4.00 Public Beta now available

[Skeeter]

Lets just hope you don't accidently terraform a already populated planet like argon prime.

[scrab21]

Anyone has an idea how to use this terraforming feature??

[Skeeter]

Dunno what they done in this beta but ai piloting is horrid. I just left in dragon from phq to argon prime wharf, i stand on the ship and in the map I told it to go there. It went head first into a asteroid after leaving the station then couldnt sort a avoidance course very well so its turning all over the place after it escaped being inside a asteroid. Then it flew okish till it got to ap. When it approached the station it made no attempt to go around the station to find the docking bay module it instead just brute forced a direct path to the docking bay taking ages to slowly bump into then inside it till it reached the bay, then it wasnt even trying to manoeuvre to orientate properly to land it just kept going forward pushing into the bit where s ships dock. Horrid. This was a save loaded from 3.30 in 4.0 beta 5.

[Teladi CEO]

Anyone has an idea how to use this terraforming feature??

Apparently there are missions received from factions. I would hang around their main stations in sectors that can be terraformed

Spoiler

Show

18 Billion, Atiyas Misfortune, Blackhole sun, Frontiers Edge, Getsu Fune, Memory of Profit, Scale Plate Green, Tharkas Cascade

[CBJ]

Dunno what they done in this beta but ai piloting is horrid.5.

If you're having problems, please report them (making sure you include all the relevant information, and a savegame demonstrating the problem) in the Public Beta Feedback forum. That's the only way we're going to identify whether there's a problem, whether it's new to this beta, and whether it can be fixed.

[Gregory]

Looking at new ways to manage hostilities in 4.00

This quarter, the X4: Foundations universe will be extended once again! Alongside the second expansion, X4: Cradle of Humanity, we will also be releasing the largest free update to X4 yet. The 4.00 update will not only include many quality-of-life improvements to X4: Foundations, but will also introduce a number of new features. Some of these new features were announced at the start of the beta phase, but we’ll be shedding light on more of them between now and the full public release of the 4.00 update and X4: Cradle of Humanity.

To kick things off, we'll look at three new ways to manage hostilities, i.e. what your ships can and cannot attack. To help us illustrate this, content creator Werit has prepared a video showing you what these new options really mean, how they're used, and what advantages they bring to your X4: Foundations experience. Make sure you visit Werit's channel and subscribe, so as not to miss any of his helpful X4: Foundations videos.

For a short-term attack, you can choose to "mark as hostile" any non-hostile object. This generates a “relation boost”, usually lasting around 10 minutes, during which time this object will be treated as a hostile enemy. This new feature enables you to start a fight against a non-enemy object without having to fire on it manually. The 10 minute relation boost is usually long enough to ensure that a battle starts. The battle itself should then sustain the hostile state long enough for an outcome to be achieved.

For a medium-term attack, you can apply a new "fire authorisation override" setting, either globally or on specific ships. This tells those ships which factions they're allowed to attack – whether or not those factions are actually enemies. This option can be used to start a more general fight with a specific faction, by overriding the usual peaceful behaviour of your ships towards theirs. It can also be used to try and make peace with a faction that is currently your enemy. This is achieved by altering your ships’ default behaviour, which would normally be to attack, with an override instruction not to shoot.

For a long-term attack, we have introduced a "war declaration" option. This is a decision to make a faction your enemy, and to inform them of the situation. This will take effect immediately. But beware! There is no "peace declaration" option. If you decide that you want to make up with that now-hostile faction, you will have to work your way back into their good books.

To try out these new features ahead of the public release of the 4.00 update, you can join in with the current 4.00 beta phase. Just visit our forum for instructions on how to take part.

We'll be back soon with more insights into the 4.00 update and X4: Cradle of Humanity. Until then, enjoy your space travels, leave a review, wishlist Cradle of Humanity and stay safe!

[HBumblebee]

Those options sound great! Can we now prohibit turrets from auto attacking criminals by declaring them as not valid targets?

[warjager]

For a long-term attack, we have introduced a "war declaration" option. This is a decision to make a faction your enemy, and to inform them of the situation. This will take effect immediately. But beware! There is no "peace declaration" option. If you decide that you want to make up with that now-hostile faction, you will have to work your way back into their good books.

Thats great..... but does peacefull negotiation are also planned in the near future? one way diplomacy is kinda weird no?

[CBJ]

No, there are no plans for a "declare peace" option. And frankly, no, it's not strange at all. If you declare war on someone, you can't turn around the next day and just say "hey, we're friends again now". You have to earn their trust again; the same applies in-game.

[aurelcourt]

Looking at new ways to manage hostilities in 4.00

Hi Gregory and the team,

Great to have some insights about the new features and how the work, however, for ease-of-access purposes, could you rather open a new sticky thread on the forum with ALL these new features explanations together ?

That would help us a lot discover and appreciate the new possibilities !

[warjager]

No, there are no plans for a "declare peace" option. And frankly, no, it's not strange at all. If you declare war on someone, you can't turn around the next day and just say "hey, we're friends again now". You have to earn their trust again; the same applies in-game.

Yes... IF only we had a way to earn their thrust in the game right now! Ennemy dont give redemption mission or give us oportunity do redeem ourself. Killing their ennemy in their sector or making the usual "kill the station criminal" thing is kind of useless when the people your try to help, want YOU dead first. If we had a kind of "cease-fire" option somewere for X time (that i must pay for a high price), THEN yes we could help with raising their relationship.

