[OT] 4X games?

[oli_chose123]

"eXplore territory, eXpand their borders, eXploit resources, and eXterminate rivals "

I always wondered: Why is it 4X when all words also start with E? http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/laugh.gif

No, seriously, I'Ve been a fan of the 4X genre for years and I'm interested in finding the "lost" games. (Great games that are unfortunately old and that no one talk about). If any of you have suggestions, I'd be happy to hear them.

[Fyron]

Cause the Eee species didn't come onto the scene until too late, so they had to stick with the XXX tie to porn?

[narf poit chez BOOM]

Either that or 'X' for multiplier.

[Randallw]

A development I guess of the old school curriculum of the 3 Rs,reading, riting and rithmatic

[capnq]

Hmm, I've having trouble coming up with any titles that fit all three of "great, old, and not talked about".

Closest thing that comes to mind is Sid Meier's Alpha Centauri/Alien Crossfire, but I tend to think of Civilization-type games as a separate genre, rather than part of 4X.

[Raapys]

Hmm, there's Ascendancy (http://www.mobygames.com/game/dos/ascendancy), although I suppose it's not all that 'unknown'. There's also slightly different games, like Reunion (http://www.mobygames.com/game/dos/reunion) and Fragile Allegiance (http://www.mobygames.com/game/windows/fragile-allegiance).

[Ed Kolis]

http://neurohack.com/anacreon/
Anacreon - an ancient 4X game (originally in ASCII!) which had artificial world construction, "spice worlds", and lots of other cool stuff, probably long before the genre was even called 4X http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/tongue.gif

edit: oh, and let's not forget Star Lords, a prototype for Master of Orion! This game was actually released as freeware a while back...
http://moo3.quicksilver.com/game/starlords.html

[Hugh Manatee]

STARS!

[David E. Gervais]

The reason the genre is called 4X is quite simply because when you pronounce the words Expand, Explore, Exploit and Exterminate the 'E' is silent and therefor was coined 4X.

End of the mystery,.. next!

Cheers! http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif

[mac5732]

an old game that was fun, except very buggy, they never did get the bugs out to keep game from crashing but a very fun game otherwise.. Would like to see it redone withhout bugs. I especially liked the concept of Space and ground warfare. It was broken down by so many ground turns equal a space turn, also ships could bombard from space against the ground troops which moved and fought battles on a seperate battle screen.

Star General

[Kasdar]

How about LightSpeed or HyperSpeed. I don't think I have heard them mentioned in forever.

[capnq]

Lightspeed & Hyperspeed weren't 4X games. They'd be the same genre as Star Fury and Weird Worlds: single ship, mission-based adventure, whatever that is labeled as.

[dmm]

David E. Gervais said:
...the 'E' is silent...


http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/shock.gif ROTFL! That's quite an xtraordinary accent you must have. How xactly does anyone understand you? It must be xciting! http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/wink.gif

[dmm]

Medieval War. Win3.11 era shareware that can run on XP, even if you have no admin privileges. I have the executable but can't find it anywhere on the web. Good for an occasional half hour of mindless fun.