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

[Perkel]

Shieeeeeet. I got X3 working in VR with VorpX and it looks amazing. Decisions decisions. If i will switch on X-tended i will get sucked in for weeks...

 

[Perkel]

Public Beta Update 3.20 includes the following changes, among others:

• New Feature: Trade Rules enable improved control over station trade offers, station supply offers and sale of ships.
  
• Added option to import and export individual construction plans to share with community.
  
• Added missile storage capacity information to missile turrets in Encyclopedia.
  
• Added Mark All as Read option to Encyclopedia.
  
• Added icons to order options in Interact Menu.
  
• Added behaviour icons to Map legend.
  
• Added faction abbreviations to Factions and Relations menu.
  
• Added Start Guidance option to Interact menu of data vaults.
  
• Added Fly To option to Interact menu of deployables and drops.
  
• Added details about mission duration and involved ships to Venture Results menu.
  
• Added match speed indicator to crosshair (default hotkey Shift+X).
  
• Added error message when attempting to trade with stations that do not have docking facilities for current ship.
  
• Improved names of Xenon weapons.
  
• Improved target selection for pirates.
  
• Improved chance of AI pilots opening lockboxes when player not nearby.
  
• Improved trade assignment speed if many subordinates try to trade same ware for their commander.
  
• Improved guidance during Paranid plot maze section.
  
• Improved visibility of target speed indicator in speed-bar against bright background elements.
  
• Improved presentation of player-owned ships on ventures in Property Owned menu.
  
• Improved balancing of Patrol Missions by increasing enemy presence.
  
• Improved map performance in certain situations.
  
• Fixed Split wharves missing Pier.
  
• Fixed Fallen Families faction not building new ships.
  
• Fixed stations not posting public buy offers for supply resources.
  
• Fixed NPC stations disabling some of their production modules indefinitely under rare circumstances.
  
• Fixed crews of mining ships not gaining experience when player not nearby during mining operations.
  
• Fixed ships refusing explicitly given orders to trade with a station that is blacklisted.
  
• Fixed Recall Subordinates command not disarming drones.
  
• Fixed pirate ships not attacking NPC-owned ships that refuse to drop their cargo or comply with inspection protocols.
  
• Fixed ships assigned to Trade for Build Storage using station manager account instead of construction account.
  
• Fixed construction plan Shuffle option using connection modules that are not available.
  
• Fixed accidental friendly fire from turrets on player ship being treated as intentional.
  
• Fixed distress drones being launched prematurely.
  
• Fixed ships not doing damage when player not nearby if they were originally built with neither weapons nor turrets.
  
• Fixed player-owned capital ships not doing damage to non-hostile targets designated explicitly by player.
  
• Fixed ships sometimes repeatedly getting supplies at fleet auxiliary ships.
  
• Fixed NPC-owned ships paying for ammunition, deployables and drones that they already have when resupplying at player-owned equipment docks.
  
• Fixed some cases of ships not flying correctly around capital ships, specially when docking.
  
• Fixed ships not able to catch and dock on moving Raptor.
  
• Fixed station-based traders buying resources that their station isn't currently buying.
  
• Fixed stations sometimes creating trade offers with zero amounts for wares that are required for production.
  
• ... and much more!

 

[DraQ]

Whenever I see the title of this thread I immediately see an image of (nominally adult) people riding those spring-horse type toys, except with spaceships, and making laser noises with their mouths.
True story.

 

[cw8]

They sort of announced the Terran expansion in the livestream:
https://forum.egosoft.com/viewtopic.php?f=146&t=426872

I have about 92 hours played for X4. Not sure if I like it more than X3. The interface is easier, most of the commands can be done from the map now and building stations is much easier but ship and weapons options are still quite limiting. Ship variety is still lacking somewhat compared to X3. Needs more mid-ranged ships, what we have now are mostly squarish frigates with one ship dock and it's mostly same for all factions and then the odd corvette ship compared to the M6s, M6+, M7s and M7Ms all with very different stats and sizes back then. Weapon/missile variety are a far cry to what was in X3.

