My X4 story and why I stopped playing *SPOILERS*

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hobbint
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My X4 story and why I stopped playing *SPOILERS*

Post by hobbint » Sat, 9. Oct 21, 17:16

This is a short recap of how my playthrough of X4 unfolded and ended. I am hoping my voice will be heard by the devs while eagerly awaiting news about X5. No guys, I have not heard any rumors. I have not heard anything that you haven't. I just can't wait until I can immerse myself in the X universe again. So, why not just keep playing X4? Well, that's just it. I want to tell you why I stopped playing.

TLDR - I made Xen extinct and there was no challenge anymore. Nothing to threaten me in the universe. *I* was the threat. And then the economy of the universe collapsed. Also because of me. Because no conflict = no market.

I began as so many others do. Doing the odd job here and there, picking crystals and basically learning the mechanics and finding out that good pilots do not exist until you make them yourself. The crucial twist of my story came when I was wealthy enough to buy an Odysseus. I supercharged that beast with the best hardware and loaded its bays with 40 Perseus S fighters and 10 Nemesis M fighters. I put this fleet on patrol just outside the gate in Hatikvah's Choice to alleviate the Xen nuisance. Not only did the fleet alleviate, it completely erased the problem. Not one Xen made it through after that, even if they sent three capital ships at once. Apparently, the S fighters were too small and too nimble for Xen to hit them. And whatever the S fighters did not annihilate like a school of piranhas, the Odysseus would finish off. It was super effective. Soon I realised that it was best to keep the M fighters docked and safe, as they were too cumbersome to evade Xen fire. The S fighters were enough anyway. And I think I lost only 10-15 of them throughout my playthrough. No worries, easily replaceable.

So, whenever I could afford it, I outfitted one more of these fleets and placed them outside gates that Xen used to invade friendly space. Unbeknownst to me, this was REALLY starting to eat up Xen resources. After a while, AI patrol ships were moving in on Xen territory. So did I. I moved my fleets to the other side of those gates. Soon I felt bold enough to take on Xen stations. I outfitted special Odysseus destroyers as station killers. Big, slow, and absolutely devastating weapons. These I would have to micromanage. Even with my best pilots, they were dumb enough to wander inside station weapons' range, even though their own weapons had greater range. Anyway, once I had a fleet of 8 of these station killers, I was able to clear out a Xen sector in a few hours of real time, and then claim it to myself.

In a few days Xen were... eradicated. Gone. Extinct.

The game would spawn a Xen station every now and then, but each one was born dead, as there were no Xen ships to supply them. The Khaak were still there to cause trouble, yes, but they were also absolutely swarmed by AI patrols now. The Khaak were a mosquito in a tornado.

At the same time I started noticing that all my stations were stagnating. Merchandise just was not moving like it was before. It was the same for AI stations. It was like an entropic death of the universe. I realised that the X4 universe NEEDS war to maintain its economy (much like certain real-life countries - sorry, I couldn't resist).

And once that dawned on me... I just closed the game, and never went back to it. I did not even bother with sequels. I knew how to kill the universe. I was strong enough to take on any species and slowly drive them to extinction. There was no challenge anymore.

Why is this important for the devs? It was different with X3, and X2 also. The previous games maintained a certain level of threat no matter what. In X3, for example, a Khaak swarm could spawn anywhere and at any time, and one swarm was big enough of a threat to disrupt my business. Just this kept me playing X3 for six months, whereas I was done with X4 in three months. Do not get me wrong. Those three months were awesome, literally. I remember how I sat and watched in awe while my ship went autopiloting around the universe, and it was so beautiful. So, a bow and a thank you to the devs! Make the next X another immersive and jaw-dropping experience, and please sneak in a constant threat into the universe!

Falcrack
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Re: My X4 story and why I stopped playing *SPOILERS*

Post by Falcrack » Sat, 9. Oct 21, 18:00

hobbint wrote:
Sat, 9. Oct 21, 17:16
I am hoping my voice will be heard by the devs while eagerly awaiting news about X5. No guys, I have not heard any rumors. I have not heard anything that you haven't.
Speaking of rumors...

https://www.reddit.com/r/X4Foundations/ ... m_egosoft/

viewtopic.php?f=146&t=442478

Ragnos28
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Re: My X4 story and why I stopped playing *SPOILERS*

Post by Ragnos28 » Sat, 9. Oct 21, 20:09

I agree...the devs have been so keen to remove any threat or challenge to the player, combat wise. From the empty shield slots on the Xenon capitals turetts, that are ridiculously easy to eliminate, especially OOS (I have seen an FAF Rattlesnake vs 3 K's OOS, flew in to the sector to see the Rattle go splat, only to see it going pew pew against the 3 K's, that did not have a single turett intact), to the idiotic fleets the factions have, ex. https://ibb.co/HdZw1ks

Where are these Xenon: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T0efykPkzGk or these: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P_8Zl4y-ZX4?

