Ep9 Attempting to board the Erlking : X4 Foundations

I really hope this Erlking ship is worth it, judging by the stats it will be. But if we are going to do this right we want to max it out. So I think next episode we are going to be hunting for exceptional mods so we can upgrade it to the max.
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.

[@diante50]

Given the colour, size and weird shape... Simply "Bad Dragon" could be a fun name.

[@Beregorn88]

I approve

[@DarthVella]

Oh no.

[@FrancisJohnYT]

I really should have googled this before I included it on the names list 😅

[@derAtze]

Haha here is the culprit xD

[@diante50]

@@FrancisJohnYT maybe you can get sponsorship... 😉 Thank you for choosing it, really made my day. If at your expense 😂

[@michaelbennett7561]

You can sort your crew according to whatever trait you want. On the crew list, just click on "skill" to sort by skill level, and change the role to "captain", and you will sort the crew by piloting skill from best to worst. Or you could just press the button along the top that says "Replace captain with best crewmember", and the crew with the best piloting skill will become the captain.

[@daznis]

I think we shouldn't tell him about the ability to change color scheme on ships. :)

[@Smo1k]

"Speak softly and carry a big stick; you will go far." - Theodore Roosevelt "Kick shins, scream insults and bring an Erlking; you will rule the Universe!" - Francis John

[@r3dp9]

12:22 As is tradition in big business, vital skills like capital ship piloting is taught via powerpoint teleconferences. Thanks to time dilation and brain implants, days of subjective lectures can be compressed into seconds of real time! Ship name Suggestions: Long Distance Relationship Darth Pinky Fully Operational Pink Floyd Full Speed Tactical Backpedalling Friendly Boarders Boarding School

[@Lcscreamer]

A few potential names for the glorious behemoth. Cotton candy cruiser The pokey pansy Francis’s fist The mega magenta murder machine Bob Peppermint pain And we’re all thinking it looks a bit phallic so the dildo of ages. Loving the series so far!

[@leemills6825]

i like number 3, or the fist of francis =D ... francis's fister >< speaking of names, my x4 company is called ST&C, space trotters & co, main player ship name is Del Boy one >

[@waveclaw]

Good to see you are still having a blast with X4. The team behind it may be small, but they have always delivered big. The game's modular station models do look like the International Space Station on acid, though. My personal favorite name for a pink battleship is The Rosé Diplomat. I don't know if the dialectical mark above the e is possible in X4 for a ship name with English localization. Good ol' Rosy just barging into everybody's business. Since it is a literal flying scrapheap of death, Pink Punk is appropriate. As to get punkt is to be totally overpowered in a fight and the acerbic garbage anti-system style fits. Pink Slip is a US euphemism for being terminated from employment. Would be good for a ship that will be putting a lot of mission targets 'out of work.' Pink Patrol was also decent for a ship that is going to be clearing space to get better at clearing space. The namefrog site has a whole page dedicated to 'funny pink names.' So you could go with something like Doomsday Diva, the Power Puff, Pink Power, Flamingo Pony or the Cotton Candy Cannon.

[@ramont8020]

My understanding with this ship is that the Erlking weapons, except the main gun, have falloff so you actually want to use that speed to get in close and shred the target, not plink away at range where the weapons do a lot less damage.

[@FrancisJohnYT]

Was trying to find info on the damage fall off but can't find it. Since I put this out the suggestions have mainly been go damage and I am finding myself swayed that way, faster we can kill stations the faster we can clear the sectors.

[@ramont8020]

@@FrancisJohnYT Hi Francis, thanks for all the great content. Sorry, I've tried pointing you to the info but my comments keep getting deleted, even with only a KZbin link. Bottom line, apparently it's 10% damage at max range. Captain Collins here on KZbin is where I first learned about the falloff.

[@kurotsune5677]

just so you know, there's "Promote the best crewman to captain" button in the captain area of the crew window

[@Liastnir]

Holy carp, how long has that been there?!

[@arseyrc]

'Pink Plinker' is perfect :)

[@brandonmullwray9924]

I'm only 28 hrs into the game so far... All I've been doing is savaging battlefields for stuff I can sell. So far, I have gotten enough to buy a ship that looks like the Batwing & upgraded the crap out of it. But watching this video, it's clear to me that I haven't even started yet. The more I play, the more I realize the true scope of this game.

[@chriswoodend2036]

Weapon upgrades: increased projectile speed is a good choice in general for any turrets that you're planning on using to engage fighters (S/M). The increased speed helps counter the transverse velocity of targets. More bullets hit the little guy... much rejoicing. For the large turrets, as a general rule, reload and damage. My personal take for the Erlking specifically is the medium turrets can be built out for max damage, like the large ones. The base turrets already shoot so fast and have sufficient rotation speed you just don't NEED the extra speed and at 9km you already outrange almost everything out there.

