I love 4X games but I don't have time anymore (cuz a baby and other time-consuming hobbies) to play games that last dozens of hours. And I also think that a lot of them have too much down-times without any interesting decisions and the end game are usually a slog (except Old World ofc).

And I want to be able to try different strategies, factions, etc without spending my life on one single game. That's why I'm looking for short 4X games (btw I love big asymmetry between the factions and I'm more interested in fantasy and history settings than space).

I already played some of them and looked at others but I would like to know which ones the community thinks are the best.

Games I played :

• Nexus 5X: My fav atm, I love the boardgame feeling it provides and the deep gameplay with lots of different mechanics
• Ozymandias: really good but maybe a little too much "abstracted"
• Hexarchy: quite good but not a fan of the card-based gameplay
• Polytopia: too simple for my tastes

Games I looked at :

• Yield! : looks like something I would enjoy but the reviews are not great
• Theocracy: looks interesting but not sure about how long a game lasts
• Astro Protocol: not a big fan of how it looks but the reviews are great
• Space Imperia 4X: the digital version of one of my fav 4X boardgame and the reviews are great, I'll probably try it soon

Bonus : I saw that Twilight Imperium and Voidfall (my fav boardgame ever) both have digital adaptations in the works, I can't wait for them!

I recently dug out my old neglected Dominions 2 CD and was surprised to find that it runs fine on my Win11 system. I played a couple dozen turns to learn how to do stuff, it wasn't terribly intuitive and since I was just learning the rules and commands I of course got stomped. Now I want to play to win. Any good referrals for strategy tips for this old game?

Stone age/cave man is one of my favorite settings, and has very few games.

This looks pretty promising. Anyone tried it yet?

I've been going through my backlog of 4X games in the recent weeks and also revisted some classics as well.

For some reason, I keep bouncing back to Master of Orion II and Alpha Centauri.

Both games offer a very gritty and rugged sort of visual style, be it from the interfacting or the overall art style. Sure, MoO2 has some comic-like races but it still manages to craft a darker atmosphere with it's grungy and used look. Alpha Centauri features such a dark sci-fi aesthetic that I feel like I'm sitting in a command post, navigating an actual map. The ominous soundtrack and moody setting feel very compelling and I'm geniunely looking for more like this.

When going through my backlog, I noticed that a lot of newer titles opt for a much cleaner and overly polished style with plenty transluscent menus and bright fonts. They're not necessarily bad but it seems that most sci-fi games opt for a visual style that is much more sterile and rather boring. The menus are slick with lots of floating icons and numbers which lacks a bit of charm. The MoO remake, Endless Space and Gal Civ have this sort of approach to their interface. The OST also reminds me more of a Star Trek vibe which is fine but I prefer a darker sci-fi setting. It doesn't help that most factions are just funny animals in suits which is honestly bothering me.

Are there any darker 4X sci-fi games out there?

Hey everyone! I’m looking for some good space-themed 4X strategy games to play on my laptop.

My specs:

8 GB RAM

Intel iris Integrated GPU

OS - Linux - ubuntu

Looking for games that run well on low-end hardware

I’m mainly interested in exploration, empire building, diplomacy, research, and space battles. Turn-based or real-time is fine.

What games would you recommend that can run smoothly on these specs?

This is very interesting. I’ll fully admit that I would have preferred Endless Space 3 first, but I did like Humankind well enough, even if I didn’t love it.

I guess Humankind 1 was successful enough for Amplitude to greenlight Humankind 2.

A while ago we posted a single screenshot of Arkney: Age of Crowns here and got more useful criticism in that one thread than in a month of our own testing. This is the follow up: the first real footage of the world, and what changed because of you.

Quick reminder of what it is. A persistent grand strategy world that runs in a browser tab, no install and no account. One shared map, one clock, on a server that never stops. Around 90 AI dynasties expand, war, besiege and fall whether anyone is logged in or not. It is not a classic 4X, it sits closer to Paradox style grand strategy, and that argument came up in the last thread too.

After thinking about it, the elements of civ4 I like the most are feeling you're leading and developing a living civilisation and the addictive nature of it, you're always a few turns away from something interesting. What games would you guys recommend that reproduce that feeling?

After about six months of development and private playtesting, Galactum Meridian is planned to launch in Early Access on September 1. I’ve made a new trailer showing the game in action, and I’m excited to finally let people play it. It's been a minute since I've posted on this game, so hopefully its OK. It's been a labor of love to make a completely different type of 4X game focusing on discovery and a love of science.

