The Success of X4 Foundations

Is Egosoft's X4 foundations good, great or mediocre?! The game's been developed since 2018 and after multiple big updates and expansion DLC's improvements and new content - is X4 Worth it!? The success of X4 is interesting to examine : no lazy DLC's, microtransactions,p2w,cosmetics or Live-service/ games as a service/ always online crap! Without going into full review, X4 Foundations has increased it's playerbase ever since launch and has accomplished good things.
History of Space sims : • History of Space Sim g...
Timestamps :
00:00 - Start
02:08 - Sandbox and player agency
07:33 - Expansions and updates
11:37 - Monetization
14:13 - Conclusion
#X4 #x4foundations #spacesim #spacegames
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[@JohnImrie]

The original X game came out in 1999. Ego soft are still updating it to run on the latest versions of Windows. Now that's commitment to your player base.

[@TheYamiks]

yep. i was suprized to learn that from devs themselves!

[@shadowslayer205]

Would be nice if they gave us an option to invert vertical control in the original X though.

[@mr.q8240]

@@shadowslayer205 it never been enought huh

[@qutatrongaming]

The Yamiks talking about SUCCESS of a space game? Ok, i'm interested.

[@graxxor]

GREAT SUCCESS...

[@Blemmo]

Many win

[@Youda00008]

The standard is so low that even Yamiks had to lower his expectations, lol.

[@boomsig9069]

Despite the ups and downs with releases and archaic interface, the X series is still the best sandbox space game for single player.

[@xankriegor3018]

I recently fell in love with X4. The feeling you get when standing on the bridge of your very first capital ship while its turrets tear through waves of enemies is very satisfying!

[@Iymarra]

Oh yeah. Reminds me of the failed Kickstarter game Flagship. Having agency to interact and roam your own ship or capital is just something that scratches a certain itch

[@jacobwrigglesworth7140]

Trolling you was a legendary move

[@lordflashheart3680]

I have 100.9 hours of Elite on record, I stopped playing that when the grind made my head fall off. X4 however, over 1000 hours and counting. In fact I was considering starting another new pilot before this video. That is my experience, the hours invested tell the story.

[@Hardwaregeekx]

There is grinding in X4 but it isn't near as painful and time consuming while the rewards are a lot bigger. Games like EVE online for instance is just hardcore grinding not to mention the paywall.

[@decado7]

What do you do in your play throughs out of interest? What keeps you playing?

[@WhiteGinger10000]

I pretty much made my first save and spent likr 40 hours just to learn the basics and figure out how command of my ships work and making my first few stations and now I'm making a new save with all the DLC as a terran. What a learning experience! Coming from Elite dangerous, I'm already in love with this game.

[@lordflashheart3680]

@@decado7 I do as much as I can, trading, mining, fighting, building a huge mining and trading company to finance my extravagant lifestyle, story missions, and space station building and the management thereof. You can of course concentrate on just one or more things but I always find myself with fingers in all the pies.

[@Lucpol1986]

@@HardwaregeekxEvE scratches a different kind of itch to X4 imho 👍🏾

[@ravenheartwraith]

I've been a fan of the series for near 20 years, X4 is like a dream to me, it's probably my favorite space game of all time. I love having my own starfleet and walking around the command deck of my capitol ship while my empire grows. I don't care that much for stellaris to be honest, probably BECAUSE I can't fly around and stand on my command deck, it really is just pretty menus and pictures.

[@wesleyfrankenofficial]

Amen bro. Just passed 11000 hours 😊 I do would love if they improve the AI and the characters.

[@Ponial]

12:28 Yes, X4 is somewhat of a shinnying example of good game that was made to make a game, while others usually make game to make ALL the money in the world. Maybe at some point Elite started as a good game, yet was turned into a microtransaction milking machine. StarCitizen may have had noble intentions, but, road to hell is paved with those. And No mans Sky, well, just had a rough start(hot damn was that bad).

[@warzIbanez]

I'm pretty happy with NMS now, they've kept on improving the game. The worst part at launch was the lack of multiplayer, but the idea of a space survival game is intriguing to me. They still need to improve the settlements idea by basically converting those trading stations and whatnot to those actual randomly generated settlements. The minor settlements have been worth searching for since you can find awesome multi tools and mods, but the minor settlements look very much alike and yet they do have a system in place that should improve that. I am hopeful since not only did they improve the space stations in a similar fashion but they also found a way to let people build their own ships.

[@onlytwogenders420]

I bought Timelines, knowing it was content I was unlikely to interact with only because I love x4, and want the devs to continue to improve and develop it.

[@schnozbott]

I love that they trolled Yamiks about the microtransaction thing XD. Good for them having a sense of humor!

[@gbjbaanb]

They have a great sense of humour (and are German! That irony is humour itself 😀 ). Press shift+1 or shift+2 and you'll see the ui colour change. Now hold shift and press 1 then 2, 3 and 4 in turn.

[@drwrly8060]

I have been an X player for longer than I want to admit. I did take a couple of year break to o7 in Elite Dangerous, but I find X4 much more rewarding. The biggest QoL mod was me spending hours getting the key binds and button mappings set for my style of play. I am a complete armchair Admiral/Trade Boss. I mean this game lets you hire a chauffer. Like a lot of these games, the learning curve is STEEP! Thanks Yamiks. Also - I enjoyed seeing the old school skins like the split and Zero G sports wear.

