A timeline of events that constitute the background to X4 including events from previous X games. More information is available in-game via the data vault entries or externally in the X Encyclopedia (included with the collectors edition of X4).
| NT | EY | X-Game | Event |
|---|---|---|---|
| -128 | 2042 | Earth scientists create Jump Gates (2 billion years after 'The Ancients' created the main Jump Gate network). | |
| -127 | 2043 | The United Space Command (USC) is established to consolidate the Earth's science and military spacecraft under one organisation, it serves as the government of Sol until its dissolution and merger into the Terran Protectorate. | |
| -124 | 2046 | The flight of the USC Winterblossom to explore the Jump Gate network begins lead by René Farnham. | |
| -122 | 2048 | The USC Winterblossom is recalled to Sol bringing a contracted end to its mission. | |
| -104 | 2066 | Terraformer Project begins, 3 fleets are launched from Sol to make planets in the Jumpgate Network appropriate for human settlement. | |
| -71 | 2099 | Terraformer Project is terminated. | |
| -25 | 2145 | The First Terraformer Conflict: The Second Terraformer Fleet, having been corrupted by disgruntled terraformer scientist Martin Winters' corruption of the termination code, begins destroying the worlds they were created to build. They then set about achieving their new goal of eliminating all biological life. | |
| -23 | 2147 | The Earth Jumpgate is destroyed by Nathan R Gunne's fleet lead by the USC Dragonfire to protect Earth (By X4 its remains orbit Mars) trapping the rogue terraformers in the X-Universe. This ends the First Terraformer Conflict | |
| 0 | 2170 | Earth is removed from the history of the Terraformer Conflict's survivors stranded in the X-Universe. | |
| 103 | 2273 | Terraformer Conflict survivors relocate to the 4th planet in the Sonra System, named Argon Prime after Nathan R. Gunne. The survivors begin to refer to themselves as Argon. | |
| 130 | 2300 | Argon make first contact with the Paranid and inter-species trade proliferates. | |
| 202 | 2372 | The Goner Sect is formed on the belief that Earth still exists. | |
| 215 | 2385 | First Xenon Conflict: Xenon destroy the superstation "Antigone", The sector Antigone Memorial and the Antigone Republic is named in its honour. | |
| 219 | 2389 | The Free State of Solara is established in reaction to the effects of the First Xenon Conflict (Solara refers to the star that the planetoid Aldrin orbits). | |
| 223 | 2393 | The Hatikvah Free League is established by Christiane Hatikvah, also in reaction to the effects of the First Xenon Conflict. The orga | |
| 241 | 2491 | The Argon Federation is formed between the various former Terran colonies including the Free State of Solara and the Hatikvah Free League. | |
| 323 | 2493 | Argon make first contact with the Boron. | |
| 324 | 2494 | The Boron Campaign: Split Patriarchy invade Boron space. Argon Federation aligns with Boron, Paranid align with Split. | |
| 328 | 2498 | Community of Planets is formed by the Argon Federation, Boron Kingdom, Split Patriarchy and the Paranid Empire in an end to the Boron Campaign. | |
| 334 | 2504 | The Free State of Solara opts to sever its jumpgate connection with the Argon Federation in the wake of post-Boron Campaign scarcity. The colonies early disconnection from the Federation means they are closer to the Terrans culturally, this is pronounced with their reconnection to the network in 764NT. | |
| 550 | 2720 | First contact with the Teladi is made, they subsequently join the Community of Planets. | |
| 589 | 2759 | Credits become the currency of the X universe having been promulgated by the Teladi Company. | |
| 725 | 2895 | The Yaki Syndicate forms. | |
| 735 | 2905 | A sole Xenon ship enters Sol using a "Gateless Jumpdrive". Terran engineers begin reverse-engineering the drive for the USC X. | |
| 742 | 2912 | X:Btf / X:T | Arrival of Earth Fleet test pilot Kyle Brennan and the USC X (Xperimental Shuttle) in the Jump Gate network after a Jump Drive test. |
| Arrival of Elena Kho and USC Getsu Fune in the Jump Gate network in search of Kyle Brennan and the USC X. | |||
| Second Xenon Conflict: The Xenon are ejected from the North-Western region of the old Jump Gate network after their M0 class superweapon was destroyed. | |||
| The Jump Gate network is reconfigured. Notably, the Teladi homeworld Ianamus Zura is reconnected to the network. | |||
| Rhonkar t’Ncct deposes Chin t’Thhg to become Patriarch of All Split. Family Chin's territories are annexed by the emergent Family Rhonkar. Rhonkar leads the Split Families for 40 years until the Jump Gate Shutdown. | |||
| 743 | 2913 | Black Hole Sun is destroyed by a Xenon super-weapon. The resulting emission is believed to be responsible for destroying the Kha'ak homeworld. | |
| Terracorp is established by Kyle Brennan and Elena Kho to finance 'Jumpdrive' research to return to Earth. | |||
| 748 | 2918 | Work begins on assembling the Torus Aeternal, the immense defence and logistics ring protecting Earth from any possible threats. | |
| 763 | 2933 | First contact with the Kha'ak. | |
| X2 | The President's End massacre: Kha'ak forces decimate the entirety of the system | ||
| The Battle of Omicron Lyrae: An immense Kha'ak fleet and planet killer ship attempts to raze Omicron Lyrae. | |||
