X4 Foundations
- Thread starter SkeeterUK
- Start date
So some initial thoughts after a few weeks of playing...
1) Scale - its impressively good; everything seems to be as large as you would expect; I'm currently standing on the back of a condor next to my ares heavy fighter looking at a Gorgon Vanguard and it all just looks right and I like how the light filters and changes as you fly past other objects.
2) AI - Shocking, absolutely shocking; can't fly right, can't avoid obsticles; takes an age to go anywhere in a logical manner. Why do ships spin around a few times when leaving the superhighway?!
3) Fleet Controls - Again terrible. I want to assign wings for different functions and only have them launched when their parameters are met, e.g. capital attack wing should only launch when a capital is within sight and not before... all you can do is assign one of 3 terrible rules that don't really make sense.
4) Economy - Simulated is good, seems to work well; cut of xenon access to resources and after they threw lots at me couldn't produce the Ks or Is any more and then the smaller ships started not being produced.
4) Accelerators - these do not work with fleet movement at all; interesting perspective but meh not sure I like them and they do split fleets up badly.
5) Jump Gates - I struggle with these. appreciate this has been part of X for a long time (I've played them all to date and got X: Beyond the Frontier on release!) but I just think the mechanics need improving for big ships.
6) Story line - I'm yet to activate it, can't even remember which start I'm using but to be honest I haven't looked... happy building my fleet and economy... but now I've got 11b credits, a fully fledged couple of sectors that are stable and producing everything I need (I can produce fleets of up to 30 L ships and 1 XL in about 20 minutes now)
7) Fighting - turrets and ships; terrible yet again in sector - turrets can't hit anything and ships do random stuff. Really wish they could improve this somehow but seems fundemental to X4 given at patch 3.1 it doesn't really seem good.
8) Sectors - ok I guess, a decent number but the spacefield doesn't vary dramatically unfortunately.
9) Ships - Odd mix of sizes; no Xenon I equivelent and they all seem a little small for their tiered duties. The carriers suck though; why not use launch tubes like the in the past for rapid deployment/landing and then the pads for drones traders... makes it hard to launch a large scale assualt quickly or recover safely.
I guess this is a proper X game, with all its quirks... its kept me entertained but I'm finding the factions are not really fighting each other, xenon make some incursions but then don't do much depsite them having about 5 Is in adjenct owned sectors that could cause complete chaos to the other factions if they so chose. I think they need to evolve the long distance mechanics soon, the jump gates are startign to become difficult.. X3 was terrible when you met an L/XL ship coming the other way but right now it takes ~5 minutes for a small fleet of 1 XL / 15L to leave a sector! I don't think the lore can move to hyper drive style but it needs to do something different imho.
1) Scale - its impressively good; everything seems to be as large as you would expect; I'm currently standing on the back of a condor next to my ares heavy fighter looking at a Gorgon Vanguard and it all just looks right and I like how the light filters and changes as you fly past other objects.
2) AI - Shocking, absolutely shocking; can't fly right, can't avoid obsticles; takes an age to go anywhere in a logical manner. Why do ships spin around a few times when leaving the superhighway?!
3) Fleet Controls - Again terrible. I want to assign wings for different functions and only have them launched when their parameters are met, e.g. capital attack wing should only launch when a capital is within sight and not before... all you can do is assign one of 3 terrible rules that don't really make sense.
4) Economy - Simulated is good, seems to work well; cut of xenon access to resources and after they threw lots at me couldn't produce the Ks or Is any more and then the smaller ships started not being produced.
4) Accelerators - these do not work with fleet movement at all; interesting perspective but meh not sure I like them and they do split fleets up badly.
5) Jump Gates - I struggle with these. appreciate this has been part of X for a long time (I've played them all to date and got X: Beyond the Frontier on release!) but I just think the mechanics need improving for big ships.
6) Story line - I'm yet to activate it, can't even remember which start I'm using but to be honest I haven't looked... happy building my fleet and economy... but now I've got 11b credits, a fully fledged couple of sectors that are stable and producing everything I need (I can produce fleets of up to 30 L ships and 1 XL in about 20 minutes now)
7) Fighting - turrets and ships; terrible yet again in sector - turrets can't hit anything and ships do random stuff. Really wish they could improve this somehow but seems fundemental to X4 given at patch 3.1 it doesn't really seem good.
8) Sectors - ok I guess, a decent number but the spacefield doesn't vary dramatically unfortunately.
9) Ships - Odd mix of sizes; no Xenon I equivelent and they all seem a little small for their tiered duties. The carriers suck though; why not use launch tubes like the in the past for rapid deployment/landing and then the pads for drones traders... makes it hard to launch a large scale assualt quickly or recover safely.
I guess this is a proper X game, with all its quirks... its kept me entertained but I'm finding the factions are not really fighting each other, xenon make some incursions but then don't do much depsite them having about 5 Is in adjenct owned sectors that could cause complete chaos to the other factions if they so chose. I think they need to evolve the long distance mechanics soon, the jump gates are startign to become difficult.. X3 was terrible when you met an L/XL ship coming the other way but right now it takes ~5 minutes for a small fleet of 1 XL / 15L to leave a sector! I don't think the lore can move to hyper drive style but it needs to do something different imho.