 

[Grotesque]

Whenever I see the title of this thread I immediately see an image of (nominally adult) people riding those spring-horse type toys, except with spaceships, and making laser noises with their mouths.
True story.

Whenever I see one of your posts I immediately see an image of a (nominally humanoid) creature posting from a moth infested communist era spring-sofa, except with shit stains, while making deep-throating gagging noises with its mouth.
True story.

 

[DraQ]

Whenever I see the title of this thread I immediately see an image of (nominally adult) people riding those spring-horse type toys, except with spaceships, and making laser noises with their mouths.
True story.

Whenever I see one of your posts I immediately see an image of a (nominally humanoid) creature posting from a moth infested communist era spring-sofa, except with shit stains, while making deep-throating gagging noises with its mouth.
True story.

Sounds about right, intense butthurt can cause one to hallucinate such imagery.

 

[Edija]

So, how is the game now, how is the dlc? I haven't played since release.

 

[cw8]

So, how is the game now, how is the dlc? I haven't played since release.

The DLC is good and the Split ships are the nicest looking of the bunch, so most people just end up buying the Split ships. They also have the best carrier thus far which launches 20 small ships at a time.
Game is very playable now, building factories is a lot easier now compared to the older X games, UI and map is easier to navigate. Think they're fixing some bugs that cause pilots not to gain piloting experience from some tasks. Good pilots are easier to find in stations now, 4-5 star ones are hideously expensive. Most of the time I just command my pilot to ferry me around while I just goof around in the cockpit or bridge. Fleet AI is as dumb as ever.
Haven't played enough of the Split storyline to make a comment but at least there's a story plot now compared to nothing before. They need to add more medium sized ships coz the ones we have now feel more like small corvettes instead of actual frigates. Terran DLC is announced not long ago.

 

[Edija]

Ok fellow Autists, I got the Split DLC. Any must have mods by now?

 

[Perkel]

Ok fellow Autists, I got the Split DLC. Any must have mods by now?

Most of mods are on their forum not on nexus:

https://forum.egosoft.com/viewforum.php?f=181

Few interesting ones i used:

Dead Air mods. Increases by a lot size of universe.
Variety and Rebalance Overhaul - reworks weapons and defense in game. Brings a lot more new guns, shields have constant regen, bigger difference between small and big ships etc.

There was also research unlocked from start which removes need for PlayerHQ that forced you to do quest line.

The price for both are FPS though so if your game doesn't work well stick to vanilla. I go from 60fps locked to around 25-35 with both of those mods.

Avoid for now new ships packs, they work but they are very finnicky and quite clearly not made for X4 as turrets and such are just bolted onto old models rather than edited to make sense and often textures are blocking going into those ships.

Ego really fucked themselves over with cockpits and ability to walk as this made adding ships really hard to reach same level of quality.

 

[Edija]

Ok fellow Autists, I got the Split DLC. Any must have mods by now?

Most of mods are on their forum not on nexus:

https://forum.egosoft.com/viewforum.php?f=181

Few interesting ones i used:

Dead Air mods. Increases by a lot size of universe.
Variety and Rebalance Overhaul - reworks weapons and defense in game. Brings a lot more new guns, shields have constant regen, bigger difference between small and big ships etc.

There was also research unlocked from start which removes need for PlayerHQ that forced you to do quest line.

The price for both are FPS though so if your game doesn't work well stick to vanilla. I go from 60fps locked to around 25-35 with both of those mods.

Avoid for now new ships packs, they work but they are very finnicky and quite clearly not made for X4 as turrets and such are just bolted onto old models rather than edited to make sense and often textures are blocking going into those ships.

Ego really fucked themselves over with cockpits and ability to walk as this made adding ships really hard to reach same level of quality.

Thanks. I'm interested in your opinion on the Faction Enchancer mods? Any experiences with these?
I'm looking at:

Faction Enhancer - Econ AI Module
Faction Enhancer - Econ Balance module
Faction Enhancer - War Module

They are among the most subscribed mods on the workshop.

