👷🚧 X4: Station Design Contest

Note: this contest also runs on the X4: Foundations general forum, on the Construction Community forum, and on our Discord.

Round #5: Trading Station

Category: Creative
Theme: Create an epic trading hub where all factions are welcome.
Limitations: No limitations; use any module you like!

Dates:

• Contest begins on July 03, 2026
• Submission period ends on 12:00 CEST, July 26, 2026
• Winners will be announced on July 31, 2026

Prizes:

• 1st Place: 10x Mellow Mocha Paintmods, 10x Afterglow Paintmods, 10x Construction Zone Paintmods
• 2nd Place: 5x Mellow Mocha Paintmods, 5x Afterglow Paintmods, 5x Construction Zone Paintmods
• 3rd Place: 3x Mellow Mocha Paintmods, 3x Afterglow Paintmods, 3x Construction Zone Paintmods
• Participation reward: 1x Construction Zone Paintmod

Calling all Architects!
The X4 Station Design Contest is back, and we want YOU to design epic space stations!
What's in it for you? Apart from the awesome prizes, your design could be featured on our social media channels, and there’s even a chance we might take inspiration from it for future game content!

About this contest
This contest takes place across several community platforms and runs over multiple rounds.
Each round includes a few weeks long submission period, during which you’ll need to submit screenshots of your station along with its construction plan, followed by an evaluation period.
Winners are announced just before the start of the next round, and prizes are sent out via private message. Paintmod prizes are added to your accounts automatically.

This contest takes place on:

• The Egosoft Forum’s X4: Foundations subforum
• The Egosoft Forum's Construction Community
• The Egosoft Discord's #contests channel
• The r/X4Foundations subreddit
• By email, using the contest@egosoft.com address

Contest categories
When a round starts, we will give a basic idea of what we’d like to see from the participants.
There will be two main categories specified that the participants must follow:

•  Creative Station: station plans in this category should, simply put, look good. You don't have to worry about functionality - let creativity guide your designs. Note that module clipping in this category is always allowed.
•  Grounded Station: station plans in this category should be more realistic - think of them as stations you’d want to see the AI build. While aesthetic appeal and creativity is still important here, other important factors may come into play, including:
  • Size - defines the amount of modules to be used and/or the plot's size
  • Faction - defines what faction-specific modules to be used
  • Type - defines what type of station it must be
  • Connection - defines if the different station modules must be connected together by their connection points.
  • Clipping - defines if module clipping is allowed
  • Usage of generic modules - defines if participants can include generic modules, such as pavilions, penthouses, observatories, sensor arrays, and welfare modules.
  • Other criteria - defines other requirements, such as usage of DLC modules, usage of interfaction modules, etc.)
  • Example*:* Design a Large Argon Solar Power Plant.
    • Use base game Argon modules only.
    • Do not use Argon modules from X4: Tides of Avarice and X4: Timelines.[/size]
    • The modules must be connected.
    • Module clipping is not allowed.
    • Plot size is 10x10x10.
    • Feel free to utilise generic modules.
    • Mandatory modules: at least 20x Universal Energy Cell Production modules, at least 1x Pier, at least 1x Universal Dock.
    • The design must not contain the Headquarters module.

How to participate

1. Read the requirements carefully and design your submission accordingly.
2. Export your construction plan into a file.
3. Take three screenshots of your submission: one form the top, one from the side, and one from an arbitrary angle.
4. Present these files, along with your Egosoft account's name in the contest thread.  How to export, find, and upload your stations’ construction plans file:
5. Alternatively, you can also send your submission to the contest@egosoft.com address.

 How to take and upload screenshots:

1. When piloting a ship, target your station and press F3, or right-click on your station and select “External View”.
2. Angle the camera with the numpad keys (4, 8, 6, 2), as they function as arrow keys for the camera.
3. Find the Top angle, the Front angle, and an “attractive” angle of your station.
4. Take a screenshot using the Alt+PrtScr key combination. Each time you take a screenshot, you must leave/minimize the game, open an image editing software (such as Paint/Paint3D), and paste your screenshot from the clipboard (hotkey: CTRL+V).
5. Alternatively, you can use third party softwares that can take screenshots, such as the NVIDIA GeForce Experience app, which directly saves the screenshots into files.
6. Save the screenshots to a folder where you can easily find them.
7. Upload your screenshots to a file sharing site, cloud (Google Drive, Dropbox), or image sharing site (imgur.com, ImgBB.com).
8. Share the links of the screenshots in your post.

