The 10 Things I am Looking Forward to Seeing In X4: Foundations

Ah, sandbox space games and me go all the way back to Frontier: Elite 2 so when I heard a new X game was dropping out of warp soon it was hard for me to not look forward to it. I have played a fair amount of the X series over the years from X2: The Threat to X3: Reunion and Terran Conflict so as I learned more about X4 I got more and more hyped for it. I won't be buying it on release as my PC is too rickety right now but it will be among the first purchases I make once I upgrade my PC.

So here are ten things I am looking forward to the most in X4: Foundations gleaned from the preview videos I have seen so far:

1. Fly Any Ship: This has always been a staple feature of the X games (save for Rebirth but we don't talk about that.) The ability to fly any ship from the smaller scout fighter to massive capital ships is always a win in my book.
2. Exploration: I love exploring in most games where it is possible but I love it in sandbox space games. From what I have been able to glean from the various videos and articles I have seen there are various wrecks and stations to find out there in the void which makes me wonder what other cool things exploration in X4 will have.
3. Dynamic Economy: Another staple feature of the X games and something I have always found pretty neat. Not just a feature for traders either as any smart pirates knows finding a good trade loot means lots of loot, yarrr!
4. Living Galaxy: The X games to me have always done a good job of creating the illusion of a living galaxy, the fact that things can happen with or without out. You can fly into a sector and find a battle going on or be stiffed out of your trade profits because that other trader landed first. This time around it seems they have really gone all out with it, factions can build stations, expand, go to war which is going to make every game very different.
5. Empire Building: Start off with one tiny ship and eventually have an entire fleet, stations and shipyards, almost makes this seem like it's going to be X4: The 4X. The new modular station building looks especially interesting.
6. Map Control of Your Ships and Stations: I think this is going to be a big improvement given from what I can tell you can control your fleets and such from the map screen like an RTS. Something I always struggled with in the previous games was managing a large empire.
7. Walking on Stations and Ships: Not exactly a feature I ever consider vital but I'll always appreciate that extra level of immersion. Being able to wander around ships and stations on top of flying around in space, I just hope it's not as clunky as it was in X: Rebirth.
8. Research: This one kind of caught my eye especially when you add in all the empire management aspects, though I do wonder just how in depth it will be or whether it will just be aimed at unlocking more exotic goodies, only time will tell. If it includes things like improving any ships you build, improving your crews and captains as well I think that could be very interesting.
9. More Accessible Mining: At least that is how it seems and sounds, in most space sandbox games if you give me a choice between mining or trading I'll usually take mining. In previous X games it always seemed like you needed a massive amount of set-up to even start doing it, however it now seems to be something you can do in any ship, slap a few mining lasers on a fighter or freighter and off you go which I much prefer.
10. New Universe (Kind Of): I am genuinely looking forward to seeing how the X universe has changed, different factions compared to before the story of the universe having moved on.