[FEEDBACK] Tutorials

[Blitz4]

fyi. was just about to re-create my thread in some thread for feedback here after noticing mods doing that. if you're in discord and read the pinned message it says "dont post feedback in discord instead do it in the forums, but no mention of the forum". if you google "x4 beta forum" it brings you to the main x4 forum. thanks

[Ukendt]

Combat:

Issue - Following the mission line leaves me hanging on the point where he says I can see the remaining missile counts to the left. After that, everything stops.

Tried several different approaches - kill the original 4 first, Shift-E my way through, used various combination of ammunition, forcible reactivated primary guns that stops working with missiles activating and killing the last two spawns (Reassigning weapon allows you to fire again). Simply doesn't do anything after that point.

[Fenris Tawar]

When an object is selected the information of the object and the tutorial text messages overlay (at the center bottom of the screen) making reading of the text message difficult

[X2-Illuminatus]

fyi. was just about to re-create my thread in some thread for feedback here after noticing mods doing that. if you're in discord and read the pinned message it says "dont post feedback in discord instead do it in the forums, but no mention of the forum". if you google "x4 beta forum" it brings you to the main x4 forum. thanks

The instructions on downloading the beta ask you to read the public beta forum rules, which among other things tell you that feedback and reports about the beta belong into the public beta forum.

[IneedaMedic]

Hopefully this is in the right place as I did search the forums extensively before posting ha.

I am unable to complete the 'combat' tutorial which is the last one in the "basic tutorials". I've tried it 3 times and each time, it has me destroy the cargo drones with gunfire and eventually launchers but the mission never concludes. Once I destroy all the drones, nothing happens. It's like a step is still missing or something is not triggered to either progress or finish the mission. I am not using any mods and made sure to do a clean install for the 7.0 Beta, so everything is vanilla. Feel free to DM me here or on Steam if you need any more information. Thanks for your time and all the wonderful work you do for X4!

I am also experiencing this bug, limiting me from starting the Timelines mode because they are locked behind completing Tutorials.

[X2-Illuminatus]

limiting me from starting the Timelines mode

Timelines is not part of the beta.

Frequently Asked Questions
Since the start of the 7.00 Public Beta, a number of questions have repeatedly come up, and we would like to address those here:

[...]

❓ I can't access "Timelines", it's greyed out.
The 7.00 Public Beta does not include our next expansion X4: Timelines. The expansion will not be part of any public beta tests. You will not be able to test X4: Timelines in the 7.00 Public Beta of X4: Foundations. The menu item being greyed out is therefore intentional.

[MaybeNot]

Missions - would be nice to know respawn rules for missions and how we can see them locally.
Weapons - "you can quickly cycle through your weapons groups" - How? / "Activate each primary group at least once" - Ok, I did. Tutorial stuck. (maybe because of non-default key binds?)
Mining - https://i.imgur.com/KOUyeSb.png after destroying asteroid instead mining rich node, locks tutorial.

[RayRite]

I suggest adding a bit more flesh to the Tutorial "Object Deployment", so that a new player can benefit more from it.

Currently, it is more of a "Follow the instructions to click buttons. Never mind if you do not understand what you do." type tutorial. I know this because I went through the old tutorials just two weeks ago.

Example of what to add:

Now: The instructor tells you what you can use the deployed satellite for. Many new players will register that only as background noise because it is just a sentence within a huge load of new information that is pushed at them in the tutorials. You want them to understand the importance of satellites, not ignore it because they did not grasp the gravity:

Suggestion to enable the new player to understand why the visibility of enemies is vital to their survival:

1. Enable the new player to understand how to see satellites and their radius on the map:
- Make the player boost away from the deployed satellite.
- Then show them that there is no longer a way to see the deployed satellite in space by having them search for it in the blackness and fail.
- Make them switch to the map.
- Highlight the satellite on the map and make them hover the mouse button over the satellite.
- Show them that the player can see a ship that is inside the radius.

2. Show the new player how important it is to have visibility through satellites:
- Insist that there is another ship nearby.
- Have them fly to the ship that is inside the satellite's radius.
- Show them that there is a second ship, which they can see now in space.
- Explain the reason why they did not see this second ship on the map. Because it was outside the satellite's radius.
- Have them switch to the map and show them what they see now, as compared to before.
- Spawn an Advanced Satellite in the ship's cargo gold.
- Have them deploy the Advanced Satellite.
- Have them switch back to the map.
- Show them a huge fleet of ships marked as enemies that was not visible to them before.

[RayRite]

The challenge for a new player is that they do not have the faintest idea of how to move the ship in X4.

