Introducing X-TRA POLLS! | In your opinion, which X4: Foundations expansion was the most worthwhile?

[xant]

Overall, my ranking would be as such:

• Cradle of Humanity

• Kingdom End

• Tides of Avarice

• Split Vendetta

I took CoH as #1, because for one I'm a bit biased towards Terrans as a faction in general. I like the sleek, almost luxurious design of their white ships. They also bring an alternative economy to the table, and it helps that I as a human player have some connection to our Solar System in general. Great music too.

Next is Kingdom End as #2. They bring some very beautiful sectors, but most importantly distinct ships with great and innovative design. New weapons, shields and engines add some much needed diversity, and their stations are generally very pleasant to look at and fun to design. They're not blocky. Again, great music.

Then I took Tides of Avarice as #3, because I like the new ships and the somewhat lopsided design philosophy behind those factions. Unique factions with a specialization, i.e. the Donia just for solid mining and no liquid variant. Barbarossa is a quick destroyer-esque armed freighter, otherwise no destroyers or capital ships. The vanity ship Astrid is a very fine addition and now my flying office, so big bonus here. The scrap economy, Avaraice with the Tide, the Protectyon economy, those are the innovations I like to see in the game. Also very good music.

The downsides of ToA are that we can't automate the Protectyon extraction, that Tidebreak spawns Protectyon infinitely (and therefore breaks the "true simulation" aspect somewhat), that the Casino offers no reason to visit it (although I'm aware that it's not without problems to include gambling minigames).

Last for me is Split Vendetta as #4. It's not like I hate it or anything, I still think it's a good expansion and I use their ships frequently. But I'm not too interested in the Split as a faction, their sectors aren't visually impressive for the most part (Zyarth's Dominion is the exception), and they don't add anything economically unique. For me the expansion is mostly a welcome ship pack, and those ships felt extremely powerful when compared to the base game ships.

I mean, SV is still worth every cent, the ships are good and very pretty. But aside from the ships and extra sectors, SV doesn't offer a fundamentally new game experience. I'd still rank it pretty high, but a ranking is a ranking, so something has to be first and something else has to be last. SV is last, because it adds the least amount of variety and innovation.

[S!rAssassin]

The Split sectors, while nice, are also a little more generic than the iconic Sol sectors reintroduced in Cradle of Humanity.

Kingdom End is a difficult one for me.

Sol looks beautiful, but is completely boring... Just trade and build. The Split sectors bring us fighting, as well as trade and construction. Boron sectors, like Solar ones, are also boring. I was hoping that Boron would bring us the threat of the Khaak, but no... Even the Tides became more interesting with the new scrap mechanics.

[mr.WHO]

Danger wise Sol is boring, but CoH adds Yaki and two very interesting Xenon sectors.

There is plenty of good fight in CoH.

[S!rAssassin]

Danger wise Sol is boring, but CoH adds Yaki and two very interesting Xenon sectors.

There is plenty of good fight in CoH.

CoH added Intervention Fleets also... Death to Xenon across galaxy. Without player.

Yaki still haven't complete faction jobs and didn't bring anything to gameplay except cool new ships.

[alt3rn1ty]

#1 Kingdom End

Beautiful sectors, great ships /stations, and the re-introduction of Boron. Very much liked the story/misions associated with the dlc.

#2 Split Vendetta

Pretty much for the same reasons as KE

#3 Cradle of Humanity

For the amount of content in the story/missions. I'm not so much a fan of Terran designs, and a big downer for me was after helping the Yaki you cant really do anything with them and they become stagnant not expanding at all even in their own sector after its cleared they cant be encouraged to build anymore stations, and no more missions of any kind. It just cuts off a bit too abruptly. Yaki keep buying ships from me .. But as soon as they leave the production line they are cannon fodder and rarely get past two sectors before they are toast. Love the Yaki ships though, really wish we could have kept the AI in the special Moreya and its ability.

#4 Tides of Avarice

Like the ideas and plot, love the Erlking.
Major dislike = Performance in the Windfall sectors is awful, due to too many fighters spawning there.
Due to the performance in the Windfall sectors, I just do enough to get the Erlking and blueprints, after that I avoid ToA sectors like the plague.

