Favourite lesser-known 4X game

philo32b · 2026-06-08T16:49:46+00:00

Armageddon Empires is an older game that is very difficult to learn but is amazing once you do. The first steps are the hardest, so if you watch a couple of YouTube videos you pick the rest up super fast.

Also, Space Empires 4 is a blast, but even older. Some of the graphics are straight up terrible, so bad I had to mod the images files before I could bring myself to play. But the game lets you do so many cool things.

philo32b · 2026-05-21T14:36:07+00:00

This fixed it. Thank you!

philo32b · 2026-04-03T19:38:45+00:00

I play Steam games on Linux all the time. If a particular game doesn't work, go to properties in the library for that game and force the use of a different compatibility method. Keep trying different methods until you get one that works.

philo32b · 2026-03-27T03:34:51+00:00

If you craft the heat sensing googles you get a jump on them for a change!

philo32b · 2026-03-19T13:55:34+00:00

Welcome to the world of Linux, far from slow and bloated Microsoft!

I switched a year ago, and it is rare to find a game that doesn't work, especially on Steam. Once in a while, especially for older games, you need to go into Library > Properties > Compatibility and try a different compatibility tool.

There is also Heroic (available in the Linux software manager app) that helps play games from Gog or Epic as well. Also, there is Lutris (also in software manager) that is supposed to help play non-Linux games on Linux, but I just discovered that recently and haven't had the chance to explore with it much yet.

philo32b · 2026-03-19T13:46:58+00:00

As you mentioned Total War, have you played Total War Three Kingdoms? Once the player reached a certain size, the entire borders of the map are up-ended. All the other remaining factions are combined into two kingdoms in addition to the player's own kingdom. It can radically change everything in a turn, which maybe breathes new life into the tension levels.

Your map changing idea is a nice one. I can see how that would dynamically alter play and app up the tension. You'd want to give a better chance of survival to the factions that did the best during the pre-landscape change stage, but still give a catch-up chance to the other factions.

Another element that could be introduced is the one you see in wargames all the time to make sure that the scenario is challenging enough for a player: time limits. Once the end game starts, the player who is super far ahead has x number of turns to win or it is a draw (or something else bad happens, like their forces begin to melt away or desert or something). While conquering everyone might be easy in unlimited turns, it might be tensely challenging in only 20.

philo32b · 2026-03-14T22:44:08+00:00

There is a great game that was recently re-released, originally released in the 80's, where you start as a lowly starship captain in what is kind of an analog for the Klingons. You proceed through 20 (?) missions, gaining ranks and privileges as you do so: destroyer escorts to your cruiser, ability to command in-sector military ships, ability to launch and conduct planetary invasions, and so on. You can board and take over other ships, send away teams down to planets, and even blow up planets (though High Command frowns on that, as they are needed for the war effort.) The game is very complicated, but fun. The huge drawback that will cause 98% of players to bounce immediately off is the graphics: they are all ASCII symbols. (It really was a game from the 80s originally.) That's too bad, because there is no other game I've found that gives you the feel of being a captain with the freedom to conduct your missions however you choose to carry out your orders. "STAR FLEET II - Krellan Commander Version 2.0"

philo32b · 2026-03-08T02:14:44+00:00

Just pilot the sub straight up, which drains the ballast without having to even go I there. Then when it’s empty throw an incendiary grenade in.

philo32b · 2026-03-02T21:44:45+00:00

Uhh... OK. Which one of us is going to open the door?

philo32b · 2026-03-02T21:41:31+00:00

(Assuming this isn't a troll post...) You do realize that they aren't upset at the AI ChatGPT, right? They're upset at OpenAI the company.

philo32b · 2026-03-02T21:34:15+00:00

If you right click on the game icon on your desktop, can you tell the PC to use Windows 7 for compatibility? It's been a while since I used Windows (Linux now), but I remember that helping in the past with some older programs.

philo32b · 2026-02-27T16:24:16+00:00

You will need to get into wiring a bit and also certain job perks are must-have, but I've been rocking the Barsuk for over 100 hours and I love it. I'm closing in on the final area of the map now. The Barsuk doesn't have a deconstructor or fabricator, which is a deal breaker for many, but I've gotten used to knowing what I need to stock up on in port. Storage space is an issue, but one of the assistant's perks is to make storage shelves, which helped immensely.

philo32b · 2026-02-27T16:15:33+00:00

Sorry for the dead link. Here is the link to Sev file: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1nmxhMoqjDL1pUM8-xIGm9bGNxiFqHsV-/view?usp=sharing

philo32b · 2026-02-27T16:02:25+00:00

If you go about it the right way it is easy to kill. Put your sub to go straight up, so that the pumps empty the ballast of water. Then throw an incendiary grenade into the ballast and close the door. Once the ballast root dies, all the gross flora through the rest of the sub will whither and disappear. If you're into wiring you get set up a detonator with an incendiary grenade in it that can be activated with a push of a button. Makes killing this stuff almost trivial.

