X4: Foundation gets the big update to version 5.0 and a third addon at the same time. We test whether the space sim now feels more rounded.
Scrupulous oligarchs with expensive luxury yachts, mafia-like syndicates, deadly solar flares and an initiative against space debris: these are the themes with which Egosoft’s X4: Foundations enters its fourth year since release.
On 14 March 2022, the new free update 5.0 and the third paid DLC Tides of Avarice will be released. The latter costs just under 15 euros on Steam and GOG.com. We have tested the patch and addon in a pre-release version, find out whether the DLC is worth it and how X4: Foundations performs overall.
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This is what Tides of Greed offers X4 fans
The Tides of Greed DLC adds two new areas to the game: Windfall and Greed (or Avarice in English). On the map, these become six sectors (for Windfall, three full-size sectors; for Avarice, one sector with three subsectors). The new sectors lie between the familiar Argon and Teladi areas from the base game and are connected to them by jump gates (this is good if you use mods that add new sectors to the universe on the fringes; they still work).
Windfall is a somewhat strange system that I’m not sure what it’s supposed to represent. It’s completely surrounded by some sort of cavern so large that it encloses entire planets along with star, asteroids and nebulae — is this a giant natural Dyson sphere? Or are we in the stomach of a giant space monster?
The detailed encyclopaedia entry on Windfall unfortunately doesn’t go into more detail on this question and so I don’t really warm up to the design of the sector — especially since the skybox, on which the ‘cave’ is shown here instead of stars, comes across as washed out even at the highest texture setting and the one or other render artefact is visible.
I like Greed better. This is a normal space sector with a special feature: regularly the star erupts in violent eruptions, and these damage all ships that are not docked. This can even lead to the destruction of ships. However, the radio warns of these tides in good time; there is enough time to dock or leave the sector, and the interval between two eruptions is long.
In the centre of one of the greed sectors is the breakwater (or tidebreak). This is a huge space station built into an asteroid, which makes it look quite impressive, but has no gameplay features. By the way, the latter also applies to the casino in Windfall.
In Greed live the storm surge strings (Riptide Rakers). These are peaceful people who specialise in mining and scrap metal trading. According to the encyclopaedia, they are “constantly dogged by bad luck”.
This bad luck includes, firstly, the dangerous sun of their homeland, which leads to a dependence on the product “Beschützyon” (yes, that’s really how it’s called). Secondly, the neighbourhood of Windfall does not sit well with the strings. That is where the Mafia-like Vigor Syndicate is based.
The syndicate exploits the storm tide stringers with usurious loans and industrial dependencies; drug dealing and gambling are of course also part of the business. Apart from the story missions, however, we as players don’t get to see much of this.
Scrapyard Simulator
A major new feature in the free update 5.0 is the recycling system. Given the permanent war in the X universe, shipwrecks are a dime a dozen, but until now they didn’t matter. Now we can use them to obtain new parts for ship hulls and electronics.
For this purpose, there is a new production module that accepts scrap as raw material. We bring in the scrap with a new tugboat, the Manticore. The AI also makes diligent use of the ship.
But some wrecks are too big for the Manticore. That’s where the DLC comes in, because it brings along the Teuta, a compressor ship. This compresses even large wrecks into handy cubes of scrap that are small enough for the Manticore. If you look around at the storm surge strikers, you can see both types of ship hard at work.
Interesting regarding the balancing of the innovation are calculations that X4 fans made in the forum during the beta phase of Update 5. These show that it is actually not worth investing in the new production chain, at least if you prefer production complexes that are trimmed for efficiency and self-sufficient.
The investment in the required ships, solar sails, production and storage modules is very high, but compared to traditional methods, the output of hull components and nanotronics (or claytronics) is still lower – so recycling is not really worth it. Recently, however, changes were still made to the balancing, so I can’t say anything about the long-term effects while testing this preliminary version.
