Do I have to pay extra for a game that works?

[PaulRhyan]

How can this game have such a positive rating on Steam? The only way that makes sense is, all the employees at Egosoft have multiple Steam accounts and they all give positive ratings.

I have attempted to play the "The Young Gun" five times and every time the game fails to build the f-ing dock. Every time I try, one or more of the required components never shows up. The first time I couldn't get ANY components to arrive. The second time I managed to get the hull parts and claytronics but the energy cells never showed. The third time - nothing showed up. The fourth time no energy cells again. Now (fifth time) I've been waiting 6 hours and 28 minutes (real time!) for hull parts.

I've watched three or four YouTube videos. I'm following the most current video I could find (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZifjQlm_0Eg) and it still fails. All this doesn't include the other failed attempts because you have to have a degree in computer science to navigate the game's interface. There is little to no feedback to let the gamer know if they have followed all the necessary steps. The 'tutorials' don't offer much either. I swear it's like a group of people started to make a game then half way through they got bored and somebody in charge said: "Let's just release what we have so far.".

I really wanted to like this game; y' know since I spent my own hard earned money on it. When reading about the gameplay and the intricacies of the game I was really excited to dive in. Now all I want is 90 F-ING hours of my life back but I'll settle for the $35 I spent. Oops, it seems I'm a little past the 2 hour return window that Steam so 'graciously' allows us.

If anybody has any tips or information on why this game isn't working I would definitely love to hear from you. I'm pretty frustrated right now but I would still like to find some kind of redeeming quality for this sh*t heap of a game.

[Laserak]

Sounds to me like you're just waiting around for NPCS to deliver the materials for a station build?
That's not ideal...haulem yourself, or be patient.

Maybe tone down the ragey rhetoric and accusations to the devs?

[PaulRhyan]

Sounds to me like you're just waiting around for NPCS to deliver the materials for a station build?
That's not ideal...haulem yourself, or be patient.

Yes that's what I'm doing. In all the videos I've watched that is what they have done. I've only recently been made aware of the fact that I might have to do all the micromanaging with building stations. With my current ship only having 150 cubic meters of storage it seems like it would take hours to build the dock. Either way, this isn't how I imagined the game should work. Isn't six and a half hours for something as simple as a dock patient enough?

Maybe tone down the ragey rhetoric and accusations to the devs?

Why? The devs are the group of people who designed the game. Judging from my hours of searching for answers to the many questions on how to play this game, it seems that I am not alone. The devs have released an incomplete game. Clearly they expect the 'community' to figure it out and do their dirty work for them by posting videos on YouTube. I have a work life and a home life to manage. When I get a couple spare hours, gaming is what I like to do. I shouldn't have to waste more than half of my spare time watching videos on how to navigate the game's interface or trying to learn why a certain task constantly fails because the devs designed a game that provides little to no feedback on what the gamer might be doing wrong. Work is a grind. When I slip into my gaming world I should feel like I'm getting somewhere in the game instead of just grinding away.

[Teladi CEO]

The game is an economic sim, as I’m sure you know. But you also have to participate in said economy.

It won’t match your needs perfectly, if it did it wouldn’t be fun.

If your frustrated over materials, buy a ship and go buy them yourself. The materials exist, but the ai also need said materials because the economy is constantly fluctuating.

It probably isn’t best to dive headfirst into an economy centered plot. Get a miner, and produce to actually help the economy. It will heal itself but you have to give it some time. Are you sure you put enough money in the station construction?

You could also not do the plot line.

Besides, it isn’t necessarily nice to bully some devs because you think their liars and frauds without any real actual backing to your claims. Furthermore, Egosoft is a small development team, but still find time to communicate with players if you only ask instead of insult.

[oddible]

How can this game have such a positive rating on Steam? The only way that makes sense is, all the employees at Egosoft have multiple Steam accounts and they all give positive ratings.

