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Huntn

macrumors Core
Original poster
May 5, 2008
23,540
26,655
The Misty Mountains
I see there is great interest here regarding 4X Space games. ?

I found this article to be interesting. Here is their list of Space Simulation games, not necessarily 4X, my comments added.
  1. Eve Online- Have always felt I missed the party there, and I don’t want the obligation of a MMO.
  2. Kerbal Space Program- A lot of fun before I got bored with it.
  3. No Man’s Sky- Planet exploration was good but lonely, the space station to trade with seemed simplistic as compared to X3 and X4, but it’s not the same game. The X games have zero planet exploration but a more developed economy and a threat from war mongering aliens. From what I saw, it’s mostly about harvesting on multiple planets and building bases.
  4. Avorian
  5. Elite Dangerous- At first good, but the trade routine was a grind. At least in the X games you could set your traders to trade without you having to conduct every transaction. And fighting pirates out in the mineral extraction zones becomes repetitive rather quickly.
  6. Surviving Mars
  7. X4 Foundations- currently relearning this. Ironically I quit it in 2019 because I got tired of fighting Xenon incursions. But I really really like having traders working for me that can conduct their own trades after I set up a route for them.
  8. Hard space: Shipbreaker
  9. Dyson Sphere Program- heard this was fun.
  10. Everspace 2-I think I played either 1 or 2 a long time ago.
  11. Heavenly Bodies
  12. Nebulas Fleet Command


 

admwright

macrumors regular
Sep 11, 2008
243
53
Scotland
I enjoyed the first two X games but have not continued with the later versions. I do not think I have the time to give to them these days.

I fondly remember the original Elite, though the pirates were pretty dum. Once you had a nice shield and a laser mounted on the back of your ship you just flew through a pack of pirate ships loosing off an odd shot at them then they all just followed you and you could pick them off as they kept following.
 
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Huntn

macrumors Core
Original poster
May 5, 2008
23,540
26,655
The Misty Mountains
X4: FOUNDATIONS brings our most sophisticated universe SIMULATION ever. Fly every ship, EXPLORE space or manage- yeah except, you have to figure it out yourself via hours of internet exploration a broken AI, game mechanics that don’t work like they should, and zero social interaction with AI characters. :(

X4 Foundations- Third time installed, third time uninstalled. I'm done jumping through Egosoft's hoops trying to make this thing work. Trying to get the dock built on the HQ was the final straw. Plus in this universe, I am so disappointed with the lack of any kind of a meaningful interaction with intelligent species including humans. You are in this universe for a time, you want to feel like your part of something, but the shallow nature of every personal interaction is so shallow, almost an effort for what little is there has disillusioned me fast. Crew members who just basically grunt as they come out of the back of the ship, and walk past you to take the helm, while you are locked permanently on the flight deck. Yeah, I really felt like I was part of a team.

Sadly I liked the way X4 Foundations was structured with a focus on both combat and trade, it allowed you to build space stations and create a trading empire (if you can figure it out) and it allowed you to set up Captains who could act semi-autonomously. If you dislike micro-managing every little thing, this was a nice element. It’s 2 major shortcomings was sucky game AI where things don’t work the way they are supposed to, and horrendous human animations and severely lacking in RPG/social elements which are somewhat needed if you want to feel like you are operating in a living world.

So I’m back searching for a good X4 like game. At Steam had this in my play queue, installed, read several pages of tutorials (in-game) launched into the first mission and had some fun without having to spend an hour or two searching online for how to accomplish it. 🤔

What I don’t want to do is play another Civilization style game... 4X, not so much Grand strategy.

Early access, caution 1 person developer, not always a good sign in the long run:

Other links:


 
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