X4: Foundations - Mount and Blade with space-ships. Now with significant Beta update

[Zarniwoop]

Oh wow, really hope Split Tiger makes it back to the fleet stable. Was my favourite ship out of X3 and personal ultimate flagship. Had a small support fleet since the thing was too big for standard docking. Yet a lot more nimble and ramming quality combat ship then the large capitol behemoths.

All the ships are completely different, as are stations, and the X universe itself. The sectors are in completely different locations in relation to each other and there are a tiny fraction of them compared to X3:TC or even X2.

Have you even played this game?

 

[Razor]

All the ships are completely different, as are stations, and the X universe itself. The sectors are in completely different locations in relation to each other and there are a tiny fraction of them compared to X3:TC or even X2.

Have you even played this game?

EDIT: okay, misread at first. In short, no have not played X4 (indepth) yet. Bought it at release, tested it a bit and anow I am waiting for at least the splits to be implemented plus the mods to build up.

I am not familiar with the X4 ship system but in the trailer I could see that at least one ship is clearly influenced by Split Dragon, another favourite of mine. Even if they dont share the same name anymore or same ship weight class, they will certainly share visual design influences, which is enough for a start.

 

[Zarniwoop]

EDIT: okay, misread at first. In short, no have not played X4 (indepth) yet. Bought it at release, tested it a bit and anow I am waiting for at least the splits to be implemented plus the mods to build up.

I am not familiar with the X4 ship system but in the trailer I could see that at least one ship is clearly influenced by Split Dragon, another favourite of mine. Even if they dont share the same name anymore or same ship weight class, they will certainly share visual design influences, which is enough for a start.

Also something that is gone - weight/size classes. There's no more M5/M4/M3/M2/TS etc. That's too complicated for today's more millennial audience.

There's only S, M, L and XL. Everything fits into those categories, including freighters.

Anyway a Protip is, never judge Egosoft stuff by trailers, ever. Right at the beginning it says MASSIVE NEW UNIVERSE - we'll see about that. Unless it's about 5-6 times as big as the base game, it won't even be the same size as the X universe was before. I'm guessing their idea of "massive" is more like 10 puny new systems off to one corner or something.

MAJOR STORY UPDATE - Does this mean there will actually BE ONE? Apart from 1 mission where you instantly get the biggest station in the game?

X4 represents the typical German mindset. They can only flip between extremes. People complained about it taking too long to get their first ship or station - in X4 you get a huge station pretty much from the start and a mini-carrier even before that as part of the tutorial.

 

[Razor]

Frankly, you are no authority for me when it comes to judging whenever a product is worthwhile or not. Everything from gameplay to story quality evaluations tends to fall on the subjective spectrum dependent of the individual, with the general "consensus" only forming after enough individuals have formed similar opinions. Even then they always still have differences, from the smallest details to outright dissidents.

For example: they could have lost the old ship weight class system. But for me, everything boils down to how they perform relative to the new fleet system, even if the new one is has less categories then the last. Also, as mentioned before, for me the visual design is a top priority and the Split Dragon derivative is clearly rendered in game footage. Or the aforementioned story mockery- bitch please, I have completed X3 Reunion main campaign. Hitting a story qualities Mariana Trench like that again is unlikely (hopefully).

So in conclusion you sir, can take your opinion, and go fuck yourself.

 

[Chippy]

So they fucked it up?. I was looking forward to playing it with this: https://www.moddb.com/mods/star-wars-mod-x4
Will they ever fix it? Will it ever be as playable as X3?
*Sigh* Probably 3 years+ for modders to fix it I expect.

 

[Volrath]

Is this game still shit?

 

[cw8]

Wait till the Split expansion and find out if we get a campaign and we'll find out.

 

[tindrli]

im sooo hooked with starsector and 45 mods

 

[Grotesque]

what's on the pipe regarding this game?

 

[Eli_Havelock]

*Sigh* Probably 3 years+ for modders to fix it I expect.

Probably even longer since they lost most of the modding community with Stillbirth.

what's on the pipe regarding this game?

Basically, go back to X3 or Starsector until Egosoft stops hitting the crack pipe.

 

[Perkel]

nearly a year of delay for their expansion.
From mods side of things still no proper overhaul and progress on those are slow.

