X-TRA POLLS Round #2 | Which phase do you enjoy the most in X4: Foundations?

[Tomonor]

Greetings, Members of the X-Community!

The first poll has concluded and we’ve received some really interesting data.
Thank you for voting, especially if you took the liberty to voice your opinion and gave us feedback!

But the Polls are not over, in fact, we are just getting warmed up!
The next poll is already here: “Which phase do you enjoy most in X4: Foundations?”
Note: the examples given in the brackets are there to give you approximate points on where the three different game phases stand. It's entirely possible that your playstyle deters from these defined points and if you do play in a different manner, we'd like to hear about that as well!



How does the Poll work?
Every two weeks, we’ll be rolling out polls in the forum where you can weigh in on crucial aspects of our games. Your votes will play a key role in helping us gather valuable insights to shape the future of our games!

But hold on, there’s more! Beyond just data collection, we’re keen on fostering discussions and hearing your thoughts. Alongside each poll, there’s a dedicated discussion thread going on where you can share your insights, ideas, and feedback related to the poll topic. It’s not only a great way to engage with fellow gamers but also an opportunity for us to gather additional valuable input.

However, it’s important to note that while we value your input, the results of the polls won’t necessarily guarantee implementation or consideration.
These polls are primarily for fun and data gathering.

So, get ready to have your voice heard in The X-tra Polls! Let’s shape our beloved X-Universe together!



Previous Polls:
Poll #1: In your opinion, which X4: Foundations expansion was the most worthwhile?

[Komet07]

I gotta say, the Mid-game experience is the best one for me by far.

[chew-ie]

I like all phases until late-late-game (where the player basically rules the galaxy and nothing is a challenge anymore). So no vote from me as the described 4th stage is missing.

[GCU Grey Area]

Voted for mid game because it's the closest match. However there are a few differences between how I play & the description of 'mid game' in the poll.

Most significantly I start terraforming a lot earlier than the poll suggests. Essentially I start work on making my HQ jump-capable right from the start of a new game. Fully researching teleport is an early game objective for me. I generally aim to have my HQ moved to a terraformable sector within the first couple of days of a new game, in order to build the facilities necessary for pilot (& marine) training ASAP. I don't even start building a fleet of warships until after I've got an efficient means of training their pilots (all S/M warships get a 4* pilot, capital ship pilots are all 5*). At this stage I generally only have one station (HQ), a small fleet of freighters & miners working for it (perhaps a dozen at most) & I'll usually have started the early missions for at least one of the plots. I also spend a lot of my time doing generic & guild missions to fund construction at my HQ & to improve faction rep.

[Falcrack]

Once I get so big and powerful that the challenge feels gone, I start to lose interest. Probably explains why I've never finished a game of Stellaris despite having hundreds of hours in it

[Tamina]

I absolutely LOVE early-game in X4.

The closer you get to end-game the more you play solely on the map and the rest of the 3d game presentation becomes just clutter. Also the world-interactions are very limited in end-game. Every decision and every information I need is on the map and nowhere else.

Also the feeling of success and reward, in early game, when you can afford to update your ship for the first time. When you have to actually wager about buying Mk2 or Mk1 equipment with your limited money.
The feeling when you get your first couple of wingmans and being able to tackle more dangerous areas but still being vulnerable and be in a risk vs reward situation.

To me this is the most fun. The other game-stages are fun too but again: Too much map-gameplay.

[EGO_Aut]

Early Game
I love the first 3 days Ingame time. Xenons and enemys are a chsllange, and you do not know how god will create the universe, without your ability to give the direktion.
Every start was a little bit unexpected, and different gamestarts give you different storys.
After that ~3 days i know how it will end, and that its just a matter of time to rule.

[Starlight_Corporation]

Most enjoyable for me is the late game, albeit I seem to play it a bit different then most. During the buildup (early & mid game) I seek plot outcomes to create more (viable) factions & as the X4 economy is war based, them being at war is a bonus. Normally I seek plots for unity & peace, but I discovered that stalls the economy rather fast once the xenon have been wiped out, which goes fast in a peaceful universe & creates a very boring & static experience - essentially you 'win' the game then imo. So war it is, to fuel the fires of the economy & have a dynamic universe.