The same with the war driven economy. Build the ships of a faction that is at war and you are set. For ex., in my terran cadet playthrough, I did the chain mission that trigger war betwin the terrans and argon. For a while it was fun, my terran shipyard keep getting ship build orders, but that lasted only until the first intervention Asgard entered the first argon sector. As you might know, the Asgard is INVINCIBLE OOS, no amount of ships can ever make those shields go below 100%. So much for for that "war", Luckly, I was able to load a save prior to the "war" option, in order to not have that lone Asgard wiping out all argon presence from the universe :o

In short, I too think is a good idea to take a break from X4. And given the fact that none of the issues I mention seems to have cought the attention of the devs, it might be a long one as I have 0 interest in the pirate focus DLC. :gruebel:

Edit: I too remember in X3 TC, no matter how rich or how powerfull your fleets would be, you could always go to the core xenon sectors, have epic battles while you cross them, go about your bussines and then return for some fleet combat fun, with out worring that...ohh no..the xenon will never recover. One could have fun, with just one save, indefinitely. Ahh...those were the days :roll:

-=SiR KiLLaLoT=-
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Re: My X4 story and why I stopped playing *SPOILERS*

Post by -=SiR KiLLaLoT=- » Sat, 9. Oct 21, 21:51

hobbint wrote:
Sat, 9. Oct 21, 17:16
This is a short recap of how my playthrough of X4 unfolded and ended. I am hoping my voice will be heard by the devs while eagerly awaiting news about X5. No guys, I have not heard any rumors. I have not heard anything that you haven't. I just can't wait until I can immerse myself in the X universe again. So, why not just keep playing X4? Well, that's just it. I want to tell you why I stopped playing.

TLDR - I made Xen extinct and there was no challenge anymore. Nothing to threaten me in the universe. *I* was the threat. And then the economy of the universe collapsed. Also because of me. Because no conflict = no market.

I began as so many others do. Doing the odd job here and there, picking crystals and basically learning the mechanics and finding out that good pilots do not exist until you make them yourself. The crucial twist of my story came when I was wealthy enough to buy an Odysseus. I supercharged that beast with the best hardware and loaded its bays with 40 Perseus S fighters and 10 Nemesis M fighters. I put this fleet on patrol just outside the gate in Hatikvah's Choice to alleviate the Xen nuisance. Not only did the fleet alleviate, it completely erased the problem. Not one Xen made it through after that, even if they sent three capital ships at once. Apparently, the S fighters were too small and too nimble for Xen to hit them. And whatever the S fighters did not annihilate like a school of piranhas, the Odysseus would finish off. It was super effective. Soon I realised that it was best to keep the M fighters docked and safe, as they were too cumbersome to evade Xen fire. The S fighters were enough anyway. And I think I lost only 10-15 of them throughout my playthrough. No worries, easily replaceable.

So, whenever I could afford it, I outfitted one more of these fleets and placed them outside gates that Xen used to invade friendly space. Unbeknownst to me, this was REALLY starting to eat up Xen resources. After a while, AI patrol ships were moving in on Xen territory. So did I. I moved my fleets to the other side of those gates. Soon I felt bold enough to take on Xen stations. I outfitted special Odysseus destroyers as station killers. Big, slow, and absolutely devastating weapons. These I would have to micromanage. Even with my best pilots, they were dumb enough to wander inside station weapons' range, even though their own weapons had greater range. Anyway, once I had a fleet of 8 of these station killers, I was able to clear out a Xen sector in a few hours of real time, and then claim it to myself.

In a few days Xen were... eradicated. Gone. Extinct.

The game would spawn a Xen station every now and then, but each one was born dead, as there were no Xen ships to supply them. The Khaak were still there to cause trouble, yes, but they were also absolutely swarmed by AI patrols now. The Khaak were a mosquito in a tornado.

