X4 will allow you to fly 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. Additionally some drones and utility vehicles in X4 can be remotely controlled by the player.

A big focus in the development of X4 has been to achieve a seamless 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.

Building space stations and factories has always been a foundation of the X games. After gaining enough money through fighting or trading, most players want to establish their own economy and start influencing the universe on a larger scale. In X4, it is now possible to be completely free and creative. Stations can be constructed from a variety of modules, be it production modules, living sections, docks or many other types of parts. The powerful new map system allows you to drag and connect modules using a connection system to design your own unique creations.

Your path to galactic power awaits! Egosoft has announced that the major 9.00 Empire Update for X4: Foundations will launch on June 10th. Revealed alongside a brand-new trailer, the free update continues to expand and refine the open-ended space simulation experience.

The 9.00 Empire Update further expands the constantly evolving space sandbox that the X series is known for, with new ways to thrive in the living universe of space. The Empire Update touches on every aspect of empires within X4 - the balance of ships and their loadouts, how commands may be issued, how resources are distributed in sectors, the effectiveness of pilots, and the possibilities for trade, production, and station building throughout the universe.

• Combat Enhancements: Massive combat rebalancing across weapons, ships, shields, and NPC AI help make you a force to be reckoned with out in deep space.
• Expanded Ship Loadouts and Showroom: Experience new loadout variety and upgraded ship visuals. Plus, show off your prized possessions in the new Ship Showroom station module.
• Mining Region Overhaul: New dynamic mining operation systems make the Empire Update the perfect time to excavate the depths below the surface.
• New Resources: Engage in Kha'ak wreck processing, providing a new transmutable resource called Allographyne.
• Visual Improvements: Improvements to the map UI and more give space explorers significant quality of life improvements to enhance their upcoming intergalactic journeys.

The X4: Foundations v9.00 Empire Update launches June 10 as a free update for all players. New pilots and returning commanders alike can begin building their legacy today as Egosoft continues expanding and refining its long-running space simulation universe.

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.

X4 will be the first X game to allow our races and factions to freely 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 can influence the course of the entire universe.

Once 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.

One of the key selling points of X games has always been the real, 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.

The 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.

In X4, you can start your journey from a number of different gamestarts and as a number of different characters, each with their own role, set of relations and different ships and technologies to start with. No matter how you start, you are always free 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 to you to decide.

Key Features

• Spaceflight sandbox: Acquire ships and upgrade their systems or create fleets of hundreds. From small scouts to massive capital ships.  Fly them all from cockpit or bridge and remote command with a powerful map.
• Research: Research new technologies like teleportation, blueprints for station and ship construction and much more
• Build: Full creativity with station construction.  Station and factory modules can be freely connected to form ever-growing economic or military installations.
• Explore: A massive universe awaits sheer endless opportunities for exploration. Find resources for mining and crafting, to acquire rare technologies. Explore ancient installations.
• Sandbox Gamestarts: Start into X4 from a variety of angles. Represent different factions, ships, and technologies. Every start offers a new view at the universe, but all allow you to unlock everything.
• Dynamic universe: Factions build and expand stations dynamically and react to the economy and military threats. Every game can take a new and unexpected turn for the entire universe.
• Complex Economy: Trade with a single ship or rise to become an empire manager competing with entire civilizations.  A fully simulated and dynamic economy reacts to changes on every level.

X4: Foundations is currently available for PC (Steam and egosoft.com).