A special message to devs- don`t get narrow-minded with gameplay mechanics.

[Socratatus]

Hi there.

I`ve been seeing people trying to whine away certain things they don`t like in the game because it doesn`t suit THEIR type of gameplay. For instance the mechanic of random abandoned ships found in game. I have heard you may be removing this completely.

I believe that would be a mistake.

Many of these loudest complainers tend to be the types who have rushed to amass huge fleets or have massive HQs, etc, etc, etc and that`s fine.

But some of us enjoy playing smaller scale, just exploring the universe with a few ships as backup, not much of an HQ built either. Perhaps a simple Mercenary life. Such things as finding the odd rare abandoned ship is a nice little event, as are randomised missions with lots of choice and/or variety.

I am worried that you are in danger of limiting the open-ended scope of the game if you only listen to those most vocal guys whose imagination is only limited to the biggest fleet and mega company they can make.

Please do not remove elements that allow for varied and alternate types of play.

Thankyou.

[Buzz2005]

if Im right that was a bug from missions, and what people were complaining is random encounters

and none of the devs said they consider removing them only players discussing how to make the encounters better

[Solflame]

To be fair, I haven't played since December of last year, but it was less "odd rare abandoned ship" and more "God damn it someone else left a ship here? Those goddamn assholes! I'm not the space trash man! Fine, I'll go take it to the scrapyar- you're giving me how much? Oh, I'm rich now."

An occasional small ship is fine, sure, but you were finding freaking expensive, loaded transports just... left. It completely unbalanced the game. Forget crystal mining: that was the best way to get money.

I haven't seen any call for less randomized missions.

[Axeface]

They arnt removing abandoned ships... they are removing the exploitative bug which covered the map in ships that the player could just take with no repercussions once they joined a trade deal. This needed to happen desperately.

[EmperorDragon]

I think you may be trying to make a mountain out of that anthill just a wee bit, I get the point you're trying to get across though.

But don't worry, if Egosoft were the sort that falls for the demands of a vocal minority, then X4 would have been an MMO or some online exclusive game today...

[radcapricorn]

But don't worry, if Egosoft were the sort that falls for the demands of a vocal minority, then X4 would have been an MMO or some online exclusive game today...

Oh, Egosoft did just fine in listening to a "vocal minority". That's why the game doesn't provide any sense of progression, economy is nonsensical, missions are painfully dumb, lore has been butchered beyond repair, ship designs are fleeting, sectors are dull, UI is atrocious, and music is annoying.

[SPiDER]

yep ver 2.0 xenon.....it was fine before for casual players...but the vocal minority...too easy make k harder.....god i wish it went back to 1.6 at least everyone ( factions ) could cope with Xenon now they need player intervention...well I wish it was still my CHOICE to get involved in that conflict in any more than a casual basis

[spankahontis]

Hi there.

I`ve been seeing people trying to whine away certain things they don`t like in the game because it doesn`t suit THEIR type of gameplay. For instance the mechanic of random abandoned ships found in game. I have heard you may be removing this completely.

I believe that would be a mistake.

Many of these loudest complainers tend to be the types who have rushed to amass huge fleets or have massive HQs, etc, etc, etc and that`s fine.

But some of us enjoy playing smaller scale, just exploring the universe with a few ships as backup, not much of an HQ built either. Perhaps a simple Mercenary life. Such things as finding the odd rare abandoned ship is a nice little event, as are randomised missions with lots of choice and/or variety.

I am worried that you are in danger of limiting the open-ended scope of the game if you only listen to those most vocal guys whose imagination is only limited to the biggest fleet and mega company they can make.

Please do not remove elements that allow for varied and alternate types of play.

Thankyou.

Play the game for 300+ hours and those few rare ships became a junkyard of abandoned Miners, Transporters and Corvettes, dozens per Sector alone.
I'm sure there is still rare and abandoned ships around space to find, but the ones they removed were mission ships that should of despawned anyway.

It wasn't, the regulars "Whining", these weren't pilots that ejected during a battle they were spawned ships that were clogging up space and a nuisance for frame rates when you left them to continue spawning with minefields around them.

I'm glad this bug has been fixed as I can only play on low settings, this fix helped.

On top of that, as someone pointed out.. You could exploit this bug, simply accept a mission where you have to fly to an abandonned ship that spawned, rather than take the ship to the employer and transfer it over for a pittance pay.. You abort the mission, whoo hoo! New ship that you could sell for a good 500k - 1 Million or keep.
It was an exploit, a cheat and quite frankly, if you want to cheat? go on the Nexus and find a mod that lets you cheat, but don't spoil it for the rest of us, yeah?

[Axeface]

Play the game for 300+ hours and those few rare ships became a junkyard of abandoned Miners, Transporters and Corvettes, dozens per Sector alone.
I'm sure there is still rare and abandoned ships around space to find, but the ones they removed were mission ships that should of despawned anyway.

