Will the next X game have landable planets and ground combat?

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Re: Will the next X game have landable planets and ground combat?

Post by Imperial Good » Sun, 7. Aug 22, 10:40

-=SiR KiLLaLoT=- wrote:
Sat, 6. Aug 22, 20:28
It is a good idea, but it would be necessary to create a very specific gameplay around it. Continuing on the line of your idea you could evaluate the implementation of a Xenon terraforming structure (the node you speak of), something like the kha'ak station, but much harder to destroy and if this advances in a sustained way it would result in the ability for Xenons to use the planet to produce other Xenons in a much more massive way than their warfs or shipyard could.
They terraform them less so to make themselves stronger, and more so just because they can (broken terraformer AGI). This can be seen in X4 where scaleplate green has been rendered a nuclear wasteland without life by the Xenon, but also not infested or used by Xenon.

To keep Xenon more viable into the late game having them invade new sectors with "sleeper fleets" would make more sense. Lore wise the Xenon are meant to be spreading the long way by flying to physical locations rather than jumping or using gates. Having such fleets show up to reinforce Xenon or just cause havoc in victim sectors would be one approach to keep them more interesting into the end game.
blackphoenixx wrote:
Sat, 6. Aug 22, 20:58
Because that sounds like a giant resource sink for the sake of pushing a graph back and forth to me. It's not like planet habitability matters a whole lot.
See previous posts of mine. There would be gameplay associated with it such as needing to keep a stable economy on the planet, sinking resources to the planet or getting resources from the planet. This would be more depths than the current implementation of "spam housing" we have.

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Re: Will the next X game have landable planets and ground combat?

Post by Exitialis101 » Mon, 8. Aug 22, 19:30

The excuse that Egosoft is a small team no longer works well. Some games with landable planets have had small teams. And I do not doubt Egosofts ability to pull it off, unlike others.

Another question then becomes does the majority of the community want it? Is the majority of the current community relevant to such a want? Since this type of game rework could attract countless new players, current die hard "no changes please" people should perhaps not be listened to.

Thoughts?
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Re: Will the next X game have landable planets and ground combat?

Post by Alan Phipps » Mon, 8. Aug 22, 19:51

@ Exitialis101: ".. this type of game rework could attract countless new players .." If these 'countless' new players are only attracted to the game because of such as ground combat or planet surface exploration then they are probably not looking so much for the other space empire building and economy simulation aspects that X games offer. In that respect many might end up slightly disappointed at Egosoft's even best efforts in the new areas such that interest may prove ephemeral as they revert to the types of games (and game engines) that specialise in the gameplay aspects that they prefer.

Well, you asked for thoughts. :D Also I feel that neither of us are in a position to guess what 'the majority of the community' may actually want.

(BTW: I'll forgive you for implying that my opinion as an X veteran perhaps should be discounted. :lol: )
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Re: Will the next X game have landable planets and ground combat?

Post by Exitialis101 » Mon, 8. Aug 22, 20:10

@Alan Phipps
Well, perhaps all these new people come to love it and realise what they've been missing their entire lives? Lol, but I agree, this is speculation.

What would be awesome is to hear what Egosoft themselves may have for future plans.
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Re: Will the next X game have landable planets and ground combat?

Post by HammerHead91 » Mon, 8. Aug 22, 22:56

Exitialis101 wrote:
Mon, 8. Aug 22, 19:30
The excuse that Egosoft is a small team no longer works well. Some games with landable planets have had small teams. And I do not doubt Egosofts ability to pull it off, unlike others.

Another question then becomes does the majority of the community want it? Is the majority of the current community relevant to such a want? Since this type of game rework could attract countless new players, current die hard "no changes please" people should perhaps not be listened to.

Thoughts?
I don't like the idea of going back down a gravity well. This archaic Passion 4 Planets is how you get Xenon.

But with that said, I think the station-based interactions of the game could be improved somewhat. This doesn't have to be people running around guns blazing (my docked Zian would ... discourage ... you) but -- critically -- more life, and more story needs to happen. This is where Egosoft's remarkable talent for creative endeavour could really, really shine.

It doesn't have to be at Witcher 3 level, or even Skyrim, but the game has room for hundreds more stories.

