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Master of Orion -> classic (very old though, might contain UI / gameplay not suited for 2023)
Endless Space 2 -> still on the fence for that one, though turn-based on that large scale isn't fun [for me]
I'd add Soase as it also shares some similarities. Was awesome back then, tech is a bit outdated today.
Main thing about the X series is that it isn't like other games - e.g. it was never a real spreadsheet 4x game like those mentioned. It also never was only about being a space shooter. While X was always 3D and the fps experience was always at the core of the gameplay it also had economic aspects and - in later games - an increasing control over other assets like station and various ship types as well as fleets.
tl:dr: X is a jack-of-all-trades, master of none. Most 4X games play it save and cater their niche. Egosoft always reached out for more.
X4 is more like an economic simulation, where you live inside in first person.
In these games, you start building your empire/faction/country whatever, before encountering anybody else.
In X4, you start in some pre-etablished faction space, and the whole universe is mostly controled already by other factions. You're free to go and meet them, work for them, trade, fight, etc. You don't have to build your own stations if you don't want to.
But you can play it as a strategy game. Building your own empire, your own fleets, and kick the butt of everybody else if you wish to. But that would be your own choice, not something imposed by the game.
It's more of a first-person sandbox, an open-world RPG like Skyrim, but a Skyrim in space where you can build your own country and employ NPCs to work for you. However there is no main quest to "save the universe", and you're not some kind of chosen one. But there are faction quests, a bit like guild quests in Skyrim.
Strategy games are all about control of the map and ensuring the propsperity of your domain. In X4, you are not the sovereign of a nation, you're just you. Until you decide it's time for a new faction to appear on the map.
So.... one day you might just feel like manually mining crystals... or go shoot up an enemy base. Or you might want to set up a small production chain for one resource... or go control the market by taking out enemy freighters.
You get to choose and generally you get to play as you want for quite a few hours before the AI causes you to take specific action somewhere.
Some of your strategies from MOO and ES will help you in some cases to control enemies but the Xgames do need you to develop a lot of skills the other games just don't demand.
imho if you like the other games then you probably can enjoy X4, so long as you don't force yourself to play one style all the time. If you ever played Age of Empires... its a bit like creating a multiplayer game with you against say 7 AI's on maps that let you choose your favourite tactics.
eg I love playing naval bombardments so an Island map is my preference. Others prefer Cavalry... so they do lots more invasions on land.
But if you HAVe played those AoE maps you know that you can build the AI so it can strongly attack you or you can make it a pushover. Make it too easy and you get bored. So some players get very bored in X4 when they have exhausted their appetite for megalomaniac fleet attacks. Others go more for trade and get bored when they have everything running smooth.
TLDR: The X games are much more influenced by how flexibly you play them.
More ships are fully simulated in X4 compared to these games. For example, in most of the listed strategy games, mining and trading are abstracted, you don't need individual ships flying around for it to happen. In X4 though, the individual mining and trading ships are essential, without their combined activities, there would be no economy.
The grand strategy aspect of X4 is not nearly as well fleshed out as the games you mentioned, partly because X4 has a number of story plots. Dynamic faction relationships and AI for faction relations are not a thing, since the devs want to preserve the storyline of the game. While you can claim sectors, there is very little in terms of gameplay benefit to doing so. The strategy game aspects of X4 are mostly an afterthought.
The economy in X4 is based on wares, Everything that is constructed aside from a few exceptions is from resources which were mined, transported to refineries, and converted into other more advanced wares. Money is poorly simulated in X4, and only really matters as far as the player is concerned, because the NPC factions are giving infinite money. Still, they cannot build ships and stations with money, they need to obtain the wares needed in order to build those ships and stations, which ultimately comes from the activities of miners and traders in the game.
Space games or space sims, X4 is by far the best in my opinion. As for 4X games, I'd give that to Stellaris just because it ticked all the boxes for what I like in 4X games. But yeah, all the games you are listing aren't really remotely the same to X4. A better comparison would be maybe Space Engineers, Avorion or maybe even Void Destroyers 2.
Truly, X games are unique. There really is nothing like these games. If nothing else, most space games took inspiration from X games, not the other way around. There's nothing like them or any game that is that's better. They're incredible and highly recommend them if you are a fan of space games, games with awesome lore or games with lots of replay value.
X4 (and other X games) are space piloting, combat and trading games. There is some element to fleet management but it's more of a business sim than a galactic conquest, there's no traditional diplomacy for example. Privateer? Evochon Mercenary, Everspace 2, Rebel Galaxy, Starpoint Gemini Warlords are similar.
X4 is special because they make an extremity good stab at a simulated universe with a working economy, which you can interact with by building your own factories and stuff. Most other games the economy is player-centric one dimensional.
Looking forward to Starfield, I really hope Bethesda have managed to get it right.
I am interested to see if the gameplay is as good as Mass Effect 3. Combining that sort of gameplay with customisable ships should lead to a great game. However, if the game is more linear than X4 then it won't be as much fun to play.
All the games you mentioned don't have you in the action, in first person. You can (kind of) play X4 like you play those other games, once you have the ability to keep replacing your ships (mid-late game Id say?) but at least initially, you're going to be piloting your own ship (or having someone fly you around whilst you do other stuff), and in those instances, it's more like Elite/No Mans Sky.
Basically Id say X4 can be considered a game with elements from both 4X and Space Exploration/Dog fighting games.
You could just play through the whole time with only one ship/upgrading it/trading it in as you go and never bother with building a station or owning multiple ships/fleets, or you could get a station and just stay in it the whole time whilst you manager orders although getting quests would be almost impossible if you never left that station) etc etc.