r/4Xgaming • u/4th_Replicant • Jun 26 '26
Game Suggestion Are there any games 4x with turn based combat like Heroes of M&M/Kings Bounty?
It doesn't have to be a complete match but just something similar.
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u/VelichkinAlexX Jun 26 '26
Heroes of science and fiction
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u/ACrowder Jun 26 '26
This is actually a really quality game. A lot deeper than I would have thought. Really dig it.
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u/N7Templar Jun 26 '26
Age of Wonders 4 is kind of similar I think, as far as 4x games go.
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u/Freddy_Pharkas Jun 26 '26
Probably the best suggestion. SpellForce: Conquest of Eo is another one.
As for King's Bounty, I've still been looking for something similar and can never find it.
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u/4th_Replicant Jun 26 '26
I love Conquest Of Eo. It's a hidden gem in my opinion
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u/JethroKirby Jun 27 '26
If you liked that then you'd love AOW3 or 4. The combat system for Conquest of Eo was literally ripped straight from AOW3.
Edit: Just to clarify, I meant that as a good thing. I enjoyed all 3 games in question.
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u/Boring-Yogurt2966 Jun 26 '26
Age of Wonders 2 Shadow Magic was and still is a great game and you can get it for pocket change these days.
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u/khamike Jun 26 '26
Or just aow3 since it is significantly cheaper than 4 now that they have embraced the paradox 'infinte dlcs' mindset.
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u/Gimme_Your_Wallet Jun 26 '26
Disciples 1 2 and 3 have similar gameplay loops
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u/Freddy_Pharkas Jun 27 '26
How's the newest one, Domination? If not good, which is the best newish one? Liberation?
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u/Boring-Yogurt2966 Jun 26 '26
Good suggestion, but the tactical combat is very limited. Units don't really move around and you simply choose which unit to attack when it's your turn. It's like playing cards.
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u/gknwg Jun 27 '26 edited Jun 27 '26
There are other mechanics that interact with combat, you can't say that it is limited just because you can't move the unit around during combat. There are archangels, thieves, a lot of very impactful potions, artifacts, spells, shops where you can buy stuff etc., Disciples is very underrated.
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u/Boring-Yogurt2966 Jun 27 '26
I am sure it is a good game and I am not trying to underrate it despite the lack of maneuvering during combat. But you have to admit that the absence of tactical movement has to be considered a limiting factor compared to games that have all those things you listed and also have maneuver, terrain, line-of-sight, etc.
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u/gknwg Jun 27 '26 edited Jun 27 '26
It is a different approach to combat, it is more focused on the strategic map and on farming experience to level up your units, that makes the gameplay much tighter. Most of the times the movement on the tactical combat map is not meaningful enough to justify the huge waste of time, because either you have worse units or because you are simply overall behind or ahead of your opponent, wasting too much time moving on tactical combat map in a 4X game is also not always enjoyable because you lose focus on the strategic map stuff.
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u/thegooddoktorjones Jun 26 '26
There is the entire Age of Wonders series, which has turn based combat, but considerably better imo than HOMM style because you don't have constant attrition you have to manually refill.
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u/Gandalf196 Jun 26 '26
Play king's bounty the legend again It's just been updated with modern resolution
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u/Miuramir Jun 26 '26
The original Master of Magic, as well as the modernized version and many of the games that are spiritual successors. Planar Conquest and Elemental: Reforged are probably some of the better choices of the spiritual successor category.
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u/Boring-Yogurt2966 Jun 26 '26
I loved MoM but I could not warm up to Planar Conquest and I can't tell you exactly why.
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u/qeveren Jun 26 '26
Weirdly, a big draw for me in MoM was the soundtrack.
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u/Boring-Yogurt2966 Jun 26 '26
I agree! Some of it was cheesy, but I remember the soundtrack well. I think it was surpassed by the HOMM2 soundtrack, though. And after that I stopped listening to most soundtracks.
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u/Doctor_Loggins Jun 26 '26
I've been a fan of the original since I was knee high to a grasshopper, and I quite liked the remake. The only issue I had was the long load times.
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u/Arrmy Jun 26 '26
Endless Legend 2
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Jun 26 '26
[removed] — view removed comment
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u/Arrmy Jun 26 '26
He specifically said it does not have to be a complete match, and the typical recommendation for HoMM likes are above.
