Looking for a newish 4x game

[Christopher Pedron]

So what I am after is a space based empire building game. I don't want to have to go too deep into micromanaging what resources each planet provides, But I would like to be able to upgrade defences and fleets/ships. I'm not that interested in the combat side, so having that be simple would be great. I'm more into Building the empire, without having the threat of prodding some AI the wrong way and getting wiped out, or facing constant attacks from a more powerful foe just wasting my resources.

 

[spartandude]

Sins of a Solar Empire: Rebellions maybe? Its more combat focused but i tend to find you can just throw large fleets at eachother and the AI is good enought to micromanage for you, although as usual player stragety can help.

It would be helpful to know what other games you've played and which you liked so we know what kind of thing you want.

I also hear Endless Space is good but i haven't played it so i dont know if it meets what you want.

 

[Jandau]

Endless Space is solid, especially now that it's had some patching and an expansion. However, it's not too deep and doesn't really have that much replay value. The game blows its load in one or two playthroughs. The combat is cool, even if it's mostly hands-off (you pick tactics for individual combat phases before the battle starts and then you watch it play out).

The best Space Empire 4X is still (IMO) Galactic Civilizations 2, offering a solid amount of depth without being impenetrable to new players and plenty of variety. The only "weakness" is a lack of tactical combat, but since many people don't care about it that much, it's not really a problem.

People like to bring up Sins of a Solar Empire, but that's less of a 4X strategy game and more of an RTS in the trappings of a 4X strategy. It's a cool game, just not really relevant to this topic. Also, it has no single player worth mentioning.

Beyond that, I hear the last Sword of Stars has gotten patched into playability despite its terrible state at launch.

 

[raeior]

You could give Distant Worlds a try. You can micromanage everything or completely automate everything and watch how your empire develops. Might be an interesting game for you, especially now that the price for the whole package is no longer totally ridiculous (was something like 199$ or so?). Now it is on Steam with all expansions for 50? or something like that. Problem is, there is no demo as far as I know, but a lot of tutorial and lets play videos exist. I must say though that I never got into that game for various reasons (Interface being one of the major ones). It seems to be pretty much a hate or love type of game.

 

[Ranorak]

A couple of my favorites are.

Galactic Civilization 2
Stardrive
Endless Space
Sins of a Solar Empire

Go and watch some lets plays and see what you enjoy the most.
I believe GetDaved has most of these games on his channel.

 

[Megawat22]

You could try The Last Federation if you haven't played that already.
You play as the last member of an extinct race with the main goal being you manipulating the other races into forming a space utopia basically.
I haven't played it (waiting until I have more money or it goes on sale first) but it seems like something you're looking for and I've heard good things about it.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iu1VziShzDg

There's a link to a video TotalBiscuit done on the game if you want to look into it more.

 

[Signa]

You sound like you are describing Sins of a Solar Empire. Although, Sins is a 4X/RTS Hybrid, so if you are intentionally avoiding real-time games, that probably won't do very well for you. In its favor though, it's a pretty slow RTS, so you have time to react to things like a turn-based 4X game would.

 

[Vendor-Lazarus]

I love me some 4X games and have probably played them all (except GalCiv 3).
I prefer exploring, building, researching and planning above combat any day.
I always come back to Sots1,Moo3 and IG2.

Hmm, what would fit your criteria. And newish..
Perhaps..

Distant Worlds, the complete package.
Stardrive could fit, a bit lackluster but solid.
Sword of the Stars 1, complete package.
GalCiv 2, complete package is always good.
Imperium Galactica 2 is a good oldie as is Space Empire IV.

Or you could always wait for Stardrive 2 or Star ruler 2.

 

[karma9308]

Gal Civ or Sins of the Solar empire would be my recommends. They are also both on sale right now on steam, so if you are interested in one of them you can get a nice discount if you buy them before Monday.

 

[Drops a Sweet Katana]

You can pick up GalCiv 2: Ultimate Edition for about £3 on Steam right now, so you could do that. It's a great game, especially if you want a game that will keep delivering years down the line. I've been playing it for about 7 years and I'm still learning things.

 

[Pseudonym]

Do you want multiple planets or will any sifi setting do? If the latter you might want to wait for Civilization: beyond earth later this year or look into alpha centauri on GOG. Otherwise I have no good advice to add to the people before me.

 

[Tanis]

Distant Worlds?

It's a bit...thick...but once you get past some questionable menu clicking.

Not a bad 4X game.

 

[direkiller]

if you don't mind going very old

Space Empire(any of them)
Combat can basicly be auto resolved
or
Alpha centari

 

[Frankster]

From what you describe I'd reccomend:

-Galactic Civilizations 2: It seems to meet all your criteria, the combat system is just watching your ships duke it out with the enemys, and there is an extensive ship creation system where you put up a ship from tons of pieces.
The AI in that game is also reputed for being good in that they show logical behavior so the diplomatic side of the equation feels more natural and fun then in other 4X games.

Endless Space: Combat system is a bit more involved then Gal Civ in that you pick combat cards THEN watch your fleets duke it out, and ship customization is non existent but it has RPG elements. Might appeal to you, also is more visually pleasing then Gal Civ.

Distant Worlds: Not the best looking game but possibly the best choice for feeling like you're developing an intergalactic empire. What's cool about this game is YOU can set how much micro or macro you want to do, the AI automaton routines are really good and can play without human intervention if necessary and you just fly a random ship in your empire.

The feeling of developing a vast empire here comes from the civilian and trade ships populating your trade routes, acting as red blood cells with your military forces as white blood cells within the body that is your budding empire, it's really pleasing to watch.

 

[Scars Unseen]

Distant Worlds, definitely. I might have had trouble justifying it before due to the price of the total package, but Distant Worlds Universe is out now, which bundles all of the expansions into one product at a single game's price.

One interesting thing about Distant Worlds is that you can (optionally) start out as a pre-warp civilization and play out discovering FTL space travel and building your way up. You can also play as a space pirate faction working among full fledged space empires. Both options are pretty cool.

 

[Christopher Pedron]

I was looking at SoaSE, but the combat was throwing me off a little. Will definitely look at Gal Civ and Distant Worlds.

I've played and enjoyed Civ V, but the diplomatic AI was ridiculous and almost always came down to combat anyway, and spore was good, except the space stage became too much about trading and responding to crises than actual exploration/expansion.

There was a game I played around y2k that I can't remember the name of, I remember you chose planets to colonize, and built a fleet of war/explorer ships. Most planets provided a particular resource, and money, but mostly managed themselves, and you chose what direction your tech went in, so military, colonial, or humanitarian type stuff. It was good early game, but had a steep difficulty when you encountered anyone else.

I don't mind RTS games, but was always the kind of person who was more interested in building tech and expanding, than actually taking out the enemy as fast as possible. I played most of the AoE 1+2 games, Warcraft 3, and all the starcrafts.

EDIT: I grabbed Galaxy Civilizations 2, it was on sale for $4.95 AU, on the steam store.

 

[gonzo20]

pandora first contact looks pretty good from what ive seen, i havent played it yet, but looking forward to getting it!