A new player's impressions and feedback.

[Warspite]

As the title suggests I, a new player who picked up the game relatively recently, want to give feedback to the devs by telling what and how I experienced X4, starting with the store page itself on steam:
I added this game to my wishlist and when it got on a big sale, I'd look at the page... and see the price with all the DLC is still quite large. Now that I actually know how much they add, I'd like a little bit of text on the store page of the main game, giving a short description on what they offer for the price (a loose example by me "Cradle of Humanity, Split Vendetta and Kingdom End are major expansions, while the Hyperion and Envoy pack are meant to be smaller additions"). I don't like having to read up/ watch a video on the DLC.
While some may advise players to just buy the base game first, then add DLC later, I tried that quite frequently and got burned a few times too many with other titles.

While the game was installing, I looked at a few beginners' guides, which generally recommended me to start playing as "the young gun", talking about things like exploration, sticking to easy missions, and "generating passive income" (which did not sound like much of a good thing to me, but rather "optimizing the fun out of the game").

On to the next point, the first few hours right after the initial installation:
The menus in-game directed me to play the basic tutorials, which I then played, failing the one on travel mode because I was fiddling too much with the different modes, not knowing that entering long-range-scan cancels other active modes and the tutorial not allowing me to start the travel mode again.
Was a bit awkward, but not too bad.
Then, the game told me to play timelines, which didn't sound all that interesting (why would I want to play a linear mission-mode in my big universe-simulation?),
but I went for the first mission anyway, which I unsurprisingly failed (what do you mean I'm not some super hotshot ace after being on the controls for a few minutes?).
Needless to say, I lost interest in timelines pretty quickly.
Tried open universe instead with "the young gun".
Restarted several times, due to mission failures, including but not limited to:
Messing the ride of the Man who missed his ride,
Not knowing how close to a Friend/Foe mine was too close,
Scanning a signal leak instead of fixing it,
The Pulse Laser Mk1 missing the criminal at just shy under 3km and the Argons not "tolerating my actions" to the point of calling security.
And finally picking a fight with a few Xenon too many in an Elite Vanguard.
(Sidenote, even quicksaves feel slow, because unlike most other games there's no indicator of progress or that the game is still going, something like that would at least reduce "perceived" loading time).

During what is as of yet my "final" Young Gun run, I tried my best to rid myself of the Elite Vanguard in exchange for sth. strictly superior, and I saw the ANT had the Pulsar, the fighter with the most weapon slots (thanks to JK Ninja's excellent if mildly outdated video on fighter craft) and in comparison to the Elite Vanguards crummy single Mk1 Pulse Laser I immediately tried my best to grind Reputation with them.
After I had the money and Rep I bought the thing with 6 Shard Batteries, (a judgement made via JK Ninja's excellent if outdated guide again).
I found that loadout to work kinda... terrible. While closing to optimal battery range was not hard at all keeping the target there was really awkward, because with my engine choice and the Pulsar's Mix of high acceleration but low speed, I never could "match" my opponents speed. I regretted that purchase and traded for an Eclipse after even more rep grinding.
(Sidenote, I find it kinda awkward how the ANT don't share the Argons' unique Ion weapon, but have none of their own.)
Then, I wanted to see more about the Terrans, because they looked kinda interesting. Finding them was a bit difficult due to the fact they are a bit away from the others, but I kinda found them, and I triggered a few cutscenes, which I followed like a trail to Getsu Fune and then into Savage Spur 1. I managed to avoid the Xenon and looked to find if maybe there was a connection to sol, and of course there was nothing.

