X4: Foundationshas received five expansions in the form of optional DLC. Among these,X4: Timelinesis the most recent.X4is aspace simulation gamethat enables the player to build fleets, construct stations, and run a complex economy. They are also free to complete the many quests and missions as they do so.
With a unique blend of first-personspace combataction, and strategic management of galaxy-wide assets on the game map,X4has few true competitors.X4: Timelinesaddresses one of the few criticisms of the game to date: that it is not friendly for casual players, who cannot invest hundreds of hours into the game. Here are some of the DLC’s best features in this regard.
7Reduced Speed Mode
Great For New Players
TheX4: TimelinesDLC adds a very useful new feature to the game that will really help new players out. Players can now choose to run the game in reduced speed mode, whichslows everything down.It can makecombat in spaceeasier, and can also give players more time to issue fleet commands in combat.
Players can think of this new feature as anti-SETA. Where SETA mode speeds up the game by a factor of 6, reduced speed mode is a variable speed setting that can go as low as25% of normal game speed.
6External Camera Rework
Take A Good Look At Your Ship
X4: Foundationshas always been a visually stunning game. However, the originalfirst-person and third-personchase cameras didn’t show this off as well as they could. The cinema camera that was added later helped, displaying various happenings from around theX4universe as a showreel. But there was still no simple way to get a good look at the player’s ship from a specific angle.
X4: Timelinesfixes this problem. The new third-person camera controls are comprehensive. These new camera controls allow the player to set the height, distance, and lateral angle the camera is viewing from. FInally, players can take fantastic screenshots of their favorite ships.
5Reimagined Argon And Teladi Ships
New High-Quality Models
Over the last few major updates and DLC releases, Egosoft has slowly been revamping all the capital ships in the game. Last time around, it was the Paranid that received a little 3D modeling love. This time, it is both the Argon and Teladi.
All the Argon and Teladi capital class ships have been given fantastic new models. These are much more detailed than the old versions, and look amazing. Teladi ships are so much better, they no longer look like flying mushrooms. Argon ships look much meaner, instead of like a flying horseshoe as they did before.
4Space Racing
A Tough New Challenge
No space simulator game is complete withoutspace racing. InX4: Timelines,racing abounds, and players can undertake a number of new racing scenarios. These races are far from being a pushover, and the player will need to be at the top of their game to actually come in first.
Many of theTimelinesscenarios award special ships for completing them. In the case of the space racing scenarios, there are several small, fast, and agile ships that the player can unlock by winning races. Once the player has unlocked a specific ship, they will have access to it in sandbox mode.
3New Storyline
With A Serious Twist
As with every previous DLC forX4: Foundations, the newTimelinesDLC adds a new storyline and plot to use as a starting point. But this time around, it has a major twist. Every previous new player start scenario so far has taken place in the sandbox universe. The newTimelinesstart takes place outside of reality, in a strange dimension.
The scenario starts with the player flying an M-sized cargo ship, which is under attack from pirates. The player attempts to fight them off, to no avail. Just a few seconds before the ship is destroyed, a strange NPC appears on the bridge. They offer the player the chance to save themselves, by leaving their current life behind and shifting into a different dimension that is outside of time. This leads the player into a playthrough scenario where they need to completeTimelinesmission scenarios.
2New Endgame Content
For Advanced Players
Anyone who has playedX4: Foundationsfor some time, will eventually end up at a stage where they literally dominate the galaxy, with a number of huge fleets and an economy that is larger than all the other factions put together. Once a player hits this stage, they have few options other than restarting, or attempting to set up some kind of challenge for themselves to accomplish.
InX4: Timelines, this kind of player has a new challenge to face. Once they hit a particular stage of the game, Boso Ta will contact them about some new sensor research that has become available. The player can complete this research if they wish, which will trigger anendgame crisisscenario against a significant alien threat.