[rudi_pioneer]

Picked avarice because it was flawed masterpiece - storylines, music, ambience, small & personal, it was amazing combo.

“Flawed” because it felt like it stopped short of finish line: VIG were buggy when it comes to rebuilding stations, no way to use Leap of Faith in long term game (gate building quest?), last protectyon step wasn’t clear unless one looked into game files (selling with lower or higher price), etc.

[rudi_pioneer]

Funny enough, “boring” Sol is that made it possible for me to get into X4. It was safe corner of universe to figure out my shit out before dealing with more complex commonwealth

[JoeVN09]

Split Vendetta is my vote, on the basis that it made the biggest difference to the game as it was before the DLC came out. There's not much between them, honestly. Tides of Avarice is a bit different but adds a depth all of its own, if not a beloved returning faction.

[Nedimar]

I voted CoH, but this

a big downer for me was after helping the Yaki you cant really do anything with them

is the one aspect of the DLC I found to be disappointing. You go through all that trouble and get a faction that does nothing. Absolutely nothing. They don't build stations on their own, they don't have any ships except for their specialized ones and they do not expand their territory. And worst of all: not even the player can really do anything about propping them up (except I think when getting a construction mission from them, which never happened for me).

[zakaluka]

from a sandbox vs on-rails perspective kingdom end is fantastic, as it manages both by nature of quest design.

The expedition questline is very much on rails but with a natural pausing point in the middle, after reaching the provinces and negotiating with nila ti. I have to say the negotiation with nila ti, itself, is one of my least favorite aspects. just feels like 10 minutes of dialogue you have to wait through, and you'd best listen to the WHOLE dialogue tree, or you have to go do all three reps' dialogues all over again! I missed one of the options once and had to search for it - very off-putting.

But then you're put on an economic objective (the spaceport construction) that you can sandbox. You're not swept towards the sanctuary of darkness objectives. It's unfortunate how many technical problems there are with that quest's execution. After you get to actually kingdom end, the queen's herald quests are far more open-ended, and you can take them on at your own leisure.

I'm very much a fan of the overall design philosophy. A little on-rails story, but more open-ended sandbox objectives. I do wish the story quests had more polish.

[Harrison_rus]

Actually very hard choice because I like all DLCs.
(text below was translted by Google because english not my main language)

But I will choose the Cradle of Humanity. In this expansion, I really liked the story of the Earth Cadet; I really felt a strong progression in terms of plot presentation compared to the original stories or Splits.

Yes, the ships of the Terrans are cool, I don’t argue, but in all DLC I’m primarily interested in the story that the developers can provide.

Well, it seems to me that the second addition was the most ambitious in my opinion. I also liked that this addition closely interacts with sectors of the main game, unlike the same Splits.

The only thing that upset me was that the Yaki did not become a full-fledged faction. They only exist as a faction in the quality of the plot, but after it nothing happens to them..

I mainly liked the Split Vendetta because it greatly expanded the galaxy + added an amazing soundtrack (not only in the split sectors, but also a couple of songs in the main music pool). I also liked the fact that when we receive our own headquarters, we directly carry out several missions from Bosso Ta in the space of splits - they were now “not in words”, as in the vanilla game.

Next comes the Tides of Avarice. I liked the main story, the sectors and the atmosphere of gloom and depression. It is very atmospheric in these sectors, but in my opinion this DLS is too “isolated” from the main galaxy. In my current sandbox, it makes no sense for me to fly into the ToA sectors, and the pirates themselves are not particularly active in the main galaxy, only within their sectors. The only time I saw ToA factions active was when they became hostile to my faction. After a while it was surprising to see them raiding my merchants.

In general, in my opinion, this expansion does not interact much with the main galaxy.

And the last one is the Kingdom End. I played this DLC for the least amount of time, so I may not know something.
As in all previous expansions, I liked the story of finding the Borons, especially the moment with the opening of the gate.
I also liked that the harrows, albeit a little, interact with the rest of the galaxy through the main task (where you need to establish contact with all the main factions, even those from the DLC).

