Best fantasy 4x

[KainenMorden]

Dominions 5: Warriors of the Faith

Dominions is not 4x, it's more of a grand strategy. 4x is a polite way to say "Civilization clone".

I've seen it called a wargame as well.

 

[ValeVelKal]

Dominions 5: Warriors of the Faith

Dominions is not 4x, it's more of a grand strategy. 4x is a polite way to say "Civilization clone".

I can list you a lot of 4X that are not Civilization clones.

More than half of them are in space.

 

[mondblut]

Dominions 5: Warriors of the Faith

Dominions is not 4x, it's more of a grand strategy. 4x is a polite way to say "Civilization clone".

I can list you a lot of 4X that are not Civilization clones.

More than half of them are in space.

Space 4x are Master of Orion clones, and Master of Orion is "Civilization but in spaaaahce".

Point being, if your unit of the map is a "province" of arbitrary scale and you know the lay of the land in advance instead of unveiling it one tile at a time, a 4x it is not.

 

[ValeVelKal]

https://store.steampowered.com/app/722060/Dominions_5__Warriors_of_the_Faith/

Dominions is not 4x, it's more of a grand strategy. 4x is a polite way to say "Civilization clone".

I can list you a lot of 4X that are not Civilization clones.

More than half of them are in space.

Space 4x are Master of Orion clones, and Master of Orion is "Civilization but in spaaaahce".

Point being, if your unit of the map is a "province" of arbitrary scale and you know the lay of the land in advance instead of unveiling it one tile at a time, a 4x it is not.

Master of Orion does not come from Civ but from Reach for the Stars (1982) which itself is inspired from the board game Stellar Conquest (1974).

By Sid Meier’s own admission, Civ 1 is a copy of the game « Empire, Wargame of the Century » (1987), itself a port on PC of the mainframe game Empire (1977) ; both by Walter Bright. Sid Meier thought the game would be better with research, which led to City Management.

https://youtu.be/AJ-auWfJTts

By your definition, Europa Universalis is not 4X ; not all lands start explored .

 

[tindrli]

HoMM 3 4 i 5

 

[visions]

So I was getting really mad because I saw everyone talk about "Caster of Magic" - why would you vote for what's probably some shitty clone?

Then I searched for it. They... They need a dlc? A dlc to my favorite ever 4x game? And it's... Good?

What do you think about criticism of the AI of master of magic and the age of wonders series?

AoW 1 is my favorite game of all time but the AI is pants on head retarded and way too passive. It would be better if it was retarded but at least aggressive.

Did you ever try the improved AI of caster of magic?

No, I never played the original Master of Magic much either.

 

[Norfleet]

Dominions 5: Warriors of the Faith

Dominions is not 4x, it's more of a grand strategy. 4x is a polite way to say "Civilization clone".

You have to ask, though: What is the actual distinction between the two? Near as I can tell, the only real difference is the expected starting scenario: In a 4X, everyone is expected to start with more or less nothing on a roughly even keel and expand across the map from there. In GS, this step is essentially replaced by having some unknown actors playing the game badly prior to you getting to play it: The map already exists in its mostly-settled form and you take over from there. To muddy the issue, normal "4X" games can often ship with premade scenarios and "Grand Strategy" games like CK can offer "shattered world" options that 4X-ify the process.

Given that the distinction appears to only be in the expected start conditions, as everything else is the same, Dominations therefore should rightly fall on the 4X setting, since the default mode of play is that you start with one one province and a smattering of basic starter units and must build everything from scratch from there as you expand across the map (through pacifying neutral barbarians rather than engaging with other actors).

 

[mondblut]

You have to ask, though: What is the actual distinction between the two?

"4x" means Civilization clone. "Grand strategy" means EU clone. What is the actual distinction between Civilization and EU? Tell me they are the same game, and people will look at you funny.

 

[Norfleet]

So where do you classify games that are explicitly and obviously neither? Something like Stars or Dominations is very clearly not either of these. I would argue that my classification offers a better divide.

 

[Conan]

Birthright: The gorgon's alliance



The best 4X ever made with an included shirty RPG blubber gameplay.

 

[Gaznak]

Master of Magic and Age of Wonders 1-2-2,5.

 

[Johannes]

Master of Magic

So I was getting really mad because I saw everyone talk about "Caster of Magic" - why would you vote for what's probably some shitty clone?

Then I searched for it. They... They need a dlc? A dlc to my favorite ever 4x game? And it's... Good?

YMMV, it's very different from MoM. More like a total overhaul mod and none of it for the better imo. If I could play vanilla MoM with CoMs improved AI then that would be pretty neat.

