story released that involves factions i might have taken land from ect.. Another thing i was wondering was are yall gonna expands the command list for the ai ships? Another question i have is will i ever be able to set up trade offers with my aux ship? and my last question will we be the ability to build highways in player owned sectors?
- Bernd: 1) You do not HAVE to restart but we try to encourage you to do so. The problem of alienating a later potential ally certainly exists, but this is a bit independent of restarting as all plot lines play independently anyway and should work with sometimes opposing gamestarts.
2) Yes we are making a lot of improvements on fleet management. Check out the 3.0 beta and beyond...
- EGO_CBJ: You won't NEED to restart to take advantage of new features and stories, but that's not to say you might not WANT to do so. We are keen to support players who want to play one long game, but also to offer more reasons for people to try different games using different gamestarts.
Apoptosist asks:
Could/will 3.0 have more interactions with NPCs, such as asking them "Hear any rumors?" with responses about whatever commodity is needed the most, war updates, and/or data vault locations?
- Bernd: One thing we are adding (not in 3.0 beta but soon after) is missions offered through NPC comms. This is not the kind of free talk that you are suggesting, because that would be a nightmare to localise and add voices for, but it is a great and intuitive source for new missions
Apoptosist question continued about more interactions:
Just to clarify, I'm not talking about voices or anything even connected with an individual NPC. I mean just adding one more entry in the current radial when you talk to an NPC. Right now I think you can ask them how to find something, for example. This would just be a question to any of them that would pull from the same randomized list of responses. Would that be doable and of interest to you?
- Bernd: Well the problem is that these randomized responses have to make sense and need to be A LOT for this feature to not be boring and silly quickly. We had tried something along these lines with the smalltalk minigame in X Rebirth which cost us a lot of additional voice lines and was not received well at all. So this is why this was cut back
Apoptosist asks:
Will 3.0 have travel-drive-match-speed for fleets/AI and for player? For example, ships in wings that use travel drive speed of slowest ship, and player ship's travel drive can match travel drive speed of target.
- Bernd: We have recently made several AI improvements for squads and fleets to stay together and match speed. Stay tuned
Portumski asks:
Would you take on the Dune franchise if offered?
- Bernd: oh funny question. You happen to own it?
Honestly: Probably not. While it is certainly cool to work on such big franchises, we are very happy to instead develop our own further. This gives us more creative freedom
Lordpazzuzzu666 asks:
1. How is the method of selection to participate in the Alpha stages of the game. I really would love to contribute on that!
2. Are there plans to go more deep into the Lore of the X universe for X4?
3. Are there future plans to include dynamic natural events to shape catastrophes or to influence for example the production of a Solar Plant?
- Bernd:
1) Most of the content is now tested in public betas. You only need a password to join and this is given in discussions on our forum only to make sure you back up you saves
2) yes
3) There are definitely some very unique new natural phenomenon. Have a look at the X4SV video for an example
Meddledomm asks:
Do you, as developers, pay attention to what the modding community does and/or the most popular mods for your games to get inspiration for future content / patches / updates? It seems to me like it would be a very easy way to give the community what they want/need without taking too much risk.
- EGO_CBJ: As a fan of the X series, you must surely be aware of the large number of times we've done exactly this! Not only have we taken inspiration from things the modding community have done, we have often worked directly with modders to implement features that they have come up with. I wouldn't go so far was to say it was a "very easy" way to give the community what they want, however, because the community often doesn't have a single view on that! Nevertheless, as a small team, we greatly appreciate our community, modding and otherwise, for providing us with practical help as well as feedback and constructive suggestions.
Apoptosist asks:
Will we be seeing (3.0 or later) combat missions generated based on actual attacks, such as distress calls or "revenge requests"?
- Bernd: This is definitely already the plan. The war subscription missions (as an example) are based on this principle: The universe develops (freely) and missions are given based on events. See my other answer about mission improvements for more details
Malkano86 asks:
I was wondering what sort of combat missions we will be getting for 3.0? I would love some fleet on fleet or like bounty hunter missions from X Rebirth. Also I was wondering are we getting bigger ships in the Split DLC like Battleships and such?