Maybe instead of jump points they can develop gravity drives; still only allows you to 'jump' to sectors with planets but would mean you could do it from anywhere in the sector but would arrive on the edge of the sector you planned to go to; as all the sectors appear to have planets(?) that might work... would make large scale fleet deployment better and remove the ability to turtle sectors as the entry point wouldn't be as clear.
Most things you complained about are resolved with mods
Something of a trademarkAs for the mission go to Argon Prime, you will find one in your proposed mission list for HAT.
Oh yeah I know but it's just a shame that you need mods to fix basic things... I know it's always been like this and I remember having to install a ton of mods to fix fleet controls in x2; just hoped they would have learnt by now!
Define "fix"? Thats the game it is, if you want more you just get it for free
Do not forget Egosoft has a tiny budget. X4 cost less than €3,000,000 to make, not the gazillions of Chris Roberts scam costing double that every month.
Unfortunately it's showing to; Lack of attention to some basic and key bits that have been missing since earlier versions. I've got SC as well as Elite (kickstarted both) and I just don't think x4 will keep me engaged, I feel somewhat disconnected from it unlike SC which I've had lots of fun with even if it's got it's broken bits.
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It’s a strange game, some things it does fantastically well and other features that would seemingly be quick to add are omitted. Being an X game I guess the whole design is build around a small bit of tedium, grinding etc. I do wish they had some more interesting missions, sectors etc. They are still actively developing it though, so we’ll see what the future brings.
Going to start the ZYA start today - this time heading straight to faulty logic to mine crystals, will setup miners ASAP and then going to start building in Trinity Santum III - I’ve observed this to be not only one of the most profitable sectors in my time playing, but also a relatively safe sector from the initial xenon incursion.
I Just hope theres no more games after x4 as its engine is modern enough with vulkan, visuals can be improved as their skills develop with vulkan too. It could be better cpu optimised but a new engine wont help if they want full simulation of the economy imo. It can be fleshed out little by little. So hopefully all their dev time is on this game and not future engines and games. Instead just do a big dlc each year.
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Man of Honour
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I suspect that’s the plan (hopefully). I’m sure there’ll be a few more DLCs after the next. The reviews seem to be improving and the game is shaping up well now.
I’ve started as ZYA for another start. Went straight to Faulty logic, accumulated 3 million in about 20 minutes. Enough to get a few miners going, explorers etc.
Egosoft said that X4 is for the long haul and X:R was the prototype for it (engine etc). Funny X:R a fully playable game where someone can clock gazillion hours could be called "prototype", yet a bare bones engine tech demo is called "game in alpha stage" (Star Citizen).
Spent about 40 mins in Faulty logic earlier tonight & came out with 5 mill, not gonna lie feel kinda cheap doing it, which obviously won't stop me from doing it again tho.
Man of Honour
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Spent about 40 mins in Faulty logic earlier tonight & came out with 5 mill, not gonna lie feel kinda cheap doing it, which obviously won't stop me from doing it again tho.
It’s the best spot, although the second time I headed there I got unlucky as some random Xenon spawned in deep space. It’s very similar spawn rate to release, although I never come across the rarest crystals. I then grabbed a fair few in Trinity Sanctum III too. It’s the quickest I’ve ever setup, within 2 hours I have a factory complex under construction, multiple miners and scouts. I need to remember that the end goal this time is attaining the different story choices, not to get sucked in building a massive empire. I have another save for that. I always forget how much smoother the game runs with a new game start.
Hi guys, I need help with the consequences of the Split storyline
I am at the part where you are back at the PHQ and are talking to Dal Busta about who to side with, the part where following you will need to build a fleet. As much as I tried to keep up with it, I must admit I got a little lost in the plot and I am struggling to really understand who is who. Dal Busta says you can side with the Patriarcy, or the Curbs.
I have very good rep with both ZYA and FRF and dont want to ruin that as I have stations in both.
Can anyone let me know what the consequences of siding with each are?
I have very good rep with both ZYA and FRF and dont want to ruin that as I have stations in both.
Can anyone let me know what the consequences of siding with each are?
Man of Honour
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Siding with the ZYA police has minimal impact. You get a new faction 'CAB' that are enemies to you, but only have a few ships/stations (the ships are weakened since you rig them with explosives) and can quickly blow up. It does make the ZYA super OP though. I'm currently playing through the alternative scenario, so I'm unsure whether ZYA/FRF will become enemies with you.
Man of Honour
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Nearly there with most of the achievements (other than the Xtreme ranks that are near impossible). Its passed the time anyway.
I'm on 13/30 for Xtreme Trader at the moment.
I wonder why there isn't an Xtreme Miner achievement if there's a fighting one and a trading one.
Decided to add the Fire & Smoke mod to my game last night, adds a nice bit of extra flair for when ships explode.
However it does mean that I can no longer do Ventures for nice paint jobs...
I wonder why there isn't an Xtreme Miner achievement if there's a fighting one and a trading one.
Decided to add the Fire & Smoke mod to my game last night, adds a nice bit of extra flair for when ships explode.
However it does mean that I can no longer do Ventures for nice paint jobs...