I have been focused on playing unmodified since I tried playing the Star Wars mod about 3 years ago.
Currently thinking about modding out Microsoft and modding in Hoover for obvious reasons!!!
Also thinking about modding out VIG from all sectors but their own
I use Xenon Hell + every avaialbe xenon mod which buffs the xenon in any way for more challenge or at least to make sure the xenon are not wiped out after 16 hours by other factions.
I tried out a few mods until 4.0 landed.
After that I've remained vanilla largely help with beta testing.
There may be an expectation to remain vanilla.
I would like to return to a modded state of gameplay so I can feel I've moved towards my goals during my short sessions as well as my long sessions.
I mostly use mods that reduce the tedium - stuff like collecting boxes floating in space or shooting down lockbox locks gives me absolutely no pleasure.
I also have mods that buff the spacesuit's propulsion as the game forces player to use it often (e.g. Torus Aeternum), but the spacesuit is painfully slow. I want to enjoy the game, not endure it.
Randomizing ship mod effectivenes is also a bad design choice in my view, it makes absolutely no sense and only adds grind, so I have a mod for that.
Ship reverse engineering is a feature that many players deem necessary in their playthroughs and I tend to agree with that, so I've downloaded a mod to allow this - but to be frank, as it's probably my fourth playthrough, I have just started a custom gamestart and gave myself all blueprints except for the ship construction and maintenance, as I dislike the way blueprints work in this game (by that I mean the system forces you to be friends with everyone). X3FL had the most interesting way of approaching this issue, shame it's not replicated in some way in X4.
I also use faster crew leveling - the way crew progression works in vanilla may be OK for most, but I perceive it as too slow, given that this is just a video game I play few times a week, and not my job. There's just not enough hours in a day to justify the tempo in which you are supposed to train your pilots, especially given how suicidal they are most of the time.
Better Kill Credit is a fun little mod that helps you earn money a bit faster while helping out existing factions.
I also use QoL features like longer scan mode range, data leak detection range, better target information.
All in all I just play the game, and when there is an aspect of it I don't like too much, I try to find a mod that remediates that.
It would be very cool if there was a bigger emphasis on quality of life in upcoming versions of the game or an ability to customize ones game outside of just the starting conditions for the player.
The saddest part of using mods is that developers outright refuse to treat modified games as valid for reporting bugs, Egosoft theoretically supports modding, but not really.
It appears, however, that there is a big group of vanilla players, so hopefully there's always enough feedback.
I always start a vanilla game but then halfway through take a break and do an overhaul like star war. I just like the idea of playing in different universes since I've been playing in the X universe since the original.
The only time I play vanilla is after the initial release while I'm waiting for mods to come out. I also hate the idea of not being able to get things in my game because I use mods.
Brute force and ignorance solves all problems, just not very efficiently.
If brute force isn't working, then you aren't using enough.
Damn, I missed out on several good surveys here. Blast it.
1. Please do more on NPC civilian/uniform variety, and bio customisations, Devs.
2. Stations need sirens/warnings when enemy is close in numbers or Station in danger of destruction (in Sandbox).
Yes, for immersion. Thankyou ahead of time. (Edit: This is actually happening!!!)
"No problem can withstand the assault of sustained thinking." "Before acting 'out of the box', consider why the box was there in the first place."