r/X4Foundations

Retuning player from pre-Diplomacy.

Piracy used to be my jam. Genuinely the mechanic that kept me going for hundreds of hours. But, now it seems dead in the space-water.

Fly-bys nerfed to bits: It was fun, but cheesy, so sure.

Boarding parties take super heavy casualties now: ok, I guess. Marines are not cheap and spending hours restocking or wasting a large ship to sit at a Vig dock and act as a marine teleporter is weak ass mechanics, but sure, piracy should have a cost... in addition to all the other costs, I guess.

More than anything else, however, I guess help buoys are gone? No matter what system I'm in, the minute I attack someone, my rep tanks -- and instantly. So, there's no "safe" system to conduct piracy in? What the hell's the point of pirate systems now?

Also, "marauder" and "raider" type fleets that seek you out to pirate you used to be fair game, no rep loss if you hunted them. But now there is? Even when they actively shoot first after trying to steal your cargo, shooting back nets a rep loss with their faction.

So, if you're not targeting pirate factions, you lose? Why? Pretending being a pirate means everyone hates you is dog water. There are tons of pirate factions in the game and they are not actively hunted into the ground by the NPC factions. But if the player does it, it's unforgivable and too easy?

Generally happy with a lot of the changes I'm seeing, but X4 was my space pirate simulator and now it feels like I either have to play factorio in space or try to fight everyone on the map.

Is there a new mechanic to counter any of this? I haven't explored the diplomacy content yet, but maybe that helps balance the insane rep loss of taking out a single large ship (-10 in some cases is just nuts).

https://preview.redd.it/6ac52isf7hbh1.png?width=1578&format=png&auto=webp&s=833296b9f5ed2afd9be8e6385d6ebefdac70d9e6

Hey everyone, I'm getting into a life of crime by stealing all the big ships that pass by me. I've stolen two so far, and I'm working on the third.

But how do I get them back to my base? They won't move, even though I have a commander on board!

Another question: Before sending in soldiers, I lower the hull to 20% so they can move faster. But the ship repairs itself—do I have to keep it at 20% for my soldiers to move fast, or does the percentage only matter at the moment of boarding?

Thanks!!

Which game start would you consider themost balanced and satisfying overall?

How do I put a station out here?

https://preview.redd.it/6hn5jlzzngbh1.png?width=505&format=png&auto=webp&s=f15594d806e89688725ce320b3ad684dea2977ac

Can your "Captain" NPCs - not trigger missions? Do YOU have to pilot all missions?

I broke my starter save because I got a mission called "Eye for an Eye" (I think it was the name) where I was asked to destroy criminals around the starter Terran Wharf on the Terran Cadet start.

I had already hired a pilot and set him to "patrol" the wharf with a 10km radius. He did for a bit and nothing happened.

I sat down in the pilot seat and all the sudden Red units started appearing everywhere.

Okay... sure... I killed one and got 1/4 of the quest done. Then I killed another and got a -1 rep with Terran and told my "criminal" record had been updated.

Killed another 2/4 for the quest.

Killed another and got another -1 rep "criminal" record updated.

This ping pong'd 3x and the Quest completed - but when I tried to redock I was told (despite still being Neutral with Terran that I wasn't allowed to dock. I saw I had a "mail" and it had said it removed my standing as a Cadet and I lost all my starting licenses.

Just because I was doing the thing the quest requested I do, versus only red marked enemies with -27 to -30 hostile rating on scan.

So...I deleted the save and decided to start over, but my question is:

1. Can my Captain not trigger missions (even if I'm on the ship)?
2. Why did my mission do this? Why did some count and others ruined my rep?

Mind you the quest was marked "Very Easy" and was the immediate Wharf quest to do.

I recently picked up X4 and Cradle of Humanity and Split Vendetta (both DLC were recommended as beginner Friendly)

I've been playing the Cradle of Humanity Story Quest - and now I need to build a docking port onto a station, and then find builders.

Problem is I cant find any builders, online I've read you have to zoom out - I did it and nothing happened.

I don't know if I did something wrong or if I just need to wait

Also the game told me to use satellites but I don't have any

https://preview.redd.it/w2dkoyis1gbh1.png?width=1859&format=png&auto=webp&s=0b55efd3ad67471cad5c5628bc094a86b510b8bc

https://preview.redd.it/3cyro91u1gbh1.png?width=1864&format=png&auto=webp&s=14006e32a146b4cf09087000cc8383f478fc4bd4

After more than 500 hours of gameplay, I've realized I misunderstood how shield combinations worked.

Previously, I thought shield combinations worked as follows:

1. Shield capacity was simply added together across all shields.
2. Shield recharge time was simply added together across all shields.
3. The shield recharge time was always the recharge time of the shield with the longest delay.

However, with the new 9.0 interface, I've recently discovered that the shield recharge delay is the average of all shield recharge delays.

Example: Long Split Mk2 x 2 (3s) + Long Split Argon Mk2 x 1 (15s) = (3x2+15)/3 = 21/3 = 7s delay.

Could you recommend some interesting shield combinations, whether for fighters, medium or large traders, or destroyers and Why you recommend that combination?

In older X titles (not sure exactly when it stopped), the minimap was called a Gravidar, said to detect objects by their gravitational disturbance.

However, in X4 the settings call it a Radar and in the ships information it's just called "Sensor". Is it still a Gravidar in the lore and just named Radar for simplicity or is it actually meant to be a Radar now?

A side note: A Gravidar would have interesting gameplay implications. For example, how easy it is to detect an object would depend on its mass only, which means that it should be impossible to hide a ship by changing its shape like the Envoy does. It also means that heavy objects (stations, large asteroids, XL ships, etc) should be visible from further away than light objects (S ships, satellites, etc).

I would love to play from my couch but the idea that I would have to spend time configuring is triggering my procrastination

Basically I'm asking how long (in general) I can afford to spend faffing about exploring, grinding rep, & so on, before I need to start building up my PHQ & station production factory chain?

While I'm at it, can I deliver the supplies for the upgraded Hyperion subsequent completing the initial DLC mission, or do I need to hold completion for when I have them?

So, I think at least, my favourite ship size is M.

I would like a ship with some unique guns on it, to make it really feel like the hero ship. The only ones in the game itself I know of are Envoy/Cipher, but they are not really my type of ship I guess.

Is there any (vanilla aligned) modded ones? A frigate would be my dream ship I guess, but I take a corvette if it is interesting otherwise.

7$+ for a L ship

Started game and did the basic tutorials and then loaded "Cradle of Humanity - Terran Cadet".

After about 4 hours of play and doing a couple of the intermediate tutorials, I restarted the Universe. I also struggled initially with a keyboard/controller combo but have been running full keyboard on reset.

I also seem to be getting different missions this time around, not sure if this is intended. Like on mars when you investigate the destroyed ship, I got a different mission (or seemed to) after the two enemies escape in first game, versus killing them in second game.

It took me 8 hours to get energy cells for my station in the grand exchange when you get sucked into that portal (or whatever it is that happened, please no spoilers). I flew around and around, jumping highways, and jumping gates, before I found a solar station and bought some energy cells so that I could build the first dock.

When i got back to my station, it seemed that it now had energy cells and I am not sure how. When i bought, I thought they were loaded into my inventory of my ship?

I also do not know where my initial ship is, versus the new one they gave me, and do not know how to utilize the captain? that is on it. (Kestral vs Kukuri)