Most Favourite 4X Game Ever.

[Raap]

Rather difficult choice.

Would come down to MoO, MoO2, modded MoO3 or modded Space Empires IV. MoO3 and SE4 have longevity because of modding, but MoO and MoO2 are arguably more fun to play. Think I'd probably go with MoO3, it's the only 4x game which actually makes you feel like a ruler instead of a micromanager. It also takes forever to complete a large game, which would be a plus in this case.

Distant Worlds could be a contender once it has more customization for games and proper non-graphical moddability.

[gmot]

ORIGINAL: J HG T

Ah, the classic "you go to desert island and magically can do something there" situation.

This is kinda hard for me. I've missed many uber classics mentioned here, like Alpha centauri, Ascendancy etc.
I've got both MoO1 and MoO2 from GOG. Sadly, I Haven't had time to play them extensively so I don't have such nostalgia factor for them. Have to fix that when possible. I've also played SOTS and SOASE and love both of them. Still DW is my most played 4X game ever so it's kinda my choice.
Darn, I hate "pick just one" situations. [8|]
Maybe if I could smuggle all my games on memory stick...

Agreed this is very tough to choose. I've played just about every 4X out there. MOO2 I liked but wasn't super crazy about it like some people. MOO3 I didn't like (spreadsheet in space) but didn't hate like others seemed to. GC & GC2 I really enjoyed but now find kind of bland. Space Empires series okay, but got a little dull for me. I don't count SMAC as a 4X game (just Civ on another planet) but I loved it.

BTW, having recently re-played Ascendacy I have to say it's astonshingly primitive compared to today's game. But when I played back in 1995 (I think) I was blown away. Had so many of the great concepts (tech tree, planetary facilities, space ship design, warp lines, etc) that we now consider as basic to the 4x genre.

Ascendary is available as abandonware if you're interested - you'll need Dosbox to play it of course.

Of all those 4X games, DW is the best I've seen. But still could use enhancements before I could call it the best 4X game ever.

[Tampa_Gamer]

My choice, like others, has changed as technology improves and new ones come out (like DW) and my free time has grown shorter (kids, wife, work et al) since school days.

Today, the choice would easily be Distant Worlds - it just hits the spot that so many have tried and failed to hit. I have high hopes that if more data is externalized in the future (on the level of Space Empires IV/V) that modding will really lengthen the shelf life of this game (heck, people are still playing Space Empires IV).

Last year, the choice would have been Sword of the Stars (real tactical choices, and they did a great job with every race being truly unique with their own tech trees and method of travel)

Prior years, I would have said Space Empires IV Gold (1000s of hours spent modding, playtesting, etc.), MOO3 (I liked their approach to ground combat and as someone else said it would take 1000s of hours to micro-manage a game which is good on a deserted island), and Star General (which I still play for the ground combat element).

[Bateman1982]

I've been delving back into BOTF a bit lately, trying out the BoP and UDM mods.
They no doubt greatly enhance the game but these days I find it too heavy on the micromanagement, having to individually terraform each planet in a system before colonisation becomes a bit of a clickfest.

I've also been trying out MOO2 again, and while its still a classic, I find the tactical combat is also a bit click heavy, and initially frustrating when you can't actually hit anything in the early game due to poor targeting computers. Think my patience for clicking on things must be declining as I get older.

Overall, I think DW fits my requirements the best at the moment - the chance to direct a huge civilisation in space without getting bogged down in micromanagement.

On a side note, UFO enemy unknown is probably one of the best games I've played, but its not a 4X so can't pick that anyway for this particular topic.

[Sabin Stargem]

Hm. I can't pick only one game.

MOO2 has a pretty good balance in all things across the board, but the fact that it is so old works against it. I am really hoping that Stardock does a remake of it.

Stars! was also a favorite during my childhood, and is too old to work on my x64-bit system. I was disappointed that Stars! Supernova Genesis never got finished. Darn you Mare Crisium, for being afraid of niche products! Can you not see that a successful franchise comes from good execution and filling a void?!

I like Sword of the Stars in terms of how it handles making races unique. I just wish that it came coupled with MOO2's racial attribute system, and the ability to improve planets like we could in MOO2. Hm. Actually, I would like to mate MOO2 and Sword of the Stars.

[Lord_Astraios]

ORIGINAL: Sabin Stargem

Hm. I can't pick only one game.

MOO2 has a pretty good balance in all things across the board, but the fact that it is so old works against it. I am really hoping that Stardock does a remake of it.

Stars! was also a favorite during my childhood, and is too old to work on my x64-bit system. I was disappointed that Stars! Supernova Genesis never got finished. Darn you Mare Crisium, for being afraid of niche products! Can you not see that a successful franchise comes from good execution and filling a void?!

I like Sword of the Stars in terms of how it handles making races unique. I just wish that it came coupled with MOO2's racial attribute system, and the ability to improve planets like we could in MOO2. Hm. Actually, I would like to mate MOO2 and Sword of the Stars.

I will bring my 8 Gig flash drive, and say it only have one game.

You have mentioned one game i have and still play when i dont play another thing, STARS! Its old, and i have spent months playing a game trying to win it. And true, i was following the development of Stars!Supernova, what a letdown the the company went down and the game crashed.

I will bring
Stars!
Distant Worlds
Space Empires 4

And this is not 4X but i will bring freespace 2, no matter if i use a branch as a joystick or the mouse.

[ehsumrell1]

ORIGINAL: Bateman1982

On a side note, UFO enemy unknown is probably one of the best games I've played, but its not a 4X so can't pick that anyway for this particular topic.

I agree fully with you on that one Bateman1982!

I'm really in a quandary about this one.....
Modded Space Empires IV Gold has been NUMBER ONE for me until now.....

