X-TRA POLLS Round #9 | In what way do you modify X4: Foundations?
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Re: X-TRA POLLS Round #9 | In what way do you modify X4: Foundations?
I do QoL to patch up the game for things I feel X4 would have if there was magically double dev time. Also, some mods are just bug fixes (like the bug where police attacks player ships even though there’s no contraband).
Once X4 reaches x3fl level (stuff like diplomacy etc), then I think I’ll go vanilla.
Once X4 reaches x3fl level (stuff like diplomacy etc), then I think I’ll go vanilla.
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Re: X-TRA POLLS Round #9 | In what way do you modify X4: Foundations?
I just like vanilla itself as the developers conceived the game 

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Re: X-TRA POLLS Round #9 | In what way do you modify X4: Foundations?
I use a mod to remove the highways, and have since v2.0, six years ago. Can't, and won't, play the game with highways.
The only other mod I use allows me to purchase paintjobs at station traders. I'm addicted to certain paint schemes I can't get any other way. What can I say?
The only other mod I use allows me to purchase paintjobs at station traders. I'm addicted to certain paint schemes I can't get any other way. What can I say?

Have a great idea for the current or a future game? You can post it in the [L3+] Ideas forum.
X4 is a journey, not a destination. Have fun on your travels.
X4 is a journey, not a destination. Have fun on your travels.
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Re: X-TRA POLLS Round #9 | In what way do you modify X4: Foundations?
I am also addicted to a paint job although addicted may be a little strong ... I think it was called Mustard,,, just love that yellow tinge that stands out in the highways and byways.
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Re: X-TRA POLLS Round #9 | In what way do you modify X4: Foundations?
As X4 is my first X series game ever played I wanted stay in vanilla to see where devs take the game and reduce possible problems with compatibility during updates.
As there haven't been anything major what I would have felt to miss I don't see reason start install mods.
As there haven't been anything major what I would have felt to miss I don't see reason start install mods.
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Re: X-TRA POLLS Round #9 | In what way do you modify X4: Foundations?
IMO some here just aren't admitting to using cheat mods to make the game easier. I see posts all the time of players crying about some aspects of the game being too hard.
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Re: X-TRA POLLS Round #9 | In what way do you modify X4: Foundations?
Does that indicate they do or don't use mods to make it easier?
But also IIRC this poll only had one option. I wanted to choose both the vanilla and VRO option because both are separately true, but could not. So it could also be that it's just not the primary way people use mods, even when they do it.
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Re: X-TRA POLLS Round #9 | In what way do you modify X4: Foundations?
It's not impossible that they are using the cheat mod with a bundle of other mods and simply chose the options that are placed higher on the poll.
Interesting data regardless.
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Re: X-TRA POLLS Round #9 | In what way do you modify X4: Foundations?
What I find interesting is something that I have observed with Bernd quite a lot over the years (specifically when it comes to mods in X4): whenever the topic shifts to mods, one of the first thoughts goes right to "mods = cheats making the game easier". The accusation that people using mods find the game too hard, and therefore resort to cheats to make it easier. Because they're lazy, or the current generation wants instant gratification. And now you say, since the poll doesn't confirm that bias, the data has to be wrong. As if there's no other explanation.
While I do think that some people might use mods to take shortcuts, it's a) not a majority, and b) usually not because the game is "too hard".
X4's difficulty is artificial, it doesn't require much skill to see success in it. What it does, however, is forcing you to jump through some pretty stupid hoops. Some things are deliberately set up in a time-consuming manner, to slow you down, because some people profited from this or that it in the past. So now we obviously have to make everyone's life harder.
Like the crystal nerf, where all crystals suddenly and magically turn to the lowest quality, whenever you mine a valuable one. Found two rare crystals nearby? Too bad, one turns worthless the moment you mine the other. Space magic! Or the shipyard sale price, only the player shipyard sells for a small fraction of the usual price (like a -90% nerf here). But directly and manually selling ships to AI shipyards isn't affected by the nerf, so that's what you naturally do then. Now you have this artificial few extra-steps to get more money from selling the same product to the same customer, because you get huge disadvantages automating sales in a game that is all about automating stuff. It's annoying and unnecessary, and a simple mod does away with it. I don't even mine crystals much, or print as much money with my shipyard as I could, but for me it's about getting rid of such a poorly thought-out mechanic that sacrifices realism for the sole purpose of inconveniencing the player and only the player alone.
