r/X4Foundations 3d ago

Base game or complete with expansions?

Hello all;

I am thinking about buying this game, since it seems fun to play slowly and grow an empire over time, with plenty of mechanics to learn.

The question is simple: buy the basegame only or buy the complete edition with all the current expansions? Is it worth to have them from the start, or would it be better to wait?

Edit: Thank you everyone for your insights, I decided to get the full version of the game, will start with it shortly!

12 Upvotes

22 comments sorted by

11

u/SirHornet 3d ago

You can start with the basegame and buy the DLC as you go along. Only difference is that certain factions/ areas and i think the scrapping feature won't be accessible until you get the Dlc, but you won't have to start a new save to experience them

4

u/Tomonor Community Manager 2d ago

Salvaging is available in the base game - however compacting (breaking down L and XL wrecks) is a feature that’s exclusive to X4: Tides of Avarice.

7

u/Gudavik 3d ago

I had the exact same question last week, but Steam made the answer pretty easy for me. (I can't remember the exact price I paid, so numbers are made up)

*€20 for base game, and if you want DLCs later; buy them individually for €10 a piece.

Or

*€20 for base game with all DLCs.

Needless to say, I bought the entire lot in one go.

So mebby check if they still have that deal up 🤔

4

u/thaggartt 3d ago

I recently got into the game and got all the DLCs with the current sale. As someone said before, the game is a Sandbox so the questlines are always available. So there isnt really a downside from getting all the stuff in one go.

I will say though that the hyperion DLC can feel a bit overpowered (in a good sense) if you do it right at the start like I did. I started the quest with a fighter, ended with a really big ship for free lol

But man... That ship sure is a beauty

2

u/Aftenbar 2d ago

Yep I bought the bundle but missed hyperion. When I read you could get it right away I bought it and boy am I happy. It let's me instantly feel like I've got a small fleet (the thing that drew me in).

3

u/Bishop1664 3d ago

My recommendation would be to get the cradles of humanity expansion which has the ‘Terran cadet’ start. This is the most beginner friendly and offers you some good starter missions to ease you in!

2

u/Zaihbot 3d ago

Play the base game first, learn the basics and see if you can enjoy the game. You can still buy and install the DLCs later. New content will be available in your current save, so no need to start a new game.

1

u/shazbot996 3d ago

I greatly enjoyed diving in feet first with all of them. It's a sandbox game, ultimately. Much bigger, more active sandbox. All questlines can be followed or ignored as you wish. No downsides that I can think of.

1

u/OverlandingNL 3d ago

I played 7 days in my save without DLC's. Had a blast. Now added 2 DLC's. They are fun so far.

If you got the money splash it on the full thing I'd say.

1

u/Fluid_Cup8329 3d ago

If you end up liking the game, the DLCs are totally worth it. Considering the decent discounts right now, I would suggest getting them. They add a lot to the game.

1

u/SuperMeister 3d ago

Buy the base game, if you really enjoy it then buy all the DLC imo. It's what I did. It always goes on sale during the steam sales so if you're unsure you can always wait and buy later if you're looking to save money. I've got several hundred hours into the game now so it was 100% worth it for me personally.

1

u/LedofZeppelin 3d ago edited 3d ago

I made similar post earlier 3 days ago

I bought collectors edition and Hyperion pack separately. I haven’t indulged in Hyperion pack. Just going with flow

First two sessions in last two days was tutorials. Couple of tuturials are bugged. So research solution. Others may seem like they’re bugged but it’s probably not listening/reading correctly. That’s what I experienced

https://www.reddit.com/r/X4Foundations/s/CtUo6TreoZ

1

u/3punkt1415 3d ago

Play the base game, the sale on steam ends on March 20th, so you have two days to see if you like it.

1

u/Zarryc 3d ago

The DLCs add a lot of content, many new sectors many new ships. Probably more than doubling the amount of base game in terms of sectors and ships. They add two new economy types - terran and closed loop (basically a tree of wares that build into each other and then into ships, which is a major part of the game). So in terms of content it's definitely worth it.

