Apologies for not finding this in search. What is the current state of 4X space games? Considering the Humble Bundle Stellaris Discovery bundle for $15 but are there other games recommended today over it? A link or two to previous threads would be great, as well.
Thanks,
Blake
If you are after multiplayer then Stellaris and maybe the older and more RTS like sins of a solar empire are the pinnacle.
However their are games coming along for single player that might beat stellaris.
http://www.grogheads.com/forums/index.php?topic=25357.0
The last space 4x coming from bigger studios (all in 2016) are all very nice
Stellaris
Master of Orion: CtS
Endless Space 2
The big advantage from Stellaris is mostly the huge Paradox fanbase because all these games are great.
Then, there are many recent indie games:
- Interstellar Space Genesis
- Stars in Shadow
- Polaris Sector
And then you still have a lot of classic games:
- Distant Worlds
- Sword of the Stars 1
- Armada 2526 Gold
- Horizon
It really depends on what you're looking for.
^ With Distant Worlds 2 around the corner
https://www.matrixgames.com/game/distant-worlds-2
Sins of a Solar Empire Rebellion receives high ratings (and has a few good total conversion mods https://www.moddb.com/games/sins-of-a-solar-empire-rebellion/mods?sort=visitstotal-desc)
This is a topic in which I could go on for a long time. However, I'm on the toilet on a mobile device at the moment, so I'll just say that I recently started playing a heavily modded Star Drive 1 again. The mod is called Blackbox with the combined arms add on, and it expands and fixes virtually every one of the game's mechanics. Star Drive was a flawed game, but with a lot of potential, and the blackbox mod brings it very close to realizing that potential.
One of the things I always love about Star Drive is how ship travel works. There are no set space lines initially. Ships travel through local space normally, and when traveling longer distances, they enter somewhat of a faster hyperspace mode, but it is still relatively slow and it takes time for vessels to move long distances between systems, with obvious strategic implications. However, through technology, players can actually build space lanes which speed up travel between systems. The cool thing is, these space lanes can be attacked and shut down, or raided for freighter traffic, so it's a great way to engage in piracy and attack enemy logistics. Freighters are critical because they transport industry, food and population between colonies, so attacking these lanes can have a huge impact on empire holdings, strength, etc.
Ship design is also very cool, with the ability to design ships by adding various modules. It is very similar to design in Polaris Sector, which I think has one of the strongest ship designers featured in any 4x. So there is a lot of flexibility and opportunity to design ships that fulfill a number of different and diverse roles.
Combat is great too, with a wide variety of offensive and defensive systems modeled, arcs of fire and ammo stores for ballistic/kinetic weaponry and with the mod, it looks awesome.
It's definitely worth a look. The game can be purchased for very cheap these days and the mod is free!
Now, if you really like your 4x deep, check out my threads and videos covering Aurora. In my opinion, it's one of the the most amazing 4x games ever developed, limited only by its lack of graphics, sound, etc. In terms of complexity, detail and mechanics, it's a dream come true.
^ link to the Blackbox mod
https://www.moddb.com/mods/deveks-mod/news/venus-is-now-released
https://bitbucket.org/codegremlins/stardrive-blackbox/downloads/
Quote from: Jarhead0331 on March 21, 2021, 09:21:59 AM
.... However, I'm on the toilet on a mobile device at the moment,....
Way, WAY more information than we needed! :o
Polaris Sector and Sword of the Stars 1 are my favorites, by far. Aurora for deep detail. All are, IMO, underappreciated because they did not come from major publishers. I prefer them much, much more than offerings such as Stellaris. I feel that SotS1 is STILL has the best tactical space battles available. I am a space 4x nut and have played everything mentioned in this thread...except the mod for Stardrive. The base game needed some help and I and going to try that mod.
Thanks for all the quick replies. I'll give Stardrive a shot with the Blackbox mod. I might also go with Stellaris based on the deal.
I've enjoyed Endless Space 2 a lot as well. Stellaris got a lot of time for me and I enjoyed it a lot, but midgame became a slog and ES2 just felt less generic than Stellaris. The quests in Stellaris were "meh" for me.