[@ShadowWalker2006]

The X Universe really needs time to grow on you. At first I played it a bit but was put off by the (seemingly) complicated menus and systems. But I came back several times and once you understand the mechanics the game really opens up. Now I have like 800+ hours in the game and each Update I come back for more 😅

[@kaimeraprime]

I have played all the X games since the very 1st one decades ago, Egosoft is the only developer that I can say i 100% trust not to abandon their games. I must have racked up several years worth of game time playing x3 and x4 alone. When you control large fleets and station complexes, you can create your own empire, basically. Massive self self-sustaining shipyards making hundreds of ships constantly and not just for you, the in game factions will buy ships big and small from you. My shipyards have a war zone outside of them because I sell to factions that are at war, and then I salvage all the repackage and make new ships from it. Galactic war profiteering on a massive scale.

[@RMMinc]

I'm with you here. To think that Egosoft wouldn't even abandon an objectively unfixable HR manager simulator called X-Rebirth and actually make it an enjoyable game in the end. Color me impressed. X4 at the first appearance was ugly as sin and i was afraid Egosoft was about to go bankrupt. But look at it now: people didn't believe anything could reach the high of X3 and yet X4 did beat it. And more than that imo it is the best single player space sim currently on the market. Once you get past the learning curve that is...

[@kdog3908]

I bought the most recent expansion because I want Egosoft to keep making stuff. I actually have very little interest in the expansion itself. I think Egosoft and the "X" games are worth keeping around. In my opinion, easily worth the cost of a very reasonable asking price.

[@JohnImrie]

Same.

[@Hardwaregeekx]

Exactly. I'd rather spend my money supporting a company like Egosoft. They don't overcharge and they make good content.

[@TheCloudhopper]

Same

[@wiktorwektor123]

I did exactly the same. Egosoft has long tradition of supporting their games for long time (X4 got free DLC 10 years after release). I'm not much interested (right now) in this expansion either.

[@rjwnz69]

Same

[@luckyhomestead]

Respect for Egosoft!

[@cmdrpanorpa8631]

One of the best parts of X4 is the sheer amount of mods. People have made mods to let you give even more different orders to the AI to go and do more stuff. There is even a full Star Wars total conversion that is an awesome mod and definitely worth looking at.

[@TheAubuc]

I've been a gamer for decades now. X4 is in my top 5 games for sure.

[@friendlyspacedragon7250]

X4 is a good game. Not perfect by any means but it does do the thing it's supposed to do in a way that is reasonable. Oh, and if you did play X3 or the earlier games, the UI in X4 is an upgrade despite how it looks.

[@Jovian999]

In the interest of transparency, Egosoft does receive a grant from the German government. That goes someway toward helping them make niche games with a user-friendly and ethical approach.

[@Thalanox]

Aside from X and Uwe Bill's movie version of Postal (which is actually a great game movie adaptation that is available on KZbin), what other big things has this grant been used for? Helping make solid cultural works like this with a reputation for being maintained and kept functioning for decades is a useful place to put grants.

[@BreadsenTM]

@@Thalanox There is a public Site from the Government which shows all so far supported game projects. As an example even Anno got a grant of 5.6 million, because ubisoft got a couple of studios in germany. The site is called bmwk (Bundesministerium für Wirtschaft und Klimaschutz)[Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Climate Protection]. It is pretty hidden, but there is a subcategories Page which shows you currently funded and approved "Games-Projekte (Games-Projects)". I don't know if you're allowed to post links in youtube comments so I can't get much further than that.

[@BreadsenTM]

@@Thalanox There is a site from the federal government called bmwk (Bundesministerium für Wirtschaft und Klimaschutz) which do have a public list of supported "Game-Projects" from A - Z. I found it funny, that Ubisoft got a 5.6 mil grant for their offices in germany.

[@bigbangerz5856]

I think that was a really good point you made, X4 gives you player agency it doesn’t fake it

[@efxnews4776]

Theres a lot room for role playing in the game too, for example, once i got bored of my massive empire and decide to make a custom start . I set up a L trader and a small fighter and make a dangerous route as the start of my journey into one of the xenon territories that goes for the split space... Just the few hours from the start were a pain in the A, i have to fight a lot of xenon, and used a lot of guerilla tactics to defeat them until i arrive in my destiny on the free families space... Once i finished my little starting adventure, i fell like i had accomplished something really cool at the same time doing something that the devs didn't design in the game.

[@splattbinat1542]

Finally more (non German) youtubers covering this game

[@MrGhosthacked]

Ficken LOVE X4 - 3,992 hours.

[@HiroTeaShi]

I low key hate playing this game. But I keep coming back to it because there's no other space Sim series that lets me play in as many ways as this one.

[@veganmonter]

I only play X4 these days (just a few hours a week), but I am a menu warrior. I am in it so much that when my wife passed by when I was playing a Timeline mission she was like, "Oh, you're finally playing a new game. That looks fun!" I didn't have the heart to correct her.

[@rafezetter8003]

X4 is what ED was supposed to be and it pisses me off no end that a small team like egosoft can create something that shits all over ED for gameplay immersion, depth and player agency / cause and effect, while FDev have claimed to have "over 100 people working on ED" for the last 8 years to just provide scripted minigames for EVERYTHING.. Such Bullshit.

[@cajltd1737]

Hear, hear!