What happened to Reena? What about Dal's assistant who said you should just leave after getting the loadstone? I'm sure the NPCs could be served up with more than a line of dialogue and forgetfulness. Or even our own crews -- is it not possible that they deserve more than star ratings. (Though, I was delighted to notice today that my Katana crew actually seemed to be speaking to each other while I'm not in the Captain's chair.)

Ah, well. It's just a thought. And I'm sure that a mod or two will chime in with "Oh it's too technical!" or "Nobody really wants that!" (Neither of which are remotely true.)

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Re: Will the next X game have landable planets and ground combat?

Post by LameFox » Tue, 9. Aug 22, 13:46

Would I want it? Hypothetically, in an ideal world where it was broad in scope and depth, implemented well, and didn't detract from other things I care about far more in a space game, then sure. But if you went back a few years and asked me about walking around in ships, or having a crew skill system, I would probably have said something similar. Because when I imagine it I think of an idealized version of it that we do not get.

As a backer of ED I'm fairly wary now of getting what I wished for only to end up hating it. That turned out to be a great technical game with a universe I never once felt any attachment to at any point.
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Re: Will the next X game have landable planets and ground combat?

Post by NewtSoup » Wed, 10. Aug 22, 18:23

I would not want to see planet landing and FPS ground combat. In my head cannon the reason we can't land on planets is because we are not allowed. We are exiles thrown into a dangerous environment and forced to survive on our own which mostly has the side effect of helping planetary economies through the trade we do.

Having said that, we already have space legs in stations and I could stand seeing more of station exploration and larger ship internals. I think the game should always remain about the ships. If there were "combat" perhaps it could be as part of a boarding party. Perhaps we could explore derelict ships for goodies and perhaps death from broken stuff or booby traps or even forced into conflict with the odd survivor who may attack or simply ask to be saved.
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Re: Will the next X game have landable planets and ground combat?

Post by spankahontis » Wed, 10. Aug 22, 18:53

Exitialis101 wrote:
Fri, 5. Aug 22, 22:29
Times are a changing.

New games are coming and with them new technology and new things. There's quiet a few space games out there now with space and planet interaction. So if Egosoft wants to keep up, maybe they need to add landable planets in the next installment?

Landable space stations was a major step forward in the X-series. I've enjoyed this games ability to go from rags to riches a lot. Would love to see all that expanded upon. Imagine turning a Paranid into a smoking pile of ash with your plasma rifle.

What do you think?

They've said it a few times that procedurally generated planets look ugly, custom ones you can explore take too much time and resources that Egosoft can't spare.
But they have warmed to the idea (In a way) that they want to do something like a 'space lift' to a Planets surface.
I think that would be cool and feed my need for planet exploration, even if it's just a huge Mall with Windows you can look out of; just for an X game to have some form of planet-based exploration, no matter how minor?

X3 Reunion had a scene where you could travel through a Metropolis right at the beginning.
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Re: Will the next X game have landable planets and ground combat?

Post by spankahontis » Wed, 10. Aug 22, 22:00

Bernd's X4 Foundations is surrounded by Elite Dangerous, Star Citizen, Starpoint Gemini 3, Star Sector, Eve Online, i've played dozens of smaller unknowns over the years, the market is saturated in Space-Sims right now.
So one could say, that it isn't unrealistic to assume that all this competition is eating into Egosoft profits, especially right now with a cost of living crisis. It can't be easy for them?

But that being said, I have an idea to contribute.. Taking the above into consideration to which a (And pardon my pun, yes, intended lol) 'foundation' to implement something coming close to Planet travel could be possible in a limited capacity?
Using the already implemented 'Terraformation Feature' in X4, merged with this New Planet Travel feature that people clearly want.
That can be..
- Condensed (Which Egosoft want) to a size that is, hopefully, do-able for their artistic creation/3D modelling team and less so for their Developers/Coders?
- Still provide surface travel, even if it is in a very 'limited capacity'.. Yet still with the potential to provide a wealth of features you could add on top of that are already features of the current game like missions/trading etc.
- Something that Egosoft, given it's staff size? Wont be overwhelmed or need to invest too much in to pull off? That is the hope here. If not? Back to the drawing board.

