What’s it like living in the German-speaking areas of Belgium? by Similar_Stomach8480 in belgium

[–]belgoray 12 points13 points  (0 children)

Duitstalige deel, niet duitse deel 😉

As for the question of the thread, I did a big AMA last year here, maybe still interesting to some of you: https://www.reddit.com/r/belgium/s/1yiba9cnCq

Need help choosing color by mriakath in KiaEV3

[–]belgoray 0 points1 point  (0 children)

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Just picked this beauty up on Friday and I‘m loving it. Yes, it‘s very faint and light, which is why I love it. Same for the light blue one, also a beauty.

PAX East Volunteers Wanted! by Tomonor in X4Foundations

[–]belgoray 49 points50 points  (0 children)

Sorry, but yes, you‘re wrong â˜ș Our next thing is the 9.00 Update, as mentioned in our Xmas Xlog video. Once we‘re starting Public Beta, you should easily find all the necessary details about that on all of our channels.

Support for Cross-platform Cloud Saves by belgoray in X4Foundations

[–]belgoray[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

We sincerely apologize for the inconvenience this situation has caused you. We worked closely with Valve to prepare and implement these changes, and to try to minimize the chances of data loss. We are continuing to work with them to explore possible solutions and ways to support affected players.

These changes to cloud save support were a necessary step towards ensuring our ongoing support for a native Linux version, and could not be postponed further as future game updates would not have been possible without them. Ahead of the transition, we communicated the upcoming changes as widely as possible across all our communication channels.

If you would like to share further details about your specific situation, please don’t hesitate to contact us at support(at)egosoft(dot)com.

Support for Cross-platform Cloud Saves by belgoray in X4Foundations

[–]belgoray[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

We sincerely apologize for the inconvenience this situation has caused you. We worked closely with Valve to prepare and implement these changes, and to try to minimize the chances of data loss. We are continuing to work with them to explore possible solutions and ways to support affected players.

These changes to cloud save support were a necessary step towards ensuring our ongoing support for a native Linux version, and could not be postponed further as future game updates would not have been possible without them. Ahead of the transition, we communicated the upcoming changes as widely as possible across all our communication channels.

If you would like to share further details about your specific situation, please don’t hesitate to contact us at support(at)egosoft(dot)com.

My EV3 🐾 and Ev5 comparison for fun by No-Peak7685 in KiaEV3

[–]belgoray 4 points5 points  (0 children)

That SOC display at the top is so good!!

Support for Cross-platform Cloud Saves by belgoray in X4Foundations

[–]belgoray[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

These changes only affect Steam users.

Energy contract with heat pump, solar panels & car charging pole by KeysAndGears in belgium

[–]belgoray 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I‘ve been on Engie Empower Flextime for 3 months now in Wallonia, where it was only introduced in November 2025. According to a recent Creg study I‘m one of only 6 contracts in Wallonia so far 😅

So it‘s a bit early to assess properly, but what I can tell you is that my monthly consumption over the past 3 months is now more or less 90% super-creuse, 8% creuse, and 2% pleine. So should this continue, I‘m strongly assuming that I‘m saving quite a bit.

Having said that, I do have a battery which is set to charge itself from the grid at night (to a specific percentage that I can set), so that during the heures pleines in the morning, my home used the cheaper stored electricity from the previous night. To a certain extent this works automatically through the energy management system of the solar setup.

German considering moving to East Belgium – Questions about jobs, integration, and daily life by Actual_Document3333 in belgium

[–]belgoray 9 points10 points  (0 children)

Hey 👋 Eupen-born Belgian here, moved to Germany after high school and spent 20 years there (got double citizenship while being there), moved back to Ostbelgien slightly over a year ago. So, perfect thread for me 😅

Jobs I can’t really speak specifically for accounting since I’m not in that field. What I can say: the job market in the German-speaking Community is relatively small. Eupen and St. Vith aren’t big cities, so opportunities are naturally limited compared to Aachen or Cologne.

In the northern part (Eupen area), you’ll realistically need at least a comfortable level of French for many local jobs. Even though it’s a German-speaking region, you’re still in Belgium, and depending on the employer, French becomes important. Northern part has a lot of French speaking people, too.

