3.0 wishlist...kinda begging

[mr.WHO]

With 2.5 coming to (hopefully) close to release and 3.0 having rather vague mention on the roadmap, maybe we could try to compile a wislist for 3.0?

I'd love new stuff like new ships, modules and wapon, but resonably speaking probably all Egosoft manpower in that department is focused on Split DLC.



Instead of new stuff, I think that for 3.0 I'd be happy to adress some remaining pain points that hurt since 1.0:
1- can we finally have some working mass crew transfer/management/training system - current system would be Ok if not the nighmare of having to go like 7 levels deep into "ship details>crew>crew type> crew list>right click on name > action > repeat" x100
2- I know I said no new ships, but with simple transport/freighter retexture we could add back the TP class to buy/ferry workforce for stations - currently I have megacomplex that need 50'000 workforce, yet after dozen of hours it's barrely at 3'000 workforce. If TP class is too much then at least allow us to shift fund to station manager to boost workforce recruitment.
3- can we update the turret logic to that point that turrets engage incoming missiles if no other target? Currently other than manually set turrets on player ships I don't see NPC factions using anti-missile turret commands.
4- can we adress indestructible stations (mainly Xenon, but probably other factions too) that are under construction?
5- while 2.0 gave L-size turrets proper boost, the M-turrets still seem very weak.
6- Xenon K and Xenon I need several more turrets at back-top section - they have HUUUUUUGEEEEEEE coverage gap that feel like straight cheat to exploit. Xenon I could also benefit to get back missile turrets which it had in X-Rebirth.
7- it might be good to assign some fighter cover to Xenon K and Xenon I to make them less vulnerable. Other factions could at least use drones, but Xenon Capships don't have them.
8- Could we make that defense station and lasertowers actually defend the area by firing on hostile targets instead of doing nothing unless fired upon?
9 - Could we gave some boost to Pirates? Except some random SCA destroyer the lone pirate fighters are no thread to even M-size freighter and I'm yet to lose any freighter to a pirate attack.
10 - also it would be nice if pirates would spawn at pirate stations/free ports and not out of thin air at the gates. I know it might be hard to give them an actual loot based pirate economy, but at least try to pretend there is some semblance


I think 10 is a good round number for 3.0 so I stop here.

[Tomonor]

no new ships, but with simple transport/freighter retexture we could add back the TP class to buy/ferry workforce for stations - currently I have megacomplex that need 50'000 workforce, yet after dozen of hours it's barrely at 3'000 workforce. If TP class is too much then at least allow us to shift fund to station manager to boost workforce recruitment.

While I support the idea (as that would be logical), I think it cannot work that way. Or at least as far as I know, the workforce is not altered by "physical" contributions but by certain logical factors. Would be awesome if workforce/general populous was considered as an economy asset (or even as living-breathing npcs), providing functionality for trading stations, for further residential installations, and maybe even for planets.

[Karmaticdamage]

More wars. Maybe some pocket conflicts between specific empires rather then everyone vs the HOP.

[adeine]

I'd like to see

- Better atmosphere/immersion: Faction personalised station greetings, announcements, promotion talks and faction quests. Right now it all seems generic, placeholder and interchangeable and it is a huge missed opportunity. Sad every time I dock and am greeted by a monosyllabic "Welcome" in X4.

- Equipment equipment equipment. Ship classifications feel largely meaningless with the incredibly small and generic selection right now. Role and faction specific loadout options, as per some of X3's mods such as XRM. Said equipment being actual wares that can be produced and traded for profit, or found on hidden research bases. Satisfying capital ship weaponry, including beams and flak guns.

- Destructible elements on all ships. I miss being able to survive a combat encounter and limp away in a ship that barely flies with its SETA, shields, weaponry, etc. broken. Since S and M ships in X4 are effectively invulnerable to systems damage this also introduces weird balancing quirks (such as L ships and up being comparatively useless OOS).

- Comprehensive pricing tier overhaul with ship upgrades and software providing an actual early game like in X2, and to a lesser extent X3. Slowly being able to kit out your first ship and gaining access to more of the game's features (SETA, advanced commands, jump travel, etc.) was such a memorable phase of the game that simultaneously worked as somewhat of a tutorial, and it's just been cut out of the game entirely. As with equipment, chasing down elusive upgrades was a fun aspect of exploration. Include advanced game starts for those who want to skip this phase of the game.

- A more representative OOS combat balancing that doesn't punish players for being in sector. This is a difficult one to ask for given the complexity, I realise, but the current system is pretty broken.

[Imperial Good]

2- I know I said no new ships, but with simple transport/freighter retexture we could add back the TP class to buy/ferry workforce for stations - currently I have megacomplex that need 50'000 workforce, yet after dozen of hours it's barrely at 3'000 workforce. If TP class is too much then at least allow us to shift fund to station manager to boost workforce recruitment.