At the same time I started noticing that all my stations were stagnating. Merchandise just was not moving like it was before. It was the same for AI stations. It was like an entropic death of the universe. I realised that the X4 universe NEEDS war to maintain its economy (much like certain real-life countries - sorry, I couldn't resist).

And once that dawned on me... I just closed the game, and never went back to it. I did not even bother with sequels. I knew how to kill the universe. I was strong enough to take on any species and slowly drive them to extinction. There was no challenge anymore.

Why is this important for the devs? It was different with X3, and X2 also. The previous games maintained a certain level of threat no matter what. In X3, for example, a Khaak swarm could spawn anywhere and at any time, and one swarm was big enough of a threat to disrupt my business. Just this kept me playing X3 for six months, whereas I was done with X4 in three months. Do not get me wrong. Those three months were awesome, literally. I remember how I sat and watched in awe while my ship went autopiloting around the universe, and it was so beautiful. So, a bow and a thank you to the devs! Make the next X another immersive and jaw-dropping experience, and please sneak in a constant threat into the universe!
Excuse me. When you open such a topic you should make sure that you have experienced different types of playtrought. I could tell you about a completely different playthrough, where the events were opposite to yours, where after 600 hours the Xenon are alive as never before, where I built a immense empire, but I have not interacted with anyone, giving NPCs a chance to fight Xenon on their own. Also when all storylines are over, faction wars will be much more aggressive than Xenon wars. I think X4 cannot be judged afterwards. just one playthrough. I don't think it's right to complain like that. Sorry for English, sorry if tone sounds ugly, it's not my intention
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My X4 Steam screenshots.

Nemesis_Zero
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Re: My X4 story and why I stopped playing *SPOILERS*

Post by Nemesis_Zero » Sat, 9. Oct 21, 21:52

You guys play the vanilla version ?

I start playing X4 few weeks ago and immediately added a couple of mods because vanilla is always lame and i seek a challenge.
I started the Terran Cadet Plot and stuck right now at that mission where i have to take out the amplifier station in Xenon Space. The Terrans starting every 15 min an Invasion (Asgard + Tokios + Destroyers) to that sector and aren't able to pass the very first Xenon sector out of 4?! because the whole fleet dies to a defence station + Xenon fleet + reinforcements (+ drones when i'm in System).

Ragnos28
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Re: My X4 story and why I stopped playing *SPOILERS*

Post by Ragnos28 » Sat, 9. Oct 21, 22:54

-=SiR KiLLaLoT=- wrote:
Sat, 9. Oct 21, 21:51
Excuse me. When you open such a topic you should make sure that you have experienced different types of playtrought. I could tell you about a completely different playthrough, where the events were opposite to yours, where after 600 hours the Xenon are alive as never before, where I built a immense empire, but I have not interacted with anyone, giving NPCs a chance to fight Xenon on their own. Also when all storylines are over, faction wars will be much more aggressive than Xenon wars. I think X4 cannot be judged afterwards. just one playthrough. I don't think it's right to complain like that. Sorry for English, sorry if tone sounds ugly, it's not my intention
Those xenon will be "alive as never before" until the moment the first intervention Asgard enter the sector. Don't believe me? Place advanced satelites in xenon sectors, folow an intervention Asgard, watch it as it melts 10 K's, 5 I's w/o the shields ever going below 100%. Also, check the sectors Xenon are "invading", watch as 5 K's melt in front of the first food factory they meet. Watch OOS as a single Rattlesnake is able to take on 3 K's.

As for the storylines, even if you pick all the options that lead to war, it will be wars w/o stakes for you. Like I said, I pick the war betwin terran and argon option...consequences as far as I was concern? zero...+ 30 rep with terrans, + 30 rep with argon. Plus, it would be a one sided war, because of Asgard OOS invincibilitty and because the terrans are the only faction to deploy proper fleets. What? Get involved in wars? Great challenge...1 shot the only Collosus the Argon have, kill the wharf and shipyard, bye bye faction. Hell, I have seen a clip were someone clean Argon Prime with just the Syn...

In conclusion, I think is fair for the OP to complain like that, because from the experiences he describe, is not someone who have played the game for 20 minutes, did not understand some mechanic and went on a tirade "this game sucks". On the contrary, he was pretty apreciative for the work the devs put in to the game, he just believe (like I do, btw) that there is a lot of room for improvement.

