What about Imperialism II, is that considered one of the usual suspects here? It does still hold up very well.
Thanks, all. I’ve owned and played almost every title mentioned, with the exceptions of Thea 2 and Star Control 3.
I thought the SC games were all about arcade-like ship to ship combat. Am I wrong?
So far it sounds like Thea 2 may fill the bill.
Beyond Sol, Space Tyrant, Oriental Empires, Aggressors: Ancient Rome
(Thea 1 is great, micromangement/UI hell included)
It’s too bad Nesrie isn’t round, because she has done a great job championing that game. I’m still mixed about all the crafting and micromanagement of expeditions, but if you don’t think you’d mind that, it is a really solid game. Well, I’m a little torn on the quest line also. But, certainly a good 4X, with some extra flavor thrown in.
Check out the Explorminate 4X database
The Exploriminate folks did a recent podcast about FE:LH, praising it as vastly underrated because of its much-reviled predecessors.
On a related 4x note, Explorminate is shutting down after seven years.
Much respect, this one is great, thought I was the only one who played it.
So, to be fair, it was a half-joking suggestion, and your recollection isn’t totally wrong. But I’m a huge StarCon 3 evangelist, so I feel like I owe you a fuller answer :)
The very first Star Control had an extremely rudimentary “galactic control” campaign mode you could play, moving across interconnected star systems in a rotating galaxy map with your fleet of ships to conquer them from a computer player, with each battle for control dictated by one or more rounds of the Melee! starship battle game mode (top-down, 1v1, real-time).
SC2 introduced a much more plot-heavy campaign in the style of an adventure game, with stops at various planets, moons, and starbases punctuated by RPG-style dialogue trees with animated aliens, including some fairly sophisticated quests that had you bopping around the much larger and more complete galactic map searching for foozles and doing aliens favors to get them on your side (gaining access to their cool ships with special powers), ahead of the big confrontation at the end. Encountering enemy ships while moving from place to place or tripping a bad dialogue option would throw you into a Hyper Melee! fight just like the first game. There was also the lander minigame where your initially weak lander could navigate planetary surfaces in search of materials and non-sapient critters to “harvest.”
SC3 was taken and handed over to a dev house known for point-and-click adventures, and ostensibly, the game leaned even harder into that angle, with a fairly convoluted story-driven plot you slowly revealed through the alien conversations and galactic exploration (and yeah, there’s still the 1v1 ship battles for the tactical combat angle). However, in lieu of the lander missions, the game instead featured GalCiv-style planetary heatmaps that you let you scan planets and plant colonists from your allied species on them, and then you could zoom into the colonies and build up structures within them to churn out fuel, crew members, resource units, or new ships. Different planets were suited to different alien races you could ally with, and building up the colonies was a good way to get more and more ships into your fleet and to build a network of fuel depots to expand the range of your explorations.
Theoretically, there’s a meta-campaign of two vying sides in a conflict at the galactic core, where the existing bully empire is trying to tighten their grasp on their systems while you’re the unwelcome “invaders” from the galactic rim, trying to solve a big scary mystery but butting heads with the bully empire, forcing you to recruit allies and build up your own alliance of star systems. You’d slowly crawl over the galactic map, 4X style, uncovering new mysteries and species-based subplots to recruit new allies and progress the main storyline.
. . . except, well, as far as most of us can tell, the CPU might not actually be playing the 4X that got bolted onto the chasis of the previous games’ modes. It’s not clear if their territory really expands much, or if their colonies progress. They have a ton of ships, many of them auto-spawning, so of course there’s plenty to chew through, and you’ll need at least a couple of colony worlds to churn out ships and crew from, especially if you’re not very good at the ship battles, and you’ll need to position them smartly to create fuel depots to expand exploration range. . . but it’s probably not an especially challenging 4X :)
I got a lot of hours out of this game. I really liked it. My only complaint was that the AI was pretty bad, but that is a frequent complaint in most 4x games. If fantasy civ interests you, then definitely check this one out.
presume you’ve played Gladius. However, i have an inkling you might just like Shadow Empire? For some reason.
Hah! Well I’m happy to have played a role.
Hah! Forgot I started that thread. I am the best at starting forgettable threads, apparently.
I can’t think of any other good suggestions, but of the ones already listed:
Fallen Enchantress: Legendary Heroes - I have very positive memories of that game. Maybe not one of the elite games of the decade, but in the next tier down. DasTactic has a series showcasing it. The downside is that it looks its age. (But then, so do I.)
Sorcerer King gave me some fun hours, but it really lacked legs. Where thinking of Legendary Heroes tempts me to go back and play again, Sorcerer King not at all.
Shadow Empire is a super seductive game that, for me, has proven to be vastly less than the sum of its parts. Lots of super interesting systems and ideas, but I feel bogged down by the level of details required, even after he improved logistics. I think that it is very much a grognard game at heart, with the 4X and RPG elements being less successful. But some people really love it, so who knows.
Thanks for the write-up. I seem to own Sorcerer Kings: Rivals. Whazzat?
IIRC it’s largely centered around an alternate play mode where you can seek the Awesome Cosmic Power that you’re stopping the Sorcerer King from achieving most of the time, making for more contentious diplomacy with the other factions. Plus, like, MOAR quests and factions and foozles.
It basically replaced the original game on some storefronts.
Edit I should note it still includes the original features, iirc
Not 4x per se, but I’ve really enjoyed the battles in Pike & Shot + Field of Glory II. It’s a step up in complexity from most 4x tactical battles but still fairly accessible. I guess Field of Glory : Empires might count as a 4x but haven’t spent too much time with that.
Oh yes, I enjoyed that one a lot. Since it does not really involve exploration, I had not considered it, but it plays somewhat like a 4X.
Sword of the Stars, with all of its expansions, the best galactic 4x since MOO1/MOO2, IMO.
I just always assume the sequel of a game should naturally be better than the original. So seeing the mixed reviews on SotS2, I assumed the first was equally sub-par. Not so much, apparently. Even better, 75% off right now for the complete edition.