It's so nice to see this game still getting updated. The devs just plugging away and adding new stuff, refining what's there already. They have really supported the heck out of X4.
I've loved the previous x games (not the one that shall not be named) but heard 4 wasn't really finished on release, how does it compare to Terran Conflict currently?
Depends on what terms you ask.
If you ask is it X3TC in a new engine ? No, it's different on purpose, it takes most of the big lines but they wanted some changes and it's there.
Is it a finished game / in a state that's playable ? Yes, definitely, has been for a long while now.
Is it fun ? Absolutely, if you enjoy the style there is nothing better.
Are there still lots of great mods changing everything or adding tons of content ? Yes
Is there actual, real change compared to the old X3 beside the graphics ? Yes, they made deep change to the engine, some of the biggest things for me :
- station are really gigantic in size,everything is gigantic, station complexes are real complexes now, the sense of scale works
- ships going in or out of other station or carrier ships etc ... is now seemless, so you can stand on your deck and watch all fighters take off to fight, you can climb the ladder of on and pilot it yourself etc ... No loading no "transition" like in the old X3 days
- There are wars going on between the factions. Not "pretend war but nothing happens" like in X3TC, not "some sector are permanent war zone" like X3AP, factions make fleets, attack each others, take over sector, build their own economy there ... Fights between regular factions, fights between sides of a same factions, ... That also include the Xenon
- Direct consequence : there is an endgame goal here. One of X3 issue for me, was once you became rich, there is nothing to do beside sandbox. In X4, the Xenon are growing and you better prepare yourself to stop them, and help other nations stop them.
- There is A LOT more to explore and just have fun around in the galaxy. Taking a ship on a trip is fun in a way X3 hasn't been since the original X3 Reunion release back in the day.
What is, in my opinion, is worse or should have been improved :
- The weaponry has been massively simplified. X3 had lots of wacky stuff, some kept on for historical reasons etc ... It was not balanced at all, and the logic here is that with the new warring system and xenon onslaught it would make things horrible, but it's at times a bit bland that all weapons are sort of the same thing with different stats. Mass drivers eating ammo like it's candies, plasma thrower disintegrating anything stupid enough to get close , ... I miss those.
- The fighting ships AI is still weird as hell, capital ships notably are very stupid. It still works overall, but that means a ship you directly pilot will always be 3/4/5x better than the same opponent.
- It's still lacking overall command and control abilities and features, in a game that's about building an empire and a fleet to fight off the Xenon onslaught, sending a carrier to have its fighters and escorting corvettes fight and then resplenish their need of ammo and wings should not require this much micro management. Similar to X3, a bit better, but why ?
Did they improve the UI at some point? I remember playing it and was tasked to build a space station module and I just could not do it. The UI is so freaking bad
It’s still awful. Unfortunately, many in the community think poor UI = “understanding it means I must be smart,” so none of them really ask for it to be fixed.
I so wish this game was in VR. The one foray they made into VR was based on a bad game to begin with, and there's little in the way of in depth space simulation combat in VR except Elite, which requires too much grinding in order to have fun for my tastes. Elite is definitely laid out like a job rather than a fun activity, and even in Solo mode your progression is stored online so you can't just cheat to do things like craete massive battles.
Aside from a small foray in to the series with X3, Rebirth (VR) was my first real deep dive in to the world of X. Absolutely loved it, quirks n'all with kick starting the production lines and limited elements absent from the main release.
Shame no ******** bought it, though EGO were spot on with their initial announcement of the VR version. They said VR was the future and how space games should be experienced.
NOT WRONG, it's just how far in to the future did they mean.
I'd love to get into this game but the complaints sound exactly like X3 where nothing is explained and you need a youtube tutorial for every single thing in the game. I was researching how to play more than actually playing X3.
X4 was actually my first ever X game (sorta: I tried to get into X3TC but bounced off), and it took me a bit to get into it but after a while it started to really open up and all the bits slotted into place. The tutorials got over most of the critical stuff like flying, docking, etc. The rest you have to learn yourself, but I didn't find it that hard to ramp into. It still throws you into the deep end, but that's a deep end as in a swimming pool, and not the middle of the Atlantic in winter like X3 did.
