Helping a friend get into the game, fadction question

[select_21]

I have a lot of hours into the game and I'm helping a friend that is interested. For someone who has never played the X4 series, which faction would be a good starting place? I told him the Argon, since to me it seems like their the best all arounders, but I also have not played the new factions that came out after Vanilla.

Is this good advice? I'm not sure if he will gravitate towards combat, trade, building or what so thats why I mentioned Argon.

Thanks.

[BGratz]

Finally it doesnt matter.

You can more or less reach the same point of progress with all starts in a comparable timeframe.
As guy i would start "Argon young gun" and as female "Untestet explorer" (well this i never played) but the point is that all starts start with only small differences

Starting as Terran is maybe helpfull because the startmissions contain some tutorial like explanations. Drawback is that you need to grind Faction rank with nearly all factions
But this is no race, so its a good first gamestart

[select_21]

Originally posted by BGratz:

Finally it doesnt matter.

You can more or less reach the same point of progress with all starts in a comparable timeframe.
As guy i would start "Argon young gun" and as female "Untestet explorer" (well this i never played) but the point is that all starts start with only small differences

Starting as Terran is maybe helpfull because the startmissions contain some tutorial like explanations. Drawback is that you need to grind Faction rank with nearly all factions
But this is no race, so its a good first gamestart

ok cool, very helpful. Every save game I have over 50 hours, I somehow always end up mainly Argon for RP reasons, so my experience with the game is pretty narrow. I'm about to start another save game and go Terran this time I think. We will see.

[Zloth]

Argon is a good if you're more into shooting. Discoverer is good if you're more into exploring. Pioneer (part of the Cradle DLC) is good for explorers that want to see the headquarters quickly.

The BEST first start is the flight school. ;)

[Oddible]

Personally Teladi has the most continuity since you're not flung half easy across the universe when you start the PHQ mission. However you might never find the PHQ mission. So yeah Terran start is definitely the best onboarding experience until you get flung. I hope they revamp the onboarding for classic starts. The game is still highly inaccessible to new players.

[McMuffin]

My first run was terran cadet and in terms of a "fast start" I would recommend it over everything else because of the way the terran economy works.
Just do the first quests and earn a bit of money and buy gas miners as soon as possible.
throw some on neptun and jupiter (if you find computronic substarte factories there) for hydrogen and watch your money explode. After that you can do whatever you want.

The reputation grind with other factions can be a bit boring but at least you don´t start at war with anyone.

[BGratz]

Originally posted by McMuffin:

My first run was terran cadet and in terms of a "fast start" I would recommend it over everything else because of the way the terran economy works.

You can start as argon and fly directly into Segaris Space and use that economy, and 5-7 Terran bases with 5-7 Criminals later you can start to trade with terran too.

[Wraith]

Originally posted by BGratz:

You can start as argon and fly directly into Segaris Space and use that economy, and 5-7 Terran bases with 5-7 Criminals later you can start to trade with terran too.

The same thing can be said the other way around.
Fly to Argon space.
Do a patrol mission or something similar and kill some criminals.
+15 rep from one mission and suddenly your neutral and the positive rep from criminal kills.

[BGratz]

Thats what i said earlyer

Originally posted by BGratz:

Finally it doesnt matter.

You can more or less reach the same point of progress with all starts in a comparable timeframe.

My point was that the Terran start is not really better over all others, just different
+ More leading (tuturial alike missions)
+ better Economy and faster start in this economy
- less faction rank at all others

So finally it doesnt matter, the 1-2 Hours you spare on content A you will spend in content B. The terran Economy is in fact far more rewarding (and even a lot more in startgame) but you can use these independent from your gamestart.

With every gamestart you can do some missions for first faction ranks and money, and then the Cheesy way and trade Satellites or do Missions, or Trade or do all that at the same time.
So after a few hours you will end up at the same stage/point and you can set up your first factory (where terran is the best choice if you have the DLC)

Such a thing (+ Warf) in Gayan Prophecy is a money press
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2564823136

[Belteguesian]

IMHO the best start is the Paranid one for 4 reasons:
1) It has the better of stating ships in terms of speed and adequate firepower. This ship is also capable doing the Engine Research in the PHQ.
2) You have 3 adjacent sectors with Data Vaults so you get initial money fast with minimal hustle. If you bother just a bit you can also get a free Osprey nearby.
3) You start next to the ALI Wharf which is good for all S ships (except Miners and Terran ones) and all Commonwealth M Transports. Also it charges at cost so there are the least expensive ships and upgrades.
4) If you get the PHQ mission at that sector you get a "bonus" Gorgon...