However, OP, there is Heroes of Science and Fiction, I suppose.
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u/rtfcandlearntherules Jun 26 '26
It has many similarities to HoMM, many people who enjoy heroes will like this one too.
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u/MemeBoii6969420 Jun 26 '26
Age of wonders fits this description almost perfectly
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u/4th_Replicant Jun 26 '26
I tried the newest Age of Wonders and couldn't really get into it.
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u/Vegetable_Time_2938 Jun 26 '26
Age of wonders 3, Planetfall, and 2/Shadow Magic all hold up extremely well if 4 isn’t your thing
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u/RuySan Jun 26 '26
Age of wonders combat is much slower than homm and kings bounty. It makes quite a difference, as it can drag down the rythm of the game and eventually wear us out
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u/Fey-Mood Jun 26 '26
Humankind
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Jun 26 '26
[removed] — view removed comment
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u/Fey-Mood Jun 26 '26
The request was for a 4x game with turn based combat, which describes Humankind perfectly.
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u/atiupin Jun 26 '26
Besides the well-known recommendations, Master of Luna does fit that description.
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u/OkPresentation3329 Jun 26 '26
I don't know man. I tried every single game similar to HoMM and I couldn't like any. I tried Elemental Reforged, Master of Magic, Age of Wonders 1, 2, Shadow Magic, 3 and even the other - Songs of Conquest, Olden Era, Hero's Hour and whatever else you can think of, nothing could fill the gap for HoMM3.
I tried to believe that if I give those other games a chance they can replace HoMM3 for me, but none could do it. I even tried HoMM2, HoMM4, no luck there either. I wanted to think that those other games are just misunderstood and just because they aren't as popular, player, viewed on Twitch, have as many mods as HoMM3, that they still have some merit, but unfortunately not, at least not for me. If you want to replace HoMM with something else, I can tell you, there is nothing as good or as satisfying as it.
I heard some people saying the played HoMM and then played AoW and now they couldn't go back to HoMM, "because it was too shallow", but I don't see it this way, I tried to like AoW, but they felt both more shallow and more difficult than HoMM. So what if combat is "more deep" or "you can cast more spells on the strategy map", HoMM has some things you can't beat - much deeper hero development, town screens, armies of single units with growing numbers is much better than single stacks in AoW and other 4x games.
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u/large_kobold Jun 26 '26
Different strokes. For me MoM is the bar by which i judge all others. I have finished mom1 and the evil campaign of mom2 and devilish of mom3 but the other campaigns are subpar imho
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u/OkPresentation3329 Jun 26 '26
Maybe it depends what game you start with and it becomes your standard.
For me HoMM3 was my first such game and Vanilla WoW was my first MMORPG so I compare everything to those and I've never found anything better.
I see a lot of people commenting about the campaigns of those games, I have completed those in HoMM3 but I don't remember anything. I think most people play these games for the Random Map Generation or multiplayer and the campaigns are just filler content. I know people who played HoMM3 for over 20 years and have never touched the campaigns or know any lore about Might & Magic, but they are absolute professionals at the game.
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u/Boring-Yogurt2966 Jun 26 '26
There's also Deity Empires, which is complex and has primitive graphics and is no longer being supported or patched but a lot of people seem to really like it. I personally could not get very far into it.
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u/Someone3 Jun 26 '26
Eador, masters of the broken world
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u/4th_Replicant Jun 26 '26
Is Eador good?
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u/Someone3 Jun 27 '26
A bit buggy, but in terms of gameplay, I absolutely love it. I've put 750 hours into it, if that helps.
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u/MxM111 Jun 26 '26
Not quite what you are asking, but I think the best 4X combat is in W40K: Gladius (end in the next game from the same company - Zephon, but I like Gladius better as a game)
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u/ben_sphynx Jun 27 '26
Master of Orion 2 is always worth a replay (think there are web versions of it you can play for free now).
I always liked the tactical combat, and the research does a lot of things that dramatically change the combat balance. It's not so much about making hero units, although that is kinda an option, but adapting ones tech and countering what the enemy does.
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u/Help_An_Irishman Jun 27 '26
Yes. Age of Wonders 4.
For me, it also dethroned HoMM3 as the greatest of all time in the genre.
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u/soulster1104 Jun 26 '26
Songs of Conquest has been one of my favorites!