----------------------------------
How it would play out in the game?
----------------------------------

It would be tied to the Terraformation Feature as a reward, but also a Foundation for future X Games to improve on.

- After completing the exact Research prerequisites (All Teleportation Research as Normal) Choose the Planet you want to Terraform (Get the News Report).
- Teleport your Headquarters to the Space it's asking you to.

This is where the Missions change to the new feature.

- Instead of providing materials to the planet surface, instead.. You build a Huge Mega-Station Project that will serve as your ONLY connection to the Planet surface. So those deciding to fly themselves to the Planet are going to get the 'Danger! Entering Atmosphere!!' Choice of Death.
I've thought of 2 ideas on how this will look? Lore wise, as well as what is less time consuming on Egosoft and it's resources to implement? Personally either way is cool to me, no judge.
Choose which you feel is workable/fastest to you in the end?

So..
Choice 1 - You build a 'Space Lift' to which you dock your ships Large or Small to deliver resources.
Personally I can see allot of problems with this idea (i.e Planet Rotation would make it look unrealistic and effect immersion with players), but left it here anyway as Egosoft know what's possible and what's not in the End?

Choice 2 - Instead you Build a 'Star-port', the idea is once you're docked at these Star ports, there are specially designed passenger ships called 'Landers' that can survive entering the planets atmosphere to which they will send you to the Planet Surface and back (Unless you Teleport back to the Port instead.)
Followed by a 'Cutscene of the Lander, leaving the Star-port to enter the Planet atmosphere' Loading Screen, basically, like the X3 Terran Conflict/Albion Prelude Jumpgate animation, but skippable (of course) as everything is seamless.

Can I fly my ship once on the Planet Surface?
a) No, Your Ship will be in storage on the Star-port/Space Lift in Space. Can't be accessed until you've returned to Space via the Lander.
b) However, you would be able to trade what's on your Ship with the Space Port Traders below via the map interface. It'll be sent from the Port to the Planets resource sink.
c) You are allowed to teleport back to your ship at the Star-Port rather than take the Lander back to Port.

It's this part to which I have Egosoft's situation in Mind. Trying to make Planet Travel as cost effective and less time consuming as I can think of.. Egosoft gets to dictate what we see on the ground! How large the area? What's there? etc.
I see this workaround as nothing more than being similar to 'Station walking', only you get good views of the Planet from the surface and maybe areas where you get a good sight seeing location, a Canyon or something of natural beauty the settlement is built near?

But in truth.. It'll consist of the following.

- A Square Grid Map of where you can walk on the surface Vs everything outside the map where you can't (Like on a Station but with a beautiful background/sky to look at (once terraformation is complete).
- There will be the Space Port in the centre, where you Land and where you take off back to Space.
- A street outside where all the shops are to trade, a Bar to receive missions/Gossip/Casinos/Botanical Gardens etc. Basically where NPCs walk/interact. Life going on.
- An underground Lift, futuristic version of a Metro System, something that'll operate like a Lift with a button, with a number of locations to visit, based on what you've built through Terraformation?
Choose what choices it gives you and it'll take you to a Station that reveals to you another Gridded/restricted area of the Planet where there could be some place of natural beauty to look at before you return to the Star-port.
Each structure you build in the Terraformation Project could unlock a location to visit on the Planet it is built in.
You could visit that vineyard? Or that Ski Resort you built in the Terraformation projects?

I'm open to critique? Ideas from Ego Reps and visitors? What do you think?
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Re: Will the next X game have landable planets and ground combat?

Post by Exitialis101 » Wed, 10. Aug 22, 23:06

Interesting ideas, @Spankahontis
I would prefer randomly generated full planets to explore, with perhaps hand-crafted cities or zones. But your ideas are perhaps more realistically plausible for implementation.
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Re: Will the next X game have landable planets and ground combat?

Post by Rei Ayanami » Wed, 10. Aug 22, 23:56

I don't really see entire handcrafted planets, or even procedural planets with entire handcrafted and walkable cities, as viable and it would require a lot of working hours for creating city areas that most players won't ever see. Take a look at Star Citizen, where they try exactly that : That kind and amount of content (entire walkable cities) takes ages to develop and who know when it's done, if ever.

