Ep6 Combining all the best bits into one ship : X4 Foundations

This game has awful lot of micromanagement going on but in a good way. On the plus side it gives you plenty of time to shoot up some enemies if you feel like it. On the down side a lot of the game play is not conducive to making videos. Need to figure something out on that.
Included DLC
Split Vendetta
Cradle of Humanity
Tides of Avarice
Kingdoms end
Credits Song
Rise of the protectorate by Alexei Zakharov
Save file :
/ francisjohn
Discord server : / discord
X4: Foundations is a huge space sandbox simulator that lives and breathes within your gaming system. Thousands of ships and stations trade, mine and produce, all realistically simulated. In this universe, you can grow from being the lone pilot of a fighter ship, to managing a vast empire, commanding your fleets and designing colossal space stations. Transition seamlessly from first-person action, boarding ships and visiting their bridges, to an expansive strategy and management simulation. Choose your own path at your own pace. The decisions are yours. Trade - Fight - Build - Think.

[@r3dp9]

31:45 Acting Commander: "Glorious Leader Flying Joker is flying into our Flak again. You know the drill, people." New Guy: "Isn't it irresponsible and dangerous for our leader to be engaging in dogfights in a small fighter?" AC: "Yes. I forgot that you're new, apologies. Full power to shields." NG: "Oh, that makes sense. Less power to flak so that he won't get hurt in the crossfire, right?" GLFJ: "This flak makes it kinda hard to see... I'm not sure where I'm aiming any more." Ship: *BRRRRRRRRBBBTTT TUNK TUNK TUNK* GLFJ: "Oh! Sorry! I think I kinda clipped the engines of our ship."

[@l0rf]

One of the most fun ways to use a player-owned shipyard is having it sell to all races of the commonwealth. I was building one in Argon space and one in Teladi space and made sure to have plenty of scrap refineries ready. Because as I was selling to all races, they kept fighting one another as soon as the ships finished, coupled with the traders trying to dock and pulling in defense ships and the ships trying to get upgrades. Basically ship gets built, leaves the drydock and goes kaboom, my scrap harvesters take it apart and use the raw resources for more ship orders. I created my own warzone in which I was the sole supplier of weaponry to all sides.

[@Spectre06Gaming]

You need a bonk sound effect to play every time you crash into something because you don't slow down in time.

[@2ndtothelastmohican]

Random mining ship break room: Hey Peeboz, did you hear about that crazy captain that talks to himself and laughs at wanton destruction? Oh yeah Jerk-o, I hear his employees have a great life insurance policy.

[@truesurvivor5767]

@Francis John helpful advice turrets set to attack capital ships will chose the ship, if you chose a”attack my target” then it will shoot shields. That was how it worked when I played before this dlc. Great series, I remember the crazy learning curve for game mechanics and terrible collision mechanics

[@jamesburtle3681]

Aaaand we're back :)

[@PeglegNav]

It’s a phrase I’ve been loving to hear each day❤❤

[@christophemalgouyres]

For late game, the terraforming projects seems right up your alley: move your HQ and dump millions of resources on each system. Also, you should try boarding large ships, it's a lot more fun than building them.

[@tyw4439]

yeah that's what came to mind for me as well. would be interested what he comes up with as far as the large-scale mining/manufacturing/logistics required to do some of those in a reasonable amount of time. also there's some decent rewards on some (being able to train batches of marines up for boarding ops, etc.). otherwise would recommend advancing some of the plot lines, grabbing the erlking and related parts, etc. some of that can spark some inspiration. even getting into some of the war effort missions against xenon.

[@warburd]

That's how I get all my Large / XL Ships 😀

[@suborbitalprocess]

6:10 I christen this the Francis John Maneuver; glitch into an enemy ship and use buggy collision physics to toss it halfway across the system. They'll never see it coming!