GCU Grey Area
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Re: My X4 story and why I stopped playing *SPOILERS*

Post by GCU Grey Area » Sat, 9. Oct 21, 23:42

Ragnos28 wrote:
Sat, 9. Oct 21, 22:54
Get involved in wars? Great challenge...1 shot the only Collosus the Argon have, kill the wharf and shipyard, bye bye faction. Hell, I have seen a clip were someone clean Argon Prime with just the Syn...
If you want a challenge you'd pick the other side in that one sided war - i.e. side with the Argons & help them to victory over the Terrans, using only Argon ships & equipment. See what being on the receiving end of a rampaging OOS Asgard feels like. Very tempted try that myself for my next game. Thinking maybe Terran Defector. Terran Cadet start (because never done that one before) but he's REALLY resentful of never being able to visit Earth...

-=SiR KiLLaLoT=-
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Re: My X4 story and why I stopped playing *SPOILERS*

Post by -=SiR KiLLaLoT=- » Sat, 9. Oct 21, 23:54

Ragnos28 wrote:
Sat, 9. Oct 21, 22:54
-=SiR KiLLaLoT=- wrote:
Sat, 9. Oct 21, 21:51
Excuse me. When you open such a topic you should make sure that you have experienced different types of playtrought. I could tell you about a completely different playthrough, where the events were opposite to yours, where after 600 hours the Xenon are alive as never before, where I built a immense empire, but I have not interacted with anyone, giving NPCs a chance to fight Xenon on their own. Also when all storylines are over, faction wars will be much more aggressive than Xenon wars. I think X4 cannot be judged afterwards. just one playthrough. I don't think it's right to complain like that. Sorry for English, sorry if tone sounds ugly, it's not my intention
Those xenon will be "alive as never before" until the moment the first intervention Asgard enter the sector. Don't believe me? Place advanced satelites in xenon sectors, folow an intervention Asgard, watch it as it melts 10 K's, 5 I's w/o the shields ever going below 100%. Also, check the sectors Xenon are "invading", watch as 5 K's melt in front of the first food factory they meet. Watch OOS as a single Rattlesnake is able to take on 3 K's.

As for the storylines, even if you pick all the options that lead to war, it will be wars w/o stakes for you. Like I said, I pick the war betwin terran and argon option...consequences as far as I was concern? zero...+ 30 rep with terrans, + 30 rep with argon. Plus, it would be a one sided war, because of Asgard OOS invincibilitty and because the terrans are the only faction to deploy proper fleets. What? Get involved in wars? Great challenge...1 shot the only Collosus the Argon have, kill the wharf and shipyard, bye bye faction. Hell, I have seen a clip were someone clean Argon Prime with just the Syn...

In conclusion, I think is fair for the OP to complain like that, because from the experiences he describe, is not someone who have played the game for 20 minutes, did not understand some mechanic and went on a tirade "this game sucks". On the contrary, he was pretty apreciative for the work the devs put in to the game, he just believe (like I do, btw) that there is a lot of room for improvement.
I am perfectly familiar with Asgard's current power, indeed I know the current little power of Xenon, but that doesn't mean the game has problems just because they released balance against Xenon. The problem is that there have been complaints about Xenon being too powerful in the past and the devs have balanced Xenon to make sure that the average user can survive their attacks. The best Xenon power was achieved in 3.30, everyone knows by now, but "those Xenons" were designed for earlier complaints. So what I think is that an ideal solution will soon be found that can satisfy all types of players. At the moment the only way to get a big challenge is to use mods. Having a challenge in vanilla requires the complete development of all dlc designed for X4, including future pirate ships of AHOY and all sectors foreseen on paper.
HW Spec:
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My X4 Steam screenshots.

Ragnos28
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Re: My X4 story and why I stopped playing *SPOILERS*

Post by Ragnos28 » Sun, 10. Oct 21, 00:08

GCU Grey Area wrote:
Sat, 9. Oct 21, 23:42
Ragnos28 wrote:
Sat, 9. Oct 21, 22:54
Get involved in wars? Great challenge...1 shot the only Collosus the Argon have, kill the wharf and shipyard, bye bye faction. Hell, I have seen a clip were someone clean Argon Prime with just the Syn...
If you want a challenge you'd pick the other side in that one sided war - i.e. side with the Argons & help them to victory over the Terrans, using only Argon ships & equipment. See what being on the receiving end of a rampaging OOS Asgard feels like. Very tempted try that myself for my next game. Thinking maybe Terran Defector. Terran Cadet start (because never done that one before) but he's REALLY resentful of never being able to visit Earth...
Yes, that will definitely be a challenge :D Hmm...to think about it, before CoH, my favorite start was argon patriot :roll: Also, your terran defector idea have merit, with the end goal to conquer Earth and free the terrans from their corupt goverment :mrgreen: The only problem I see is that one would have to destroy PIO as well, if not the terrans will just rebuild like was described in the factions that don't die topic :(