 

[Volrath]

Is this game still shit?

So that's a yes.

 

[Chippy]

*Sigh* Probably 3 years+ for modders to fix it I expect.

Probably even longer since they lost most of the modding community with Stillbirth.

what's on the pipe regarding this game?

Basically, go back to X3 or Starsector until Egosoft stops hitting the crack pipe.

Codex needs a funny/despair button. Basically a Joker button.

 

[Twiglard]

Basically, go back to X3 or Starsector until Egosoft stops hitting the crack pipe.

How good is Starsector? I can't get into it somehow, having tried 3 times. There are very few contracts available. The game seems directionless and grindy. It gets even worse with Nexelerim, with barely any contracts available and almost all consist of killing bases, that's not possible in early game. Pirate fleets at the very beginnings are way bigger than ones in vanilla.

What should be the player's goals? Get some cash, a basic fleet, then fight Domain ships for blueprints and other tasty things? Sell survey data? Fight random pirates? Doing the most obvious things is repetitive. How many mechanics did I miss? It takes a while to get to building colonies, and that doesn't seem too satisfying with the idiosyncratic supply system (i.e. level 3 supply able to satisfy all level 3 requirements).

 

[Eli_Havelock]

To be honest, I've not taken a deep dive into Starsector, but it seems fairly well as a 2D sandbox. A mix of trading, scavving, and contracting works for a start, then a little privateering, from there I plan on trying out some of the faction stuff. It seems like you have to jump out into different areas frequently, as it seems like the ecology doesn't support local trading for too long. It's been a while since I've played and have been going through many other titles since, I could be merging some things together.

But to help those also trying Starsector, I had just found these a bit earlier for another nibble at it myself. :D

Basic starting stuff, but still quite useful to learn how to survive. More advanced tips here.

On a related note, I've found Drox Operative by Soldak Entertainment a bit of a fun genre skip to the side. It's a 4X game where you're not one of the faction leaders, but as a free agent in middle of it all. Getting the factions to split and mutate can lead to fun. Good news on Drox Operative 2!

 

[anvi]

I didn't like Starsector. It is mostly just about recruiting more and more ships and sending them in to gank everything. I only gave it a few hours though. Every space game I play makes me wish I was in Space Rangers 2.

 

[Jinn]

Starsector will be good once it has more things to give the player a sense of direction. It needs a main campaign, faction quests, etc. As of right now, it's a good framework for something that could one day be great.

But the thing is, Starsector and immersive space sims like the X series aren't really comparable enough to to recommend the former in place of the later. So these "just play Starsector" posts I see seem a little nonsensical.

I'm still holding out a small amount of hope that with the coming expansion and some mods, X4 will one day be a space sim I want to play. It's a goddamn shame that it wasn't that way on launch, isn't that way now, and probably won't be that way for awhile still though. Counting on Perkel to let us know when it's getting close though!

 

[Eli_Havelock]

But the thing is, Starsector and immersive space sims like the X series aren't really comparable enough to to recommend the former in place of the later. So these "just play Starsector" posts I see seem a little nonsensical.

After Otherside shat out scorecards for imsimms, I'm fairly confident anything goes.

Okay, in seriousness, it depends what people are looking for. If it's the mechanics, I find myself flipping between 2D and 3D. If we're going to 3D then SPAZ 2 might even count a bit.

I'm still holding out a small amount of hope that with the coming expansion and some mods, X4 will one day be a space sim I want to play. It's a goddamn shame that it wasn't that way on launch, isn't that way now, and probably won't be that way for awhile still though.

I'm not that convinced by the direction of the series after Stillbirth. Kinda neat of them to call this X4, though. Still not that convinced on the space highways. Am I in the dimension where X is what we called Freelancer? Wait, I don't remember any minigames in that.

Yeah, I don't know what is up with this series anymore when even it doesn't know what the fuck it wants to be.

 

[Perkel]

I'm still holding out a small amount of hope that with the coming expansion and some mods, X4 will one day be a space sim I want to play. It's a goddamn shame that it wasn't that way on launch, isn't that way now, and probably won't be that way for awhile still though. Counting on Perkel to let us know when it's getting close though!

