Notable X4 / "Empire" / "City" - Building games for the PC?

[Illanair]

Hello all.

I finally managed to grow tired of Civ 4 and now I feel abit empty inside with no building cities/empire games in my collection to play. Would you know of any? The setting doesn't matter much. Banana republics or space is the same to me.

Recent games I've played in the genre.

Civ4 + Colonization
AoE III
Pharaoh / Zeus
Empire Total War
Medieval Total War
Tropico 1/2
X2,X3,TC
Sims 2
Constructor*

Many thanks in advance.

 

[Illanair]

Oh yeah. I forgot about Constructor. Such a funny game. Such graphic brutality ^^

 

[The Eupho Guy_v1legacy]

maybe try Sins of a Solar Empire? Its a "Real Time 4X" game set in space. The maps can be as large or as small as you want them to be (from 5 or 6 planets in a single system up to 4 to 5 star systems with 7 or 8 planets each). It also has a lot to research, from armaments to ship blueprints to being able to settle different planet types and more.

 

[Christemo]

Age of Mythology. 4th best game ever made.

 

[Illanair]

They will be hard to track down,

Pharaoh
Cleopatra (Pharaoh Expansion Pack)
Ceasar III
Zeus Master of Olympus
Possiedein Expansion pack


There all great by siera i loved everyone of them they might not have great graphics todays standards but they make up for it. Theres also another one in the same series about china that i cant remember the name of but i still have somewhere

Yeah, they were all great games. I got Pharaoh as a christmas present back when it was released. Managed to pick up the rest as "classic games re-released" in a local bookstore.

@The Eupho Guy: Thanks! I'll check that out

 

[rohit9891]

They will be hard to track down,

Pharaoh
Cleopatra (Pharaoh Expansion Pack)
Ceasar III
Zeus Master of Olympus
Possiedein Expansion pack


There all great by siera i loved everyone of them they might not have great graphics todays standards but they make up for it. Theres also another one in the same series about china that i cant remember the name of but i still have somewhere

Yeah they were really great...I played Zeus for quite some time.It was one of the best games I had played.Even now there aren't many games with that level of depth and immersion in city building genre.

 

[BlueTimberwolf]

There is stronghold and stronghold crusader. Don't buy stronghold 2, the graphics were improved but the campaign mode blew.

Also if you like the sierra games line up you should get emperor: rise of the middle kingdom which is the second to latest version of that particular city building series. (The latest one Caesar 4 also blew)

Sadly it is true there are not many builder or theme games on the market right now. The last really great one I can think of was theme hospital from way back when.

 

[lleihsad]

The Dominions series. Looks like ass, but the depth of play is stunning.

 

[rohit9891]

Go for Rise of Nations,Sins of a Solar Empire and Age of Mythology also...they're all great city/empire building games.
And if you haven't tried Rome:Total war try it...it's one of the best total war games out there.

 

[Emeli]

They will be hard to track down,

Pharaoh
Cleopatra (Pharaoh Expansion Pack)
Ceasar III
Zeus Master of Olympus
Possiedein Expansion pack


There all great by siera i loved everyone of them they might not have great graphics todays standards but they make up for it. Theres also another one in the same series about china that i cant remember the name of but i still have somewhere

Yeah they were really great...I played Zeus for quite some time.It was one of the best games I had played.Even now there aren't many games with that level of depth and immersion in city building genre.

Yeah, love them to pieces, by the same company was:

Emperor: Rise of the Middle Kingdom

Which is bascisally the same deal but with a chinese setting and there's multiplayer and you get to mine for salt!

 

[Illanair]

There is stronghold and stronghold crusader. Don't buy stronghold 2, the graphics were improved but the campaign mode blew.

Sadly it is true there are not many builder or theme games on the market right now. The last really great one I can think of was theme hospital from way back when.

Stronghold was a laugh. The voiceacting in that game was hilarious beyond belief. Theme Hospital, now there's a name I haven't heard in ages. Kidney Beans anyone? (chuckle)

 

[Daymo]

Galactic civilizations 2 plus expansions. Awsome game, a bit like Civilizations in space and you can design your own ships.

 

[Sevre]

Daymo beat me to it but yes, Galactic Civ for the win.

 

[ILPPendant]

My favourite 4X civ-style game is probably Alpha Centauri simply because it's the most interesting of the civiterations. The setting is refreshing and the faction leaders, although revolving to an extent around strategy game stereotypes, have unique and entertaining personalities. There's no Spock Leonard Nimoy blandly quoting famous people when you research a technology, instead faction leaders offer a little spiel from their biographies or manifestos.

It won't work on OSs past XP without a patch though, so be careful.

EDIT: Yes, GalCiv 2 and its expansions is wonderful. You can pick them up for about $50 right now, but Stardock occasionally do offers on it so you might get lucky.

 

[Spyre2000]

Space Empires 4!

If you want a real classic though X-COM Apocalypse! It's a great game and requires a lot of good strategy. I really wish they would make a sequel cause that game rocked.