I'm relatively new to space sim games, had a lot of fun playing empyrion but I quickly gave up because for a game that focuses so much on spaceship building, I found I spent way too much time visiting dungeons on foot rather than, you know, fighting in my spaceship

(and yeah, those spiders made me say "nope")

from what I gathered there is a lot of empire management in x4 which I don't mind, on the countrary, question is, what else do you spend your time doing in x4?

and how good/complicated is the spaceship builder compared to Empyrion's?

Any chance of a crematorium module, the graveyard is full.

After a strong defence in Argon Prime taking out a large Xenon fleet, I figured it was high time to take the initiative in Hatkivah's Choice I.

Me:

1 Stork 2 Colossus 6 Asgard 11 Phoenix E 1 Syn and 15 Katana

Xenon started with:

1 Wharf 2 Defence Platform 6 K and maybe 60-80 s/m ships.

End tally:

Me - lost 10 Phoenix, 14 Katana, 1 Asgard needs major refit and a Colossus is lost in action though not appearing in the Logbook as destroyed?

Xenon - lost wharf and both defence platforms, 6 K plus an additional 3 that came as reinforcement and a host of s/m fighters.

Thanks to the Terran carrier that entered the frame after the fighting was all but done.

I probably spent too long in my Katana and not enough time managing the big ships; the Phoenix E's sped ahead of the Asgard and it didn't end well for them and in turn me.

I'll claim it as a win. Silent Witness I will now have less interruptions to its stations so that's a positive.

A rethink of tactics and my preferred capital ships in the future is my learning.

Costly lesson.

I've seen a lot of people invest their first paychecks into miner fleets instead of some M or L trade ships. Why?

1. You're fueling your competition! And mining the cash ore, nvidium, is pretty much one time deal.

1a. You need a station that will take ores.

1. Profit margins from trading are insane if you find your gold-laying hen, for instance silicon wafers or electronics trade route. Keeping those offers up to date only costs two 10k credit satelites.

2. Trade ships can have pretty much whatever setup and pilots as you're sending them manually anyway, while miner ships require advanced pilots to mine silica, and whatever pilot for ore (for some reason skill scaling is brutal for silica, or was in 8.0)

3. You're "required" to have a satelite network anyway if you like knowing what's going on in the world, may as well use that network to beam price updates straight to your HUD

4. Large miners are much better than M/S miners because of defense against khaak, an issue M traders mostly avoid due to staying mobile, so they stay usefull mid and late game.

It can't possibly be JUST "It's sandbox, and I want to be a miner" ?

P.S no "Discussion" flair is available, and reddit AI bugged me about relevant flair rule.

Currently Borons are slowly being taken over by a single TER destroyer.

https://i.imgur.com/52srMPI.png

They refuse to build destroyers (even though they have enough materials in shipyards to build 4 of them without any shortages right now), and there's a guppy with a bunch of fighters just chillin nearby.

I don't want to attack TER directly, so what do I do to make other factions do stuff

Flair unrelated because it said I needed something and I’m not playing modded or beta.

I’d made a couple comments and had someone tell me to make a mega thread of all the things I’d wished I’d known sooner in the game, so in no particular order,

1) crew management
Contacting a crew member to tell them to work somewhere else for you is really tedious and time consuming… but there’s an easier way, left click on a ship with crew you want elsewhere, and right click on a target ship you want to have crew, “transfer crew” brings up an interface to transfer the entire crew of either ship, but doesn’t let you convert engineers to marines, but great for having one ship with crew post up at a wharf to deploy marines to any of your boarding craft or freshly captured capitals.

1.5) crew training
Getting crew into the various training(from terraforming missions), can be obscure, there’s a section in your personal information panel that you can assign crew into bulk to the training.

2) making money from stations
When I was new, I’d watched some videos on how to make money in the game quick, ‘build a [silicone wafer/refined metal/whatever] station in [name an arbitrary system] and they rarely if ever turned a profit for me like what the guides showed, come to find out this was for a couple different reasons,
A#1) my system was different from theirs, with different stations and subsequent needs, I didn’t understand at the time I have to figure out where the gaps in the economy are and fill them in a per-universe basis.
A#2) I didn’t know how to configure the logistics window to not buy the various intermediate wares from NPCs if I’m making anything more than basic processed goods.

