5 BIG Time Saver in X4 Foundations

[@prastagus3]

So that's how Shuffle station parts worked. That will be the greatest time saver for me

[@Fallub]

The shuffle trick alone was worth the watch. Hundreds of hours in and I did not know about it. So many wasted hours fiddling with the construction menu for naught :(

[@3komma141592653]

Number 6, park cheap ships at each faction rep station, so you can teleport there instead of flying. Bonus if you name them something like X Teladi, X Argon, so you find them fast in your list. Only later you can directly teleport to the station.

[@CreatorOfWorlds]

I usually combine them into a fleet(mimic commander) to make them stand out.

[@XxKidnoffxX]

The shuffle thing is a good tip. I hope Egosoft will add a option to 'complete' a complexe. If I want 5 factory of shield, just put my 5 factory and click 'auto complete' to have all the other stations needed. Because right now, I need to use a website to calculate everything. I play in french, the website is in english. I lost so much time just for that.

[@agoosecalledxaro6679]

That would be awesome. Just imagine that you add 3 claytronics modules, and all you have to do is click a button to add all the production modules needed to maintain them. That would be epic.

[@TheDarkCastra]

It would be enough if the game tells you what items the stations would need in the building menu. Has anyone suggested that in the forum already?

[@Vlamyncksken]

@@TheDarkCastra IIRC it does tell you that

[@Selvalis]

"Some Xenon terraformed your ships into flying bricks" best line ever lol

[@LeeAndrewVideos]

I just bought the game, a week ago or so, and all your videos have saved me hours of more pain. Wish I had seen this specific video a week ago! Thanks for sharing!

[@CaptainCollins]

Hope you enjoy it! Awesome to know :)

[@WoNCrawler]

Be careful with the shuffle module button when you got commonwealth and terran blueprints. it will sometimes sneak in terran connector modules into a commonwealth factory and vice versa, you'll often end up having to provide the resources yourself that way when you build far away from terran space.

[@MrDd2331d]

To expand on the search function tip, it's worth mentioning the "object list" on the left hand side as well. Given the sheer amount of ships/factories you might end up with, if you get the notification a plunderer turned hostile for whatever reason, one of the dozen or more spawned plunderers will show as red in the object list, of course it works with SCA, BUC and VIG as well (Captain probably is already aware of this but for those that aren't, here you go)

[@Zartren]

To add to the search function, if you type in the name of a ware, it will activate the map trade mode and filter in the stations that either buy of sell that ware. You can add up to three ware filters concurrently that way.

[@Archangelusbe]

You can have more than three filters. That number is tied to the number of trade listings you see in the pop-up, which you can control via the filter settings. It's one of the three buttons on the top right of the map screen.

[@DreadX10]

@@Archangelusbe Yes, at max setting it is 5 stations. And right-clicking on a trade-listings-item brings you directly to the trade screen with the ware already listed at the top of the list.

[@Nathan_Yahoo]

the thing i had a lot of success early game is setting up a killbox for xenon, the terran plot can be finished early game and it gives a lot of combat ships for free. make a fleet of them, find a decent xenon entry point like in hatikvas choice, family zhin or getsu fune for example (initially try to find a spot with a def station by the gate so it protects u from capitals) set protect position for the fleet, get a fast scout and set repeat orders, tell it to collect drops and preferably leave the system your ships seem to fight better when youre OOS. Might need some babysitting initially telling your ships to flee when their shields get low, but the drops are well worth it (selling seta parts, hacking equipment and other crafts can make you more than owning a moderate station, remember you can sell illegal items to black market traders at bars, but regular traders on pirate stations buy them as well) and eventually you will start getting xenon bail from their ships which you can sell too, but i add them to the fleet and combat pilots get experience the fastest, so in the end i have an infinite pool of at least 3+ star pilots to swap when i need to deploy a new miner or five. once you have some fluidity and want to expand, you can just slap a scrap processing facility next to your killzone (just make sure you have a good source of energy cells nearby, those things take hundreds of thousands of them per hour, anything over 200% sunlight bonus should be fine) ps get an aux ship for the fleet eventually so ships can autorepair

[@TENGILL]

That last bonus tip was a mindblower! Thank you!

[@jac62905]

520hrs into this game and I never knew there was a shuffle modules button. Making big stations always stressed me out, but not anymore! Thanks for the tip Captian!

[@screamingiraffe]

omfg, I spent 1 hour going over every option, or what I thought was e very option until now.... that shuffle thing, that is a HUGE time saver. thank you

[@sagaswp]

A small thing I just recently learned. When you're on a space station, you can just hit Shift+D to teleport yourself back to your ship's cockpit...even at the very beginning of the game before you have Teleport researched.