[@_Jay_Maker_]

The only thing I prefer in Elite is the flight mechanics. If Egosoft were able to translate that into an X game, it would be my perfect Space sim. For some reason X4 _really_ doesn't like my X52 and it's a huge pain in the ass getting it all set up to function with the game, which is a big dealbreaker.

[@cajltd1737]

@@_Jay_Maker_ Wouldn't that be something? However, as someone that uses assist off extensively in X4, it's not bad at all! Think No Man's Sky for comparison...

[@heinrichlegend263]

@@_Jay_Maker_ I use a Thrustmaster T16000m HOTAS and it works very good. Must be a special issue with the X52 :(

[@Minoseth]

Believe me: The english voice acting is MILES better then the actual german ... and I find that much more hilarious ^^

[@TheYamiks]

is it?! oh my oh my! =}

[@ruorick]

One can't help think that it's an intended feature at this point for their games 😆

[@0xbaadf00d]

Oh god... How's that even possible?

[@Minoseth]

@@0xbaadf00d Egosoft is notorious with these things ^^ Since X2 it's always a mess to watch humanoid models, their facial expressions, acting and voice acting. The most cringeworthy moment is (at least for me) X:Rebirth haha ^^ Just use english, even as a german. It's at least not THAT bad lol.

[@Minoseth]

@@TheYamiks You know, it's also kinda strange because Germany has REALLY good voice actors. All the movies here are very well synchronized, the same for audibles, so it really baffles me why Egosoft is always that bad in this regard haha ^^

[@IncendiaryQuail]

The main thing I dislike with timelines was getting the game for the first time, doing the basic tutorials, then it automatically leads into timelines without even saying it's doing that. Then the first few missions in timelines are fairly difficult combat encounters which want me to use features i haven't been told how to do yet, but are explained in the other tutorials which the game made me skip automatically. Having a blast in the normal mode though

[@markhackett2302]

It looks to me like timelines is Egosoft trying a different way to get people to play their stuff, like X Rebirth was a different method of playing, though in that case it was a trainwreck mostly because whichever backer ran off half way through after the engine was optimised for console use (probably the XBox, lots of names indicate XBox calls in the code) and so it had to release early, therefore buggy and PC only, because otherwise humans didn't eat at Egosoft. And humans like eating things.

[@equilibrium964]

It does that? Yeah, that's a bit strange. I'm playing X4 for years now and I think Timelines is not a good way to start the game. I just played it to unlock all the new stuff lol. Get into the open universe and start your own journey.

[@Hardwaregeekx]

Yeah I think the sandbox experience is the way to go. BTW, what exactly do you get to unlock with Timelines? I bought TImelines (just to support Egosoft) but totally ignored it and kept playing my old save from 6.20.

[@IncendiaryQuail]

@@Hardwaregeekx it's a solo story thing seperate to the sandbox with missions to progress which advance the plot. Not sure what that plot is since I stopped fairly early. I don't think it adds anything to the sandbox

[@GlitchedVision]

@@IncendiaryQuail it does. Clearing the three racing missions for example will add 3 static abandoned ships to Open. On top of this, completing timelines will add an epilogue story to Open which is how you get the advertised xperimental shuttle. I do not know of the storyline as I haven't completed it myself yet but needless to say yes, the open universe does change due to timelines. Edit: there are also around 6 additional sectors unlocked with Timelines.

[@jomorim]

Just bought Community of Planets (X4 complete, so to say). The UI and ship controls are a bit... original, but I can see the greatness nonetheless.

[@mr.q8240]

yeah i use a controller for ship flight and moving around but for longer interactions with everything else especially building i use mouse and keyboard.... with the recent update and integration of the new radial menu is even much more better

[@Bullminator]

1.st thing when you start the game ---- REBIND ALL THE KEYS THEY ARE HORRIBLE SETUP

[@mr.q8240]

@@Bullminator really never had to until now and even now its optional and i dont say that they could not be otimise by but after 600h never never had to changed the key binds maybe iam as much different as you are

[@tobias1396]

The Micro Management is so typical for us germans I mean we micromanage everything in to oblivion

[@theslay66]

Well, the micromanagement itself is not really that problematic, because you can automate most of it. The automation, on the other hand... Some works well, some will make you howl at the moon for how stupid the AI can get. Although there has been some progress made along the way, the fleet AI is still tricky to use for anything but the simplest task.

[@wannahit9357]

I originally came from elite dangerous and then played Star Citizen religiously for five years until they dropped master modes. Now I don't play Star Citizen anymore. But I had just gotten into X4 foundations 7.0. And I gotta say even though for all of its cheesiness. It is a lot of fun... And you can see where Star Citizen got some of its ideas

[@nahco3994]

Regarding the number of employees, I believe they were closer to about 15 when they released X4 in 2018. However, this was never going to work out in the long run, because in that skeleton team, they had NO 3D or VFX artists at all. They basically were working with "placeholder assets" and repurposed VFX from X:Rebirth. So personally, I'm glad they finally managed to expand their team a bit.

[@_Jay_Maker_]

I booted up a saved game from about a year ago this past weekend. I had an entire sector locked down with defense platforms that were basically attached to the local Jumpgates, either right on top of them or somewhere around them. Xenon couldn't get in without getting blown apart, and I even had owned stations that you could park in and watch the show from. It was awesome. I've got my game modded to the gills to simplify the things about it I like the least (meaning the entire "empire" sim part,) but owning your own system is pretty radical just the same. (You can create killboxes by expanding the "area" box that your structures are all built within so the area also includes the space that the Gates inhabit, allowing you to build around them. Egosoft won't patch it out because by their own admission they appreciate Player ingenuity. They're extremely based.)

