Who exactly is Timelines for? Why would the devs waste time on this vs improving the sandbox?

[Crimsonraziel]

if you enjoy this game i am pretty sure it will be super nice to support ego with 15 USD. but it is your call!

15 notes, is that all it costs?, they dont mention on the GOG site https://www.gog.com/en/game/x4_timelines

was posted by egosoft on the AMA thread here on the forums,. could be even a bit less if you own all the other dlcs (Community of planets) .

so please lets supoprt egosoft!

12 bucks via the 20%-off-complete-your-collection deal on Steam

[Buck]

$15-$16 wasted on nothing.
I'll be asking Steam for Refund

[Miravlix]

I don't know.

I just loaded up my sandbox save after installing timelines. Jumped to my Erlking that was busy auto trading, while I looked around to spot anything new....

Erlking hits another ship.
Erlking hits another ship.
Erlking hits another ship.
Erlking hits another ship.
Erlking hits another ship.
Erlking has been destroyed due to hull damage.

And not with it's weapons! It was due to all L ships flying in the same line from gate to gate and hitting each other due to different speeds. I've been reporting on the world being broken when the player is in an area and influence the simulation level during the beta's (Not just 7.00 past beta's too) and the game is just unplayable, ship can't dock or undock if the avatar is influencing the simulation, it's just broken.

At this point I've rage quit the game, not like timelines seems to contain anything to make my sandbox game better anyway, only worse and I'm just not up for learning how to do the new stuff in the timelines section of the menu.

[Scoob]

I'm a bit torn here. In the dim and distant past, I've commented on playing some of the "classic" X-Universe scenarios in the current game engine. Timelines, from what I understand, does this. Sort of. However, I was thinking more along the lines of the X btf plot line able to be played in a modern engine, with the twist of all the new features. A remasters and enhanced version of the game if you will.

I immerse for hours in my own universe, I'm very protective of my ships and spend a lot of effort defending things - even when I can just "spam" ships late-game as I produce them for free at my own stations. I'm usually quite late to the various plot-lines, being already very well-established when I engage with them. With Timelines taking me out of my game, well, I have little incentive to play. If I could play my regular save, but take detours into Timelines and come back to "my" universe with some things unlocked, I'd be happy with that.

I'm still not quite sure what I'll be getting with Timelines, but there's a good chance it'll all be ignored if it isn't linked to my current game in progress. THAT'S what I want to play, my game, my universe, not stop playing the game I'm enjoying to do something else. If this is aimed at new players, then this is some really weird DLC. I mean, buy the game, then pay extra to learn more about it? I'm really not on the same wavelength as Egosoft here, clearly.

However, all that said, I want to support Egosoft's work - and I do hope they get back to enhancing my game in progress, not things to do outside of that - so I'll likely buy it anyway. I'm not particularly enthusiastic about it though, which has never happened before with an X game.

Talking pricing, it's objectively cheap in my region. However, in comparison with other DLCs, it seems relatively expensive. More so as it does not offer substantial content for my actual game in progress. No new factions and while there are new ships, I don't know how/if they make it into my actual game. Perhaps Timelines stuff will be a casual distraction, when I don't have long to play. Perhaps that'll work, but it'd better give me something in my main save. New ship blueprints available - the X Shuttle and that epic-looking Earth Destroyer with the spinny bits - as well as other new things. Tell me, is my "Timelines" game a separate save, can I readily dip in and out without impacting my regular saves? Can we even save in a Timelines scenario / mission? Or is progress logged differently? Am I actually building on something, or just "unlocking" things during totally separate missions? Does performance in a prior mission affect the next one? Lots of questions.