The problem with most tutorials that involve ship movement: Whatever buttons they press, it is way easier to get lost than to move in a way that is covered by the tutorials.

The cause (I think): The tutorials do not cover the fail states, only the ideal outcome.

What happens now to a new player in many of the ship movement tutorials:
1. The player does not entirely grasp what they are expected to do. This is normal, as you teach them new stuff.
2. The player mashes buttons - because they only understood 10% of what they were told until now.
3. The player flies to a place that is not intended by the tutorial.
4. The game does not give any feedback to the player. thus the player is lost. They cannot complete the tutorial. And the game will never tell them that. They are lost in space.

This happened to me in the new Combat Tutorial, where the early instructions mention that you will have to later approach some of the objects to be in firing range or to not have them obstructed. In my first attempt, I took this as an encouragement to fly closer. What happened? The game spawned a new target each time I shot one down. Never giving me feedback that I was not expected to approach yet. The tutorial was essentially over for me. If I had not restarted the tutorial, I would still be busy shooting down target number five thousand, because I was still waiting for the tutorial to continue to some other topic.

Why is this a problem?

In the old tutorials, as well as in the old Flight School, and in the new tutorials the player is not given any kind of feedback if they do something the tutorial's creator did not want them to do, because it breaks the tutorial. In other words, the tutorials very rarely cover any state that indicates that the player failed to follow the intended steps.

An example where this is done quite well: The one time where the player is told to align the ship in a specific direction; otherwise the tutorial will not continue. But the player could still align the ship correctly, then accidentally have the ship face in a different direction and accelarate.

My suggestion: The tutorial code should monitor what the player actually does and restart the tutorial once it becomes clear that the player is lost. This means they are outside a certain space, facing the wrong direction (although they were facing the right direction two seconds before), shot already twenty objects when the tutorial expected to shoot only three, or did anything that will cause the next step to fail.

Options:

- Give the player a message like "Simulation aborted - pilot exceeded parameters - please only follow instructions in this simulation - do not do things on your own - the simulation AI cannot react to improvisation" when the tutorial restarts the first two times because of this.

- If the game has to restart the same tutorial the third time in a row during the same game session, use no uncertain terms and tell the player; something like "This tutorial tries to teach you the basics of playing X4. You would do us a big favor if you only did in this tutorial what you are explicitly told. As soon as you start the game proper, you have complete freedom. To learn how to play the game, though, we think it would help if you only did what the tutorial tells you to do. Do not fly off into space on your own in this tutorial, do not try to start a war with the rest of the galaxy. You can do all of this when you start the actual game. For now, we believe that you will benefit from following the tutorial's instructions closely. Thank you so much for this!"

Is it not frustrating for the player if the tutorial is restarted again and again? It is. But it is less frustrating than feeling like you are too dumb to play this game. And refund it. Even the most confused player will get it after the third forced restart of a tutorial.

[RayRite]

One of the first things the player should do in the Weapons and Turrets tutorial is to "assign each primary weapon to its own group". The tutorial's triggers seem to assume one and only one way to do the "correct" thing. I could not find out which one that was, testing a dozen different combinations.

Because the tutorial does not progress beyond that task.

Sorry, the number of combinations is too high for me to identify the point where the tutorial breaks.

Here please find a sample screenshot that does not fulfill the required condition. Even if it actually does: https://imgur.com/a/gqldF0g

Four weapons, each in its own column and line.
Still, the tutorial does not progress.

[RayRite]

One of the first things the player should do in the Weapons and Turrets tutorial is to "assign each primary weapon to its own group". The tutorial's triggers seem to assume one and only one way to do the "correct" thing. I could not find out which one that was, testing a dozen different combinations.

Because the tutorial does not progress beyond that task.

Sorry, the number of combinations is too high for me to identify the point where the tutorial breaks.

Here please find a sample screenshot that does not fulfill the required condition. Even if it actually does: https://imgur.com/a/gqldF0g

Four weapons, each in its own column and line.
Still, the tutorial does not progress.

PS I heard the "mission completed" sound when I exited the tutorial after writing the bug report above. But only once; I could not reproduce getting a success sound even if I used the same weapon configuration in another two tests of the tutorial.

Also, even after hearing the "mission completed" sound once, the tutorial is still not marked as complete on the list of Intermediate Tutorials.

[RayRite]

I cannot progress in the tutorial after I am supposed to "Turn on the ship's scanning mode".

Why?

Because I am simulating someone who never played the game, and I was not told how to "Turn on the ship's scanning mode".

Also, a suggestion: Add a tutorial that should be listed just below the Mining tutorial. Teach the player how to select and outfit a mining ship at a wharf.