[@FrancisJohnYT]

I am hearing really good arguments for damage and I am leaning that way. We can clear stations faster if we bring more boom and that is the biggest slow down.

[@mattgrostick1499]

Oh Francis, you are such a hard task master. Harsh but fair. At least your peons always know where they stand with you.

[@yaemz123]

This is obviously a GPS... Giant Pink Ship, or Giant Pink Shaft if you prefer a bit of double entendre for your enemies' displeasure.

[@QuiranPup]

"pink glove of friendship"

[@spudpud-T67]

The pink (ribbed) protective prophylactic sleeve.

[@lyssalud6781]

Remembering my schooltime, whenever seeing an Erlking on the streets or reading it anywhere. Der Erlkönig - J.W. Goethe Wer reitet so spät durch Nacht und Wind? Es ist der Vater mit seinem Kind; Er hat den Knaben wohl in dem Arm, Er fasst ihn sicher, er hält ihn warm. Mein Sohn, was birgst du so bang dein Gesicht? - Siehst, Vater, du den Erlkönig nicht? Den Erlenkönig mit Kron’ und Schweif? - Mein Sohn, es ist ein Nebelstreif. - „Du liebes Kind, komm, geh mit mir! Gar schöne Spiele spiel’ ich mit dir; Manch’ bunte Blumen sind an dem Strand, Meine Mutter hat manch gülden Gewand.“ - Mein Vater, mein Vater, und hörest du nicht, Was Erlenkönig mir leise verspricht? - Sei ruhig, bleibe ruhig, mein Kind; In dürren Blättern säuselt der Wind. - „Willst, feiner Knabe, du mit mir gehn? Meine Töchter sollen dich warten schön; Meine Töchter führen den nächtlichen Reihn Und wiegen und tanzen und singen dich ein.“ - Mein Vater, mein Vater, und siehst du nicht dort Erlkönigs Töchter am düstern Ort? - Mein Sohn, mein Sohn, ich seh’ es genau: Es scheinen die alten Weiden so grau. - „Ich liebe dich, mich reizt deine schöne Gestalt; Und bist du nicht willig, so brauch’ ich Gewalt.“ - Mein Vater, mein Vater, jetzt fasst er mich an! Erlkönig hat mir ein Leids getan! - Dem Vater grauset’s; er reitet geschwind, Er hält in den Armen das ächzende Kind, Erreicht den Hof mit Mühe und Not; In seinen Armen das Kind war tot.

[@motorb1tch]

kzbin.info/www/bejne/bp_SlnmmmcuKmbM

[@FrancisJohnYT]

With English subtitles kzbin.info/www/bejne/gIScYqNjq9KGnJI

[@bloodfith1]

Some example names: Battleship Zilla, Cosmic Cuddler, Planet Punisher (PP), Whacky Astral Punisher (WAP)

[@OniZai]

I'm tempted to say "Randy's Delight" lol

[@bencarpenter8980]

Pink Pestilence. Also just looked up different words for pink, one was blushing. The Blushing Bazooka

[@gazz3867]

Shoot 12 km? That's almost as long as a Teladi carrier in X3! (give or take)

[@leftblank131]

"Peace is good for profit … unless you happen to be an arms merchant!"

[@Koshea69]

Ferengi rule of acquisition number 34 "War is good for business" Ferengi rule of acquisition number 35 "Peace is good for business"

[@FrancisJohnYT]

So long as ships are getting destroyed somewhere the economy keeps moving.

[@LibbyGrimm]

Well, Firerate. Range is fun but if everything is like 30% firerate up? Yeah, that's the ultimate DPS calculation stat. And it's 30% more bullet in local spacetime. Dakka. Range and pure damage and watnot, you don't really see but firerate upgraded, you will notice.

[@leemills6825]

trade ships grt stuff man =D for the 1st 1/4 of the vid i thought you were going to summon a military fleet then transfer marines to them >< seems boarding it is the easy part & the real work is getting it up & running to spec

[@kristianhiorth9236]

How about naming it The Lunk Dunk Junk

[@BrandoXfusion]

"pink poker" as you'll be poking your enemies from a distance

[@Deveyus]

"The Plink Panther"

[@FrancisJohnYT]

Try saying that three times fast without sounding like a muppet, it's really hard.

[@leftblank131]

I wonder if they've made contact? We need to make preparations to breach!