This prompted me to look around, and doing another run as the Terran Cadet to find places, then returning to the already ongoing Young Gun and proceeding... and my rep was terribly low. Good thing I already knew that you can shoot criminal traffic to get rep, or it would've taken far too long. I kept grinding and then got the mission you do at the start of the Terran Cadet, up until Obelisk showed up and you get to meet Delilah. Despite having over +20 relations I still couldn't proceed, so I wrote that off and instead headed to Heretics end, the PHQ spawned... and I was kinda stumped. Trying to do research told me the phq lacks storage capacity, so I now had to jump into base-building, which was fairly intuitive, until the "assigning a builder" part (what do you mean hiring a guy to build a base segment doesn't mean they're in my service forever? Why do you not stay and build everything else?).

Overall, I gave up on this Young Gun Run, instead playing through with the Terran cadet up until and including "the smoking gun". That one is still ongoing.

Now I'll post some general impressions: Argon and Terran feel very awkward in terms of balancing. At least from my perspective, Argon are supposed to be a loosely generalist Faction, that is only "stronger" in areas that other factions tend to sacrifice in favor of their strengths, yet their M-ships are kinda terrible.
Terran on the other hand are meant to be the "premium" faction, with their stuff being much more expensive than others, but in return you're supposed to get weapons and craft that are at worst average, with unique strengths as well. For their ships that's generally true... but not for their turrets. Their main batteries are already good enough at capital killing, so their turrets generally are used only as Point Defense to counter small craft and for that there is no real competition, pulse turrets are the best, no contest, due to the Beams lacking damage and bolts being terrible at hitting S ships.

[Blaze1st]

I think most players write off their first few starts while learning the game, I know I did several times. In fact it was probably in my Library for several years before I really got my teeth stuck in with my current game which is at 20 days play time.

Without wanting to spoiler too much you almost got to Sol sectors when you were in Savage Spur I but note that Savage Spur I & II are only connected one way (towards the Terrans). Terrans share border initially with ANT, BOR and PIO so hopefully that helps you figure out what direction they are in.

As general advice, one of the earliest things I always do is find all the sector connections. Start with just going round the central highway, then work outwards from there.

[Warspite]

Without wanting to spoiler too much you almost got to Sol sectors when you were in Savage Spur I but note that Savage Spur I & II are only connected one way (towards the Terrans). Terrans share border initially with ANT, BOR and PIO so hopefully that helps you figure out what direction they are in.

Later on I found that out myself too, by doing the Terran Cadet start and exploring from there, then returning to the Young Gun that was still in progress.

[BitByte]

You can buy or capture construction vessel which you can then order to move build site to work.
But at the begining when you don't have so much credits nor reputation hiring 1 from other faction is cheaper solution.
Construction ship will work with your station as long as there's construction work to do and then it leaves to find next jobs.

I have 17 days old game ongoing and own 10+ construction ships spread around the galaxy map so they can work with my own projects when need.
For construction missions from NPCs I usually hire 3rd party ship to work. Also if I plan construction to dangerous place (like hostile sector) I also use NPC builders as I don't want risk my own ships there.

[GCU Grey Area]

pulse turrets are the best, no contest, due to the Beams lacking damage...

There was a time when I shared that opinion, however what beam turrets lack in damage they make up for with near perfect accuracy. All a beam turret needs to do is hit a target more than 3x as often as a pulse turret & it's doing more damage overall. I often find this to be the case, although it does depend on the target in question - the smaller, faster & more manoeuvrable a target is the better beam turrets perform relative to other options.

[Scoob]

Quite a steep learning curve if X4 is your first X game. I basically grew up (well, not really lol) with X games, so each game as been a little jump. Currently, I've had seven years of playing X4. You are entering the game at a good time though, it's very mature now, lots of updates, fixes, tweaks and DLC of course. There were many things I "learnt" back in the early days, that formed a particular habit / way of playing that were actually fixed / patched out of the game later. I occasionally still learn new things as a result.

X4 is one of those games where you'll do stuff, then learn a better way to have done a thing many hours later. I've built up such chaotic empires over the years lol.