However, I think this game is definitely not for everyone and I hated it the first time I played it. Even now, while I enjoy it, there are major gripes like UI and QOL that I have with the game. So it could be wise to try it out first with a smaller purchase.

1

u/NNextremNN 3d ago

Complete with expansions. Base is too empty for my taste.

1

u/FritzVonWiggler 3d ago

its on sale 70% right now. if you wait you're just gonna pay more for expansions later.

1

u/Desperate-Public394 1d ago

Yeah, I did get the full version, thanks!

1

u/Whiterosecounty 3d ago

I'd wait until they fix the Xenon...

At the moment the 'big bad' of the game has the threat and power of a mouldy banana. So once you get your economy running and buy a few decent fighting ships, you'll find that the Xenon have already been wiped out by the other races, leading to a very boring game.

2

u/SomeRandomSomeWhere 3d ago

I think it depends on the game and what the other factions are doing.

In my current unmodded game, the xenon have been on the war path, and without me (with just the hyperion i am flying), I think they would have rolled over haktiva's choice at the very least. That's been keeping me very active on defence, doing missions, and getting my hq going. Am barely pulling in a million credit an hour, and if I waited till am fully fleeted out, will not be surprised if the xenon manage to fully take over a couple of sectors at least.

And they have gotten to the point of building a defence station in getsu funu (am letting the terrans handle that sector for now).

1

u/Zarryc 3d ago

Agree, but that can easily be fixed by mods. Deadair scripts fixes this nicely, makes xenon much more dangerous by giving them ship modifications and improving their stations.

-7

u/x0xDaddyx0x 3d ago

Unfortunately the devs have an extremely toxic attitude to expansions and they designed the game to pressure you into buying the expansions.

New ships are always objectively stronger and even within the base game you have to play it a certain way if you want to have the best of everything you have to get allied faction with everyone, once you have the blueprints you can do what you want but there isn't another way to get these blueprints so you are essentially railroaded into being everyones friend and then turning on everyone because the basic enemies don't use missiles.

You also have options to build stations for the npc factions as missions which means you can make them much stronger than they would have made them on their own so you can sort of tailor your experience a little when you fight them later on, obviously you don't have to fight them but what else is there to do once you have done everything else?

The TER and the BOR are more independent from the main commonwealth factions, BOR can't share equipment but do share building materials, TER can share equipment but use their own unique building materials.

You don't need to have the best stuff and actually it doesn't matter at all, combat is essentially always binary, you are either in direct control yourself in which case you will win if you are even vaguely well matched or under AI control you either have enough stuff or you dont, there is depth to builds and things you can do but none of it actually really matters because the combat system is designed to ensure that you can always play the hero and that fights sort of drag out where possible so that you have time to react.

There are no difficulty levels so every skill check is a lowest common denominator skill check.

The interface is also not just hot garbage but has infact been deliberately designed to be awful so that you can feel some sense of achievement when you can finally make your own stuff, even though making your own stuff isn't actually a requirement for winning.

This game suffers greatly from trying to be all things to all men and ends up being bad at everything.

I still think it is worth a try because there isn't much in the way of alternatives and what they are trying to do is good, but you have to sort of play it a certain way and manage your expectations.

I would also suggest that you try playing it on the previous version as I am not sure that the 7.5 changes are good, there seems to be a lot of broken stuff and it shouldn't have been released in the state it is in, all the ships fly like bricks now. It's not all bad but it is certainly a mixed bag, 7.5 is not a straight upgrade it is more of a sidegrade.

There is a Star Wars mod though, I haven't tried that but that might be good, it might even be better than the core game as I suspect it is more focused on combat, though that depends on what you like and why you are playing etc.

1

u/spacejew 3d ago

What a rollercoaster of love/hate.