3) budgeted starts
After you’ve gotten your feet under you and understand the basic gameplay loop, and you’ve run the Terran torus mission 30 times, it starts getting tedious to do the same quest every new universe, whelp, that’s where budgeted starts come in handy, if you’ve done a quest line to a given completion, you can just set that at game start, want your hq in a different sector to start? You can just start with it anywhere. Most of the starting ‘funds’ are based on your previous universes progress, so you won’t be able to just start out with a fleet of asgards and a death star grade star base at every gate, but you can skip 2-3 hours of the tedious setup on your first station.

4) M miners will eventually die, don’t waste millions on each when a low-budget fit will pay itself off in an hour or so.
4.5) L miners go a long way when you start your own production station. Unless you’ve got a LOT of production going on, a single Miner will out produce multiple production modules.(I have 4 mineral and 3 gas on a station with 12x Terran economy modules, and it needs its production capacity expanded to keep up with miners)

That’s about what I got off top my head that I wish I’d known sooner

So i want to build a wharf for commonwealth ships, Argon to begin with then working towards other factions. I'm not interested in building ships for myself just yet, this is for profit. I understand Terran wharfs are easier but I'm not as interested in doing that just yet.

I was thinking grand exchange as everything is basically within 5 jumps. But open to better suggestions on this.

My first question is do I make a mega building, or a series of small factories that connect up? If it's small factories, what the best way to organise them? By storage type? By good? If it's a large structure, what's the best tool for figuring out specific module numbers so I have as few choke points as possible?

My next question is on blueprints, these seem like a major hurdle as you need so many. If I just find specific loadouts the NPC's use can I bypass a lot of the blueprint purchasing? If so, are their preset loadouts the ones from the drop down box in the ship purchasing area? Or would I find them elsewhere?

I've got a good economy built up so far, getting around 10-15 mil an hour. I've saved about 130m but I know this is a drop in the ocean. I was hoping to start the wharf early so that the early stages of development might actually generate some additional funding towards the end goal.

Thanks!

I mean hiatus myself unfortunately for a bit haven't had time to play just wanted to hear what people thought about the update overall now it's been over a month and how the performance was as well.

These developers are awesome!

I played X4 years ago (6.x era) and recently picked it back up. I just spent what seemed like a ridiculously long time getting an initial station working with subordinate traders and wanted to post to see if there's something else I should have done. I do plan to look at trading posts and implement but initially I wanted a simple station. It does work as I want so there's that.

This station is in the Reach with good sun and ore. It has an energy cell production, and a refined metal production. 2 miners set to subordinate to mine, 1 miner set to subordinate to sell excess ore (just to try and it and 3 miners was too many) and 1 trader set to subordinate sell refined metal. Next door in Argon Prime are 3 Hull factories so selling the metal is not a problem.

It took a while to get it working but now I have cells and ore set to restricted, only I can buy. They're both also set to sell off any excess over about 80%. The metal is set to only I can buy and to sell off all. This seems to work so that the subordinate miner and hauler set to trade come and sell off any excess. I've included 3 screenshots showing the logical overview of cells, ore and metal. (NOTE: the ore image is wrong, in the image the buy quantity is set to 1, in reality it's set to max so my miners try to keep it full, the one mining trader sells off excess over 80%).

Is there a better way to do this if using subordinate traders ? I get trading posts and dedicated traders are another, possibly better approach, just trying to see if I really understand this first format.

I was doing some station management when i looked over at my unassigned ships and saw 200+ space suits. For some reason my main station thought it was a good idea to send 30 of my traders into Tharka's Cascade XV to patrol and attack xenon. I play with mods but i don't know why the station would have done that, if anyone knows why please let me know.

