I Want to Like This, but It's Just Not Clicking Yet

[FM Helldiver Radio]

Just to be clear up front:
I'm really not here to start an argument or ruin anyone’s fun. I’m just honestly trying to find a way to enjoy this game I’ve already bought.
I’ve often read that X4 offers “millions of possibilities” to engage with — and I’ve tried a few of them. But honestly, none of them have really impressed me so far.

To be honest, the plots I’ve encountered feel quite basic and uninspired. I never really had that “Wow, I need to know what happens next” feeling. None of the characters stood out — they all kind of blend together. I can´t even remember one of them. Same with the guilds I’ve seen so far; nothing felt especially unique or interesting. Just standard quest givers, more or less.

That said, I stuck with it, completed a bunch of missions, and eventually made enough credits to set up my first automated miners.
But now, the gameplay loop has become super passive: I just sit docked somewhere, watch icons move around on the map, wait for money to come in, buy the next miner, send it out, and repeat.
At this point, I honestly don’t even know why I’d bother flying around myself — the game doesn’t seem to offer much reason for it.

It’s a weird shift: it's gotten so boring now, I almost wish it felt tedious again — at least then I’d have something to do.

I assume building stations is the next step, but I’m honestly a bit worried it’ll make things feel even more static — just more money trickling in while even the icons on the map stop moving.

Right now I’m about 25 hours in and honestly… getting used to the clunky UI has been the biggest challenge so far.

I’m still hoping there’s more to this game — something that clicks later on. Maybe I’ve just missed the parts that make it shine?
If there is something deeper or more engaging coming up, I’d really like to know. Because so far, it feels like there should have been more to offer… but it hasn’t quite delivered for me yet.

[Gibbo]

Well you haven't started building stations which to be fair is a massive part of the game. Just doing that takes ages. Last night I stole 18 blueprints lol. That's fun. I died twice. Always save if going into your spacesuit.

Station building is a very long-term thing, but the rewards are worth it. Just building your own ships is a boon. You still have lots to do. The Yaki need saving. They have some of the best S and M ships in the game. To save them you need to clear several sectors that are full of Xenon. Utterly rammed. It's by far the largest Xenon nest in the game. In those sectors the Xenon have several shipyards just pumping out ships. You have yet to reunite the Paranid. That's a long and expensive plot. Have you even got Dal Busta yet?

There's plenty to do in this game.

[Ram]

The plots are terrible and have been in every X game. I'd suggest using custom start to skip them. If you're playing vanilla, their end result is the only method for causing new wars between factions. Wars are vital for the game because a civilian economy doesn't exist.

X4 is an easy and shallow sandbox. It is more akin to something like Minecraft or No Man's Sky than an 4X game. The gameplay loop is simply earning money to make more money, with a focus on station construction and logistics. Try the station management and see if something clicks for you. If it doesn't, you probably just don't like the game.

[FM Helldiver Radio]

Originally posted by Gibbo:

Well you haven't started building stations which to be fair is a massive part of the game. Just doing that takes ages. Last night I stole 18 blueprints lol. That's fun. I died twice. Always save if going into your spacesuit.

Station building is a very long-term thing, but the rewards are worth it. Just building your own ships is a boon. You still have lots to do. The Yaki need saving. They have some of the best S and M ships in the game. To save them you need to clear several sectors that are full of Xenon. Utterly rammed. It's by far the largest Xenon nest in the game. In those sectors the Xenon have several shipyards just pumping out ships. You have yet to reunite the Paranid. That's a long and expensive plot. Have you even got Dal Busta yet?

There's plenty to do in this game.

I don't even know or remember if I ever met a/the Yaki or a/the Dal Busta. I'm pretty sure I flew past some Paranids though.

I don’t really feel like the different ships make much of a difference, or why I should bother putting effort into getting better ones. They're just icons moving on the map. Maybe some are faster or can carry more (future) money, but the money comes in either way — and I don't feel like optimizing things really matters, or that it would change much if I did.

I'm sure there's plenty to do in the game, but so far, none of it feels meaningful or memorable.

[Gibbo]

Dude some of the best moments I've had in this game is flying in with 99 other fighters all launched from my own carriers and we all take out several Is, Ks and the rest of the Xenon alphabet. The chaos is sublime.

You don't have to sit staring at your map. Only Zillionaires do that lol.

[Farrel]

Well, yeah, sometimes the game hits just a point of waiting for stuff to be built, factories to process and trades to come in...

When I find myself in a moment of tedium I consider what else can I be doing whilst I wait?

Are the split slowly collapsing under the weight of the Xenon? I take a moment to adjust my fleet to bring in some more defences...

Is there another terran intervention fleet that needs stealing before they cause too much damage to an otherwise profitable xenon sector? ... 'cus those ships don't steal themselves.

Is the tide in Avarice due soon? Should I go deal with that?

Can I set up another station somewhere? Can I build a new wing of fighters? Shuffle my flight school pilots? (A huge wing of fighters built for survivability who are slowly gaining stars by combating xenon)

The important thing for interest is to try to keep a few plates spinning at all times. If you're waiting for a trader to complete? start something else... If they finish and you're in the middle of something they can wait for you... You're the boss, why should you wait for them?