Yep. Its the reason I stopped playing the game. I had no way of knowing if a ship I saw abandoned was a legitimately bailed ship or just another trade guild bug, and I had alreay claimed about 10 Ospreys. Now its fixed I might actually start the game again and see how it goes.

[spankahontis]

Play the game for 300+ hours and those few rare ships became a junkyard of abandoned Miners, Transporters and Corvettes, dozens per Sector alone.
I'm sure there is still rare and abandoned ships around space to find, but the ones they removed were mission ships that should of despawned anyway.

Yep. Its the reason I stopped playing the game. I had no way of knowing if a ship I saw abandoned was a legitimately bailed ship or just another trade guild bug, and I had alreay claimed about 10 Ospreys. Now its fixed I might actually start the game again and see how it goes.

They just kept spawning, at first I was "Whoo Hoo! Free Ship!", but after a while, you realise when you've confiscated around 10-15 of these free ships.. They just kept coming until eventually there was around 10-15 of these bastards in every sector around the highway system.
Bad enough that the more of the map you exposed the slower your game got, you had to contend with this clutter of ships that was slowing my game down.

Whining, MY ASS!!

[ezra-r]

Hi there.

I`ve been seeing people trying to whine away certain things they don`t like in the game because it doesn`t suit THEIR type of gameplay. For instance the mechanic of random abandoned ships found in game. I have heard you may be removing this completely.

I believe that would be a mistake.

Many of these loudest complainers tend to be the types who have rushed to amass huge fleets or have massive HQs, etc, etc, etc and that`s fine.

But some of us enjoy playing smaller scale, just exploring the universe with a few ships as backup, not much of an HQ built either. Perhaps a simple Mercenary life. Such things as finding the odd rare abandoned ship is a nice little event, as are randomised missions with lots of choice and/or variety.

I am worried that you are in danger of limiting the open-ended scope of the game if you only listen to those most vocal guys whose imagination is only limited to the biggest fleet and mega company they can make.

Please do not remove elements that allow for varied and alternate types of play.

Thankyou.

Something more spot on, a few ships like in previous games can make sense, but the actual mechanic spews free ships with little to no effort which can destroy the gameplay (too easy = boring).

Perhaps not removing, but big adjustments are in order. I agree with the concept of your comments though.

[radcapricorn]

Perhaps not removing, but big adjustments are in order.

Just make the spawn spots for the few "legitimately" free ships be random, like for some ships in AP. Or heck, bring back the cat in the bag missions of Rebirth, where you could buy a ship spawn (or an ambush).

EDIT: oh, and... remove the freaking free corvette conveniently spawned for the micro-plot. Not only does it murder progression, it makes no sense whatsoever when first you're asked to personally acquire a sacrificial ship, but later, when "fast combat ship is preferable", you're just given one on a platter.

[spankahontis]

Perhaps not removing, but big adjustments are in order.

Just make the spawn spots for the few "legitimately" free ships be random, like for some ships in AP. Or heck, bring back the cat in the bag missions of Rebirth, where you could buy a ship spawn (or an ambush).

EDIT: oh, and... remove the freaking free corvette conveniently spawned for the micro-plot. Not only does it murder progression, it makes no sense whatsoever when first you're asked to personally acquire a sacrificial ship, but later, when "fast combat ship is preferable", you're just given one on a platter.

Corvette's spawned all over the network, Osprey's and Minotaur's especially.. Confiscated a dozen of these ships only for more to mysteriously appear near the jump gates.

Good to find a free ship every now and then, maybe spawn one and rather than there being mines you had a small battlesite with destroyed ships and a partially damaged ship that has been abandoned, you can think? "It's life support failed? I can fix it up and claim it?", but it has to be rare, like 3 of these in total, when you claim one another will spawn somewhere totally random in another part of the universe.
But can't have it to the point of saturation, never needed to buy a ship or steal one cause they were already there for me to hack and confiscate.

[radcapricorn]

EDIT: oh, and... remove the freaking free corvette conveniently spawned for the micro-plot. Not only does it murder progression, it makes no sense whatsoever when first you're asked to personally acquire a sacrificial ship, but later, when "fast combat ship is preferable", you're just given one on a platter.

Corvette's spawned all over the network, Osprey's and Minotaur's especially.. Confiscated a dozen of these ships only for more to mysteriously appear near the jump gates.

These should no longer be a problem with 2.50. What I meant was this obnoxious inconsistency in the HQ plot, where at first it's your problem to procure a ship, yet in the next stage you're freely given an expensive (if playing plot right from the start) craft.

Good to find a free ship every now and then, maybe spawn one...

Yup, they could do it as part of that (currently) weird encounters mechanic.

[spankahontis]

Yup, they could do it as part of that (currently) weird encounters mechanic.

Would make more sense, also incentivise going further into the void of space to explore, maybe find one that's been damaged that you can repair and return to friendly space.

[Hairless-Ape]

Wow, that has to the the single most tactless disrespectful title for a post I've ever seen.

[CBJ]

It seems fine to me. So let's stay on-topic.