| 764 | 2934 | X3:R | The race to find Earth begins between the Yaki Syndicate and the Paranid Empire. |
| Reunion: The Paranid Empire constructs a Jump Gate to reconnect Earth to the jumpgate network. The Earth Government is invited to join the Argon Federation and the Community of Planets, Earth declines. | |||
| The Earth Jumpgate is relocated to the Asteroid Belt to protect Earth. | |||
| X3:TC | Argon relations with the Terrans begin to cool over issues of AGI development. | ||
| Operation Final Fury: The Argon Navy wipes out all known Kha'ak hives. Attacks become far more infrequent. | |||
| The Xenon Hub is discovered by Bala Gi and Julian Gardna-Brennan. The device is capable of realigning jumpgates in pairs to its 6 gates. | |||
| The Terran lost colony of Aldrin (same as the Free State of Solara) is rediscovered with terraformers and humans living in harmony in the system. Aldrin's Gates are re-opened leading to colonies including Megnir and Segaris that had been razed during the First Terraformer Conflict. | |||
| 770 | 2940 | Tensions build over AGI usage between the Terrans and the Community of Planets. | |
| ~770 | ~2940 | Family Ryak is cut-off from the Jump Gate network leaving Family Zyarth bordering the Xenon. The latter's predicament allowed Family Zyarth to become self-sustaining and depose Rhonkar t’Ncct following the Jump Gate Realignment. | |
| ~770 | ~2940 | Plutarch Mining Corporation (PMC) relocates from the Ore Belt to the recently discovered Albion System. Co-operation with Jonferco (JSS) facilitates the deployment of Trans-Orbital Accelerators in Albion based on Terran designs. JSS begins developing highway technology to supplant the Accelerators. | |
| 772 | 2942 | Badlands Colony established as the defacto base of the PMC in Albion | |
| 774 | 2944 | X3:AP* | Terran Conflict: War begins between the Terrans and their Argon cousins over the latter's continued usage of AGI. The remainder of the Community of Planets later joins in support of the Argon Federation. |
| 776 | 2946 | Second Terraformer Conflict: The Beryll unleashes newly built terraformer drones against Sol with Argon Federation support. | |
| 778 | 2948 | The destruction of the Torus Aeternal occurs escalating the Terran Conflict. The vast majority of the superstructure's remains are recycled during the Jump Gate Shutdown. | |
| X3:AP | Highways near completion in Albion based on Terran Trans-Orbital Accelerator technology reverse engineered by JSS. | ||
| 780 | 2950 | X3:FL | Warp Instability occurs with increasing numbers of systems like Albion becoming inaccessible. Jump drives become far less reliable with ships disappearing from known space. Governments seeking to preserve the resilience of their systems deploy Trans-Orbital Accelerators. |
| 782 | 2952 | The Jumpgate Shutdown | |
~782 | ~2952 | USC and ATF are reformed into the Terran Protectorate. | |
| 782 | 2952 | X:R* | PMC takes control of the Albion system. The remains of the Argon Government and Argon Navy form the Heart of Albion. |
| 801 | 2971 | The Alliance of the Word is established in Sacred Relic and deploys probes to the other systems of the community of planets lost to the Jump Gate Shutdown. The organisation also fosters resurgent interest in Jumpgate and generation ship technologies | |
| 803 | 2973 | X:R | The Jumpgates reopen and realign connecting unstable pockets of the former Jumpgate network in an unpredictable manner. |
| A treaty is signed between the Argon Government, Heart of Albion and The Republic of Canterra, bringing a formal end to the Terran Conflict (formally it had lasted for 29 years). | |||
| Attacks on Xenon installations in Maelstrom by the combined force of the Heart of Albion, Family Ryak and the Argon Government prove a failure with Xenon learning the location of De'vries and Albion. | |||
| ~815 | ~2985 | X4:F* | The Paranid Civil war erupts between the original Godrealm of the Paranid and the defecting Holy Order of the Pontifex because the latter established a new pontifex during the jumpgate shutdown. Economies are subsequently built on war profiteering. |
| 820 | 2990 | The Gate Network Stabilises | |
| 825 | 2995 | X4:F (SV) | The remains of the Free Families Fleet is destroyed by the Zyarth Patriarchy in Fires of Defeat/Victory. The Free Families' systems are forced to accomodate Zyarth's police presence. |
| X4:F | Boso Ta escapes Split capture and steals a Terran Science Station. | ||
| The Hatikvah Free League breaks away from illicit dealings with the Scale Plate Pact with Argon Federation support. |
Legend
| Abbreviation | Meaning |
|---|---|
| NT | New Time (years since removing Earth from Argon history) |
| EY | Earth Years /AD/CE |
| * | Prologue |
| ** | Epilogue / Immediately after story events of game |
| X:Btf | X: Beyond the Frontier (1999) |
| X:T | X: Tension (2000) |
| X2 | X2: The Threat (2004) |
| X3:R | X3: Reunion (2005) |
| X3:TC | X3: Terran Conflict (2008) |
| X3:AP | X3: Albion Prelude (2011) |
| X3:FL | X3: Farnham's Legacy (2021) |
| X:R | X: Rebirth (2013) |
| (TTO) | X: Rebirth The Teladi Outpost DLC (2014) |
| (HoL) | X: Rebirth Home of Light DLC (2016) |
| X4:F | X4: Foundations (2018) |
| (SV) | X4: Foundations Split Vendetta DLC (2020) |
| (CoH) | X4: Foundations Cradle of Humanity DLC (2021) |
| (ToA) | X4: Foundations Tides of Avarice (2022) (Anticipated) |
| Prologue/Epilogue | |
| Game |