 

[Perkel]

Because those are the oldest. Imho they are not really needed anymore. They were from time when vanilla struggled with economy and war. In some games economy completely got blocked after some time stalling everything while wars sometimes just didn't happen and every sit down quietly all the time. Ego mostly fixed those issues.

That being said. Currect version of mod amps war and makes economy even more secure. Just read about each module since some of them i think are not compatibile with dead air.

 

[Perkel]

Bought 8GB for 2x8GB DDR4 2666mhz (previously had only one stick of 8GB)
My fps went up surprisingly from 108FPS in one sector to 125FPS in vanilla start of split campaign.

----------------------------------------------
----------------------------------------------
In other news
3.30 patchnotes. Should be released in near future, still in beta:

Version 3.30 Release (406216) - 2020-07-24

• New Feature: Improved personnel management and crew transfer system.
• Added new upkeep missions.
• Added Hold Position override order as reaction to attack, to prevent ships from leaving area.
• Added option to put docked ships into internal storage.
• Added ability to enter space suit from docked capital ships.
• Added ability to define multiple sectors for player alerts.
• Added ticker notification for player-owned ships and stations coming under attack.
• Added logbook entry for player-owned stations being attacked.
• Added notification and logbook entry for player-owned stations getting destroyed.
• Added option to fire unassigned crew members in Crew Info menu.
• Added option to pause production in Logical Station Overview.
• Added information about station supply resources to Logical Station Overview.
• Added captions to columns in Logical Station Overview.
• Added ship type icons to blueprint trade and Fast Travel menus.
• [Beta 2] Added ship code to ship entry in shopping list section of Ship Configuration menu.
• Added map filter options for enemy offers and gate connections.
• Added map background opacity option.
• Added new input bindings for diagonal steering and strafing.
• Added new input bindings for toggling auto-roll and aim assist options.
• Added option to select GPU in-game (requires restart).
• [Beta 3] Added possibility to deliver crew for missions in Crew Transfer menu (new feature in 3.30).
• [Beta 3] Added possibility to assign managers and ship traders to stations using Crew Transfer context menu (new feature in 3.30).
• Removed ability of Cerberus to be equipped with mining lasers.
• [Beta 2] Removed redundant Manage funds Interact menu option (use Information option instead).
• [Beta 2] Removed limit for concurrent generic missions (new feature in 3.30).
• [Beta 4] Removed non-functional options to change equipment while modifying/redesigning ships.
• Improved docking process to allow S and M sized ships to be docked in reverse direction.
• Improved Defence subordinate behaviour by reducing engagement range to 20km.
• Improved resource handling to move surplus resources for Drones and Ammo to cargo bay if station has use for them.
• Improved balancing of seminars (increased effectiveness, increased price, reduced quantity available).
• Improved subordinate traders by changing priority to favour demand over distance.
• Improved AutoMiners to make use of their factions' resource probes.
• Improved selection of sectors for order parameters in Behaviour menu.
• Improved wording of ship role assignments in Interact menu.
• [Beta 2] Improved container magnet to also attract deactivated player-owned deployables.
• [Beta 4] Improved cargo space allocation for workforce resources.
• [Beta 4] Improved trade rule settings to keep current trade rule in effect when disabling Use Global/Station setting.
• Improved performance of Distribute Wares order in cases where blacklists result in it having significantly smaller operating range.
• Improved performance of mission guidance rendering on map.
• Fixed certain plot stations being recycled due to economic issues.
• Fixed Paranid plot mission A Small Errand getting stuck at objective Follow: Dead Drop Signal under specific late game circumstances.
• [Beta 3] Fixed guidance wrongly jumping back from docking to scanning when creating new Signal Leaks on coffin ship in Split story mission To the Other Side.
• [Beta 4] Fixed Hire Builder upkeep missions triggering unnecessarily for equipment upgrades (problem introduced in 3.30).
• [Beta 4] Fixed relation to Duke's Buccaneers getting locked again after having been unlocked in The Insurgence mission.
• [Beta 4] Fixed not being able to talk to Split prisoners after they are assigned to you.
• Fixed blueprints being obtainable from data leaks on ships.
• Fixed rebuilt build modules remaining in an inoperable state if they were wrecked before existing hack expired.