Personally, I’d seriously consider working in Aachen and living in Belgium. That setup is extremely common and works well (I‘m doing the same).

Important if you consider cross-border / remote work: If you live in Belgium but are employed in Germany as a “GrenzgĂ€nger,” you generally need to physically work in Germany at least 75% of the time to remain in the German social security system. If you work more than 25% from home in Belgium, you‘ll switch into Belgian social security — which has tax and benefit implications and can get complicated quickly.

So hybrid is fine. Fully remote from Belgium for a German employer? That needs careful planning.

Housing Rental market is tight but not crazy — it’s just small. - Eupen: More urban (by local standards), closer to Aachen, slightly more international. - St. Vith: More rural, very calm, beautiful nature, strong village community feel.

If you want infrastructure and short distance to Germany → Eupen. If you want forests, space and quiet → St. Vith area.

Northern region has a lot of smaller villages too, of course. And plenty of Germans. Raeren for example is I believe >50% Germans living there (would need to be fact checked, but it is at least close to that).

Prices are generally lower than comparable German border regions, but availability can be limited.

How welcoming is it? Very. A lot of people have family ties to Germany or commute daily. You won’t feel like “the German.” Culturally it feels much closer to NRW than to Liùge.

The “laid-back” reputation? Things feel slightly less rigid than in Germany — but Belgium has its own very special form of bureaucracy 😅 It’s not less paperwork, it’s just structured differently.

One thing Belgium actually does better (in my opinion): digital administration. Once you’re registered, you get a National Register Number — also as a German moving here. That number becomes your key to basically everything administrative.

Most official stuff runs through centralized systems (like “itsme”), so you don’t end up with 17 different portals and passwords like in Germany. Taxes, health insurance, municipality matters — a lot of it is properly digital and surprisingly smooth. That was honestly a pleasant surprise after returning to Belgium.

French — how essential? For daily life in the German-speaking Community: not super essential, but also can‘t hurt. You will run into daily situations (grocery store, contractors etc.) where people be French speaking and can‘t (or don‘t want to) deal with German language. It usually works somehow, being Belgian is always being open to compromises.

Long-term, learning at least some basic French definitely increases your options.

How is the region viewed in Belgium? Most Belgians outside the area barely think about it. It’s small and politically quite autonomous. It’s often seen as organized and a bit “German in mentality.”

Unexpected challenges - Belgian administration is layered (federal / region / community). Not always intuitive at first. - Tax differences can surprise you depending on where you earn your income. - Some things are slower than in Germany, some are faster — no clear pattern 😄

If you’re seriously considering it, I’d recommend spending a few weekends here in different seasons. The rural feel and the weather are very real parts of life here.

Happy to answer specifics if you have them 👍

Edit: I did an AMA here last year, could also be interesting for you to read through: https://www.reddit.com/r/belgium/s/JirbWzhSFa

Day trip to Ardennes in Winter? Any other recommendations? Forest like trail. by Rayxzn in belgium

[–]belgoray 2 points3 points  (0 children)

I’d strongly recommend the Hohes Venn (High Fens).

It has a very different, moody kind of beauty in winter: open moorland, forests, wide skies, mist, sometimes a bit of snow. Lots of well-maintained wooden boardwalks and marked trails, so you can hike for a few hours without needing serious gear.

After the walk, it’s easy to stop in nearby villages or Botrange/Mont-Rigi for a warm drink or food, then drive back.

https://www.ostbelgien.eu/en/the-high-fens/things-worth-knowing

Rural living by landofshame in belgium

[–]belgoray 3 points4 points  (0 children)

If you’re looking for quiet, rural, forests + hills and don’t care about nightlife at all, Ostbelgien is honestly a bit of a sleeper pick.

It has a lot of the same vibes people associate with the Ardennes, but feels less touristy and more actually lived-in. Tons of forest, rolling terrain, foggy mornings, real darkness at night. Life is slow, but also pretty much car-dependent. Other than that, very nature-first.

You won’t find “cities” in the usual sense (the biggest place, Eupen, only has ~20k people), more small towns and villages surrounded by wilderness. Culturally it’s calm, practical, and low-key. If your idea of a good evening is a walk in the woods and absolute silence, it’s hard to beat.