[@any1alive]

yep witht he new boron update they suposedly fixed collisions but it only made em worse

[@Smo1k]

@@any1alive Who has ever heard of any game devs saying something to this effect before? 😉

[@any1alive]

@@Smo1k X TECH 5 While integrating the next generation of our graphics engine with several big visual improvements (details below), as well as a new, more powerful physics engine with performance and feature improvements, we're also maintaining savegame compatibility for X4. 🪐 New physics engine Experience the thrill of space more than ever before in X4: Foundations, with the integration of Jolt Physics into X TECH 5. Whether you're navigating an asteroid field, docking at a space station, or engaging in combat, Jolt Physics adds a new level of realism and immersion to every moment of gameplay. You'll feel the full force of acceleration and deceleration as you pilot your ship, and every collision will have a tangible impact. In addition to enhancing the overall gameplay experience, the integration of Jolt Physics also brings about performance and feature improvements to X TECH 5.

[@any1alive]

@@Smo1k new physcs engine to stop collisions and clippign and boucnea way proeprly vs negative bounce

[@Smo1k]

@@any1alive Still makes me hear echoes of the DayZ team's "We've fixed cars", CoH2 "We've fixed the abandon/retake gun exploit" and so on 😉

[@smartsmartie7142]

Now you have combined all the best bits into one ship, you have to combine all the best ships into one fleet. Then the galaxy will hail General Francis!

[@FrancisJohnYT]

The hard part is getting friendly enough with each faction that they will sell you the stuff. But we are pretty close with most of them by now.

[@damjandjordjevic1994]

@@FrancisJohnYT That's a problem with a single big factory. Multiple small ones gain reputation way quicker...

[@mitechko]

I have made a few things spin like you did with this I. It is especially frustrating when you spin a capital ship you are supposed to dock on :) One thing I learned is that they stop spinning if you don't look at them for a bit (something about attention system in game). So if you turn away and fly a few kms and then return, they magically stop spinning.

[@FrancisJohnYT]

Schrödinger's ship, if your not looking you can't tell if it's spinning or not.

[@mitechko]

@@FrancisJohnYT yep, but if you know when to look the wave function will collapse just for you :)

[@danielpeterson1771]

Gotta love the physics in video games, things just clip, glitch and "solve" themselves by expelling eachother.. xD

[@turdfurguson553]

I’ve been looking forward to this all weekend! Love this series

[@ShadowWolfTJC]

Personally, I'd like to suggest working on a few plotlines 1st before deciding on which factions to wipe out. For example, perhaps you could broker a peace treaty between the Godrealm of the Paranid and the Holy Order of the Pontifex? Perhaps you could help sort out the Terrans' business with the Yaki? Perhaps you could help organize the Free Split Families into a unified front against the expansionistic Zyarth Patriarchy? If you're still looking for a faction to wipe out after cutting the Xenon menace down to size, I'd like to nominate the Vigor Syndicate to be the 1st on the chopping block. Those guys are nothing more than an organized criminal cartel pretending to be a civilized spacefaring empire, whom have a nasty habit of sending their pirates over to raid everyone else, and playing the victim, resulting in unwanted reputation losses with them, inevitably causing them to suddenly declare war against the player unless you worked to maintain high reputation with them. (I believe another KZbinr by the name of Knee Pit Gaming has had issues with the Vigor Syndicate, and has ultimately decided to prepare for war against them, as shown here: kzbin.info/www/bejne/h2bShKRulJKhgNE ) Besides, I believe one of the plots (I believe it's the one where you unlock the ability to acquire Protectyon, which is a resource used to fuel the shields that protect stations within Avarice from the Tide) would've required waging war against the Vigor Syndicate anyways. Edit: I'd recommend "acquiring" as many blueprints from any factions that you're planning on waging war against before going on the warpath. See how those Vigor Syndicate scumbags react towards seeing you use their own Barbarossas and Erlkings against them. Oh, and if you were considering wiping out the Scale Plate Pact, perhaps you could consider reforming them instead, by offering to terraform a world that was devastated in the past, resulting in the rise of the Scale Plate Pact?

[@Killzad]

I think everyone has an issue with VIG, had three times over +20 rep with them and time over time it will get down. To avoid this you need to be totally pacifist like your traders without drones or turrents to fire back to defend themselves and avoid trade/transport with water food ice if you don;t have installed Mirage mod on all traders. Nothing will please me more to see VIG demise. Terrans and VIG are the two factions that hog the game performance the most having so many ships in each sector practically doing nothing.

