X4: Foundations, post-release content plans?

[CptCallaghan]

Hi, so this is more a question for the devs/representatives. I understand that there are two paid expansions planned, presumably focused on adding the missing races/factions and fleshing out the ship and station varieties of existing factions. I'd like to know, are there any plans to flesh out the, compared to X3AP, relatively sparse ship selection of existing races and factions (not to mention lack of large and intermediate ships, they all seem a bit small and underwhelming) outside of the two official DLCs? I.e. Can we expect the ocassional corvette/frigate/bomber with regular updates and patches? Or will patches only contain bug fixes and QoL improvements?

Basically, with the current gaping hole in the ship selection, and the rather meagre and unimpressive ship sizes, I'd like to be convinced that enough content will be added to this game (and ship sizes adjusted to suit community feedback, as well as adding those non capital large ships) to bring it in line with X3:AP, and therefore make it worth my playing time. Right now I'm trying to give myself reasons to play this before the expansions are released, there is a certain 'something' missing, and it takes away from the overall gameplay experience greatly.

[Skeeter]

The larger ship sizes might be small due to the fast travel network and the gates at the end of them (or do they not use them i dunno). If they were larger would they fit ok? Tho i think gates could be increased in size without affecting anything else really.

Tho they might explain that the races are still recovering and ship building materials are at a premium hence the smaller cap ships now, who knows.

[RWolf]

They really need to scrap the space highways, they are a gimmick anyway. Just go back to what worked, auto pilot with SETA, travel mode and jump drives. Its fine to have set travel paths but this can be done through a series of beacons and NPC behavior.

[CptCallaghan]

Are there jumpdrives in game? Or are these also missing? Jump drives on large ships would get around any size issue, but I dont think the existing ships are too big for the gates by a long shot.

[Warnoise]

Hopefully more ships and weapons. Ship class specific weapons.

Overhaul of the subfactions (because now they are just copy pasted main factions)

Overhaul of pirates

Also the game needs critically more big ships

[naisha]

I surely hope they will add more content outside their dlc plans (unless those dlcs are gonna be more like expansions with lots of stuff crammed into them ... somehow doubt that but who knows)

Right know, content is at all time low. A few ships for each race/faction with some of them looking pretty similar with one and other. Also gone are the days when we had really nice ship designs, when each race had a distinct look to them ... sad.

Also where are the weapon variety we come to expect from an X game? Here i am, upgrading from my puny little fighter to a "capital ship" thinking what amazing guns i can fit on it, only to realize that its the same gun ive been fitting on my fighter ... just bigger i guess.

[RWolf]

I surely hope they will add more content outside their dlc plans (unless those dlcs are gonna be more like expansions with lots of stuff crammed into them ... somehow doubt that but who knows)

Right know, content is at all time low. A few ships for each race/faction with some of them looking pretty similar with one and other. Also gone are the days when we had really nice ship designs, when each race had a distinct look to them ... sad.

Also where are the weapon variety we come to expect from an X game? Here i am, upgrading from my puny little fighter to a "capital ship" thinking what amazing guns i can fit on it, only to realize that its the same gun ive been fitting on my fighter ... just bigger i guess.

With everything they had to work with after Xrebirth (which took them 7+ years), I am surprised it took longer just to bring X4 out with the lack of content present. They had so many assets to pull from with XR. I get the feeling Egosoft likes to throw the baby out with the bathwater and start over every time rather than use what they have already invested time and money into.

[CptCallaghan]

On top of a lot more ships, and a redesign of existing ships to make them more varied in terms of scale, I'd like to see them spend some time redesigning some of the ships from scratch to make them look less like lego toys and more like space-worthy weapons of war. With games like Elite Dangerous and Star Citizen out there, standards and expectations are higher than they used to be, but even the designs from X3AP were better thought out. They could simply keep the cockpit interior and shape and remodel the ships around that.

[StoneLegionYT]

Don't think Egosoft really ever shared future plans like Dec, Jan, Feb, etc. Be cool though like the way NMS been going.

[JamesTheClarke]

I've been rambling about the lack of major factions and the copy-paste nature of the sub-factions in my post Factions - A Missing Opportunity. Just like CptCallaghan I wonder if the Borons, Split and Terrans will be paid DLC or if they will become available for free over time while the "new races" refers to actually new factions.

Currently, X4 offers half the major factions, fewer sub-factions (which are also less defined) and a smaller ship catalogue than X3 over a decade ago while the price for the game remained virtually unchanged. That worries me a lot. Especially after the very rocky start and mixed reception of the previous X game: Rebirth.


If half of the main X universe cast will become paid DLC in the future I really don't know if I can remain a fan of the series. Which is a shame, because the X universe is my favourite space game ever made.