[@TauShasla]

There is one complication for timesaver #5: it likes to use terran connectors. so if you dont play terrans or very close to terran space i recommend not picking up any terran blueprints. Otherwise your stations in Split territory want terran specific materials all of the sudden. and replacing them by hand is a pain :)

[@CaptainCollins]

TRUE!

[@CMDR_BananenKeks]

you can set a preferred build method for the connector parts and basicly exclude Terran parts

[@thewordywizard4389]

I have a tip that I haven't seen on any other vid: Get multiple ships auto trading with only one 3 star oilot: Assign 3 star to tradeer/miner Set to auto trade Promote service crew to pilot Train to min 1 star (basic seminar) Re-assign 3 star pilot to next trader/miner You now have 2 ships able to auto mine. So long as you don't change it from this you can play with wares and anchors. The first ship can only go one jumpgate but it is better than local and don't forget to check back and increase the gates as the pilots increase in skill

[@Alpha_Digamma]

Hey, wait a minute. Needing hours of time to build the prettiest station possible is part of the fun!

[@CaptainCollins]

it is! but not for the fifth tier 1 station :P

[@steemlenn8797]

Oh yeah, fitting a 100+ hour build time station into a 4x4x4km area so you save on costs by 3D puzzling it ;)

[@3komma141592653]

This, this shuffle button is strait from hell! Later you want to expand the station and have to deal with that mess.

[@Ninjamilk_]

My current pirate playthrough is the only time I've managed to get a SETA. Was never that good at dogfights before, so i didn't get the materials for it. But now i have it, damn SETA is a time save

[@CaptainCollins]

You could say, you are almost saving six times the time xD

[@screamingiraffe]

@@CaptainCollins I'm about 900 hours in and still have never used a SETA, no idea how it even works other than hitting ctrl-4 or F4, not sure..

[@Ninjamilk_]

@screamingiraffe functionally you craft the SETA drive, then sit in any station/ship seat and hit the bound SETA key. Spools up like a travel drive then time passes 6 times faster. I use it in gunnery or navigation spots on ships while I get my pilot to do whatever I need doing

[@steemlenn8797]

In my first game I already had moe than 20 of part one and two until I finally got a singel part three. The thing with SETA is, when you have it, you are likely already big enough you don't need it because there is enough to do.

[@ImperadorLucius]

I'm mad cause i didn't know the shuffle all those years playing. The things you learn when you got time to sit and watch tutorial ham ? This game never ceases to amaze me.

[@asmosisyup2557]

One of my normal things is to leave a ship parked at all the faction representatives so if i ever need a blueprint or the get a new license i can teleport there at any time. Also is crew relocation instantaneous now? I remember when they used to get lost in space if the ships weren't close to each other. I know they made some changes so they didnt get stuck in collisions when boarding, but thought there was still travel time over distances. Oh and make station presets for those "hard" building missions so you can drop a defense station etc in an instant. Presets are not 'save' specific, so you'll still have all your presets available (provided you have the blueprints) if you start a new game.

[@CMDR_BananenKeks]

The shuffle modules function only works with 20-30 module parts. After that you have to get lucky. Still, if you have a repeating module configuration, you can copy the module sequence and paste and rotate it to make it visually more interesting.

[@m4dmaxx363]

Good End lol... Nice Tips, that shuffle modules would save me time in my first playtrough. Nice to know, will use this tips in my second playtrough now

[@MrPodpilot]

100% add service crew to your mining ships, up to 40% increased yield.

[@Eikioma]

SETA is good in early game but in late game if SETA active for too long, it can crash the game (and i don't have a potato PC). Also you can activate SETA when you are a your desk on the station with Boso Ta (don't remember the name) less noise that in a ship and you don't get police scan.

[@tarax007]

OH snap... I thought the search bar was wears exclusive ... I had no idea, and I have 1129h into x4 .... lol

[@CaptainCollins]

Always something to learn :)

[@xizzard]

For the buildings you can save the projects like Defense station, small mining, independent super-abundant-XxXxL-shipyard :). I`m grateful that egosoft implemented the ship configs needed in plots. Also another time-saver-money-making tip: defense stations near xenon gateways to "milk" xen for expensive drops.

[@yannisbaum1319]

Addition to #2: activate the trade mode, type in the full ware name. zoom out and you will see every offer for this ware everywhere. if you zoom out completly it will show only the best offers

[@rybuds47]

Ive spent entire saturdays building perfect stations to hang out at. 😂

[@CaptainCollins]

Fair. Do what you like to do most :)

[@rybuds47]

@@CaptainCollins i am really enjoying the observation modules. Great place to sit and tidy up the empire. Cheers brother!