I have attempted to play the "The Young Gun" five times and every time the game fails to build the f-ing dock. Every time I try, one or more of the required components never shows up. The first time I couldn't get ANY components to arrive. The second time I managed to get the hull parts and claytronics but the energy cells never showed. The third time - nothing showed up. The fourth time no energy cells again. Now (fifth time) I've been waiting 6 hours and 28 minutes (real time!) for hull parts.

I've watched three or four YouTube videos. I'm following the most current video I could find (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZifjQlm_0Eg) and it still fails. All this doesn't include the other failed attempts because you have to have a degree in computer science to navigate the game's interface. There is little to no feedback to let the gamer know if they have followed all the necessary steps. The 'tutorials' don't offer much either. I swear it's like a group of people started to make a game then half way through they got bored and somebody in charge said: "Let's just release what we have so far.".

I really wanted to like this game; y' know since I spent my own hard earned money on it. When reading about the gameplay and the intricacies of the game I was really excited to dive in. Now all I want is 90 F-ING hours of my life back but I'll settle for the $35 I spent. Oops, it seems I'm a little past the 2 hour return window that Steam so 'graciously' allows us.

If anybody has any tips or information on why this game isn't working I would definitely love to hear from you. I'm pretty frustrated right now but I would still like to find some kind of redeeming quality for this sh*t heap of a game.

This game is absolutely amazing and has one of the highest time played to cost paid of any game in most of our libraries. That said, it is quirky and takes some getting used to. What you're experiencing aren't "bugs", you just need to get familiar with some of the mechanics of the game. Everything is working as designed - and some of what you're experiencing is where the "fun" of the game actually is! Also, this is the FOURTH incarnation of this game many of which had similar controls and UI so no, a group of people didn't get bored and just release something random. Also, simmer down with the name calling and trash talking - go to the steam forums if you're gonna act like that. So if you REALLY are interested in getting into the "intricacies of this game", let's go! You've got an amazing community here to help get you oriented!

There are a few ways you can optimize station building:

1. Make sure that the faction making the wares to build the station is fed - this is the core gameplay in X4. If minerals and gasses are flowing to the stations, and intermediate wares are flowing between stations, the faction will produce the stuff in enough supply to feed everything! Your station construction, their wharfs and shipyards, their own station construction. Feed the system and it will grow.

2. Buy a transport ship and go buy the wares yourself and deliver them to the Build Storage at the station

3. Build a VERY SMALL single component of the station first - something that involved a low amount of resources (a single dock, a connecter). After that gets built, assign a station trader (person) and start building the rest of the components. You can even assign transport ships to the station trader's build storage and the station trader will buy all the stuff for you.

4. Don't build piers on new stations first especially early in the game - there are very few Large ships so it is something you can add later.

Captain Collins has amazing videos to help orient you to some of the more complex gameplay and mechanics.

Good luck!

[Falcrack]

The NPC free traders may, or may not, decide to pay a visit to your station to deliver the needed goods. There is no countdown timer to when they may actually come. In addition, if you are short like 10 ecells to complete your dock, then NPC free traders may determine that it is not worth their time to make a special trade simply to deliver 10 ecells. So you need to be aware that you might need to speed things along in order to get what you need for your station.

Once you get a dock, and you have other construction plans, assign a freighter to trade for build storage. If the resources are in range, your freighter will be a bit more proactive than NPC free traders in bringing the required goods to your station.

What you feels is a bug, or a design flaw, is actually a rather integral part of the game design, which many players happen to enjoy. That is, figuring out what is not working in the economy, and takinf steps to fix it.

[Gavrushka]

Ah, with the dock for the HQ, I've never had it build without my input, and the usual issue is hull parts. - What I do is usually set a small ship to manually pick up the bits by turning on the trade filter (On the map at the top, a small icon.) And getting a repeat run to load 'em up to build storage. (I tend to transfer wares to build storage rather than 'trade with') - Right click menu on HQ with your ship you want to trade with selected.