Rules
Apart from what was already said, there are further rules we want to address:

• By participating, you consent that your station design may be used in-game and for marketing purposes by Egosoft.
• Participants must adhere to the participation criterias for a valid entry.
• Participants must only present one submission per contest.
• All DLC prizes are provided exclusively as Steam codes. As such, they are redeemable only through the Steam platform and cannot be activated on any other service.
• Please refrain from using AI/LLM to enhance, modify or correct your design.

 Tips and Tricks

• We strongly recommend using the Station Design Simulator gamemode, because it features all the possible blueprints unlocked, providing you with an advantage right away.
• Another advantage to the Station Design Simulator is that you can build your construction plans instantly by pressing the “Force Construction” button.
• If you're new to building stations in X4, we recommend playing the Station Building tutorial first.
• Have a vision - a complex that's spread out thin, a hunk of machinery packed densely, or an aesthetic shape/form? It will work as long your design is in harmony.
• Modules can be placed in a 3D place - try building vertically too!
• Modules can be rotated - if you want your design to look unique, try turning and rotating the modules!

Disclaimer
This community contest is organized by Egosoft GmbH for owners of X4: Foundations. Certain editions or rounds of the contest may require specific DLCs for technical reasons. Participation is voluntary and open to players aged 16 or older (or with parental consent). No purchase beyond the base game or relevant DLC ownership is necessary. Personal data will be used only for the purpose of contacting winners. This promotion is not sponsored or administered by any social media platform on which it is announced.

 FAQ:

• There are two Station Design Contests on the forum, one in the X4: Foundations forum, and the other in the Construction Community forum. What gives? -There are certain limitations the general X4: Foundations forum has over the Construction Community forum. For instance, in the Construction Community forum, you can easily add attachments to the posts, which in turn makes the submission posting process a lot easier. Thus, the contest on the forum runs on two separate threads.
• Do I need to post in both threads? -No, choose the thread where you’re the most comfortable in participating and stick with it.
• Can I submit my older designs? -Yes, feel free to. Just remember that the station plan must adhere to the rules (currently free-for-all in the first round), and that you can only post one entry.
• Can I use AI to improve my build? -No, please don't use AI, as it puts other players at a disadvantage who otherwise create their build manually. While AI-improved builds may look great, perfection is not the thing we are going for with these contests.

As we continue to develop and expand X4: Foundations, we are constantly looking for ways to improve the game's proprietary engine and overall performance. To keep pushing the boundaries of what our engine can do, we are preparing to upgrade our graphics API to Vulkan 1.4 as part of a future update. Our plan is to do this as part of the next major update after 9.00. Because of this necessary technological step forward, we will soon be updating the minimum GPU requirements for X4: Foundations.

Why are we making this change?

Transitioning to Vulkan 1.4 is a significant technical milestone for us. As a small team, splitting our resources between legacy hardware support and modern development has become a significant drain; continuing to support older hardware requires us to maintain more code, and limits the graphical features we can make use of. By streamlining our engine around this newer standard, we can work more efficiently and continue to deliver technical improvements to the game. In other words, moving exclusively to Vulkan 1.4 allows us to focus 100% on the future of X4!

The New Minimum GPU Requirements

When this planned update goes live, the new minimum graphics card requirements to run the latest version of X4: Foundations will be:

>NVIDIA GTX 1060 or AMD RX 5300 or equivalent (Vulkan 1.4 Support required)

Based on recent Steam Hardware Survey data, we are confident that this change will only affect a small fraction of our active players.

What if my PC doesn't meet the new requirements?

First and most importantly: if you are currently playing on older hardware, you will not lose access to the game. We know that some of you have been exploring the X universe on older hardware, and we want to ensure that you can keep playing. We will continue to provide access to legacy versions of X4 via Steam's "Game Versions & Betas" branch system, as we have already been doing for some time.

How to access a legacy version:

1. Right-click X4: Foundations in your Steam Library.
2. Select Properties, then navigate to the Game Versions & Betas tab.
3. Select the designated legacy build from the dropdown menu.
4. Steam will download the selected version, and you can play as normal.