The v7.0 patch in isolation offers some great improvements. However, despite being reported in the Beta, it has introduced some problems. Three I experienced that were rather detrimental to my game are:

Ship Maintenance Bays automation is broken - ships will NOT use them for repair and resupply any more, even if subordinate to them. A strong Defence Platform with a well-supplied S/M Ship Maintenance Bay was a staple for me as they'd automatically repair and resupply my ships. Fantastic. That's broken now. Having my own ships automatically sort themselves out in regards to repairs and resupply was GREAT, massively cut down on attrition. As a bonus, allied Factions might also use them - another revenue stream for the player.

Subordinates seem to have even more trouble staying with their leader. I have mining ships that arrive in Argon Prime to mine, yet their escorts are slow-boating it an entire sector away. Obviously useless if the Miner as attacked by the more aggressive Kha'ak. Bad and frustrating for two reasons: One, the obvious vulnerability to attack and two, the fact that the Miners don't start to mine until their escorts arrive. They just wait at the gate, which make them even more vulnerable.

Ships are getting ware orders WRONG. They are regularly loading up on MORE wares than the BUY order requires. Leading to station-assigned trading ships getting stuck, with excess cargo in their holds they cannot get rid of without manual intervention. This issue seem exclusive to a closed player-only economy. I.e. I have a production station producing Hull Parts and Claytronics. This supplies my Wharf, Build Sites and the (currently broken) "Equipment Dock" Maintenance Bay / Defence Platform combo stations.

Each of these was reported during the Beta, alongside a Save enabling reproduction of the issue, but they've not been addressed. I sometimes wonder if big patch + DLC arriving at the same time is really a good idea. Get the patch polished, then release the DLC a little after. I worry that dev time has gone to Timelines, that perhaps was better spent addressing core issues in v7.0.

As an aside, I have ALL the DLC, yet get no bonus / discount for owning everything. I understand this is a GoG issue. But to have bought everything but not have everything (due to lack of "bonus" for owning everything) sorta sucks.

[frightlever]

I have bought every dlc at release, but it's been years from my last play.

Same! But from what I've read on the Steam Forums (I know...) this DLC isn't for me. I'm about that chill life and by all accounts the DLC, intended as an introduction to new players, is straight up difficult and confusing. And the first mission is a race? I'm more of a big picture kind of guy, not a racer.

[Scoob]

Same! But from what I've read on the Steam Forums (I know...) this DLC isn't for me. I'm about that chill life and by all accounts the DLC, intended as an introduction to new players, is straight up difficult and confusing. And the first mission is a race? I'm more of a big picture kind of guy, not a racer.

The first mission is a race? Urgh, I really don't like racing. We need to endure this to progress though I guess?

[frightlever]

Same! But from what I've read on the Steam Forums (I know...) this DLC isn't for me. I'm about that chill life and by all accounts the DLC, intended as an introduction to new players, is straight up difficult and confusing. And the first mission is a race? I'm more of a big picture kind of guy, not a racer.

The first mission is a race? Urgh, I really don't like racing. We need to endure this to progress though I guess?

To be clear, as stated above, I haven't played it (or bought it; first DLC I skipped) but that's what I read on Steam.

X: Rebirth, lurking in the background, biding its time, waiting to strike again...

[frightlever]

As an aside, I have ALL the DLC, yet get no bonus / discount for owning everything. I understand this is a GoG issue. But to have bought everything but not have everything (due to lack of "bonus" for owning everything) sorta sucks.

If you have it on Steam if you look at the "X4: Community of Planets Edition (2024) BUNDLE" you should see Timelines at 20% off, assuming you have all the other DLC and base game. Timelines is shown at list, but the bundle gets 20% off and Timelines is the only item left for you to buy. Again, I'll likely never play it but for ten quid, I am kinda one of those Egosoft supporters who wants to see them prosper so still kinda tempted.

On GoG https://www.gog.com/en/game/x4_communit ... rs_edition but I have no idea if they do it the same way Steam does.