[@SuperFriendBFG]

That's 50 including external contractors, which means that's including Quality Assurance too. Madness. That's tiny. It's possible their actual studio in Germany is much smaller. Still, it'd be good to know a total breakdown cause I've heard ranges of 20-50 employee count.

[@TheYamiks]

Developers mentioned following: "When going from 20 to 50 the specialization increases. We always had a strong focus on “deep programmers” (as in hard core C++) and that is probably still a lot more relative to the team size, but over the last few years our art department grew the most." -Egosoft

[@nahco3994]

When they released X4 with their skeleton team of 15-20 in 2018, they didn't even have 3D or VFX artists. They realeased the game with a lot of ships being essentially placeholder assets, and a ton of repurposed VFX from X:R.

[@AJZulu]

They needed those artists to make the assets they were missing from the launch.

[@Oryon25]

I actually feel like the controls in X4 are the most satisfying and fun i've come across in the whole genre, UI notwithstanding. And frankly, the UI isn't that bad. There's a lot of depth to the game, and you have a lot of tools at your disposal. There's a learning curve to it for sure, but not everything has to be ADHD key jangling, oversimplified nonsense.

[@jh5kl]

I suspect a lot of people are not even aware / did not properly explored the customising possibilities in the menus

[@Avnger404]

It's a hidden gem! Despite, yes, the terrible UI. What makes it even better is mods to improve, remove, or change some mechanics to better suit the individual playstyle. Or what the player wants from the game.

[@groundzero7470]

Dude, the bureaucracy joke was spot on. Greetings from Germany ;)

[@harzer99]

I just picked up X4 some days ago and I'm having a great time figuring everythign out. I have to say the controls don't bother me too much as it is the first space game that I spend actual time in. Also the UI feels more like a tool for work than a game, which I greatly enjoys. Reminds me of the approach of Supreme Commander.

[@drunksupportcharacter]

Before i even got a gaming PC back in the day, i really wanted that £3 game X2 the threat, i did get it but it didnt work well on the home pc, so i got x3 Terran conflict somewhere in 09 i think? when i built my first PC, it just kinda worked as i was playing it like a space game within a MS excel UI, i could do what i wish, i enjoyed it for what it was. Skipping rebirth, x4 released, exactly what i wanted it to be, i think it was 3.2 when it was in a nice state and knowing egosoft they enjoy building their game for the better, the same focused open area design, but within those areas, so much freedom, and the fact you can physically land on stations and walk about this time, i honestly cant think of a game that feels so alive, has such a grand scale that makes you feel smol, much easier to do space things and mess with the UI even though all these games have a learning curve, half of it is kinda eurojank but its part of the charm from such a small and loving team, it ticks the boxes you want it to, yet it knows its limits as well. And as the world actually has consequence, nothing feels a waste of time, even when you spend over 1000 hours on a save. I dont want to see the future of X be online in any sense, i get the novelty of the system they have in place, yet i do think a traditional 4 player co-op would be kinda cool if you want to see how much you can manipulate the AI

[@willm.9687]

Rise of the Ossian Raider has the Battlestar Galactica and the Normandy SR2. There are mods to bring in the proper old Vipers from BSG and a Galactica sold by all factions with a custom flight deck. There is a Star Wars mod (Star Wars Interworlds) that is a total conversion that brings in tons of sectors/factions/ships from the franchise. There are early Star Trek mods that bring in a really rough NX class and a well-done Excelsior class. Finally, QoL mods really make the game more enjoyable, and a couple were even almost rendered useless as a result of Egosoft updating the game for the better. What else is there to say? X3AP mods hooked me since middle school. Be grateful they're easier to install now in X4 lmao

[@CraigHarrisonshortdog24]

X4 is my favorite space game out there.

[@danieljohn560]

Recently got into it and dropped a ton of hours. It's addicting. Only thing missing is explorable ships. Nothing I want more than to be able to walk around my battleship and not just the bridge.

[@leerobinson8709]

Here's the thing. I started gaming in the late 80's. During that time and into the 90's games were flawed, but were fun games, often completing their objectives set out by the devs and were usually delivered in a good state with exceptions, of course. The X games have that vibe to it. Game play first and then shoehorn graphics and UI in after. I love that. It helps that X4 is a truly great game also. Fantastic achievement in this age of live service slop... Well done those plucky Germans for sticking to their principles.

[@MellowWater]

Love this game so much and love seeing so many people cover this game all of the sudden. This game deserves all the love it's getting. Also x4 is fifth mainline game.

[@tharix6063]

The X-Series is a prime example how game development should work. The First Game was a Great Space Game, X2 a Masterpiece that was build on this foundation. X3 a great one who expanded on that. Than they tried something new with rebirth, failed, agnoledged it and came back to their succesful formula with X4.

[@OfficialUSKRprogram]

I've recently discovered X4 and I can tell you I will never play another game ever again. It has EVERYTHING I've ever wanted.