Once done, Steam will display your currently selected version of the game next to the play button, as well as next to the X4: Foundations title in your games list on the left hand side of the Steam client. We hope this early notice gives you plenty of time to prepare. We are incredibly grateful for your continued support of X4: Foundations over the years, and we can't wait to show you what this new technical foundation will allow us to do in the future.

🔗 https://store.steampowered.com/developer/egosoft

Summer has arrived, and we're celebrating with an 80% discount on X4: Foundations in the Steam Summer Sale! If you enjoy space games, now might be the perfect time to give it a try.

Already own X4? No problem! The DLCs and other X games are also available at great discounts, so be sure to check them out.

Zsa Balaton

Hello Everyone,
Here are the winners of Screenshot of the Week #24 and #25.

These epic screenshots were provided by ChrisGG, SkazheniyKhaak, ChibiPhoenix, Charlie1024, Sober, and Syrex. Big congratulations to them!

Next SotW:

Week #26

Note: Every winning screenshots featuring modified and/or visually enhanced content will be marked with [MODIFIED] or (Stylised) tags.

Do you wish to participate? Post your entries in our Official Discord's #media channel:

https://www.egosoft.com/discord

...or on our Official Forum!

https://forum.egosoft.com/viewtopic.php?f=146&t=460228

We're very excited to announce that the X4: Foundations "Empire Update" (9.00) has officially launched! This free major update includes new features and sweeping reworks that improve how you interact with your empire: militarily, strategically, and economically.

>>WATCH THE LAUNCH TRAILER HERE

We'd like to extend our sincere thanks to the community for your invaluable feedback during the 9.00 Public Beta, which has helped us to make even more improvements over the past several weeks. In particular, your feedback has been immensely helpful in fine-tuning our updates to the AI.

Below is an overview of the Empire Update's features. For a deeper dive into what's in store, be sure to take a look at the 9.00 Public Beta announcement.

For a quick rundown of the biggest changes, watch our 9.00 Public Beta Announcement video from March 2026.

We're thrilled to kick off the Public Beta for the X4: Foundations "Empire Update" (9.00)! This free major update includes numerous features and reworks that influence how you engage with...

What's New In The 9.00 Update

Combat Improvements

We've made sweeping changes to every aspect of combat in X4: Foundations. This is the largest combat balancing update in X4's history. This update includes a full rebalancing of hundreds of weapons, turrets, shields, and ships to add tactical depth, make more options viable, and address inconsistencies. Additionally, turrets are more accurate, AI pilots behave more organically, capital ship movement has been reworked, and much more.

For more information about our extensive changes to weapon and ship balance, you can take a look at the thread in our Beta Feedback forum.

Kha'ak Recycling

S and M Kha'ak wrecks can now be recycled, leading to the production of Allographyne, a versatile new ware usable in ship and equipment production. Allographyne transmutes to replace any ware in the production process, providing an alternative means to address supply shortages.

Since Allographyne production requires Nividium, this opens new trade opportunities across the gate network. Some NPC factions will also construct specialised recycling stations to utilise this resource.

To hear more about Kha'ak Recycling and other changes to the economy, you can visit the thread in our Beta Feedback forum.

Ship Visual / Modularity Changes

Engines and shields are now integrated into S and M ship models. This change improves their appearance and significantly increases the variety of modules they can equip. This change leads to more deliberate, consistent visual identities for ships throughout the gate network.

Additionally, S and M ship hardpoint locations have received a facelift, allowing a greater variety in loadout options. For example, Boron and Commonwealth ships can equip each other's modules, and they can now equip smaller weapons and turrets.

Priority Orders

By popular demand, this update introduces Priority Orders. This new UI functionality allows instantly responsive "RTS"-style orders to be issued, immediately overriding all other orders. This dramatically improves the flow of fast-paced strategic situations, eliminating the need to configure order lists and making ships act immediately.

Orders can be issued and queued from the map using [SHIFT] + [Right Click], while Priority Orders can be sent with [CTRL] + [Right Click] and queued using [CTRL] + [SHIFT] + [Right Click].

These modifiers can be used in any combination to queue and priority-queue orders in the Order Menu. Need a trader to pick up a nearby lockbox and for its escorts to attack a target near it? Priority Orders allow you to issue those commands swiftly and without disrupting your existing order queues.

Ship Showroom Module

We've added a new module with the 9.00 update: the Ship Showroom. This module allows players to store and display their favourite S and M ships on stylish landing pads.