[Scoob]

If you have it on Steam if you look at the "X4: Community of Planets Edition (2024) BUNDLE" you should see Timelines at 20% off, assuming you have all the other DLC and base game. Timelines is shown at list, but the bundle gets 20% off and Timelines is the only item left for you to buy. Again, I'll likely never play it but for ten quid, I am kinda one of those Egosoft supporters who wants to see them prosper so still kinda tempted.

Thanks, but I'm aware of how it works with Steam. GoG however doesn't / can't support "you already own this, so get this cheaper / get this bonus apparently. Egosoft are aware, but there's little they can do if the Platform doesn't support it. Quite remiss of GoG I think.

[Nerwesta]

Same! But from what I've read on the Steam Forums (I know...) this DLC isn't for me. I'm about that chill life and by all accounts the DLC, intended as an introduction to new players, is straight up difficult and confusing. And the first mission is a race? I'm more of a big picture kind of guy, not a racer.

The first mission is a race? Urgh, I really don't like racing. We need to endure this to progress though I guess?

It's not even a good one. The AI is rubberbanding like good old Mario Kart, even if you miss 2 or 3 checkpoints they will wait you so you have that deep sense of accomplishement on overtaking them *sigh*
As for the first AI that seems to be always faster than everyone else, it's also a classic Mario Kart heavily scripted opponent, it's just not fun.
I don't know, part of the appeal on X series was the huge sandbox game that made me feel everything was clicking by itself, but here the first mission is a heavily scripted dump, the AI don't even take the checkpoints properly but you as a player, you you're totally forced to do it ..

I'll give the next missions a further try but it looks like I'm pathing on a refund.

[frightlever]

If you have it on Steam if you look at the "X4: Community of Planets Edition (2024) BUNDLE" you should see Timelines at 20% off, assuming you have all the other DLC and base game. Timelines is shown at list, but the bundle gets 20% off and Timelines is the only item left for you to buy. Again, I'll likely never play it but for ten quid, I am kinda one of those Egosoft supporters who wants to see them prosper so still kinda tempted.

Thanks, but I'm aware of how it works with Steam. GoG however doesn't / can't support "you already own this, so get this cheaper / get this bonus apparently. Egosoft are aware, but there's little they can do if the Platform doesn't support it. Quite remiss of GoG I think.

Ah, sorry about that then! I like GoG/CDPR but they need to look at that.

[Scoob]

Do you want to know what the deciding factor on purchasing Timelines was for me? A mod I use will now have it as a prerequisite... it uses some assets from it apparently. It's required all prior DLC, so this is not a total surprise.

[Nerwesta]

As an aside, I have ALL the DLC, yet get no bonus / discount for owning everything. I understand this is a GoG issue. But to have bought everything but not have everything (due to lack of "bonus" for owning everything) sorta sucks.

If you have it on Steam if you look at the "X4: Community of Planets Edition (2024) BUNDLE" you should see Timelines at 20% off, assuming you have all the other DLC and base game. Timelines is shown at list, but the bundle gets 20% off and Timelines is the only item left for you to buy. Again, I'll likely never play it but for ten quid, I am kinda one of those Egosoft supporters who wants to see them prosper so still kinda tempted.

On GoG https://www.gog.com/en/game/x4_communit ... rs_edition but I have no idea if they do it the same way Steam does.

This got me curious, this is for those who got the Community of Planet Edition only, not from a Steam system I think.
I don't have that bundle, yet I have every single DLC to date, I just don't own the OST and that Bonus thing at 4,99 €, so I paid the full price here.

Do you want to know what the deciding factor on purchasing Timelines was for me? A mod I use will now have it as a prerequisite... it uses some assets from it apparently. It's required all prior DLC, so this is not a total surprise.

Which one ?

[Newinger]

If this is aimed at new players, then this is some really weird DLC. I mean, buy the game, then pay extra to learn more about it? I'm really not on the same wavelength as Egosoft here, clearly

Completely new players who don't own X4 so far get timelines for free. This is called Discovery Pack now and costs the same as X4 did cost previously.

