X4 Foundations - There's NEVER Been a BETTER Time to Play - 7.00 Update

[@ObsidianAnt]

What's your thoughts on X4? It's been around a while at this point, have you ever played it?

[@SoyElSopa]

I tried it. Minutes after the start, in a base I get out of the ship, look at a flat wall and a couple simple objects. 40fps when I can max out most games, uninstalled. Is it optimized now...?

[@Disappointed_Philosoraptor]

@@SoyElSopa if that was years ago i got good news. it runs with 120+ FPS for me. well, depends on your OC of course but it imnproved a lot as far as i can tell.

[@liammorris1018]

Great game, but X4 is an empire builder for me and i classify elite as a simulator.

[@tankerofplanes7976]

i see everyone recomend it, but everytime i try to get into it, im turned away by horrible UI each time

[@CMDROldDuck]

X4 is probably my GOAT space game at the moment. I still love Space Engineers, but the living galaxy of X4 is so much more enticing to me than the loneliness of Space Engineers. As for Elite, that divorce was finalized a long time ago.

[@niall2236]

I love x4. Its got some jank, but i love starting as a nobody in a fully simulated galaxy and slowly building up to becoming a massive emprie and taking over everything i can. The game just hits different

[@gs8494]

Not going to lie it took me many false starts to get to grips with the game, I'm glad I did but fuck me it wasn't easy.

[@CalicoEmpathy]

This game scratches the same itch that Mount and Blade does for me. Start out as a nobody with nothing but the clothes/ship on your back, but one day become the empire spanning force dominating the map.

[@IceKoldX]

Man, wtf is wrong with me. I own warband and bannerlord 2, x4 collectors edition. Yet, I only have like 60 hours combine between them all. Maybe I need to stop buying games and go play the ones I already have. Could probably save a ton of money.

[@Nerwesta]

The ONLY thing this game lacks seriously to be even compared to Mount & Blade is a fully fledged diplomacy system. Sure you as a player can increase your relationship with someone, but you really can't ally with another faction to provoke an unscripted war or help a friend. Not possible.

[@rickyspanish4792]

@@IceKoldX lol I feel that.. I have Warband too and played it once for an hour or so, but failed to pick it up again. I know there's some really solid gameplay waiting there for me and I have ignored it for years now. lol

[@XxKidnoffxX]

@@rickyspanish4792 When Bannerlord was announced. I bought Warband in sales to try it to know if I gonna buy Bannerlord. I played 40 hours and stopped because Bannerlord was suppose to be released that year... Finally Bannerlord get released 8 years later lol, but I have arround 400 hours on Bannerlord. And X4 is my favorite game of all time. I agree with the OP, when I try to explain the X series to someone, I always ask if he know Mount and Blade. But the X series is a lot more complex and deep. And yes, the biggest issue is the diplomacy system, or probably the lack of it lol.

[@rickyspanish4792]

@@XxKidnoffxX definitely got me interested.. if you had to pick one, warband bannerlord or X4, which would you choose?

[@Krisisawake]

X4 is the kind of game the more you play the more you enjoy it. This game is HUGE.

[@axel-xan]

Or the other way. Once you play a lot and you discover more and more bugs, wacky AI, etc. But still it's the best space sim available atm.

[@Krisisawake]

@@axel-xan You are probably right 👍

[@liammorris1018]

@@axel-xan yeah gets worse the more you play lol, i've got 2.5k hours. still a great game though just wish egosoft put some significant effort into improving the Ai and wish they would fix the economy which they're petrified to touch. Many wares don't really have a market.

[@Aves_1]

I keep restarting as I forget how to play

[@Jellybeantiger]

@@Aves_1 yes,it gets worse the more I play then I reach for the uninstall button. I don't get easily excited over new ships. Meh,another ship. Glad I am that way Just look at the SC crowd who have to have the latest greatest ship to pay for Chris Robbers new holiday yacht.

[@cmdrgogen3203]

Once you play long enough and shape the galaxy with your actions (economic, strategic and tactical), it's very difficult to stop. You may even know by name that rare 5-star pilot you just appointed to your flagship, among maybe thousands of crewmembers in dozens of ships. It really becomes your unique and personal space sandbox you can connect with. Great game, always installed with all DLCs even if I take month long pauses.

[@ZombieWolf2113]

I’m not much of a single player person but I do play some single player games, I love star citizen and elite dangerous do you think this game would be a nother space game i might be looking for?

[@viperswhip]

That's when I stop playing lol

[@Onua118]

@@ZombieWolf2113 If you enjoy SC and Elite you would probably like this one too. Everything is currently on sale at the moment which is also nice a complete bundle running $60-ish USD. Just be aware that the learning curve is much higher than SC or Elite.

[@Dante3214]

@@ZombieWolf2113 It's hard to say without knowing exactly what you are looking for. The graphics and flight sim are better in Star Citizen and Elite. The X series is less serious than those, but much more serious in theme than No Man's Sky. However, in X you can work up to literally becoming your own faction and owning a massive death fleet (or a massive space empire). Or you can grow space weed... and sabotage other space weed farms creating a sneaky space weed monopoly! Like the other games it has a huge learning curve and some jank (but not more than SC!). I would recommend anyone that likes space sims try it.

[@efxnews4776]

@@cmdrgogen3203if you are expecting gameplay like Elite and SC in regards as planet exploration and such, forget about, the game does have some space exploration, sometimes is required you leave the ship in space to do some EVA, but not much beyond that, the game does feature space sim combat, it does have space legs, but the gameplay changes half way in the middle of the game to an empire / fleet management, game.

[@purpleturnip3016]

I've had X4 in my steam libary since launch in 2018, I played several hours and never got back into it; think it was the learning curve for my ADD brain. Thanks for the video ObsidianAnt, im going to dust off my space helmet and give it another shot.

[@Trezker]

Same here, could hardly get myself to endure the tutorials last time I tried. So hearing the tutorials have changed warrants a fresh attempt.

