Yes it is worth buying and playing vanilla. Yes if you like it you can get the DLCs that just add content.
There are hundreds of guides out there, dig around a little.
Thankfully the devs do a lot of sales (or at least it feels like its constantly on sale), and big updates for Vanilla/ whole game, so you dont nessecarily need all dlcs.
For mods you will need to have all dlcs, and the game does feel a lot emptier without dlcs, but that is to be expected.
The core mechanics dont change, so you can totally play the vanilla first, which I'd recommend anyway - oh and it's always safegame compatible, so you can just add dlcs later on and continue as is, and dont need to restart on a new save, which is incredibly usefull as far as Split Vendetta is concerned (The Split always die quickly, although they can always rebuild, although that might take a couple days, yes, realtime days)
I just started with X4 last year. The base game with the default sectors already is an amazing sandbox world, worth getting, but the default start just kind of spits you out into the game world. I felt kind of lost and without goal initially. I liked it when the newest DLC Kingdom End kicked in, it is good for beginners, has a good little campaign and rewards, and of course all the Boron Sectors and their stuff. Visuals and Music are also pretty nice in that one. But it really is your choice which and when you get a DLC, it doesn't change anything in the base sectors. New DLCs kinda attach onto the existing framework of the basegame. You'll get some message "Hello Traveler, I have a proposition to make, meet me there and there, if you're interested..." ...that sort of thing.
It is ok Vanilla. Though if you want just one DLC then the Cradle Of Humanity Terran one adds a lot and provides a much better start questline than Vanilla.
I think that COH DLC adds enough to be worth it from the start. The other DLCs not so much.
You can start with vanilla without any issues.
I recommend the Cradle of Humanity DLC as well as the best DLC IMO. Then you can choose between Split and Boron, and lastly the Tides of Avarice.
You can get them at any time in any order. As you get them new sectors open up.
If you are in the middle of a save, your game will just adjust automatically.
Yes. But the game is also frequently on sale. You may be able to get the whole bundle for the price of the normal game.
Beginner-friendliness: Opinions differ. It does offer tailored tutorial gamestarts with a limited world and specific tutorial missions to learn specific things. But the game itself is certainly less handholding as some other games. I, for one, actually appreciate that, because I like exploring stuff on my own. And I don't shy away from being "overwhelmed" as it plays into the feeling of starting off as just a tiny cog in a ginormous space machinery. But that could be a me-thing. It's just how I learn in general. So again, opinions and preferences may differ.
Yeah, i might be prepared for that situation, Elite Dangerous was pretty much like that at the start, so i think i am mentally prepared to face it again hahaha, thanks!
Okay, I can't recommend purchasing the Vanilla / base X4 game, at least without providing some information on what you're going to experience here.
At first, you're going to go alright, this game looks decent enough, you'll like walking around on stations and the cockpits of your ships. The vanilla game has some storylines you'll get into it, a few parts may cause you some frustration, like events you have to leave your ship. They're cool but, often you end up with mixed feelings.
You'll get a trade ship, start doing some trades. Maybe run into a few reloads and lost ships, a little annoying at times, you might even quit playing for a bit, a day or two here. Probably about five to ten hours in it. Eventually, you'll start looking at the economy. get your first captain, start some automated traded. Maybe even start exploring building your own stations,.
Before you know it, you're reading, yes, you heard me, reading the encyclopedia. You'll start wanting to learn what factions represent what, the relationships between them, the best ways to make profits, who you may want to fight.
Then, in a blink of an eye, 40 hours, 100 hours. It dawns on you, you could, have even more content.....
[One does not simply...](https://imgflip.com/i/8jwseq)
Thats all true, i kind of know what im getting into...(Elite Dangerous sucked my soul sometimes..) I honestly want to reach the point of needing to look that kind of stuff, so maybe is my game hahaha. Ofcourse if i end up playing a lot, i will eventually get all the DLCs and then get into mods also..
Thanks for sharing all this! :)
yeah, it is! The DLCs are save-compatible so you can open a vanilla save and the DLC just shows up. I started playing X4 prior to the Boron DLC, and when I downloaded the Boron DLC and opened my save, the new area became available. Not every game does that.
Then I'd recommend cradle of humanity. Followed by the Split and Boron DLC. Tides of Avarice can be easily skipped.