If there ever would be planet landing in any soon-ish X title i'd prefer Spankahontis' suggestion :
A spaceport with a "teleporter" to the surface (be it a landing shuttle or something else, it's essentially a teleporter), with the surface being some large open "room" with a fancy background skybox that looks like a planet sky. Essentially the planet surface areas and the spaceport could internally act as one single "station".
I think that would be a viable solution with what the X4 engine can do (walking on stations, teleporter rooms with destination choices, dynamically spawned rooms depending on station modules), it'd be a matter of getting the feeling right, that we are on a planet as opposed to just another station room.
And yes, having additional surface "rooms"/ areas accessible depending on completed planet terraforming projects/structures sounds great.

All that, of course, is just IF they actually want to develop walkable "planets".

As for having first-person-shooter elements : While I technically wouldn't mind it and at times I also thought it'd be cool to have, it'd bring in a LOT of additional work, as creating a good FPS alone is already a difficult and time-consuming task, and just having half-baked fps elements without much purpose, but at the same time forcing first-persons-shooter elements on those who don't want it but who just want a space game or economy sim, would probably result in more negative backlash than positive, since the resources could've instead been used to make the rest of the game better. Genre bloat can be a subtle trap.

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Re: Will the next X game have landable planets and ground combat?

Post by -=SiR KiLLaLoT=- » Thu, 11. Aug 22, 01:54

spankahontis wrote:
Wed, 10. Aug 22, 22:00
Bernd's X4 Foundations is surrounded by Elite Dangerous, Star Citizen, Starpoint Gemini 3, Star Sector, Eve Online, i've played dozens of smaller unknowns over the years, the market is saturated in Space-Sims right now.
So one could say, that it isn't unrealistic to assume that all this competition is eating into Egosoft profits, especially right now with a cost of living crisis. It can't be easy for them?

But that being said, I have an idea to contribute.. Taking the above into consideration to which a (And pardon my pun, yes, intended lol) 'foundation' to implement something coming close to Planet travel could be possible in a limited capacity?
Using the already implemented 'Terraformation Feature' in X4, merged with this New Planet Travel feature that people clearly want.
That can be..
- Condensed (Which Egosoft want) to a size that is, hopefully, do-able for their artistic creation/3D modelling team and less so for their Developers/Coders?
- Still provide surface travel, even if it is in a very 'limited capacity'.. Yet still with the potential to provide a wealth of features you could add on top of that are already features of the current game like missions/trading etc.
- Something that Egosoft, given it's staff size? Wont be overwhelmed or need to invest too much in to pull off? That is the hope here. If not? Back to the drawing board.

----------------------------------
How it would play out in the game?
----------------------------------

It would be tied to the Terraformation Feature as a reward, but also a Foundation for future X Games to improve on.

- After completing the exact Research prerequisites (All Teleportation Research as Normal) Choose the Planet you want to Terraform (Get the News Report).
- Teleport your Headquarters to the Space it's asking you to.

This is where the Missions change to the new feature.

- Instead of providing materials to the planet surface, instead.. You build a Huge Mega-Station Project that will serve as your ONLY connection to the Planet surface. So those deciding to fly themselves to the Planet are going to get the 'Danger! Entering Atmosphere!!' Choice of Death.
I've thought of 2 ideas on how this will look? Lore wise, as well as what is less time consuming on Egosoft and it's resources to implement? Personally either way is cool to me, no judge.
Choose which you feel is workable/fastest to you in the end?

So..
Choice 1 - You build a 'Space Lift' to which you dock your ships Large or Small to deliver resources.
Personally I can see allot of problems with this idea (i.e Planet Rotation would make it look unrealistic and effect immersion with players), but left it here anyway as Egosoft know what's possible and what's not in the End?

Choice 2 - Instead you Build a 'Star-port', the idea is once you're docked at these Star ports, there are specially designed passenger ships called 'Landers' that can survive entering the planets atmosphere to which they will send you to the Planet Surface and back (Unless you Teleport back to the Port instead.)
Followed by a 'Cutscene of the Lander, leaving the Star-port to enter the Planet atmosphere' Loading Screen, basically, like the X3 Terran Conflict/Albion Prelude Jumpgate animation, but skippable (of course) as everything is seamless.