[@SiCSpiT1]

The beauty of X4 is in the simulation. Sure there are story missions and greater conflicts worth experiencing, but what's truly unique is how you can engage with the entire galaxy while sitting on a station somewhere or teleport to a ship you own and take care of business yourself. I thought about sharing my review from my first playthrough but that’s quite long for a KZbin comment and I’ve many stories that are as interesting as any handcrafted story mission but are so much more interesting because they organically happened. So, this is a taste of what you've been missing out on if you've been sleeping on X4. I'd recently bought a large mining ship to mine the distant gas clusters; it was early in my playthrough so this was a big investment. Unfortunately, I didn’t scout the sectors ahead of time thoroughly enough and overlooked a Xeon incursion taking place in the path of my large miner. “Well that’s ten million down the drain.” I thought. Or was it? None of my larger fighting ships were close enough to assist, but I did have ten or so small and medium ships policing sectors near the Jump Gate Highway. Alone they couldn’t fight off a Xeon incursion or the K destroyer that entered the sector, but they might serve as a distraction long enough for the large miner to get its warp drive back online and flee. It was a long shot but it was better than waiting for its inevitable demise. I rallied the small ships into a squad since they’d get there first and ordered them to attack my target, one by one we entered the sector, just in time before the miner was in range of the K destroyers’ main battery. It was a good day to die, but surprisingly I suffered no casualties. After the miner left the sector I ordered the retreat. Through hit and run tactics it was enough for my newly acquired miner to escape and we put a nice dent in the robot population. But yeah, that’s X4, you should buy it.

[@predragpesic5953]

Yup, that is an amazing story and is telling me a lot about the game. I always had the impression that the X series is like Starsector, except realized in full 3d. And I never got to it because it was always one generation behind the curve in therms of visuals. But now I can see that it has gotten some really nice PBR shaders, and volumetric lighting and some other goodies. So I got one question, and it is about the combat. How would you compare it to Elite Dangerous, for example? In ED, the key to combat was to manage your shields/engine/weapons and to first position yourself in a safe spot (usually in the rear arc of the enemy ship). And only then would you transfer everything to weapons and fire away. Now, for most people, the ED combat is seen as challenging, because the enemy can easily escape that position, and then come behind you. So the game requires for you to constantly be on your toes and to anticipate enemy's actions... On the other hand, you have games inspired by Freelancer (such as Spacebourne 2 and Everspace 2) that I found to be way too easy, and much more focused on gear, and less on the piloting skill.

[@efxnews4776]

@@SiCSpiT1 i have 5k hours of X4 and i have plenty stories like this... Fleet combat can sometimes take days, and sometimes be trully dramatic... Every ship you lose is tens of thousands to millions lost... You can literally destroy your own empire, by do something dumb like invade a xenon sector without a decent fleet to back you up, but even then, when disaster happen you still can say... "WOW this really happened?" X4 universe feels alive, and the more you play the more you engage the more the universe change in the way you play

[@efxnews4776]

@@predragpesic5953 combat in X4 is challenging as it is brutal, newbies tend to suffer because you need to know a lot of shortcuts (if you play with keyboard +mouse), shortcuts that newbies don't know at the beginning of the game, fortunately the basics you learn in the tutorial, will cover your simple pew pew maneuvers. One thing you should know is that your booster ability is tied with your shields, so the more you boost, the more shield you lose. Over time you will master this though... Another important ability you should master is match target speed, this would ensure you ship computer control your engine, so your ship would constantly in the same speed as your target. X4 has newtonian physics, so one of the manuevers you can do is space drifting. X4 has different sizes of ships that you can pilot and as such the size and category of your ship will dictate How combat will play out, playing with a fighter or a frigate is different than playing with a destroyer or battleship. The bigger the size the slower they move, but in short S and M ships play like your average fighter, while L and XL you need to do a lot of positioning and it plays out more like a chess match. Play with capital ships can be very boring, but remember, every ship you have is yours to fly, and a carrier can carry a lot of S and M ships that you can fly.

[@SiCSpiT1]

@@efxnews4776 All this talk about X4 is making me want to dust off the flight stick. Actually you can take a Xenon sector with 5 well equipped Odysseus destroys if you're careful and take advantage of out of sector combat early in a playthrough. However, you're correct, it is very risky to do so without a decent supply chain or support ships.

[@efxnews4776]

@@SiCSpiT1 well, that was mostly some tips i gave to the newcomer, in fact if you have a Syn, you can take down an xenon sector if you play safe, it will take a lot of time and it is boring afk to do that yourself... For newcomers is better if they taste battle playing safe with a decent fleet. One of my latest attempts was try to take down a xenon k with bombs... I manage to do so, but have to disable all all it's guns and leave it with 1% of integrity with my hunter squad... It kind sucks... It would be cool if i could disable the destroyer using bombs...

[@richjenkins8794]

I play it as an economy sim that happens to have a cool space theme. Generally I end up sitting in a nearly indestructible capital ship surrounded by a fleet, defending a few sectors from Xenon because I need those sectors as trading partners, or because I have a pile of factories there. I kind of prefer it if I don't have to dogfight. In fact, I'd rather just watch the A.I. do battle, as long as I don't get blown up.

[@jodofe4879]

I have been with this game series for a very long time. It is great to see that it is finally starting to see more recognition. What makes the X series amazing in my opinion is that you can go from nearly nothing (one of the Split starts in X4 for example has you just floating out in space with nothing but a spacesuit) to building and commanding massive fleets and stations and even taking over entire sectors. The dynamic, fully simulated economy is also pretty fun to mess around with. And the soundtrack is just amazing.

[@kaimeraprime]

Now this is a much better overview of the game. Thanks for taking time to address people's comments and clarifying things.

[@GameCruton]

Perfect timing! I was just looking into solo space games while I wait for Star Citizen to drop the next patch. And this one was one that kept cropping up. Thank you.

[@scintilion]

as a concierge and recent evocado, I enjoy X4 and Stellaris as my SC alternates. Building X4 stations and developing commerce, first person PvE and fleet command add up to a lot of fun.

[@GameCruton]

@@scintilion Nice! I'm thinking I'll start with the base game and work toward DLC as I go / have time. I'm really digging how it looks (X4).

[@Sealreth]

@@scintilion Sins of solar empire II is starting to look really good too :D

[@timd9467]

Did you get it? What's your thoughts so far

[@onspeed5555555]

X4 sound like a Mount and Blade in the space.

[@jh5kl]

two very underatted gems of the gaming industry

[@xSoulhunterDKx]

its basically this xD

[@harrasika]

I wish there was a game like Elite Dangerous where you could explore earth-like planets. Would put thousands of hours into that.

[@puntacana7550]

Don’t forget the spacelegs 💀

[@RoninTheBlackFox]

Totally! I don’t care if it’s 2d… just needs the depth and wonderment

[@Filsoh]

Spacebourne 2

[@TheOfficialSethos]

Yes and not some tacky indie game. I hate when you ask for "Imagine an EVE-like game but single-player" you are always suggested these indie games that are MILES from the thing you want.