[CBJ]

Yes... IF only we had a way to earn their thrust in the game right now! Ennemy dont give redemption mission or give us oportunity do redeem ourself.

With Beta 5, Enemies who are not actually at shooting relations with you can offer missions.

If we had a kind of "cease-fire" option somewere for X time (that i must pay for a high price), THEN yes we could help with raising their relationship.

The fire authorisation override option described above allows you to prevent your ships from shooting at theirs, thereby avoiding making things worse while you work on improving relations. You can't just demand that their ships stop shooting at you, though. That would be unrealistic as well as an exploit, much like "declaring peace".

[mr.WHO]

Can someone playing beta describe what has been changed/improved with Khaak? Is it something significant or just subtle changes?

[warjager]

Yes... IF only we had a way to earn their thrust in the game right now! Ennemy dont give redemption mission or give us oportunity do redeem ourself.

With Beta 5, Enemies who are not actually at shooting relations with you can offer missions.

If we had a kind of "cease-fire" option somewere for X time (that i must pay for a high price), THEN yes we could help with raising their relationship.

The fire authorisation override option described above allows you to prevent your ships from shooting at theirs, thereby avoiding making things worse while you work on improving relations. You can't just demand that their ships stop shooting at you, though. That would be unrealistic as well as an exploit, much like "declaring peace".

The fact that you added the possibility to do mission even if ennemy is great. I know that i can set my ship to not shoot ennemy if i want to avoid further loss in rep, but the fact stay that we cannot offer to our ennemy a truce is truly nonsense! You sed it's "unrealistic", but i dont agree with that! First, if you speak about realism of a real world conflict, in all human history, war existed.... so is peace and non agression treaty!! thats a real world fact! Yes, peace and non agression treaty didnt happen just after a declaration of war, that's true, but nodaway possible in a time frame. Second, we talk about a GAME mechanic, not a real world system. In game, you should have couple option to deal with a problem (like the "Think" of "Think,Build,Fight"!) in the game, not trying to use a unintuitive way to meet your goal. WAR and PEACE are indissociable in nature (as light and dark, good and evil, and so on...), so that's why i found this a strange concept of only war. Imho, diplomacy SHOULD be a thing in X4, for player and ai faction. Your world already have this dynamic feel too it, and it should continue to evolve in this kind of dynamism!

[dtpsprt]

Can someone playing beta describe what has been changed/improved with Khaak? Is it something significant or just subtle changes?

Spoiler

Show

Their stations can be destroyed (they spawn elsewhere in almost random

They go actively after miners even in the centre of a system

They attack in swarms coordinated

There are missions against them offered by all factions (and difficult too) with good to great rewards (and difficulty).

Enough?

[Gregory]

X4: Foundations 4.00 Beta 6 released

New week, new beta! The sixth public beta for the 4.00 update of X4: Foundations is now available to download.

We've fixed an unfortunate gas resource depletion issue that was introduced in beta 5 last week. If you're using a 4.00 beta 5 savegame, we're topping up gas to 50% of the cargo hold on all stations that need gas as a resource, to get your production processes rolling again. Sorry for the inconvenience.

Among other things, beta 6 also includes:

• Several enhancements to the new Coordinated Attack feature.
• Fixes and adjustments to the new Terraforming feature.
• Better map behaviour when you are under Cover for a mission.
• As always, various other improvements and fixes.

You can find the full list in our forum.

How do I participate in the public beta?
Every player who owns X4: Foundations will have the opportunity to download the new beta version 4.00. To ensure that beta participants are aware of the Risks and Rules, we ask that all interested players visit our forum for both rules and disclaimers, as well as practical instructions on how to participate in the beta. Please follow this link to our forum (no registration required) to find the relevant information.

Thank you for your support during the beta phase and have fun with X4: Foundations!

[Skeeter]

Might be just me but the split dragon, has it had any texture adjustments as seems nicer somehow when looking at it on this new build.

[gorman2040]

X4: Foundations 4.00 Beta 6 released

New week, new beta! The sixth public beta for the 4.00 update of X4: Foundations is now available to download.

We've fixed an unfortunate gas resource depletion issue that was introduced in beta 5 last week. If you're using a 4.00 beta 5 savegame, we're topping up gas to 50% of the cargo hold on all stations that need gas as a resource, to get your production processes rolling again. Sorry for the inconvenience.

Among other things, beta 6 also includes:

• Several enhancements to the new Coordinated Attack feature.
• Fixes and adjustments to the new Terraforming feature.
• Better map behaviour when you are under Cover for a mission.
• As always, various other improvements and fixes.

You can find the full list in our forum.

How do I participate in the public beta?
Every player who owns X4: Foundations will have the opportunity to download the new beta version 4.00. To ensure that beta participants are aware of the Risks and Rules, we ask that all interested players visit our forum for both rules and disclaimers, as well as practical instructions on how to participate in the beta. Please follow this link to our forum (no registration required) to find the relevant information.

Thank you for your support during the beta phase and have fun with X4: Foundations!

Thank you !

I think the gas depletion was a good reminder that we should use resources in a responsible way and also that beta versions are not just access to new feature for your enjoyment (things can change unpredictably)

Cheers !

[AlifeSoft]

X4: Foundations 4.00 Beta 6 released

One tiny question. Will it be released before March, because there is already beta 6, and previous patches had only 5 betas until release?

[jlehtone]

One tiny question. Will it be released before March, because there is already beta 6, and previous patches had only 5 betas until release?

You can't predict the amount of betas, can you? Shouldn't the iteration continue until product is "good enough"?