Or having that stupid RNG element in ship equipment mods, which of course requires ultra-rare components that simply don't drop. To get them, you have to either rely on mission RNG giving the right reward, or use a feature that for the longest time was deactivated, if the game somehow came to the conclusion that your save was modified. Forced offline mode it was then, because game is modified. Which is a label you get in custom gamestarts, which is hilarious, as it's a vanilla feature and NOT a mod. Yet here we are, because there it is again, everyone is potentially a cheater, so we can't risk them infecting anything now, can we? So let's keep them offline, where they can't access online features, such as downloading rewards you rightfully earned.
The game is virtually full of those small things inconveniencing you at every turn. Like pilot/marine training. In previous games we had training facilities, why can't we build something like that now? Or the level limits for pilots, why does a mining ship pilot only gets good at his job by fighting Xenon in a small fighter? Shouldn't they, you know, become good miners by actually mining? But no, that's too safe, too easy, the game has to be so hard! So we need dozens of hours of combat training for all 100 of our mining pilots. It's micro-management hell, and for what exactly? Terraforming unlocks some training options, pretty late into the game, when it doesn't matter anymore. As if training people at a facility were such a novel concept, basically a state secret, game-breaking even! Yeah, no.
The AI can recruit elite pilots and elite marines right out of the shipyard, but not the player, no, the player has to suffer and train each one individual personally. Scraping by and collecting single seminars as RNG rewards from missions, without anyone ever asking why a piece of training software is even consumable in the first place. That's the kind of mod I use, to remove unnecessariy busywork, do away with extra clicks and designs to inconvenience the player for no other reason than to make life harder. Just buy the seminar for 400k Cr and be done with it. I have money, so let me use it. It's a shortcut, yes, but for me that isn't exactly cheating or making things easier, because the game is too hard, no, it's pure QoL. You know, so that I can focus on the actual game and focus on what is fun, which is building stations, setting up logistics, enjoying a well-made economy. That kind of thing, that entertains me for hundreds and thousands of hours throughout the years.
Or let's take the Yasur. Unique ship, but you can only claim your reward if you download it with an unmodified game, as you need to log in for that, which you can't if you're deemed a filthy cheating mod user. Why do I need to jump through all those hoops, just to claim a reward I'm entitled to after buying the entire bundle? I have to remove all my mods, go into the game, log in, download the ship, exit the game, restore my previous settings, and then I can enjoy it? But no, there's the extra 24h waiting period, in which you can't get another Yasur, if for example you start a new game and want to claim it again. Or... you could simply mod the save and give yourself a Yasur blueprint, and save yourself the trouble of jumping through all those hoops. QoL, simple as that.
Same sad story for paintjobs. Why are they unique and single-use only? Is it really so hard to paint a damn ship white or green or blue? And they also have to be claimed the same way as the Yasur, putting me through unnecessary time-consuming trouble to get something that is of so little consequence, that it makes you wonder why they're treated that way. They're way harder to get than the actual flagships of all the factions. They readily sell your their best ships and their blueprints, but oh no, the paint is unique! Yeah, so I could simply get a mod, so I can buy those paintjobs from any trader, like I can already do with all the ships and station modules and equipment blueprints. It's a singleplayer game, cosmetics aren't a status symbol here, the AI doesn't care how my ships are painted, why restrict it?
Now the last trend is to cut down on salvage drops from battles, because heaven forbid a player has a million Credits an hour into the game. Can't have that now, can we? We can now claim what, 10-20? different ships throughout the universe from day 1, including three L sized ones, if we own all expansions. Timelines really needed some more work, but the dev priority is to nerf salvage drops instead? That's one of the issues that was deemed too problematic? Really? That's where some dev time went?
My point is, the game isn't hard, so you don't need cheats to survive. There's the custom gamestart, there's nothing a cheat mod gives you, which you can't already start with in vanilla anyway. No, the game isn't too hard. But it has so many time-consuming elements for the sake of throwing you one curveball after another, that I'm getting annoyed by it. I don't find that exciting, I find it annoying. And I use mods to eliminate annoyances.
I want to play the game, and use the sandbox and have fun in it. I have no time to waste waiting for the most basic stuff to happen. No, I'm not going to rely on RNG to get several missions to get some ultra-rare pilot skill seminars, waste hours, so that I can upgrade a single pilot to 5 stars, so that he mines a little bit faster now. That's insane, the amount of time wasted here.
It's just about QoL at that point. Some may call it cheating, and yeah, it does qualify as taking a shortcut, but it's certainly not because the game is too hard. I have thousands of hours in the game, and play the series for 25 years now, so I think I have a good grip on it. It's not about the difficulty, it's about annoying game design, and introducing some QoL mods that deal with it. That's all there is to it for me.