Ragnos28
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Re: My X4 story and why I stopped playing *SPOILERS*

Post by Ragnos28 » Sun, 10. Oct 21, 00:53

-=SiR KiLLaLoT=- wrote:
Sat, 9. Oct 21, 23:54
I am perfectly familiar with Asgard's current power, indeed I know the current little power of Xenon, but that doesn't mean the game has problems just because they released balance against Xenon. The problem is that there have been complaints about Xenon being too powerful in the past and the devs have balanced Xenon to make sure that the average user can survive their attacks. The best Xenon power was achieved in 3.30, everyone knows by now, but "those Xenons" were designed for earlier complaints. So what I think is that an ideal solution will soon be found that can satisfy all types of players. At the moment the only way to get a big challenge is to use mods. Having a challenge in vanilla requires the complete development of all dlc designed for X4, including future pirate ships of AHOY and all sectors foreseen on paper.
I have seen manny good ideas in the make xenon great again topics on the forum (but I also "see", silence from the devs on that subject). Prior to 4.10, the devs promise to adress the weakness of the Xenon through "more precise OOS calculations". There are many topics and reports on the forum that show that, that promise was not fulfilled :gruebel:

From the sugestions on the forum regarding increasing the xenon power, I especially like the dificulty slider idea. My personal proposal, would be some xenon "core" sectors, accessible through some plot line, that have xenon "spawns". I know, I know, real time simulation, no "magic" ships, but if that mechanic is carefully implemented, might work. I just want to have great fleet combat, w/o the fear that I will permanently clean the sector of xenon ships.

For example, this sector: https://ibb.co/d2mTKcR I could have a fun 30 minutes fight. But after that, the xenon will never recover (plus, is the only active xenon sector left in my game) :( Imagine having a Xenon sector that could present a constant flow of ships against which you can try diferent tactics or fleet compositions :mrgreen:

In conclusion, until the Xenon return to 3.30 values or receive serious overhaul, I have little incentive to make a new start or to continue my current save. Until that moment, I will wait from the sidelines.

-=SiR KiLLaLoT=-
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Re: My X4 story and why I stopped playing *SPOILERS*

Post by -=SiR KiLLaLoT=- » Sun, 10. Oct 21, 10:36

Yes, there are so many ideas, but it is difficult to implement everything the user requires, without having to go through a hard work of balancing. I read in another topic that the current Xenon problem is due to the mismanagement of creating capital ships with undersized number of turrets and shields. This was probably intended, in order to further test the player community and get information on how to improve the balance.

So I understand the frustration, I too have stopped my gameplay at the moment, as did the OP, but it is also fair to say that I am on the sixth gameplay and have passed 2300 hours of total gameplay. I can be satisfied with the gameplay experienced so far and the money spent :mrgreen:
HW Spec:
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Re: My X4 story and why I stopped playing *SPOILERS*

Post by Y-llian » Sun, 10. Oct 21, 11:25

The solution isn’t to just spawn more ships, that does nothing to fix the underlying issue, I’d kindly suggest. In our desire to have the Xenon fixed, let us not throw away one of the real strengths of X4 which is the dynamic economy. It makes no sense to fix one part of the game only to go break another. Like Imperial I have many, many hours in this game (way more than is probably healthy) but the problem with Xenon is threefold as I see it.

1. Xenon suffer from logistics issues. Their miners don’t always stay in their space where it’s safe and once they get into Community space and on the ring, it’s game over for them. They’ll never make it back to their clusters. Moreover, the Xenon are stuck in clusters at the galactic edges which puts them at a strategic disadvantage and being in clusters, they cannot reinforce fleets or fix logistical problems across their empire which other factions can.

2. The 4.10 Xenon rebalance has been taken too far. Even when they build ships and get them there for an attack, they are too easily killed in both low and high attention. They’re the equivalent of the Krenim Imperium before Anorax erases the Zahl - extra points for anyone who gets that reference. ;)

3. The current issues with OOS ship v station combat isn’t helping either though the devs have said they’re looking in to this.