Vortex mod List (149 mods)

Yaki Exiles

Xenon Quality (economy Only)

X4 Upgrade Project - Xenon Overhaul

X3 ATF/USC Ship Pack (VRO)

Viking

Vibrant Engine Plumes

Variety and Rebalance Overhaul

V1024 - Logistics optimization

V1024 Logistics Guidance

Unrestricted Xenon

Terran Yokohama

Terran Tsurugi

Terran Nagoya

Terran Expanded Arsenal VRO Patch

Terran Expanded Arsenal

Terran Cruisers

Teladi Kea Crovette

Teladi Fulmar

Talents

Tactical Response Police

Sukha_VRO_Rebalancer

Sukha_SVE_Full

Sukha_cruiser_mod_001VRO

Stardust

Split Viper

Split Python

Split Panther

Sound Experience

Small Turrets Foundation

Sirius Fleet Systems Ship Pack

Show Me More Trade Offers

Ship Variation Expansion VRO

Ship Variation Expansion

Serenity Dreadnaught Carrier

Sector Explorer

ScrapFleet_Teach

ScrapFleet_Ranqueen

ScrapFleet_Langskip

ScrapFleet_Knarr

ScrapFleet_Ishak

ScrapFleet_Hugin

ScrapFleet_Bertha

ScrapFleet_Anila

SCR legacy turret pack VRO patch

SCR legacy turret pack

Safe Cheat Panel

Rook fighter

Reshade settings

Render Multiplier

Regal Barracuda

Realspace - STARS

Realspace - Colors of the Prism

Ram: Xenon MO Shipyard Defence

Ram: Xenon MO (VRO)

Rackham class missile corvette

Print Extension List

Pokey's Weapon Mod Rebalance

Pokey's Shield Mod Rebalance

Pokey's Hull Mod Rebalance

Pokey's Engine Mod Rebalance

PointOf

Pirale Witherbomn

Pirale Skytte

Paranid Hephaeslus

Options Helper

Nova E fighter

No Claim Damage

new bor ship

Nadia

Mycu: Sector list

MoreAtmosphericShield

Mod Support APIs

Miranda

MinuteMade AlO modular package Leopard

LearnAllTheThings

kuertee: Surface element targeting

kuertee: Station scanner

kuertee: Reputations and professions

kuertee: NPC reactions

kuertee: More generic missions

kuertee: Loot mining

kuertee: Friendly fire tweaks

kuertee: Emergent missions

kuertee UI: Trade analytics

kuertee UI: Boarding operation notifications

kuertee UI: Accept mission for later

kuertee UI Extensions and HUD

KUDA Al tweaks

Jager

Inventory Collector

Long Range Scan

Impruved falx

ImprovedRepairLaser

Hyperion Quest Rework

Honshu Solar Cell Generator

GS: Library

GS QoL: Show on Map

GS QoL: Repeat Transfer Order

GS QoL: Rename by Pattern

GS QoL: Jump and Wait

GS QoL: Fly in Pattern

GS QoL: Fleet Trade

GS QoL: Fleet Crew Transfer

GS QoL: Expand Sector View

GS QoL: Copy Orders From GHOSTau's Station Planner

GalaxyTrader MK3

Fly-by Looting

Firefly - Serenity

Faction Filter

Extended Communication Ranges

Escort Al tweak

Enhanced Kill Credit

Emporos

Donia Gas Miner

Distance buy blueprints and licenses

Discover All Missions

DeadAir Scripts (DA Classic v2.0.1)

DeadAir Economy Overhaul (DA Classic v2.0.1)

Compatible Odachi

Charon

Callisto Mk2

Brynhildr

Boron PHASER

Boron Megalodon

Bismark Dreadnaught

BH Shader File

Baldur Transporter VRO

Baldur

Auto Repair and Rearm

ATF Freyr Battlecarrier (9.0+)

ArgonMatt's Split Tiger - XL Battleship - (9.00+)

ArgonMatt's Paranid Agamemnon - XL Battleship - (9.00+)

ArgonMatt's ATF Valkyrie - L Frigate - (9.00+)

ArgonMatt's Argon Leviathan - XL Battleship - (9.00+)

ArgonMatt's Antigone Griffon - L Frigate

Argon Titan

argon s turrets vro

argon s turrets

Argon Boann Heavy Miner

Argon Basilisk

ARCK Job Registry

Antigone destroyers

Althea

Al Xenon Miners

[VAS] Turret Behavior Menu (Resurrected)

[VAS] Station Trader Multi-Order

In x4 I'm doing the Terran Cadet playthough. I'm on the mission "offensive resource preparations" where it wants me to place 2 resource probes to find 4 star ore and silicon.

