What is exactly the point or purpose of those smaller-hexagon sectors?

[maxolina]

There must be a game design reason why those sectors are different and separated into smaller hexagons instead of being regular sectors adjacent to each other on the map.

[Tomonor]

In my opinion the whole thing is flawed. Not because that these sectors exist (the more the merrier), but the way they are handled.

Back in Rebirth we had Highways, Superhighways and Jumpgates, right?

Highways either looped or did not loop through zones (which's term/technical limitation is non-existant in X4 anymore), connected points of interests in an odd manner.
Super Highways were this interplanetary highways that led you to another sector [planet/nebula/body/points of interest].
And then came jumpgates, that sent you to another system altogether.

What do we have now?

Highways are looping through a bunch of systems, forming a giant galactic loop instead of the in-sector loop.
Super Highways lead you to... Another part of empty space! Just like regular highways did back in Rebirth. (so there's your reason, it's a sector split into two or three parts)
Jumpgates fulfill their regular purpose alright.
And then we have Accelerators, that supposedly send you to another planetary body inside the system.

This new handling of the universe turned out to be a little more confusing than Rebirth's system was, it mostly happened because of the new map format with the introduction of clusters (meaning: a bunch of systems next to each other in the GUI).

I get it what they were aiming at with it, but I don't like it the least. They should have stayed with the old system, where superhighways led you to another planet. At least that a bit more visually stunning and a lot more logical. But then again, I'm aware that they wanted to give back that "Home of Light DLC" feel.

[Baugoti]

There must be a game design reason why those sectors are different and separated into smaller hexagons instead of being regular sectors adjacent to each other on the map.

Ya.. the empty space left in the big hex's is strange from a design standpoint... unless there is some hidden mechanic I haven't uncovered for those sailor hat sections.

[Revenant342]

I am really not a fan of the "infinitely-expanding hex" system when you explore the edges of the hex, as well. When I got affected by the warping bug it permanently expanded a couple of the sector maps to about 3000km wide, so it's really hard to see anything in the map without a ridiculous amount of zooming. Same goes for when a ship on auto-explore decides to fly 1000km out in a straight line without you noticing before it's too late.

[Chris0132]

The smaller hexes are connected by superhighways, the larger hexes are connected by gates or accelerators.

[snacksies]

There must be a game design reason why those sectors are different and separated into smaller hexagons instead of being regular sectors adjacent to each other on the map.

I suspect they are part of an unfinished strategic layer to the game, i.e. sector invasions/takeovers with dynamic borders, an attempt to incorporate elements of LU Mayhem.

[Lymark]

I actually wonder how invasions/takeovers would work with superhighways, if/when said feature is implemented.

Would an entire fleet able to bypass a massive gate defense by simply traveling at 10000m/s using the highway? Or stay close near the highway during an engagement at all times, in which the losing/retreating fleet could simply touch that shiny road and shoot off at high speed in less than 2 sec?

[EuRoKa]

Technically, it's just like X3 with the addition of highways. The highways also only stretch to gates. They, otherwise, do not allow you to leave a sector. The superhighways are just like a gate with an animation switched on (which is really nice because you get a better feeling of moving around and closer to planets.

In terms of zooming, I came to really enjoy logitech's hyper-fast scroll.

[Geek]

Large hexagons are systems, smaller ones are sectors.
Now many systems only have one sector, which is probably why you are confused.

[maxolina]

I am really not a fan of the "infinitely-expanding hex" system when you explore the edges of the hex, as well. When I got affected by the warping bug it permanently expanded a couple of the sector maps to about 3000km wide, so it's really hard to see anything in the map without a ridiculous amount of zooming. Same goes for when a ship on auto-explore decides to fly 1000km out in a straight line without you noticing before it's too late.

This is a big issue for me too! I'm always scared to explore the edges because I don't want the map forever zoomed out so much.

Egosoft, you need to come up with a better system to handle that! I have faith in you guys!!!

[VincentTH]

I believe the smaller sector is for performance improvement, especially when you add in-sector.

[mr.WHO]

Large hexagons are systems, smaller ones are sectors.
Now many systems only have one sector, which is probably why you are confused.

Wrong, there are several systems that consist of several large hexagons like SIlent Witness, Second Contact, Heva's Twin.


Maybe it's like that:
Large hexagon - either system (if one big hexagon), or planetary body (e.g. several big hexagon means several different planets in that system).
Small hexagon - different place within same planetary body?

[qwizzie]

I tried exploring the empty blackness between two smaller hexagon sectors in one system (the system next to Argon Prime). The hexagon sector i was in just kept expanding, while i was flying into that black emptyness.
I did come across some ships there (some friendly, some not), but in the end i decided to fall back to an earlier save because that sector just kept expanding
both in size and in unexplored (grey) space, while i just finished mapping that sector.

Exploring that empty space between sectors in one system, is something one could quickly end up regretting when looking at the result on the map.
On the other hand it could be an excellent location for a hidden ufo base

[VALERIVS]

I am really not a fan of the "infinitely-expanding hex" system when you explore the edges of the hex

I second this!

Also, I do not understand this "sector within a sector" idea. Not only doesn't it serve any real purpose other than being different, it also gives the impression that it is possible to fly from one sector to another (as long as these are within one zone) without the usage of any gates/highways - which you can't.

[Ethann]

You spoke about that horrible thing? (RIP Chemin du profit)

[ external image ]

Teleport bug hit me twice in this system, now i never notice him, is like he never exist because i can't see a damn thing inside, sure i can but with a lot of effort with lot of scrolling to zoom in and out, there is like 10 stations i totaly ignore.
Really hope they will fix that.

Egosoft please, save my Way to profitssssss... (don't know if it's the real name in original version sorry )

[Taramafor]

Isn't it obvious? It's to make the sectors FEEL bigger when they're actually divided into smaller chunks. Technically we're getting whole sectors that have been broken down. So if you think about it we're actually only getting half (or less) of 50 (yet more missing content from past games. Sigh. BUT this one could be for the better).

I have yet to decide of that's a good or bad thing. On the one hand big empty space with nothing happening in it is wasted. On the other hand I could feel more "lost" in the past X games. Which, while partly frustrating lead to some fun times. Like finding out Khaak attack me in one sector if I linger too long. With the "space rings" it removes a LOT of the exploration. I don't mind them being present in and of itself but I do mind not being able to explore a lot of the universe without having my hand held. Personally I would have had the players activate each "jump lane" to travel along. Without the action from past X games being in this X game I can't really say for sure. It does get you to the action quicker. But action also came to you in X3.

How would you even do both at once with this?