• Fixed ships having lingering links to inoperable build modules resulting in them not being able to upgrade elsewhere.
• Fixed ships executing order Distribute Wares sometimes finding trades in blacklisted sectors.
• Fixed ships belonging to Godrealm of the Paranid in Split space persisting when they shouldn't.
• Fixed AI-controlled ships sometimes jumping ahead on path after going through accelerator or gate.
• Fixed certain ships not being able to dock manually without docking computer.
• Fixed mass traffic ships not flying correctly when returning to dock.
• Fixed ships getting very large number of Attack orders if they have Attack assignment and their commander engages many targets.
• Fixed promoted subordinates sometimes inheriting an assignment that they cannot fulfil.
• Fixed newly promoted subordinates inheriting their former commander's assignment but not updating their behaviour.
• Fixed boarding ships sometimes not launching pods.
• Fixed turrets in Attack my current target mode sometimes not shooting when targeting station.
• Fixed turrets on certain stations consistently missing capital ships.
• Fixed weapon aiming problems when shooter rotates or moves laterally to target.
• Fixed transport or build drones remaining unavailable under certain conditions.
• Fixed venture ship being lost due to destroyed/moved venture docks when free venture dock is available.
• Fixed defence modules not getting turrets on some stations where they should.
• Fixed Split storage modules missing shields and turrets.
• Fixed stuck trades between stations and build storage.
• Fixed ships getting stuck in docking bay.
• Fixed wrecks triggering player alerts.
• Fixed getting notifications and logbook entries for player-owned drones and laser towers getting destroyed.
• Fixed laser towers stuck in highways.
• Fixed asteroids accumulating when repeatedly saving and loading in same location (corrects previous fix).
• [Beta 3] Fixed ships armed only with missile launchers sometimes not firing when attacking capital ships or stations.
• [Beta 3] Fixed ships incorrectly staying assigned to docks, blocking them forever.
• [Beta 3] Fixed pilots unable to control their ship after being promoted in certain cases.
• [Beta 3] Fixed player looking at floor when speaking to crewman in back of current ship.
• [Beta 3] Fixed inability to use spacesuit hatch after crew transfer pod arrived.
• [Beta 4] Fixed exploit when selling crew at shipyard.
• [Beta 4] Fixed crew not leaving the bridge after being sold at shipyard.
• [Beta 4] Fixed player being charged when shipyard was unable to provide agreed crew.
• [Beta 4] Fixed crew transfer pods sometimes being launched when pilot leaves their chair temporarily (problem introduced in 3.30).
• [Beta 4] Fixed pilots sometimes sitting on the chair at the same time as the player (problem introduced in 3.30).
• [Beta 4] Fixed miners staying in completely depleted area when other areas with resources are available.
• [Beta 4] Fixed police and reconnaissance ships investigating areas that once contained stations long after they have been destroyed.
• [Beta 4] Fixed turrets not firing on stations under construction close to player.
• [Beta 4] Fixed crew moving around on bridges more often than intended.
• [Beta 4] Fixed pilots unable to control their ship after being promoted in certain cases (replaces beta 3 changelog entry).
• [Beta 4] Fixed player getting notifications for player-owned XS ships getting destroyed.
• [Beta 4] Fixed docking guidance lights leading to incorrect position when piloting capital ship.
• Fixed higher trade ranks and associated achievements being somewhat too difficult to achieve.
• Fixed higher fight ranks and associated achievements being much too difficult to achieve.
• Fixed fight rank not increasing when player destroys station modules.
• Fixed transporter doors on M ships not closing when NPCs use them.
• Fixed exploit allowing crew members to be cloned in certain situations.
• Fixed exploit involving selling ship equipment by transferring credits when build process is complete.
• Fixed exploit allowing licence and blueprint purchases to be made with insufficient funds.
• Fixed incorrectly scaled satellite ranges on map.
• Fixed discrepancies in information presented by boarding menu during operations.
• Fixed loadout statistics not taking equipment mods on grouped turrets into account.
• Fixed empty Import Construction Plans context menu under certain circumstances.
• Fixed Ship Configuration menu not working when accessed at resupply ship under certain circumstances.
• Fixed station storage display in Info menu if station storage is empty.
• Fixed all module categories being collapsed when editing module loadout in Station Build menu.
• Fixed Behaviour and Individual Instruction menus jumping to top row after scrolling on right side.