I have played timelines during the last weeks in beta for writing a review and I really like it.

As a long-time X player since 1999 it's so nice to see important historic events and people from the X history again (or to be able to play some events which were previously just mentioned, or take a different perspective on them), as well as finding out the secrets of the facility the player character is put into. The story is shown in typical Egosoft style but it IS interesting and expands nicely on the X universe lore. Besides, the rewards (new ships, new sectors and

Spoiler

Show

a new faction

) are a nice addition for the sandbox as well.

The idea that new players do the tutorials first, then optionally apply and deepen their knowledge in timelines, before starting the sandbox can work fine, depending on learner type.

Remember that a DLC can also cater to people like me who play the series since 1999, but on a more relaxed level, interested more in story and atmosphere, than in grand strategy.

[alt3rn1ty]

Second mission = Quite a bit of dogfighting .. yum!
Only got 3 stars for that one, so need to do it again, damn

[chew-ie]

Looking at the Trailer and description on GOG https://www.gog.com/en/game/x4_timelines ..
.. I am pretty sure it was all designed for me, just me, the rest of you can put your wallets away because nobody else will be interested

[Witzzard]

I'm certain it's not for everyone. I personally like the general idea and liked a few of the missions so far. Though i seem to be even worse when it comes to space combat and racing and....
At least so far it doesn't seem to be as punishing as the good ol' race through a asteroid missions in X3 TC. Or was it X2?

[Scoob]

*Sigh* this is a bit boring so far. I'm not at all invested as it's not my character in my main game. I'll spoiler what I've done thus far...

Spoiler

Show

I did a "racing" mission that was just plain dull. It didn't help that my ship seemed to randomly go Flight Assist Off, and I'd drift like crazy. Thought *I'd* accidentally pressed something at first, but nope. Got a good rating despite making a mess of things. This mission ended after three laps. At least the laps are timed, which is actually a good improvement. I could see myself dipping into racing in my main save perhaps betting for credits. That'd be fine. In isolation? Yawn.

I did some combat with a wing of three ships under my command. That was initially quite fun, but the player gets totally overwhelmed quite quickly. Any allies die off and it's left to me to fight. I lost score due to various ships dying, however, they were all docked at a large ship that blew up. Ships worth points, docked at the scripted target for hoards of Xenon seems a bit silly. This mission ended when the target ship was destroyed.

I did some more combat, this time in a lone Corvette vs. waves of enemies. I'm not really seeing the fun of these wave attacks? This missions ended after a set time.

For both the Combat scenarios, it'd be nice if we got some reinforcements ourselves. Let's have a great big fur-ball and actually have some fun.

This is just not that interesting so far, I'm sticking with it to see if it gets better... If there is better stuff, I bet many people will never reach it.

I HATE being negative, but I just don't get the fun here? I'm not building my empire, I'm not progressing in anything, I'm just doing missions for points and perhaps for some unlocks to my actual save later? This is very un-X thus far.

As a long-time X Player (X-BtF in '99) I'm recognising some of the locations and certain set pieces. I quite like that. but being "demoted" to Racing or being a Fighter pilot when I'm actually the CEO of my own vast corporation is quite a jarring change. Nothing feels at all cohesive so far. I'm not motivated - other that shear bloody mindedness - to proceed.

Part of me wants to "Cheat". I.e. force unlock whatever additional content Timelines might ultimately add to my actual game.

The final mission in the first group seems bugged:

Spoiler

Show

You have to protect another ship in this one, but it's actually quite exciting at first. There are waves of Xenon fighters, plus a Xenon Capital ship closing. You're tasked with taking out the Xenon's engines, which I did right away, leaving it many km away and not a threat. It then insta-repairs said engines - all to 100% - and closes on the ship you're supposed to protect anyway. Basically, the Player's efforts were pointless. As a result, the "disabled" Xenon H closed on the protection target anyway. Why am I here if I cannot change the outcome? Is it scripted that the H can fully repair all its engines in around a minute?

