I'll drink to that.

Then I'll take another drink for the future hope of a similar type of game but with new advances incorporated into it being released.

You try playing http://www.freeorion.org/index.php/Main_Page ?

Ah, yes, I have been aware of that for some time.

It looks to be great and I would love to play that.

I'm only waiting for it to be "finished".

Don't want to be put off by something not yet implemented.

Three modern day greats I can think of are Sins Of A Solar Empire (great visuals), The Gal Civ games (stunning depth of gameplay) and Sword Of The Stars (great for multiplayer and so easy to setup and play). I have all 3 (On Stardock-Impulse) and love them. Honorable mentions to Starships Unlimited (wasnt bad) and Space Empires IV & V (devious little games that defy their simple graphics). Its high time for a new Master Of Orion game methinks. Thanks for pointing out that link for Free Orion Darkone. 🙂

I just love how complex these 4x games can get. You are down to almost nothing, then a scientific breakthrough and you are starting to throw your rivials back. Not a space sim perhaps, but still great stuff! 🙂

Imperium Galacitica II, and Hedgamonia, but both are really unstable on 7x64, but they''re like them.. As for Sins, I tried it, but couldnt get into it, it just didnt feel right. The Gal Civ games are ok, but I lose interest fast, just something about them seems off. And sowrd of the stars, tried it. Even did the MP, I kinda got mad at some of the stuff in it. Yeah im weird like that. 😛

Think the only 4x game I have ever played is Civilization

Well, I never liked "Civilization" .... actually I hate anything that's turn based .... sorry lol 😛

And you call yourself a spacer! We should drag you out and give you 100 lashes with a bi-polymer carbonated soft-drink! 😛

for hating turn based games.. not the Civilization game. 😉

I've had some great times with 4X in the past. 😀

Ascendancy was my first love. Her mood, atmosphere and amazing aliens won my heart many times over. It wasn't about the challenge, per se, but the experience of building your ships and pitting your tech against that of wondrous others. Top game, that one.

Next on the list is the incomparable Galciv 2. Galciv 1 was good, but Galciv 2 took everything that was good about 1 and absolutely polished it until it glowed. I've lost entire weeks to that game; I even took a monday off work once to deal with an unruly empire that had been annoying me all weekend! Forgot the MOO series, guys, Galciv is better by far.

Next on the list is the incomparable Galciv 2. Galciv 1 was good, but Galciv 2 took everything that was good about 1 and absolutely polished it until it glowed. I've lost entire weeks to that game; I even took a monday off work once to deal with an unruly empire that had been annoying me all weekend! Forgot the MOO series, guys, Galciv is better by far.

Bah forget that! MOO2 is superior in everyway! ook.. cept for the graphics and the AI is afraid of Solar guns. But so what! its still better. 😛

I've been playing MOO2 for some 10 years going on now. I've played Gal Civ 1/2 a collective maybe 6 months.. Hell I even tried MOO3 once.. WORST game ever!!!

Well, there was Sid's Alpha Centuri and its add-on Alien Crossfire. Do they count? 🙂

Don't mind turn based game,X com one of my favs.

Just never got into these 4x games.

My absolute favorite 4x games are Ascendancy,Civ3&4,MoO2&3 and SE4&5.

Average ones include Galciv1&2,SMAC,BotF,IG2 and LE:I.

No.. and for mentioning it.. 1000 lashes with a wet and cold Linguine Geraldine! 😛

Can "Miranda" from "Mass Effect 2" be the one to punish me ? 😀

Guess I could "make do" with Josh Holloway ( http://www.gameslave.co.uk/imageviewer. ... erium-Wars) from C&C3 😀 😀

No you 2! Punishments are not meant to be fun. They is meant to be bad! 😛

But it is bad, sort of............. 😳

Nothing wrong with beautiful people giving you mission briefings 🙂

I know in my aging years I actually want less and less complications in a game (yeah I know that means think less) so I can concentrate on the gameplay. To much micro-managing now is a turn off for me to some extent. I guess I just want the 'Expand' and 'Exploit' functions of the game to be a bit more automated.

I know I probably just eliminated some of the fun in the games because of that. Whats so wrong with the 'Expand' portion of your game you can tell your fleet to go to certain nav points and eliminate and take control of all assets... done. If you run into issues then it lets you know and you can divert your attention to that. Put having to watch and maintain a lot of resources gets daunting after a while.

The 'Exploit' option could be helped with more intelligence in the officers or NPCs you leave in charge of operations in sectors/planets. Even simple set of instructions to build and gather resources a certain way and what to do with them. So you can set and forget.

Just thoughts, I like all games I don't play 4x as often as I should because it takes more time to do and I have limited time.

It is true Darkone that 4x games generally demand more time invested by the player, however you can have a small galaxy and start with high tech levels in the likes Gal Civ games. So quick games are possible. Me?, I prefer a longer game that I can play at for weeks or even months before its completed. Maybe having a little hour with it now and again, then thinking about what to do next time.

I have to say I loved the Space Empires series in general.

Started playing around ten with SEIII, and still play SEV every so often. But as Darkone said, the micromanagement gets tedius, which is why I sometimes opt for Sins of a Solar Empire, though its a tad stiff on options. Its too bad Stardock hasn't done anymore space games, and Malfador Machinations (SE series) latest game is land based...and very bad.

I know C++ and OpenGL pretty well now, and have started working on a space sim, but its nothing useful yet, basically a framework partial engine and a lot of tech documents. Maybe by next Christmas I will have something more useful and will show it off here first.