[@Fatboyzfishing]

Name it "The Pink Mister"

[@JoshSweetvale]

Ypu may wish to give the Erlking some escorts. Don't know what'll keep up with it, fighters from carriers?

[@FancyMFMoses]

"The Last Blush"

[@FancyMFMoses]

Or "Ballistic Blush"

[@sim.frischh9781]

The "VIG" is just short for Vigor Syndicate, all objects in space are marked with those short descriptions to tell the player to which faction they belong. "TER" for Terrans, "PIO" for the Segaris Pioneers, "ARG" for horrible things... otherwise known as Argons... and so on. For promotion to Captain, there´s a button you just have to click and the BEST pilot on the ship gets the promotion. Your roman numerals were right, it´s 4. If the I is BEFORE the V, it mean "deduct one from five", if it´s AFTER, it means "ADD one to five", same with ten, X. IX=9, XI=11.

[@r3dp9]

What's "RIP"? The construction ships were labelled "RIP"-Name.

[@sim.frischh9781]

@@r3dp9 Those are the Riptide Breakers, the other faction of the Tide of Avarice add-on.

[@andrewknight983]

Which of the rimworld bloodline was pink? This ship could be their decedents masterpiece.

[@craigbalnaves4326]

I just did this exactly as it is in the video and so it still works as of 2nd March 2024. Be aware that you only get one free shot at this. If you attempt a boarding and then cancel it because you are not sure how long everything takes, [as I did] you do not get another chance to board it. The board screen will come up but you can do nothing. Reload to a save prior to your first boarding attempt. Took me awhile to work out what was going on. If you do have a second attempt you have to do it as normal which results in a sea of red. Bang Bang > Dead. Other things to note, it now has 2 turrets, a bolt and a flak and so I think so I lost 30 marines in stage one. Time between stage 1 and 2 was 52 minutes approx. I finished with 192 marines left from 328. I think the video had about 221 left. I only found 4 data vaults at this point, everything bar the shields, which I probably don't need anyway.

[@-jeff-]

Wishing you much profit! 📈 😊

[@ericjohnson4167]

Premeditated Interplanetary Neutralization Kingship, or P.I.N.K. for short.

[@hyunjungtrinityyoon3489]

marketing and the guy gets the coffee.. lol

[@wChris_]

Why did i think of the folklore Earlking when i head this name? Tbh a space Earlking would be much more awesome and messed up at the same time!

[@yaemz123]

Well, folklore Erlking is unique, with a handcrafted quality, and ugliness transformed into nobility, so it fits that as well.

[@williamlai29]

37:25 I'm looking for a bit of advice on what mods to equip to Erlking with... Since it is long, pink, and moves very fast (back and forth) all you need is a vibrator.

[@wolfen210959]

For the ship name, may I suggest Babycham, it just seems appropriate, considering they are both deceptively strong and pink. I have not played this game, but hearing you wax lyrical about the speed and weapons range of that pink monster, surely the only sensible way to go is extra damage? If the unmodded ship is already the fastest ship, with the longest weapon range, I don't see any benefit in improving either, more damage however, will allow you to kill stuff faster, particularly those stations and big ships that take an age to kill.

[@FrancisJohnYT]

I like your thinking, we could double our damage output and half the amount of time it takes to wipe a station. Though will have to see how our fleet out support ships work out. They might speed things along.

[@OGSomeOne]

I noticed you were trying to upgrade a ship labelled ARG at a Teladi dock. I am wondering if you took it to an Argon dock for upgrades

[@grandfremdling3841]

Very nice 👍

[@Putrid186]

Dr. Venture! ♥

[@TheSebuka]

@23:50 That's peak capialism! xD

[@Gomorragh]

Roguey was a mod maker for X3 and is a long time player/fan of the game and put aside some animosity to do his usual magic for X4, his site layout is great and been a member there for ages. Additionally, you can get rid of all the regular marines and trade them back to the station while then buying more for the random chance of veterans, doing this repeatedly you can have a full compliment of veterans

[@Agatosh]

The Compensator or Peace-bringer.

[@salemprompthous3820]

Also, Francis keeps figuring things out, and finishing the thoughts with "but I didn't do that, cause I'm an idiot"... In hopes he will read this, it should make him feel a bit better about himself; I have 300hours played in X4 so far, according to steam, and I've only got one save. My mission for the 29 data vaults have come to about 24, and I haven't opened a single one of'em using the repair-tool, only found the decryption signal and left..... now I have to find them all again, and get them opened up properly for the loot aswell 😅

[@FrancisJohnYT]

Ouch... damm. Pretty sure their is a tool somewhere to find them all. I personally don't think I would have to patience to find them all.