With points two and three, we’ll have to wait and see if and how the devs propose to resolve the issues. Like Imperial I’ve stopped playing but only my Vanilla game. I’m still having a blast with my VRO modded game and the Xenon there seem to be way more active and a threat. Obviously, I completely respect those who don’t want or like to mod their games and empathise with the frustration in the vanilla experience.

In terms of point three, I do have a rather radical suggestion. Instead of spawning ships why can’t the Xenon use a special facility to “jump” between their sectors and only theirs. Maybe that’s another as yet, undiscovered function of those crystals in the amplifier like stations? That way they’re able to reinforce fleets across the galaxy and they can off set logistical challenges (same as the other NPC factions) in one area with another. The effect will be that we’ll never be 100% sure where the next Xenon invasion will come from and it will also create challenges for the Intervention Corps because challenging the Xenon in one area might be successful for while but eventually, they’ll reappear on mass somewhere else. The galactic equivalent of whack-a-mole. :)

SirConnery
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Re: My X4 story and why I stopped playing *SPOILERS*

Post by SirConnery » Sun, 10. Oct 21, 13:10

Y-llian wrote:
Sun, 10. Oct 21, 11:25
In terms of point three, I do have a rather radical suggestion. Instead of spawning ships why can’t the Xenon use a special facility to “jump” between their sectors and only theirs. Maybe that’s another as yet, undiscovered function of those crystals in the amplifier like stations? That way they’re able to reinforce fleets across the galaxy and they can off set logistical challenges (same as the other NPC factions) in one area with another. The effect will be that we’ll never be 100% sure where the next Xenon invasion will come from and it will also create challenges for the Intervention Corps because challenging the Xenon in one area might be successful for while but eventually, they’ll reappear on mass somewhere else. The galactic equivalent of whack-a-mole. :)
Out of all the proposed solutions I really like this idea. Nice.
Although I'm not sure if they can implement it while staying faithful to the lore of the game.

And I do see one possible problem with this solution. If the Xenos can warp around their sectors at will, you would basically have to accept that there is just no realistic way to guarantee protection of your stations near the Xenon borders. Which is completely fine by me, but might not be ideal for other types of players.

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Re: My X4 story and why I stopped playing *SPOILERS*

Post by jlehtone » Sun, 10. Oct 21, 15:11

ARG, PAR, and TEL have discontinuous realms, albeit they have non-hostile connecting routes (at diplomatic status of the starts).
SirConnery wrote:
Sun, 10. Oct 21, 13:10
And I do see one possible problem with this solution. If the Xenos can warp around their sectors at will, you would basically have to accept that there is just no realistic way to guarantee protection of your stations near the Xenon borders. Which is completely fine by me, but might not be ideal for other types of players.
Puller: “All right, they're on our left, they're on our right, they're in front of us, they're behind us, they can't get away this time.”

There are only a limited number of Gates/Accelerators/Superhighways from Xenon sectors to quite continuous non-Xenon space. We have stopped them at those Gates before, and we could do so with that change too.
Ragnos28 wrote:
Sun, 10. Oct 21, 00:53
Imagine having a Xenon sector that could present a constant flow of ships against which you can try diferent tactics or fleet compositions :mrgreen:
The Terrans have pretty good logistics and do present (did present before some harm hit their Yard&Wharf) constant flow of ships. Perfect for experimentation. 8)


[EDIT]
hobbint wrote:
Sat, 9. Oct 21, 17:16
It was different with X3, and X2 also. The previous games maintained a certain level of threat no matter what.
Player was totally insignificant in previous games. Yes, you could demolish all NPC ships and stations, but not "kill by death". They were back in a blink.

Player is significant in X4, with options. We can still demolish all NPC ships and stations. We can cripple them by hitting their logistics. We can stop them by economically supporting their enemies; without firing a shot. While we can't totally kill anyone, we can render them to really weak zombies. If we do nothing, then me might be forced to do something after a while.

We don't want to be significant? We want to have fun without consequences?
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SirConnery
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Re: My X4 story and why I stopped playing *SPOILERS*

Post by SirConnery » Sun, 10. Oct 21, 20:01

jlehtone wrote:
Sun, 10. Oct 21, 15:11
There are only a limited number of Gates/Accelerators/Superhighways from Xenon sectors to quite continuous non-Xenon space. We have stopped them at those Gates before, and we could do so with that change too.
I don't expect the player to be able to guard all gates or even a significant portion of them until very late in the game. Which is imo the ideal situation, the Xenos would concentrate massive attacks on weak systems and be able to take ground from factions making for a more threatening Xenon and a more dynamic game.