I remember when I first game to the X series, 17/18 years ago, and I raged about a stupid issue in X2, and really did put a grumpy head on. - The community were very patient with me, talked me through it, even though I bit back unnecessarily at first... And, well, I'm still here.

X4 has a very steep learning curve, and it can be that frustration>fun at times, and that is made worse by documentation that isn't the greatest ever created, but all I can promise is it does get easier, and people will help with every problem encountered.

Hell, you can even load a save, and some kind individual may even complete the HQ dock for you, even doing a video of how they did it, if you remain stuck.

On that note: videos are definitely a good way of learning aspects of gameplay, and getting involved in trading personally is one of the most important as the economy does need a little input from the player at times. I understand the simulation is designed to be a little slow to react at times to give the player an economic window of opportunity.

The fun will come, but that damned learning curve is a steep one...

[TheDeliveryMan]

There is another plot called something like "Hatikvah Trade Revolution". The first part will give you reward that can make building the HQ dock a little bit easier

[dtpsprt]

TBH I watched the video the OP watched and tried to follow and I reach the conclusion that the video maker should be banned from publishing that kind of rubbish on U-Tube for life!!!

To the OP: Welcome to the X Universe. Cold, unforgiving in many ways but with an excellent and helpful fan base. Ask for whatever instructions, help, ideas either in this forum or Steam you will get answers 99% correct, 100% current and in a great variation of possible ways to achieve anything so you can choose what's more to your liking.

All truth be told and as one can expect Egosoft Forum has less members but more "devoted" to whatever Egosoft produces than Steam so they might be a bit "picky" on your characterisations...

[aurumgallente]

Small tip: npc traders almost always ignore small demands, they keep looking for bigger deals. 1M6S dock requires not so many resources, if you need to build only this module, you better to use your own ships for that. But for more expensive modules or many cheap modules at once npc traders will bring resources to your construction site. Also because of that it is hard to build small amount of drones for your station, traders will ignore your demand of resources for 5-20 drones.

[hxsgame]

Mindset determines the path.

It is indeed very annoying to be different from own expectations. But the praise of X4 may have its truth.

X4 provides a lot of free mechanisms, enough to customize any gameplay you want.

If want to pick the fault of this game, it is really easy.But then will be missed a unique and rich space simulation game.

Not to mention that X4 keeps getting better and better.

[BaronVerde]

To speed up precipitation of wares in the build storage i'd suggest manually check and slide up the rulers (also the individual ones) for prices of wares every now and then, then wares drop in more quickly. It might be that certain wares (in my case it was Field Coils and Advanced Electronics in early game) don't come in automatigally, so one should have a transporter (Teladi Vulture Sentinel for its storage space) ready to buy and deliver them manually. Don't let the transporter park at the build storage, it'll occupy a berth.

While waiting in early game, one could use the time to explore adjacent sectors to get an overview of what exists in the neighbourhood. And/or do some tasks, repare satellites, give late risers a ride to their ship, shoot crystals for money, free trapped ships from surrounding mines (that's my favourite, pyupyupyu ...), get a hand laser and open lock boxes, time will fly then

And, yeah, for a beginner the game seems to create a hostily environment, that's for sure. It is everybody against everybody else, with partly unclear constraints and missing clarity, that may cause frustration. Fortunately, in real life it is peace and cooperation that creates prosperity, war only destroys and causes suffering. Cooperation are also the foundations (sic!) of a helpful forum

[jlehtone]

Small tip: npc traders almost always ignore small demands, they keep looking for bigger deals. 1M6S dock requires not so many resources, if you need to build only this module, you better to use your own ships for that. But for more expensive modules or many cheap modules at once npc traders will bring resources to your construction site. Also because of that it is hard to build small amount of drones for your station, traders will ignore your demand of resources for 5-20 drones.

It is not only the small demands.

Every module requires Ecells, Hull Parts, and Claytronics. These, particularly Ecells seem to come "easily". However, at start of game there is somewhat shortage before the economy starts rolling (if it does). It could stay in cycle: no build materials => no new Factories => no increase of build material production => ...