[@TheArmoredDraken]

The coolest part is realizing that your destroyers, battleships, carriers and combat ships are more powerful when you're not there to see the battle, if you assemble them correctly... The game becomes a battle of numbers simulator when you don't render the scene, whoever has the most shields and the most raw damage wins, the physics turn off and it becomes a fixed percentage hit chance, and you can devastate the xenon territory with few ships if you know how to play with these numbers :) edit: this was supposed to be a light criticism, but I'm having a lot of fun with the game, my focus is on collecting everything unique in the game to test at least once in combat on my own.

[@markhackett2302]

In many cases the engine needs to add a "hit chance" balanced so at least the same sort of build would be done in a high attention (aka In System, IS) zone as in a low attention (or Out of System, OOS) zone. As it is, you will put plasmas on patrol craft you never really expect to be in the same sector as when they are fighting, and pulse lasers on most other things you expect to be in the same system when IT fights. Hit chances that vary with class and type of ship would at least even out the choices so you'd make roughly the same ones IS or OOS.

[@TheArmoredDraken]

​@@markhackett2302 I even took some time to study the game and understand the mechanics. At first it was difficult for me to understand the acronyms that the players used, but after a little searching I ended up understanding where everything applied and I set up a fleet to test this in practice. In the end I sent an Asgard that I got from the protectorate in the early game, 2 behemoth-E, 2 odysseus-E, the SYN that I got from the quest and a Zeus full of fighters, shooting down everything until I reached what was left of the yaki base, with a little coordination the fleet was destroying all the stations, K and I that I found, it was more than a success. I just found the Erlking and I'm thinking about dismantling the Zeus and reusing the mods on it, thinking about making it my IS combat ship.

[@abexuro]

I just got into X4 and damn, I knew I liked management games, but this turns into something special once you start building and managing stations and fleets!

[@patchieseec]

X4 is my most played game in my library. Even with it's faults it's a game I return to over and over. The moding community is great as well with some impressive over hauls of the game(including an entire star wars over haul of the game)

[@markhackett2302]

However, before ANY mods, play the game unmodded, if only to determine what mods do. VRO is highly popular, but since it has to, to do a more usably accurate fight, a LOT more calculations, will mean your game will hit the CPU harder and earlier than not doing it. It's only when you work out what VRO is doing that you can figure out if its changes are worth the problems it brings.

[@patchieseec]

Yep, of course, My first few playthroughs were without mods, but now 3k+ hours later, I do like to play with the mods and currently do have a pretty heavy load of mods. Just mentioning it as the mods that are created for the game can totally revitalize the game and offer even more fun. And there is a surprising amount of quality mods available, which you don't see too often on games.

[@michaelbennett7561]

Personally, the UI of X4 never bothered me. I love menus, I love options. If anything, I would make the X4 UI even more convoluted and bloated in order to have even more options and ways to control my empire. The biggest things I would change about X4 is to make the economy even more realistic. Such things as making it so factions have limited credits (currently they have unlimited credits so never have to worry about money). Dynamic diplomacy, rather than altering diplomatic states through storylines. More options to customize the starting universe, like randomized sector layouts. More "4X" aspects to the game, which while it may require a separate game mode which lacks campaign storylines, offers more freedom in terms of how the sandbox game develops. Finally, more and better controls for fleet management, with of course AI improvements to improve ship combat bahavior.

[@jasonkarsten7372]

I'd settle for an AI capable of docking at a station 🙏

[@mr.q8240]

@@jasonkarsten7372 i dont know what you mean most of the time i let the ai fly and beside that they take they sweet ass time but that only because they do it as it is supposed to be done... the player can just fly up to the dock no need to hail the station for a landing permit and dock up... that skipping the line the ai donest do that the ai is a honest person who lines up and wait for they turn like a good old DDR citizen

[@jasonkarsten7372]

@@mr.q8240 I was riding in a ship that had docking orders and it got stuck on the station, just bounced around there indefinitely. Seems to only happen when I am on board though and it's not every time.

[@mr.q8240]

@@jasonkarsten7372 after 600 h for real never happen to me stuck in anstraid tsaition etc yeah but never docking loop

[@user-xf1ur3hu4z]

To me x4 foundations is a lot like Satisfactory. i can sit back and watch world work around me. or i can get up close and personal. so on. its all up to me

[@nagyandras8857]

honestly i playd ALL x games. and now finally whit the update 7, i decided to purchase the whole x4 bundle from steam. egosoft... earned it.

[@olegchernyak1741]

I bought X4 on release, and didn't play it since that. Recently decided to give it a try, and now I can't stop. Despite all the flaws, disgusting UI and bugs, it actually grew into an amazing game.

[@_Jay_Maker_]

Believe me, the UI is _miles_ better than X3's was.

[@VulpesChama]

Here I am. Managing my mining stations, because you don't send miners as auto-miners out into the x4-universe, you set up a mining station... a dock with solid-storage basically, and attach mining ships to this station, most to actually mine one specific thing, because you don't want multiple minables mined for the same station, and a few as traders bringing those minables to your clients. Why a station and not a dozne independent miners? a) they can continously mine and don't have to look for sales themselves b) they are not competing with each other c) they have a bigger range that is independent from their own skill-rank. And later you use these mining stations as distribution centers for your other stations, so that your miners are centralized, setting your traders to only trade with your own stations, so they won't sell any ore to external clients.

[@tonk5711]

In most of space simulators you can pilot only a fighter. Maybe somethimg the size of corvette, but still it is rarity. In X4 you can pilot even damn carrier or dreadnought and kill space stations with it by yourself. And thats why i love this game

[@LunaMoon0]

The voice acting in German IS really good

[@anteep4900]

Wow only 50 people. That's really impressive that they can do this with so few people.