The growth is ~1 worker per minute per race of habitation. Hence fastest growth currently is 3 growth per minute when one has available habitation for Argon, Paranid and Teladi. Additionally there is a penalty for growth when a race of habitation is above 20% occupied so you always want extra habitation.

5- while 2.0 gave L-size turrets proper boost, the M-turrets still seem very weak.

They do alright damage. They have no issue swatting S ships and even M ships will feel the heat when near banks of them.

6- Xenon K and Xenon I need several more turrets at back-top section - they have HUUUUUUGEEEEEEE coverage gap that feel like straight cheat to exploit. Xenon I could also benefit to get back missile turrets which it had in X-Rebirth.

Or one could kill them efficiently using a destroyer without exploiting that weakness...

The issue is no so much their blind spot, but how bad the AI is at escourting them. If you have 10Ps and 20 M/Ns hammering you, there is no way you will be exploiting that blind spot for long.

The integrated missile launchers from XR were kind of stupid. Would much rather see the I live up to its "Carrier" classification and launch defence drones and P/M/Ns.

9 - Could we gave some boost to Pirates? Except some random SCA destroyer the lone pirate fighters are no thread to even M-size freighter and I'm yet to lose any freighter to a pirate attack.

Clearly you have not run into an Ion Blaster Minotaur Raider... Those things eat traders like they are nothing when out of sector.

10 - also it would be nice if pirates would spawn at pirate stations/free ports and not out of thin air at the gates. I know it might be hard to give them an actual loot based pirate economy, but at least try to pretend there is some semblance

Pirates in general need a major logic overhaul. They could recruit faction ships at random which then fly to pirate bases. Pirate bases could have a unique refit module which converts the ships into pirate versions (weaker in some aspects, better in others).

[EmperorDragon]

4- can we adress indestructible stations (mainly Xenon, but probably other factions too) that are under construction?

It's all faction stations, believe me. It's. All. Stations...

In fact, indestructible Xenon stations tend to be fewer in number in my game. SCA, HOP, PAR, ANT and ARG indestructible stations are littered all over the place. Second Contact is a total mess and I have several bugged SCA and HAT stations right in the middle of my empire too (up to 11 such stations before putting the game on hold). I don't even want to know what the Teladi side of the universe looks like.

[Kadatherion]

These are all fair points. Only thing I'd add, is that I would hope for 3.0 to address/balance the mentioned things that aren't yet working right, while for adding completely new things (some equipment to differentiate between ships, hopefully more weaponry especially, rework of the pirate faction etc) I'd look at the Split expansion. That will obviously introduce new ships (at the very least the Split ones, hopefully it could be a chance to also add a few more for everyone while we are at it) and sectors, it looks like the best chance to also introduce other relatively major things together with it. It's also the only time where even if maybe not mandatory, a new game being required to take full advantage of new features wouldn't annoy anyone (most of us will start a new game anyway to see the Split interact with a pristine galaxy), so there's more freedom to do some finally really significant changes.

[EmperorDragon]

Fixing the pirate faction should come before the DLC cycle starts, currently it feels like using the lock relations cheat from X3:R. Very Early Access-y.

[Nort The Fragrent]

What I would like in 3 is better sector backdrops,
More ship diversity, all those build ships are the same! ( It’s all too generic )
More stuff going on away from the centre of a sector.
More of what you can find in the South Eastern corner of Grand Exchange I. ( If you don’t know what I mean go take a look about 730km out. Yellow cloud, strange structure. ( good job ES )
Better trading ship management, My station needs a product, but to dedicate ships to that task seems near imposable. They wonder of in some kind of daze !!!! Then fill up with what you don’t want and then go walkabout full of stuff. ARRRRRR.

Obviously, more different ships, and a lot more sectors.

[Socratatus]

I think a lot of time is wasted on "moar ships". How many is ever enough? I have enough for my needs. Just allow more ship paints or even a colour wheel. Let`s concentrate on other more important aspects.

[Ezarkal]

I have to give my thumbs up to that list!

I'd also add a personal favorite of mine, which is to finalise the seminar system to allow us to level up some of our crews.

I'm starting to think ES is not satisfied of the old XR seminar system, and want to overhaul it entirely. That would explain the delay for implementing this mechanic that is (or at least seems to be) already 75% in the game.

That being said: Full kudos to ES for the 2.5 update so far. I havent' tried the beta, but the changelog is very impressive.

[mr.WHO]

I'd also add a personal favorite of mine, which is to finalise the seminar system to allow us to level up some of our crews.

This would be like applying paper bandage to already rotten wound!
Do you really think Egosoft would do anything else then having to personally walk to given NPC, go to dialogue menu, apply seminar and to see it only game 1/3 of a star of one skill out of several.
Now realize that Capships can have 100+ crew * 5 stars * several skill and you have to apply seminar one by one.

No, just no. I'd prefer X3 marine training outpost, but for all NPC crew.

