X4: Commonwealth no More(X4:CnM for short) is an in-development total conversion mod for X4: Foundations set in a universe resembling more the X3 universe than the vanilla X4 universe. The lore of the CnM-universe is consistent with the lore of the stamdard universe up until the point of the gate shutdown. In the CnM-universe, the gate shutdown did not absolutely shut down every gate in existence, but only divided the universe into many small isolated clusters. Eventually many of the gates reconnected in a similar fashion to what they were prior to the shutdown, but decades of complete independence made many factions not re-join the faction there were part of prior to the gate shutdown. Of course all of that sudden change with many new factions doesn't just come without conflict. While in some places some strong pirate factions emerged who are now having border-skirmishes with the local police, in other places some factions are having an all-out war, all of that with the ever-looming presence of the Xenon. The Commonwealth of Planets which used to keep the peace in the universe is a distant memory at best.
Progress on this Mod will be slow as I do have a job.
Features:
- A new, large universe heavily inspired by the X3 universe (184 sectors) with lots of trade opportunities as well as conflict
- Encounters removed
- Game progression rebalance (currently mostly means highly increased ship prices to avoid getting many ships too quickly and then wondering where all the content in this game is)
- Many new factions
- Due to the way the universe is set up, there are actually safe areas of space and less safe areas unlike the vanilla game where you can get Xenon spawned on you anywhere
- Pirate Factions which have an actual industry and control territory (only some major ones)
- Combat Rebalance which generally makes combat last much longer.
- Major rebalance of ships and economy as well as further combat rebalancing
- New Weapons inspired by the X3 weaponry (I want a HEPT and not an Ion blaster )
- Mission Rebalance (plans might be dropped depending on the vanilla mission changes coming in 3.0)
- New ships (I simply am no artist)
If you would like to know more about the background story of Commonwealth no More, please read the spoiler. I do not want to ruin exploration experience.
At the point where the jump gates shut down, the Argon Federation was waging a bloody, stalling conflict against the Terran State. After the shutdown, the Argon militaryin the omicron cluster seized power, declared martial law and after some time formally formed the Argon Vanguard State, a military dictatorship with the goal to achieve victory over the Terrans by any means necessary. As military commanders are, the AVS government didn't really think that the life of the individual mattered in the big picture. While they managed to achieve some impressing victories in the defence of Omicron Lyrae and even managed to reconquer Circle of Labour, these victories came at a heavy price for the civilian populace as they made use of quite aggressive conscription and just to send these people out in poorly equipped ships as cannon fodder for the Terran weapons which had fairly low rates of fire.
Eventually many people got fed up and demanded change. The respond of the AVS was installation of a secret police to crack down on dissidents. Things blew over after a small AVS fleet destroyed a makeshift station of draft dodgers in Nyana's Hideout and violent protests erupted in the systems on the front who until then had to carry the burden of the war. These protests quickly turned into a revolution which proclaimed the Omicron Free Republic, a nation upholding individual rights and republicanism as a direct counterpoint to the AVS' totalitarianism. Not even a day after their rebellion and declaration of independence, a terran communique reached the provisional government of the OFR in which the Terran government offered a seperate white peace with the OFR and in case that offer would be accepted, went as far to offer an alliance to them on the condition that the OFR were to outlaw AGI technology. The OFR provisional government immediately accepted both Terran offers and united coordinated maneuvers between the OFR and the Terrans managed to push back the AVS. Things began to look up in the OFR and elections were held only 3 months after the declaration of independence while the AVS seemed back to the wall. Then something happened nobody would've expected: The jump gates reconnected and it didn't take long for the first shipments of military aid from Argon Prime to arrive in AVS space while the OFR was now faced with the sudden threat of the Xenon. Between the Xenon and the AVS, the OFR is in a precarious situation despite their alliance with Earth
The Paranid Civil War:
When the jump gates shut down, things weren't easy in the eastern Paranid sectors as these sectors included the ones where the "Unholy" - Paranids with birth defects like having just 2 eyes - were sent to live as well as the Duke's Buccaneers operating quite a lot in the region. It didn't take long until the people there realized that they need to change the very construct of their society to not fall into complete chaos. Respecting many demands and wishes both from the Unholy as well as - to a much lesser extent - the Duke's Buccaneers a new Paranid society was forged and from the ashes of old rose the Holy Order of the Pontifex, which in general takes a much more egalitarian and pragmatic approach internally. Nationalism is still strong within the Holy Order however and so outsiders are still treated as lesser creatures, some say even more so than in the old Godrealm. When the gates reconnected, it didn't take long for these two quite different Paranid cultures to clash and smaller skirmishes ensues quickly. The Pontifex of the Godrealm - seeing his position threatened - negotiated a formal alliance with the Argon Federation. The declaration of war by the Holy Order, who saw the Godrealm allying with the Argon Federation - the old Nemesis of the Paranid - as a betrayal of the Paranid race, followed days later. As the Holy Order was unable to stand against the combined might of the Godrealm and Argon Federation, they had to turn to the Duke's Buccaneers which gladly helped against a Godrealm they deemed corrupt and turned out as a quite useful ally as they could get to places and do things the Holy Order couldn't. Allying with the Duke's Buccaneers certainly didn't do the public image of the Holy Order much good though.