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Re: X-TRA POLLS Round #9 | In what way do you modify X4: Foundations?
Or you know, just have not seen this poll. I also only stumbled across the polls by accident. Most players don't actually look at forums in general, an even smaller population looks at Egosoft forum specifically.
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Re: X-TRA POLLS Round #9 | In what way do you modify X4: Foundations?
Didn't vote because none of the options really touch on my preference.
Said preference being that I always run a game vanilla until I get I start feeling signs of losing interest at which point the mods come out to spice things up a bit (which can be anything from balance adjustments, to content additions like ship packs or all the way to full conversions) OR if modding is required to make the game playable for me (that being something to improve/get rid of a particularly infuriating element in the game I absolutely can't stand or literal playability mods like community patches, the latter mostly a thing for older, no longer live supported games or lazy ports that require fans to finish the beta that got pushed into production by greedy bean counters). The latter has not been a requirement (there's a bunch of QoL improvements I'd love to see for which mods exist, but the absence is only a mild annoyance) and the former ... well with *checks notes* 1120 hours I've not felt the need for anything more spicy than vanilla. Good job Egosoft.
tl;dr: Playing vanilla until bored and mod later or mod early if mods are a subjective/objective requirement to enjoy the game.
Said preference being that I always run a game vanilla until I get I start feeling signs of losing interest at which point the mods come out to spice things up a bit (which can be anything from balance adjustments, to content additions like ship packs or all the way to full conversions) OR if modding is required to make the game playable for me (that being something to improve/get rid of a particularly infuriating element in the game I absolutely can't stand or literal playability mods like community patches, the latter mostly a thing for older, no longer live supported games or lazy ports that require fans to finish the beta that got pushed into production by greedy bean counters). The latter has not been a requirement (there's a bunch of QoL improvements I'd love to see for which mods exist, but the absence is only a mild annoyance) and the former ... well with *checks notes* 1120 hours I've not felt the need for anything more spicy than vanilla. Good job Egosoft.
tl;dr: Playing vanilla until bored and mod later or mod early if mods are a subjective/objective requirement to enjoy the game.
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Re: X-TRA POLLS Round #9 | In what way do you modify X4: Foundations?
I think there is an option missing from this poll:
...use only Mods that add QoL features that in no way change the mechanics of gameplay.
There is a "grey area" when people talks about Mods, that is the category of mods that defines those that for ex. add hotkeys/shortcuts, information or menus or generally speaking let you do things that you normally can do in the vanilla game but in a way which is more efficient (less time consuming).
Few things they have in common beside not changing gameplay balance:
- When installed you wonder how come they weren't already in the game
- They are always optionals
- As already mentioned, only let you do what you can already do but in a less tedious way.
- They are clever little things
They might at first seem like trivial additions but in a game like X4 (or X3 ) that evolves exponentially in a playthrough, they end up making a massive difference to the gaming experience. I mean you start with one single poorly equipped ship, without funds and relatively few things to do and eventually can get to the point where you gaming rig, not matter how powerful it is, can't cope with the amount of property you have. It stands to reason that the vanilla interface can also struggle with such evolution, that is when some clever modders step in and make life easier.
...use only Mods that add QoL features that in no way change the mechanics of gameplay.
There is a "grey area" when people talks about Mods, that is the category of mods that defines those that for ex. add hotkeys/shortcuts, information or menus or generally speaking let you do things that you normally can do in the vanilla game but in a way which is more efficient (less time consuming).
Few things they have in common beside not changing gameplay balance:
- When installed you wonder how come they weren't already in the game
- They are always optionals
- As already mentioned, only let you do what you can already do but in a less tedious way.
- They are clever little things
They might at first seem like trivial additions but in a game like X4 (or X3 ) that evolves exponentially in a playthrough, they end up making a massive difference to the gaming experience. I mean you start with one single poorly equipped ship, without funds and relatively few things to do and eventually can get to the point where you gaming rig, not matter how powerful it is, can't cope with the amount of property you have. It stands to reason that the vanilla interface can also struggle with such evolution, that is when some clever modders step in and make life easier.
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Re: X-TRA POLLS Round #9 | In what way do you modify X4: Foundations?
You both make good points. I wish more players would notice/take the poll.G315t wrote: ↑Mon, 15. Jul 24, 18:51
Or you know, just have not seen this poll. I also only stumbled across the polls by accident. Most players don't actually look at forums in general, an even smaller population looks at Egosoft forum specifically.
If you want to go fast, go alone.