They really need to scrap the space highways, they are a gimmick anyway. Just go back to what worked, auto pilot with SETA, travel mode and jump drives. Its fine to have set travel paths but this can be done through a series of beacons and NPC behavior.

I disagree. Personally, I really like them and from a sci-fi standpoint, an argument can be made that S and M ship simply could not have the power capacity to sustain long distant flights across multiple sectors (especially the massive ones in X4). So I am totally ok with Highways being usable by S and M ships. Larger ships still could be created as we know them from back in X3, but simply give them the ability to utilise jump drives. For balancing those could be coupled to cooldowns and especially vulnerable to EMP attacks to prevent capital ships from simply teleporting out of a losing battle.

That way more impatient, casual players could still enjoy less travel time while more patient hardcore pilots can always choose to fly without highways.

[ATTACK_HAMSTER]

If half of the main X universe cast will become paid DLC in the future I really don't know if I can remain a fan of the series. Which is a shame, because the X universe is my favourite space game ever made.

I have to agree. It's such a shame that we used to get a massive amount of content back when X3 was released, X4 feels like a ghost town in comparison, i will be angry as hell if it's to be hidden behind DLC - at the moment i can't see how X4 justifies its £40 price tag, the universe feels so empty with nothing happening.

Don't even get me started on the lack of a manual...

[Wou]

I do hope for something akin to Shady Business to be added down the road. A long, engaging and challenging storyline, sometimes forcing the player out of their comfort zone.
I played AP few weeks ago, and the part when suddenly frigates and destroyers start coming after you and you factories was great fun.

[forloren]

... over a decade ago while the price for the game remained virtually unchanged.

I just don't think this is a fair comparison. It should be obvious why.

[Kadatherion]

I wouldn't expect bigger ships from Ego, put your hope in mods.

There's two main reasons: first and foremost how space travel works now, with no jumpdrive popping you in an instant inside some relatively small, stanadlone sector. This means the behemoths of old - that would need to fly very slow and manouvre very sluggishly to actually feel like M2s/M0s - would be a major pain to pilot: they just wouldn't fit in the current gameplay model. The only way would be to completely rework space travel, bringing jumpdrives back and so on, but that would also require a complete rewrite of the AI logic... a depart from the game concept that feels way to big from a developer's point of view.
Then there's also our "beloved" station interiors, their platforms: current ship sizes are meant to fit current platform sizes. Can't make an actually bigger ship unless you also redo all the platforms. Not gonna happen.

Modders - and especially players used to play with them - have more leeway. They can put into the game things that are a bit jury rigged to "somewhat work even if it's not 100% coherent with the game", and to their audience (which, we have to admit, is always a minority of the playerbase even in games like X were modding is what keeps them alive for years) that's a good enough compromise. Think like this: if Ego puts out bigger ships that clip all around the platforms, people would get mad and scream at them for the blatant bug. If a modder does it, hey, it's the only way he could manage to make it work, we are fine with it as long as we can have our old cap ships back.

As for ship variety, I hope - and believe - it will get better, but I'm also a bit worried about how much the modding community will be able to add. Now that every ship needs to have an interior scene, modeling a custom ship that actually works has become a much bigger endeavour (it's not just the model which is more complicated, they also need pathing for the NPCs). I'd expect most ship mods to have to copy paste an already existing interior/cockpit, and somehow build around it to make the ship look different (much like Ego does with very similar ships like the discoverer and quasar, for instance).

[ATTACK_HAMSTER]

... over a decade ago while the price for the game remained virtually unchanged.

I just don't think this is a fair comparison. It should be obvious why.

So you are saying that adjusting for inflation is the reason we get less content.........

[JamesTheClarke]

I just don't think this is a fair comparison. It should be obvious why.

I might be a bit daft but this isn't very obvious to me.

Even without the expansions both X2 and X3 had more major factions, more interesting minor factions and a larger ship catalogue.


I get that due to the new ship models requiring interior designs it also requires more resources to produce them. But that was a deliberate choice by Egosoft during early development and if that means fewer major factions will be in the initial release two things would be necessary to mitigate the negative impact:

1.) More ships for each of the three main factions Argon, Teladi and Paranid at release

2.) A clear roadmap communicated by Egosoft when and how the missing three factions Borons, Terrans and Split are going to be released

[gobbibomb]

Don't even get me started on the lack of a manual...

Beta not have manual usualy...

[CloseEnough]

Beta not have manual usualy...

+1

[ProdicalJedi]

I want gigantic violent wormholes I wanna get spat out the other end into a random location a dark lonely space with strange hostile alien ships.

[JamesTheClarke]

Don't even get me started on the lack of a manual...

Beta not have manual usualy...

I think you misquoted that post, mate.