- Bernd: Yes we also intend to improve combat missions for sure, but let me explain on mission improvements in general:
Many things going on at once:
- We are adding new generic missions and improve on those that are there with more text and better balanced gameplay.
- We improve the mission guidance system by having better UI elements that show you what to do and better objective display (not just in the corner). This is actually a big task which again might continue beyond just 3.0
- We also have plans for a new “mail” system which will be used in addition to the logbook and briefings to help you better organise what is going on doing missions (again possibly beyond 3.0)
- We will add new sources for generic missions on and around stations. Especially the NPCs on stations will often offer missions when you talk to them.
And most importantly we add longer stories with more depth. Special characters, special activities etc.
Falcrack asks:
Will the existing factions get XL sized battleships with 3.0? To save dev time, perhaps they could use the hull design of existing auxiliary ships, like we see in the VRO mod?
- Iinolafett: Nothing planned so far, sorry.
Apoptosist asks:
Will we ever get an auto-eject/teleport feature so we can take more personal risks in battles without having to break immersion with slow reloading?
- EGO_CBJ: I'm not entirely sure that we want to reduce the risk of battle. The adrenaline rush of having to decide whether to stay with your ship as your shields and hull get low, eject in your spacesuit, is part of the very immersion you describe. If you know you'll always auto-eject then it becomes more "just a game" rather than less. Having to reload is the "cost" of making the wrong choice!
I do hear you regarding reloading times, of course, but that's not something we can easily solve as building an entire game universe does take time!
Falcrack asks:
Are there plans to improve the logbook, so we can have a separate tab to view war and diplomacy related events?
- Iinolafett: I am currently looking into that. If you have other suggestions for the logbook pm me. I try to improve it a little bit.
Falcrack asks:
Will ship collision damage ever be reinstated? At least possibly for ships piloted directly by the player?
- EGO_CBJ: It's a funny thing. Half our community wants collision damage and half doesn't, so whichever option we implement, half our players don't like it! As you probably know, I'm not a fan of the "make it an option" solution to this dilemma, because it doesn't really solve the problem and does multiply the number of things that have to be tested and balanced. This is something we do revisit from time to time, however, and when we do so, we do try to take a look at "which way the wind is blowing" in terms of player opinion.
Apoptosist asks:
Would you be willing to tweak the encounters mechanism (which many want removed or made optional) so that only Kha'ak ships "warp in" near the player?
- EGO_CBJ: The encounters mechanism is important, as it gives a reason for players to fly out into empty space. Removing it (or indeed making it optional) is therefore unlikely. Improving it and balancing it better, however, is something we do want to look at. I can't give a timescale on that, though.
Apoptosist asks:
Will there be any actual missions like what was shown in the Gamescom Demo, where we can work as a fighter pilot onboard an allied (but not owned) carrier/host ship?
Example: Get war combat/patrol missions from onboard allied carrier, approximating a Wing Commander-type experience. Imagine launching for a recon mission, scanning an enemy ship or station or placing a satellite, landing, and then launching for a combat mission, etc.
- Bernd: See my answer about mission improvements.
Also: The demo we showed will of course be released together with 3.0 (and more demos like it)
Yamr3 asks:
1. Is the AI being worked on for them to defend their sectors better?
2. Why are XEN ships so much more powerful than my ships? For example, 1 XEN K vs. my 3 ARG destroyers and 1 ARG carrier, if I don't intervene myself, the XEN has the capability to blow up one of my destroyers.
3. What type of station(s) do you recommend building first?
- Bernd:
1) This was part of the focus of 2.60. Pleas retest and if you find problems please contact me ([email protected])
2) As I explained elesewhere in this thread we are always looking into balancing improvements. So if you have a particular example that you find to be problematic, again feel free to email me about it. In general of course the Xenon are definitely intended to be a huge thread and must be capable of winning against large faction fleets sometimes
3) I do not have a single suggestion and it really depends on where you are and what your goals are.
