You never know what malware is going to do. You could look up sandbox reports of what it did, and then end up with a modified version of the malware. Better to backup stuff, nuke the OS, and start fresh/change passwords on important stuff. Persistence can be a bitch to track down, better to nuke.
Take this as a learned lesson, and do better next time.
Back in the early 00’s I caught thousands of infections… I think somewhere around 3000 infections removed at once was my personal best. Live and learn.
The X games have always been heavy on the economy sim… But the scope of the games were insane… I felt X4 was pretty gimped in that respect, that I couldn’t take over the economy, build massive fleets, and take out entire sectors with my massive wave of ships.
I haven’t checked out X4 since launch though, things may have improved.