I didn’t really like that I didn’t see any interaction between the Boron and the Splits. I was expecting to see assignments for some kind of defensive contracts for the construction of defensive stations to protect against Splits.
I also did NOT like the simplification of getting the headquarters. I like the vanilla version with "Annoying Bor".

As in previous DLCs, the music is beautiful and the story is interesting. The ships are also quite nice, just like in all previous DLCs.

Overall, based on the current state of the game, I agree that pirate factions and features need expand. Although I don’t like all this pirate things, I’ve seen a lot of proposals here on the forum for expanding and adding new functions.

I would also like to see even more interaction between all the factions with each other and the main game. It still seems to me that all the factions from the DLC look somehow distant from each other, although the Terrans cope best with this situation.

[LordIII3]

I think the terrans, because they add a simple Economy system, that makes the Economy Processes easier to understand and allow an easier getting into the game for new Players

But I have to say, that all Expansions are really great and there is not a single one, where I would say it is not made good or worth the price

[SwizzleStick86]

I think that the updates that come with the expansions were the most worthwhile parts. Don't get me wrong, I own all of them and play the game all the time, all of the expansions are awesome.

But the updates that come alongside them fixing bugs, performance, and adding numerous features make the biggest difference on the game as a whole.

Just my opinion.

[kdwf22]

CoH for me since it have more interesting faction and economic to play with. The only regret was player should have option to help develop YAK into full-fledge faction like BUC.

But all released dlcs still lacked these:
1. Official mod allowed to not marked as modified save. Such as some paint jobs, some QoL like improved interface etc.
2. Tools to check quest/npc state and export as a log file to help developer troubleshoot npc stuck/quest bug. I still have some NPC stuck case opened on the forum up to this day.
3. More variety of missions/progress/guilds to play with so that we could not just play like rts. For example: kuertee's Emergent missions mod.
4. Guild mission should not just associate with factions. Every factions should be able to post their war, trade, bounty, escort, VIP transport, hack, build, ambush, station defend etc. missions per their demand. Guild progress could associate with profession.
5. Any missions that may have negative effect to reputation should have option to pre-deduct tax from mission reward to help settle/prevent the negative reputation change.

[Komet07]

I picked Kingdom End as my #1 - mostly because I absolutely fell in love with the visuals of the boron ships, the excellent music, and the nice-looking sectors (With Rolk's Demise being my favorite). The 'story' of this DLC combines a good mix of both 'static' plot and sandbox (the Provinces Shipyard, Terraforming Oceans of Fantasy). It's, all in all, one of my favorite corners of the map. One thing I found a bit lacking with KE was that there were no real choices in these plots - except whether you completed the plots or not. Stuff like re-establishing the Argon-Boron Alliance would've been neat to see as a bigger player plot.

CoH is a close second - I like the terrans, I like their ships, I like having Sol, the extra plots, etc. - One of my favourite features are the Xenon War missions which also enable the Terrans to have a presence on, sometimes, the other side of the map. It feels like those missions give you a lot more player control, which I like. Overall, however, it kinda fell short.

Split Vendetta is my #3, mostly because of the tons of sectors it adds, some of which I really like (Wretched Skies, Family Tkr) and the cool-looking Split ships. Also adds tons of combat, which is pretty cool.

Tides of Avarice is last on the list, not because I didn't like it (I liked the focus on stories, the visuals in Avarice & Windfall & the ships look fantastic, Leap of Faith is really cool), but it just didn't really hold up to the other three, in my opinion. It kinda fell short because it just feels like something is missing, tbh.

Overall, all four DLCs are good and I'm eagerly awaiting Timelines.