Iinolafett:
- 3) anything which is needed to build stations. Claytronics, hullparts, quantum tubes and energycells to name a few. Build a complex creating those to kickstart your station building. When those are built, money is not your bottleneck anymore, but the amount of ressources being produced by your station complex
Falcrack asks:
Will there be any changes to crew leveling so that getting higher level pilots does not take such a frustratingly long time, and/or potentially allow us to choose the pilot skill level for a higher fee?
- EGO_CBJ: We do plan to improve crew levelling, yes.
Falcrack asks:
Is there a chance the boost system could be changed so as to not drain shield power, but to use a separate boost power reserve instead, or consume energy cells/fuel, or something like that?
- Bernd: Unlikely going to happen in an update as it would change the base game balancing too much IMO.
Falcrack asks:
Is there any chance of introducing ship salvaging, allowing the player or NPCs to recover a portion of materials from destroyed ship and station hulls?
- EGO_CBJ: Salvaging from wrecks is one of those features that we've talked about numerous times over the years, for various different games in the series. Unfortunately it's never quite bubbled up to the top of the priority list and actually been implemented. I'd still like to see it some day, but I'm pretty sure it won't be in 3.0.
- Iinolafett: Not in the near future, but we have talked about this since before rebirth. Takes quite the effort to make this feature right.
Falcrack asks:
Could we get more movable commands, like we can move “fly to” waypoints currently, for such things as placing deployables, attack targets in range, explore, collect deployables, etc., which currently cannot be moved after placing the order?
- Bernd: We will be looking into improving the map, and giving commands. This is a permanent focus, so part of it happens in 3.0 part after. Not sure what I can promise for when though
Falcrack asks:
For 3.0, are there plans to let us give movement and other commands in full 3D space (i.e. manipulate position along the x, y, and z axes)?
- Bernd: yes. Not necessarily in 3.0 but soon after for sure
Hylov_ asks:
Hello, are there any plans to add the missing descriptions in the encyclopedia and have Betty read them out?
- EGO_CBJ: We would certainly like to add more descriptions, but having Betty read them out is fairly unlikely. The cost of the sheer volume of voice recordings that doing so would result in would be prohibitive, and also limits our ability to add to and improve the descriptions that we have.
Falcrack asks:
Is there any chance for reintroducing jump drives in some form?
- EGO_CBJ: No. They don't fit with the rest of the game mechanics, and they make strategy obsolete. We have looked at the ways people have suggested to limit them, but they are all either ineffective (i.e. they still make any kind of territorial claim or placement of obstacles useless) or they make the jumpdrive itself pointless because it can no longer be used to do anything useful.
Falcrack asks:
Can you give us an approximate idea as to the length and scope of scripted campaign missions for both 3.0 and the Split DLC?
- Bernd: Not yet. What is clear is that the 3.0 stories are probably longer than the Split (unique) ones. But we really do not know yet how many hours they will take (besides it is always hard to estimate playtime as different play styles change this dramatically)
Falcrack asks:
Approximately how many new sectors are planned for the Split DLC?
- Iinolafett: No numbers, sorry!
Falcrack asks:
What if any improvements to drone command and control are planned?
- Bernd: Please check out the 3.0 beta as soon as it is available. If you then are not happy with it, please get back to me by email!
Fisher__2000 asks:
This question is in relation to x4. With all of the new content that is added to X:Rebirth and X4: Foundations, would there be any chance the team over at Egosoft would develop one last DLC for X3AP?
- Bernd: Not impossible, but no promises. We always look at all options and yes if people want more of X3 it would be a possibility to also do that. Right now we are however mainly focussed on improving X4
Shuulo asks:
Was there any critical time when Egosoft was close to to be closed? Im so happy that XR not that smooth start did not impact X4 release, I was really afraid we will never see it.
- Bernd: This risk always exists for a small indie developer. For us it was probably highest somewhere in the middle of the XR development, when we started too many too big tasks all at once (new design, new engine, new gameplay...)
Falcrack asks:
What are your thoughts on recurring taxes (ie property tax, sales tax, income tax), regular crew and workforce wages, ship maintenance, and other ongoing expenses in X4? Any plans to introduce any of these in the future?