These days I try to focus a bit more. Early-game, explore a bit, take a mission if I think I can do it. Perhaps find some ownerless ships that I of course had absolutely nothing to do with making ownerless, officer to build up my fleet or just make credits. I then often go a mining route. Scouting around to see what's in demand in terms of raw resources, and attempt to fill that gap. This usually results in my first station being some type of mining hub. Game starts are different for everyone those, based on the seed. Even with the same starting seed, games can look different after a few days. So, advice to say "Set up a mining operation here, to supply these stations" isn't good advice for everyone. Those rich resource sectors will be the same, but stations buying said resources will likely differ.

Going raw resources is good. You might start with a single auto-miner, gathering say Ore. Which you then have to manually order to sell when full, as the buying station is in another sector and the Pilot isn't high enough level to do this for themselves. A little bit of micro-management every few minutes, for an otherwise passive income source. Eventually, you might build a very basic station - landing pad an solid storage - and have your miners deliver there, while other miners are assigned to sell - benefiting from the station manager's range. Ultimately, you might saturate the local markets for raw resources. At this point, you could build other mining "hubs" elsewhere, to exploit other markets. Or have ships move resources from the main mining hub, to secondary ones for local sale. Ultimately, this money spinner might be what feeds your own economy. Feeding in to your own stations to producing higher tier goods - either for sale or to feed into the next tier of your own production.

For me, my current game is around three days old. I have a "home" sector I took over. Raw resources are delivered to a "Warehouse" station, this feeds into a Tier 1, Tier 2 then Tier 3 production station. Products from these ultimately feed in to my very own shipyard, producing all the ships I use. It's epic. I also have a secondary production line for Food and Medical supplies, so I can keep the workforce fed and medicated to enhance my production even more.

X4 is pretty much unique in terms of progression in a space sim. Starting out in that one single ship, to running an empire rivalling the other factions, and fielding fleets that make the Xenon Ctrl+Alt+Del lol.

After you're comfortable with the basic game, you might perhaps want to get the DLCs - there are often offers, I've bought everything right away, but then I'm a total fanboy lol. After that, there are MODS, some truly amazing mods. Like X but more? The ReEmergence Mod changes the map, adds 80+ new sectors, new ships rebalances combat and the economy. Amazing. I'm playing it currently. Like Star Wars? The Star Wars Interworlds mod is a total conversion. It's X, but it's Star Wars. Amazing. Not updated for the current game version yet, but soon hopefully.

Decent community here, plenty happy to answer any questions you might have. You have so much stuff to explore, I'm sorta envious!

[quodus]

One thing I found helpful and is useful which i learned later is to spend a bit of time with the X4 station calculator, and the Station design simulator . Just create some really basic early station designs. Hull parts, silicon Wafers, etc

You are going to need those at some point and a rough idea of the cost of building them and the Modules you need to aquire. I cant stress enough not to go too elaborate too soon as these things and different modules if not from the same faction that you have a good rep with can be a pain to "Source".

Crystal mining can be a good way to earn a few credits early game and helps upgrade your ship to some thing that might be a little less "Dangerous" to be in . Selling / mining Nvidium also can be quite profitable.

Explore the universe and the Egosoft forum , you may find yourself a hidden ship or too out there , that can make the early game a little less of a grind

[adeine]

Then, I wanted to see more about the Terrans, because they looked kinda interesting. Finding them was a bit difficult due to the fact they are a bit away from the others, but I kinda found them, and I triggered a few cutscenes, which I followed like a trail to Getsu Fune and then into Savage Spur 1. I managed to avoid the Xenon and looked to find if maybe there was a connection to sol, and of course there was nothing.

You can ask people for directions to their faction representative which is usually a core sector of the faction. This usually works provided they don't hate you (or don't currently have one, in which case they will randomly send you to another faction).

Just comm any ship of the faction and you should have the option.

Trade is a great way to passively improve your reputation, so if you get some miners or trade vessels going you can have your employees not only make money but improve your rep as you do other things.