Do you mind mentioning some changes they made that you dislike and why?

Suffice to say the changes came down to increasing the game speed and pace far too much for my taste.

That sounds really cool, tried MoM at one point and the slow ass pace at least at the game start was the biggest thing that made me drop it.

 

[Lagi]

slow ass pace

thats why there is CoM (2; for win)

 

[Galdred]

Master of magic in SP, dominions 5 in MP.

The age of wonders series is also pretty good.

Do I need the nu windows version of caster of magic?
I feel cyanided to have to purchase the same game twice.

 

[visions]

Master of Magic

So I was getting really mad because I saw everyone talk about "Caster of Magic" - why would you vote for what's probably some shitty clone?

Then I searched for it. They... They need a dlc? A dlc to my favorite ever 4x game? And it's... Good?

YMMV, it's very different from MoM. More like a total overhaul mod and none of it for the better imo. If I could play vanilla MoM with CoMs improved AI then that would be pretty neat.

Do you mind mentioning some changes they made that you dislike and why?

Suffice to say the changes came down to increasing the game speed and pace far too much for my taste.

That sounds really cool, tried MoM at one point and the slow ass pace at least at the game start was the biggest thing that made me drop it.

Same here.

 

[Igge]

Birthright: The gorgon's alliance



The best 4X ever made with an included shirty RPG blubber gameplay.

Is it really worth playing? I've seen many negative comments regarding weird game mechanics and bugs

 

[Conan]

Birthright: The gorgon's alliance



The best 4X ever made with an included shirty RPG blubber gameplay.

Is it really worth playing? I've seen many negative comments regarding weird game mechanics and bugs

The strategy layer is, in my opinion, without par in structure. The RPG aspect is questionable. The tactics gameplay is okay. If any game needed a graphic and gameplay update, it is this one. Other than that this is an excellent game, bugs and all. I generally played it without the RPG portion.

 

[mondblut]

The strategy layer is, in my opinion, without par in structure. The RPG aspect is questionable. The tactics gameplay is okay. If any game needed a graphic and gameplay update, it is this one. Other than that this is an excellent game, bugs and all. I generally played it without the RPG portion.

It's the only game where high level dungeoneering is done right. Detect Treasure - Teleport to cluster of shiny dots, loot - Teleport to cluster of shiny dots, loot - Teleport to cluster of shiny dots, loot - Teleport to the exit, leave. That's how adults are gotta do the dungeons instead of going all Bakhmut on them.

 

[Humanophage]

Fall from Heaven 2 (Ashes of Erebus) for Civilization 4 is quite nice. Good gameplay. The factions are diverse. The world ends up quite atmospheric.

I have also heard positive things about Faerun for Civilization 5, but haven't tried it.

 

[Igge]

Birthright: The gorgon's alliance



The best 4X ever made with an included shirty RPG blubber gameplay.

Is it really worth playing? I've seen many negative comments regarding weird game mechanics and bugs

The strategy layer is, in my opinion, without par in structure. The RPG aspect is questionable. The tactics gameplay is okay. If any game needed a graphic and gameplay update, it is this one. Other than that this is an excellent game, bugs and all. I generally played it without the RPG portion.

Wonder why there were so many innovative fantasy strategy games in the 90s (Age of Wonders 1, Lords of Magic, BR: Gorgon Alliance, Fantasy General, also tactics: Dark Omen, Myth etc etc) and in the first half of the 00s, and now the best we can wish for are sequels and indie remakes of the old games.

 

[asfasdf]

Creativity is dead in games, it has been for 20 years now, with a very few exceptions here and there. Also, best 4x is still moo2

 

[Beastro]

==========
dominion
this game has a great lore. I spend a dozen of hour just reading the unit's description (i never read lore in any game). But the game itself is rather meh, lots of clicking to move your units, set up them in correct formations, giving them orders... then you just give up make ton of unit, send priest to spread candles... and win, because AI is not very challenging. I know gazillion of spells and items ... but is this really improving the experience?

Any mods of Dom games to improve thr AI?

I want to like these games, but my MP days are psst. I just wanna relax with a proper SP game of them.

 

[Beowulf]

==========
dominion
this game has a great lore. I spend a dozen of hour just reading the unit's description (i never read lore in any game). But the game itself is rather meh, lots of clicking to move your units, set up them in correct formations, giving them orders... then you just give up make ton of unit, send priest to spread candles... and win, because AI is not very challenging. I know gazillion of spells and items ... but is this really improving the experience?

Any mods of Dom games to improve thr AI?

I want to like these games, but my MP days are psst. I just wanna relax with a proper SP game of them.

Maybe try Conquest of Elysium instead.