The Split Split and divided Borons:
Not all races did completely spiral into civil war on the gates reconnecting. Most Split Clans for example quickly submitted to the rule of the family Rhonkar again. Most, not all... The Family Rhy defied the Family Rhonkar and declared an open rebellion against them.
The Borons on the other hand, while the splinter-factions would not rejoin the Kingdom in Kingdom End under its current king Rolk Na, the Free Boron Republic and the Lucky Planets Council are all on friendly terms with each other. Same cannot be set about the Boron Empire however. At the moment the jumpgates shut down, the then-princess Menelaus was currently on a visit to queen's harbour. The Borons there - without any kind of government - chose to make her regent. Over time some imperial personality cult formed around her and as the first constitution was drafted, it quickly became evident that it wouldn't be a parliamential monarchy like the old Queen-/Kingdom, but an absolute monarchy. After the jump gates having reconnected the newfound Boron imperialism in the southeast is a thorn in the eye of the Teladi who see them as a possible threat to profit which is why the Teladi are rumored to be funding criminal operations there.
After the gate reconnection the Family Rhy also saw the Free Boron Republic as easy prey and began an invasion of the completely unprepared Borons. In their desperation and inability to defend themselves, they turned to the Holy Order who offered them help against the Family Rhy if they in turn would officially join the war on the Godrealm. Out of options, the Borons reluctantly agreed which made the FBR a de-facto dependency of the Holy Order.
The Pirates with an economy:
When the gates shut down, some outlaw sectors were completely disconnected from civilised space. Due to that a loot-based economy was no longer sustainable as there was nobody left to loot and plunder. The pirate clans there faced a difficult choice: Either turn on each other in a bloody conflict that may get everybody killed or alternatively attempt to build up an own, basic economy at the risk of the other clans just coming and taking it from you. Surprisingly, many clans chose the second option and so when the gates reconnected, many factions didn't find sectors lying in disarray as they suspected, but sectors controlled by pirate factions stronger than ever.
- Borons, Split and Terrans are using Argon ships and equipment
- Faction representatives are not set up. Every game start gives you module hacking tech though, so you just have to hack for the modules
- Outlaws may disguise themselves as a faction from the vanilla game.
- The first few minutes of the game may have especially poor performance
- Terran Sectors have no work done to them whatsoever
- The Split Male model does not work properly. Therefore all Split are female for now
- Terrans, Split and Borons have no Habitats, causing their factories to operate at a lower efficiency
- Initial setup spawns some Argon production modules for Teladi instead of their own Teladianium-based ones
- License names are place holders
- Omicron Lyrae's sector name is not spoken
- Used actual strings in the XML files for now instead of using Text IDs and having respective t-files to make things more readable for me
- Boron NPCs are clipping through the floor (you only see their head popping out)
- Alpha 1 "Here Goes Nothing"
- Alpha 2 "Xenon Conflict"
- Alpha 3 "Old Trifecta" Last version without DLC requirement
If you would like to help out or have feedback of any kind, feel free to post it