[@jh5kl]

it's tragic that the overwhelming majority of people are not even aware those are things possible in this game, its not even mentioned in reviews

[@RaithSienar]

@@jh5kl Because realistically most people don't play any of the plots, and the plots missions leave a lot to be desired AND are often a bit buggy and confusing as to what you need to do. X4 is a fantastic game but it has LOTS of flaws, simply the sign of a small team doing a massive game.

[@sunstormer5064]

If your looking for suggestions for quests in X4, there aren't exactly a lot to recommend as they all have the same generic quest reward to offer such as moderate credit pay outs, faction reputation increases, the occasional free ship or even a pilot, but that's about it. As for other suggestions a number of people say there are a few abandoned ships floating around throughout space (never bothered with them myself) however I think a better suggestion might be trying to claim a Xenon sector as your own, and keep a station alive while you try to go on with your next conquest. Goodluck FJ! great video btw.

[@Smo1k]

OrcCorp has a video on one ship which looks worthwhile to scoop up early: kzbin.info/www/bejne/g5jNXpeImrKXeKc

[@michaelbennett7561]

You could try to capture the Erlking, located in VIG space.

[@ShadowWolfTJC]

Better yet, Francis could try to acquire the blueprints to build his own XL capital ships, including the Erlking and Asgard. I believe these may not be acquired through stealing the blueprints, and would instead require increasing his faction's reputation with the other factions high enough to then be able to purchase the blueprints off of them.

[@thezanzibarbarian5729]

There is a MOD you can get that adds extra turrets to these Xenon goliaths. And those extra turrets mean there is _no safe place_ to sneak up on them. The only way to attack them is either; A - En masse. B - Using something that'll out distance their firepower. C - Torpedoes. Lots and lots of torpedoes. However... If A, B or C fail, then run away if they're not in your sector. Even if one, is, just run... You can always rebuild if you keep alive.

[@bunstructors8591]

I think I understand this game now. It is a military industrial complex simulator.

[@FrancisJohnYT]

Yes but it's set in a universe where everyone has the intelligence of infomercial people. Seriously you can become a millionaire in less than a day.

[@sim.frischh9781]

In my current game i have an I hanging in Argon Prime, i used an S class ship with Burst Lasers to kill all its modules but Argon Sector Def won´t get close to finish it off... Matrix #9 is Xenon Core Sector, it has both a Wharft and a Shipyard, and the amount of ships in the sector is just ABSURD. Once you fly in there, they WILL come at you EN MASSE wave after wave after wave. Don´t go in Xenon core sectors without some SERIOUS firepower. For Large Turrets on my ships, i prefer the Railguns from either Split or Terrans, they have a range of 10 (Split) and 12 (Terran) kilometers and their projectile speed means instant hits.

[@johnjacobjingleheimerschmiddd]

"This game has an awful lot of micro-management going on" ...no truer words have ever been said. ✌

[@smartsmartie7142]

In this game Francis is a bored multimillionaire building his empire while going on adventures and shooting xenon.

[@FrancisJohnYT]

Pretty much, though less bored more trying to figure out how to build everything we need.

[@damjandjordjevic1994]

@@FrancisJohnYT Put lasers as your main Dragon guns. They'll shred everything up to and including a P. Having multiple small factories with habitation modules will keep you super busy(at least in a map view :p ).

[@willivonen3886]

By the way based on other x video games and other Starfighter video games I have noticed approach in non interlocking fields of fire in space is the best way to approach a ship

[@MelfiortheOne]

If you want some challenge, try Vigor Syndicate sectors after finishing Tide of Avarice storyline

[@warburd]

Top tip 😀 I stuck 200 laser towers by the gate in Vigor territory, lured them in and was pleasantly surprised how many bailed on their ships so long as you are in sector. Got 15 fighters in 2 hours! Yeah, you have to repair and give them captains but it still a fun way to spend a few hours.

[@johnfeedback6784]

In X Rebirth we used to end those things with a simple fighter. You knocked out the rear guns, got up on its back so close that not only was your movement tied to its movement but the curve of its body kept guns out of line of sight until you were ready to duck forward take a shot and duck back. Targeting subsystems was the key. I've not played that since 2019 but I recall I made some good cash off doing that. There must be a video on it somewhere.

[@brianhauptman]

That lady with the neck thing - that's one of the lizard people people are always talking about.