[@Di3Leberwurst]

I wish there was a X4 without the legs. I hate space legs

[@trashblob]

When I was mad because of X Rebirth not being X4, I never thought I would actually someday not only like Rebirth, no, I never thought how well they would make X4 too. It was good when it came out, But now it is a beautiful piece of work. Great job Egosoft! Vielen Dank!

[@Relt88]

I love both this game and Elite and after playing Elite in VR, i wish X4 had VR support as well.

[@slaphead90]

Totally - once you've played Elite in VR there is no going back to pancake. I just wish I could get into NMS, but the control system just buggers me up.

[@danilooliveira6580]

ah yes, sit in your manager chair and play with spreadsheets in the starmap in VR, the true capitalist experience.

[@MN-vz8qm]

I love VR, but X4 has tons of spreadsheets, i don't think i would like to read in vr

[@isatche]

@@MN-vz8qm UI would also have to adjust. Elite in VR is such a compelling experience, I wish there is something similar in the market.

[@nekocatmeow7959]

​​@@danilooliveira6580ngl would be cool to appear as an hologram in VR.. makes you feel like a space admiral or the fleet command in Homeworld

[@kuroneko3451]

Thank you Obsidian, You always remind me of games I should go back to play again.. because it was fun. The new update looks amazing!

[@TheFrantic5]

I just started playing this last night after having picked it up in a sale a few years ago, and I have to agree that the tutorials are very good. I was playing the basic tutorials while my spouse was watching, and she jokingly said "you should go for a walk." And I got up, checked the teleporter, and yep, I could go walk! What followed next was a 5 minute wrestling match with Newtonian physics while I figured out how to get back in my ship. Hilarity ensued.

[@adamgerald849]

I just got the game and I was really impressed with how in the tutorial I actually climb a ladder and walk into my ship and to the pilot's seat. Walking around in ships adds so much to the immersion of space games (I'm lookin' at you Elite: Dangerous 😢)

[@Jellybeantiger]

X Series have always had poor tutorials.

[@braveheart1985]

Bernd Lehahn is a beautiful genius. The X series is like an ongoing love story and has been on my pc for many years. Want to create a massive fleet and take a system? You can. Want to sabotage rival companies to get the upper hand in trade? You can. Want to employ an NPC pilot to fly you around in real time while you're going about your business? You can. X4 also have a massive modding community openly and fully supported and encouraged by the devs. The only thing you cannot do is land on planets, but I am sure Bernd will get round to that one day.

[@guillaumefavier9640]

Not sur about land on planets. It is very difficult to add, and what do you want in this feature? Just Land on barren worlds? Make bases ? Cities? With ecomy, with npc people doing some things? With , bars, Shops, industries ? A mini cyberpunk in all planets? That's a near impossible step.

[@JoernR]

Want to play in VR? You can't.

[@thunderfart31]

what if you don't want to do any of that? What if I just wanna stay a small guy doing trade routes/small missions etc, is that an option in this game?

[@Micromation]

Except for X: Rebirth. It wasn't a love story, it was a shart.

[@SVNTrw]

@@thunderfart31 yup

[@8-bitbenzu529]

Looking forward to giving it a go. Probably pick it up during the Steam summer sale. Thanks for the info!

[@Vainglorious.1]

I *just* got this game and finally got down to playing it. I've known about it for a while now, but finally got it since it was on sale. I am blown away. I don't know what i'm doing yet, but slowly, i'm learning. I'm focusing on flight control so far, and i am getting fairly good at it. Last night, after a couple hours of playing, I finally got myself a second ship (my first Fighter), and hired someone to pilot my old scout. Figured out the basics of squad control and had him follow me around when a space battle took place in the distance. Saw the streaks of fire as enemies attacked each other, so i flew towards the fight. Began with small fighters and medium ships + a few carriers battling against a larger force of destroyers and some medium and small ships, so I got to work. Had my assistant/wingman focus on looting the field while i flew around the capital ships to hone evasive maneuvers. I watched as the blue forces (ones not hostile towards me) fought the larger red ships (both ship color and general attitude towards me, -15), and it was bad at first. Then, the blue side's destroyers began to trickle in, turning the tide of battle in their favor after losing a couple carriers/smaller ships. Was targetting the ships, watching for weakened vessels since this would be the easiest way to get whatever loot dropped. Was fairly close to a large destroyer thats shields were down and was listing, backing up as it finally lost the fight and explosion was imminent. Then, i got the comm from my wingman that he was under attack. Being that he was in a weak scout with no way to defend himself in this fight, i told him to escape. He flew off, but now i had ships closing in on me. Being in my first fighter, i had *some* ability to handle the incoming fire and deal some damage, but my evasive techniques made it so i could fight them off/destroy them with minimal damage to my shields/hull. I destroyed a couple before it got too hot (didn't want to mess with destroyers with just mk1 weapons/shields/thrusters), so i told my wingman to dock at a local warf for repairs and i flew to it myself to sell what i acquired. Needless to say, i am absolutely hooked with this game. I can't wait to see what else it has to offer!

[@Paul_Hardy]

I find the X series to feel more like EvE than Elite. Heavy focus on resource extraction and industry.

[@CMDROldDuck]

I think if X4 as "Eve for me". I wanted to get into Eve, but the toxic online community, the pay-to-win mechanics, the inability to fly my own ships from the cockpit, all of that killed it for me.

[@Paul_Hardy]

@@CMDROldDuck The pay to win stuff finally saw me walk away after around 20 years of on and off playing the game. It was truly groundbreaking back in the day, but it's sadly fallen victim to the worst trope of modern MMO's.

[@mainomai]

If you ever want to play EVE offline, try Astrox Imperium.

[@Jellybeantiger]

Which bores me shitless.😂

[@SnowNinja]

Amazing video, elite lead me to the x4 franchise and will never look back. Thank you for doing the x series justice with this video

[@AbsurdShark]

I'm glad you still give this game the spotlight now and then. It deserves it, since while "Timelines" is possibly the most controversial DLC, the base game and the rest of the DLC are really fun.

[@zkmullins]

OA, i so admire your ability to discuss things in such a well thought out manner.

[@Trener_Artem]

You can spend months in X series, not hours. World of Warcraft devoured 10 years of my life (im not sorry), the X series is second time consumer DESPITE of it being single player game, which is insane.

[@DewtehDew]

No need to be sorry, I love WoW and can’t wait for The War Within. MoP Remix has been fun.

