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bvbpl

What's a good space 4X game?

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Hey.

 

Can anyone recommend to me a good space 4X game.

 

I've got Gal Civ II and that's not bad.  It is a little rough and sparse in some ways.  It isn't bad, but there's just not a lot to it.

 

I also have Distant Worlds and that's just too much.  There's an awful, awful lot too much in that game, and so much of it ends up being automated.

 

What I want would be a sequel to MOO II.  Relatively simple game (relative to, say, Distant Worlds) with some cool flash and combat.  I'm looking forward to Sid Meir's Spaceships, but I think I need something to wet my whistle with now.

 

I've heard good things about Endless Space, but I've also heard some shade thrown on the game, particularly related to its expansion.

 

What do you think?

 

 

 

 

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Endless Space is much better with the expansions than without. As a game it's very good without quite reaching the sum of its parts. If you want MOO2 without the complexity of Distant worlds though - well that's the holy grail and I think you'll struggle to find it. I really like Gal Civ II. It's still got One of the best AIs I've ever come across and with th expansions it's one of the best space game there is.

I would suggest that you try Sins of a Solar Empire. That is a truly excellent game, even though it plays as a 4x RTS rather than a 4x TBS. I've not played the Rebellion stand alone expansion, but the original game with its DLC/Expansions should definitely be on your must buy list.

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I like Endless Space. Although it's more of an abstract (board) game than a rich engaging simulation game.

 

Sins of a Solar Empire is also great, although i think Rebellion was a backwards step in the series (the earlier mini-expansions are all great though).

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Thank you for suggesting Endless Space. I picked up this weekend and have been enjoying it.  It is pretty darn good, albeit with a number of noticeable problem areas.

 

I'll have to look into Sins.

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Only bother to look into Sins if you're into multiplayer. Much like Sword of the Stars - Sins of Solar Empires are complete rubbish for single.

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Only bother to look into Sins if you're into multiplayer. Much like Sword of the Stars - Sins of Solar Empires are complete rubbish for single.

 

I disagree, the AI is reasonable. Not doubt a good player can run circles around it, but I had fun with single player.

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I used to play a lot of Ascendancy and Star General. Both weren't too complex and had great atmosphere IMO. Only the music in the latter was terrible but aside from that I especially loved the simple ground combat they did there. I was really disappointed in that part of GalCiv2.

 

GalCiv2 and Endless Space are both decent but I never got really deep into either. Also I think the art direction is all over the place and everything feels extremely generic. I couldn't even tell you the difference between the two now with some distance to the last time I played them.

 

Another decent one would be Empire at War which has a huge Star Wars bonus going for it and of course Star Wars Rebellion which was more of a 4x boardgame adapted as a video game.

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GC 3 is good and fun, but it needs more polish.

 

I bought it day one b/c I am a total Space 4X whore.  It is very similar to GC 2.  It has a nice graphical upgrade and a neat ideology system similar to Civ 5 but driven by GC's colonization and random events. 

 

It was initially very unstable, but this was quickly patched up.  Now it runs for hours just fine on my laptop.

 

It does need a coat of polish.  Its UI is awkward in some places.  Not every turn places, but semi-regular places.  For example, moving a building to the top of a build queue is a frustration, as is upgrading your custom ships whenever you get an upgrade.

 

If you love Space 4X and GC 2 then I recommend it now.  Otherwise I would wait until a few more patches come out.

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Some people enjoy Star Drive 1 or 2 (although 2 received a lot of
criticism) and there's also Star Ruler 2.

Maybe search for some you tube lets plays of these.

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I have been playing Star Ruler 2. It is a really good game that tries a couple of different things:

 

- First, is one real-time.

- You build a capital ship (from which you can give orders) and them can build a support around it.

- Each planet have a type of resource, which you can import to another one by simple click and dragging it, once a planet got enough resources it will grow a tier. Exemple, a Tier 0 planet need at least one food and one water resource to grow a tier, from there it will need a level 1 resource plus more food and water.

- Diplomacy is done via cards, which you bought using influence and the avaliable card change from time to time and you have to dispute them with other players.

- Budget work in a curious way, you have a budget for limited time, if that money isn´t spend them what is left is used in something else (you can set what would be, like using the rest of the money to buy more influence or research points).

- Mod support.

 

However I still haven´t exactly figured out how design ships work (or if ships have any notable difference) and combat, while amazing to watch, since it can have lots and lot of ships (think in LOGH level of ships), but rather plain, you only give order to the capital ship, also the tech tree is rather confusing.

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