PHQ Ship Building

[Moderato_bei_X]

Faintly remembering that in X3, the PHQ was able to produce and also reverse engineer ships out of the box, I wonder if it's the same in X4? So far, I've only got the teleportation research showing up and going (and, uhm, started building a few storage, energy cell, a meat factory module and a T pier, which might have been a bad idea, since people usually recommend E-type piers). While I've seen posts mentioning ship fabrication modules and people actually outfitting the PHQ with wharf and shipyard modules, it makes me wonder whether these are prerequisites for building ships or the capability to do is unlocked later through the plot, without having to build anything special.

Also, I'm putting it into the spoiler forum due to that.

[TheDeliveryMan]

There is no reverse engineering in the game.

Shipbuilding is not tied to the HQ, you can turn any station into a shipyard/wharf if you have the corresponding blueprints.

[Moderato_bei_X]

Yeah, building wharfs and shipyards (whether separate or as a complex attached to the PHQ) and getting the blueprints one way or another is certainly possible, but a hassle. It also doesn't seem to really make any sense for the PHQ, since demand is rather low, given that multiple wharfs/shipyards are just a few jumps away (though, frankly, still too many for my taste).

It's just that you got the ability to reverse engineer ships/blueprints and especially to build them hassle-free and out of the box via the PHQ in X3, which made me wonder if I'm just not far enough in the story to actually unlock it.

Oh well, looks there's no other way around wharfs/shipyards. Thanks.

[jlehtone]

It's just that you got the ability to reverse engineer ships/blueprints and especially to build them hassle-free and out of the box via the PHQ in X3, which made me wonder if I'm just not far enough in the story to actually unlock it.

Doesn't the "X4 PHQ plot" start with: Please, build dock. Please, build storage. Please, ...
That sets a precedent that player must build station modules in order to achieve xyz.

Blueprints for some station modules can be obtained by scanning data leaks (after PHQ has researched "hacking").
Alas, the blueprints for modules that produce ships must be bought, so you have to make some friends and have to get some credits.

Ship and equipment blueprints are all bought, with one exception: ToA's unique ship's equipment blueprints are hidden in vaults.

Yes, X4 is different from X3. Since we can build Wharf modules, what would getting one with PHQ add / why have one "different"?
In X3 you had only one PHQ that did build one ship at a time (and took sweet time with some). In X4 you can have thousand shipyards churning out ships simultaneously. Not entirely bad tradeoff.

[Moderato_bei_X]

Blueprints for some station modules can be obtained by scanning data leaks (after PHQ has researched "hacking").

Looks like I'm not far enough in the plot line to have the hacking research options available. At least I can't remember having researched that and I certainly can't remember having found blueprints by scanning stations, which I do quite often, mostly just for fun (and to get additional missions to boost confidence levels).

Alas, the blueprints for modules that produce ships must be bought, so you have to make some friends and have to get some credits.

I've read that hacking is also a viable option for getting ship blueprints. The general idea seems to be using EMP bombs and then hack ship... modules(?) (probably just the hull?) or something along those lines. That might only actually work for actual modules such as turrets, weapons, engines, though, and not for the actual ship hull.

Yes, X4 is different from X3. Since we can build Wharf modules, what would getting one with PHQ add / why have one "different"?
In X3 you had only one PHQ that did build one ship at a time (and took sweet time with some). In X4 you can have thousand shipyards churning out ships simultaneously. Not entirely bad tradeoff.

That's true. I wasn't able to remember whether you were able to build own shipyards in X3. Given your message, that likely was not the case. There was also no distinction between shipyards and wharfs previously, which got me massively confused. To this day, I don't quite understand why a shipyard can build (large) ships in X4, but cannot outfit (at least smaller) ships, while equipment docks and wharfs can. IMHO, shipyards should be allowed to equip and repair any type of ship. The main distinction comes from the ability to build certain ship types and that wouldn't change.

[jlehtone]

Regular S/M Dock cannot equip/repair ships. Only the S/M maintenance/build modules can. NPC Shipyards have only regular docks for S/M. Player can add all modules to same station.

X2 had separate Shipyards and Wharfs. X3's did not.

I've read that hacking is also a viable option for getting ship blueprints.

Not in the current game, AFAIK.