Station defences, shields and turrets, require Advanced Electronics, Field Coils, Turret Components, and Shield Components. The shortage for these is even more prominent. There are many NPC stations that do not seem to get almost any of these from NPC traders, although they offer good money. This is
where players freighters can get nice profit.

I have no stations, but I have built some for the NPC (as missions). At first I just did give station credits as estimated, but also had my ships haul some materials. I don't give credits any more; I haul everything. That way I get the build done as cheap as possible.

[Roeleveld]

Ah, with the dock for the HQ, I've never had it build without my input, and the usual issue is hull parts. - What I do is usually set a small ship to manually pick up the bits by turning on the trade filter (On the map at the top, a small icon.) And getting a repeat run to load 'em up to build storage. (I tend to transfer wares to build storage rather than 'trade with') - Right click menu on HQ with your ship you want to trade with selected.

I always had it being build, just need to make sure there is plenty of credits in the build-budget.
It will take a while though.
But not 6 hours of actual gameplay.

[Roeleveld]

TBH I watched the video the OP watched and tried to follow and I reach the conclusion that the video maker should be banned from publishing that kind of rubbish on U-Tube for life!!!

Never saw that youtuber before and will not watch again. (Had difficulty watching the first half, didn't bother with the rest.

To the OP: Welcome to the X Universe. Cold, unforgiving in many ways but with an excellent and helpful fan base. Ask for whatever instructions, help, ideas either in this forum or Steam you will get answers 99% correct, 100% current and in a great variation of possible ways to achieve anything so you can choose what's more to your liking.

All truth be told and as one can expect Egosoft Forum has less members but more "devoted" to whatever Egosoft produces than Steam so they might be a bit "picky" on your characterisations...

[g04tn4d0]

Sometimes you just have to make sure you keep the correct accounts filled with enough money after you hire the builder ship. Takes a moment to get everything. I usually go off and check back with the progress every half-hour to make sure it didn't run out of money or get stalled due to lack of parts.

[Ovni]

To be fair to the OP, the game is horribly tutorialized. I don't mean in the way of needing more popups in your face telling you what to do, but rather along the way of organizing the missions in some kind of logical progression to ensure you have most of the resources needed to accomplish the task you receive.

For instance, when the Dude(tm) asks you to build a dock at your station, you're almost guaranteed not to have a freighter because you didn't need one for previous missions. So the game pushes you into the trap of spending all your budget into buying materials for the dock (or space gods forbid, the T-pier which the station planning UI tells you you're missing), when you should be saving up for a freighter first. But then you're stuck because initially the materials seem to be coming in... so waiting a bit more (read: hours) seems like a good idea... but these last energy cells and hull parts never come... but now you don't have the money to fix the problem yourself. So instead of getting your new cool station running pretty soon, it's back to griding missions/crystals/whatever for several hours which completely breaks the flow and creates frustration.
And then you purchase your hard-earned freighter and a lone pirate or xenon destroys it on its first trading run, which at this point of the game you're totally powerless to prevent. !!FUN for everyone, welcome new players!! But that's another topic.

Also, for some dumb reason the first ware production module blueprint you get for free besides energy cells is meat. Whu? Eh? You're in a Teladi system, potential customers are extremely far and few! It's like they're making the player's life complicated on purpose. I guess starting you up with some local product like Sunrise Flowers would be too logical, we can't have that. Not to mention that by default if you build the energy cells and meat production modules which the game makes seem like a good idea the station will start operating at a loss... because managers apparently think it's a good idea to buy the source materials at a high price when the selling price for the output product is abysmally low (because your storage is full, because nobody anywhere near wants to buy your product), guaranteeing negative profits. ssss.

It's like teaching a child to walk by repeatedly throwing him into a pit.

