[OT] 4X games?

oli_chose123 · #1 October 2nd, 2007, 10:25 PM

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

I always wondered: Why is it 4X when all words also start with E?

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 · #2 October 2nd, 2007, 11:12 PM

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 · #3 October 2nd, 2007, 11:21 PM

Either that or 'X' for multiplier.

Randallw · #4 October 2nd, 2007, 11:30 PM

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

capnq · #5 October 3rd, 2007, 06:30 AM

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 · #6 October 3rd, 2007, 10:19 AM

Hmm, there's Ascendancy, although I suppose it's not all that 'unknown'. There's also slightly different games, like Reunion and Fragile Allegiance.

Ed Kolis · #7 October 3rd, 2007, 10:50 AM

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

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 · #8 October 3rd, 2007, 08:39 PM

STARS!

David E. Gervais · #9 October 4th, 2007, 07:49 PM

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!

mac5732 · #10 October 6th, 2007, 02:58 AM

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