....but without bias (ya think?), I must take Distant Worlds with the
Return of the Shakturi expansion AND Igard's Star Trek TRSE mod.
That 'bout does it for me!

[adecoy95]

medieval 2: total war and all its expansions and mods

[Stilletto]

ORIGINAL: ASHBERY76

I only really play Sword of the stars with all expansions in 2010,so that is what would go.

Hopefully DW will change that.

I would like to personally thank you for removing what life I have. I was minding my own business while quietly reading through this thread. Then I saw this post. I'd heard of SOTS but hadn't paid much attention to it. So I looked it up. Looked some more. Then went back and looked again. Then I bought the full package and installed it. Now I'm bloody hooked and can't stop playing it. So thank you. Thank you from the bottom of my heart. I didn't think there were any 4x games like this. I also see there is a "2" coming out. When will I get my life back?

[Data]

probably when humankind will actually do what we're playing atm [:D]

[KenchiSulla]

Reunion...

[GeorgiaBoy]

MoO2. However, a perfect game for me would be MoO2 with the ability to mod in content from MoO3, BotF, SE IV/V...Distant Worlds has the potential to be the game to eclipse MoO2 if the moddability is very robust. It already has the MoO3 interface beat. Now, it just needs to exceed the content of MoO3....

GB

[diablo1]

The best 4x game ever is X3:Terran Conflict. Bestest ever and you can actually fly your ships. And don't try to tell me it's not a 4x because you do in it what you do in any 4x and more. Explore, Expand, Exploit, and Exterminate. The economic game is the best bar none. You actually can land and add things to your starports. It's number ONE!

[Abraxis]

X3 Isn't a 4X game at all. Explore, Expand, Exploit, and Exterminate is just a description of the elements focused on in this genre. Just because other games have these elements, does not make them 4X.

If every game with those things in it were 4X...

Mount and Blade would be 4X
Dragon Age would be 4X
Battlefield Bad Company 2 would be 4X
Supreme Commander would be 4X
Neverwinter Nights 2 would be 4X
hell, Grand Theft Auto 4 would be 4X

MOST games would end up being 4X.
You can't dissect the literal and ignore the allegorical, or denotative meaning. You've lost your way.

[diablo1]

You're ^ wrong of course. Everybody doesn't go by your definition of what a 4x is. As long as a game possesses those four elements then yes they are 4x games. They don't have to follow a specific pattern. You don't expand or control anything like a city or town or planet in Dragon Age btw. Nor Battlefield Bad Company 2 nor Neverwinter Nights 2 or Grand Theft Auto. X3 has all the elements of any other space 4x game. You do explore, you do expand (control other planets and outposts) you do exploit and you do exterminate. Try again you've lost your way.

[Sabin Stargem]

I would say the X series and things like Freelancer or Privateer are in their own genre. They may use elements of 4x, but they play and feel quite a bit different.

[Raap]

The X series *might* have been considered a 4x game if planets actually had any effect on gameplay and could be interacted with. Even then it'd be a dubious claim though. It'd be sort of like calling every game a RPG, because every game has you 'playing a role'.

[Abraxis]

ORIGINAL: diablo1

You're ^ wrong of course. Everybody doesn't go by your definition of what a 4x is. As long as a game possesses those four elements then yes they are 4x games. They don't have to follow a specific pattern. You don't expand or control anything like a city or town or planet in Dragon Age btw. Nor Battlefield Bad Company 2 nor Neverwinter Nights 2 or Grand Theft Auto. X3 has all the elements of any other space 4x game. You do explore, you do expand (control other planets and outposts) you do exploit and you do exterminate. Try again you've lost your way.

No, I brought those up because if we're going by your loose, literal definition, those qualify.

And it's not MY deffinition of what 4X is, the whole point of Genres is that it's a common classification. To go around redefining them for your own purpose is to betray their purpose.

But if you want to change it now, to "control anything like a city or town or planet" I've got news for you bro, In NWN2 you control a castle, and all the aspects of how it operates. In Mount & Blade you can potentially control Every castle and city on the map, you can even start your own empire. But guess what?

STILL NOT 4X.

Raap explained it nicely.
All games have strategy, but not all games are strategy games.
All games have action, but not all games are action games.
All games have role-playing, but they're not all RPGs

You're just being argumentative and quite rude.

X3 is a space sim, accept it.

[diablo1]

Raap doesn't qualify as a difinitive person of definition of what something is either. I perfer to go by Webster. X3 is not just a space sim. You can play it as a space sim and that's what makes it even better than just a mere 4x. You can play it space sim, 4x or space sim AND 4x. Like I said and another also even said it was his favorite 4x X3:Terran Conflict is the best 4X of them all. I could care less your definition or this Raap. lol have a nice day in your fantasy world of definitions.

Also controlling just one castle in NWN2 is not like 4x expanding. There are more than ONE things to expand upon. But, yes Mount & Blade I would consider a strategy 4x game as well. It has all the elements. Besides nothing has ever been written in stone of what ALL encompasses 4X. Someone stuck it on Sci-Fi strategy games but it EXPANDS well beyond that. You need to get out of your little world of between the lines. Especially when it concerns computer games genres and definitions. There are MANY crossovers of what is what always has been and always will be. It's like noob it's not even a real word but in the computer world it pretains to SOME gamers who's names I won't mention here because Erik will have a hissy. [:)]

[diablo1]

ORIGINAL: adecoy95

medieval 2: total war and all its expansions and mods

Notice his pick? Let's see if it qualifies as 4X? Explore? yep, Expand? yep, Exploit? yep, Exterminate? yep. So yep I agree this qualifies as a 4x game. [:)]