State of 4X Space?

[Anguille]

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:

[Gusington]

 

[hellfish6]

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.

[Anguille]

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.

[Millipede]

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.

[Jarhead0331]

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.

[Millipede]

Please keep us up to date on what you learn about Star Ruler 2 and any mods that have been developed.