Battleships DLC

[abisha1980]

So i read they add battleships for players with the new DLC but i did not read for all factions.
do all the factions get it's own unique Battleship?

[Stoats not Goats]

Not at this point, it had been considered that the Split would get a Battleship in the Split Vendetta DLC but this was later scrapped in favour of the raptor. (although there is a partially completed model of a Python lying around which has been included in mods like VRO). At this stage the only Battleships will be the Xenon I and the Terran battleship that will be included in the Cradle of Humanity DLC.

[mr.WHO]

Interesting part is that they make free update to base game, but never made update to DLCs in X-Rebirth.

It would be great suprise if they would finish Python for SV DLC at some point.

[abisha1980]

Not at this point, it had been considered that the Split would get a Battleship in the Split Vendetta DLC but this was later scrapped in favour of the raptor. (although there is a partially completed model of a Python lying around which has been included in mods like VRO). At this stage the only Battleships will be the Xenon I and the Terran battleship that will be included in the Cradle of Humanity DLC.

sounds a bit lazy and would likely consider it with the next payed DLC then if i gonna buy it

[sh1pman]

At this stage the only Battleships will be the Xenon I and the Terran battleship that will be included in the Cradle of Humanity DLC.

And Xenon K.

[mr.WHO]

Hopefully Egosoft change their mind and finish Python for 5.0.
It could be even better to change community mod challenge for modders to finish Python and add it to the game (I recall X3:AP had ships from X-tended mod and Cadius Terran HQ station).

[Lord Dakier]

Hopefully Egosoft change their mind and finish Python for 5.0.
It could be even better to change community mod challenge for modders to finish Python and add it to the game (I recall X3:AP had ships from X-tended mod and Cadius Terran HQ station).

Has there even been any mod community integration with base content? Used to be devs would quite often look to incorporate mods into vanilla, now I don't recall seeing any.

[Axeface]

I dont think they will add a ship specific DLC, they make such a big difference in the game. Im not opposed to it at all though. One thing I would prefer they work on is updates to paranid and teladi capital fleets (argon are fine I think), but paranid especially need work, but that is something they definitely wouldnt sell as dlc I dont think. I mean, could they? I suppose its like a cosmetic update, hmm... maybe?

Hopefully Egosoft change their mind and finish Python for 5.0.
It could be even better to change community mod challenge for modders to finish Python and add it to the game (I recall X3:AP had ships from X-tended mod and Cadius Terran HQ station).

Hmm, community challenge for a specific ship could be a cool idea as long as we are given plenty of time. Although limiting it to 1 ship might 'waste' a lot of good work as only 1 would be picked.
All ships and stations added in AP that I recall were made by modders, mostly from XTC mod (XTM ships were added in Terran Conflict), I did 5 of them myself and there were many more.

[RedEyedRaven]

Has there even been any mod community integration with base content? Used to be devs would quite often look to incorporate mods into vanilla, now I don't recall seeing any.

Yes, but it tends to skip a generation. X3 Terran Conflict for example added a TON of ships that were originally part of the original Xtended-mod for X3: Reunion. So yes, devs incorporate modded content here and there. As for the ships in AP, these were allegedly already in the files of TC, but not finished before AP.

Regarding the overall add-ships-demands:

Bernd from Egosoft said that they would really like to overhaul the "old" non-Split ships and add more, but designing a ship in X4 is a lengthy process, and right now the priorities lay on the coming DLC as well as overall improving the base game. They have to make the interior and all the tiny little animations work on top of just designing the ship itself. In X3 that was different because ships were overall much simpler.

A single new ship in X4 can take up to 7 months of work for the team.

[abisha1980]

Has there even been any mod community integration with base content? Used to be devs would quite often look to incorporate mods into vanilla, now I don't recall seeing any.

Yes, but it tends to skip a generation. X3 Terran Conflict for example added a TON of ships that were originally part of the original Xtended-mod for X3: Reunion. So yes, devs incorporate modded content here and there. As for the ships in AP, these were allegedly already in the files of TC, but not finished before AP.

Regarding the overall add-ships-demands:

Bernd from Egosoft said that they would really like to overhaul the "old" non-Split ships and add more, but designing a ship in X4 is a lengthy process, and right now the priorities lay on the coming DLC as well as overall improving the base game. They have to make the interior and all the tiny little animations work on top of just designing the ship itself. In X3 that was different because ships were overall much simpler.

A single new ship in X4 can take up to 7 months of work for the team.

I dont think it takes 7 months for a single ship to be made they can use recycled resources and add new objects into the interior. the ship not have any physics that the game engine need to deal with unlike other games
if they get made they likely can stamp out a ship in a mater of weeks

modding people even import old objects into X4 without much problems

[Tomonor]

No, it took them 7 months to complete the BIGGEST ship while working on the other ships as well.

The more ships they make for a faction, the easier it is for the devs to complete them because the design language itself and multiple kits/assets exist at that point.

[xant]

Actually it was 8 weeks, here's what lino wrote about creating the Terran battleship:

Concept/detailed blockout maybe a week? One person.
Final modeling about 7 weeks. One person.

But it is a fact that ships in X4 are not easy or fast to make and that it isn't a question of just making or not making a ship DLC, but a simple lack of the most important resource: time. They do what they can, in some cases (constructor ships, bridges for XL ships etc. are almost if not completely identical) they have to cut corners to fulfill their quota.

I'd say we can expect significantly more ships once the Boron shipset is done, after DLC 3 somewhere mid-2022. Maybe.

[RedEyedRaven]

No, it took them 7 months to complete the BIGGEST ship while working on the other ships as well.