So far, I'd say Timelines needs some work. It's not ready for release. The balance is poor and things feel so disjointed.

Edit: Well, I progressed to the next group of missions....

Spoiler

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It starts with another bloody race. Argh!

I'm done at this point. This is bad.

[Nerwesta]

*Sigh* this is a bit boring so far. I'm not at all invested as it's not my character in my main game. I'll spoiler what I've done thus far...

Spoiler

Show

I did a "racing" mission that was just plain dull. It didn't help that my ship seemed to randomly go Flight Assist Off, and I'd drift like crazy. Thought *I'd* accidentally pressed something at first, but nope. Got a good rating despite making a mess of things. This mission ended after three laps. At least the laps are timed, which is actually a good improvement. I could see myself dipping into racing in my main save perhaps betting for credits. That'd be fine. In isolation? Yawn.

I did some combat with a wing of three ships under my command. That was initially quite fun, but the player gets totally overwhelmed quite quickly. Any allies die off and it's left to me to fight. I lost score due to various ships dying, however, they were all docked at a large ship that blew up. Ships worth points, docked at the scripted target for hoards of Xenon seems a bit silly. This mission ended when the target ship was destroyed.

I did some more combat, this time in a lone Corvette vs. waves of enemies. I'm not really seeing the fun of these wave attacks? This missions ended after a set time.

For both the Combat scenarios, it'd be nice if we got some reinforcements ourselves. Let's have a great big fur-ball and actually have some fun.

This is just not that interesting so far, I'm sticking with it to see if it gets better... If there is better stuff, I bet many people will never reach it.

I HATE being negative, but I just don't get the fun here? I'm not building my empire, I'm not progressing in anything, I'm just doing missions for points and perhaps for some unlocks to my actual save later? This is very un-X thus far.

As a long-time X Player (X-BtF in '99) I'm recognising some of the locations and certain set pieces. I quite like that. but being "demoted" to Racing or being a Fighter pilot when I'm actually the CEO of my own vast corporation is quite a jarring change. Nothing feels at all cohesive so far. I'm not motivated - other that shear bloody mindedness - to proceed.

Part of me wants to "Cheat". I.e. force unlock whatever additional content Timelines might ultimately add to my actual game.

The final mission in the first group seems bugged:

Spoiler

Show

You have to protect another ship in this one, but it's actually quite exciting at first. There are waves of Xenon fighters, plus a Xenon Capital ship closing. You're tasked with taking out the Xenon's engines, which I did right away, leaving it many km away and not a threat. It then insta-repairs said engines - all to 100% - and closes on the ship you're supposed to protect anyway. Basically, the Player's efforts were pointless. As a result, the "disabled" Xenon H closed on the protection target anyway. Why am I here if I cannot change the outcome? Is it scripted that the H can fully repair all its engines in around a minute?

So far, I'd say Timelines needs some work. It's not ready for release. The balance is poor and things feel so disjointed.

Edit: Well, I progressed to the next group of missions....

Spoiler

Show

It starts with another bloody race. Argh!

I'm done at this point. This is bad.

I think I'm on that exact same boat through and through. It's the first time ever I quit my session by boredom happening in less than 1hour especially on a major update, I tried though ...

[Scoob]

Ok, so, I decided to give another missions a go after that disappointing first mission of the second group. This one I'm actually quite enjoying:

Spoiler

Show

Combat, again, waves, again, but this time we have some allies which make the mission feel MUCH better. I even had some ships given to me at some point, but they didn't last long. Still only part way into this mission but it is actually quite fun. They should have led with this sort of thing.... I completed this mission and it got better as it progressed. THIS is much better.

Here's the thing. I HATED doing the Race mission in the regular game. I can see how they've made improvements to them - actual TIMED laps this time - but it's still not a fun experience for me. Combat, well, I like the odd little dog fight, but generally am the one commanding the action.