One or more Ship Showrooms can be attached to existing player-owned stations, or even combined into a showroom complex to display a more extensive collection - try finding one of each ship!

UI Changes

Adjustments to the UI's visual style have touched all areas of the game, and we've paid special attention to improving the map screen menus. These adjustments to the map screen's layout and style aim to improve readability while preserving the overall information structure.

For more information about the UI changes we've made, you can read the Beta Feedback forum.

Better NPC Station Designs

In previous updates, we enabled NPC factions to construct larger stations. Following those changes, the 9.00 update gives NPC factions the ability to utilise and expand upon predefined construction plans. Stations based on these designs will be more visually coherent and elaborate, and they allow our designers to populate the gate network with stations that more strongly reflect faction identities.

Mining Region Overhaul

We've completely overhauled how resource areas are managed, achieving several goals at once: better performance and memory usage, more developer control over resource distribution, and more dynamic resourcing gameplay for players. Resources are now localised rather than spread across the entire region. Additionally, when a resource area is depleted, new resources may emerge at a different location within the region.

This creates a new dynamic around mining operations, in which resource areas must be discovered before they can be exploited, leading to fluctuating resource availability as miners automatically seek efficient mining locations.

We have also removed the influence of resource probes on mining efficiency. Resource probes now indicate to miners where to focus their efforts, enabling players to optimise their refining and defensive setups without feeling pressured to micromanage resource probes.

For a closer look at the new resource system, visit the thread in our Beta Feedback forum.

Thank you from all of us at Egosoft for playing X4: Foundations, and we hope you enjoy what we've done with the 9.00 update!

The Empire Update might be out of beta, but as you know, we never stop working on the game - so please keep sharing your feedback with us, and we'll keep listening.

>>Find the complete changelog here

Hello Everyone,
The winners of Screenshot of the Week #23 have been chosen.

These epic screenshots were provided by Maksimus, ChibiPhoenix, Sober, and ChrisGG.
Big congratulations to them!

Next SotW:

Week #24

Note: Every winning screenshots featuring modified and/or visually enhanced content will be marked with [MODIFIED] or (Stylised) tags.

Do you wish to participate? Post your entries in our Official Discord's #media channel:

https://discord.com/invite/zhs8sRpd3m

...or on our Official Forum!

https://forum.egosoft.com/viewtopic.php?f=146&t=460228

Hello Everyone,
The winners of Screenshot of the Week #22 have been chosen.

These epic screenshots were provided by Maksimus, BIGGIE_slim XD, Sober, and ChibiPhoenix.
Big congratulations to them!

Next SotW:

Week #23

Note: Every winning screenshots featuring modified and/or visually enhanced content will be marked with [MODIFIED] or (Stylised) tags.

Do you wish to participate? Post your entries in our Official Discord's #media channel:

https://discord.com/invite/zhs8sRpd3m

...or on our Official Forum!

https://forum.egosoft.com/viewtopic.php?f=146&t=460228

Hello Everyone,
The winners of Screenshot of the Week #18 have been chosen.

These epic screenshots were provided by Spazizoid, Bassted, Maksimus, and Charlie1024
Big congratulations to them!

Next SotW:

Week #22

Note: Every winning screenshots featuring modified and/or visually enhanced content will be marked with [MODIFIED] or (Stylised) tags.

Do you wish to participate? Post your entries in our Official Discord's #media channel:

https://discord.com/invite/zhs8sRpd3m

...or on our Official Forum!

https://forum.egosoft.com/viewtopic.php?f=146&t=460228

Hello Everyone,
We are presenting last week's and this week's Screenshot of the Week winners.

These epic screenshots were snapped by Temetvince, Maksimus, ChibiPhoenix, Hih, SkazheniyKhaak, CiCa, and Papelinho.
Big congratulations to them!

Next SotW:

Week #21

Note: Every winning screenshots featuring modified and/or visually enhanced content will be marked with [MODIFIED] or (Stylised) tags.

Do you wish to participate? Post your entries in our Official Discord's #media channel:

https://discord.com/invite/zhs8sRpd3m

...or on our Official Forum!

https://forum.egosoft.com/viewtopic.php?f=146&t=460228

A new Inside Egosoft #podcast is out!

Listen to our loremaster & novelist Helge Kautz dive deep into decades of work on the rich lore of the X Universe.