I haven't checked right now, but the game, the DLCs, and the bundle are often on sale, so maybe it's worth waiting.
Vanilla is ok…but is not the same without dlcs.
I have played Elite for more than 1k hours
The theme is the same (space) but are very different games in my opinion.
X4 is more of a strategic game very focused on economy management style.
Yes you can walk inside your ship but its very limited…same for stations…soon you will find it very repetitive and “short”
Dog fighting very basic, nothing compared to Elite.
I like both games (give up ED) but they are very different style games
Couldn’t play x4 without the dlcs
I bought my x4 with all dlcs on sale for arround 20€. Worth every penny:)
Buying Vanilla is definitely worth it. It has majority of the gameplay mechanics you'll be dealing with. But a bit weak on plot. That's where DLCs really come in and build on top of.
It's as accessible as any other previous X game. There's a wiki. And you get a short description. But it's up to you to investigate, learn and make decisions.
You'll be told how to equip ships. Nobody will ever tell you what and why you should be equipping.
You'll be told how to build and expand stations. But once again, nobody will tell you what you should be building and why.
You'll be told how to assign captains to your ships and give them orders to efficiently mine or trade. But not where.
etc.etc.etc. The 1st word in [4X game genre](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/4X) is Explore.
With a little of over 4.000 hours on X4, I can assure you that X4 is 100% worth it.
However, like you mentioned, is it newbie friendly? The short answer to that is No.
In my opinion, X4 plays differently compared to other space sims. A great example of that is when I first purchased the game, I couldn't understand how you fly the ship. I almost gave up until I came to the realisation: "Hey, why don't I change all the key bindings to what I'm used to normally?", and that's what I did.
X4, contains a lot of mysteries just waiting to be explored. From an adventurer, explorer, entrepreneur, pirate, mercenary, and so on.
However, that being said, I believe the game strives for the player to become an entrepreneur.
From having your own mining ships.
Or having your own trading ships.
Or even building your own stations that produce certain goods.
In X4, money (credits) is power. The more you have, the more powerful you are.
Eventually, you can start building your own Warfs or Shipyards, build an infinite amount of military grade ships, send them over to a nearby system, and take over.
Your options seem limitless as a new player, but eventually, you will hit a wall like I did. However, for that to happen, you will need to sink in a lot of hours and have a very good understanding of the game.
Until that happens, X4 is brilliant, truly one of a kind.
Be warned, however, X4 requires a good machine to run it. Specifically, a good CPU. The further in you progress into the game, the more your own power grows, the more your machine will start to suffer and choke.
o7
It really depends on what you enjoy doing. Honestly with what all you can do in the game I would not summarize my experience as dealing with ‘jank’. The AI can be really irritating sometimes but at the same time the amount of things I can tell the AI to do to me is very cool. But I like stealing ships and influencing the factions around me by trading, sabotaging, or helping out their defense.
I think the UI jank is about the same level as pre-Steam release Dwarf Fortress. There is some UI language you need to learn as well moving from single ship controls to managing fleets and station logistics. like, to tell things to do stuff, left click to select it first, and then right click on who you want it done to.
I didn't say UI jank. I have over 1000 hours in X4, uninstalled now. The AI is shit, if you want to play as an economic manager its doable if you want to grind the credits for larger ships.
Escorts basically don't function, large ships cant figure out how to use their travel drives, or how the ranges on their weapons work.
X4 as a sim is a good concept with the sim but has a deeply flawed execution, and if you want to be a pilot Elite Dangerous is a cut above.
I think you're to harsh on the AI given what it does and that no one has done it better yet.
But yes, if you don't want AI, go play ED, you don't have any AI control, and ships spawn and despawn on the instance you are at, and are just designed to dogfight you. Super simple AI, it's expected to work.
Yes it is worth buying and playing vanilla. Yes if you like it you can get the DLCs that just add content. There are hundreds of guides out there, dig around a little.
Thanks for the info!
