lordmuck wrote: ↑Tue, 6. Dec 22, 08:10
1, Where can I find the stations I created from previous save games to use as blueprints in a new game? Please don't tell me I need to load up old saves I still have them but I'm sure ill run into issues (never modded)
They should still be available as blueprints from the blueprint selection as they are stored in a separate, account wide, blueprint file.
You can always load up old saves just to save the blueprints to your blueprint file. Even not-modified saves from release day 1.00 are still supported, although the experience might not be exactly the same as a more recently started save with DLCs.
lordmuck wrote: ↑Tue, 6. Dec 22, 08:10
2, I read there were custom starts? Can I start off as some scrapper who inherited the PHQ and SETA?? xD I hate to do that damn quest line for the 20th time and farming up SETA parts kills me. Also if I can, would starting with one of the scrap cube maker ships be too much (op start?) or a crappy tug ship? What is your fun way of starting out? I was thinking of a bit of RP some lowly grease-stained scrapper that hates the PAR trying to make ends meet suddenly snaps and wants to take on the Xverse to make a name for him/herself or gets sucked into the plots. (any good starting locations for this sort of start?)
Yes you can do this. You can even start out with storylines completed that you completed in previous saves. The custom start choice unlock progress does require that you load up existing saves once so that it gets recorded to an account wide file.
You can also use an unbudgeted custom start which allows you pretty much infinite resources at the start and to enable story outcomes that you have not yet earned. However this will mark your save as modified and might be able to create unintended experiences and interactions.
lordmuck wrote: ↑Tue, 6. Dec 22, 08:10
3, I am assuming the money-making early game has not changed much and still assuming that getting "decent" 2-3 star pilots is a royal p.i.t.a ? Grab some miners get the captain a level and swap the captain out to a trader?
Current meta start is nowhere near as grindy.
Sell the always spawning free unclaimed ships -> build mining trade station -> assign miners to mine and trade for station -> repeat around the universe -> do whatever, you have enough automatic income at this stage that the limit is your imagination
Auto mining has been nerfed heavily. However, you can now build mining trade stations to effectively remove the skill requirements from auto mining by shoving them entirely onto easy to level managers. Silicon is really inefficient to mine, but still has good return on investment if given enough time. Once you have a decent passive income from the mining trade stations you can consider diversifying your portfolio into trading container wares (to generate more mineable demand) or your own manufacturing to cut out middle people in the production chains.
At start crystal mining is still considered the best return on time investment activity the player can do. However there are over 10 million worth of unclaimed ships that always spawn at fixed locations every playthrough which can be stripped and sold to give all the money needed to jump immediately into mining, trading or even manufacturing. Once you have some passive income, you can invest it back into scaling up and start exponential growth.
Technically the best start involves boarding NPC ships and selling them for multiple million each. Some people over on the discord server have become so proficient at this that within 2 hours of game start they can have multiple L or bigger ships including an Asgard.
lordmuck wrote: ↑Tue, 6. Dec 22, 08:10
4, Assuming that claiming bailed ships still need a damn pilot and cannot autopillok and limp its way to a dock ye? But can the new little scrap tug shippy things toe them to a dock? (save me some time from trying this out, disappointment and frustration plz xD) This would fit in the RP idea I had above
Such damaged bailed ships do not limp, they always fly at full speed with full flight performance. X4 does not have hull damage slowing down ships like X3 did.
L and XL ships might limp if their engines are damaged or even be unable to move if the engines are destroyed. The engines will still take a while to rebuild but can be repaired faster once they can limp back to an auxiliary ship for repairs. There is currently a bug that means that boarded ships with repair drones do not use the repair drones to improve repair speed, making initial post boarding repairs much slower than intended. This bug should be fixed in a future update.
lordmuck wrote: ↑Tue, 6. Dec 22, 08:10
5, Are there any must-do plot lines early ASAP for the rewards or be locked out of something/limited time ship acquisition or missions that could lock you out of getting some good freebie ships/tec to build at player wharfs etc?
Only major one is the Fires of Defeat game start storyline where you personally must destroy over half the marked ships before other NPCs (Xenon) do otherwise you do not get the achievement.
The Yaki storyline of Cradle of Humanity is also potentially failable at some points if TER decides they are Xenon and sends their Asguard to eliminate them.
which is a shame as iv been a fan of the X series since x2.
ty