This tutorial will guide you through the entire main quest, that leads to you getting a Player Headquarter (PHQ).
SPOILER ALERT! This tutorial is full of spoilers, so do not continue reading if you prefer playing X4 without any spoilers!
When starting a new game, you should immediately undock and move outside. Press Shift-2 to activate your short-range scanner and carefully fly close to the station to scan it. As you fly around you will suddenly hear a static noise and see some sparks coming from some random spot on the station – fly close to it and wait for the secret message to be decrypted – after this a Boron named Boso Ta will start talking to you and ask for your help with an experiment.
This will start the quest “Scientific Expedition” which will give you access to the Player Headquarter as well as allow you to research teleportation.
Dock at the station - Pickup Interface Unit
First task is to dock at the Argon Equipment Dock in Black Hole Sun IV.
As soon as you are docked, press ENTER and select GET UP. Walk out of your ship and follow the orange beacon to the pickup spot (you may have to use the elevators or teleport if it is placed on another level).
Use the nearest teleport to quickly get back to your ship.
Follow the orange marker to the packet.
The teleporter is located right next to the docking area.
Fly to Scientific Area
Notice: Before you undock make sure you have at least one Nav Beacon, Satellite and Resource Probe on your ship.
Fly to the designated area by following the orange quest beacon. As you get close press SHIFT-3 to activate the long-range scanner and then press R for about 1 second to start a scan. You may need to scan a few times until the anomaly is detected. Fly close to the anomaly and press ENTER and then DEPLOY (CIVILIAN) – NAV BEACON to place a Nav Beacon.
Now aim for the anomaly and press TAB to boost through it – alternatively you can use SHIFT-1 to enable travel mode, as you need some speed to be able to penetratre the anomaly. You will end up in Grand Exchange I.
Boso Ta will now give you a coordinate to the point of interest, which is another anomaly – fly near it. After talking Boso Ta will grant you 25.000 credits for your assistance so far.
Deploy Satellite
Boso Ta now ask you to place a Satellite near the anomaly. He will update your map with a couple of stations in Eighteen Billion in case you forgot to bring a satelite and resource probe…
Deploy Resource Probe.
After some more talking Boso Ta asks you to deploy a Resource Probe at a nearby location. Fly to the location, press ENTER and select DEPLOY (CIVILEAN).
Deliver Suitable Ship
Boso Ta will tell you about his plan and grant you 200.000 credits to buy a new ship and equip it with 3 x Antimatter Cells.
Fly to the nearest Wharf e.g. in Eighteen Billion and buy a cheap ship e.g. Kestrel Sentinel. Equip with only the cheapest mandatory systems – you don’t need weapon or shield, don’t equip any expensive stuff as this ship will soon be destroyed!
If you have not already explored the universe, you should now take the time to discover some of the jump gates and highways. You should also look for other missions and start earning reputation by e.g. doing missions, mining or trading with a faction. You need to earn rank with at least one faction before the PHQ quest continues.
Dock you expendable ship at TEL Antimatter Cell Factory I in Grand Exchange III and buy 3 x Antimatter Cells. Fly both ships to the mission area in Grand Exchange I. Target your expendable ship when it is at the precise location and then press F to talk to the captain and fire him, so he can evacuate the ship before it blows up.
Fly your own ship to a safe location at the second location a little away from the test area.
Bosa Ta will now activate the experiment which will blow up the expendable ship and cause the PHQ to appear.
The Experiment – Investigate Unknown Station
Bosa Ta will now ask you to scan the unknown station. Press SHIFT-2 to engage short-range scan and fly close to the mission targets. After you have finished scanning, the station now belongs to you!
Build Dock.
Bosa Ta suggests that you should build a dock in order to be able to land at your new station. To build the dock you must first buy a blueprint from a faction representative. If you have leveled reputation with the Argon, go to the Wharf in Argon Prime and take the teleporter to the Representative’s Office – talk with the representative and ask for blueprints. Buy whatever dock blueprint you want.
Open the map and right-click PHQ, right-click – select Plan Build. Select a dock module from the menu in the upper left corner and place it on your PHQ – it should snap to the headquarter in the 12 o’clock position. Next click the Assign or hire a Builder button – use the map to find a builder and select it. In the panel to the right you can see which materials are required to build your new dock and the amount of credits you should expect to pay in order to buy all the materials – make a mental note of this amount. Click the Confirm Module Changes button.
Expand the tabs in the right-hand window to see how many resources your new dock require in order to complete building. Notice the Estimated price to buy all resources. Drag the slider Available money for construction until you have assigned at least the required amount of credits to your station. When you later add new modules to your station(s), remember to add funds or nothing will be build!
You can buy blueprints by talking to a factions representative.
Escape Plan
When the dock has been build, Bosa Ta will call you again and ask you to dock at your station.
When docked, get up and walk down to the teleporter. Bosa Ta will now tell you that we still need to get access and he wants you to take a fast fighter to come and pick him up and escort him back to your PHQ.
Notice: When you get to the rendezvous point in Black Hole Sun IV I found a derelict Cerberus Sentinel (Frigate) both times I did the PHQ quest.
Wait for the ship to launch, then escort it out of the sector. Make sure to create a save game as you may encounter several Xenon and pirates while escorting the trader! After the ship has moved a little away from the station, it will go into Travel Mode and quickly fly out of the sector; at this part the danger should be over.
After your escort mission is done, fly back and dock at your PHQ. Step out of your ship and go to the teleporter – go to the Science Laboratory, where you will finally meet Bosa Ta in person.
Scientific Freedom
Open the map and click the new Research menu at the top of the screen. I suggest researching teleportation, but any research will do. After the research is done, the PHQ quest series is complete, and disappears from your Mission Manager, but a follow up quest will soon appear.
Acquire Manager
Next you need to find a manager. Make sure to have at least one crew member on your current ship – if not dock at any station, get up and walk around until you find somebody and then hire them.
Dock at your PHQ and open your ship Information tab. Expand the Crew folder and then expand the Full Crew List folder. Right-click the crew member you want to appoint to manager of your PHQ and select Comm(unicate). Select 4 – Work somewhere else for me. Now select your PHQ from the Property Owned tab, right-click and choose Select.
In the Assign Staff window in the upper right corner select Manager as Selected Role and click Assign.