If you want to go far, go together.
Operating System:
Windows 11 Pro 64-bit CPU: 13th Gen Intel Core i9-13900KF RAM: 32606 MBytes MBO: Gigabyte Z790 UD AC (U3E1) GPU: ZOTAC GEFORCE RTX 4080 Trinity OC NVIDIA 16 GB GDDR6 SSD: AJP600M2TB 1907 GB
If you want to go far, go together.
Operating System:
Windows 11 Pro 64-bit CPU: 13th Gen Intel Core i9-13900KF RAM: 32606 MBytes MBO: Gigabyte Z790 UD AC (U3E1) GPU: ZOTAC GEFORCE RTX 4080 Trinity OC NVIDIA 16 GB GDDR6 SSD: AJP600M2TB 1907 GB
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Re: X-TRA POLLS Round #9 | In what way do you modify X4: Foundations?
Good point, 100% agree.xant wrote: ↑Mon, 15. Jul 24, 18:43What I find interesting is something that I have observed with Bernd quite a lot over the years (specifically when it comes to mods in X4): whenever the topic shifts to mods, one of the first thoughts goes right to "mods = cheats making the game easier". The accusation that people using mods find the game too hard, and therefore resort to cheats to make it easier. Because they're lazy, or the current generation wants instant gratification. And now you say, since the poll doesn't confirm that bias, the data has to be wrong. As if there's no other explanation.
While I do think that some people might use mods to take shortcuts, it's a) not a majority, and b) usually not because the game is "too hard".
X4's difficulty is artificial, it doesn't require much skill to see success in it. What it does, however, is forcing you to jump through some pretty stupid hoops. Some things are deliberately set up in a time-consuming manner, to slow you down, because some people profited from this or that it in the past. So now we obviously have to make everyone's life harder.
Like the crystal nerf, where all crystals suddenly and magically turn to the lowest quality, whenever you mine a valuable one. Found two rare crystals nearby? Too bad, one turns worthless the moment you mine the other. Space magic! Or the shipyard sale price, only the player shipyard sells for a small fraction of the usual price (like a -90% nerf here). But directly and manually selling ships to AI shipyards isn't affected by the nerf, so that's what you naturally do then. Now you have this artificial few extra-steps to get more money from selling the same product to the same customer, because you get huge disadvantages automating sales in a game that is all about automating stuff. It's annoying and unnecessary, and a simple mod does away with it. I don't even mine crystals much, or print as much money with my shipyard as I could, but for me it's about getting rid of such a poorly thought-out mechanic that sacrifices realism for the sole purpose of inconveniencing the player and only the player alone.
Or having that stupid RNG element in ship equipment mods, which of course requires ultra-rare components that simply don't drop. To get them, you have to either rely on mission RNG giving the right reward, or use a feature that for the longest time was deactivated, if the game somehow came to the conclusion that your save was modified. Forced offline mode it was then, because game is modified. Which is a label you get in custom gamestarts, which is hilarious, as it's a vanilla feature and NOT a mod. Yet here we are, because there it is again, everyone is potentially a cheater, so we can't risk them infecting anything now, can we? So let's keep them offline, where they can't access online features, such as downloading rewards you rightfully earned.
The game is virtually full of those small things inconveniencing you at every turn. Like pilot/marine training. In previous games we had training facilities, why can't we build something like that now? Or the level limits for pilots, why does a mining ship pilot only gets good at his job by fighting Xenon in a small fighter? Shouldn't they, you know, become good miners by actually mining? But no, that's too safe, too easy, the game has to be so hard! So we need dozens of hours of combat training for all 100 of our mining pilots. It's micro-management hell, and for what exactly? Terraforming unlocks some training options, pretty late into the game, when it doesn't matter anymore. As if training people at a facility were such a novel concept, basically a state secret, game-breaking even! Yeah, no.
The AI can recruit elite pilots and elite marines right out of the shipyard, but not the player, no, the player has to suffer and train each one individual personally. Scraping by and collecting single seminars as RNG rewards from missions, without anyone ever asking why a piece of training software is even consumable in the first place. That's the kind of mod I use, to remove unnecessariy busywork, do away with extra clicks and designs to inconvenience the player for no other reason than to make life harder. Just buy the seminar for 400k Cr and be done with it. I have money, so let me use it. It's a shortcut, yes, but for me that isn't exactly cheating or making things easier, because the game is too hard, no, it's pure QoL. You know, so that I can focus on the actual game and focus on what is fun, which is building stations, setting up logistics, enjoying a well-made economy. That kind of thing, that entertains me for hundreds and thousands of hours throughout the years.