But yeah, in every play through eventually this becomes an empire management game of watching icons move on a map... Your stations produce ships for free faster than you can assign them, all the enemies that you care to defeat are already on fire, and Alexander wept, for there were no more worlds for him to conquer.

But yeah, before then? Find something to do in the downtime... Stealing blueprints is a good passtime, you can save a lot of money that way.

[Gibbo]

Here's my plan for my current game...

Xenon are not doing too well so I'm going to help them. First I'm going to hack ZYA's defence platforms and put them offline for a while. Timing is everything as I need to do it when the Xenon push. Then when I am strong I will declare war on ZYA (after the Split plot which is long and expensive) and leave their sectors empty so hopefully the Xenon move in. After that I'm declaring war on FFR and the Curbs and again leave their sectors empty for the Xenon although it's looking pretty grim over there. After that we'll see? But I quite fancy taking the Boron on. They are well overpowered so that should be fun. Of course I will have to fight the Argon and ANT, but it is what it is.

Now I can do all that or stare at the map. I'm not staring at the map.

[FM Helldiver Radio]

Originally posted by Farrel:

Well, yeah, sometimes the game hits just a point of waiting for stuff to be built, factories to process and trades to come in...

.....

But yeah, before then? Find something to do in the downtime... Stealing blueprints is a good passtime, you can save a lot of money that way.

Okay, I’ll take that as a yes — there is something I’m missing.
So the next question is: how do I actually find it?

How would I know about “the Split slowly collapsing,” “another Terran intervention fleet” doing something somewere or “the tide in Avarice” whatever this is?
I haven’t seen any meaningful fights, conflicts or wars (or anything) so far. Just the occasional red square that explodes after a few shots — either from me (when I bothered) or from others (when I didn’t care). Why would I need a wing of figthers?

I think the problem is, I don’t "see" anything happening that feels significant or like something it would be interesting get involved in.

[Wraith]

There a high possibility that your seed you started with is giving the factions the ability to fend off Xenon on their own and your lack of potential action is because of that.

Here is the opposite of your experience where the Xenon were making a speed run toward domination lol
and sector were changing hands

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2781604175

[FM Helldiver Radio]

Great example. I see nothing interesting on your screenshot.
I guess some colors aren´t there they should be?

[Wraith]

Originally posted by FM Helldiver Radio:

Great example. I see nothing interesting on your screenshot.
I guess some colors aren´t there they should be?

Very much so

Xenon took paranid exclave on top left that use to be purple

I took and taken over xenon sector in center

Argon took 2 ZYA sector top center

Xenon cut ZYA sector in half top right

Xenon took frontier edge bottom left

Xenon advancing toward Teladi bottom right

[FM Helldiver Radio]

Let’s talk about the DLCs for a moment.
Is some of what I’m missing actually part of a DLC?

Or would a DLC just add another color to the map — something I wouldn’t even notice given my current level of understanding of the game?

[Ram]

Originally posted by FM Helldiver Radio:

I think the problem is, I don’t "see" anything happening that feels significant or like something it would be interesting get involved in.

Wraith's image shows the Xenon (red) have made some territorial gains. It is unusual because they usually don't achieve anything despite being the "big bad".

However, it ultimately won't matter since they will always be insignificant compared to the player. The game provides no inherent challenge, so it relies on you setting your own rules and goals. If you can't do that, it simply isn't your cup of tea.

Originally posted by FM Helldiver Radio:

Let’s talk about the DLCs for a moment.
Is some of what I’m missing actually part of a DLC?

Or would a DLC just add another color to the map — something I wouldn’t even notice given my current level of understanding of the game?

It's just extra content like new ships, factions, and sectors. It's a bad choice if you already dislike the core game.

[ayrtep]

Have you tried doing missions?

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2504731629

You get a few random missions just from flying around, but you need to join guilds to get most of the missions.

You should be able to join at least one trade guilds from the start. Visit the representative below. When you dock you should hear an invite.
1. Segaris Pioneers in spacelab in Segaris. Need COH DLC.
2. Antigone Republic in Shipyard Antigone Memorial.
3. Teladi Company in Ianamus Zura IV trade station.

Once you get to 10 rep with Split, Argon, Terran, either Paranid factions you should get access to the combat guilds. With a completely different style of missions. You will get missions directing you as to how to sign up.

You can also get missions from signal leaks. They can be quite profitable right at the start, or if you have issues joining guilds.

Think of yourself as running a Private Military Company, and missions are given by clients for which you are providing solutions.

[Wraith]

Originally posted by FM Helldiver Radio:

Let’s talk about the DLCs for a moment.
Is some of what I’m missing actually part of a DLC?

Or would a DLC just add another color to the map — something I wouldn’t even notice given my current level of understanding of the game?

DLC add more sector, ship and faction

If you don’t have split DLC
The bottom half events still applies to you

The top half is with Split DLC

So if I didn’t have Split DLC
Xenon from the bottom right would still be pushing Teladi and Xenon from the bottom left would be pushing the void in my game

The Xenon on the top left would be pushing down not up because no split sector

If anything they would be pushing a lot harder since they are more centralized because I took out a cluster of xenon to make my home base

[jasonbarron]

Refuses to engage with the game's many intricate systems>complains of boredom.