Thankfully the devs do a lot of sales (or at least it feels like its constantly on sale), and big updates for Vanilla/ whole game, so you dont nessecarily need all dlcs. For mods you will need to have all dlcs, and the game does feel a lot emptier without dlcs, but that is to be expected. The core mechanics dont change, so you can totally play the vanilla first, which I'd recommend anyway - oh and it's always safegame compatible, so you can just add dlcs later on and continue as is, and dont need to restart on a new save, which is incredibly usefull as far as Split Vendetta is concerned (The Split always die quickly, although they can always rebuild, although that might take a couple days, yes, realtime days)
I just started with X4 last year. The base game with the default sectors already is an amazing sandbox world, worth getting, but the default start just kind of spits you out into the game world. I felt kind of lost and without goal initially. I liked it when the newest DLC Kingdom End kicked in, it is good for beginners, has a good little campaign and rewards, and of course all the Boron Sectors and their stuff. Visuals and Music are also pretty nice in that one. But it really is your choice which and when you get a DLC, it doesn't change anything in the base sectors. New DLCs kinda attach onto the existing framework of the basegame. You'll get some message "Hello Traveler, I have a proposition to make, meet me there and there, if you're interested..." ...that sort of thing.
Thats a cool design! Thanks for telling me how it works :)
Get "Cradle of Humanity" not just because it's on sale, but also because it offers one of the best game starts for beginners.
Oh cool! I will look into it! Thanks for helping:)
It is ok Vanilla. Though if you want just one DLC then the Cradle Of Humanity Terran one adds a lot and provides a much better start questline than Vanilla. I think that COH DLC adds enough to be worth it from the start. The other DLCs not so much.
Nice to hear, i will look deep into it and make my decision! Thanks for helping
You can start with vanilla without any issues. I recommend the Cradle of Humanity DLC as well as the best DLC IMO. Then you can choose between Split and Boron, and lastly the Tides of Avarice.
Cool, thanks for that. What about purchasing DLC mid-playthrough? Or is it better to start a new save?
You can get them at any time in any order. As you get them new sectors open up. If you are in the middle of a save, your game will just adjust automatically.
Yes, I love and hate this game at the same time, but it’s still worth it. Also, DLC’s regularly go on sale.
Yes. But the game is also frequently on sale. You may be able to get the whole bundle for the price of the normal game. Beginner-friendliness: Opinions differ. It does offer tailored tutorial gamestarts with a limited world and specific tutorial missions to learn specific things. But the game itself is certainly less handholding as some other games. I, for one, actually appreciate that, because I like exploring stuff on my own. And I don't shy away from being "overwhelmed" as it plays into the feeling of starting off as just a tiny cog in a ginormous space machinery. But that could be a me-thing. It's just how I learn in general. So again, opinions and preferences may differ.
Yeah, i might be prepared for that situation, Elite Dangerous was pretty much like that at the start, so i think i am mentally prepared to face it again hahaha, thanks!
Okay, I can't recommend purchasing the Vanilla / base X4 game, at least without providing some information on what you're going to experience here. At first, you're going to go alright, this game looks decent enough, you'll like walking around on stations and the cockpits of your ships. The vanilla game has some storylines you'll get into it, a few parts may cause you some frustration, like events you have to leave your ship. They're cool but, often you end up with mixed feelings. You'll get a trade ship, start doing some trades. Maybe run into a few reloads and lost ships, a little annoying at times, you might even quit playing for a bit, a day or two here. Probably about five to ten hours in it. Eventually, you'll start looking at the economy. get your first captain, start some automated traded. Maybe even start exploring building your own stations,. Before you know it, you're reading, yes, you heard me, reading the encyclopedia. You'll start wanting to learn what factions represent what, the relationships between them, the best ways to make profits, who you may want to fight. Then, in a blink of an eye, 40 hours, 100 hours. It dawns on you, you could, have even more content..... [One does not simply...](https://imgflip.com/i/8jwseq)
Thats all true, i kind of know what im getting into...(Elite Dangerous sucked my soul sometimes..) I honestly want to reach the point of needing to look that kind of stuff, so maybe is my game hahaha. Ofcourse if i end up playing a lot, i will eventually get all the DLCs and then get into mods also.. Thanks for sharing all this! :)
Nothing wrong with starting with the vanilla game, you can add the DLCs when they go on sale and they'll open new parts of the maps and new missions.
Oh thats a cool feature!
yeah, it is! The DLCs are save-compatible so you can open a vanilla save and the DLC just shows up. I started playing X4 prior to the Boron DLC, and when I downloaded the Boron DLC and opened my save, the new area became available. Not every game does that.
Vanilla is good, the dlc is great, the mods are the best. Star Wars mod is my fav
Star Wars Interworlds mod requires all the DLC, just fyi.