[@IceKoldX]

Been playing WoW since 2004 but I do enjoy my space games too. I haven't really put much time into X4. Maybe I should. 😆

[@Jellybeantiger]

WoW is actually fun unlike this game.

[@Suriel08]

I bought my first X- Game as kind of an accident. I had two hours for my train to leave and just went into a mall looking at random stuff. There was a boxed X2 - which included a real paper novel too. So I thought this was ideal for a four hours train ride and maybe the night after. So I read most of the the novel - the first of the Nopileus novels in German - and installed the game when I arrived home. And that was the beginning of a very much cherished addiction. There was no STEAM yet, so I don't know exactly how many hours I put into X2, but it must have been... thousands... The three instances of X3 also were great of course. And then we'll not talk about the X that never should have been. But X4 was very fun and very much a true X game again. I have the same love for Elite, I played the original from 1984. And some of the later games. And of course Elite Dangerous. I wouldn't compare those games to X4. Or any X. Both games are sandboxes. But there the comparison ends. X titles are about Empire building, economy. Some exploration, but the game world is always relatively small. Elite Dangerous is multiplayer. It doesn't allow you to directly take control of an Empire and build stations. But it's quality is really in getting "lost" in space, as opposed by getting lost in conquering space. They are both beautiful games and I cherish both X4 and Elite Dangerous for very different reasons.

[@Dante3214]

same, glad I stumbled onto x3 back in the day!

[@StoneLegion]

So glad you been playing / exploring other games then elite. We all want elite to be successful, but it seems that is not on the agenda. I been playing X3/X4 since the beginning and I have to say the best time to start X4 is tomorrow at 1PM EST for the expansion release. The tutorials have been heavily updated, so it should make a welcoming intro for new players. Tons of QOL, New Features and more with just the base game and then of course a new expansion :)

[@halloweentimemachine]

During the space game sale last month, due to your video recommendation, I finally put in the 20 requisite hours to learn this game. It's amazing. I actually have owned it for years but bounced off a few times before this. I'm so glad I watched your video and gave it a shot. If anyone is on the fence: do you like transport tycoon but wish it had 3d space battles that you got to participate in when you weren't building your supply chains? If so, this is for you

[@Ludiks]

I am about to start a new game after a few hours of first steps but I will wait for the update and will do it livestream! Looks great actually.

[@Insanitywelcome]

I truly love this game. You are dead on when it comes to affecting the universe. One of my favorite things to do. Is get a ship with a large cargo capacity. And I fly into the middle of a war between a faction I like and one I don’t like. Then I drop a bunch of laser towers all over… basically laser defense satellites for those who don’t know. And I let them rip apart ships and help the faction I support. The friendly fleet then jumps further into enemy territory.

[@Jellybeantiger]

Can't stand this game,horrible ui and game mechanics.

[@mistressminerva3382]

Thanks for the Video , it cleared up some confusion i had. Im a X fan since back in the day starting with X Beyond the Frontier. With every new X game i had to essentially learn everything new , because they always changed up a lot going from game to game. Now i already have over 6k hours in base X4 , its been a while since i last played , so i was looking around on youtube specifically for x4 timelines and if its a good way to get back into the game after a long hiatus. But from the sound of it , im probably better off running the Tutorials first to refresh my memory.

[@tomriley5790]

Never played it but have been aware of it for years! Sounds like a great game!

[@the_babbleboom]

i had the first 2 X games, and since a long time now i just don't enjoy single players like that much anymore. now my BF plays x4 for me sometimes and it's nice to just watch. it's nice to see how that game evolved. it's one of the few things that are going right in gaming instead of turning to crap like so many other games.

[@migennepravishta9485]

X4 is in my opinion the best single player Space game ever and keeps on getting better and better with each Free update. Like many space game fans, I did not know about X4's existence (or the previous titles in this franchise) until 3 years ago and the moment I got into it, I got blown away by its amazing single player experience and the infinite replayability of this game. With this new update, its time to put another 500 hours into it. Thank you Egosoft & ObsidianAnt.

[@OpenGL4ever]

Have you ever played Tie Fighter?

[@homerp.hendelbergenheinzel6649]

i will never forget the fight i had to put in getting into the x universe with x3 reunion. i only had heard about xbtf before, but apart from it being a game in space i didnt knew anything about it. what i can say is, that it was a very rewarding experience. also the replayability is insane, which is also part of the rewarding experience, because you wont make all those errors you made on the savegame before. one of the most memorable gaming moments i will probably remember forever is getting crushed by a boron tl entering a sector and i didnt move away because i handled my incoming messages right after i jumped and idled at the jumpgate - man i would have loved to see my face there trying to figure out what happened xD

[@johnflenaly6322]

I am thinking about doing another run with 7.00, not sure yet if I'll pick up that latest expansion.

[@3komma141592653]

You missed to show the factory part of this game. Many say it is factorio in Space. So if you enjoy building factories with different products, that game is really something for you. Every part a ship needs to build is manufactured from asteroid to metal to hull parts and weapons.

[@LostInDistance]

Personally I feel this one blows Elite dangerous out the water. Way better in many ways. 👌🏼

[@melik3976]

Fight mechanics better than Elite but X4 have way harder learning curve + X4 can't have Elite's expo and Multiplayer mechanics. So I believe it's not fair to compare these games.Elite and X4 completely different games.

[@CMDROldDuck]

​@@melik3976 I think it's fair, because for some of us X4 literally replaced Elite. Both games are so "big" that different people play each differently, and in my case I'm able to scratch almost all the same itches in X4 that I was in Elite. I play X4 almost identically to how I played Elite, minus the exploration piece (which I eventually grew bored with). In X4 I trade, I bounty hunt, I run missions, I work the "BGS", I collect ships and experiment with modules, and of course I seek out conflict zones for some awesome 6DoF FA-off space combat!

[@alpsalish]

I think you're right. Just seems daunting.

[@melik3976]

@@CMDROldDuck we have different POWs. not gonna lie i played X4 just 4-5 hours and it is not much for game like this but X4 I'd more like space Mount and Blade, you should build an empire and huge fleets. Yes you can go mining, cargo run, and pirating but you can't do this with a live community like Elite.

[@melik3976]

I mean imagine you pirating another player and interacting with them. X4 have very unique and cool things but so Elite

[@bsavagestudios]

I've been playing the X games since X2 and it's absolutely incredible how far the games have come. Still my number one pick for an immersive space sim. My favorite part being its a SINGLE PLAYER sandbox where I can manipulate economies and factions and have a real effect on the game simulation, I can be "The Guy".