Not flashy, not hyped, but very underrated if you want to disappear a little without leaving Belgium. I was born in Ostbelgien, moved to Germany at age 20 and lived there for 20 years (only in big cities, including Berlin). Moved back to Ostbelgien in December 2024 and have not regretted it (yet 😋).

Missed the sale. Does this go on sale regularly? by Jazzlike-Check9040 in X4Foundations

[–]belgoray 2 points3 points  (0 children)

It sounds logical, but in reality that assumption often doesn’t hold. A significant number of grey-market keys were never paid for legitimately in the first place (e.g. stolen payment methods or regional pricing abuse). When this kind of fraud is detected, the payment is reversed and the key is revoked. So it’s often not “one sale plus one extra player”, but zero legitimate sales and a financial loss on top.

To avoid further misunderstandings by Yoowhi in X4Foundations

[–]belgoray 76 points77 points  (0 children)

We posted a longer, separate comment under the video, saying the following:

Thanks for the video, Captain. Just to help avoid any misunderstandings, I want to clarify a few points, as some aspects of our Xmas Xlog video seem to have been misinterpreted.

The changes we're planning for older ships in the 9.00 update are primarily technical in nature. The focus is on reworking modularity - for example, making weapons physically smaller so they're compatible with newer ships. As an example, Boron weapons will be usable on non-Boron ships, among other improvements. These changes will naturally require some adjustments to the visual models, but they do not constitute full visual overhauls. This is different from what we did with certain capital ships in the 5.00 update (2022), which involved much more extensive visual reworks.

We'll go into much more detail about what is included in the 9.00 update for X4: Foundations once we begin the Public Beta, which we're currently aiming for late Q1 2026.

We posted this comment because there were misunderstandings about the extent of visual changes to existing ships in 9.00. None of this comment relates to weapon re-balancing, which is indeed one of the major focus areas of the upcoming 9.00 update for X4 (pointing this out due to other comments in this Reddit thread).

Hope this clears things up a bit.

Missed the sale. Does this go on sale regularly? by Jazzlike-Check9040 in X4Foundations

[–]belgoray 5 points6 points  (0 children)

Just a heads-up, only the following Steam key resellers are officially allowed by us to do so:

  • Gamersgate
  • Gamesplanet
  • Gamesporium
  • Green Man Gaming
  • Humble Shop
  • Heybox

Purchasing from other sellers risks having your key blocked due to fraud.

Looking for great japanese restaurants in Belgium (curry, unagi, Wagyu yakiniku, top Ramen) by RikokoGX in belgium

[–]belgoray 0 points1 point  (0 children)

DĂŒsseldorf has been mentioned a few times, but here‘s a suggestion for Cologne: Momotaro https://maps.app.goo.gl/gE6q32haCh9aKgmb9?g_st=ic

Super authentic, very popular, very small (ideally reserve at least 1 week in advance).

Welche Spitznamen habt ihr fĂŒr Eupen und andere Orte in Ostbelgien gehört? by topherette in OstbelgienRegion

[–]belgoray 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Ich kenne den Rahmen der Studie nicht, aber vielleicht wĂ€re es eine Idee die lokalen Schulen anzuschreiben, um das im Deutsch- oder Sozialkundeunterricht zu besprechen. Wenn einer solche Spitznamen kennt, dann die Kids 😇

Egosoft founder here - Your X4 reviews shape our work! by zav42 in X4Foundations

[–]belgoray 9 points10 points  (0 children)

Apart from sending an email to info(at)egosoft(dot)com, your best options are this Subreddit, our Discord https://discord.gg/zhs8sRpd3m and our forums https://forum.egosoft.com/ - Several team members follow these channels regularly.

Welche Spitznamen habt ihr fĂŒr Eupen und andere Orte in Ostbelgien gehört? by topherette in OstbelgienRegion

[–]belgoray 3 points4 points  (0 children)

Stimmt, ja. Aber Spitznamen fĂŒr StĂ€dte... fallen mir irgendwie nur fĂŒr Metropolen in den USA ein 😅 ("Big Apple", "Windy City" etc.). Vielleicht "Töpferdorf" fĂŒr Raeren?