[@bagalas87]

cuirous, I never ever had any trouble with controls. It just fits as it is.

[@kraosdadafusfus8034]

3:37 You met the Kha'ak. They have powerful beam weapons that tear fighters and smaller transports to shreds. And since 7.0, they got a pair of new, and horrifically strong capital ships.

[@FirefoxEzo]

Ive tried it once but im now tempted to go back to it, yamiks sold me on that aspect

[@gbjbaanb]

It's a terrible game for newbies, but once you get past not knowing how the UI works (ie by googling how to do things) then you realise its brilliant. That learning hump is the worst part of the game.

[@Mikalent]

I picked up X3 in high school, and fell in love with the game because it gives you a ship, and tells you "do whatever you want". The only thing I wish it did a little better is Player Empire building, and empires reacting to what the player is doing when you start taking over their entire economy.

[@mr.q8240]

they do but in a limited way but what dones happen is that the enemies of said empire dont care... i hate to refere to it but there are great mods that fixes these issues just scroll though the steam workshop.. my advise is always play as much vanilla in the beginning as possible and when you get used to it start adding mods i dont wanna miss my scanning extention so i dont shove my face into those data leaks

[@chrisnaumann6169]

Timelines is not perfect, but a good expansion. The rewards are really cool terran ships from the beginning of the lore.

[@twondai2642]

starsector next!

[@Kexa_the_Scribe]

X4 is a flawed game. Does it it feel archaic? Yes. Does it have performance issues? Depends (truly an issue if you build mega stations). Is the voice acting mediocre in quite a few cases? Yes. Do I mind any of the above issues? No. X4 is not a game for everyone, but everyone can come and play it. Unlike other modern space simulation games, player's choice does matter and Egosoft stayed true to their promise. 9.5/10 would happily purchase again.

[@hariszark7396]

I do mind. And you should too. Because if you don't you give the freedom to make more bad games like that. If you don't mind paying xx $ for something bad that could be way better, that's your choice. But if you want to play something better that will deserve your money and time, this is 2024. We should have wonderful games to our disposal. But no.

[@Kexa_the_Scribe]

@@hariszark7396 I understand where you are coming from. Have you played previous entries? So far the X4 is very much in line with the previous entries, and those minor things such as voice acting really are not the focus. Could it be better, yes. Could the character models be better? Yes. But those are not the focus of the game. You are very much free to disagree and criticise the game. But do tell me, what other modern games allows you to do, what X4 does in the same or better quality?

[@hariszark7396]

@@Kexa_the_Scribe I had played X2 back in the day but It was so full of menus and bad in many areas that I let it go after a while. And now think about it. X2 was around 20 years ago. What happened after all this time? They pretty much make the same thing again and again. You say "this is not the focus of the game"... How is this an excuse? It *should* be the focus of the game. Do they want to make the next great space game or they want to make the same game in somewhat better graphics? Because graphics isn't everything my friend. You want me to tell you what game is better at what X4 is doing? So, what X4 is doing (well) exactly? Every game have similarities and differences with other games. But most games are not 20 years in a series with no real difference. I can tell you Star Citizen can do a lot of things better. But the developers are more money milking focused than finishing the game. I can say No Man's Sky does a lot things better but it suffers in other ways. I can talk about a lot of games over the years that did some good things. And we can argue about it. The thing is that if we are going to play a game, it has to be better in many ways from what we have seen so far. It's focus should be to give the players the best experience so far. Otherwise it is not worth it. Take Starfield for example. Everyone thought it was going to be the best space game ever. It was not. In fact it was so bad because the focus was not to make the game as players wanted but to give the impression of a great game that you can do everything. Heck, it didn't even had a proper space travel. No real exploration. No life. Anyway, take a look at Spacebourne 2. A game form a single developer with no big companies to support him. He made a game pretty good with a lot of the things most of the games have. If a single person can do that, big development companies should do better. Don't you think?

[@r4microds]

It's alright. I've gotten around jank controls, made sense of the UI, had fun with the handful of gameplay loops I've done thus far, and acquired a couple ships. My biggest gripe so far is ship AI. They float around like fish in a tank, and clip through solid objects, killing immersion. To compensate for this, physical damage on contact with surface is virtually nill so you can full boost into a station, take only a tiny bit of damage to your shields, perhaps even clip through the station yourself and still have 0 consequences. Apart from that, it's worth the asking price if you're looking for an entirely offline, "forever yours to play despite what happens to the developer", space sim.

[@locki13]

I know it's a spreadsheet fest for half the game(love that) but can we get a little bit of VR shaken into the ship flying/walking around/spacewalking part of it. Oh the immersion.

[@seashantier1593]

Great video! I haven't thought about this series since I had to use 6 separate discs to install X3. Glad to know they're still doing well! I don't know if you take suggestions, but there's a game in this style you might be interested in, called Starsector. It's shaping up to be one of the best immersive space games out there, and it's made by a tiny team. Be interested to hear your thoughts on it!

[@MegaGasek]

With the new Timelines (not for me, a seasoned player) Egosoft has taken a right step towards making the game more accessible to gamers new to the game. There were a few of The Timelines sections I really enjoyed. Races not my cup of tea. What I like about X4 is the space combat part, modding my ships, capping big ships like an Asgard, a Raptor, a Zeus, destroying Xenon and so on. I still have to build a Wharf to be able to equip my Xenon ships. So much to do really, you'll be playing it for a long time. A good return on the investment.