- Bernd: Phew... Not at the moment. Such features would potentially make sense in the context of very late gameplay. So they would have to be unlocked. This is important because we also always have to be careful not to overcomplicate the game at the start.
- EGO_CBJ: Personally I find that recurring costs like those can completely ruin an empire-building game. They are especially problematic if they cannot be avoided, as they can result in your empire grinding to a halt because you no longer have enough money to fly the basic ship(s) you need to make more money. If we were to add any kind of recurring costs, they would have to a) be limited to optional or advanced activities and b) only happen during the late game, where they won't put newer players off by preventing them from making progress.
Abueloshika asks:
From a studio perspective, what was the most difficult aspect of recovering from the Rebirth launch?
- Bernd: the hardest part was long before the release. You have to see that X Rebirth was in development for more than 7 years. An entire studio working on such a large project for a time much much longer than originally expected would normally be a death sentence. We were lucky that the "small expansions" to X3 we made at the time, were very successful and allowed us to continue.
Other than that, it is mostly a problem of communication: X Rebirth is a game different from the rest of the series. This was intentional and we announced it as such and did NOT call it X4. It was a step on the road towards X4 for us and designed towards a slightly different audience. I still believe it worked well for many even if yes the release was very problematic at the time.
Falcrack asks:
Will we be able to sit down in a copilot seat for larger ships, and from there possibly be able to control individual drones and/or turrets?
- EGO_CBJ: These things are on our radar as features we would like to add, but probably not in 3.0.
Fiby_uk asks:
Any plans to improve carrier battles, logistics and defence?
- Bernd: We are improving fleet control a whole lot, but taking from X3 is not possible. X3 works completely differently and is much simpler in many ways. Unfortunately we can not simply take solutions from X3 and bring them to X4, but again: This is being worked on.
Falcrack asks:
Can you provide details of the planned changes for the research system in 3.0?
- Bernd: The most important part is to better integrate it into the plot and explain more of what these features unlock. What it also will do is add more tasks to the actual research. This is all work in progress right now.
Alith-Ahnar asks:
The X4 1st anniversary is up soon and no actual content has been added to the game. So what are your plans to add new content are there any additional DLC planned beyond the two that have been promised as part of the collectors edition and what is the overall future for X4 in general?
- Bernd: The main reason the 1st expansion is delayed is that we want to get a lot of gameplay features right BEFORE it comes out. So this is really mainly 3.0 work (part of the free update). A lot of the content for X4SV is already quite far but we want to make it more "round".
We do not yet know about what is going to happen after the second expansion.
Cougar2274 asks:
1: Would you consider allowing volunteers to record lines for character voices to expand the pool NPC sounds? Because the game is so cast we often run into the same voices. This would be done from a provided script but could add a lot of flair to the game.
2: Will NPC/character customization ever be a thing? I typically choose a Teladi start but wish I could give him/her pants.
Bonus question: please give us an online X universe game! Even if I can't build stations I would totally pay large sums of money to play with others. Ok maybe that's not a question....
- Bernd:
1: Not easy because of localisation. But if you want to help, feel free to contact me ([email protected]) and send samples of your voice.
2: Unlikely in X4. Our character art pipeline is not set up for this. It is not completely ruled out though
Bonus: err... you know about online-universe.net ? So yeah: Been there and decided against it for the time being
TrutMeImAnEngineer asks:
I recently bought X4 Foundations and I was surprised about the change in user interface. Could you elaborate on the decision making process behind this topic?
- Bernd: The goal with X4 Foundations was to have a very powerful sandbox that works for a very wide audience. We have very different players, some of which have very different expectations (traders, builders, strategy, dogfight, leaning more towards peace, etc.) So we were looking for a very powerful UI that works best for all. As always this is a lot about finding a compromise. We now are working on making this very powerful UI easier to learn and of course on adding content to the foundations of the base game
Darth_Philosofighter asks:
1. Will the 3.0 patch or the DLC add new ships to other races too?
2. Will you rebalance the ships that are already in the game?
- Iinolafett:
1) Yes, there will be at least one more ship. Its an Teladi m transporter which has some more turrets, more weapons, more shields, but less cargo space. That way it might be an interesting choice for players to do some high risk trading, or to have a more versatile player ship. Some more are in the pipeline, but as they are not done, i can not guarantee that they will make the cut.