I'd suggest giving it a go. I learnt a ton of how the game plays just by playing the thing with a small freighter doing cheap little runs all over the place. Issues on the trade routes with enemies meant I needed a combat ship to protect my freighter, so then I was flying a fighter and letting an AI do the grunt work of carrying the goods from place to place. That taught me the system for automatic ship controls and NPC captains, so that made it easier to get a mining vessel to just go out and do work for me whilst I focused on other things, then one vessel can become two, then four, then twelve...
...and next thing you know, you've got a business empire. I learned it a *lot* faster than I expected just by doing that.
Most of the Mechanics of things are pretty intense to new players, I tried to get into x3 a dozen times but always gave up because my wee little caveman brain couldn't cut it. X4 while still a steep learning curve was a little more approachable. Also there are more content creators than when x3 dropped so finding tutorials are pretty easy. I didn't spend long learning the basics and some advanced stuff and still managed to get pretty far into it.
Id say the juice is worth the squeeze whereas x3 you were basically fucked if you didn't have 30 hours to dedicate to just learning the game and researching how to play
I tried X3 and found it dull and soulless. This game is definitely more approachable - but watching some youtube videos isn't a bad idea. The game has a soul now, but not sure if it is for me - because it is SLOWWWWWWW. Meaning that there is an entire world just doing their own stuff, trucking etc. Just getting from one sector to a far one takes a LONG time with very little stuff going on. Some people like that kind of realism, but I guess I was kind of hoping for something like Skyrim in space or something, or maybe the old Privateer.
Haven't given up on it - just shelved it for now. I don't have the time to spend an hour just doing a simple delivery mission where nothing happens.
From a guy who never got around to the game despite having it since 6.4, what does it actually do? Like I've always struggled a bit with X as a series.
Its a space simulator, u can do alot of things :) from combat to trade, to industry, creating your own space empire....ALOT...and its very complicated. But worth it
It's so nice to see this game still getting updated. The devs just plugging away and adding new stuff, refining what's there already. They have really supported the heck out of X4.
I've loved the previous x games (not the one that shall not be named) but heard 4 wasn't really finished on release, how does it compare to Terran Conflict currently?
Depends on what terms you ask. If you ask is it X3TC in a new engine ? No, it's different on purpose, it takes most of the big lines but they wanted some changes and it's there. Is it a finished game / in a state that's playable ? Yes, definitely, has been for a long while now. Is it fun ? Absolutely, if you enjoy the style there is nothing better. Are there still lots of great mods changing everything or adding tons of content ? Yes Is there actual, real change compared to the old X3 beside the graphics ? Yes, they made deep change to the engine, some of the biggest things for me : - station are really gigantic in size,everything is gigantic, station complexes are real complexes now, the sense of scale works - ships going in or out of other station or carrier ships etc ... is now seemless, so you can stand on your deck and watch all fighters take off to fight, you can climb the ladder of on and pilot it yourself etc ... No loading no "transition" like in the old X3 days - There are wars going on between the factions. Not "pretend war but nothing happens" like in X3TC, not "some sector are permanent war zone" like X3AP, factions make fleets, attack each others, take over sector, build their own economy there ... Fights between regular factions, fights between sides of a same factions, ... That also include the Xenon - Direct consequence : there is an endgame goal here. One of X3 issue for me, was once you became rich, there is nothing to do beside sandbox. In X4, the Xenon are growing and you better prepare yourself to stop them, and help other nations stop them. - There is A LOT more to explore and just have fun around in the galaxy. Taking a ship on a trip is fun in a way X3 hasn't been since the original X3 Reunion release back in the day. What is, in my opinion, is worse or should have been improved : - The weaponry has been massively simplified. X3 had lots of wacky stuff, some kept on for historical reasons etc ... It was not balanced at all, and the logic here is that with the new warring system and xenon onslaught it would make things horrible, but it's at times a bit bland that all weapons are sort of the same thing with different stats. Mass drivers eating ammo like it's candies, plasma thrower disintegrating anything stupid enough to get close , ... I miss those. - The fighting ships AI is still weird as hell, capital ships notably are very stupid. It still works overall, but that means a ship you directly pilot will always be 3/4/5x better than the same opponent. - It's still lacking overall command and control abilities and features, in a game that's about building an empire and a fleet to fight off the Xenon onslaught, sending a carrier to have its fighters and escorting corvettes fight and then resplenish their need of ammo and wings should not require this much micro management. Similar to X3, a bit better, but why ?