[@Kzoiks]

I've played this series since X: Beyond the Frontier and will likely keep buying their X-series, then wait about a year until after release so performance is better and essential mods have come out lol. The devs are not perfect and sometimes mess up but the continued support and content updates are great. It's a lot better than most other space games which are made by much larger companies.

[@edtazrael]

X4 has a hard learning curve. But if you beat it, the game is a blast.

[@littleDoughie]

Id love to see alot more X4 content. its always been a facinating game to me id like to learn more about!

[@tupperdoseplastique8707]

X4 is a clunky game but deeply rewarding. I was able to create unintended a universal economy crisis just by being the only seller of a good and miss planning the my station. I've had a single docking pier and made a queue of 25 L freighters which were forced dock 1 after another. This queueing up slowed the distribution of others wares and prices were going up almost in half of the universe. And so with the base game you can easily achieve 300h of fun afterwards they're plenty of mods that will give the game a fresh wind and bind you for another hundreds of hours. Like star wars interworlds or VRO

[@ruorick]

The open-ended sandbox nature of the game is both a blessing and a curse. I still don't really know how to properly compose a fleet and get all the orders into the correct chain of command, and even what exactly each behavioural command means, and then to command the fleet effectively in a fight because of the unintuitive, open-ended controls. It could really use some properly documented, up-to-date tutorials/wiki entries to help explain the deeper mechanics of everything, because there has been so many small iterative updates to this game and its systems that I always feel like the stuff I try to read up about is outdated.

[@markhackett2302]

Look at Captain Snuggles or search on tube for something like "X4 nested deep fleet order" and find out. High level view is you order someone and their wingmates (and the wingmate wingmate, and the wingmates of the wingmates wingmates, etc...) will do as per order (Attack, etc). Bombard is Capital Ship Intercept (but not Stations), Intercept is Small/Medium Ship Intercept, Escort is Go Along With (but drones will defend), Defence is "Shoot Second", Attack is "Shoot First". And then the orders for the turrets are as-per-setting. E.g. Defend is just "Shoot at targets shooting at the main ship", etc. Take on small wings with a larger set of ships and order them around to test the orders. Then see what happens, a larger wing than them means you shouldn't lose any ships, though you may not be able to fight until fully repaired.

[@ruorick]

@@markhackett2302 Thanks, I'm planning a new 7.0 playthrough once I've gotten Elden Ring out of my system, trial and error like you say would probably be the best way to learn what's what. It's details like you mention here that would be useful to have somewhere in-game in the encyclopedia or somewhere.

[@mr.q8240]

i feel you i have over 600 h and yet still dont know how to use the supply ship in my fleet proberly

[@Feroand]

Egosofft respecting customer's time: Decide to play one hour just to chill around and relax. Spend 5 hour straight even if has already been 5AM and you need to wake up at 6AM in order to earn money. Oversleep and earn less money due to being late. Don't feel a single point of regret because you daka daka throught your way in the univeverse.

[@the-BOR-dojo]

Your videos spot on , but let me stick up for this a.i. as i have played the x universe for decades, at least when i let my pc running and go do something and let my ships make a couple a stops, i dont have all or even half my ships gone. And yeah the spreadsheet you get from the information of your empire is very addictive.

[@sutorippuwebmaster8783]

We need microtransactions and skins because all of our budget went toward hiring shady "consulting firms".

[@TehGM]

I am long-time fan of X games, playing since X3 Reunion. And... basically everything you say is true. They still release some, minor ofc but still, updates for their 20 year old games. All X games are flawed. They all show relatively small budget for the scope Egosoft decided to take. UI and AI are... eh. But it's my most played (hours-wise) series of games, and I regret none of it. The sheer amount of possibilities and meaningful, if flawed, execution just award you if you just want to look past some imperfections.

[@antwan1357]

Finally your doing my favorite sci fi games again. yes yes yes im mentally pouring out dopamine out my brain. I already own elite dangerous can my computer handle X4 ?

[@heraldofvati2123]

X4 gets really tough to run as you discover more of the universe. The UI will drag me into the 20-30 fps range when I start managing multiple mega shipyards. Elite is more gpu intensive, X4 more bottlenecked by individual core speeds on your CPU.

[@antwan1357]

@@heraldofvati2123 thanks , this really helps do you also know what kind of computer can handle star citizen also?

[@heraldofvati2123]

@antwan1357 Star Citizen is really rough; it is not well optimized and the graphics are made for hardware that's not out yet. Plus you have so much cloud content that can slow things down. If you're current gen hardware mid to high, you probably can run it but don't expect anything close to max settings.

[@martinbergen2963]

Im a fan since the first x game. X4 is such a good space sim, i can just recommend this one. X4 one of greatest in my opinion and with alle DLC that are all big ones, you will get a lot of fun. Even after years, i check in from time to time to play with New Updates. Also good job on explaining the journey 😂😂😂❤ vut something i have to correct, UI and stuff like that got an overhaul and not the same

[@RadimentriX]

yeah, timelines has some nice missions but i was so glad when i was finally finished with it and, contrary to the plots available in the sandbox, i don't wanna play it again. the additions that playing through timelines adds to the sandbox are worth the suffering though

[@dh599]

I love playing X4, I haven't played in ages and when I tried it was so hard to get back into, but it was the first game that made me sorta roleplay, not even BG3 gets me to RP. I did my first "successful" play through where I played optimal without any RP, but I went on to my next playthrough where I RP'd a pirate lord, I setup a space station in a neutral system and had patrol fleets going around to keep the hostile aliens away and sold whatever I could, mostly good that were prohibited in nearby systems. Then the next playthrough was as Terra's loyal soldier boy, ignored most of the galaxy and focused on fortifying our home systems. Good fun, good fun.