Belisarius7487 asks:
With the release of X4 you said modding tools will be made available. Is there any plan to release them soon?
- Bernd: Yes, we are preparing at least some of this at the moment (a special executable that will allow players to see more of what is going on behind the scenes for example). There is always more we want to do (for example tools to get your own 3D models into the game) but are a lot of work to set up and maintain unfortunately and therefore compete with our ongoing development work
Xainiax asks:
how much thought goes into bringing some of the early lore, like the universe being larger than what we have access to, up to some of the more recent titles?
- Bernd: This is why we have the encyclopedia timeline feature. It has cutscenes that summarise the big events that have happened in the past games as well as in the books by Helge Kautz. We intend to put some energy into making these more widely available in the future as I think many players have not seen most of them.
Apoptosist asks:
Could we get a public beta of 3.0 some time in November 2019? If not, can we get some idea of when the first public 3.0 beta might appear, even if just an estimate?
KrotoMax asks:
1) Are you planning to add more races, such as Terrans in future expansions? And is there a possibility for new, unknown races to appear?
2) If you were to make another X game, would you focus on its availability to people with lower specs, or on cutting edge graphics and physics and why?
3) Did you, at any point, have an idea of making an X game that is not a space sim?
4) Will there be any balance changes to capital ship battles? As of right now, the impulse turrets is the only best choice, the turrets aren't as easy to command as in X3. At the same time, destroyer guns barely do damage.
5) Will you be adding more Xenon Ships?
6) Why did you change the classification of ships (M1, M2 etc) and weapons (light, heavy, "AA", universal) to the new system, and is there a possibility for it to come back?
7) Was H.R. Giger the inspiration for Khaak?
- Bernd:
1) Yes, there will be a "re-introduced" race in the second Expansion. What else is yet to be decided.
2) X4 for low end does not make sense. This is not the game for it. In the past this also often got resolved by time, because we develop a new engine (and platform) for a long period of time. So while it is top end right now it may not be so top end anymore in a short while. That being said we also always optimize and improve
3) No. X games means X universe. We may consider other non "X+number" games, that are not this hard core sim with all of its features, but they would still play in this sci-fi universe or else it would not be an X game
4) We are permanently looking into "small" improvements and you are more then welcome to send me your opinion on this balancing in particular ([email protected])
5) maybe
6) Because most of the team felt that it was confusing. M1 big to M5 small worked well at first, until there were suddenly more classes that did not fit in anymore
7) I love H.R Giger and Alien in particular, but no I think the main inspiration for the Khaak were insects (in general)
- Iinolafett:
1) After the split DLC we will have another DLC which will introduce a race back from the older games. Its currently not yet announced what this race will be and i am not in the position to spoil this for you
4) I just played the split destroyer and this is currently a crazy strong glass cannon. So maybe you will get something more punchy with the dlc.
5) Currently nothing planned, no.
6) The old system got very confusing to new playes, as the increasing amount of new roles and seemingly random numbers assigned to them didnt make much sense anymore. It got to rigid and needed an clear overhaul.
7)No
DontEattheCookiesMom asks:
How far off are we in terms of VR support for X4? Is 2020 in the realm of possibility?
- EGO_CBJ: We currently don't have any plans to explicitly support VR in X4. Our experience with VR under X-Rebirth showed just how much work was involved in doing this, not just in implementing the VR support and adapting the UI, but also in adapting the whole game universe design to make it work and perform acceptably. It was an exciting and interesting exercise, but unfortunately the cost of all that work far outweighed the income it generated, so there will probably need to be some significant changes in VR technology and/or the VR market for it to be viable for us to do it again.
apoptosist asks:
Might you consider crowdfunding (and/or other sources of funding, beyond DLCs) so you can hire more people and add or improve more features?