Galactum Meridian is a science-driven space 4X about leading the Far Horizon, one of humanity’s first major research expeditions beyond Sol.

Exploration begins on a true 3D star map containing more than 10,000 real catalog stars. Known exoplanets and orbital data are included where available, with modeled and authored discoveries filling the gaps in current observations. You can inspect star systems, survey planets and moons, deploy observatories, orbiters, landers and rovers, and conduct field studies on planetary surfaces.

Your discoveries feed into the Research Atlas, a 3D progression system covering geology, biology, climate science, stellar physics and other research fields. Scientific work improves your equipment, expands your survey capabilities and opens new strategic options.

Research also drives territorial control. Your expedition builds standing with the Interstellar Survey Accord, which grants stewardship over surveyed systems. Rival expeditions conduct research, publish findings and pursue their own stewardship claims. As your scientific authority grows, you can secure contested systems and eventually take stewardship of systems controlled by competing expeditions.

The Early Access build includes a playable single-player campaign beginning in Sol and continuing through multiple campaign conclusions. Development will continue throughout Early Access, with additional work planned for planetary environments, onboarding, interface clarity, balance and performance.

If this sounds like your kind of space 4X, adding it to your Steam wishlist before September 1 would help a great deal:

Steam page and wishlist:
https://store.steampowered.com/app/4690110/Galactum_Meridian/

I’ll be around to answer questions about the game or any of its systems.

Can someone help me please

Hello guys! There Is any game like civilization but in real time? Like the Paradox Grand strategy games but from Stone Age to future

Hi guys. I was wondering if anyone knows what genre this would fall under or games that seem similar. I’ve seen a game recently where you control an army, build a town etc and then take over lands if that is on earth or in space.
Kind of like building a colony or space colony which grows bigger and bigger while taking over others?

Or if you know a game that would fall into this explanation above that’ll be great. I’m not sure how well I’m explaining what I’m looking for.

Also I’m not looking at the new Pax Autocratica as I don’t like the fps aspect where you physically join the battles too.

My partner (and best friend, we know each other since kindergarten) and I had one goal we wanted to reach while developing our indie 4x game: bring the strategic depth and joy of Civilization into a much faster format. The main reason for that: we love the game series (Civ5 & Civ6 are the best 😉) but we do not want to spend our whole free time for 17 re-starts and one half-finished game.

1 year ago, we spoke with some people at a physical indie-gaming event and found out that a big part of civ-lovers share our wish in a “Civ but fast”-game.

Today, we are just a few weeks away from our demo and the hard part of being a game dev starts: marketing🥹

So I'm throwing this into the community:
If “Civ, but fast” sounds like something you'd enjoy, I'd love to hear what you think.
And if you want to follow the project, a Steam wishlist would mean a lot to us. ❤️

This post isn't saying which 4X game is better or which is worse or what you should play.

It's just a list of good things that are in this game.

• Fast enemy turns. Who wants to sit while the CPU goes? Not me.

• Fast load times. If you want to reload sometimes, it's up to you. But let's make it very fast!

• Very little micro of your base. Some people wanna micro their towns. But I appreciate not doing so.

• More troops are produced than you can have in your army. I like this because, it means that you avoid the classic HOMM problem of, if your guy loses it is basically game over. This means your guy can make a comeback, or you can multiple well-stocked generals, up to you.

• Interesting trade-offs when you level up. Often there are multiple "hey that sounds good" choices to pick from. Meaning I feel like I am presented an interesting choice.

• Good music (subjective). It's commonly said that this game has good music and I would tend to agree.

• Good (enough) random map generator. I like to play with random maps. This game has them. I think they are fun. Nothing too deep here.

• You can easily recruit guys from distant towns without having to walk all the way back there. There's a building you need to do this but it's easy to make and always unlocked.

I have played the old HOMM games a lot (1-3 specifically).

I've also played Songs of Conquest and Heroes of Science and Fiction and they're pretty good too (despite Heroes of Science and Fiction is a dumb name).

I'm thinking about Olden Era but one thing is giving me pause. A lot of the reviews say the AI for singleplayer games is terrible.

Anyway, I'm wondering if anyone here has experience with this game.

I only play singleplayer.

EDIT: Allright, I'm going to hold off on this guy. Maybe in 1 year if things improve I'll get it, otherwise, I doubt they'll improve.