Or let's take the Yasur. Unique ship, but you can only claim your reward if you download it with an unmodified game, as you need to log in for that, which you can't if you're deemed a filthy cheating mod user. Why do I need to jump through all those hoops, just to claim a reward I'm entitled to after buying the entire bundle? I have to remove all my mods, go into the game, log in, download the ship, exit the game, restore my previous settings, and then I can enjoy it? But no, there's the extra 24h waiting period, in which you can't get another Yasur, if for example you start a new game and want to claim it again. Or... you could simply mod the save and give yourself a Yasur blueprint, and save yourself the trouble of jumping through all those hoops. QoL, simple as that.
Same sad story for paintjobs. Why are they unique and single-use only? Is it really so hard to paint a damn ship white or green or blue? And they also have to be claimed the same way as the Yasur, putting me through unnecessary time-consuming trouble to get something that is of so little consequence, that it makes you wonder why they're treated that way. They're way harder to get than the actual flagships of all the factions. They readily sell your their best ships and their blueprints, but oh no, the paint is unique! Yeah, so I could simply get a mod, so I can buy those paintjobs from any trader, like I can already do with all the ships and station modules and equipment blueprints. It's a singleplayer game, cosmetics aren't a status symbol here, the AI doesn't care how my ships are painted, why restrict it?
Now the last trend is to cut down on salvage drops from battles, because heaven forbid a player has a million Credits an hour into the game. Can't have that now, can we? We can now claim what, 10-20? different ships throughout the universe from day 1, including three L sized ones, if we own all expansions. Timelines really needed some more work, but the dev priority is to nerf salvage drops instead? That's one of the issues that was deemed too problematic? Really? That's where some dev time went?
My point is, the game isn't hard, so you don't need cheats to survive. There's the custom gamestart, there's nothing a cheat mod gives you, which you can't already start with in vanilla anyway. No, the game isn't too hard. But it has so many time-consuming elements for the sake of throwing you one curveball after another, that I'm getting annoyed by it. I don't find that exciting, I find it annoying. And I use mods to eliminate annoyances.
Wow! This is the longest reply ever to my posts!xant wrote: ↑Mon, 15. Jul 24, 18:43 I want to play the game, and use the sandbox and have fun in it. I have no time to waste waiting for the most basic stuff to happen. No, I'm not going to rely on RNG to get several missions to get some ultra-rare pilot skill seminars, waste hours, so that I can upgrade a single pilot to 5 stars, so that he mines a little bit faster now. That's insane, the amount of time wasted here.
It's just about QoL at that point. Some may call it cheating, and yeah, it does qualify as taking a shortcut, but it's certainly not because the game is too hard. I have thousands of hours in the game, and play the series for 25 years now, so I think I have a good grip on it. It's not about the difficulty, it's about annoying game design, and introducing some QoL mods that deal with it. That's all there is to it for me.

Short answer: Agreed on some using mods as shortcuts, which I fail to understand, because I bought the game to get hours of playtime so longer play is better.

If you want to go fast, go alone.
If you want to go far, go together.
Operating System:
Windows 11 Pro 64-bit CPU: 13th Gen Intel Core i9-13900KF RAM: 32606 MBytes MBO: Gigabyte Z790 UD AC (U3E1) GPU: ZOTAC GEFORCE RTX 4080 Trinity OC NVIDIA 16 GB GDDR6 SSD: AJP600M2TB 1907 GB
If you want to go far, go together.
Operating System:
Windows 11 Pro 64-bit CPU: 13th Gen Intel Core i9-13900KF RAM: 32606 MBytes MBO: Gigabyte Z790 UD AC (U3E1) GPU: ZOTAC GEFORCE RTX 4080 Trinity OC NVIDIA 16 GB GDDR6 SSD: AJP600M2TB 1907 GB
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Re: X-TRA POLLS Round #9 | In what way do you modify X4: Foundations?
Well, those thoughts were there for some time now, and you presented the perfect opportunity to get them off of my chest. But I'm happy that you're happy!

I agree with you, although for me it's not just done doing any random task. I expect to spend quality time with the game, doing the things I enjoy. The main strength of X4 is its simulated economy, the powerful station designer, the automation aspect. I can spend (and have already spent) hundreds of hours doing just that alone. The game is good, it offers long-term motivation. It doesn't need time-sinks to keep me engaged.
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Re: X-TRA POLLS Round #9 | In what way do you modify X4: Foundations?