Subscribe now and catch the next episode next month!

🔗 https://open.spotify.com/episode/1RSQZOmD2ff7R7MLVYU6R9

🚀 Are you ready to dive into a spacesim with a fully simulated universe where your actions truly matter?

Say no more! 🪐 X4: Foundations is now 75% off on Steam, with its expansions on sale too.

Don’t miss out! 👇

https://store.steampowered.com/developer/egosoft

Hello Everyone,
The winners of Screenshot of the Week #18 have been chosen.

These epic screenshots were provided by BeyondGalaxy, Jhol17, SkazheniyKhaak, and Tudormese.
Big congratulations to them!

Next SotW:

Week #19

Note: Every winning screenshots featuring modified and/or visually enhanced content will be marked with [MODIFIED] or (Stylised) tags.

Do you wish to participate? Post your entries in our Official Discord's #media channel:

https://discord.com/invite/zhs8sRpd3m

...or on our Official Forum!

https://forum.egosoft.com/viewtopic.php?f=146&t=460228

9.00 Public Beta 8 is now available! Please find the full changelog below. Thank you for your continued support and feedback during this testing phase.

>How Do I Take Part in the Public Beta?
Every player who owns X4: Foundations has the opportunity to download the new 9.00 Public Beta version. In order to ensure that beta participants are aware of the risks and rules involved, we ask all interested players to visit our forum, where they will find the rules and disclaimers, as well as practical instructions for participating in the beta. Follow this link to our forum - no registration required - to find the relevant information.

X4 9.00 Public Beta 8 Changelog:

(see the full 9.00 Public Beta Changelog in our forum)

• Removed ability for Torus to block panels during final Torus puzzle in Torus Aeternal mission of Project Genesis story.
• Improved Xenon fleet composition.
• Improved capital ship movement when attacking non-station target while player not present (further improves improvements in 9.00).
• Improved target selection of capital ships to prioritise larger threats.
• Improved combat behavior of fighters attacking capital ships (further improves improvements in 9.00).
• Improved long range scan effect to indicate type of resource detected.
• Fixed laser tower in Deploy Objects tutorial taking too long to destroy target (problem introduced in 9.00).
• Fixed incorrectly highlighted turret modes in Weapons and Turrets tutorial (problem introduced in 9.00).
• Fixed rendezvous ship preventing player docking because of hostile relationship at End of Terrorism mission of Split story.
• Fixed Envoy stuck on ring highway in Escort to Safe Haven mission of Envoy story.
• Fixed travel mode not aborting in Torus Aeternal mission of Project Genesis story.
• Fixed station construction stalling in certain situations due to missing resource buy offers.
• Fixed attacking carriers delaying switching targets if queued to attack several individual targets.
• Fixed attack subordinates unnecessarily docking between targets if commander attacks multiple individual targets.
• Fixed nested subordinate groups not docking on their leader carrier.
• Fixed collisions between fighters and station modules under construction when attacking them.
• Fixed fighters sometimes not using travel mode when approaching station (problem introduced in 9.00).
• Fixed miners not firing weapons or turrets when player is present.
• Fixed player-owned ships not automatically getting any ammo if they ever picked up and used ammo that player faction can't manufacture.
• Fixed Collect Deployables option being available in HUD Interact menu.
• Fixed Object Info panel in Map menu not being displayed under certain circumstances.
• Fixed New Default Behaviour menu not working with controller input.
• Fixed missing External Resources menu (problem introduced in 9.00).
• Fixed Station Build menu Module selection panel not being displayed correctly (problem introduced in 9.00).
• Fixed Ship Redesign menu not working (problem introduced in 9.00).
• Fixed Cockpit Glass Reflections setting showing wrong value under certain circumstances.
• Fixed sectors not being searchable in Map under certain circumstances.
• Fixed overlapping texts in Message Ticker under certain circumstances.
• Fixed gap between engines and ship hull on Falcon, Guillemot, Quasar, Lux and Kyd.
• Fixed Asp front landing gear clipping through the floor while docked.
• Fixed Asp engine exhaust looking distorted.
• Fixed floating antenna on Prometheus.
• Fixed wreck of split storage modules not being visually connected to the surrounding modules.
• Fixed Station Manager not sitting in chair in Terran Managers Office.
• Fixed floating wooden beams in player office.
• Fixed several causes of crashes.