Polaris Sector is a definite winner if you're into combat and tech discoveries that can really change the way a game plays (rather than just making one unit suddenly OP for the remainder of the game).
AI Wars is a very different kind of 4x space game than the others (it incorporates elements of Tower Defense and RTS), but AI Wars 2 is definitely worth a try if you're willing to play an asymmetrical 4x.
It's hard to go wrong with any of them!
Quote from: Blake7 on March 21, 2021, 02:38:34 PM
Thanks for all the quick replies. I'll give Stardrive a shot with the Blackbox mod. I might also go with Stellaris based on the deal.
Current price on Steam is too high (28 €).
You might find a deal here : https://isthereanydeal.com/game/stardrive/info/ (around $6)
Cheapest over here (but some avoid Kinguin) : https://www.kinguin.net/category/6046/stardrive-steam-key (around $2)
Takes a real man to write that kind of screed on the can.
Quote from: Gusington on March 21, 2021, 04:12:54 PM
Takes a real constipated man to write that kind of screed on the can.
Fixed that for you. :P
^That may be that fine line of too much detail you mentioned above.
I thought, more often than not, grognards wanted a painful degree of detail?
:bd:
Quote from: Gusington on March 21, 2021, 04:12:54 PM
Takes a real man to write that kind of screed on the can.
I was very impressed myself! He managed a very elaborate answer with no spelling errors :clap:
:2funny:
Broadly speaking 4Xs haven't really changed since MOO2, imho. Some have made evolutionary progress: Stellaris because Paradox gave a space 4X game the CK2/EU treatment, Aurora for depth and detail (but loses points on accessibility) and Distant Worlds with automation and polish. But the nuts, bolts and concepts of all these 4X games are the exact same and I'm kinda over it, and I have been for years. I'm tired of these generic races, generic ship types, level playing fields where everyone discovers warp at the same time, the tactical battles that don't add anything, the espionage systems that don't do anything, diplomacy that rarely gives you real choices, etc.
The only 4X-like game I'm looking forward to is https://store.steampowered.com/app/1176470/Terra_Invicta/ but I'm not totally sure it's a true 4X game. It looks kinda like a 4X version of XCOM, which might still be cool. I kickstarted it, at least. I'll definitely get https://store.steampowered.com/app/1531540/Distant_Worlds_2/ because the first one was great and, despite the form-fitting 4X it still looks enjoyable for what it is.
The espionage system in Birth of the Federation can be very deadly. If you have Romulans or Cardassians launching massive intel assaults (both races have big bonuses in intel), you better be prepared or become toast. Was great fun in Multiplayer.
A fully developped intel can be very very efficient in MOO1 as well.
Wonder how efficient the new system will be in the new DLC for Stellaris but i don't have high hopes.
Stardrive is available at Instant Gaming for $3.15 https://www.instant-gaming.com/en/4780-buy-game-steam-stardrive/. You get a Steam key and for $3.15 I figured that I'ld give it a shot. No problems, worked like a charm.
Been playing a lot of Star Drive with the mod. I will say one thing that annoys me is that there seems to be no territorial boundaries recognized by the game or the AI. There is nothing preventing the player or AI opponents from colonizing or placing an outpost in systems that have already been colonized. I was playing a pretty nice game and realized pretty far along that some other race had put outposts on Mars and Mercury....HELLO!? I had no choice but to declare war and invade. I then noticed a number of different systems where this has been happening so its been a pain cleaning out these systems and it is forcing me to maintain colonies on otherwise fairly useless worlds that are neither agricultural producers or rich in minerals. The issue also seems to reveal that the AI eventually does a colony grab, seeking to occupy any available colony it can find, no matter the political, military or economic ramifications.
This is, of course, a big problem, but I have otherwise really enjoyed my time with the modded game.
Another older game I may try re-installing is Star Ruler 2. Some interesting concepts in this game, as I recall...but there were certain things that always held me back. Still it also has a very robust ship designer and is capable of supporting ships and fleets of fairly massive size. The code for this game has been released by the developer and it is now open source, so I want to see if any community fans have made anything notable in terms of mods.
Please keep us up to date on what you learn about Star Ruler 2 and any mods that have been developed.