That's why he said 'up to'.

Boron shipset

That's not even confirmed yet.

In one of the interviews Bernd stated that the borons are in a weird spot now that we have actual interiors. Boron ships would essentially have to be fishtanks of sorts and he felt it would be a nightmare to make them work in a way that is plausible for every race. They'll probably cut that corner.

I've dug it up (it's in german tho):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XaD_VlXNlAw

By 1:52:45 Fritz states he hopes for the boron to be the next DLC-race (that stream was before CoH was announced) and Bernd replies that he has answered that question a few times before:

They would really, really love to make a full boron-faction in X4, but now that everything has to be "realistic" with cockpits and interiors it would simply be way too much work, given that borons would need water in ships and so on.


Of course they may find a way in the long run, but don't hold your breath.

[RoverTX]

I dont think they will add a ship specific DLC, they make such a big difference in the game. Im not opposed to it at all though. One thing I would prefer they work on is updates to paranid and teladi capital fleets (argon are fine I think), but paranid especially need work, but that is something they definitely wouldnt sell as dlc I dont think. I mean, could they? I suppose its like a cosmetic update, hmm... maybe?

For the Paranid textures need to be redone and the geometry of the Odysseus needs some love and cleanup. Their textures are just really flat. As they have worked on the underlying game engine the Argon ships have looked better and better, but the Paranid still look kind of flat.

I kind of like the Teladi look, but they need some more hard points and/or shields. They are worse than the other races, but not any cheaper really.

[Axeface]

For the Paranid textures need to be redone and the geometry of the Odysseus needs some love and cleanup. Their textures are just really flat. As they have worked on the underlying game engine the Argon ships have looked better and better, but the Paranid still look kind of flat.

I kind of like the Teladi look, but they need some more hard points and/or shields. They are worse than the other races, but not any cheaper really.

Paranid textures are problematic yeh, the argon and teladi hull textures seem to have some kind of lod and dont lose much detail as you get close, I dont know how atlas textures work - but the paranid hull textures seem to not have this, they look very bad up close and yeh they are flat.
I kinda like the teladi ships too, but they could be a lot better with some more work on them to bring them all together. The Odysseus is indeed an outlier, just cant look at that model (the model itself, the design is ok i suppose, meh). Zeus and Atlas arnt so bad but the freighters are weak models and designs to me too, does anyone like the selene for example?

[abisha1980]

they can outsource some work to students that like to work in this field.
gives a neutral befit both this company and for the students (work experience) etc.

it's also very likely some game fans would love to help out with doing some lifting

[ConorC]

Hi all, I work in the animation industry as a cinematographer and Layout supervisor. I have also done extensive modelling for animation and for other fields, primarily architectural visualization. So I have a certain amount of professional knowledge in this area.

Creating a 3D asset for a production, the example we're talking about here is a Battleship model for X4, be it a tv show, a movie or a game, can take a LOT of time. First of all you've got the initial concept which can be hundreds of sketches, machetes, zbrush sculpts or whatever to just get the basic idea down. Then you have design which is fine tuning the concept into a design that is going to work for your final product. Then it goes to modelling where the design evolves again as the asset takes shape. Once it's model is approved, it needs to be unwrapped, and textured, which is, it's basic colouring and markings need to be painted. Then the shaders need to be build. Shaders are pieces of code that tell the renderer how to render the surfaces of the object, be it plastic, metal, whatever, is it shiney? is it bumpy? is it flecked paint? do different surfaces on the same ship have different surface properties? it's a very complex process. then it needs to go to rigging. But this isn't a character, it's a battleship, what does it need to be rigged for? Well I don't know the technical specs of the X4 engine, but I imagine the model has to be set up with controls telling the engine where all the turrets are and what axis' they rotate along, where are the docking bays, and how to the doors on the docking bays operate, etc. Where are the seats and consoles in the interior with controls showing where the characters should set where the doors are, rigging the doors to open when a character approaches etc. and all that has to be tested, and tested and tested.

Sorry for the wall of text but creating an asset for X4 is a HUGE task which will require multiple people over months and months to complete.

Adding multiple large complex ships to X4 is a much bigger task than it was adding them to the X3 games due to amount of extra detail the x4 ships have. And Egosoft are a small team. I think they're doing a great job.



AND, they have to build them so they look decent in 4K, which means a LOT more work than just modelling for 1080P

[Sparky Sparkycorp]

Interesting part is that they make free update to base game, but never made update to DLCs in X-Rebirth.

This is a bit hyperbolic. You can see from the patch notes that they worked on fixes for XR DLC material post-release, and all the work on the base game improves the DLC content anyway.

I don't think it would have been very well received if Egosoft had diverted efforts away from the base game towards adding exclusive content for existing DLCs.

[chew-ie]

[.. Bernd on Borons ..]

Of course they may find a way in the long run, but don't hold your breath.

We are already "in the long run" - at least I'd say 2 years after release they had enough time to think it through. Even more so as they already had some tinkering time with the one Boron we already have in the game they.

Taking their production time for a typical DLC (~1 year) having the Borons 3 years after release doesn't sound "hasted" or "rushed" to me.

Of course I'd also take a "intermediate DLC" [director's cut] including reworked assets [Paranids], overall polishing [Build ships] and a Bala Gi like storyline [which includes unique ships] before finally getting the Borons. That'll give them 2 additional years

[Buzz2005]

the amount of fans asking for Borons they will do it one way or the other, whatever the fps implantation is it does not matter, let them float in tanks, who cares , I want those slick ships and those perfect score sectors