- Bernd: We have discussed it but decided against it so far. One reason is the added overhead of managing such a community. Players who invest a lot of money rightly expect getting a lot of attention and feedback, this in return requires manpower. So its a bit complicated, but still something we may consider for the future
Belisarius7487 asks:
I hope you're not thinking of retirement, but where do you see yourself in the future regarding the development of future X-Titles and addons/DLCs?
- Bernd: See my other answer to user Str_. Probably going to be working on X games till I die
Apoptosist asks:
Are there or may there be any ways to invest in Egosoft?
- Bernd: Unfortunately not yet. We discussed kickstarter for new projects but so far decided against it
Kaishiyoku asks:
Are there any plans for adding more multiplayer content?
- Bernd: I assume you already know about our feature of online ventures... So yes we plan to improve on that by making more and also sooner or later allowing more targeted actions. This may eventually also include the ability to go after other groups of players etc. But all of this is not a top priority and everything we do is permanently balancing priorities. Online will improve but not as a very high priority
- EGO_CBJ: As we said when we introduced the Venture system, we do have plans to expand on that to give more mission types, rewards, and so on. However, we don't currently have any plans for "live" multi-player features.
Apoptosist asks:
Generally speaking, how are Egosoft's finances since X4's release? Have you been doing better than expected, or worse?
- Bernd: We are doing OK... As a developer you always wish for more as that would give us more freedom (e. g the possibility to hire more people), but X4 is (again) a real "long term seller" and we intend to keep it that way by making updates (for free) and keep in peoples minds.
PrivacyPolicy2016 asks:
Can you explain the impact, if any, that social networking have made on your organization or you personally?
- Bernd: Probably not as much as to newer studios, but certainly a lot. We were there before Facebook and the others emerged, so we have our own community (actually inherited the forum from THQ). This I consider still our "core" community and Reddit here is very similar to that, while facebook (as an example) feels quite different. Each has their own advantage and slightly different audience of course
Shuulo asks:
Will there be some expansion in diplomacy field between factions? Will relations between factions be more dynamic or static as before? Will it somehow impact player faction management?
- Bernd: Yes. This is indeed one of the main features of the story plot that comes with the Split Vendetta Expansion. The idea is to give very rich players the power to actually influence the factions of the game on a diplomatic level. That way we can showcase the dynamic universe AI and players can decide what X universe they want (as the answer to this depends a lot on the playertype and can vary greatly!)
Falcrack asks:
What will be the mechanism in the game whereby players influence diplomacy? Can the factions change diplomatic attitudes (ie war and peace) between different factions absent any player involvement? Can the player influence a faction to go to war with another faction, or get a peace treaty with a faction they are already at war with?
- Bernd: What we currently plan is that these decissions are integral part of stories. So when you play a plot there are opportunities to change the politics in a rather big way. This then works like a big economy sink and can take a while.
All still in development though, so stay tuned
Apoptosist asks:
Could you please provide more details about the "things [that] have emerged that we really want to see implemented"?
- Bernd: You are asking about features where we have changed our internal priorities after listening to feedback from the community?
This happens all the time. An example is the current focus for more long term content. Things the player can do after he has achived almost all the other goals, is super rich and has enough resources. With X4 we see incredibly high average playtime numbers, so these guys want special things they can do even after many 100s of hours of playing. This is currently a focus for 3.0 and also beyond
Str_ asks:
As a developer why haven't you really branched into other genres?
- Bernd: I personally feel very happy to work on this genre / game series until I drop dead, because I really enjoy it (most of the time). It is not limiting at all because the X series is so hugely "wide" in that it kind of includes many other games. Part of the reason why I feel that way may also be because as a small indie developer I was already working in this industry for almost 10 years before X came out and was a success. So I had this experience of making many different games already and see the benefit of having this really cool platform now.
- EGO_CBJ: As a small team, it makes sense for us to stick with the genre that we know and are known for. Quite apart from that, we are all fans of SciFi and space games, so this is the kind of game we want to make!
