Making simple improvements to make gameplay smoother via improved ergonomic efficiency by removing the need to make extra clicks would make a real difference to using the X4 interface and the feeling of the gameplay it creates.
I invite other players to add their observations to the list below of situations where one less click would be better, which is by no means comprehensive but gives a feel for the scale of the issue and correspondingly the scale of the difference which could be made to the play experience by attending to this.
- First and most egregious, when getting into the pilots chair one has to click it twice. I can think of no occasion for asking the pilot to leave and not then immediately occupying the chair but the interface requires doing it twice, every time. Worse than this, in smaller S clas ships like the Moreya "Geometric Owl" the cockpit is narrow and the "hitbox" of the departing pilot often wibbles about and gets in the way of the chair, obliging a relatively lengthy conversation to tell them to go away. It is very wearing when you have to repeat this dozens of times when doing repair missions and visiting stations etc. The extra click is entirely superfluous and makes the process more of a chore than it needs to be.
- Returning from encyclopedia to ship refit etc requires two clicks of the back arrow or esc button. Again there is no need for two clicks. The first click takes you to a blank screen which it should not, it should take you all the way back to the window you just came from e.g. the repair and refit interface.
- Returning from ship refit to map. Ditto, when investigating refit options from map, returning from the refit interface takes you inexplicably to a blank screen, when it should take you all the way back to the map.
- Adding elements to trade search filter list requires a superfluous OK to confirm the choice, when all that is needed is to record the radio button for an item at the moment it is set so the act of selecting or deselecting an item effectively edits the list.
- Selecting anchor space / location when giving orders requires diddling about clicking the order element first to set the cursor to choose the location in space for protect location and other orders as well. This is inexplicably more complicated than orders like collect drops or attack all targets which just get on with it. Similarly autotrade anchor space has to be selected from a list, via clicking an order element, when it would be far easier to click the map directly, which the cursor ought to change to allow immediately on setting the order type rather than requiring the unecessary diddling about with the interface.
My recommendation after a few weeks play since coming back to X4 to try the new DLC would be that X4 really needs an investment in quality of life for players (as well as optimisation, especially load times) because the game feels more unecessarily cumbersome to play than it needs to at the moment.