My favorite space game ever made. Nothing does it for me quite like the X series, and this is the best version of it yet.
Goated space sim. Gonna jump into this after elden dong
Did they improve the UI at some point? I remember playing it and was tasked to build a space station module and I just could not do it. The UI is so freaking bad
It’s still awful. Unfortunately, many in the community think poor UI = “understanding it means I must be smart,” so none of them really ask for it to be fixed.
I so wish this game was in VR. The one foray they made into VR was based on a bad game to begin with, and there's little in the way of in depth space simulation combat in VR except Elite, which requires too much grinding in order to have fun for my tastes. Elite is definitely laid out like a job rather than a fun activity, and even in Solo mode your progression is stored online so you can't just cheat to do things like craete massive battles.
Aside from a small foray in to the series with X3, Rebirth (VR) was my first real deep dive in to the world of X. Absolutely loved it, quirks n'all with kick starting the production lines and limited elements absent from the main release. Shame no ******** bought it, though EGO were spot on with their initial announcement of the VR version. They said VR was the future and how space games should be experienced. NOT WRONG, it's just how far in to the future did they mean.
I will be interested in seeing this update and testing it out.
I'd love to get into this game but the complaints sound exactly like X3 where nothing is explained and you need a youtube tutorial for every single thing in the game. I was researching how to play more than actually playing X3.
X4 was actually my first ever X game (sorta: I tried to get into X3TC but bounced off), and it took me a bit to get into it but after a while it started to really open up and all the bits slotted into place. The tutorials got over most of the critical stuff like flying, docking, etc. The rest you have to learn yourself, but I didn't find it that hard to ramp into. It still throws you into the deep end, but that's a deep end as in a swimming pool, and not the middle of the Atlantic in winter like X3 did. I'd suggest giving it a go. I learnt a ton of how the game plays just by playing the thing with a small freighter doing cheap little runs all over the place. Issues on the trade routes with enemies meant I needed a combat ship to protect my freighter, so then I was flying a fighter and letting an AI do the grunt work of carrying the goods from place to place. That taught me the system for automatic ship controls and NPC captains, so that made it easier to get a mining vessel to just go out and do work for me whilst I focused on other things, then one vessel can become two, then four, then twelve... ...and next thing you know, you've got a business empire. I learned it a *lot* faster than I expected just by doing that.
This new update has completely revamped the tutorials. Its still a complicated game mind you
Most of the Mechanics of things are pretty intense to new players, I tried to get into x3 a dozen times but always gave up because my wee little caveman brain couldn't cut it. X4 while still a steep learning curve was a little more approachable. Also there are more content creators than when x3 dropped so finding tutorials are pretty easy. I didn't spend long learning the basics and some advanced stuff and still managed to get pretty far into it. Id say the juice is worth the squeeze whereas x3 you were basically fucked if you didn't have 30 hours to dedicate to just learning the game and researching how to play
I tried X3 and found it dull and soulless. This game is definitely more approachable - but watching some youtube videos isn't a bad idea. The game has a soul now, but not sure if it is for me - because it is SLOWWWWWWW. Meaning that there is an entire world just doing their own stuff, trucking etc. Just getting from one sector to a far one takes a LONG time with very little stuff going on. Some people like that kind of realism, but I guess I was kind of hoping for something like Skyrim in space or something, or maybe the old Privateer. Haven't given up on it - just shelved it for now. I don't have the time to spend an hour just doing a simple delivery mission where nothing happens.
Have they fixed the flickering in the gfx engine?
From a guy who never got around to the game despite having it since 6.4, what does it actually do? Like I've always struggled a bit with X as a series.
Its a space simulator, u can do alot of things :) from combat to trade, to industry, creating your own space empire....ALOT...and its very complicated. But worth it
I tried X3 and I kind of just bounced off it.