Can I fly my ship once on the Planet Surface?
a) No, Your Ship will be in storage on the Star-port/Space Lift in Space. Can't be accessed until you've returned to Space via the Lander.
b) However, you would be able to trade what's on your Ship with the Space Port Traders below via the map interface. It'll be sent from the Port to the Planets resource sink.
c) You are allowed to teleport back to your ship at the Star-Port rather than take the Lander back to Port.

It's this part to which I have Egosoft's situation in Mind. Trying to make Planet Travel as cost effective and less time consuming as I can think of.. Egosoft gets to dictate what we see on the ground! How large the area? What's there? etc.
I see this workaround as nothing more than being similar to 'Station walking', only you get good views of the Planet from the surface and maybe areas where you get a good sight seeing location, a Canyon or something of natural beauty the settlement is built near?

But in truth.. It'll consist of the following.

- A Square Grid Map of where you can walk on the surface Vs everything outside the map where you can't (Like on a Station but with a beautiful background/sky to look at (once terraformation is complete).
- There will be the Space Port in the centre, where you Land and where you take off back to Space.
- A street outside where all the shops are to trade, a Bar to receive missions/Gossip/Casinos/Botanical Gardens etc. Basically where NPCs walk/interact. Life going on.
- An underground Lift, futuristic version of a Metro System, something that'll operate like a Lift with a button, with a number of locations to visit, based on what you've built through Terraformation?
Choose what choices it gives you and it'll take you to a Station that reveals to you another Gridded/restricted area of the Planet where there could be some place of natural beauty to look at before you return to the Star-port.
Each structure you build in the Terraformation Project could unlock a location to visit on the Planet it is built in.
You could visit that vineyard? Or that Ski Resort you built in the Terraformation projects?

I'm open to critique? Ideas from Ego Reps and visitors? What do you think?
It seems to me that you have much clearer ideas about the actual structure of X4, so I like to discuss this in more depth.

Part of what you described is more or less what I thought long ago but in an even easier way for developers.

Instead of a special station such as the orbital elevator (which still requires 3D design, work, etc.), give the possibility, through terraforming projects, to be able to build an orbital accelerator identical to those already present in the game, which focuses directly on the planet.
This accelerator would shoot you with the whole spaceship directly towards the planetary station and it would become fixed, so that it could land on the planet later, even without the presence of the headquarters.
Once you go through the orbital accelerator, a very simple standard animation would appear, very similar to what you see in this X2 video from 15 seconds to 38 seconds (there is also an aquatic setting, so it would also be prepared for Boron).
The landscape of this sequence would differ according to the terraformable planets. So at present, for example, it would be 7 3D panoramas like the ones in the video. Maybe in a final version of X4 they would be double that, but they would be just panoramas, with no chance to get around.

After that the rest of the work would be station design only, as is already the case, but with many more room types. Some recycled from those already in the game, others totally new, with the obvious possibility of looking out the windows.
What you would see from the windows, as you said, would be the actual terraforming evolution you are doing. If you land at the beginning you will see a toxic atmosphere, a barren or volcanic ground, continuous tremors caused by earthquakes and so on.
As terraforming projects progress, you would see the landscape of the planet improve, with fields, industries, machinery for cleaning the atmosphere or irrigating the land, etc. In short, an effective vision of what is happening during the actual terraforming.
All of this may be cool enough to justify the presence of terraforming itself, which for many continues to be a useless function, despite the fact that it ultimately provides you with very hard-to-obtain things like 5-star captains and marines.

But now let's talk about what you could do at such a station. It goes without saying that it should have an end that has effects in orbit, as the rest of the game basically takes place high up in the stars.

Developing special and unique weapons for ships?
Unlocking unique ship blueprints? Like, does any terraforming give you a ship that doesn't normally exist? (similar to X3TC plots where almost every plot gave you a unique ship)
The construction of interstellar missiles to destroy specific stations in one fell swoop?
The development of the Jumpdrive? :roll:
A technology that allows you to Hack Xenon? 8) 8)

Even the excellent idea of ​​Xenon terraforming that instead wants to "destroy" "our terraforming" could easily coexist with everything I wrote above.