• Fixed sliders for order parameters in Behaviour menu not working correctly with mouse.
• Fixed overlapping texts for station accounts in Object Info menu.
• Fixed Loadout Info tab with high UI scale settings.
• [Beta 2] Fixed mission menu breaking because of resource probe upkeep missions failing to abort if miner is destroyed (new feature in 3.30).
• [Beta 2] Fixed missing guidance to target station in Split story End of Terrorism mission.
• [Beta 2] Fixed missing Dal lines in Split story End of Oppression/Terrorism missions.
• [Beta 2] Fixed incorrectly being able to assign service crew and marines to stations (problem introduced in 3.30).
• [Beta 2] Fixed assigning managers and ship traders to stations sometimes resulting in them being lost (problem introduced in 3.30).
• [Beta 2] Fixed cases where crew assignment could complete instantly instead of using pod (problem introduced in 3.30).
• [Beta 2] Fixed cases where crew assignment could fail (problem introduced in 3.30).
• [Beta 3] Fixed not being able to scan data leaks on ships or data vaults (problem introduced in 3.30).
• [Beta 3] Fixed drones not being placed into unit storage after collection (problem introduced in 3.30).
• [Beta 3] Fixed pilots arriving by pod sitting down too early and being in broken state if player leaves chair (problem introduced in 3.30).
• [Beta 3] Fixed being able to assign marines that are being transferred to a boarding operation (problem introduced in 3.30).
• [Beta 3] Fixed cases of transferred crew never arriving at their destination (new feature in 3.30)
• [Beta 2] Fixed incorrect mission guidance when objective is to dock at ship that is itself docked.
• [Beta 2] Fixed cases of missing guidance to mission targets in space after taking control of ship.
• [Beta 2] Fixed inventory trader not showing new stock levels if initial value was zero.
• [Beta 2] Fixed dock request not aborting previous assignment when done from menu.
• [Beta 2] Fixed role selection in Crew Info menu not working.
• [Beta 2] Fixed Ship Overview menu for ships in construction.
• [Beta 2] Fixed crew info context menu referring to manager when interacting with ship trader.
• [Beta 3] Fixed subordinate and docked ship categories ignoring Object List and Property Owned sort settings.
• [Beta 3] Fixed undo step not being added when adding new modules in station editor.
• [Beta 3] Fixed button hints not being displayed for buttons on secondary controller or joystick.
• [Beta 3 HF 1] Fixed Object List and Property Owned not listing subordinates of subordinates (problem introduced in 3.30 Beta 3).
• [Beta 3 HF 1] Fixed Crew and Loadout Info menus getting stuck when selecting a station in construction.
• [Beta 4] Fixed ability to reassign and fire NPCs of other factions (problem introduced in 3.30).
• [Beta 4] Fixed ability to pause production modules of other factions (new feature in 3.30).
• [Beta 4] Fixed setting buy/sell amount handling of trade ware back to automatic also turning off offers.
• [Beta 4] Fixed renamed sectors showing their original name in Blacklist settings.
• [Beta 4] Fixed Object Info not available for stations in construction.
• [Beta 4] Fixed ship crew tab not updating when hiring bulk crew.
• [Beta 4] Fixed Show Tooltips option having no effect until new session is started.
• [Beta 4 HF 1] Fixed saving new blacklists not working (problem introduced in 3.30).
• Fixed selecting hologram on Split capital ship bridge resulting in player taking control of ship.
• Fixed multiple minor glitches related to mouse click handling, e.g. clicks on NPCs sometimes immediately selecting dialog menu option.
• Fixed visual hole in bridge on large Argon ships.
• Fixed positional lights on Argon defence tube appearing in wrong position in upgrade menu.
• Fixed small Mass Driver Mk1 and Mk2 appearing visually disconnected in upgrade menu.
• Fixed Split defence module details being disconnected in upgrade menu.
• Fixed floating and intersecting turrets on Teladi defence platform.
• Fixed slightly offset guns on Tuatara.
• Fixed gun on Jaguar not being properly visually attached to ship hull.
• Fixed shields on Wyvern not protecting surface elements.
• Fixed misplaced rear turrets and shield generator on Rattlesnake.
• Fixed wrongly rotated shield generator on Raptor.
• Fixed player logos on Raptor not being properly visible.
• Fixed Boso Ta head rotation.
• [Beta 2] Fixed cause of graphical corruption on very busy zoomed-out map.
• [Beta 3] Fixed UI animations sometimes appearing to be running at very low FPS.
• [Beta 4] Fixed poor performance with loadout display in certain situations.
• Fixed excessive stuttering of engine sound especially on ships flying in formations.
• [Beta 3] Fixed ships stopping as if hitting something very massive when colliding with XS laser towers.
• [Beta 3] Fixed getting stuck in transporter room on Jaguar.
• [Beta 4] Fixed several causes of crashes.