Yeah the expansion should help a lot as main problem with game for modders is that there aren't that much difference between factions so they can't make really overhaul. Because they added cockpits adding new ships is also pain in fucking ass same with tools for modding. X3 had figured out everything about importing assets and it was fairly easy. Because of their visible upgrade system Ego had to rework how assets are handled and it is from what i know real pain in ass to bring any new ship into game.

And it doesn't help that they treat release as early access and release patches that in major way change game every now and then effectively killing modders work as they have to sit and patch it again for weeks.

Ego majorly fucked up launch. IT should've been Early Access game, for one they wouldn't get shit reviews, they would get money to develop game and they could just do their work in peace building on "foundations" slowly building community around it with modders and such.

Instead they slapped "released" 95% people fucked off after few days due to reviews and now they are working on game with hurt community around it.

If they would release just 2 weeks later with all initial patches it would instantly improve review a lot because a lot of initial problems were resolved in 2 first patches.

 

[Doma]

I didn't like Starsector. It is mostly just about recruiting more and more ships and sending them in to gank everything. I only gave it a few hours though. Every space game I play makes me wish I was in Space Rangers 2.

Not tried Starsector, but MAN do I want a Space Rangers 3.

It is at the top of my list for dream sequels.

That and a proper sequel for Gangsters: Organized Crime.

 

[Eli_Havelock]

Ego majorly fucked up launch. IT should've been Early Access game, for one they wouldn't get shit reviews, they would get money to develop game and they could just do their work in peace building on "foundations" slowly building community around it with modders and such.

Instead they slapped "released" 95% people fucked off after few days due to reviews and now they are working on game with hurt community around it.

If they would release just 2 weeks later with all initial patches it would instantly improve review a lot because a lot of initial problems were resolved in 2 first patches.

Absolutely nothing was learned from the mess of Stillbirth, except that Ketraar has been for years going around attacking even modders and others of the community for not loving the koolaid. It's one thing for a fansite, completely different when they are an official community moderator.

I can't see X's modding scene returning to the 3's era with that combination securely in place.

 

[tindrli]

Basically, go back to X3 or Starsector until Egosoft stops hitting the crack pipe.

How good is Starsector? I can't get into it somehow, having tried 3 times. There are very few contracts available. The game seems directionless and grindy. It gets even worse with Nexelerim, with barely any contracts available and almost all consist of killing bases, that's not possible in early game. Pirate fleets at the very beginnings are way bigger than ones in vanilla.

What should be the player's goals? Get some cash, a basic fleet, then fight Domain ships for blueprints and other tasty things? Sell survey data? Fight random pirates? Doing the most obvious things is repetitive. How many mechanics did I miss? It takes a while to get to building colonies, and that doesn't seem too satisfying with the idiosyncratic supply system (i.e. level 3 supply able to satisfy all level 3 requirements).

im playing it with 40 mods for more than a month every god damn day. and i cant stop playing. you cant imagine what RPG i had im my head last month i dont care if its grindy. reminds me of old pirates just in space.. great game.. worth every penny

 

[anvi]

I tried Starsector again, I got bored of the repetition and it seemed too shallow. But I never tried any mods.

 

[tindrli]

I tried Starsector again, I got bored of the repetition and it seemed too shallow. But I never tried any mods.

they are all the same. if you got bored then its not for you.. mods will add some QOL improvements and more fractions ships weapons and some missions. me on the other hand im having a blast. right now im experimenting which weapons are better faster or slow ones meanwhile im collecting all the rare ships. i just activated some sleeper gates and i have 4 colonies that i defend from time to time. also i invaded some planets on the way and still im struggling to have more than 1.5 milion of credits.. all this time i was combating using 100 % AI since i sux hard with manual combat. that, and since mods get updated frequently at least in a past month or two im restarting a game A LOT and for some damn reason i dont get bored at all.. weird..
anyway this is part of my fleet now i just started another run.

 

[Perkel]

The only alternative to X3 is only X3. I don't there is any other space sim that works as both strategy game and space sim.
Either way. Litecube Universe overhaul is still best thing since slice of bread especially when they fixed AI crashing completely.

I do prefer X-tended2.1 which is imho better but it is also way more finnicky and less polished and you have to sit around it make some stuff work like running Litecube AI crash fix scripts. But once it is all setup it is by far the best version of X3.