[chew-ie]

Kingdom End is my favourite DLC as it introduces a race lost for a very long time - my beloved Borons. Not being in X:Rebirth and not being in the base version of X4:Foundation it literally took years until we could "shake flappers" with them. Their ship design in terms of equipment and philosophy (ion based weapons) are a welcome addition to the X4 default designs. As for the looks - I'd have prefered their bulgy design from X³ and (a lot) less tentacles, but I can ignore that by mostly flying the Shark or Hydra. Speaking of the Shark - the carrier ship gameplay got a huge boost because the Boron docking operations are a lot better then the "commonwealth" ones. Has the best game starts so far and the best plot story (both in terms of writing and execution)

Second place for me is the Split Vendetta DLC. Awesome ships, awesome race - and helping them in their struggle is a joy. I only wished their stations would've been "dark and grim places" (like they were described in X³ by Betty). And that there were more warlords with their big fleets. And slave trade. And I missed the Python as well.

My third place is Tides of Avarice. I like that little DeVries like place in the "middle" of the universe - despite it having more purple then red colors (would've prefered the latter). Their ships (fighters, heavily armed L trader, Teuta) are a nice change from the previous formula ("just" mirroring every ship type for the new faction) and the unique ship (Erlking) is just awesome. The game starts were nicely done. The DLC would be on second place if the piracy theme would've improved all of the pirate gameplay - by underlining the possibility of a more independent playstyle which doesn't involve the "get-best-buddy-with-everyone-buy-their-blueprints-and-then-betray-them" loop. Missed opportunity!

Last place is Terran DLC. While it added nice ships and technology (best shields, best engines, awesome weapons + awesome weapon sounds) it is kind of boring for a more combat oriented player. While providing a lategame campaign to clear up a Xenon corridor the seclusion of the terran territory means long trips to buy stuff and never really getting them involved with the other races. Despite the potential conflict with Antigone (which needs quite some preparation) the main problem is: too little, too late. The Asgard expeditions into Xenon territory also show the problem of the current map layout - the terran military has to move through Antigone and Argon space to even reach the Xenon. A terran territory being on the frontline of a huge new Xenon areas with multiple entry points would've been much more interesting - and more fitting for the superior firepower this faction has.

[TheDeliveryMan]

1. Tides of Avarice: I like small independ factions. All my ships get crew at from VIG Wharf/Shipyard. I love the VIG clothing style, whish we could get them from our own Dormitories. I prefer the early game play, bootstrapping an economy from scratch. Scrap recycling is very rewarding when one masters the logistics to get the most out of it. Syndicate space is very safe, as well as central, a good location to build my first stations.
2. Cradle of Humanity: In X3 Savage Spur was my home and the Yaki were my best allies, so a little bit of nostalgia. The Geometric Owl is my favorite player ship. Securing Savage Spur II for myself is my main late game goal. Many TER/PIO sectors that make the universe feel larger.
3. Kingdom End: The organic ship design looks great. It's good to have those cute Boron back. With the added sectors, now the universe feels really vast. I prefer to have the HQ in the old, safer location, so I have to start with KE disbabled.
4. Split Vendetta: I don't care much about the Split. The DLC is still worth it, because is makes universe bigger.

[Tamina]

Really difficult question.
- I like the Terran faction and overall look and feel. It also had a nicely done storyline.
- I also liked the ships and the sectors of Split, the story was not so good but the universe expansion is crucial for X4.
- ToA is one of my favourites, I absolutely love the ship designs, yet it is also the one I would ditch first if I had to choose one.
- Borons have an L carrier, the character design is amazing but I dislike the Boron design.

So I think the point goes to CoH? All were great though.

[mr.WHO]

Tides of Avarice is the only one I put negative review on Steam - it's not that bad, but simply has way less content and more peculiar one (locked behind odd obstacles).

Oh and out of all new CV vechicle models from 6.0, Gannascus stil use Argon vanilla one - the whole DLC feels very neglected.

[Loltak]

Tough choice because I mostly like what all DLC brought but yeah it's more what I like less than the inverse.
Nevertheless I vote for Kingdom End because I like the introduction story and the boron ship/station is a "fresh air" in the game.

Cradle of Humanity: I'm not really in this DLC, don't get me wrong new sector and asset are always good but the Terran economy is too apart that I for now I did not really use it.
Even it will not be my main game the Terran gamestart will be my first altenate gamestart.

Tides of Avarices : Perhaps I missed something but I though the recycling feature would have it's own storyline even it's a small one ,and not a short cinematic which in my was cut by another plot cinematic IIRC.