My first Mod, which has been true of all X Games since X2 The Threat, was to increase the shot speed of weapons as I find the space bullets are generally a bit too slow. With "bullets" far more reliably hitting their targets, I then turn on to balance things like Shields, ship hulls, ship speed etc. I did my own personal mods for this in X2* and the various X3 Titles, before adopting a third-party mod for later X3 games. With X4, the excellent VRO Mod met my requirements almost perfectly, so I've not really modded X4 myself, just used mods created by others.
I do also use total conversions like the excellent Star Wars Interworlds mod for a vastly different experiences, I also really like the Reemergence Mod for it's Map changes, and the fact it works off of VROs base balance.
* Last year, I had the urge to play X2 The Threat again, purely on a whim. As such, I rebalanced weapons and shields like I had before, as well as applied a few third-party mods.
In essence, it's mostly the Combat side of things I've liked to tweak in all X Games, making combat a bit more furious. I have used mods that rebalance the Economical aspects of the game somewhat, generally just rebalancing things like Claytronics, Hull Parts and Advanced Electronics production, which (used to) traditionally be in VERY short supply, hampering the player's early building efforts, and leaving Factions unable to build ships and stations of their own as reliably. That seems to be less required than it used to be though. One more thing I've changed in the past - part of another mod - was to simply speed up station building a bit.
I do also use total conversions like the excellent Star Wars Interworlds mod for a vastly different experiences, I also really like the Reemergence Mod for it's Map changes, and the fact it works off of VROs base balance.
* Last year, I had the urge to play X2 The Threat again, purely on a whim. As such, I rebalanced weapons and shields like I had before, as well as applied a few third-party mods.
In essence, it's mostly the Combat side of things I've liked to tweak in all X Games, making combat a bit more furious. I have used mods that rebalance the Economical aspects of the game somewhat, generally just rebalancing things like Claytronics, Hull Parts and Advanced Electronics production, which (used to) traditionally be in VERY short supply, hampering the player's early building efforts, and leaving Factions unable to build ships and stations of their own as reliably. That seems to be less required than it used to be though. One more thing I've changed in the past - part of another mod - was to simply speed up station building a bit.
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Re: X-TRA POLLS Round #9 | In what way do you modify X4: Foundations?
i play with a TON of mods.
Improved bounties,
Crystal rarity and rebalance, crystal finder,
Repair laser weapons,
Improved repair laser mk2 for suit
ship mods
im trying to make my own re-balance mod but xml editing is very confusing and hard so ive kinda given up.
but i really like VRO, and i LOVEEEEEEDD/STILL love the Ship designs and graphics of the X rebirth ships, the way the plasma, particle cannons, missiles looked and worked was so cool.
im sorry to say but i even love the VFX and the sounds of those XR weapons over those in X4.
I like mods that add new weapons, or remove limits and allow me to collect rare weapons from other factions that are hard to get, and then make my own custom after market franken ships in my own shipyards.
Sometimes i get the most OP weapons i have, and instead of making a cheater ship and putting 6 of the best super guns on 1 ship, instead add mixes of different weapons and set them to different groups so i have a variety depending on what i encounter.
One of the things i like is the mod that makes M and L class turrets not as weak, it makes M turrets preform similar to damage and velocity as the Fixed M weapons do, and then scales the L turrets up to do the same to roughly where those weapons would be.
i also kinda liked the Economy, weapons and visual aesthetics of ships and stations X rebirth more than X4 (i liked that we had different cargo ships like Bulk, Container, Energy, and liquid. and the canterans even had Mixed Storage container ships that were half as good as the dedicated ones but you could take 2 different ware/cargo types instead of 1, meaning that while the volume was lower the versatility mattered more early and mid game for those ships sense you only had to invest in 1 or 2 capitals instead of 4 to cover all your bases.
that being said X4 does let you fly any ship and the customization is really good, especially with the mods that remove the mounting restrictions.
IF i could make 4 requests to ego soft it would be
1 Please add a DLC to X4 that reconnects to the X rebirth Sectors and stations, so we can get those ships and visuals/weapon graphics back, as well as play in the old systems. (the only thing i dont miss from XR is the character models XD). Im willing to pay an easy 30-45$ DLC for that but that might just be me.
2 please add jump drives back to the game for M class ships and up (even if they are an expensive upgrade) maybe make it so M class ships can only jump 3 sectors wide at a time but Ls can Jump 6 and XLs 8. I made so much money selling jump fuel in XR.