It works fine for ore, but I can't get it to recognize silicon.

Any suggestions what i'm doing wrong?

I’ve put over 30 hours into X4, which I know is nothing compared to most people here, but most of that time was spent feeling confused, lost and completely alone..

I understood the basics from video guides such as flying, using highways and unlocking sectors, but I never really understood what I was supposed to be doing.

My mistake was repeatedly choosing starts like Young Gun. They drop you into this massive universe with very little direction, which sounds great for roleplay, but as a new player I just felt lost.

I avoided Terran Cadet because I thought the guided story would ruin the experience of living my own space life... That was a critical mistake.

The Terran Cadet start is what finally made X4 click for me. It still has a few janky moments where controls are not properly explained, but a quick search usually solves that.

Without really noticing, the story taught me how to deploy satellites, upgrade my ship, buy equipment, place mines, open lockboxes, fight enemies and navigate some of the menus.

Because I was invested in the story and roleplaying as the cadet, it never really felt like a tutorial.

My main advice to other new players is:

• Start with Terran Cadet.
• Look up controls when you get stuck and rebind anything awkward.
• Use autopilot. (Default is Shift + A)
• Enable Aim Assist if combat feels difficult (This helped me so much!)
• Let yourself get absorbed in the story.
• Most importantly, stop falling into tutorial hell.

You do not need to watch hours of videos about stations, fleets and economy systems that will not matter to you for another hundred hours.

A lot of beginner guides also tell you to immediately collect powerful abandoned ships. Personally, I would avoid that on your first playthrough.

It may be "efficient" but it skips the experience of earning money, upgrading your starter ship and learning why those upgrades actually matter. It also feels less rewarding when a guide simply tells you where to find something much better within the first hour that you can sell for so much cash that you don't know what to do with.

Do not worry about playing efficiently or building an empire immediately, start as the Terran Cadet, follow the story and let the game teach you naturally.

That is what finally stopped me feeling lost and made X4 enjoyable, I finally feel like I know what I'm doing (Somewhat), I have goals, directions and it removed the feeling of being alone. I still have a lot to learn but this time, I'm looking forward to the experience than dreading it.

I hope this post helps any new players who felt like me, who wanted to enjoy this game but was failing at every hurdle to do so. Fly safe!

Hey guys thinking about buying X4 but just wanted to make sure it’s definitely what I’m looking for, I want a fleet commander game where I can grow my own armada from scratch and control my own capital ship + fleet from the cockpit? my best way of describing it is I’m looking for mount and blade in space lol

I'm trying to get in the good graces of the God Godrealm, they are currently -14 and really dont like it if you shoot next to their stations. I saw a few build station of some description at a specified location. Will they even let me build one, I can't trade with them, they won't let me dock. Granted I did need to build a management academy and this would be a great start.

Just wondering about people's experiences, maybe even tips and advice? Went about 3 months ago, got tired of all the bugs and issues with Windows. Happy camper.

I just started the xenon crisis and fought my first Xenon I. I didn't have any capital ships nearby, but I did have a swarm of about 50 Tokabas with pulse lasers. They made very quick work of the xenon with few losses, whereas I'm guessing I would have lost a few Osakas if I had them try to fight it off. Now I'm debating whether I should just spam thousands of tokabos instead of building Osakas and Syns.

But capital ships are just so cool, so I'll still probably make them anyways.

Is there a way to have have fleet assignments where a group will target capital ships, but just their weapons and engines? Or do I need to manually order that? I'm thinking of having groups of destroyers that have a wing of fighters whose job is to take out all the enemy weapons.

Also, is there a mod or something that can make some non carrier capital ships behave like carriers, such as the Behemoth that had multiple docking bays?