[@_Jay_Maker_]

Don't forget to set up your automated turret killbox on any gates that the Xenon are pouring through, particularly in Argon territory.

[@Theigzorn]

best place a deffence station with scrap geathering and recycle plants as well for the sweet claytronics and hull parts in front of the gate.

[@SiCSpiT1]

Actually, you should stack fighters there instead. Fastest way to get a 5 star pilot. Later on squad them to an Auxiliary ship and deploy them with point defense command(pretty sure that's the name).

[@jo-fe9mb]

remember to stay out of system so the ai actually shoots things

[@SiCSpiT1]

@@jo-fe9mb You can mitigate this issue by equipping your M-class and higher with fast rotating lasers and flat turrets, especially at their flanks. When you're out of sector the game is only really calculating dps and health pools, so a M-class ship out of sector should never lose to a S-class ship. But in sector the game has to account for how the ships actually fly and weapon placement, so a fast S-class can easily out maneuver and win against a M-class ship. Referring to combat ships obviously. Laser beam turrets are great not for their dps but as a continuous stream of damage to shields, which pairs nicely with flat turrets because they do solid slash damage to the hull. I wouldn't use missiles at all until you can afford axillary ships. A good rule of thumb to follow when configuring your ships: The main battery kills the big stuff and your turrets kill the fast stuff. Never let your combat ships fly alone. With these principals in mind your ai will kickass whether you're in or out of sector.

[@Falx01]

My favorite gate cork is a 1 med dock, 4 Boron 8 Argon defense platform setup. Load the Boron up with nets etc and Argon with plasma and beam / flack. Station one trash pilot on it with repeat orders Dock / collect. Watch fleets burn & $$$ at the same time.

[@Retheraq]

Did they finally add back the ATF? The Tyr, the Woden, the Valhalla were amazing. The best design language I have ever seen for a ship line. And I have seen a lot of sci fi.

[@Kitosa_Hinoyosha]

X4 is a great space game in its own right, the crown of best space game is still held by Eve Online however. Hopefully Egosoft will continue to expand the universe as this is one of the best games in the genre

[@Disappointed_Philosoraptor]

I absolutely adore the X series. I started with X2 and gladly jumped into X3 for several hundred hours as well. Rebirth... doesn't exist. X4 is the pinnacle of the series and perfect continuation as far as gamepaly and game systems go. Don't expect a great story though, thjis is all about Fighting, trading and managing your own empire with entire fleets of thousands of ships - among them capital which easily dwarf even the ED carriers - the only limit to how big of a battle you can make happen is your hardware I suppose. The best part, and what really makes the game shine however are, withhout a doubt, the mods. The modding community for this game is absolutely amazing. There's a mod to make up for absolutely every shortcoming of the game - of which there are plenty, truth bve told. But all in all, X4 is highly recommended.

[@netshaman9918]

I started with the first : X beyond the frontier. I still have the CD-ROM in my library today :)

[@gamingtonight1526]

@@netshaman9918 Me too!

[@matthamende6359]

Yeah Rebirth was a huge miss for me, they tried a new concept and it fell down hard on it's face, even if it wasn't the typical Egosoft buggy mess on release, the concept was just missing what made X3 so appealing. Still I have to give them credit that they learned from their mistake went back to what they're good at, made X4 which compared to previous titles, was very stable compared to their previous X games on release, and the fact that almost 6 years later they're still pumping out free and paid content updates, it speaks extremely highly of their integrity.

[@danielc9967]

Any mode recommendations ?

[@Disappointed_Philosoraptor]

@@danielc9967 first and foremost VRO. Faction war mods are also great if oyu can handle progressively bigger attack fleets. For me, by the time of 100 hours into a run the Xenon would routinely send in several I's and K's to decimate entire sectors, it was glorious. From here on, just look through lists of VRO compatible mods - yes, a bunch of modders actually released second versios of their mods which are cxompatible with one another. VRO is basically X 4 at it's current version +1. Oh and more ships are neat. If you like star wars and/or battlestar galactica and so on, it's all out there.

[@TroaBarton]

Glad to see some X4 love, I have to agree that it is one of the best space games.

[@bulletstop100]

Been playing the hell out of it recently!! I started with egosoft around 1999 for XBTF! Picked up and played every iteration of the X series and in each iteration, they just get better!!

[@Jellybeantiger]

Lol,horrible series.

[@DoNeeh]

A big fan of the old Freelancer (2003) game by Microsoft. I can't believe that I just found this game very recently, it just ticks everything and I'm glad that I found this game. Can't wait to buy this game, hopefully during the sales. Very cool video! Earned a sub!

[@R0d_1984]

FL, me too (Wish i still had a hardcopy...), i also played Freespace before FL; i played X3TC about 14-15 years ago, still have it, really great game, hard to start but it was/is really good, though... 2008 (me 2010), i could force pilots to eject (even large cargo ships), (and EVA to a space station), i could fly to their ship, take it over (claim), eva, use a repair lazer to fix it, then, fly it, or send it to a station, sell it or keep it as part of my fleet; add it to a wing to remote attack or patrol, or escort say cargo/mining ship etc etc etc... There's not a single game even now that does even close to what X3TC (obviously X4) did in 2008 (2010).. You could not only buy and place a space station (many different types) you could construct a station complex made up of dozen (even hundreds) of station types to make components (weapons, food, power cells etc, set up mining ships, cargo ships (to collect parts, materials etc) and set them to do loops; i had about 500 mining and cargo ships alone (you can transfer to them and fly them around, can buy a teleportation system and beam on board - 2.5km?) or cruisers or carriers (can carry 30+ fighters, depending on species), so much more...

[@breytac]

It's puzzling that a small company like Egosoft can create ship and station interiors (and with the 7.0 update, each race has its own interior), yet, Frontier can't.

[@nerdrage4852]

thanks Obsidian, i got this on discount on steam...