[@Genesis8934]

39:25 "Check engine" ;)

[@r3dp9]

Regarding end game goals: If you don't dislike a faction enough to destroy them completely, how about pruning them down to one system then making peace after? Just like you do for the xenon farm.

[@damjandjordjevic1994]

How do you make peace with a -30 faction(without getting shot)?

[@rybuds47]

Please explain.

[@PeglegNav]

Aaaaand we’re back!

[@CromyGames]

Nice

[@garettj25]

The billionaires of Earth have discovered or designed profit making enterprises of amazing productivity (for the owner) , but he doesn’t call it Stupid.

[@chcolatedolphin778]

Big ship go pewpew

[@michaelbennett7561]

Or you could just sell scanning arrays and advanced electronics directly to the wharf without worrying about trading advanced satellites, you would make a tidy profit doing that. It all amounts to the same thing, when you sell advanced satellites to the wharf, the scanning arrays and advanced electronics are from the satellites are added back into the wharfs inventory (well half of them are).

[@ShadowWolfTJC]

Has Francis ever heard of Wing Commander? All this dogfighting in space is bringing back old memories of that old game.

[@hquest]

OH man, Wing Commander gives so many great memories!

[@JPEaglesandKatz]

Just found your channel yesterday.. Love your style with a lot of humor and they are very informative for a new x4 player like me... I hope you continue with X4 at some point :)

[@Rhondaandjames]

Lol! you lucked out on that "I" destroyer. They are difficult to take out with a heavily modded rattlesnake. that hairdryer would normally have gotten mangled.

[@FrancisJohnYT]

I have later used modded hairdryers to slaughter "I" destroyers. The range and speed advantage is to strong and the Xenon can never get in range to get a shot off.

[@paradiso5057]

I loved the X Games since X2 the threat came out and i played them a lot; unfortunately x rebirth and x4 were so bugged when they came out, that i stopped playing x games then and now ich have to less time to play such massive games. but thanks a lot for sharing your experience with X4!

[@JoshSweetvale]

I wonder if it's possible to have a capitol beam weapon that can continually damage a Xenon ship or station, eroding it until it pops, with some kind of modding to stop heat buildup.

[@enire8477]

I think you forgot about the Data Vault

[@basbekjenl]

I believe the military term is overmatch

[@WelshInRussia]

Nice ship, but you might want to get an OBD2 scanner for that engine warning light.

[@TheRoanock]

I'd love to see some concise tutorials on this game. It's one that I tried to get into in the past but just bounced off due to the expectation that you trawl the internet looking for answers/strategies

[@l0rf]

I've been playing X since 1998, more or less. What's the thing that's giving you the most trouble?

[@michaelwade9073]

My experience with the k destroyers and laser turrets is that the lasers will prio all the turrets and engines then try and kill the thing...kinda funny to see a k destroyer just stranded because there is not enough lasers to get thru the big shields but they perpetually destroy all the guns and engines lol...also you can capture the k and the I destroyer ships.

[@OniZai]

At first I was not sure I was going to like watching X4 but with you, its pretty entertaining. About factions with large fleets, why not try get them all fight each other? I know you would prefer to do it yourself though lol

[@GokouZWAR]

The first 15 minutes is how the world works. If you can ever find a deal like that in real world, you are rich. You supply them with equipment to make equipment you buy to sell to someone else. This is how a good trade route works. Congrats on figuring it out.

[@liammorris1018]

Was wondering how your plasma turrets did so much damage... when did paranid L plasma turrets start doing 2x the damage of any other race? That's OP, put those bad lads on a SYN and mod them. :)

[@FrancisJohnYT]

I want to get my hands on a Erlking and assuming you can mod it, turn it into a monster that can shred everything.

[@ezra8s]

It's only natural that you slay the Argon or the Paranoid if you dare

[@bobroberto95]

this ship is empty!! YEET!

[@jakotheshadows87]

I don't remember if this is true for the Classic Oddyseus, but for the Oddyseus E with high rolls on drag mod + high rolls on forward thrust, you can get those things over 500 m/s

[@FrancisJohnYT]

The Oddyseus E is a bit faster but I did not think the gains were that big, will have to do some testing in the background.

[@jakotheshadows87]

@@FrancisJohnYT to correct an earlier statement, I don't think it can go over 500 m/s but you can get pretty darn close which really is enough to effectively kite just about everything that can come at you in any sort of abundance.

