Best 4X strategies

[Cael]

Top Tier:
Alpha Centauri (without Alien Crossfire)
Master of Magic
Civ 4:BTS (FFH2 mod)
Master of Orion 2

Second Tier:
Civ 3
Colonisation (original)
Galactic Civilisations 2

Third Tier:
Colonisation (new)
Civ 2
Space Empires 5
Age of Wonders: Shadow Magic

Warlocks 2​

What makes top tier so great?

Alpha Centauri
- great storyline and setting
- distinct factions
- leader personalities really shine through
- good (even unique) mechanics
- lots of pros and cons (choice matters) in a variety of things

Master of Magic
- massive number of permutations with regards to race, skills and magic picks
- unique spell casting and combat system that nothing has ever matched since
- unique setting, unique gameplay
- just about the first game with race specific units, building trees and restrictions

Civ4:BTS
- great system, basically the culmination of decades of Civ evolution
- the sheer number of superb mods are insane
- seriously, if the first reason isn't good enough to make it top tier, nothing will

Master of Orion 2
- distinct factions, massive number of permutations due to racial picks
- unique combat system
- just about the first game that allowed you to really make your own units (Alpha Centauri has moddability of units, but not to Master of Orion 2's level)
- choice of techs mattered

 

[AgentFransis]

Master of Magic
- unique spell casting and combat system that nothing has ever matched since

Dominions surpassed it.

 

[Lagi]

Remnants of Precursors
C-evo
Caster of Magic
---

can you say Total Annihilation is 4x?
you explore
expand
exploit
exterminate

 

[Serious_Business]

This genre is dying pretty bad, far worst than crpgs - whatever you may say about "decline", which is just a codex fad - if the only titles one can mention are MoO and Alpha Centauri. It seems as if it hasn't really been able to create anything notable, even though it still goes on in the form of various titles that are more or less ignored. The only recent one that was played to some serious degree was likely Civ 5, with expansions. The strategy genre seems to be concentrated into Pdox games or something like Total War at this point.

 

[Citizen]

This genre is dying pretty bad, far worst than crpgs - whatever you may say about "decline", which is just a codex fad - if the only titles one can mention are MoO and Alpha Centauri. It seems as if it hasn't really been able to create anything notable, even though it still goes on in the form of various titles that are more or less ignored. The only recent one that was played to some serious degree was likely Civ 5, with expansions. The strategy genre seems to be concentrated into Pdox games or something like Total War at this point.

Do you even Deity Empires/Dominions/Eador, bro?

 

[MadMaxHellfire]

Of those I've played (only pre-2001 ones):
2. Alpha Centauri

I wonder why we never saw a proper sequel to Alpha Centauri. Firaxis kept pumping Civ sequels after acquiring rights to the later.

because quality is expensive and doesn't sell as much as overmarketed crap. civ5, beyond earth, civ6, it's getting worse and worse, but shit-for-brains keep buying. oblivion, fallout 3, fallout 4, it's getting worse and worse, but shit-for-brains keep buying. when did you last see the sequel in a saga actually improving on?

 

[Aemar]

I can see Imperialism 2 as a top-tier game as well, a forgotten gem of the genre. A game that puts a major emphasis on infrastructure and economy, your capital city literally functioning like the heart of your empire. Unlike most titles, each resource is vital to your empire, so planning and decision-making are extremely important. Easily the best colonization-era game.

 

[dehimos]

DF is definitely superior. Rimworld, while having its own merits, is just DF with a normie-friendly UI.

Dwarf Fortress is superior to all. There is only one Game, and Bay 12 Games is his prophet.

 

[razvedchiki]

distant worlds.

 

[TemplarGR]

because quality is expensive and doesn't sell as much as overmarketed crap. civ5, beyond earth, civ6, it's getting worse and worse, but shit-for-brains keep buying. oblivion, fallout 3, fallout 4, it's getting worse and worse, but shit-for-brains keep buying. when did you last see the sequel in a saga actually improving on?

There is no quality in Alpha Centauri, it was a garbage Civ II mod. People need to snap out of their religion to worship the video games they played as children. I am tired of imbeciles in every possible genre crying about how games were better 20 and 30 years ago like they are grandpas with dementia. Fuck this shit. This is not cool and it does not make you look smart, it portrays to the world that like Biden you belong in a nursing home.

Games are infinitely better these days across all genres, whether RPGs, 4Xs or anything else, really. Game design has vastly improved, as well as hardware capabilities. I would rather slit my wrists than be forced to play Alpha Centauri in place of Beyond Earth. Beyond Earth with Rising Tide is one of the best space 4X on the market. Alpha Centauri doesn't even come close. Also fuck pretending AC had good AI you faggots, you think that Firaxis could do good AI run on a Pentium 1 cpu and a few MBs of RAM but couldn't do at least the same AI run on a Core i7 with a few Gigabytes of RAM 15 years later? You are claiming this with a straight face? Get the fuck out of here.

 

[CaffeineConquistador]

It’s got a spit shield to protect others from the Covids. Put it on and go play in traffic.

 

[Van-d-all]

Classics:
Alpha Centauri (obviously)
Master Of Magic
Master Of Orion 2

Newer:
Age Of Wonders Shadow Magic
Age Of Wonders 3
Civilization 5

Newest:
Shadow Empire
Age Of Wonders Planetfall (worst in the series, but I still like it)
Endless Legends (decent, but some DLCs are utter shit)

What makes the top tier so great?

Pretty much they've set up respective 4x subgenres (planetary 4x, fantasy 4x, galaxy 4x) and haven't really been surpassed by any game since, despite numerous tries. Beyond Earth & Pandora are far worse then SMAC, both Age Of Wonders 3 & SM are close, but still not as good as Master Of Magic and MOO2 remains by far the best despite countless clones, remakes, Stellaris and even MOO3.

 

[MadMaxHellfire]

because quality is expensive and doesn't sell as much as overmarketed crap. civ5, beyond earth, civ6, it's getting worse and worse, but shit-for-brains keep buying. oblivion, fallout 3, fallout 4, it's getting worse and worse, but shit-for-brains keep buying. when did you last see the sequel in a saga actually improving on?

There is no quality in Alpha Centauri, it was a garbage Civ II mod. People need to snap out of their religion to worship the video games they played as children. I am tired of imbeciles in every possible genre crying about how games were better 20 and 30 years ago like they are grandpas with dementia. Fuck this shit. This is not cool and it does not make you look smart, it portrays to the world that like Biden you belong in a nursing home.

Games are infinitely better these days across all genres, whether RPGs, 4Xs or anything else, really. Game design has vastly improved, as well as hardware capabilities. I would rather slit my wrists than be forced to play Alpha Centauri in place of Beyond Earth. Beyond Earth with Rising Tide is one of the best space 4X on the market. Alpha Centauri doesn't even come close. Also fuck pretending AC had good AI you faggots, you think that Firaxis could do good AI run on a Pentium 1 cpu and a few MBs of RAM but couldn't do at least the same AI run on a Core i7 with a few Gigabytes of RAM 15 years later? You are claiming this with a straight face? Get the fuck out of here.

not sure if retarded or retarded.

 

[Van-d-all]

not sure if retarded or retarded.

Why not both?

 

[ValeVelKal]

Avalon Hill - Cavewars

A litteral 3D Civilization



(note : It is actually average, but worth playing once due to massive amount of lateral thinking needed).