Once I got a large trade empire going, I seek ways to prop up the NPC economies, mainly by building factories that fix their shortages so they can build more warships faster, which also fixes the Xenon messing up my plans as the NPC factions drive them back. Teladi field some impressive fleets btw.... 25 capital ships in a fleet? That's some serious firepower.
Often I go out of my way to make factions more viable by providing them with beefed up factory stations through station-build missions or even whole shipyards if the faction needs it. Love contributing to the changing universe. Seeing the Argon launch a successful deep strike into Split space or watch a second Argon/hop front open up is great; or seeing small factions blossom to large ones through taking neutral/rival sectors is great. Or seeing the Split rise up from their battered positions (often through substantial economic help from me), fortifying their sectors & then lash out at the Xenon & taking the fight to them never gets old either.
Seeing all my ships travel through the universe is fun too, always getting a kick when seeing one of my ships land on a station or fly around while I'm aboard one of my ships, doing missions & enjoying the game in general.

Using the Terraform option mainly to test the economic strength of various areas & beef up when needed.

In short, I love seeing the universe change while i play in it & even mroe when i know it happens through my contributions.
It is part of why I hope various smaller factions can become more involved in the game when you give them room to grow (HAT, Yaki etc come to mind)

[-=SiR KiLLaLoT=-]

Initial gaming experience.

This for me has always been the best part of the game and I'm very sorry that on X4 it has been greatly reduced compared to its predecessor X3.
For this reason, when it was possible to create the custom game, my first test was to make the initial phase longer than normal, creating the hardcore game.

As I have said before, I would very much like, one day, to find a similar hardcore mode among the official starts.
With 0 credits, without a ship and with all reputations at -30, it would be an excellent alternative to the old DID mode and, at the same time, it would be the only way to extend the initial part of the game as much as possible.

Cheers

[Feloidea]

Voted early, but really it's early AND middle. The way you start building up your stuff and the framework of one's own empire is in the budding phase. I love the early exploration and doing missions to gain reputation, scrounging together every last bit of credits to buy myself my first M frigate to deal with larger threats and setting up stations that will become the support pillars of my economy. All of that feels immensely gratifying and always comes with a sense of accomplishment when you pass your own milestone (ship upgrade, first M ship, first station) even when I've already done this dozens of times across different playthroughs.

I feel like the late game becomes less and less gratifying to play as you always have money to throw at whatever problem and you start spending more time in the map overview organizing things than doing things hands-on yourself. That is one reason why I always leave plot missions until after I've build up my own self-sufficient economy with wharf, etc. because it leaves me with things to do personally rather than just sit around and watching credits roll in in the millions every couple minutes.

For lack of a better way of putting it, the endgame scale just becomes to impersonal. Missions that require you to pour hundreds of millions of credits into things for what feels like little tangential rewards. Sure you're shaping the universe, but by the time you can afford these kinds of resources to do those missions you essentially ARE the universe already anyhow.

I really hope that the upcoming 7.0 endgame content is something that requires a more personal player involvement and isn't just "here's a massive Xenon invasion, hope you got enough money and manufacturing capability to throw massive fleets at it" but also involves nicely curated missions where whilst your own fleets duke it out with the Xenons as a distraction, you have to personally infiltrate a Xenon station to sabotage it (give it the good ole' Deathstar trench run'esque gameplay) and after dealing with the problem, a nice trophy you can use (for example a unique, modified Xenon ship you can fly/control yourself).

[Nanook]

Voted early, but really it's early AND middle....

Same for me. I usually restart after I've gotten all the research finished, have a small fleet (usually SCA destroyers) and have some of the plots finished or nearly so. I really enjoy the flying parts of the game more than the station building (although that is fun, too).

I really enjoy 'what if' scenarios, such as playing a single faction/race, never buying ships (only capturing and boarding them), putting the PHQ in hard to get to places, etc.