Personally, I figured out a while ago what I needed to to get past all these hurdles, but I couldn't but note along the way how bad it is, and it sucked a lot of the fun out of playing. Especially since there are longstanding actual bugs with how the station will use assigned ships to purchase or sell stuff... so the problems and frustration continue even after you got your couple coveted freighters. So it's not just about learning the game systems, they're broken. And those are supposed to be the core systems of the game, for goodness' sake: the same buggy AI drives NPC stations and traders, no wonder the economy doesn't work great.

[Meteor1981]

This game is absolutely amazing and has one of the highest time played to cost paid of any game in most of our libraries. That said, it is quirky and takes some getting used to. What you're experiencing aren't "bugs", you just need to get familiar with some of the mechanics of the game. Everything is working as designed - and some of what you're experiencing is where the "fun" of the game actually is! Also, this is the FOURTH incarnation of this game many of which had similar controls and UI so no, a group of people didn't get bored and just release something random. Also, simmer down with the name calling and trash talking - go to the steam forums if you're gonna act like that. So if you REALLY are interested in getting into the "intricacies of this game", let's go! You've got an amazing community here to help get you oriented!

+1
I played X3 for Years and X4 is better then X3. We paid the same amount of price for a game that give the opportunity to play for thousands hours, compared of games where for the same price if you are lucky, you will play for 100 hours.
The game is complex because give us the opportunity to do everything. Not all the players are available to spend time to learn. There are bugs in the game? All games have bugs, isn't a news.
Thanks Egosoft!

My dream: The Boron

[jlehtone]

It's like teaching a child to walk by repeatedly throwing him into a pit.

Didn't the first game in the series, the X: Beyond the Frontier do exactly that and still succeed?
Since when has entertainment business started to abandon "working formula"?

To be fair to the OP, the game is horribly tutorialized. I don't mean in the way of needing more popups in your face telling you what to do, but rather along the way of organizing the missions in some kind of logical progression to ensure you have most of the resources needed to accomplish the task you receive.

X2 had tutorials (outside of the game) and dialog in story that did recommend to "take your time before continuing the plot; gather some assets".
X4 has tutorials (although I did do only part of one before starting the game).

Being "not new" I have concluded, based on previous games, that the story is insignificant or not worth looking into while there is still other things to do.
I have played X4 some 330 hours. The only interaction with the Dude is that I said: "Not now!". I wish I could phrase it: "Split say Not Now! Call me not! I will call you. Maybe."

You are probably right that there are not enough "do not dash recklessly" hints for new players.

Also, for some dumb reason the first ware production module blueprint you get for free besides energy cells is meat. Whu? Eh? You're in a Teladi system, potential customers are extremely far and few!

My character is Argon, but the game did start in Paranid system. I did not pay any attention to the blueprints I had from start. Does the "you're in a Teladi system" refer to the story missions?

[Ormac]

I think the foodstuff Blueprint is start dependant. mentioned the Young Gun Start
and my Dedicated Warrior Start has soya beans or snails I think (know it's Paranid).

I spent about 6 hours looking for antimatter cells and then I find that the Dude actually was pointing me towards such a location.
And I'm at a similar point needing to construct the dock.

While I played before 3.0 and knew the HQ quest was basically all there was and to take my time to progress and learn the mechanics.
so I either do like before and

A) Buy my own builder
B) Buy the better Blueprint and hire a builder

The Mission is still essentially the player's first quest , Hatikvah does similar at introducing ingame without station building and needs I think the HQ with the dock complete.

Fisrt Impressions like the OP are important and I forgot about the builder requirement this time round so

Maybe the HQ quest needs a bit more smoothing.

I remember that Other Game spawned a builder with the required parts to teach how to build stations.

If Spawning is competely out of the question because NEARLY everything is constructed.
Maybe have the mission direct a local builder with a small trader (docked) or located nearby [Crewmember missed their ride as didn't want to tell boss they lost it in a game of chance or something similar ]
Comes and investigates but too late to claim the alien station offers services to build dock [and examine alien station ] and the small trade ship can be used till construction is complete or kept as a reward