[eMYNOCK]

it technically does not matters wich start one picks... some starts have a mini plot attached to them some don't.

some starts have some more player assets already in place while others toss you into a basic ship and off the leash.

the only real thing that differs depending on the start is the Player Gender and/or Race.

i personally prefer the Teladi Start as it supplies everything to get the PHQ into working conditions... and for my Personal Role Play reasons.

[BGratz]

Teladi start
https://identitashoes.com/nuovacollezioneok/stivaletti/coccooro2.jpg

[FPStewy]

I'm more of a builder but after playing this game longer than I should, this is my personal understanding. I know lots of it is random but here goes.

- Every faction will have allies and enemies.
- Every "location" will badly need a few products to help it.
- Choose a set of allies like ARG ANT and Tel and only sell to them, make the others wait.

So....

As you start out, and as your rank and status gets higher the more "stress" will be put on the faction you want to support "by enemies" for them to survive this stress.

For ex. in my current play and because of the PHQ, my allies are Argon, ANT and Teladi. The faster you help supply those factions with their requirements to build ships the faster they will be able to defend their sectors and eventually help you. ect...

The main products that they will need are Advance Electronics and Weapons Components, the secondary will be like missile components ect...

- The faster you help them with sector miners for Ore/Silicon the faster they will be able to produce the needed resources ect... Silicon for Argon Prime will be an issue at the start.

- The faster you build up a mega factory like the PHQ and make Advance Electronics and Weapon Components to sell to ARG/ANT/Teladi only the faster they will handle the incoming negative "stress".

- The higher your rank and status the more your miners will be Stressed by the KAK to destroy those miners. They will at the start need babysitting to protect them with Patrols until you can make your own M fighters to protect them. Even then, you will still have to babysit them to protect them until your M's get more experienced to successfully protect them.

It's a roll of the dice but In a nutshell, the faster you help your allies and the faster you can get protection for your miners the faster you will be able to build a successful mega factory without seeing your allies getting overrun.

But that's my opinion.

[BGratz]

Originally posted by #FPStewy:

- Every faction will have allies and enemies.

Yes but you are your own faction, so its on you who you have or make a friend or foe.

Originally posted by #FPStewy:

- Every "location" will badly need a few products to help it.

Your choosen start can bind you some time to a location (Terran recruit for a hour for example). But soon you are free to go wherever you want

Originally posted by #FPStewy:

- Choose a set of allies like ARG ANT and Tel and only sell to them, make the others wait.

Completly on the player, i for example make all my friends to speed up my economy grow, war comes later (if xenon dont extinct themself)

Originally posted by #FPStewy:

The main products that they will need are Advance Electronics and Weapons Components, the secondary will be like missile components ect...

Depends EXTREMLY on your game. Your gameplay can change that easyly. And on top all it needs is one Successfull attack on a sector and suddenly there is a other high demand.

Originally posted by #FPStewy:

- The faster you help them with sector miners for Ore/Silicon the faster they will be able to produce the needed resources ect... Silicon for Argon Prime will be an issue at the start.

Thats right support them will result in a stronger Faction. You can anyway (at least in 4.0) spam the other Factions witrh terran stuff without making them stronger

[Oddible]

Honestly starting any of the starts where you don't have a lot of enemies is best. Also, starting in an area that doesn't have a lot of pressure too. The Paranid war is usually hot and heavy early so avoid Paranid starts. Argon are usually fairly safe but I've seen a lot of threads where people complained that between the HOP and the XEN they lost Argon Prime. Teladi are the safest start. You only have pressure in Ianamus Zura IV.

Like was mentioned by others. Your best way to get your faction of choice stable is to supply raw materials at first - they're in high demand the entire game. The factions will make use of them. Other than that, go fetch things needed by the Wharfs and Shipyards - stop there, see what wares are empty, go get some. Often is it Hull Parts, Engine Parts but sometimes some of the components too.

[select_21]

Originally posted by Oddible:

Argon are usually fairly safe but I've seen a lot of threads where people complained that between the HOP and the XEN they lost Argon Prime.

I can wholly attest to this. I remember two of my save games, before 3.0 I believe, I started an Arg pilot and within 2 hours Xen were over running anything under Arg control. Thinking there was no way this was supposed to happen, I started another game. The 2nd game, within 5 hours Arg prime was gone. It was crazy. I uninstalled the game for a few months lol. Since then and maybe 100 game hours later, I have never seen that happen again.