I have yet to complete a single terraforming project.

[Stoats not Goats]

I love the mid-game as there are so many goals to set and so many different ways to play. Story mission goals are numerous and fun to work towards and they keep me out of the map and in the pilot's seat. Its also just a great time to muck around and do things that are difficult when starting out and too easy when you've built your empire (things like repelling a faction's invasion, boarding tougher capital ships and planning out the next station). There's also a great feeling of control you need to exercise when in the mid-game to make sure that all your capital ships, which feel like massive investments, are used appropriately and losing any ship is still impactful.

I do still really enjoy the early and late-game though with the building of a wharf probably my favourite part of the mid-late game zone where capital ships are still a bit expensive but you can fit out your fighter wings just the way you want and venture into owning carriers (The Kingdom End DLC was great for this with the Guppy which lets you get into carrier warfare that bit earlier and makes it feel more rewarding).

[adeine]

Initial gaming experience.

This for me has always been the best part of the game and I'm very sorry that on X4 it has been greatly reduced compared to its predecessor X3.

This. Although I enjoy the mid and late game and empire building, I do miss the early game of X3 or even X2. There's never a time in X4 where you're working your way up from S ships or slowly upgrading the equipment of your starter ship. There's never a time in X4 where it makes sense to do trade runs yourself. The game basically starts in X3/X2's mid game and with how quickly you get the PHQ, arguably the mid game is kind of skipped over too.

I don't mind offering a faster route of progression through more advanced game starts, for example, but as it is there's no real early game in X4.

[surferx]

I enjoy exploring new sectors, gaining rep and building stations. Once I have many stations making millions and no new sectors to find, the challenge is nowhere near as great as it is at the beginning the game. It's the challenge when the odds are against you that makes the game enjoyable to play. I think the game lost something when the HQ was basically given to the player in 6.0 KE. It's worth a little effort to gain the HQ and teleportation.
So I voted mid-game but would have picked 1 & 2 if I could.

[LameFox]

Early is the best for me, but it wears off pretty quickly. I like the freedom of playing the game as a nobody, with one or few ships, prior to the story kicking in. Then I can imagine my story and motivations however I like. But progression in a single personal ship is pretty limited. You tier up your gear almost immediately, pretty quickly after that get the gear of the faction you want. Then what? Then nothing, because in order to make any other customization to your ship, you need a PHQ and research. So, goodbye single ship Everspace playstyle. This stage of the game basically ends right when it should get good.

Mid-game is when my freedom to interpret things starts getting walled in. I have to make certain plot choices to get the universe I want. I have to get a PHQ with Boso and Dal to progress plots and do research. This means I have to imagine I'm someone who would do those things. It's also the most frustrating time of the game for me, because now I'm getting other ships, but they're still relatively costly to me, so their idiotic deaths are more of a setback.

Late-game is a different playstyle. Kind of like if you play an RTS on its easiest mode, so you're not really worried about what the AI might do but instead you just like watching the battles take place. I rarely make it this far because I get tired of the long slog of waiting for income for blueprints, waiting for stations to build, there's really just a LOT of waiting between mid and late game. I guess it's because I don't really find a lot of things that would take up that time very engaging, like missions. I really only do war missions because the others put me to sleep, and I really only do war missions vs Xenon at this stage because I need to be bestest buddies in the whole world with everyone if I want to buy their blueprints. That's another big wall around the personality I imagine for myself. And also, there aren't any war missions for several of the game's potential wars. But after all that waiting, I can eventually start to wardec the factions whose blueprints I've acquired, and it begins to pick up again. There's no challenge though, so it only goes on until I get tired of watching the battles.

[LordIII3]

I think the Endgame or midgame should be divided in 2 phases, as there is a Phase, that I really enjoy: the Part of the Game where you can't beat any faction in your own, but are able to significantly impact the economy and state of a faction with your stations(but no shipyard) and miners.

[Irushian]

This poll is actually a difficult decision. But with the quirks etc I'm going to have to vote for midgame, when you've got a few sectors under your control and you're slowly building up to become an empire.

