X4 Gonna Give It To Ya

Posted on 30 Aug 2017 by
Jay Shaw

The venerable X series has been around a long time and has advanced light years in terms of playability and polish, not to mention features from early iterations. The latest sequel, X4: Foundations has just been announced and is looking beautiful, more complex, and more accessible to new players than ever. Lets dive into some of the details we have.

One of the new features that grabbed our attention straight away is piloting ships – well duh right? It’s a spaceflight game, of course you pilot ships. Well, in X4: Foundations you’ll be able to pilot anything from drones and utility vehicles all the way up to fighters and gigantic carriers. Additionally you’re not stuck with just one ship, you can have an entire fleet at your command and even teleport from ship to ship to take control of any of them at any time.

Supply chains and building stations isn’t new to the series but the way you build stations in X4 is. A new modular station construction mechanic will allow you to build your stations out of smaller parts and customise them to a greater degree than in previous games. Modular components aren’t just a feature of stations either, ships will feature upgradable parts that can be applied in a graphical editor and actually seen on the ship once you’re done.

Supply chains have also been upgraded from previous games. Empires will now flourish or fail based on supplies and economy. A booming alien economy may look to expand their territory to take over more of the universe. This is the first time in the X series that allows races to build and expand using the same tools available to the player. You can even influence the universe via supply and demand.

It looks like interacting with all the various complex systems of the game has been simplified down to a single interface – the map. You’ll manage fleets, build stations, check information, teleport, and plot routes all through a remarkably feature dense map. From what can be seen in the trailer it looks fairly easy to read but the wealth of menus might be a little daunting to dive into. Still, it should offer a smoother experience than the old but well loved ship computer of X2.

From your HQ you’ll be able to research new technologies too, teleportation is the one that’s been revealed so far but we can safely assume that a research mechanic wasn’t invented for a single ability. Here’s hoping we can research nukes, games need more capital ship destroying nukes.

Lastly, as usual for an X game, you’ll be able to choose from various starts to your life in the universe. Each of these starts not only influences the money and ship available to you at the beginning of the game but also relations with different factions. X4 Foundations will also have these game starts feature different characters.

Stay tuned fore more information as we get it. We’re big fans of the X games, flaws and all they’re some of the unsung heroes of spaceflight games.


Official Press Release

X4: FOUNDATIONS, the long awaited sequel in the successful X series brings our most sophisticated universe SIMULATION ever. Manage an empire or EXPLORE space in first person. Fly every ship, TRADE and FIGHT to BUILD your empire with modular station construction and THINK carefully when embarking on an epic journey.

Freedom to personally fly all ships: X4 will allow you to fly all ships personally. From small scouts over a wide range of ship classes up to the biggest carrier, everything can be piloted from the cockpit or an external view. Additionally some drones and utility vehicles in X4 can be remotely controlled by the player. A big focus in the development of X4 has been to achieve a seamless and immersive experience when moving between ships. You can leave a ship, climb down a ladder, walk over the dock of a large space station into another ship you may have parked there and replace the pilot that was working for you just by clicking on his chair.

Modular stations and ship upgrades: Building space stations and factories has always been a foundation of the X games. After gaining enough money through fighting or trading, most players want to establish their own economy and start influencing the universe on a larger scale. In X4, it is now possible to be completely free and creative. Stations can be constructed from a variety of modules, be it production modules, living sections, docks or many other types of parts. The powerful new map system allows you to drag and connect modules using a connection system to design your own unique creations. Ships also offer a variety of upgrades. Engines, weapons and other equipment can be added in a graphical editor and actually seen on the ship.

Most dynamic X universe ever: X4 will be the first X game to allow our races and factions to freely build and expand their empires; the same flexibility the player enjoys in creatively designing space stations from modular building blocks is also available to them. Races expand their empire based on supply and demand, which leads to an extremely dynamic universe where every action the player makes can influence the course of the entire universe.

Managing your empire with a powerful map: Once you have more ships and many NPCs working for you as pilots, crew or station managers, the map will be your preferred method of managing it all. Ships can be ordered with simple clicks and through drag-and-drop operations to set their future path and commands. Graphically plan your trade routes, coordinate attacks with your entire fleet, manage the hierarchy or send ships on remote exploration missions.

Most detailed X economy ever: One of the key selling points of X games has always been the real, simulated economy. Wares produced by hundreds of stations and transported by thousands of ships are actually traded by NPCs and prices develop based on this simulated economy. This is the foundation of our living and breathing universe. Now with X4, we have taken another, massive step. For the first time in any X game, all parts of the NPC economy are manufactured from resources. Ships, weapons, upgrades, ammo and even stations. You name it. Everything comes out of the simulated economy.

Research and Teleportation: The seamless change from ship to ship and from NPCs controlling your empire for you continues on a higher level. Once you own a larger fleet, you will be very interested in researching a technology from your HQ: Teleportation. Once you’ve unlocked teleportation, you can jump from ship to ship a lot quicker and experience all the critical situations your NPCs encounter first hand. Every order you have given to a ship before turns into a mission objective when you pilot the ship yourself. The moment you leave again, your pilot takes the helm and continues with their previous orders.

Get into the game: In X4, you can start your journey from a number of different gamestarts and as a number of different characters, each with their own role, set of relations and different ships and technologies to start with. No matter how you start, you are always free to develop in any other direction. Focus on exploration, make money with illegal trading and theft, command large battle fleets or become the greatest entrepreneur ever. It’s all up to you to decide.

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