 

[ADL]

How is this with the first expansion? I'm thinking about picking up the complete edition which includes both expansions on the cheap.

 

[Perkel]

How is this with the first expansion? I'm thinking about picking up the complete edition which includes both expansions on the cheap.

It is all patched up and vanilla is pretty good with expansion. Mods make it even better. IT is yet to beat X3 with Litecube mod but it is slowly getting there. There is definitely a lot of fun to be had if you are into playing Mount and Blade in space.

What you need to know before buy is that you need good CPU. imho something like 2500K@4,5Ghz is a must. I had 3570k@4,5Ghz and game would frequently go down to high 30s and if you want to play mods that expand universe you need to modern good CPU. On my Ryzen3600 which is pretty much top tier with 2 big mods one adding 100 new sectors and other weapon armor overhaul which adds many types of weapons etc my fps go down from 50-70 to 20-30-40 depending on sector.

 

[ADL]

Thank you. I wonder how it'll scale on my new 3950X which has 16 cores/32 threads.

 

[Perkel]

Thank you. I wonder how it'll scale on my new 3950X which has 16 cores/32 threads.

Probably it will work the same as on my Ryzen3600. It is not highly threaded game. Most of their logic is still i think on 1st thread which bogs down FPS.

Either way since they moved to Vulcan with X4 at least game runs properly. When they released X-Rebirth it was single core game and right now it has worse performance than X4 now. They also seems to slowly improve performance because they release Split expansion and game FPS even improved a little instead of slow down with increased game logic.

 

[tindrli]

Mr. perkel . and i7 7700HQ?? i have helios 300 laptop with 16RAM and 1060 6GB bought it in 2017 i saved for almost 8 years

 

[Perkel]

Mr. perkel . and i7 7700HQ?? i have helios 300 laptop with 16RAM and 1060 6GB bought it in 2017 i saved for almost 8 years

It should run it well but don't expect magic.

 

[Lyre Mors]

Perkel, would you say combat has been fixed enough in Vanilla to be enjoyable, or would you say the Variety and Rebalance Overhaul is a must have?

 

[Perkel]

Perkel, would you say combat has been fixed enough in Vanilla to be enjoyable, or would you say the Variety and Rebalance Overhaul is a must have?

Combat is great in X4 but VRO fixed all quirks with it and gives it depth it needed. The biggest change is that in vanilla shields stop generation of shields when ship is hit where in VRO those shields generate even while being hit. So in vanilla you can with one small ship take down capital ship while in VRO you can't since shield regen will be faster than damage you do.

 

[Zarniwoop]

How is this with the first expansion? I'm thinking about picking up the complete edition which includes both expansions on the cheap.

