"Looking for a new 4X and/or recommend me a 4X game" archive

[Nasarog]

This thread will be the storage space for all old threads where people were asking for a 4X recommendation.

[Martok]

Not sure there's another 4x out there matching Aurora's depth, or even approaches it. What else about Aurora do you enjoy?

[Terminus]

If you are looking for a big space theme 4x game, you should consider Stellaris+Utopia expansion or Galactic Civilizations 3+Crusade expansion. They are both big and complex space empire games.

If you are not committed to the space theme, you might try Rimworld or Dwarf Fortress. These are not really 4x's however they are more like survival sandbox games. DF is probably closest to Aurora in depth and complexity, although it requires some work to get it set up and running. Rimworld plays better out of the box, although it is missing some features that really sets Dwarf Fortress apart. There is a recent let's play on Rimworld here in the forum by Army Pea. Rimworld also has a Star Wars mod.

Also if you try Dwarf Fortress you will want to watch the Youtube Videos to learn how to play. The game doesn't really teach you anything in game, it expects you to already know how to play. Dastactic has a great youtube tutorial on Dwarf Fortress that is more than 50 episodes long. If you've played Aurora however this won't bother you

[acantoni]

Hi guys!
Thanks for the time you took to answer!

@Martok i love the absolute control you have over everything :) to be fair i also enjoy automation but the sense of "scale" of aurora and accomplishment when you build something that works is great!
Also i like the idea that every ship counts

@Glenn
I didn't like Stellaris much... with the Utopia expansion which i don't have have the game changed? especially i didn't like at all that most of the time you just have 1 big fleet
GC3 i will look for it
DF is great, absolutely like it! sometime i do play it --> so spot on on that recommendation!
Rimworld i think i saw an alpha a while back.. seems a great game so will get that: thanks!

[prokolyo]

Let me first say that my favorite games are MOM and MOO2 (I still play them), and that I haven't played any of the contemporary ones besides MOO4, which I like a lot.

So, you know how in MOM when you create a custom wizard, you can take several books of white magic, several books of blue let's say, etc., plus you have the standard arcane spells. This way, your "tech" tree is never the same as in the MOO series let's say, where despite the choices the tree is the same for everybody, always. In other games from what I know, every race has there own tech/spells. But in MOM you can mix and match, and have a bit of everything, which leads to great replayability. So my question is, are there any 4x games that approach the tech/spell tree the MOM way?

Thank you in advance!

[Mezmorki]

The Age of Wonders series does that - also a fantasy 4X game. Age of Wonders 3 is an exceptional game. You have different classes for your leader that define about 50% of your tech tree, and then magic specializations that define the rest. You get to choose 3 specializations out of about 20 different spheres - so there's a lot of variability. The spells you can research show up somewhat randomly each time as well, so it's rarely the same exact sequence each game.

[Gregorovitch]

I'm playing Age of Wonders III a bit more seriously at the mo' (I have been neglecting it on account of Endless Legend) and am having a great time with it, It's beautiful, well designed and interesting IMO and a lot of fun, esp the TB combat. And it definitely has the different tech tree thing, like really different. From your post, prokolyo, I would definitely recommend you give it a look.

[prokolyo]

I have a very good friend that recommends it too, but from my understanding it's closer to HOMM than to MOM/MOO which although very good, kinda doesn't scratch the same itch :) I'll prob check it out though sooner or later...

[PengoPaddy]

There is a mod (mods?) that expand on the city building part of AoW3 to make it more like MoM but there's still no worker placement. I think it's better for no worker placement because due to gold being a limiting factor theres opportunity to specialise cities during the game.

AoW3 has city settlement which I believe the HoMM series never has.

[prokolyo]

Ended up getting ES2 :) Pretty cool so far...

[GDUBMX]

Can you guys recommend..

I'm after a space 4x game, with steam achievements, simple to get into and learn relatively quickly. Not too complicated with good combat. I have stellaris but that seems way over the top for what I want. I have star drive 2 but that is buggy and feels a bit boring. Dawn of andromeda looked nice but man that was so boring and the combat was pathetic. I'm a huge fan of sins of a solar empire to be honest and love a bit of ai war 2. Ive been looking at the 2016 master of orion. What do you guys think?

Tldr:
After a 4x game.
Simple to understand and easy to learn.
Steam achievements.
Good combat/battles
More rts feeling (but not essential)

Already own
Stellaris
Sins of a solar empire
Dawn of andromeda
Star drive 2
Galciv3 (got lost in the awful tutorials)
Endless space 1 (never played)
Sword of the stars 2 (never played)

[Army Pea]

Stars in Shadows is a good starting game.

Although it has tactical , turn based combat.

If you can get over that, its right up your alley.

[Tragic]

The new Master of Orion got a bad rap imo, it is a fine game.. nothing ground breaking or mind blowing.. but it is very easy on the eye and enjoyable imo. I rate it as mediocre... nothing special.. but not bad in anyway at all.

Looking at the list, I think maybe Galactic Civilizations 3 is the way to go. You have to also get the major DLC updates though.

But yeah.. I would have picked Moo or GalCiv3. These are all turn based though. I dislike RTS as I am old and slow, so I never play them.. and do not even know of any.

[GDUBMX]

I forgot to add.. I have galciv3 but found the tutorial absolutely awful. I had no real clue what I was doing at all..

[PengoPaddy]

I'll second Master of Orion, the reboot.

I'd add Age of Wonders 3, it has everything you want except real time battles but the battle system is highly regarded. It's simple to learn but has complexity if you want it. I'd recommend it over Age of Wonders Planetfall for you because AoWP is more complex and AoW3 with expansions is cheaper, especially on sale. Rereading your post I'd recommend the Master of Orion reboot over AoW3 for you but check out AoW3 as its pretty solid.

[Kursah]

Yep MoO: CTS is a good place to look, especially with the UCP and 5X mods. It isn't the most amazing 4X, but it's entertaining and casual and a good introduction with solid polish and graphics.

I just played GalCiv 3 and learned to survive, it was a lot more fun that way.

If you want to try something a little different, overall easy to play, hard to master, is Sword of the Stars Complete. Its age shows greatly, and the first couple games were confusing/hard until I better understood how this game worked compared to other 4X's. The combat is the best of the bunch here as its real time and tactical. Once you learn to use multiple colonize ships when you colonize planets and start playing as Tarka first, and realize how to use the planet development sliders (you have a couple sliders versus actually micromanaging planet development) this is a solid offering of a war focused 4X.

Another one you could try is Polaris Sector, while it isn't super complex it does have a lot of resources and things going on in the late game. Its a bit newer even though it doesn't look like it, and is inspired from a 4X in the 90s. This game is pausable real time with very good time control. Solid combat (albeit 2D sprites), interesting ship design and unique research elements. The overall game is a touch bland, but its a wargaming 4X and does that pretty well. There's also a massive Star Wars mod available too.

When I find myself wanting a good 4X experience with good combat, I keep going back to Sword of the Stars. There's some, but faint hope it'll get an HD remaster, even without and if you can still find some of the GFX mods, it's serviceable enough to play for sure. The UI and controls are a little wonky, but once you learn them it'll be no big deal. The strategy layer is turn-based, combat is real time.

Cheers.