1Timelines Missions
A New Way To Play X4
X4: Timelinesoffers a completely new way to playX4. Traditionally, the player picks one of the starting scenarios and follows the scripted content to its conclusion, or simply plays in sandbox mode, ignoring all the quests.Timelinesadds a third way to enjoy the game, which is more suitable forcasual players.
Once the player chooses the newTimelinesstart, they can then take on bite-sized mission scenarios, which offer different kinds of challenges. This could be winning a race, defending a research ship, or winning a capital fleet engagement, among others. The player is given an overall score for their effort, and players compete online. A high score table displays the names of the players who scored the highest points overall. This is a fun new way to playX4, and it sets a precedent for the way that Egosoft can add new content to the game.
X4: Foundations
WHERE TO PLAY
X4 is aliving, breathing space sandboxrunning entirely on your PC. Thousands of ships and stations trade, mine and produce, all realistically simulated. In this universe, you can grow from being the lone pilot of a fighter ship, to managing a vast empire, commanding your fleets and designing colossal space stations. Transition seamlessly from first-person action, boarding ships and visiting their bridges, to an expansive strategy and management simulation. Choose your own path at your own pace. The decisions are yours. Trade - Fight - Build - Think.Start your journeyIn X4, you can start your journey froma number of different gamestartsand as a number of different characters, each with their own role, set of relationships and different ships and technologies to start with. No matter how you start, you are alwaysfree to develop in any other direction. Focus on exploration, make money with illegal trading and theft, command large battle fleets or become the greatest entrepreneur ever. It’s all up toyouto decide.Fly every shipX4 allows you tofly all ships personally. From small scouts over a wide range of ship classes up to the biggest carrier, everything can be piloted from the cockpit or an external view. A big focus in the development of X4 has been to achieve aseamless and immersive experience when moving between ships. You can leave a ship, climb down a ladder, walk over the dock of a large space station into another ship you may have parked there and replace the pilot that was working for you just by clicking on his chair.Build space stations and upgrade your shipsBuilding space stations and factories has always been a foundation of the X games. After gaining enough money through fighting or trading, most players want toestablish their own economyandstart influencing the universe on a larger scale. In X4, it is now possible to be completelyfree and creative. Stations can be constructed from a variety of modules, be it production modules, living sections, docks or many other types of parts. Thepowerful new map systemallows you to drag and connect modules using a connection system to design your own unique creations. Ships also offer a variety of upgrades. Engines, weapons and other equipment can be added in a graphical editor and actually seen on the ship.Experience the most dynamic X universe everX4 is the first X game to allow our races and factions tofreely build and expand their empires; the same flexibility the player enjoys in creatively designing space stations from modular building blocks is also available to them. Races expand their empire based on supply and demand, which leads to an extremely dynamic universe where every action the player makes caninfluence the course of the entire universe.Manage your empire with a powerful mapOnce you have more ships and many NPCs working for you as pilots, crew or station managers, the map will be your preferred method of managing it all. Ships can be ordered with simple clicks and through drag-and-drop operations to set their future path and commands. Graphically plan your trade routes, coordinate attacks with your entire fleet, manage the hierarchy or send ships on remote exploration missions.Dive into the most detailed X economy everOne of the key selling points of X games has always been therealistic, simulated economy. Wares produced by hundreds of stations and transported by thousands of ships are actually traded by NPCs and prices develop based on this simulated economy. This is the foundation of our living and breathing universe. Now with X4, we have taken another, massive step. For the first time in any X game,all parts of the NPC economy are manufactured from resources. Ships, weapons, upgrades, ammo and even stations. You name it. Everything comes out of the simulated economy.Research and teleportThe seamless change from ship to ship and from NPCs controlling your empire for you continues on a higher level. Once you own a larger fleet, you will be very interested in researching a technology from your HQ:Teleportation. Once you’ve unlocked teleportation, you can jump from ship to ship a lot quicker and experience all the critical situations your NPCs encounter first hand. Every order you have given to a ship before turns into a mission objective when you pilot the ship yourself. The moment you leave again, your pilot takes the helm and continues with their previous orders.