[@CMDROldDuck]

Just watched the video to the end @ObsidianAnt, and I'm one of those who would disagree with you on the flight model and combat. It's different than Elite, but that doesn't mean it's worse. People get used to QWERTY and then think Dvorak is worse because it is different, but it's actually better. I've grown to like both the flight model and combat in X4 more than Elite, though it took some customizing of the controls and learning FA-off to fully come around to this. Ironically I mirrored my controls to be almost identical to what I used in Elite, so it feels like I'm playing Elite, except the ships' inertia is more inline with their mass (in Elite, everything but the T9 flies like a fighter). As for combat, I grew to absolutely hate the SB and HRP stacking which resulted in Eagles in combat zones taking a full minute to destroy using a much larger and well armed ship (and don't get me started on SCB-popping medium and large ships). In X4, I love that I can just "pop" a small fighter with a well equipped medium frigate or corvette, using just a few shots, the challenge being landing those shots on that spritely little fighter. This works both ways, where I'm constantly dying and reloading from save because I underestimate my enemy. It was a rare, rare day I'd die in combat in Elite. Elite was just a slow circular (boring) dance that finally ended when my enemies ran out of SCBs, lol. X4 is a "furball of fire" with absolutely epic space battles involving dozens if not hundreds of ships ranging from fighters to capital ships, all in the sky at the same time. The only thing Elite has over this is VR.

[@underleft]

Love this game, especially the Star Wars mod. Fleet AI and things could be a lot better, but the empire building part is awesome. If you're in it to fly ships, you won't like it. The AI flies all my ships and I'm in the map screen 90% of the time. It's just a different game and not comparable to Elite. Also, it's easy for Elite to be good at combat because it's just single forward facing ships with little firepower. Capital ships are useless, huge ships like Cutter and Corvette are massively lacking fire power, and turrets are useless. A Corvette should have like 50 turrets that shred anything smaller than a medium ship.

[@KK-fi6ms]

It was exactly that for me. Got tired of the grind and restrictive gameplay of Elite: Tedious after the engineers update, and moved to X4. Never looked back.

[@vividvault9285]

Oh nice, I'll have to give the new update a try. I bought x4 a year or so ago, but it was very hard to get into in my 2 attempts. I'll give it another go with the update.

[@CMDROldDuck]

X4 Foundations is amazing, and exactly as you sat @ObsidianAnt, it has replaced Elite Dangerous for me wonderfully. That said, it's not Elite Dangerous, especially when it comes to exploring a fully-rendered galaxy with all the solar systems. Elite really did let me experience "exploring the galaxy" in a way no other game at the time could. But I'm ultimately a starship pilot who likes to trade, fight, build and tweak ships, run missions, and live in a vibrant simulated "world", and for me X4 blows Elite out of the water in this regard. When I miss exploring the galaxy, Space Engine scratches that itch (though Starship Simulator has my eye). When I miss doing things down on planets or playing with other people, Space Engineers scratches that itch (along with other itches Elite never scratched). Otherwise it's X4 for me, baby!

[@TheGunnarRoxen]

I'm loving the X4 experience. The more I play, the more I love it. I already have 10 ships running around doing all sorts of things.

[@Siledas]

Frontier failing at connecting their gameplay loops is a massive understatement. They even fumbled the opportunity for ground combat to actually work like a combined arms shooter, instead of just a poor facsimilie of Halo with hilariously inconsistent TTK.

[@TheWorldsprayer]

good lord this looks so much better than usual

[@R0d_1984]

I first seriously started in X3TC, (about 2010, came out in 2008), and i really liked the visuals, still do, even the look of the ships, stations etc, could do with a little update, but it doesn't bother me (low expectations? lol).

[@corsonebula]

I was waiting for the day when ObsidianAnt would really enter the X4 world, this game is special, especially for space fans. It's difficult at first, but with patience and persistence, we will discover a universe that was close to us and that we thought was nothing special, but this one is, and it has everything, well almost everything, unfortunately we don't have planets, which is what this game lacks but doesn't stop it from being one of the best space games today. Difficult at the beginning, feeling of power in the middle and love at the end ; ) -3000K hours of great Empires here!

[@jh5kl]

+1 for planets 🙂

[@spankyjeffro5320]

Yes, the lack of planetary gameplay does in fact stop X4 from being even a good space game, let alone the best.

[@alphaomega154]

what i love about this game is, the fact that you get to build FLEETS. not just one, MULTIPLE FLEETS. if you have gain so much economy. you will wind up with hundreds of ships and crafts doing their things for your faction. trading, mining, protecting some territory, protecting your mining groups, protecting your stations etc. and if you are like me, who carefully trying to nurture precious early group of pilots/crafts during your early time on building your fleet, you could have several pilots that would still be with you for even the next hundred of play hours, which you might have moved to and between ships. like for example i have some of my early pilots later on being captain to my capital ships. while some others i gave them some of my strongest and most well equipped combat ships. so and when something happen to them, you lost them in some freak conflict somewhere in far sector when you told them to guard a trade convoy of yours, you will MOURN about them for DAYS. as if you really losing some real comrades. because they have been with you since you started the game. and that also makes you very very prudent on waging any conflict, since you dont want to lose anybody. this is the only game that ever made me feel that way.

[@IsraeliDino]

Sounds like an absolutely incredible experience! Wow. RIP to your fallen comrades - they are one with the stars now

[@efxnews4776]

@@IsraeliDinothis is just one of the amazing aspects of this game, the ranking system of pilots and crew takes some time and so usually your first pilots would be the ones who will put as captains of carriers and admirals of your fleet, and this is all organic...

[@wolfhound146]

Just for a microscopic example of how your actions matter, you could take a small mining and trading ship and set the miner to mine ore and have it deliver it to the refined metal production to make refined metal. To dumb that down it's the ore refinery. Then you can take the same small ship as the trader variant and have it trade those refined metals to hull part stations. After a while you can now afford another of those small traders.and you can use that to now transfer those hull parts to a wharf (small ship production), a shipyard (capital ship production) or an equipment dock. Now to give you the scale of how something so small can help. You have created a dynamic that say if you were supplying a wharf. That little bit of refined metals and hull parts you were moving could literally be the difference of waiting on materials for another new ship or it being able to go ahead and make it on the spot. There are other materials you can do this for as well. In the beginning I would suggest sticking to helping one faction or race you have taken a liking to. The start is literally that you piggyback off of their success. That is how you learn to crawl before you learn to walk into getting your own stations. Running would be having your own empire where you are fully independent from other factions and they need you to keep them stable.

[@rustyfmj2388]

After several hundred hours in X4 i've come to the conclusion my biggest gripe with the game is the elevators. They've made an effort to give all races their own ship interior aesthetics etc but the whole damn universe bought elevators from the same supplier. Blasphemy!

[@jh5kl]

😂

[@quicksylverg9923]

So like doors in Apex Legends :D

[@michaelbennett7561]

If you use an elevator onboard a Split station, to enter a large Boron ship, how do you handle the transition with the elevator interiors between the two, if the Split station and Boron ship have different elevator interiors?

