Need some pointers....

[paulmapp8306]

Im struggling to get into this game. I picked it up as Im back on PC gaming after about 20 years. I have a HOTAS and wanted to use it. Dont seem to be many (if any) flight sims around (decent ones), and Id played Elite on PS4.

I thought about picking Elite up for PC but, 1st Id be starting from scratch again (and when you've seen the universe thats a slog) and THB, its a bid grind. Im not really an explorer or Miner. I like combat and trading. The trrading system in Elite isnt great (and Ive heard much better things about X4) and while the combat is decent, its all the same "finds an asteroid field and kill pirates". Thought X4 might be a better option.

There are a few things that totally bug me.

1. I hate the fact I cant just fly between sectors - that I hity a wall and bounce back at the edges.
2. I hate the fact its 2d..... Its space FFS. Yes you can fly in 3 for battle, BUT everything in the game is on the same plane (and the game actually tries to put you in that place unless you turn auto roll off) - and the sectors are 2D not a 3D bubble type of space. This just breaks the whole "space" immersion for me.

HOWEVER, accepting those as part of the game and enjoying for what it is might still be possible, if only I could work out WTF to do lol. If killed the odd pirate raider, If used a super highway, Ive wondered around stations. Ive yet to find a single mission, or make any money at all ()bar a little for those said pirates). I have several hours logged and Im just not enjoying it, or getting anywhere. I need a kick start to actually get into this game.

So folks - hit me up with a way in, what I should be looking to do/try etc to start getting into tit.

Thanks.

[Falcrack]

1. I hate the fact I cant just fly between sectors - that I hity a wall and bounce back at the edges.
2. I hate the fact its 2d..... Its space FFS. Yes you can fly in 3 for battle, BUT everything in the game is on the same plane (and the game actually tries to put you in that place unless you turn auto roll off) - and the sectors are 2D not a 3D bubble type of space. This just breaks the whole "space" immersion for me.

1. You are not hitting a wall and bouncing back, the sector map is expanding as you reach the edges. I've not personally managed to fly between sectors, but you can fly closer to planets. It just takes a massively long time, even using travel drive.
2. I agree I would like to see more utilization of 3D space, especially with regards to giving waypoints and other commands along the Y-axis (up and down). The game is fully 3D, but the sector design is mostly laid out in a 2D manner, for gameplay reasons. You could place your own stations well above or below the plane though. Nothing stopping you from flying in any direction.

If you want to start making money, you could do crystal mining. Fly up to asteroids, looking for little blinking lights. Those will be colored crystals. Shoot them with your laser, and use the container magnet to suck in the little gems. Fly to any station, go to the station trader, and sell those crystals for money (they will be in your personal inventory, not cargo space on the ship).

For missions, as you are flying around, look at the map. Stations with yellow icons will have missions. Right click on those icons to see mission descriptions.

For the player HQ plot, turn on scan mode for your ship (purple border around cockpit) and fly around some stations, looking for little red sparkly signals. Fly up really close, and you'll get a radio message from an alien asking for some help with an experiment, then just follow what he asks.

[radcapricorn]

Missions appear as yellow icons on top of stations on the map. Usually when there's mission on a nearby station, you'll also hear a distinct sound effect even before you approach to 40km (you need to have the station within sensor range for the icon to appear). What you can also do, if you already have some stations in sector discovered, is target them (for example, via map). If they have any mission, they'll have an extra icon on their target box in the HUD. Lastly, any missions you may have "missed" the icon for are accumulated in your mission list - on the map screen there are tabs for currently available missions.

There are also "hidden" missions. To get these you'd have to switch to short range scan mode and fly around a station, looking for sparks. When you fly really close to those sparks, you'll get a person contacting you, offering some kind of "shady" mission. The only non-"shady" one would be the very first such spark mission that you get.

As for the rest on what to do, well, it's a sandbox, so there isn't any particular way to go. Just make goals for yourself. Since you're into combat, that could be getting a better bigger ship, or a small wing/fleet to guard gates leading into Xenon territory, or maybe even bringing the fight to the Xenon. There are "war" missions that you can sign up for. They're only available in certain sectors, but you don't need to look for icons. You'll see them in the mission list once you enter the sector. In Argon vs. Xenon war you're quite often sent into hostile territory, even if not directly asked to fight.