[@jayclaymore01]

I dub thee, the Wilhelm, Trumpet of Doom. *Inception Horn*

[@oxyuran5998]

A pink erl king and you don't immediately get the idea to call it "Erl Pinkerton"? XD That'd be my name for it.

[@aagwfan]

Nice ship. Now the question is what you want your fleet to be made of. Raptor, Asgard, Elite Vanguard or something you can swarm with commanding them from a sector away. No idea what would be good to make a fleet with. Unmodded I believe the worst Xenon you will get sent out is one I and 4 K sent out to you.

[@FrancisJohnYT]

I was thinking of massing up Odysseus E Destroyers. 40 of them should be able to level a sector pretty handy.

[@Nooberr13]

IV = 4, VI = 6

[@craigbalnaves4326]

Enjoyed this. Did you ever do the Erlking on rampage video?

[@Beregorn88]

22:01 Scott Manley? Is that you?

[@FrancisJohnYT]

I have been accused of being Scott Manley more than a few times myself. On the bright side it introduced me to Scott Manley.

[@Wareitar]

Just... Ehmmm.... You might not want to hear this. 😅 But you dont need the XL Fabrication Bay to upgrade the Erlking, you only need the XL Maintenance.... 😂

[@MrRiccochet]

"Pink lightning"

[@marcusantonius9569]

Why didnt you equip the earlking shields are they worse then terran?

[@KainYusanagi]

Or they take materials he doesn't have stocked, which is why he didn't do Terran yet.

[@marcusantonius9569]

@@KainYusanagi there were specific shilds called erlking shilds at 30:46

[@marcusantonius9569]

@@KainYusanagi at 30:46 when he's lookig at the main ship shields there is one called erlking shilds. sorry fror spam if you see this twice bacause youtube kind of deleted the first reply i think

[@FrancisJohnYT]

Did not notice the Earlking shields, but that is fine. We are going to head to terran space after this and installed Terran Shields, Terran shields are actually better than the Earlking shields. I know that does not sound right but the Terran shields are just the best no matter what way you cut it.

[@shadamethyst1258]

How about the Piranesi? So you can jump in a system and then scream with a heavily distorded voice "ADMINISTRATOR"

[@Lcscreamer]

I second that. I can totally see Francis doing that.

[@SentOnFriday]

Could you not have settled for the maintenace bay? That should be able to install the mods. "You smug son of a.... " XD

[@ShadowWolfTJC]

Personally, given its exceptionally-high travel speed (for an XL ship), I'd classify the Erlking as a battlecruiser instead of as a battleship. However, given its other exceptionally-high stats, I'd probably consider this to be a super-battlecruiser, since it seems about as revolutionary for its time as the historical HMS Dreadnought and Yamato were for their own times. Edit: Actually, why not name your Erlkings after (in)famous capital ships in fiction, such as the Hyperion from StarCraft, or the Venator, Imperator, or Nemesis from Star Wars, or heck, even the titular Yamato from Space Battleship Yamato?

[@Smo1k]

Don't Make Me Come Over There from the Culture would be a fitting name...

[@msidrusbA]

The SS Pepto

[@gcl2783]

That's the Barbie Dream Ship.

[@MelfiortheOne]

Haha, boarding friendlies is so broken 😂 Honestly, it would be more fun taking it the proper way :)

[@MelfiortheOne]

I think they should change it so when you launch the pods the friendly should try to contact you to stop wtf you are planning to do, and if you ignore, go full violent!😂

[@hermanphilips4617]

"Good profit to you." He's telling you to make money off the blueprint you just purchased. No reason to get upset.

[@FrancisJohnYT]

I had 250,000,000 reasons to be upset. That hurt. We will make the money back but it's going to take a while.

[@rickjamesbitch7632]

You should name it the Pink panther! 😁

[@peterbaan9671]

Should be called The Scarlet Pimpernel

ship name idea, "The Bamboozled Teladi"

[@darnulfdonnergroll6365]

Sadly did not work anymore. must have gotten fixed. After Avarice i had VIG on +30 but the Keepsave - it is red whyever. and as soon starting the boarding the station launches fighers and finishes the op. Guess one will need the old fashined way in then.

[@motorb1tch]

name it Jessye in rememberance of jessye norman, for her imortal performance of the song erlkönig.

[@nyanates]

That UI... 😂

[@Knottypine79]

When you did the time skip, how long was it to complete stage 2? I've been at it for a long time, and I'm not sure how long I should be waiting before stage 3 initiates?

[@azulius]

blueprint costs are absolutly ridiculous... but you can always steal them, except any build modules unfortunatelly...