[@volhula]

I have had this on my Steam wishlist for some time after watching this video im definitely going to have to try it out

[@Skychaser67]

I play Elite Dangerous for the VR experience

[@Genny_Woo]

Star citizen VR is better tho lol

[@xxGjbbyxx]

I too, got into ED initially for the VR experience, then learned it's galaxy is a virtual replica of our real galaxy, where near every single star or thing that we see in-game we can actually travel to. It's an amazing thought to look out the window of your real home, or from your real porch or balcony, into space and think,... hmm,... I can actually go there in ED. If we consider ED's space to be boring, while at the same time consider it to be pretty accurately simulated (ED is highly considered a "space Simulator" or at the least has a "simulated space"), then what ED is showing us is what it's Engine is predicting to be out there. For me that is fine because if FDev says ED's space is pretty accurate to our real life space, then I know what I'm experiencing, is true to NASA's current knowledge. (Not calling any or either perfectly true. I haven't personally stepped foot on another space body and traversed it, every inch). With my current time of over 4000+ hours in-game, I don't think or would call that boring to me at all. I don't have a VR HDMI any longer at the moment, so what keeps me in ED is it's awe inspiring realism. For me it is truly amazing with or without VR. So on that note, if I want to play a game with boat loads of fake strange things on space bodies surfaces, then I'll play those games for those adventures. And yes,... There are some fakeness going on in ED too, but not over abundantly as what some think should be in ED as it is in other games. Love you all! As always, this is imo. God first!!! God bless!!! Love One Another, as Christ Jesus, Love Us!!! Alleluia Alleluia Alleluia Amen Amen Amen

[@Genny_Woo]

@@xxGjbbyxx idk but play star citizen with VorpX for VR, if easy anti cheat didn’t ban it

[@rwentfordable]

​@@Genny_Wooare you blind or do you work for RSI? 😂

[@Genny_Woo]

@@rwentfordable ???

[@Cactusjugglertm]

Been considering it for a looooong time. Finally got it at the steam summer sale! Excited to jump in

[@Skillfulist1]

Also the awesome Star Wars Total Conversion Mod Interworlds to go with this amazing game. I bought X3: Terran Conflict as a complete blind buy back in 2010 and lost thousands of hours to the game.

[@Eyeslayer]

I bought X 4 back when it first came out. i got stuck on the starship build at the start of the game and well never went back. I downloaded it and then remembered my frustration and uninstalled it again a month ago but I think you do a better job promoting this game than the company that made it. because now I really want to give it another shot. keep up the amazing vids Obsidian though honestly you should charge these companies for promoting their games since they don't seem to do as good of a job lol

[@Magnumi]

How does X4 support VR gaming?

[@nonyabisness6306]

I was actually really looking forward to Elite when it was announced, but once it was clear it was multiplayer...well, not what i was looking for. X on the other hand is fantastic, although i wish the release version would've had a story like previous titles. Pure Space Sim can be somewhat un-engaging.

[@SigmaZer0]

Elite has awesome visuals and a massive universe, filled with boredom. Yes the shooting other ships is nice, for about 2 hours.

[@steveg1961]

I had never heard of this until two days ago, and then for some reason a video about the game showed up on my KZbin video recommendations, and I watched that one. And now I can't figure out why in the world I've never even heard of this game until a couple of days ago. It looks incredible! Two sci-fi games I played many, many years ago are Privateer 2 (1996; featuring Clive Owen as the privateer Lev Arris) and Homeworld (1999). This one reminds me of Privateer 2 - only far, far beyond that in breadth and scope. It's already on my list as the next video game I'm actually going to spend money on, which I haven't done in a very long time.

[@Sylusssss]

I really hate the comparisions of x games to elite The flight model just isnt there Elite is about flying space ships X is about flying fleets of spaceships

[@CMDROldDuck]

I fly space ships in X4, 6DoF, FA-off, and absolutely love it. Personally I find the flight model superior to Elite. I much prefer being in the cockpit over managing a fleet with maps and menus, and guess what, this is 100% achievable in X4. Building fleets is optional (though I enjoy that as well).

[@jh5kl]

x series had an incredebly massive fly model improvement when they implemented a completely new physics engine, it cannot be compared to what it was in the beginning

[@EtheE]

3:00 The bigger issue with Elite I feel like is that there's real depth to the gameplay loops. Yeah combat, mining and trading can be fun at the core loops, but there's very little if any variety to them and after the first couple of hours they become super repetitive. There's also no reason to engage in these gameplay loops other than progression, and every last one of them offer pathetic rewards in terms of credits and engineering materials when compared to alternatives (as well as just looking at it from a "am I wasting my time" perspective). Throughout all of Elite it really feels like fdev just added a bunch of minimalistic gameplay loops and skipped the part where you add meaningful and interesting content on top of those loops.

[@Wiktorr]

-60% on GOG Community of Planets Edition

[@loiclegal6084]

Even -70% for the base game

[@htspencer9084]

I'm seeing it at -68% on GMG also for the Community of Planets Edition

[@Ploskkky]

I bought the complete game with a huge discount a few weeks ago. I have not played it yet, but it is on my "to play list". I wish Elite Dangerous had the variation that is present in the X games.

[@mastermachetier5594]

If this is vr capable I’m in . I miss the old Elite dangerous I have something like 600 hours but haven’t played it in many years went back and it was not fun

[@CMDROldDuck]

X-Rebirth has a VR version. I own it but never have played it. My VR has been in its box for over a year now. I'll give Elite Dangerous this - it's the best VR game out there IMO, well at least it was (Legacy).

[@mikael2670]

Its great, the randomness makes each playthrough unique. What factions will be the agressors this time? (Beside the obvious Xenon and Kaakh). The depth is crazy once you go down the rabbithole. Somewhat easy to start, hard to master. Just love the stationbuilding etc beside the normal fly and pew-pew aspects of it (thats also well executed)

[@R0dLentini]

Oh just imagine what 7.0 will allow the Star Wars Inteworlds mod to do!

[@Shuulleecho]

yep, imagining right now

[@mikecroper8422]

Egosoft's X series... probably one of the best space, fleet management games on the market. Truly epic. I would love Star Citizen to have an economy game mechanic as good as X4

[@artean4700]

X4 is fantastic.

[@TedTheAtheist]

Can I turn off the "Timelines" DLC if I buy the bundle now? I can't get JUST Foundations.

[@Codysdab]

I've always loved the X series, apart from the disaster of X:Rebirth when it launched.

