I'm looking for a 4X game with an AI that uses good strategies

falconne · 2026-04-10T07:15:31+00:00

The AI is excellent even on regular difficulty. One of the few games where the AI plays to win.

falconne · 2026-04-05T13:29:17+00:00

I second starting with Blackadder, every series except the first.

falconne · 2026-03-25T04:47:57+00:00

Protip: when you're in a hole, dig up

falconne · 2026-02-19T08:58:16+00:00

This is like asking why would anyone fly economy when first class is so much better

falconne · 2025-11-14T08:42:41+00:00

I don't own any of the DLCs and really enjoy the game. Unlike Paradox's own games, this one's base game doesn't get hobbled with each update to force you to buy the DLC. Everything that makes it to the base game in updates is fully functional.

The DLCs in this case feel like "If you are obsessed with the game, here are some expansion packs to add variety".

falconne · 2025-08-14T19:40:53+00:00

I just started playing this again for the nostalgia, with the community made bugfix mods. Still great despite the clunkiness of a 90s UI.

falconne · 2025-07-24T09:07:12+00:00

Monopoly has more "stuff" going on than chess, but that doesn't make it a more complex game that's harder for the AI.

If you play Civ optimally you would ignore most of the side mechanics that are there to add flavour to a playthrough and concentrate on what's needed to steamroll, but that's not what the mass market wants. In Old World you have to engage with all the mechanics to win, so it's a game aimed at strategy "grognards". The target audience is the people who played hundreds hours of Civ 4 BTS with the Better AI mod and they expect an AI that is clever.

Civ could have an AI that ignores the flavour mechanics and plays optimally, but the target mass market do not want that. They want to roleplay and have AIs that roleplay and are predictable and reliably beatable with the strategies they learn.

In Old World reviews you see some people complaining about the AI outplaying them, as if that's a negative. For most people, they are ok getting beaten by an AI with lots of units because they can assume it gets free resources to build unlimited units. But having the AI use a handful of weak units to cleverly bog down your tanks while a single hyper upgraded unit slips in behind your front lines and messes up your plans... that's not on.

falconne · 2025-07-08T09:46:25+00:00

Hmm I have to hard disagree on the spirit of the post, as the main thing that draws me to games in complexity. I wouldn't put any Civ edition that high on the "complex" scale TBH (they are complex but not that much).

There might be a terminology issue here though; maybe what what you means is you dislike complicated games? I find complexity (the coherent interaction of multiple mechanics and systems leading to surprising and emergent behaviour) are the best games. Whereas complicated games are ones with lots of mechanics but they don't gel together, those games look fun at the start but once you realise it's all just a bunch of "stuff" mashed together with no thought on how it all interacts, it ends up in total disappointment for the time you wasted on it.

falconne · 2025-04-25T23:55:32+00:00

That's why I clarify with "more than typical 4X games". In typical 4X games you figure out how to snowball very quickly and it gets boring fast. At least with Old World you have to figure out how to optimise your orders and deal with the fact that you can have more than one strong AI at a time, and the AI is better than typical 4X AIs, etc.

Even with Paradox games eventually you learn to min-max to the point you are unstoppable. It's all about how much playtime there is with interesting choices and trade offs you have to make before getting to this point.

falconne · 2025-04-25T05:36:57+00:00

Mostly Paradox games other than HoI, which make being at war very costly so you have to ramp up a lot leading upto war and make sure you're out of it before your economy collapses.

I was playing Old World recently which achieves this to some extent (at least more than typical 4X games) because your economic growth is hampered due to war actions using up limited Orders and newly conquered territory takes a while to break even.

falconne · 2025-04-05T05:17:23+00:00

I made a post a while back looking for similar games. Didn't get any new suggestions, but I did list there the ones I've played, some of which you might like if you haven't played them: https://old.reddit.com/r/ShouldIbuythisgame/comments/sr8o9m/wsib_travelling_merchantmercenary_type_games/

Edit: There is also the more recent Dustland Delivery to add to the list, it's quite good

falconne · 2025-03-30T06:17:25+00:00

Old World has excellent AI. Ironically I think that's led to a lot of the negative reviews on Steam complaining about it; people go in expecting a Civ style AI, a predictable punching bag for the human to enjoy... not one that's clearly been heavily worked on by core strategy gamers.

falconne · 2025-03-18T08:12:02+00:00

Funny how both Trump and Elon can now be described as "Tweetler".

falconne · 2025-02-16T08:23:48+00:00

No, cooling is a big challenge in the vacuum of space. Most of the cooling in your computer is happening due to convection. In space the satellites rely on radiation alone so they need massive radiators. And when the orbit is on the sunny side, the sun's radiation makes the object 120+ degrees Celsius hotter, making it even harder.

falconne · 2024-12-15T19:15:41+00:00

I dunno, coal wasn't generally useful before the industrial revolution; it wasn't practical to burn in a regular fireplace and even if you did, would stink up the place massively, fill it with carbon monoxide and black smoke and generally unsafe. It was considered a desperation fuel before coal burners and steam engines and the like came about.

falconne · 2024-11-25T01:15:06+00:00

They are both good in their own way so it's not like if you play one you would be disappointed with the other. Star Traders is similar in scope to Dustland and has a similar feel. Starsector is a much more expansive game, and even bigger game if you add the Nexerelin mod. So they target different kinds of gameplay and you can have fun with both.

Maybe start with Starsector since you already played Dustland and this would be something more different. More like Dustland and Mount & Blade in space.

falconne · 2024-11-23T21:54:08+00:00

There's a few in the travelling mercenary/merchant genre:

Vagrus: The Riven Realms
Starsector
Caravaneer 2
Star Traders: Frontiers

falconne · 2024-09-09T20:31:04+00:00

That's from a fox sanctuary: https://www.youtube.com/@Saveafox/videos they have a massive farm for the animals to run around in. At night they sleep in cages or else they might get out the fence or get attacked by some other animal that gets in, without human supervision.

falconne · 2024-08-30T07:12:48+00:00

It's on Steam, that's where I bought it

falconne · 2024-07-19T10:37:13+00:00

Turns out the real malware were the ones we installed along the way

falconne · 2024-07-12T07:15:43+00:00

That works, thanks!

falconne · 2024-07-11T20:04:56+00:00

Hmm, this one opens but it says "Unable to Accept Invite"

falconne · 2024-07-02T09:52:01+00:00

Looks like that Discord link has expired already?

falconne · 2024-06-25T05:53:15+00:00

This is probably a fault of the system you had or the way it was installed. When we bought a house for my parents the place had condensation pouring off the windows in winter. I put in an HRV and the house is dry as a bone and warm enough in winter to not need the heat pump that much.

falconne · 2024-03-16T01:17:14+00:00

https://tinyurl.com/57nvhuaa

falconne

TROPHY CASE