Of course, one of the super-late-game goals could be getting a full economy running, going to war against everyone, and conquering every single sector in the universe

[paulmapp8306]

OK - thats a start. Ill have a fly ad play.

[paulmapp8306]

Amy more help here. I found one of the sparkly data leak things - where I can here is saying "hello can anyone here me, I need help" - BUT I cant do anything with it. Im not getting prompted to press "F" (that Ive read I should) - I cant interact with it, or talk to it, or accept anything. How do I go forwards here?

[radcapricorn]

You need to get closer to it first. Like, really up close and personal. You'll hear a sound effect, and in the bottom left monitor it'll say "Modulating audio signal...". After that, if you don't move away (and so lose the signal), you'll get the interaction prompt.

[Nort The Fragrent]

Starting any of the X games has been tedious, but this X4 gets you going a lot faster. Crystals are a good way to get loot early, but it too is tedious. Trading too is a slog to begin with. As for Space, there is a lot of it in 3D, most is completely empty, aside from random red’s who you can shoot if you wish. But that soon gets more than tedious. Do the grind and get some miners going, trading for cash. Then go out for a fight. If its fighting you want consider carefully whom you take on, as it will halt any progress with that faction. And you will probably be snuffed out very quickly.
Think about getting a good solid slab of cash first and some ships, before you go out blazing. That way you will last longer, and my be survive.

You can eventualy build your stations, anywhere, some of mine are way out above and below the plane. This keeps the reds away as they tend to fly on the 2D plane.

X4 is not just a shoot em up game, you have to think, strategise, form your support base of cash, ships etc. then with good planing you can begin your mayhem.

[RodentofDoom]

Amy more help here. I found one of the sparkly data leak things - where I can here is saying "hello can anyone here me, I need help" - BUT I cant do anything with it. Im not getting prompted to press "F" (that Ive read I should) - I cant interact with it, or talk to it, or accept anything. How do I go forwards here?

Shift + 2

[AquilaRossa]

I played the old X3R and TC a lot, but quit for ten years until several weeks ago when i bought X4. I thought I would be able to jump straight in and play. Nope. I was lost and sitting there in my Elite wondering what to do. I played some of the tutorial missions and watched some youtube help videos. It was a steep learning curve. My joystick is just a Logitech Extreme 3D pro. I don't use it because I could not configure it back when I was learning the game. I just use the mouse.

I thought the same about everything being on a 2D plain, but it makes sense because that is how objects in space tend to orbit larger objects. On the elliptical plane, just like the rings around Saturn or the asteroid belt around the Sun. It's 3D but that plain makes it feel 2D. But then you work out how to kill a K and make use of that space above the elliptical plane.

1000 hours in now and I have still not worked out missiles and torpedos completely. What Mk1 and Mk2 is etc. Can't gets ships to fire them at stations. I think lots of devs might be Linux geek types that prefer typing command lines to mouse clicks etc. They get off on stuff being harder than it has to be.

I now know how to play the game and make a zillion credits to build everything my faction needs, but I still do one thing especially when starting a fresh game. i explorer the sectors and find where the factories are etc. That way i can plan where to build and traders have customers etc. Now I do a mix of exploring myself and send a scout pilot on waypoints to do the rest. There is is lots of money in contraband recovered from Xenon drops once you discover where to sell it. More than enough to build factories.

Most people take the empire building space tycoon route. My approach is the opposite. Use my industrial complexes to make the space capitalist factons obsolete and have a self sufficient chain of communities that does not war over resources.

[taztaz502]

I wouldn't bother using HOTAS on X4 in all honesty you'll constantly be swinging back to keyboard to run your empire.

Both games are great for their different reasons so i honestly wouldn't compare them, If you're wanting a super immersive experience go with elite (Had a lot of pretty cool updates, with more on the horizon including a new player start guide so perfect time to pick it up again)

If you want to run your own empire, or just run a business in an universe with real simulated economies and wage war on the universe/conquer it all then X4 is the game to play.

I just wish they both had a baby, Add X4s features into Elite dangerous you've got a game that would last forever