Scrap ships
The two new factions bring new ship models that are pretty junky — because they are made of. The Vigor Syndicate and the Storm Surge Strikers were cut off from the outside world after the collapse of the Jumpgate Network and had to make do with what was still available. Their ship models and space stations therefore look very improvised – asymmetrical and almost haphazardly assembled, no comparison to the clean, SpaceX-like design of the previous DLC, Cradle of Humankind.
Still, models like the Shih (a heavy fighter) or the Erlkönig (a huge battleship) look cool. Unfortunately, Egosoft didn’t bother to visually adapt the clean new interiors from patch 5.0 to the run-down style of the DLC ships. Instead, major Paranid ships were completely overhauled in Patch 5.0.
New Game Starts and Stories
As with every addon, Tides of Greed brings new game starts and stories to let us experience the new sectors and factions. As always, you can also play these quest series with existing game saves.
In the game start “Smuggler’s Paradise” we begin as a somewhat unwilling new member of the Vigor Syndicate and bring a delivery to the Windfall Casino; in “Stranded” we escape from a prison cell together with the Paranid hacker Axiom and meet one of the Syndicate bosses, the Split Maestro. The game launches are each quite short and quickly release us into freedom to explore the systems.
In the process, we come across more story missions that introduce us to the way of life in the sectors. I particularly like the story about the Teladi Dagobas Lahubasis Yorilos III, whom we greedily rescue from a solar flare and who then wants to make big profits with us as partners. Since Dagobas seems a bit naive and the Teladi in X4 look cute anyway, I was very happy to help him.
Besides, it’s against the nasty oligarch Brentlee Northriver and as a reward the Astrid is waiting for us, his luxury yacht. And yes, it feels weird to write about oligarchs and luxury yachts right now.
The production of the dialogues is as usual bumpy. I noticed the German voice-over even more negatively than last time. Some voice actors are okay (for example, Dagobos’ voice fits well and Brantlee Northriver’s over-the-top arrogance is funny), but unfortunately there are also dialogues whose German dubbing is massively disappointing (for example, Maestro). The English speakers sound a bit bored in parts, but overall the English version is more consistent.
I am also disappointed by the DLC’s new music. While the X4 soundtrack has steadily improved with the Split Vendetta and Cradle of Humankind DLCs, the new tracks seem contourless. They don’t sound bad by any means; even the new battle music is fitting and atmospheric, but there are no standout tracks that stick in the ear or that you would immediately associate with this DLC.
Editor’s Verdict
X4 is one of my favourite games and now even more so thanks to the new content in Update 5.0. The free patch again fixes numerous bugs and, with the recycling system, offers a slightly different method of getting the often chronically scarce shell parts. New side missions provide further variety. The redesigned interiors in ships and stations are chic, and it’s nice to be able to walk through your ship. The personal office in the headquarters was also long overdue. Especially for someone like me who sees X4 more as a role-playing game, such additions are great. The new variants of the Paranid ships look much better than before, even if their stats are worse; good that at least we as players can optionally continue to build the old ones.
It’s a pity, but understandable: the recycling system only makes sense with the Tides of Greed DLC, because this way large wrecks can also be processed. The DLC also brings new stories from the X universe. If you have all three DLCs, there is a lot to do apart from just farming, building and fighting. Apart from the story, the Vigor Syndicate does not offer the expanded pirate gameplay that many had hoped for. And of course X4 remains X4. If you haven’t been able to get to grips with the game, its concept and its user interface, this won’t change with the add-on and patch. Combat and flight AI, for example, are still suboptimal in Update 5.
The new sectors, ships and factions of the DLC are “nice to have” in the best sense. I like them because they are strange (Windfall), dramatic-beautiful (Greed) and cool (the ships built from scrap). And Dagobos is really cuddly. But unlike Split Vendetta or Cradle of Humankind, which added significant factions and great political plots, the new DLC is not a must-buy. It could be different with a Boron DLC, which would make X4 complete, but which Egosoft has not yet dared to do because of conceptual problems (aquatic life forms …).
