Accidental Stowaway

[SirDeathwalker]

While wandering around a station (new start, haven't even boarded my own first ship), I walked onto another ship to talk to the pilot. While there, the ship undocked and flew away, with me inside, standing behind the pilot. With no options except to enter the spacesuit (by the time i noticed that, I was already through at least 1 jump gate). The ship eventually landed on a carrier, but now I am stuck there, with no departing ships and no way to get back to my own ( and no way to call one to come get me.)

They said it's an open world, but sheesh... Important safety tip: don't cross the streams... i mean don't board random ships (unless you like very long space walks home).

Too bad there's not a "take me back" command (even a cheat command would have worked)

I suppose that was one way to explore the sector......

(I wonder if the Dev's thought of that scenario)

[Imperial Good]

(I wonder if the Dev's thought of that scenario)

They most certainly did. There are a lot of mechanics for such a situation.

• Call a ship of yours to pick you up. Specifically order it to dock at your location. All ships you build or claim require a captain and hence can be ordered around remotely from map view. The only exceptions to this is the starting ship which usually comes without a captain (hire anyone ASAP to be one), and ships that the player explicitly fires the captain from without replacing them.
• Spoiler

  Show

  Upon completing the Boron Scientist mission chain one is given the ability to research technologies. One of the technology chains is personal teleporter. Once progressed high enough one can teleport to any player owned property and even NPC property with sufficient reputation from anywhere in the universe. Simply teleport back to your ship.
• If the mistake is observed fast enough, one can space walk back to the station. Note that one is limited to ~30 minutes of space walk time before running out of air, and currently there is no gauge graphic to show how much air remains. If the distance is reasonable and the player reacts fast enough they can make it back without much hassle.
• Reload/restart a save before making the mistake. If you just started and forgot to hire a captain for your starting ship this is usually the best option.
• Order a ship to taxi you. Apparently the developers want such a feature, but I am not sure if they have implemented it yet. It may only work from stations but hopefully one can space walk to the nearest station to do this.

[wildragon55]

Start a new game.

[CBJ]

We did indeed think of it (it happened to me during development), and that's why the option exists to call one of your ships to your current location to pick you up.

[SirDeathwalker]

I couldn't figure out how to call my ship

Though, glad to see I wasn't the only accidental stowaway

it was certainly a surreal experience being stuck behind the pilot and they're all honey badger (don't care)

Maybe include an interaction like "what are you doing here?, get off my ship"

or possibly, kill the current captain and steal the ship... (jettison the body in deep space.... ...station news announcement of a dead body found floating in space without a space suit)

[CBJ]

The pilot I hitched a lift with turned out to be on patrol, and I had to stand behind him while he fought a bunch of Xenon. When he got down to 20% hull I got a bit nervous, but luckily he survived and went back to his carrier for repairs, giving me a chance to get off!

[SirDeathwalker]

My pilot (Elin Yater) went several Jumps away, landed on some carrier that didn't seem to be going anywhere. I got out, talked to several people, (many who wouldn't help me) and the other ships docked didn't go anywhere (They just sat in their cockpit). After she landed, no one departed the carrier. But then, I didn't stay in game for hours, so eventually someone might depart.... maybe... hopefully.... So much for my first game.....

I wonder what would happen if I "boarded" one of the venture ships and they "went home"? Would I be trapped in someone else's game?
Interesting and terrifying concept.....

[Falcrack]

As long as you own at least one ship, and you have hired at least a captain for that one ship, you need never fear the situation of being permanently stranded.

[Imperial Good]

I wonder what would happen if I "boarded" one of the venture ships and they "went home"? Would I be trapped in someone else's game?

Probably instant game over. Since the ship would be destroyed/removed, hence killing the player character in the process. Similar to if one stays on a dock while it is being deconstructed.

[SirDeathwalker]

As long as you own at least one ship, and you have hired at least a captain for that one ship, you need never fear the situation of being permanently stranded.

As stated, I hadn't gotten that far, had not hired any captain for my first ship (didn't even know that was an option), had not even boarded my first ship. I had started exploring the station first, getting stuck almost immediately, and didn't figure out the spacesuit thing until after the ship I was on was through at least 1 jump gate, first game ever, first start ever in X4. The pilot was the first I encountered that didn't tell me "I'm not helping you". Still not sure how to find the Representative named (cannot find any sort of indicator of where to go after starting new, they are not on the initial station I have found, though everyone names the same person...)

[Falcrack]

You can hire any random dude on any station for like 1500 credits. Assign them as a captain to your starter ship, it is highly useful to have this.

[willat]

I'm still early in the game, I have two drill ships. Now, I bought a trade ship. Problem is, auto trading requires three stars, they gave me a Captain with just under three stars. So I fired him. I figured I'd just hire a 3 star Captain. Now, I am yet to see even a 1 star pilot anywhere. So, I am stuck with this ship and no Captain. Any ideas?

[Alan Phipps]

@ willat: That's not really anything to do with the topic of this thread. You would be better off reading threads such as this.

[Scarletian]

The pilot I hitched a lift with turned out to be on patrol, and I had to stand behind him while he fought a bunch of Xenon. When he got down to 20% hull I got a bit nervous, but luckily he survived and went back to his carrier for repairs, giving me a chance to get off!

That's hilarious. I would have pooped in my pants.

[willat]

@ willat: That's not really anything to do with the topic of this thread. You would be better off reading threads such as this.

I also had a similar occurrence. I walked on to a ship to check it out, and it took off! I ejected pretty quickly, but it still took me a good 20 minutes to get back to the station.

[Buzz2005]

@ willat: That's not really anything to do with the topic of this thread. You would be better off reading threads such as this.

I also had a similar occurrence. I walked on to a ship to check it out, and it took off! I ejected pretty quickly, but it still took me a good 20 minutes to get back to the station.

another 10 minutes and you would be dead, spacesuit runs out of oxygen

[Waltz99]

I been stuck in game in a different way.

As soon you start a new game the spawning faction you are in starts to build massive ships.
This with the result my starter ship went in internal storage and had to wait until the builds where done.
Nice start if you can't do a thing and have to wait

[Alan Phipps]

@ Waltz99: If you use Shift-D you can then call your ship up from storage and either enter it while still leaving storage (and make an early station exit) or wait for it to quickly reappear at a dock and then enter it normally.

Again though, I'm not sure that has much to do with the thread topic of finding yourself an unwilling stowaway.

[Havocsquad]

As stated, I hadn't gotten that far, had not hired any captain for my first ship (didn't even know that was an option), had not even boarded my first ship. I had started exploring the station first, getting stuck almost immediately, and didn't figure out the spacesuit thing until after the ship I was on was through at least 1 jump gate, first game ever, first start ever in X4. The pilot was the first I encountered that didn't tell me "I'm not helping you". Still not sure how to find the Representative named (cannot find any sort of indicator of where to go after starting new, they are not on the initial station I have found, though everyone names the same person...)

Such a situation is the x4 foundations beginner rite of passage/initiation to encounter that mistake.

The odds are quite low that a new player that spends significant time playing will never incidentally stowaway and have a backup pilot on their own ship.

You will at least once be "that person". Especially if you mistakenly think it might be free ship for the taking in a dock.