[@R0d_1984]

I brought Rebirth spent maybe an hour in it before uninstalling it, i played X3TC for thousands of hours over about a 10 year period...

[@Codysdab]

@@R0d_1984 ditto, every mission was broken on launch, it left a very sour taste I my mouth at the time regarding egosoft. Thankfully x4 is fantastic.

[@poolhallshark]

Great video, Ant 🙂

[@craphat1873]

Such an amazing game. Totaly immersive and utterly compeling.

[@brandongarrett2309]

X4 - simply the best.

[@henrymonroy9533]

@ObsidianAnt......LOVE your content mate!

[@KinkyJalepeno]

It’s not a perfect alternative to ED without VR support. I’d live in the game.

[@lordflashheart3680]

I'm a big fan of X4, I have 500+hrs in game and counting. I have been playing the public beta of the 7.0 update and it does add quite a bit to the game.

[@DonRushtheClassics]

I like X4, but Elite feels like a space game, X4 feels like a board game. Elite I can orbit planets, stars, moons ( trillions of them ), X4 I can't visit and orbit much of anything....X4 is a village simulator.

[@danielc9967]

@kessilrun6754 are you sure you have played X4?

[@danilooliveira6580]

that is why Obsidian said they are games on both ends of a spectrum. Elite is what people call "Solo that never met luke" simulator, while X4 is all about the space capitalist empire. while you can play the game as a freelancer in a ship doing odd jobs, most odd jobs missions are kinda crap, and the combat and ship upgrade are not that entertaining for this kind of gameplay. the game really expects you to build a fleet to do things for you. hell, end game 90% of the gameplay will be you sitting in a chair on your spacestation looking at the menus with SETA on.

[@syoung2333]

Agreed. I've enjoyed X4 for years but I've enjoyed Elite dangerous since it came out. I've always been a fan of the single player experience but neither one of the games are satisfying completely. They're like one complete space game that somehow separated at Birth. It like Starfield, StarCitizen, X4, and Elite Dangerous are all part of a disfunctional family that would be totally BadA$$ if bundled together. DEV's please save us...😢😂

[@ThrobbGoblin]

@@danielc9967 He's mostly right, though. It is *possible* to further yourself in a solo-role, the same way it's possible to level-cap in the starting area of some MMOs. If you have to force yourself to play a game sub-optimally, you're going against the design of the game. The game is designed to funnel you into the fleet-management sim side of the game, and nearly completely abandon the hands-on approach to the rest of the game. Self-imposed limitations in X4 are never going to be as satisfying as playing a game that's designed around solo-ship gameplay.

[@zacharypump5910]

My only problem with elite is I have 1700hrs and just ran out of stuff to do for any reason..

[@llN3M3515ll]

Flight model of elites second to none and having a 1 to 1 sized galaxy is pretty awesome. But by in large x4 is just overall better. It's systems are pretty well thought out and it's awesome building your. Own space empire, and you can single handedly impact the whole galaxy.

[@abranubes9571]

Love X4, and I like to extend the gameplay with some mods. Ultimately, if it could add a bit more interactions and dynamism between the factions, it would be ideal. My dream is X4 combined with Startrader and Starsector (+Nexerelin). Still, X4 is a blast overall and satisfying to master.

[@toolsmrool]

Everything you say is true, super game, great possibilities, "simulation", graphics, endless possibilities.... yeah... but the most important 'difference' is forgotten. X4 is a single player game and Elite, Eve Online etc are multiplayer games. Here you cannot share your achievements, ships, levels with other players and you cannot compete with them. This is the reason NOT to compare these games with each other. o7

[@robotba89]

X4 with some Gladiator NXT flight sticks is some of the best gaming I've had in years. I even got X4 with all the DLC for less than the price of a new game.

[@nohero23]

If you play E:D for BGS or for PP, then X4 is the game made for you. The Empire building in X4 is on another level, and it is just satisfying to build a construction facility to churn out your own ships, that you then send to deal with the Xenon/Kha'ak menace. And if you like you just teleport onto the bridge of your biggest XL flag ship and join the action directly. Or perhaps you are more of a dog fighter? Then man an S or M ship docked at your own personal fleet carrier and join the fray directly. You can be a pirate stealing from everyone. You can be a trader supplying the war effort in the background. You can be an industrialist building weapons and shields. You can be the saviour building defence stations, L and XL ships for the war. Or you can be that cruel one that takes over the galaxy while the others struggle with the Xenon threat.

[@manu_le_maboul]

X4 is as deep as elite is wide while being wider than elite is deep. Think of it as a first person eve offline, large scale battles included; oh and it got mod support so you can mod it to improve combat and the flight models to some extent.

[@CONTINGENCY_sys]

X4 does still keep becoming more and more an optional gamespace possibility for me to explore. I see a lot that it has to offer and you are right, it is logistically connected very well, and they took the time to layer in its components very nicely. From what I have researched and explored, it is ranged enough to let a player look at a large range of gameplay options isolated or connected in a large range of combinations.

[@JJS563]

I have really been wanting to jump in on this... Star Citizen is just doing their regular SC things and Ive long let go of ED... Im about to pull the trigger on this

[@ragingchimera8021]

I've been playing X series since X2 and this version is really good. It's still a steep learning curve, but the on-ramp is smoother.

[@wonkothesane3482]

I've enjoyed the X series of games for a while now, the only big feature I've ever wanted them to add is multiplayer. I'm not talking MMO level of course, but I would love to be able to set up a private server and play X4 with a group of my friends.

[@sisnoXsisnosis]

X4 also has an amazing modding community!

[@kurstein79]

i love the X games and i love to play x4 i only got 1600 hours in the game it is nice change egosoft made with update 7

[@thomashenderson3326]

X4 is one of those rare gems where: The more you play, the more you want to play more. I have almost 800 hours in the game and I have more I want to do. It keeps you coming back year after year because there's always more to do. The simulation is second to none, which means the sandbox is second to none. It has a learning curve, sure, but honestly, compared to Elite: Dangerous it's much simpler. Go through the flight school tutorials, but even after that you'll learn so much more as you play. It is absolutely amazing though. I am surprised the game doesn't have more followers. It's flight model may not be the "best" according to some but it is fun and dynamic without being too painful to adapt to. I actually enjoy the flight model a lot and think it's the most fun for my preference. Seeing your armada getting into battle is an unparalleled reward, even if you lose. Not to mention the satisfaction of building your own space station or network of stations. And the lore of the universe is surprisingly good.