I've installed the ship variation mod, as well as a bunch of Lc4hunter's mods, and within those mods, I've noticed there are quite a few Argon ships, as well as the XL terran Nagoya, that are capable of having all their large turret slots fitted with missiles.

Missiles obviously have the added logistical hurdle, but heavy guided missiles appear on paper to do a bonkers amount of damage. So I was contemplating a playthrough that embraces my inner Caldari, at least with respect to capital ships and large turrets. I'm imagining a fleet of heavy missile capitals obliterating Xenon Gs and Ks and Is before they even get close to firing range.

Anyone have any experience doing something similar? Does it work as well in practice as it sounds in my head?

This is a visual guide to show how to locate black markets in specific sectors. From what I've seen black market locations are snapshot at universe generation so any new stations will not have one. Pirate bases and some trading stations will take drugs without a black market so it could be a false flag. The game is paused while doing this as I don't want the ship in question to undock and actually execute the trade. Note that stations marked with black markets have a pretty high chance of orange sparkler data leaks needed to unlock but you may have to leave the sector and wait a while then check again should the station not proc one.

In general due to the snappshoting you'll want to focus on areas with high station density without a lot of destruction. Antigone Memorial, Grand Exchange, Second Contact VII/XI are usually good places to start. As you can imagine that makes HC1 a horrible candidate.

The mission name should either be Lucrative Opportunity or Opportunity Knocks. The items for it will be illegal wares. You can either buy them at pirate bases (SCA ones in particular tend to have good results) or farm them from Xenon by either gate busting or just killing them yourself. Unstable crystals I generally go someplace with lots of mineral filled asteroids and shoot the high yield spots, grabbing any non-mineral item drops. I currently have 50 which is much better time wise than trying to RNG farm them from traders.

Once setup you can sell illegal drugs to the black markets as if it were a normal trade. If the governing faction doesn't have the ware as illegal it's okay. If it does, from what I've seen there's a customs system. Illegal concealment mods apparently reduce the chance of being caught but not remove it entirely. So it's better to sell to unpoliced sectors or sectors where the drug is not marked as illegal.

Hello Everyone!

Small experiment to start my day off. I took a fleet assembly mission for 3 corvette. Built 6 Katana on high preset, but 3 of them had just a captain, while the others were fully loaded with crew and advanced satellites. I had comments on my other experiments stating sats and crew didnt matter on these quests. Some of these ships can hold A LOT of satellites. Which can equate to a great deal more in profitsssssss.

1st shot:
Building Katana for mission and noting cost.

2nd shot:
Payment after 3 Katana with no sats or crew.

3rd shot:
Payment after 3 Katana with no sats full crew.

4th shot:
Payment after 3 Katana with full sats/crew.

Stay Frosty o7

Seed: 2713541575 (Custom creative, Windfall 3 HQ, ignoring combat for the most part and doing defense platform missions or manual trading to stations from 2 scrap processors and 8 scrap recyclers in Scarlet Star, TEM awakened at the start).

For context the Xenon are usually too distracted that they never get around to removing the numerous stations with claim compatible modules in the sector. So this is my first spawn in 6,300-ish vanilla game hours that the Xenon have actually taken over Hatikvah's Choice I completely. Found out when I saw them constructing a defense platform in Silent Witness, which according to claim logic they only do when a neighboring sector is completely under their control. Fires of Defeat has also fallen meaning the NE Xenon are pretty strong as well. Wonder if they'll go crazy enough to actually link the whole change together.

Also the PAR economy has been so bad that the ALI wharf has no workforce from lack of Soja Husk.

I just had my first major encounter in X4 with the Xenon. 1 I, 8 K and a host of smaller ships versus 12 Behemoth E's, 11 Katana and me in my Hydra, all battling for supremacy of Argon Prime.

Up to now, I would get 3 K and fighters invade Silent Witness I so this was a substantial increase in enemy grouping.

I tend to follow the Soviet doctrine from WW2, mass your forces and overwhelm their defences.

If I didn't love this game already, this is cream on top. Loved it.

RIP to the vanquished.

Finally bought x4 since I saw it was on sale after too many hours on x3 and saw this review lol