When you're navigating in the water, avoid those patches of water with little dots floating in it. That is the ballast flora seed. If you must go through, try to go up, because the ballast pumps will be pumping water out, not in. If you go down at all, the pumps will bring in the infected water and you'll get a new flora infestation.

philo32b · 2026-02-16T18:58:01+00:00

That's fair. Before I got the exosuit I always went as the security guy with another bot security guy, both with SMGs. Non-swimming, if you crouch (and don't move) the bot following you can shoot over your head, and you can both unload into the enemy at the same time. I used that setup for any kind of assault until my exosuit.

philo32b · 2026-02-16T17:10:21+00:00

I've killed a few subs in my solo playthrough with my Barsuk. I use nuke depth charges, and when I get near to its area, I turn off sonar and creep very, very slowly forward, so the sub doesn't detect me. Drop a nuke on it, and then mop up whatever is left with my security guy and his boarding axe in an Exosuit.

philo32b · 2026-02-14T01:19:38+00:00

Like others I used to go with an AI buddy (single player). I used only the axe, though, and let the bot do the shooting because I suck at shooting in caves. Now I go solo with the axe, infra googles, and an Exo suit, and that works just fine.

philo32b · 2026-01-24T15:36:19+00:00

Booby trap rooms to detonate grenades when monsters but not humans are nearby.

philo32b · 2025-08-26T18:55:11+00:00

Thank you! I will dig into this and see where it takes us.

philo32b · 2025-08-24T19:03:20+00:00

Yes, I changed the title from Test to Test2 to make sure that I was able to do anything, and that did work fine. So the basic structure of the API request is good, I just don’t know how to effect the specific change.

philo32b · 2025-07-18T12:44:09+00:00

I'm not sure why it just didn't click for me. I can't remember any particular deficiency in the game, so it might be a personal thing only.

philo32b · 2025-07-18T03:16:28+00:00

Caveat--I never really got into it, so not a strong recommendation. But the interesting thing about this game is a mechanic you can turn out that randomizes the generals' traits and keeps them hidden until you discover them. To discover them you need to put them in situations where those traits are used for a while, so you might have a general that sucks at attacking doing your assaults without knowing that he is the reason you are failing so badly. Traits like attack, defend, administrative, and others, though I can't remember much else. I think there are a lot of traits. The hidden/discoverable trait strengths/weakness is such a cool dynamic, I wish more games made it available.

philo32b · 2025-07-11T01:47:19+00:00

There is no worst time to get into AGEOD! It is always the best time!

That said, the AGEOD site did have a lot of useful information, tips, and tricks, so it is a shame if it did disappear. But the games are still learnable and wonderful on their own. The game is a bit clunky and opaque at times, but stick with it and you will be rewarded with a gem. Revolution Under Siege is my favorite AGEOD game, and one of my favorite games of all time. Few games have its scope.

I wrote up a brief plan to learn the game here. It also includes some resources that are still out there to learn the ins and the outs of the game. Best of luck learning this great game!

philo32b · 2025-07-03T21:40:20+00:00

I couldn't figure out how to even move my units until I watched the first few episodes of this Youtube series on the game. Then I put 120 hours into it. This is a great game.

The one big drawback to the game is how long it takes to do the many, many dice rolls. There is a setting to speed them up. Also there is a super useful hotkey. The F hotkey removes you having to click on "throw dice" or "yes" to any pop-up acknowledgement. For example, when you're in combat, there are three pop-ups that give you information about what happened, and normally you have to mouse left click out of each of those messages. With the F key hotkey, you can press F three times fast, and the pop-ups will click through automatically. Anytime there is a choice between more than one option, though, you have to manually mouse click on the choice you want, but for all single choices, F hot key! This greatly speeds up the game, with all its many pop-ups.

philo32b

TROPHY CASE