Bulletin Board System!

[rulerofallcheese]

I have no idea why I haven't seen a post on this yet, but X4 needs to have a bulletin board system (bbs). This was a HUGE quality of life enhancement in the later X Rebirth updates and it remains one of my most loved features from the old games.

[insolent1]

This was used in the xtended mod and could be a nice addition to X4.
It would be texted based to make it easy to implement and modify.
Some missions and maybe even plots could be tied to it.

I'll list some of the things that could be on it

Lottery, chance to win big every so often(maybe a ship and cash)
Special offers on stuff like ships, weapons etc
Scams, who wouldn't want to trick the player
missions that fit well with it such as calls to help factories etc and could be tied to scams
Universe news, such as new sectors discovered, capital ships destroyed, feuds between factions, invasions/incursions/warnings when pirates in sectors etc
Advertisements, for ships, products and factions to join
User generated content that could be added through steamworkshop(this would work really well if it was a simple interface)
Universe lore could be added in a seperate section

I think this could add to immersion in the game especially on longhaul playthroughs

[Musicker]

+1 !!!

I really enjoyed the BBS from the early games, definitely adds to immersion, in my opinion.

Cheers,

[Skeeter]

Has to be from x2, the visual style etc, not the boring text window one from xr. IMO of course.

[aquatica]

There has been several posts in other X4 threads about the BBS system.

I definately want that, similar from X2.

- Lottery!!
- Local gossip or gossip in general (if it's meaningful, even better)
- Some tips of possible good trading (like a planet overproducing something or a system having some calamity requiring something)
- Just some random news...

I loved beyond anything the X2 BBS. I loved to read about Goners and the missions of the Argon Navy and so on. It brought a ton and a ton of impression into the game.

So, please? Could we have that - similarly a separate system you definately could live without, but if you are interested it should be easily accessible - like in X2.

Please?

[Ketraar]

Yes BBS, bring back meaningless text that no one wil read after 2h and will require a army of people to write and translate it.

Yay, BBS, that is exactly what is missing.

MFG

Ketraar

[aquatica]

Ketraar, not only that. Make it dynamic.

As said around, it might give out just a little tip of trade possibilities (or fight or what not) every now and then. Not on every station and every time necessary, really? Dynamic is the way to go anyway this day.

- Someone attacked place X, that place has higher than normal need for medical supplies/food/water/energy or whatnot
- Some big deal went sour in Albion, they have excess in Food stuffs. A trade opportunity, if you know where to go to (not saying the exact station or locale to give the players some reason to go or to do if they want to)

Those could be generated similar to X:R's Special Trade Offers you get here and now. I understand id would need hours of writing and a lot of scripting, but in my humble opinion that would give a lot of depth to the game - at least to those who want it.

PS
I Think I read all and every single one of the BBS entries on X2. Except for the Lottery Jackpot win, since I never got that even with a LOT of bought tickets...

EDITed a little.

[sd_jasper]

Ketraar, not only that. Make it dynamic.
<snip>

I just want to +1 this idea!

[Sparky Sparkycorp]

Ketraar, not only that. Make it dynamic.
<snip>

I just want to +1 this idea!

Just to be clear, Ketraar was taking the risky internet step of using sarcasm.

Please feel free to support a request for BBS features but please give Ket a break!

[Skeeter]

I started or was merged a idea topic about a better more live version of the BBS years ago in devnet ideas forum, be hard to find the topic now I guess tho.

[Artean]

Yes! And they should be placed in stations as nice big screens.

Overall, I hope Egosoft will find the time to flesh out station interiors a bit more compared to XR (including the npcs).

[Vandragorax]

In my humble opinion, I believe the BBS was a bit of a band-aid to help fix the issue that the galaxy map was utterly horrible to use in previous X games. It was a system put in to give information to the player that should have been gained through the map, and after looking at the X4 presentation I can safely say that they are incorporating the right sort of information directly into the map now so that a BBS is completely obsolete.