[@Designsy-wl9nr]

The bonus one at the end is the best one, though in the game it's technically a time waster ;)

[@gilgameschgottvaterdergott2644]

Whats your problem with argons, i quite like them

[@just01guy96]

660+ hours and I learned about station parts shuffle just now.

[@tonytwotimes2859]

Callsigns are intended to be unique, and generally are, but a bug in the multiverse teams season beta found some visitor ships generating with duplicate callsigns. I have them preserved in my save :)

[@kevinenchill959]

Captain collins: 1487.1 hours Me: ...... 3798 hours Stopped playing excessively about a year and half ago. this game really pulls you in.

[@Yuu_Sora]

I hope there will be a filter for the shuffle to avoid using different connectors from different races. Sometimes I prefer the station in a style that conforms to the sector. The using of searching bar to search a specific ship really amazes me. Almost 500 hours of gaming time, I never think it can be used to search a ship! Nice advice!🤣

[@miteshharshad143]

Thank you for the video and love your live streams

[@CaptainCollins]

You are so welcome

[@michaelbennett7561]

I like well designed, good looking stations. As such, I will never use the shuffle button.

[@thomasetavard2031]

Don't think of the UI to help the player but as the Owner's Logistics Interface for the Character's Commercial/Military Fleet

[@maziugomez2786]

Im trying to use shuffle station parts but it does nothing, some time it just select a random piece.

[@iku7630]

Thanks, didn't knew the shuffle existed and also never really bothered with the search bar. Making a few ships just for teleporting is still on my list 😬 ship pre sets Imade a few, but will probably also make an updated one for the upgrades for ter shields and such once I have the money 😢

[@HupfderFloh]

I'm not even at war with them but since they lost it to HOP, I still control Argon Prime for uh ... peacekeeping reasons.

[@MrDuncaroos]

The Ship/Station IDs are not Protected to be unique. It is just HIGHLY improbable given the randomness of the code + ships being destroyed as things are created. There are 17.576 million tags available, after all. Egosoft confirmed this somewhere on the forums

[@joshdoldersum9132]

I've found the biggest time saver is this channel.

[@CaptainCollins]

💖

[@joshdoldersum9132]

@@CaptainCollins Seriously. I have 35 hours of play. Last night I had an issue figuring out how to make my miners stop going through a Xenon assault and stick to the one system. I asked reddit, they said "make a blacklist". I said "wtf is blacklist?" so I typed in google "x4 blacklists" and your name was one I recognized and trusted in the top 3 results. I clicked on the video, and voilà, within 9 minutes I had my issue resolved. Your tutorial videos are clear and to the point, with good communication and demonstration, and your accent is nice to listen to. I haven't made it to the livestream yet, but I've watched part a few vods and I'll be sure to come say hello soon on Twitch.

[@xXCursedWorgenXx]

fly-by boarding doesn't really work anymore because the pods follows your ship as its going away long enough to be in danger of the boardee's turrets. (that's as of timeline release)

[@hoblon]

The final is just hilarious =)

[@gageduke7652]

I wish the station shuffle feature would take into account modules already placed and confirmed. Would be nice to automatically add to an existing structure.

[@legonz5047]

Seems that flyByBoarding does not work anymore or i modded the game to gard. Waiting for 3 Hours now that my Boarding Party starts at a Construction Vessel. Still, they have not breached the Hull yet

[@cedo3333]

Most i knew but still good reminder and LOL the end.

[@legonz5047]

Sadly shuffle for Station building is limited. tryed it with a "big" station and it did not shuffle :/

[@CptAeRoTR]

Wow, "the shuffle" I did not know, thanks !

[@amocv]

6:15 I love u XD

[@reggie368]

Hallöchen Captain ! :D

[@MasterofMuppets70]

Great video but not sure what you mean by fly-by boarding. If you can explain that which you never in this video. Tried searching for it but cant find it.

[@CaptainCollins]

Good point, changed the title of that video in question, so that "fly-by-boarding" is in the title. Good call 👍

[@MasterofMuppets70]

Thank you. i find your videos really helped me in this game.

[@Geodessiaable]

Thanks Cap'n

[@joeyharper4052]

I have definitely wasted way too much time looking to the right station to buy or sell from

[@techstepman]

i have an iq of 153....people tell me im a genius... but im being humbled all the time by stuff like this..." the search bar" my god why didnt i ever use it? And then its the shuffle...this vid is pure gold and should have been an in game vid tutorial.