At the moment I do not think anything else, but keep in mind that the purpose of such a project must necessarily have something special that is worth all the work done, otherwise you will find yourself complaining players who will consider everything "useless" or "waste of time" as if the developers are doing it.

Now continue you :)

(sorry if there are english mistakes)
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Re: Will the next X game have landable planets and ground combat?

Post by spankahontis » Thu, 11. Aug 22, 23:18

Again, scene fades to black, cutscene of you returning to the Star-Port in space.
what Egosoft feels is fastest/cheaper for them; this would just be the foundation to better things in later games.

Thought about the Accelerator route? But, personally, I think the safest/fastest and less buggy route would be to just leave your ship on the Star-Port and take a ship, or (teleport there and back.) to avoid too much complication for Egosoft Coders. All codes are already in the game, Egosoft just needs to use them for this.
As for Planet Trade? Again, simplified to help Egosoft coders. The Star-Port in Space represents the Planets supply/demand sink, like a Trading Station.. Easier for you and your ship to trade with the planet using the Star-Port as the intermediary.
Easiest option for Egosoft to design/code in.
All Trading on the planet surface? That would be just 'Item Trading' for souvenirs that are rare to that planet, like going to a Stations store.
Then theirs exploration, also some rare missions at the bar, black marketeers wanting Space Weed through (Star-Port) customs, assassination jobs etc.
Also unique buildings that you unlock via terraformation that you can visit (Similar mode of transport as the lifts in a station), the 'Ski Resort' or 'the Vineyard' or 'the academy'.

The Boron issue is a good call, infact this way I propose would be the best option for travelling a Boron underwater city!
Apart from No Man's Sky way (Which is not the X4 Engine), I can't think of a better format that could be implemented, travelling to a Boron World would be to enter a Station underwater where you can see Boron swimming outside from a pressurized window or some gorgeous aquatic city in the distance with beautiful neon lights and other aquatic life swimming past. Just station walking in a Human friendly environment.. Egosoft Devs and 3D Artists will be having a field day, designing an alien environment to explore.
What you would see from the windows, as you said, would be the actual terraforming evolution you are doing. If you land at the beginning you will see a toxic atmosphere, a barren or volcanic ground, continuous tremors caused by earthquakes and so on.
As terraforming projects progress, you would see the landscape of the planet improve, with fields, industries, machinery for cleaning the atmosphere or irrigating the land, etc. In short, an effective vision of what is happening during the actual terraforming.
All of this may be cool enough to justify the presence of terraforming itself, which for many continues to be a useless function, despite the fact that it ultimately provides you with very hard-to-obtain things like 5-star captains and marines.
I would LOVE to see that happen, but it might be beyond Egosoft to do? Think it's a case of you Build the Star-Port, but you can't land on the surface until the Terraformation Process is complete.. Then Planet travel unlocks.
Like you can't walk on a Station until the Dock is built.. You can't walk on a planet until it's breathable and ready.
Maybe after the Planet has been made stable? You can land at the main port and walk around. I'm just thinking of the effort Egosoft Devs would have to put in to design the background through every transition, also the Earthquakes they'd have to code in as certain worlds have seismic activity on a timer. For now, it's kept as simple as possible, the foundation for later games to deal with.

Developing special and unique weapons for ships?
Unlocking unique ship blueprints? Like, does any terraforming give you a ship that doesn't normally exist? (similar to X3TC plots where almost every plot gave you a unique ship)
The construction of interstellar missiles to destroy specific stations in one fell swoop?
The development of the Jumpdrive? :roll:
A technology that allows you to Hack Xenon? 8) 8)

You already get certain unique rewards for terraforming.
Think the rest of that list is best saved for Future DLC.. Trying to keep planet travel as simple as I possibly can.
I hope my idea is simple enough that it's doable?
Even the excellent idea of ​​Xenon terraforming that instead wants to "destroy" "our terraforming" could easily coexist with everything I wrote above.
That's a good point?