[Ezarkal]

I'd also add a personal favorite of mine, which is to finalise the seminar system to allow us to level up some of our crews.

This would be like applying paper bandage to already rotten wound!
Do you really think Egosoft would do anything else then having to personally walk to given NPC, go to dialogue menu, apply seminar and to see it only game 1/3 of a star of one skill out of several.
Now realize that Capships can have 100+ crew * 5 stars * several skill and you have to apply seminar one by one.

No, just no. I'd prefer X3 marine training outpost, but for all NPC crew.

I'm all for a crew training facility... if we get a decent crew transfer system along with it. Which brings us back to your request # 1.

But all you ever had to do in XR to apply a seminar was to remotely comm the NPC you wanted to train. No need to go see the NPC personally. I don't see why it would have to be any different in X4.

[Falcrack]

-Provide the ability to move command waypoints up or down along the 3D plane
-Make more waypoints "moveable" after placing them. Currently, we can move "fly to" commands, but others (like explore, patrol, collect drops, and many others which I think ought to be movable) can't be moved after placing them
-Improvements to fleet and wing logic, better fleet cohesion, better logic at ships moving together, better responsiveness to player commands, greater responsiveness from wing subordinates at responding to commands to wing leaders

[Prosik]

The ability for two player owned docked ships to trade cargo, software, etc.

This is a vital function for me to play this game. Its something that should have been made available day one!!!

[Falcrack]

The ability for two player owned docked ships to trade cargo, software, etc.

This is a vital function for me to play this game. Its something that should have been made available day one!!!

Two player owned docked ships CAN trade cargo. Have both docked, click on one with the cargo you want traded, right click on the other ship, select "transfer wares".

[adeine]

These are all fair points. Only thing I'd add, is that I would hope for 3.0 to address/balance the mentioned things that aren't yet working right, while for adding completely new things (some equipment to differentiate between ships, hopefully more weaponry especially, rework of the pirate faction etc) I'd look at the Split expansion. That will obviously introduce new ships (at the very least the Split ones, hopefully it could be a chance to also add a few more for everyone while we are at it) and sectors, it looks like the best chance to also introduce other relatively major things together with it. It's also the only time where even if maybe not mandatory, a new game being required to take full advantage of new features wouldn't annoy anyone (most of us will start a new game anyway to see the Split interact with a pristine galaxy), so there's more freedom to do some finally really significant changes.

The big can of worms there is that it's a DLC so presumably the game would have to stay in a balanced/playable state for people without it, which severely limits the scope of any rebalancing or fundamental rework tied to the DLC itself. I think mainline versions are a better candidate to implement the brunt of what is needed, while of course leaving some room for expansion with the Split, Boron and beyond.

[Kadatherion]

The big can of worms there is that it's a DLC so presumably the game would have to stay in a balanced/playable state for people without it, which severely limits the scope of any rebalancing or fundamental rework tied to the DLC itself. I think mainline versions are a better candidate to implement the brunt of what is needed, while of course leaving some room for expansion with the Split, Boron and beyond.

Yeah, but it's not unusual for DLCs to come together with a beefy free patch for the main game (it's both a good way to please the community AND set up the DLC encouraging its sales). Since 3.0 is supposed to come out before the DLC, I guess the DLC could then come with another one. But, truth be told, I'm not too optimistic about what we'll really get. The game's been out for half an year and while yeah, some rough edges have been polished, features that were advertised as being core part of the game and were not in at launch, still aren't fully implemented and/or decently balanced. 3.0 hopefully will sort out the war mechanics, indestructible stations and so on (no point in throwing a new race on top of the others if their main supposed AI activity still ain't working right, they'd just make things worse for them, as they'd add things to fix), but for really new additions it's reasonable to guess we'll have to wait longer.

EDIT: Actually, now that I think of it (as I'm back into TW with Three Kingdoms coming), there could also be another way to do that, like Total War has done a few times. When the race DLC comes, *everybody* gets the new race in their world (maybe just a bit more barebones with less unit variety and such), but only those who buy the DLC can "play as them" (which, in our case, would mean non DLC buyers would be barred off being able to buy/build/board Split ships, stations etc). Of course, this in a sense "devalues" the DLC, but on the other hand it makes so much easier for the devs to work on the game, as it would still be pretty much the same for everyone, DLC buyers or not. Plus, it's something that makes people very happy: which isn't the real objective of game development but it never hurts.

[Train2004]

Would love to have an office in a HQ station to manage my employees and even set up directors who can oversee different sectors for me.

I also feel that the fleet system needs work.. Its tough to set up an actual fleet with fighter wings and so on.

[dholmstr]

At some point I would like to see the XR specialist come back. Right now the best/most effective way is to build a station pretty much self sufficient . Maybe if they reintroduce the specialist there could be an incentive to go specific. Maybe tide to size of population at that station, let say 250 population you get to use 1 specialist for one specific process (Ore smelting ex.). Then at 500, 1000, 2000 and so. on.