[@Deathelement53]

The voice acting started not necessarily annoying but bad and funny but now I wouldn't even want them to change it. I actively like the voice acting after dealing with it for so long

[@Al-ny8dr]

This video made my whole day. So entertaining. You have talent Yamiks.

[@Khrenan]

Doesnt require any unlearning if you confugure your controls yourself. Like in any other game.

[@3komma141592653]

Now take a look at X4: Foundations Star Wars Interworld mod, it is even more impressive, and some of the mod developers became actual developers at Egosoft.

[@MenelikiGaming]

I absolutely love X4, and I'm happy to support the developers whom, as you pointed out, support their game and respect their customers.

[@captainyossarian388]

Worth a watch for the many times you had me laugh out loud alone.

[@daylightmoonvideo]

If you fall into the niche in which this type of space fleet/economy building game appeals to you, X4 is a great game by default because there is really no other single-player game like it. Eve Online is probably the closest comparison in that respect, but without all the MMO timesinks and drama, and The Yamiks does a really nice job here of highlighting how the respectful relationship between Egosoft and the players really shines.

[@clivedamagedgoods]

I wish I could get into it but I bounce off it every time I try. I cant even really say why.

[@sarahnachtrose]

It should also be mentioned that there are a tonne of mods available for the game. One of them is a Star Wars mod that completely changes the game to Star Wars. Empire vs Rebels. With X-Wing and Star Destroyer.

[@VRFLYBOB]

ED lost me to the grind No Man's Sky was drawn by a kid with a box of crayons and has no player agency Am just 40 hours into X4 ,so still a baby and filled with wonder about where this game will lead There is no perfect space game yet but X4 seems to have nailed it with gameplay and well done TheYamiks for pointing out how others could do better

[@Cactusjugglertm]

I love x4! It does what it does well, and I agree so much about your points on "true sandbox"! Love it❤

[@luciddaze248]

Only just discovered the series and really enjoying it! It's flawed but I'd rather play something janky that's fun and rewarding than pretty and shallow. My go to right now.

[@Hardwaregeekx]

I agree with your assessment. I never got addicted to X4 like I did with many other games before. It might just be because I am older, or it might be because as you say, X4 is not a great game. Still it is a fun game I enjoy playing. And it doesn't leave me feeling ripped off and disatisfied like EVE online. For those who like space games where you have a lot of agency. I would also recommend Starsector.

[@Relt88]

This game would become a must buy for me if it had VR integration. That’s the only reason why i play elite dangerous. I wouldn’t mind the excel sheets if the controls were done correctly and user friendly.

[@TheYamiks]

umm.... it kind of does.... Ether it was a mod or Eye-tracker thing, but it does have something going on.(havent had the time to look into it myself)

[@markhackett2302]

Yet even Sony are dropping VR. ALL VR is is a way to epeen "I gotz munny!!!", but VR is even more of a niche than space games are, doubly so since the only real unique selling point of Elite:Dangerous is it is a space game doing VR, but even then, loads complain that "you just sit in a greenhouse cockpit!!!". And ED can't keep going with VR users.

[@gbjbaanb]

There is VR. There a long guide on his to set it up fully for best experience on steam.

[@alphaomega154]

i hope egosoft dont hate me after spain sent germany out of the euro cup. 😂 for me my most enjoyment of playing this game is when i treat it like an RTS game with AI management. for example, i would just be spectator in one of my capital ship when a few of my capital ships in a battle group facing the opposite factions in a sector battle. after directing fleets on each their vectors and just overseeing the battle unfolds, like being a manager in a soccer team. and watch the battle from multiple camera angles, jumping views from some of my ships's anchor points. almost like watching a space movie. epic. and i normally wont let small spacefighters go out during capital ships battles. dont want to lose any of them. i would however sent out fast medium fighters with heavy weapons to target the opposition's capital ship's engines and main shields. and pull them out immediately when i see them taking hits. im a "manager" type. 😁

[@LandsOfDespair]

X4 is a very cool sandbox on paper, I always wanted to jump into it, but man... Interface and overall level of polish turned me off every time. I even tried the game at some point.. I wish they made it more user-friendly and easier to understand :) But for a group of 50 people it's cool anyway :)

[@shayminthedoctor9663]

Ah X4. Janky, borderline broken at some points, excessively complicated, and a game that has stolen more hours from my life than I feel comfortable admitting

[@planexshifter]

Over 4,000 so far…..

[@planexshifter]

I seriously played this game for 24 hours straight a couple of times….

[@Jan5366]

its in sale btw ^^

[@redactedc1928]

I put it in the same category as Mechwarrior/Battletech. You have a very specific type of gaming taste if you play the X games.

[@nemesisnidhoggr1468]

Hey Yamiks. When you drunk and bored and dont really know what better things to do. Can you try playing and making video on Space Rangers 2? Absolute banger