It's still shit.

If you're a veteran of the series, it's basically X3 jammed into the Stillbirth engine but smaller and all the races' ships look exactly the same and SETA is a luxury you need to find through shit minigames. With 2 major races removed. And one of those major races released as an expansion later on.

Oh and get this:

No
More
Jumpdrives

But its totally okay because there's a space autobahn now. Yay! Perkele said so!

The number 1 requested feature for X4 on the Egosoft forums was to be able to land on planets. So they listened and gave the audience the ability to:

Land on every single station, they all look the same and you get to walk through mind-numbingly boring travelators to get anywhere.

In actual benefits though, the interface is fantastic. Best in the series and sorely missed in previous games. Doesn't help making the core game any less shit or content poor though.

 

[anvi]

Do you see it being better than X3 in a few years once it gets more patches updates and mods? Or do you think X3 will always be better than it?

 

[Razor]

In the Eleventh Hour there is a structure in the distance orbiting the local star. I thought it was part of the background but no, you can actually travel there.

https://forum.egosoft.com/viewtopic.php?f=185&t=423573

Spoiler

Its the Hub from X3

For pros: I would most praise the map system as it allows you to effectively manage your enterprise as you sit in the backseat of your space limo as the driver brings you to your next destination. Also the entire background economic simulation where aside from base resources NOTHING is spawned out of zero, including the random xenon you meet while wandering into deep space (they are teleported in from xenon sectors). Everything needs goods to be generated and the game keeps track of every ship and transaction in the entire background sim.
Station construction and management is also a big fucking improvement over X3 TC/AP vanilla. It has a clear logical overview that gives you a clear picture on what are you inputs/outputs and how much resources are consumed at what stage. Also the modular system means you can build clear structures within the buildspace, unlike X3 where I remember in the end there were several sectors I could not even enter because of all the fucking tubes turning my complexes into giant piles of shit spaghetti that dropped my fps down into single digits.

As always, there are places for improvement though: for example individual stations could use a revenue bookkeeping system where the manager keeps tabs on what quanitites were bought at what price and what quantities were sold at what price. Its needed so you get a clear overview if your non closed loop system factories are churning in a net profit or are the more expensive inputs eating too much into your bottom line. Currently there is only a command "manage funds" which means that you just keep an eye on "operating costs" line and if in the long run its rising, then the factory is profitable. Also in vanilla exact bookkeeping dosent matter that much because there is no salary costs, no taxes, no amortization or some such counterbalances the EBITDA. Thank god there are three mods that implement salaries, introduce amortization on assets if they dont have proper maintenance crews and introduce taxes if you squat in a faction controlled sector.

For cons the biggest I can point to is the rather redundant FPS component. So far the "biggest" positive I can find about it is that you can go to the landing pad and inspect your ship on the outside. Well as long as its not bigger then a M class. Yet again you could that do easily in a space suit so even that plus is negatable. All these work hours spent modelling and creating all these interiors and 3d models, ugh, they could have spent those refining the core mechanics, additional ships and streamlining station management to menu based interaction like X3 did. This is also going to be a serious problem for new ship modding because you actually need to model the interiors now for a pretty gimmicky mode. Its not X4 specific though: ED has also the problem where they are wasting resources on developing "space legs" thats gonna have some superficial, bare bones gameplay. All because of extremely loud and obnoxious grognards that dont even know what practical application it could have in the first place!

Another con is that X4 is likely going to remain non VR compatible. There was a topic in the Egosoft forum discussing it at length (including the devs). It basically boils down to the game being extremely CPU intensive thanks to the background sim. This introduces FPS spikes/lag that while annoying on a 2d monitor, is downright dangerous for the user on a VR device.

 

[Chippy]

This game is just a platform for modders to make a better game. Like the Elder Scrolls. I'm waiting for this Star Wars mod to be fully fleshed out: https://youtu.be/w7v4kxcs8Es

The fact that people have said several gameplay decisons are a step backwards from X3 makes me worry though.