3 please add a Small Coop Multiplayer to your next game if you cant add it to X4, the make X5 have it. If i could play with upto 8-10 of my friends in a private lobby that would be ideal. I dont want a MMO or wacky MP related balance, i just want to play the X seires of games in all their modded glory with my friends and either fight or work to-gather to do things in the game.. if you could add this to X4 somehow id be willing to personally pay 60$ just for a multi player DLC.
4 i know this isnt super popular but to the haters i would just say, if you dont like it, dont use it. I miss the Stock market from X3AP.. That being said i do think it was pretty powerful and basic, so id rather see it return with some more realistic options like being taxed on profits harshly if you buy and sell stocks "at a profit" within the same ingame year. if you hold a stock longer than an ingame year (idk like 4 days of IRL gametime with seta on?) then you are taxed much less on profits. Options for Limit buys and sells, Stop losses, trailing stop orders etc etc etc. I think it makes sense that you would have to go to the teladi capital and pay a fee to get access to the stock market again, and it would be a tool of scale, its only really good if you have alot of cash and time. cool thing would be Divined stocks, that pay out every 4 times per ingame year, aka pay out a small percentage while you hold them. IRL Stock values can go crazy, companies can stop paying dividend for awhile, the could lower it, they could raise it, its rare but the company could go under. and Divined stocks take a LONG time to pay you back your initial investment like 7-12 years is the average time it takes for you to make your initial money back. but if you enable Dividen reinvestment, you get paid an amount of money per share, and you can chose to buy more of that company and grow your position generating even more money. Now every 5-8 years you can make your amount of shares and income you have with dividen stocks double. Just a thought. yes this sound powerful until you factor in time and taxes. A re-imagined stock market would be a growth vehicle thats only really good at scale.
Improved bounties,
Crystal rarity and rebalance, crystal finder,
Repair laser weapons,
Improved repair laser mk2 for suit
ship mods
im trying to make my own re-balance mod but xml editing is very confusing and hard so ive kinda given up.
but i really like VRO, and i LOVEEEEEEDD/STILL love the Ship designs and graphics of the X rebirth ships, the way the plasma, particle cannons, missiles looked and worked was so cool.
im sorry to say but i even love the VFX and the sounds of those XR weapons over those in X4.
I like mods that add new weapons, or remove limits and allow me to collect rare weapons from other factions that are hard to get, and then make my own custom after market franken ships in my own shipyards.
Sometimes i get the most OP weapons i have, and instead of making a cheater ship and putting 6 of the best super guns on 1 ship, instead add mixes of different weapons and set them to different groups so i have a variety depending on what i encounter.
One of the things i like is the mod that makes M and L class turrets not as weak, it makes M turrets preform similar to damage and velocity as the Fixed M weapons do, and then scales the L turrets up to do the same to roughly where those weapons would be.
i also kinda liked the Economy, weapons and visual aesthetics of ships and stations X rebirth more than X4 (i liked that we had different cargo ships like Bulk, Container, Energy, and liquid. and the canterans even had Mixed Storage container ships that were half as good as the dedicated ones but you could take 2 different ware/cargo types instead of 1, meaning that while the volume was lower the versatility mattered more early and mid game for those ships sense you only had to invest in 1 or 2 capitals instead of 4 to cover all your bases.
that being said X4 does let you fly any ship and the customization is really good, especially with the mods that remove the mounting restrictions.
IF i could make 4 requests to ego soft it would be
1 Please add a DLC to X4 that reconnects to the X rebirth Sectors and stations, so we can get those ships and visuals/weapon graphics back, as well as play in the old systems. (the only thing i dont miss from XR is the character models XD). Im willing to pay an easy 30-45$ DLC for that but that might just be me.
2 please add jump drives back to the game for M class ships and up (even if they are an expensive upgrade) maybe make it so M class ships can only jump 3 sectors wide at a time but Ls can Jump 6 and XLs 8. I made so much money selling jump fuel in XR.
3 please add a Small Coop Multiplayer to your next game if you cant add it to X4, the make X5 have it. If i could play with upto 8-10 of my friends in a private lobby that would be ideal. I dont want a MMO or wacky MP related balance, i just want to play the X seires of games in all their modded glory with my friends and either fight or work to-gather to do things in the game.. if you could add this to X4 somehow id be willing to personally pay 60$ just for a multi player DLC.