[@hquest]

Can you name your ships with custom names? I can see some pretty badass names selected for Francis' ships.

[@technonine7586]

Yeah he can. Ship information -> ship designation I believe

[@asureaskie8955]

If you're ever going to stream, this game seems a good candidate. Lots of downtime/idle time while you're building out.

[@justneb1995]

I feel sorry for those of you who get motion sickness

[@benrudolph5582]

21:29 It's episode 6, and I still can't tell where you're getting distance to target information. I'm watching on a computer PADD, at "720p60" resolution. Is it in the red bit at the bottom of the information screen on the right?

[@johnarmitage3452]

will you be doing a full tutorial series?

[@FrancisJohnYT]

I think it would be more of a one to two video job. Covering how to go from nothing to a mid sized ship quickly and setup a decent income stream. The late game stuff I'm still figuring out the best ways to go about it.

[@johnarmitage3452]

@Francis John i look forward to it ..i still am having to look up controls every little bit while im flying 🙃

[@grandfremdling3841]

Fine

[@bloodfith1]

Gonna look dumb if you've already adressed this, but the terrans have amazing L and XL engines that you should try out

[@FrancisJohnYT]

I am using the roguey website to check the ships with different components. The Split engine provide the best combat speed of all the engines. From what I can see the Large Argon engines are better to the Terran Large engines in every way. I thought the Terrans were the great shields race.

[@bloodfith1]

@@FrancisJohnYT The Terrans have short attack times on their L and XL engines, meaning that instead of having to wait a full minute for the travel drive to spool up it is a mere 15 seconds. It's a trade I am personally happy to make, even for a 10% reduction in regular, combat and travel speeds.

[@FrancisJohnYT]

@@bloodfith1 interesting. I think I would prefer that on support ships though. It's just having the combat speed to outrun xenon destroyers is a big priority right now.

[@bloodfith1]

@@FrancisJohnYT Honestly I'm just happy that you're making X4 vids. Personal preference and all that, but I would encourage you to at least try it out once or twice.

[@willivonen3886]

Did that enemy ship just poop you out😅

[@aagwfan]

Destroy the faction that gives you a petty reason to do so. After you buy or steal all the stuff you want from them.

[@azurosforest2666]

What about purging whole galaxy? Just for fuzies

[@FrancisJohnYT]

I think I will save that for the second round. This round was figuring out the lay of the land. We can do it so much more efficiently next time round.

[@LordMoridin]

The Terrans have got some crazy ships and are also a bunch of jerks so.... The Terran's have a unique economy so if you start another game you could go the opposite direction. Start as a Terran, build up in Terran space and murder the rest of the galaxy. It's funny to see how directly you play. I always build a big trading empire with dozens of stations in several systems spread over the galaxy. I produce all my own goods and try to supply the entire galaxy with them, as well as make my own ships.

[@mowinckel10]

:)

[@emilyball7304]

Try this in VRO

[@ericjohnson4167]

I'd say wipe out the Terran simply because of the first episode, they were annoying.

[@ShadowWolfTJC]

Oh Francis, I have a request: Since the official wiki for X4 seems quite out of date, I wonder if you'd be willing to help out in updating the wiki with more up-to-date information about various things, such as the new ships, weapons, sectors, etc. that were introduced not only as recently as Kingdom's End, but also as early as Cradle of Humanity.

[@danielduncan6806]

You kept on zooming into her neck; to epic sounding music. Too much man, too much.

[@FrancisJohnYT]

What is it with her neck!! it's only her neck and only from that angle.

[@disfabrication]

This game reminds me of freelancer, a much older and much better game haha.

[@rickjamesbitch7632]

I'm sorry but that is so lame... That you can outrange the xenon with guns but not missiles 🥴 makes no sense whatsoever... Just like most things in this game☹️

[@FrancisJohnYT]

Oh you can use Missiles but you have very limited missile capacity in this game. The resupply is a pain so most people stick to weapons that don't need ammo.

[@rickjamesbitch7632]

​@@FrancisJohnYT ... It also depends on what kind of ships your loadout and ect... Yes you're right you're very limited and I think you should be in a small or medium ship ✌️😎