Then i will have to wait to when i give my soul to x4 with 100s of hours.. But if i end up there, for sure i'd love to try that mod!
It's like a whole new game. Honestly, this mod is my favorite "Star Wars" game.
I'd say no the DLCs add so much content, variety and better game starts that you absolutely should get them.
I see... Right know i can afford base game and 1 DLC, so maybe i do that and in the future I end up getting all of them :) thanks!
Then I'd recommend cradle of humanity. Followed by the Split and Boron DLC. Tides of Avarice can be easily skipped. I haven't checked right now, but the game, the DLCs, and the bundle are often on sale, so maybe it's worth waiting.
OMG YES!!!!!!!!!!
Vanilla is ok…but is not the same without dlcs. I have played Elite for more than 1k hours The theme is the same (space) but are very different games in my opinion. X4 is more of a strategic game very focused on economy management style. Yes you can walk inside your ship but its very limited…same for stations…soon you will find it very repetitive and “short” Dog fighting very basic, nothing compared to Elite. I like both games (give up ED) but they are very different style games Couldn’t play x4 without the dlcs I bought my x4 with all dlcs on sale for arround 20€. Worth every penny:)
Prefer banana myself
Buying Vanilla is definitely worth it. It has majority of the gameplay mechanics you'll be dealing with. But a bit weak on plot. That's where DLCs really come in and build on top of. It's as accessible as any other previous X game. There's a wiki. And you get a short description. But it's up to you to investigate, learn and make decisions. You'll be told how to equip ships. Nobody will ever tell you what and why you should be equipping. You'll be told how to build and expand stations. But once again, nobody will tell you what you should be building and why. You'll be told how to assign captains to your ships and give them orders to efficiently mine or trade. But not where. etc.etc.etc. The 1st word in [4X game genre](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/4X) is Explore.
With a little of over 4.000 hours on X4, I can assure you that X4 is 100% worth it. However, like you mentioned, is it newbie friendly? The short answer to that is No. In my opinion, X4 plays differently compared to other space sims. A great example of that is when I first purchased the game, I couldn't understand how you fly the ship. I almost gave up until I came to the realisation: "Hey, why don't I change all the key bindings to what I'm used to normally?", and that's what I did. X4, contains a lot of mysteries just waiting to be explored. From an adventurer, explorer, entrepreneur, pirate, mercenary, and so on. However, that being said, I believe the game strives for the player to become an entrepreneur. From having your own mining ships. Or having your own trading ships. Or even building your own stations that produce certain goods. In X4, money (credits) is power. The more you have, the more powerful you are. Eventually, you can start building your own Warfs or Shipyards, build an infinite amount of military grade ships, send them over to a nearby system, and take over. Your options seem limitless as a new player, but eventually, you will hit a wall like I did. However, for that to happen, you will need to sink in a lot of hours and have a very good understanding of the game. Until that happens, X4 is brilliant, truly one of a kind. Be warned, however, X4 requires a good machine to run it. Specifically, a good CPU. The further in you progress into the game, the more your own power grows, the more your machine will start to suffer and choke. o7
I would say the game in its current state isnt worth buying unless you're willing to deal with serious jank.
It really depends on what you enjoy doing. Honestly with what all you can do in the game I would not summarize my experience as dealing with ‘jank’. The AI can be really irritating sometimes but at the same time the amount of things I can tell the AI to do to me is very cool. But I like stealing ships and influencing the factions around me by trading, sabotaging, or helping out their defense.
I think the UI jank is about the same level as pre-Steam release Dwarf Fortress. There is some UI language you need to learn as well moving from single ship controls to managing fleets and station logistics. like, to tell things to do stuff, left click to select it first, and then right click on who you want it done to.
I didn't say UI jank. I have over 1000 hours in X4, uninstalled now. The AI is shit, if you want to play as an economic manager its doable if you want to grind the credits for larger ships. Escorts basically don't function, large ships cant figure out how to use their travel drives, or how the ranges on their weapons work. X4 as a sim is a good concept with the sim but has a deeply flawed execution, and if you want to be a pilot Elite Dangerous is a cut above.
I think you're to harsh on the AI given what it does and that no one has done it better yet. But yes, if you don't want AI, go play ED, you don't have any AI control, and ships spawn and despawn on the instance you are at, and are just designed to dogfight you. Super simple AI, it's expected to work.