4 i know this isnt super popular but to the haters i would just say, if you dont like it, dont use it. I miss the Stock market from X3AP.. That being said i do think it was pretty powerful and basic, so id rather see it return with some more realistic options like being taxed on profits harshly if you buy and sell stocks "at a profit" within the same ingame year. if you hold a stock longer than an ingame year (idk like 4 days of IRL gametime with seta on?) then you are taxed much less on profits. Options for Limit buys and sells, Stop losses, trailing stop orders etc etc etc. I think it makes sense that you would have to go to the teladi capital and pay a fee to get access to the stock market again, and it would be a tool of scale, its only really good if you have alot of cash and time. cool thing would be Divined stocks, that pay out every 4 times per ingame year, aka pay out a small percentage while you hold them. IRL Stock values can go crazy, companies can stop paying dividend for awhile, the could lower it, they could raise it, its rare but the company could go under. and Divined stocks take a LONG time to pay you back your initial investment like 7-12 years is the average time it takes for you to make your initial money back. but if you enable Dividen reinvestment, you get paid an amount of money per share, and you can chose to buy more of that company and grow your position generating even more money. Now every 5-8 years you can make your amount of shares and income you have with dividen stocks double. Just a thought. yes this sound powerful until you factor in time and taxes. A re-imagined stock market would be a growth vehicle thats only really good at scale.
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- Posts: 87
- Joined: Wed, 5. Oct 05, 20:54
Re: X-TRA POLLS Round #9 | In what way do you modify X4: Foundations?
Hmm I use a few QoL mods to help with the tedium of the game. I don't get the design decisions that grindy = good.
Couple of them are model replacers (HQ_V2_O2) since I don't like that rock / field around the station. Is that cheating ? But I am modified for it.
More default paint, Crystal finder are a couple of more.
The only one I consider even slightly cheaty is LATT. But again, if leveling your npc's weren't terribly slow, this wouldn't be necessary.
As orders are locked behind npc levels, if I need let's say an auto-trader or miner, I have to wait how long ? 20 hours ?
Couple of them are model replacers (HQ_V2_O2) since I don't like that rock / field around the station. Is that cheating ? But I am modified for it.
More default paint, Crystal finder are a couple of more.
The only one I consider even slightly cheaty is LATT. But again, if leveling your npc's weren't terribly slow, this wouldn't be necessary.
As orders are locked behind npc levels, if I need let's say an auto-trader or miner, I have to wait how long ? 20 hours ?
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- Posts: 1070
- Joined: Sat, 7. Feb 04, 16:01
Re: X-TRA POLLS Round #9 | In what way do you modify X4: Foundations?
While I'm totally able to mod (use/install/troubleshoot modded games, also write small gameplay mods myself, sometimes improve existing mods, report bugs) games (e.g. Skyrim, Stardew Valley, Witcher 3, Civilization IV, Stellaris in various degrees, from hundreds of mods to just one or to tiny modifications only),
I neither do nor have the urge to mod the X-series at all, for various reasons.
Why? Mostly that what alt3rn1ty already wrote in his first answer to this topic: viewtopic.php?p=5239494#p5239494 :
- I want to be able to use official online content in whatever form it is provided (old ventures, multiverse teams, or anything else)
- I may encounter issues with the game and want to be able to report them (a. because i have the feeling my reports matter and will be read / processed, in comparison to larger game studios where bug reports only fill the trash can)
- Most of the stuff the game needs (from my point of view) either already exists, or a future patch / DLC adds this feature anyways
- Only valid for previous X iterations: Game or external tools weren't that advanced to provide easy, carefree modding experience (compare Elder Scrolls Morrowind 2002 to X2:The Threat)
I neither do nor have the urge to mod the X-series at all, for various reasons.
Why? Mostly that what alt3rn1ty already wrote in his first answer to this topic: viewtopic.php?p=5239494#p5239494 :
- I want to be able to use official online content in whatever form it is provided (old ventures, multiverse teams, or anything else)
- I may encounter issues with the game and want to be able to report them (a. because i have the feeling my reports matter and will be read / processed, in comparison to larger game studios where bug reports only fill the trash can)
- Most of the stuff the game needs (from my point of view) either already exists, or a future patch / DLC adds this feature anyways
- Only valid for previous X iterations: Game or external tools weren't that advanced to provide easy, carefree modding experience (compare Elder Scrolls Morrowind 2002 to X2:The Threat)
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- Posts: 214
- Joined: Tue, 31. May 11, 20:27
Re: X-TRA POLLS Round #9 | In what way do you modify X4: Foundations?
I selected the QoL option. But I also play Total Conversions (Interworld) when able. These two are not mutually exclusive, as SWI does include some, if not all of the QoL improvements I want.
CPU: 8-core AMD Ryzen 7 5700X (-MT MCP-); 32GiB ram; GPU: AMD Radeon RX 6600; GNU/Linux Devuan