[@steemlenn8797]

Try to shuffle a 200 part station. Can be really funny. Too bad the shuffle only does planar stations, not 3D

[@TheDarkCastra]

I have 2k hours on my watch, and I wish I had known a few of these things earlier. Like with only 100 hours. But no, I had to figure out all by myself. So I watched this video just to be sure I didn't miss anything. The game has just to many thing in it, and it's easier so miss something. I'm glad there was nothing new for me in this video, but also sad there wasn't something new for me in the video that would save my time. Alright time to go back to eradicate the Argon.

[@eduardoborges506]

I had no idea about the shuffle

[@Agora2021]

While shuffle is surely time saving, my sense of aesthetics and customization won't allow me to use it.

[@Pew1337]

terran combat engines are time saver

[@michael3595]

Thanks Captain!

[@XenonSlayer]

6:33 nice exploit. shame if something were to happen to it 🙊

[@CaptainCollins]

in since 2018... :P

[@AlphaOmegaXIII]

If you are an idiot like me and take cargo drones on your capital ship, and want to manage your empire while your pilot flies your ship to its destination, but then its stuck on recalling drones/subordinates, type drones in the search bar, take a s or m ship, and destroy them, or else you will be either waiting for weeks, or let you think that your ship is bugged out.

[@01axor]

Been playing sincw x3 days. Today learnt of shuffle button. Damn ...

[@nambatyelcaaboshi5554]

SHUFFLE BUTTON???????!!! WHERE HAS THIS BEEN ALL MY LIFE XD. ive been using save BP and just making my stations

[@Zantetsu13]

In the future you may want to consider people starting with the game may not appreciate huge story spoilers in the opening.

[@neplczz]

Now i need samé video about save/wasting money 😂

[@CaptainCollins]

that's a really good idea. perfect to combine with making the most money.

[@WatchMysh]

Farming for emp mats is atrocious. Teleport restock really is much more convenient and I can't blame anyone for using it.

[@CaptainCollins]

Absolutely!

[@ZlothZloth]

If you ever start a new game, use the Custom option and add the materials to your inventory at the start.

[@WatchMysh]

​@@ZlothZloth Yeah that's also a good idea

[@Aotearas]

Hard pass on the station shuffle. I'd rather sit hours in the station designer to build nice looking plans for everything and optimize plot sizes than having to look at those malformed monstrosities. Besides, tinkering with station builds is the best part of designing your own ones. I'm quite proud of my triangular Graphene Refinery with 24x production modules and that took me a bit less than an hour of tinkering about until the muse frenchkissed me.

[@ZlothZloth]

Me too, though I like to make them even more monstrous. That shuffle doesn't use the full six degrees of freedom. (Yet.)

[@sim.frischh9781]

Yes, such a time-consuming game, it cost me 830 hours already and it´s still going! Horror!

[@CaptainCollins]

As a lot of people in my streams would say: "rookie numbers" or "you're just through the tutorial" :D have fun playing!

[@sim.frischh9781]

@@CaptainCollins Well i sadly don´t have a STEAM number for how long i played X3 Terran Conflict because i played it without STEAM at first and then got onto STEAM with the game, but that definitely got 4-digit hour counts, i had several huge station complexes and at least one of pretty much every single ship type of every race. Didn´t use mods in X3 though.

[@TheStachelkeule]

yo, i have 258 hours in. And i just found out about the shuffle station stuff....

[@CaptainCollins]

that why I make these videos ;)

[@Sebby23]

What. How could i miss the shuffle Option for 1000 hours playn that game 😮

[@CaptainCollins]

Guess what... in 7.00 it's even better now, since you can select which connector module types are going to be used :)

[@crimsonharvest]

send the marines with crew management! im about to strangle myself ive been moving every _other_ kind of personnel like this, but have been flying a squad of captured destroyers to board and then resupply.

[@Duvoncho]

Less than 1500 hours!? Rookie numbers 😂

[@evilways961]

Thanks for video...

[@Ugnutz]

900 hours here myself

[@JarlThorson]

"A few tutorials" HA! If it wasn't for you I would have rage quit the game at least six times.

[@udoarndt1430]

seta rofl great

[@Cetegus79]

Erster!

[@CaptainCollins]

das war echt schnell :)

[@joshuajp29]

I'm pretty much wasting time for nothing The games not bad, it's just really boring. It's just everything the same over and over. Nothing. Univen battles If they did that, the game will probably be much better

[@Raspukek-fu8un]

heh. seta. never used one. uselesso.

[@MrVonsillius]

comment

[@-drey]

500th like :D

[@joshuajp29]

Like for instance, guys and girls. I play the game, it's not bad. Or they need to add a lot more stuff. It's pretty boring Like there's nothing new at all, the battles the same, ship modes of the same, everythings the same. There's nothing different it all. No new types of battles or bigger map with battles Ilost Thief in this game I thought would be the best space game. It's really not -_-

[@DeepThinker202]

Lousy...