Frequency of Mini DLC

[thedavid]

I was thinking about the Mini DLC and I was hoping that it might mean that we get content from Egosoft more frequently.

I might be wrong but it seems to me that we get major updates to X4 about two or three times a year with improvements and bug fixes. We also get a major DLC about once a year.

I am liking the Hyperion but if I have to wait another year for the next mini DLC then I will probably want more than just one ship.

If Egosoft can be efficient and reuse mechanics that are already in the game to roll out ships and other small goodies in Mini DLC the I would hope that could happen every three or four months.

Here's one idea. Install new mini. Player gets an email from Boso that new research is available. Do the research. Get the new ship blueprint. For those that don't have their own wharf and ship yard maybe there is a one time use coupon to order one copy of the ship from any shipyard the player is friendly with. Or maybe Boso does shinanigans with the rock in the HQ to somehow generate only one copy of the ship so that it just pops into existence but you can only do that once and all the rest have to be built.

Or another idea, similar to how there is a guy selling a ship during the engine modifications research, have a guy on the HQ who sells one off ships that come from DLC. You can reuse that guy over and over.

Anyway, I would hope that we could get a lot of cool stuff from Mini DLCs. If they roll out at the right frequency, not too fast or too slowly, then I would be behind it. I like the game and I want to support the developers.

[Alan Phipps]

The Hyperion 'mini DLC' announcement does say that the devs do hope to release content mini-DLCs that will help to fund development alongside the free game updates that fix things and expand/improve base gameplay. I guess you can expect more than one per year but the frequency will depend more upon bug-fixing and expansion/improvement development progress (including private and public beta testing) than on a rigid schedule. (A common dev quote is "It will be ready when it's ready".) Just my personal opinion.

[adeine]

If Egosoft can be efficient and reuse mechanics that are already in the game to roll out ships and other small goodies in Mini DLC the I would hope that could happen every three or four months.

Here's one idea. Install new mini. Player gets an email from Boso that new research is available. Do the research. Get the new ship blueprint. For those that don't have their own wharf and ship yard maybe there is a one time use coupon to order one copy of the ship from any shipyard the player is friendly with. Or maybe Boso does shinanigans with the rock in the HQ to somehow generate only one copy of the ship so that it just pops into existence but you can only do that once and all the rest have to be built.

Or another idea, similar to how there is a guy selling a ship during the engine modifications research, have a guy on the HQ who sells one off ships that come from DLC. You can reuse that guy over and over.

Further compromising the integrity of the open universe (especially through paid content) would be a bad move in my opinion. Any new content should be seamlessly integrated into the universe and earned through normal gameplay.

The idea re: mini DLC as it was originally presented was to tide over the time while work is mainly on the base version of the game (7.x). It is/was not meant to be a new normal where ships and such are sold piecemeal for a third to half the cost of a full expansion. Hopefully once Egosoft is ready to move on with regular expansions or X5 we can return to the usual release cadence and quality/price of releases.

[Alan Phipps]

@ adeine: Your second paragraph rather contradicts what the devs now say, as I reported above. I do agree with some of your first paragraph whereby any new mini-DLC asset content such as ships etc would certainly be integrated and tested for use in base gameplay before release - as happened with the Hyperion. It's no different a case than the special legacy ship designs released into base gameplay by the Timelines full DLC.

[adeine]

@ adeine: Your second paragraph rather contradicts what the devs now say, as I reported above. I do agree with some of your first paragraph whereby any new mini-DLC asset content such as ships etc would certainly be integrated and tested for use in base gameplay before release - as happened with the Hyperion. It's no different a case than the special legacy ship designs released into base gameplay by the Timelines full DLC.

Is this on discord, or where are they saying this? Everything I remember seeing was specific to the 2025 roadmap (link).

The new exploration updates certainly would lend themselves to a full-fledged paid expansion, and I hope this is the way they decide to go. If mini-DLCs a la Hyperion are the new normal, it won't be long before the people ranting about Egosoft being as bad as Paradox will actually have a point.

[vvvvvvvv]

@ adeine: Your second paragraph rather contradicts what the devs now say, as I reported above. I do agree with some of your first paragraph whereby any new mini-DLC asset content such as ships etc would certainly be integrated and tested for use in base gameplay before release - as happened with the Hyperion. It's no different a case than the special legacy ship designs released into base gameplay by the Timelines full DLC.

I didn't exactly enjoy the way Hyperion was made and would pretty much prefer that "guy in a bar" approach OP outlined. The story was so short and hurried, it could just be removed.

With many small DLCs there's risk walking path of Paradox. Which is also not a good thing.

Instead of 3-5 sectors per purchase it would also be better to have larger procedural universe sectors. Maybe exploration will address that. Then again, maybe not.

[Alan Phipps]

@ adeine: It's from the Hyperion Pack Announcement thread:

"Our next DLC for X4: Foundations will be titled X4: Hyperion Pack and, as previously mentioned in our roadmap news, it will be "more compact than previous X4 expansions."
...
Depending on the success of this first "Mini DLC", we plan to follow up with similarly sized DLCs to accompany future free base game updates. As outlined in our roadmap news, our primary focus in 2025 is on delivering consistent and impactful improvements to the base game. As in the past, these base game updates will be free for all existing X4 players, while purchases of the Mini DLC, such as the X4: Hyperion Pack, will support ongoing development."