[@ethanforster]

Cant you get some of the Erlking stuff from quests?

[@Jahvec]

Just out of morbid curiosity, how much game time have you clocked? Also, Boron ships are quite the speedsters too, if your looking for fast and nimble scout.

[@mitechko]

Boron ships are amazingly fast, but have terrible turning rates and acceleration. Great for out of sector stuff, but driving one is just maddening.

[@Jahvec]

@@mitechko I just usually boost into travel, Hydra for example boosts to 4 km/s in few seconds and its travel speed is ~5 km/s, it's not nimble by any means, but its Corvette.. I was specifically talking about Irukandi. That thing has yaw, pitch and roll rates of over 120 °/s, boost of 6 km/s and top speed of +10 km/s.

[@mitechko]

@@Jahvec Haven't tried Irukandi. Tried both Hydra and Thresher and the Mako they give you as part of the Boron plot. The problem I have is not as much speeding up as slowing down. When I fly around in my Peregrine gunboat and hit backspace it stops in maybe 4-5km. When I am flying in a Thresher or Hydra it takes it another 20-30km to come to a stop. They do have a much higher travel speed, but the braking time feels disproportionate to the speed increase. To be honest, even Mako felt more sluggish to fly than Peregrine. And Peregrine is not exactly the most agile ship around. I have my Pegasus Vanguard if I want to go zoom-zoom :) It can do around 8 km/s in travel mode and it starts, turns and stops on a dime.

[@Jahvec]

@@mitechko Each have their own taste in ships, and game is great in that sense. Do give that Boron scout a try though.

[@FrancisJohnYT]

Well I have put in a bit of time since this episode but according to Steam I am at 216 hours total and 89.3 in the last two weeks. This is a first run so the inefficiency is to be expected.

[@GokouZWAR]

Not sure what you named it, but I’d have named it the pink pearl. It erases enemies.

[@robearrouth]

Pink Panzer

[@Smo1k]

Extrawelt would (probably) approve 😁

[@zanmatoer]

Hi Francis - loving the X4 series so far. Are you aware that Starsector just got an update? Minor, but worth a look!

[@FrancisJohnYT]

They nerfed the LP Brawler, I knew it was coming but it still hurt. I love that LP Brawler. I'm still going to use them of course.

[@Laren117]

How long it took to board the ship? I have active board like 2 hours and still stage 1.

[@FrancisJohnYT]

I used the fast forward time mechanic (SETA) and I think it took about 15 min total.

[@krandeloy]

Pinky Promises

[@valmets7846]

are you still doing any rimworld in the future?

[@FrancisJohnYT]

Oh I'll be back for sure to Rimworld, their is still a lot of fun to be had and I was thinking of maybe adding a few mods.

[@Avadon5]

next please try the game wartales, it seems right up your ally

[@enire8477]

why not the erlking main shield?

[@FrancisJohnYT]

Did not notice them at all. Does not matter the Terran shields are better so we will be grabbing them in a wee bit.

[@spyke1890]

Is 18 billion just the map, or is it a goal as well???

[@FrancisJohnYT]

It can be both, I think we can hit that.

[@egoalter1276]

The bank account cap in X3 was 40 billion I believe. You would regularly reach it, and end up having to store the excess in station accounts.

[@sangarios]

am I seeing it wrong or didn't you find all the sectors yet?

[@FrancisJohnYT]

I am pretty sure I have them all except for the unknown sector you can only access via the avarice story line.

[@kiatvdo]

what s mod?

[@salemprompthous3820]

Pink Erlking, it's not fear that strikes it's enemies, it's a laughing fit, rendering them unable to fight back..... 😂

[@r3dp9]

Pink Erlking... the Pearlking?

[@asureaskie8955]

REAL MEN WEAR PINK!

[@commandantmarechalkeitel5322]

how can u board without having that earking hostile also u have to make 80% damage so i guess is just a cheat here

[@FrancisJohnYT]

If you don't get the hull below 80% the boarding will just take longer. A lot longer, you have to wait about 60 minutes in real time. I went into Seta mode and cut out the waiting footage.

[@nottelling2857]

I just did it for free, oos with one S class trader

[@kevinmalisek9353]

My Erlking cost me less than 100 million.. you're doing it wrong

[@rickjamesbitch7632]

The Earl King it's not only ugly.. and yeah it makes total sense that a pirate faction we have the best weapons /equipment...in the universe...uhuh .... If it makes no sense let's do it anyway.. egosoft slogan!

[@rickjamesbitch7632]

The best thing to do with the Earl King is to sell it right quick 🤪