I'm just saying that this kind of change won't please a significant proportion of X4 players and would perhaps be better as a mod.

Raevyan
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Re: My X4 story and why I stopped playing *SPOILERS*

Post by Raevyan » Sun, 10. Oct 21, 20:51

-=SiR KiLLaLoT=- wrote:
Sun, 10. Oct 21, 10:36
Yes, there are so many ideas, but it is difficult to implement everything the user requires, without having to go through a hard work of balancing. I read in another topic that the current Xenon problem is due to the mismanagement of creating capital ships with undersized number of turrets and shields. This was probably intended, in order to further test the player community and get information on how to improve the balance.

So I understand the frustration, I too have stopped my gameplay at the moment, as did the OP, but it is also fair to say that I am on the sixth gameplay and have passed 2300 hours of total gameplay. I can be satisfied with the gameplay experienced so far and the money spent :mrgreen:
The sad part about this is that the release branch is more of a beta than the actual betas. Unless they stop being afraid of making changes (I.e. sunlight) I don’t see a bright future of X4. Out of all the topics about xenons on the forum since the 4.0 Desaster, there wasn’t a single dev comment on those topics (not counting CBJ reminding ppl to read forum rules). They broke Xenons in 4.0 and took more than 6 month to release a patch that supposedly addressed the problem and introduced the next big problem.

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Re: My X4 story and why I stopped playing *SPOILERS*

Post by -=SiR KiLLaLoT=- » Sun, 10. Oct 21, 23:12

rene6740 wrote:
Sun, 10. Oct 21, 20:51
The sad part about this is that the release branch is more of a beta than the actual betas.
On this I agree with you. If I remember correctly there was Beta 6 or 7 that had a whit of old Xenons of 3.30, or at least I remember that the Xenon I was unstoppable as it is Asgard now. Then in the final version they returned similar to 4.0 , or worse :mrgreen: :mrgreen:
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IRONOX
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Re: My X4 story and why I stopped playing *SPOILERS*

Post by IRONOX » Mon, 11. Oct 21, 00:08

Can´t confirm....
In my playtroughs the Xenon always doing fine. Even stealing sectors from the other factions.
But this comes down to my way of dealing with them by leaving them alone and hunt them more in a controled way.

And the Asgard might be powerful but only if you as the player controls them. The AI can´t use them properly.
In my games the Terran send them all over the universe but to no meaningful effect other than providing me with new ones for my fleets ;)

It´s always a though task to make a sandbox game that fits every playstyle that exist. In the end it´s more down to the player itself how hard they want their game to be.
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Ragnos28
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Re: My X4 story and why I stopped playing *SPOILERS*

Post by Ragnos28 » Mon, 11. Oct 21, 11:13

IRONOX wrote:
Mon, 11. Oct 21, 00:08
And the Asgard might be powerful but only if you as the player controls them. The AI can´t use them properly.

Only in high attention...in low attention, they do this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o5Flkd4qLLg&t=7s
IRONOX wrote:
Mon, 11. Oct 21, 00:08
In my playtroughs the Xenon always doing fine. Even stealing sectors from the other factions.

Where the hell do you see this in your game? :o A food factory can kill 5 K's in low attention...how the xenon can take a sector if they can't kill a factory? Every time I see a Xenon K atacking a station OOS and I fly in the sector, the K have all the turetts destroyed :o Who knew that station defences have such turetts sniping capabilities :gruebel:

Could you provide some save file that show those uber Xenon that you have in your game? Some footage? Some proof? Because if not, I find your claims really hard to believe :gruebel:

Buzz2005
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Re: My X4 story and why I stopped playing *SPOILERS*

Post by Buzz2005 » Mon, 11. Oct 21, 11:46

I second the above questions bc even when I tried directly helping xenons they can't do anything bc of oos, hacked every npc yards to stop production for days on end, 0 progress, install mods like focw with all high for xenons only, they now maybe if they are lucky kill a station in 3 days ingame time, and only if they send excessive amounts of S/M ships
Fixed ships getting spawned away from ship configuration menu at resupply ships from automatically getting deployables.

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