[RayRite]

I cannot progress in the tutorial after I am supposed to "Turn on the ship's scanning mode".

Why?

Because I am simulating someone who never played the game, and I was not told how to "Turn on the ship's scanning mode".

Also, a suggestion: Add a tutorial that should be listed just below the Mining tutorial. Teach the player how to select and outfit a mining ship at a wharf.

Another suggestion: Highlight the "Android Contents" display (bottom right in the screen) as soon as the player targets the asteroid. Even though I played a bit of X4 before, I had no idea why the instructor told me that I saw the yield of the targeted asteroid. It was only after I meticulously searched all UI elements that I noticed the ore / silicon readings. I would have missed them entirely when playing the game for the first time - already suffering from information overload thanks to the already-done tutorials.

[ColdRogue26]

Hello,

the Basic Combat Tutorial doesn't advance/just stops after shooting a few cargo drones with missiles. No comment whether that's it or anything.
No indiciation whether the tutorial is done or not.

Good profits to you

[RayRite]

I cannot progress in the tutorial after hearing "Select the scout ship".

Why?

Simulating to be a player who has never touched the game before, I ran into two problems immediately:

1) After opening the map, I cannot see the scout ship. I have to zoom out first because the only ship I see is the one I am in. As a new player, I would not know that this ship is not the one I should select, and I would be stuck.

2) Even after zooming out, I cannot see any ship called "Scout". At this point, I would not know yet about how X4 categorizes its ships, and that this ship is considered a scout ship.


Second stumbling moment: After lowering or raising one order's location, I am told to remove an order.

The first problem? The tutorial only registers that this was done when you remove the active order. Removing one of the following orders does nothing for the tutorial's progress. So, I removed all orders from the last to the first. Then the tutorial reacted.

Second problem: I was told to choose one of the orders for the next step. But there were no orders left, as I had been forced to remove all of them in the previous step.

Third problem: After "deleting all orders" I was asked to "open the scout ship's info menu". If a truly new player had done all tutorials in this game session, my guess is that they had forgotten at least 80% of it already. Including how to open the info menu. It would not hurt to tell them how to do this.

Fourth problem: At this very moment, after opening the scout's info menu, the screen showed the instruction "Right-click on an order icon or line to interact with it". It did not tell me why I opened the info menu, nor what I should do with it. Exiting and re-entering the map did not help. Unselecting and reselecting the scout did not help. I was stuck and could not progress. I was stuck in the loop of "Select the scout ship!" and "Right-click on an order icon or line to interact with it", although no line was left, as the last instruction had been to delete all orders. Which left me stranded.

[RayRite]

The tutorial directs me to let a miner mine gas. Fine so far.

Then I am told to deploy a resource probe.

First problem: This is where a new player is likely to get stuck. How should they know how to deploy a resource probe? They never did that. They only ever deployed a satellite, but only if they did that specific tutorial, and they never saw a resource probe before. I think once probes were mentioned in the satellite deployment tutorial. Once. Mentioned in passing only.

Second problem: If the player followed each step up to now, when they exit the map to deploy the resource probe, before they can even open the ship window, they are told to press M to open the map. Thus, they are caught in a loop, even if they remembered the tutor to mention the resource probe in a past tutorial. They would have to explicitly act against the tutorial's instructions if they wanted to continue.

[RayRite]

In the Tutorial Long Range Scanning, first thing you are told to switch on the long ranged scanner. Which a truly new player will not be able to do, because they are not told how to.

Also, I suggest instructing the player through an exercise on how to actually approach the lockbox. Stutter-travel, mark by clicking the seemingly empty space, stutter-travel again, slow down, and approach slowly, before having the chance of blowing up the box. Just mentioning the solution, but not showing what you mean, is likely to fly beyond the ears of the pilot. Just like the lockbox will. Likely without them noticing.

btw I subscribe to the instructor's last remark "Better luck next time" Outright ingenious to record this line. I fell off the chair.

[waadaa85]

Advanced combat scenario cannot be completed properly. After I destroyed K's turrets, waves upon waves of Xenon's N ships keep spawning. And the K cannot be destroyed even after I emptied all missiles I had on board the baraccuda.

[ironmigen]

I encountered the same issue. Tried several times (no mods apart from the official Expansion active) but it wont check as Completed even in the Main menu.

[DarkBelzebut]

Hello,

Infortunatly the beta 2 update don't correct the bug of this tutorial .

When the instructor say activate the travel mode for the second time, it's not possible to activate this.

And it's the same case when you use the shortcut "shift+1" or when you respect the instruction.

I am disappointed because the consequence of this bug: it is not possible for me to complete the list of tutorials to test the Timelines games .

Regards