Either Egosoft Devs make the Star-Port indestructible? Which I think is a bad idea, given we've seen what indestructible objects do to wars in X4, lots of Paranid Destroyers/fighters buzzing around Kha'ak Installations that wont die and Xenon Stations that wont die, or get rebuilt. It has slowed wars down to a halt.

This would be something the Devs would have to program into the game.
If, after you've built a Star-Port and the Xenon turn the tide of a war and overwhelm the Faction. If they destroy the Star-Port, I think reverse-terraforming is unnecessary.
Simply have a mission in the Terraformation missions list where you can't continue terraformation until you rebuild the Star-Port again.. How that is implemented? leave that down to the Devs and bug testers, but I think having to redo all the Terraformation again to repair the Xenon damage? Bit too much! People would be very angry!
But, yeah, there would of course, need allot of bug testing to make sure there are no exploits that could kill/break the whole process; there was in Terraforming that made it uncompletable, needed patching out.

I hope this has answered everything? Took me a while to type this up.. So sorry for late reply.
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My most annoying Bugs list 6.0 Beta 4 + [All DLC]
--------------------------------
Nvidium Worshop Animation Enlarge Broken :(
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Massive Framerate drops freezing game! :doh:
Save Corrupted Fixed the Crash! :-D

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grapedog
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Re: Will the next X game have landable planets and ground combat?

Post by grapedog » Mon, 15. Aug 22, 12:32

Anyone remember an old pirate game called Sea dogs? Came out in early 2000's i think.... very fun game except, for me at least, the goofy land fighting. The rest of the game was pretty crisp and fun... id rather not see Ego go the same route of trying to shoehorn in some janky planet based stuff that takes away from being in space.

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Re: Will the next X game have landable planets and ground combat?

Post by jojorne » Mon, 15. Aug 22, 14:25

What about Mass Effect? All the land part is just a few square meters of land lol

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Re: Will the next X game have landable planets and ground combat?

Post by magitsu » Mon, 15. Aug 22, 21:52

jojorne wrote:
Mon, 15. Aug 22, 14:25
What about Mass Effect? All the land part is just a few square meters of land lol
True, I don't think this game needs something like ME's boring copypaste side missions with Mako and random bunker in a wilderness/moon surface.
That's how it would be at best, since there's very limited developer resources. At worst it could be something as stupid as the ME's planet scanning/drone launching for resurces. We've seen minigames often in X instead of proper mechanisms when they've dabbled into something which they probably shouldn't have.

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Re: Will the next X game have landable planets and ground combat?

Post by Fulgrymm » Tue, 16. Aug 22, 04:36

I still remember Rebirth's tailgating minigame. I was not sad to see that go. And yeah, with their size and budget, any attempts at planetary activities would be ultimately unfulfilling for us as players. If X ever reaches Star Citizen levels of success, perhaps they can take another look at this idea.

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Re: Will the next X game have landable planets and ground combat?

Post by HammerHead91 » Tue, 16. Aug 22, 10:53

Perhaps it should. Let's have, say, 300,000 Marines against 1 billion armed planetary residents.

Oh, and the planetary residents have orbital mass drivers which will annihilate your Marines when they land.

Oh, and if you try to take out the orbital mass drivers, you'll get the planet's faction boot right up you.

Broadly speaking, I'm saying there are layers of disbelief in any entertainment system. There's no viable way for a player to take over a planet. It's like putting $1.00 into a Goldman Sachs account and thinking, "Ahhhh... I have you now!"

If you really need to fight on a planet, go outside. Punch someone. See what happens and get it out of your system. Guard your teeth.

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Re: Will the next X game have landable planets and ground combat?

Post by Exitialis101 » Tue, 16. Aug 22, 19:27

No one seems willing the meet the argument that smaller or comparative studios have managed procedural interactable planets with FPS elements. I think Egosoft can pull it off.
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Re: Will the next X game have landable planets and ground combat?

Post by grapedog » Tue, 16. Aug 22, 20:33

Exitialis101 wrote:
Tue, 16. Aug 22, 19:27
No one seems willing the meet the argument that smaller or comparative studios have managed procedural interactable planets with FPS elements. I think Egosoft can pull it off.
But what is the real value added? If they do planet landings, it is taking away resources from something else. What are you giving up to gain planet landfall, done well?

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