The only reason I do the story missions are for the achievements otherwise I wouldn't touch them due to hating the lack of control they give. Example: If I help the duke become a faction which would always be the option I would choose then I'm giving up my own sector to their control and I dislike that with a passion. Same with the terraforming missions, I'm planning on having a fleet ready to remove the Antigone shipyard plot when I decide to do that one as I really do not want anyone in my areas. I'm hoping the threat coming in 7.0 will switch me to my true passion of the end game. Though I do hope the developers will flesh out this stage a lot more and also make it so other factions are a boon BUT not required and thus open up more play styles.

I'd love if you got more choice in this regards, being able to setup my areas like the Vorlon from Babylon5 - if you come in my area then you forfeit your life (with no rep loss as you knew better). If you were asked if they could build in your areas and visa versa, and if you did it to them then it'll be attacked and if they did it to you then no reputation loss due to being unsanctioned.

[Tomonor]

I think the Endgame or midgame should be divided in 2 phases, as there is a Phase, that I really enjoy: the Part of the Game where you can't beat any faction in your own, but are able to significantly impact the economy and state of a faction with your stations(but no shipyard) and miners.

I was toying with that idea actually, but decided to keep it simple in the end. I'd like to encourage you to choose one of the options and explain in greater detail how your experience deters from the given example

[Alan Phipps]

I too really enjoy the early game where a few tens/hundreds of credits really matter and the unknown is around the corner. It's mind-focusing to be flying a fragile and low-power ship. I don't see this as grind and I'm in no hurry at all to get a doom fleet, an empire or to some type of galaxy dominance. I like exploring and so restarts knowing approximately where everything is are not so much fun as the first time experience.

So, early game is my preference yes - but probably only once unless it's a new faction/DLC gamestart or with greater randomisations thrown in.

[alt3rn1ty]

Love the early game where everything is unknown (well at least in the very first play through), and feeling vulnerable which gives you the need to grow.
I also love the mid game, where you are strong enough to start shaping the X'verse how you want it to go, and you are in a good position to be farming the Xenon for resources to Mod your favourite unique ships to their best advantage.

I would also love the end game, but whether its because I do not have the correct strategy, or I do not have the patience, I never manage to preserve a corner of the map where the Xenon can survive and remain as a Mod resource farm. Nearly did it twice, had them all nicely penned in with fleets at strategically advantageous gates to prevent any Xenon concerted efforts to break through .. but then some other faction steam rolls through the remaining Xenon. After that I slowly lose interest because there is no challenge left beyond ones I make for myself, and nothing to farm for modding ships. The promised online thing may / may not bring back the chance to get modding resources like it used to

Although I am a bit of a weird fish in that I do like getting to the stage where I can just chill and enjoy doing only missions without much threat around, enjoying the beauty of the game, and having enough fleet/economy to do anything without much fear, wars are not really my bag .. yet I do still crave more challenge at the end game stage

So really what I dream of is much much more story/puzzle type missions to make the end game stage a lot more fleshed out. But I know they take a lot of Dev time to create so that is unlikely to happen.

The planned existential crisis sounds interesting .. but its going to be a war = Not my bag. I might try it once, but I think its really going to put me out of my comfort zone and my play style will not be quick enough to respond, so I imagine the X'verse under my hands is going to die

Its also not just my play style, mustering large fleets to respond to something huge will probably ruin the games performance making it unplayable. I always have to consider how big my overall fleets get due to the game on my machine ruins the experience if I expand too much. The Windfall sectors I mentioned before in the previous poll I have to stay away from due to the amount of fighters in there late game is ridiculous. It occasionally becomes a bit of a slide show, I think the faction budgets for how many ships are allowed to be produced are for a machine I dream of owning one day (same old story with X games, even at this stage of the lifecycle of the game where during that period I have already upgraded my machine twice .. I'm still not there for a good no lag playthrough if I unleash my desire for more ships / stations).
X3AP on this machine is superb, but I have now been spoiled by X4 and want mooooore!