#4x game

[oldschoolfrp]

Stellar Conquest (Frank Kelly Freas' 1979 color art for Metagaming's boxed 3rd edition, originally appeared in monochrome on the 1975 1st and 2nd editions; Avalon Hill published a 1984 edition with new art)

[laikacomehome]

This week in I Can’t Stop Playing:

Sid Meier’s Alpha Centauri (1999)

I played this game endlessly as a kid! I saw it on GoG for $2.50 yesterday and decided to jump in and never look back.

I’d forgotten how much personality it has!! The sort of “Dark Star Trek” tone marries so perfectly to a 4x game. Grateful that I can still play it, and that even after 26 years it can still have a death grip on my attention.

[crossinfiniteworld]

What’s stronger: 4x strategy game mechanics or Tabletop RPG mechanics? Takuto’s learned the hard way what happens when he doesn’t take other game mechanics seriously. Now he’s set himself on a path to make an enemy of the whole world to achieve an Ascension Victory, but it won’t be easy with a TRPG Witch coming for Mynoghra. Find out how our favorite evil civilization tackles this new enemy in Apocalypse Bringer Mynoghra: World Conquest Starts with the Civilization of Ruin, Volume 4 today!

[raincoastgamer]

It’s a pity I haven’t played Sins of a Solar Empire: Rebellion more than I have. It was a fantastic blend of the scale of a Master of Orion style game with real-time strategy, and did a lot of great things. It was streamlined in just the right ways, the factions featured some interesting differences, the whole system of bounties and pirates was genius, and the interface made controlling everything a breeze.

I’ve got a particular soft spot for the soundtrack though. The soundtrack is hampered by the fact that it’s all being played by a digital orchestra, but Paul Schuegraf’s work still, in my mind, makes for a brilliant accompaniment for epic space combat. He composed a couple hours’ worth of music so that the game could dynamically shift to different tracks based on the action taking place on screen. It works very well, partly because everything he’d composed for the game just screams EPIC SPACE OPERA with every melodramatic note and brass fanfare, but also because each of the three races featured a distinctive musical style.

You can hear them in the Rebellion re-release theme: first the overture, and then we move into the TEC’s heroic strings and militaristic marching drums. Next is the plucked strings, blaring brass and muted percussion of the Vasari, the remnants of an ancient empire. Then comes the Advent’s vocals, contrasting with their own take on a menacing military march. Finally it’s wrapped up with a return of the opening Rebellion theme. It’s incredibly melodramatic and frankly over the top at points, but I love it all the same.

Plus, if you haven’t already noticed, Sins of a Solar Empire is probably one of the best video game titles ever.

[oldschoolfrp]

Stellar Conquest, James Talbot’s box cover for Avalon Hill’s 1984 edition of Howard Thompson’s game, originally published by Metagaming in 1975 in a simple bagged format.  I believe this was the first 4-player game of expanding space empires, hugely influential on later sci-fi board and computer games.

[oldschoolfrp]

Warships of Conquête Stellaire by Xavier, from article about Stellar Conquest in Casus Belli 30, January 1986.  Perhaps because of a certain movie series, the Avalon Hill 1984 edition of the game renamed the largest warship class from “dreadnought” to “death star”.

[nerdybookahs]

Humble Choice (December 2024): Old World

Old World… where do I start with this month’s Humble Choice game that I am writing about? I bought it when it was still in “Early Access” over on Epic and while I spent hundreds of Hours playing it over there, I was still so very excited to see it in Humble Choice because now I can finally play it through Steam as well. You can read about my First Impressions here. About three years later, I…

Humble Choice (December 2024): Old World

[nerdybookahs]

Humble Choice (November 2024): Hexarchy

Hexarchy is part of November’s Humble Choice. “A fast-paced strategy game, which takes the weighty decisions of a 4X and stuffs them into an action-packed 60 minutes. Build a deck capable of founding civilizations which can develop economies, research new technologies and conquer all before you. Single-player and online multiplayer.” Hexarchy usually costs 19.50 €. IsThereAnyDeal lists the…

Humble Choice (November 2024): Hexarchy