If you think about it, the BBS is basically a "quest board" with some interesting fluff in there too. Why not have those "quests" scattered around the map so as you are managing the overview of your empire, fleet etc. you see events popping up around now and then which can you click on to interact with.

I want that map to be like an RTS view, a hub, a place to see data and overviews about systems and things going on at a glance. I don't want to have to dock in a random station, read through walls of text while the world goes by outside.

I mean really think of a more modern game system, e.g. you suddenly see a flashing yellow ! on the map and click on it, it says your sensors have detected an unknown ship signature and several pirates were spotted nearby. Perhaps you want to investigate? Perhaps leave it. Up to you.

Or you want to know about a deal on wares at a station? Again, have the station show some kind of marker you can click on at the point you spot it on the map view like a $ sign or whatever, and then you get more information about the deal going down. Will you choose to bring the goods? Do you want to sabotage the illegal trade and take down the smuggler? It leaves lots of options open to the player to intervene in small events going on.

This also roots the 'events' firmly in place in the galaxy, not just being seen arbitrarily on some list with no real concept of where it is or what the hazards might be, and it makes the game world seem more alive with 'things' happening around you instead of it being disconnected and hidden in some menu/text somewhere arbitrary.

TL : DR - they should add this information into the map, short quests, ! type icons, all in real-time etc. It would be much more dynamic and interesting![/b]

[Falcrack]

BBS was stupid. Just my opinion though.

[PowerPC603]

I remember from X2 that you could have 20 BBS entries with all just text and lessons in history but no actual mission or ship-offer or something useful.

If a BBS would be implemented, make it a good and useful one, not just a big chunk of meaningless text, which you would read only once.

[ZaphodBeeblebrox]

They could do "Radio Broadcasts"

Station XXX in sector YYY is under attack by Xenon, anybody helping to combat this threat will be rewarded with ZZZ.

The shipyard in sector AAA is running short of resource BBB anybody supplying BBB will receive a bonus payment of CCC.

[Jonzac]

BBS was stupid. Just my opinion though.

+1. Hater having to land on a station to find any mission. Getting rid of was one of best thing on X3

[Killjaeden]

in X3 TC and AP i never learned anything about the races. I propably could have if i would have stepped into the encyclopedia. But this is "extra". The BBS board in Reunion tied gameplay, information (what god has been doing), and some fluff together. Everything i know about the races came from the BBS, essentially.

+1. Hater having to land on a station to find any mission. Getting rid of was one of best thing on X3

Make the BBS available from inside the ship, when in broadcasting distance of stations. Problem solved.

[ZaphodBeeblebrox]

I think there should be a board on the station platforms.

It could display economic data from the station you are on.
Also production schedules.

Add any attacks or loss of trading ships and other disruptions to trade.

Something useful and relevant.

Then allow modders to add content to these boards and away you go.

[Sparky Sparkycorp]

in X3 TC and AP i never learned anything about the races. I propably could have if i would have stepped into the encyclopedia. But this is "extra". The BBS board in Reunion tied gameplay, information (what god has been doing), and some fluff together. Everything i know about the races came from the BBS, essentially.

+1. Hater having to land on a station to find any mission. Getting rid of was one of best thing on X3

Make the BBS available from inside the ship, when in broadcasting distance of stations. Problem solved.

This is of course the approach to missions that Rebirth took so I'm sure it's under consideration for X4.

Rebirth also [re]-introduced proving the player with visual and audio information about races and some galactic goings on via conversations with, and seeing, NPCs on stations. With the comversations being voice-acted it was immersive but became repeated. Hopefully there will be room for development of that info sharing in X4.

[Tharrg]

BBS adds immersion but in practice, as a way of finding missions, the X3TC /AP icon approach worked much better for me.

As a forum for giving large scale news like who is attacking who and providing general background on the races and the game, it could be a nice extra.