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Historical versions of the genre tend towards allowing [[Anachronism Stew]], but at the direction of the player. A player's civilization might reach tanks and battleships by 1000 AD while the computer players are still in the iron age or develop genetic engineering before electricity. Futuristic versions tend to use a lot of [[Techno Babble]] in their unit/weapon/technology names and descriptions.
Not to be confused with
{{examples}}
== [[Tabletop Games]] ==
* The board/computer game ''Empire'' that is the source of the Wopuld family's wealth in Iain Banks' ''The Steep Approach to Garbadale'' is a particularly complicated one of these. A similar game: ''Despot'' features in his earlier novel ''Complicity''. The author might just be a fan of the genre.▼
* ''[[Twilight Imperium]]'': Basically ''Master of Orion'' as a boardgame.▼
* [[Avalon Hill]] made a game, ''Civilization'', on which the computer game is based, where up to 7 empires (out of 10 possible) compete from the Stone age to the Rise of the Roman Empire (or if you're one of the other civs, maybe the Greek, Egyptian, or Carthagenian Empire)▼
* [[Fantasy Flight Games]] brought out a board game version of ''Sid Meier's Civilization'' in 2010, designed by Kevin Wilson. The game remains mostly faithful to its PC counter-part, with production, research, combat, multiple victory conditions and a hidden map to explore, while condensing the whole experience to around 4 hours.▼
== [[Video Games]] ==
=== [[Turn-Based Strategy]] ===
* ''[[Armada 2526]]''▼
* ''[[Ascendancy]]'' was a game that let you control your species from the individual-planet-level project (with a bit of [[Inventory Management Puzzle]]) to managing the entire empire of star systems. It featured no less than twenty-one species, each with a different special ability - and humans aren't one of them.▼
* ''[[
* ''Castles: Siege & Conquest'' is a simple, somewhat realtime 4X game in which you compete with other lords for rulership of France using guile and diplomacy after the king dies without issue. Once you claim the throne, expect even your closest allies to
* ''[[Civilization|Sid Meier's Civilization]]'' series
*
* ''[[Deadlock]]'' and it's successor ''Deadlock II'' had the aspect of different races fighting over a series of planets within a ''Dark Cloud', the original had only one planet, which led into it's sequal and it's storyline, having found that there was actually a series of planets further in, all formerly owned by mysterious ancient race, and the race to find the technologies and temples left behind instead of being built by the players.▼
* ''[[Distant Worlds]]''▼
* The ''[[Dominions
* ''Emperor of the Fading Suns'' - 4X with focus on planetary conquest and diplomacy, loosely (depending on the lore bit) based on ''[[Fading Suns]]''. Has interesting gameplay elements (such as its combat resolution), though unfortunately was almost- [[Obvious Beta]].
* ''[[Videogames/Empire|Empire]]'' (a.k.a. ''Classic Empire'')
▲* ''[[Distant Worlds]]''
▲* ''[[Civilization|Sid Meier's Civilization]]'' series <br />Originally based off an even older board game, [[Ur Example|invented]], [[Trope Maker|refined]] or [[Trope Codifier|codified]] most of the tropes of this genre while allowing the player to shepherd a civilization through Earth's history.
▲*** But with some significant differences: no tech tree, and very, very specialized units. (Fur Trapper versus Fur Trader, anyone?) Also, Wonders are replaced by "Founding Fathers" ([[And Zoidberg|plus Pocahontas]].)
▲* ''[[Free Civ]]'' <br />A very customizable [[Civilization]] clone.
▲** [[Fall From Heaven]] is one of the more well known of many civilization [[Game Mods]].
* The term "4X" was coined in a review of the first installment of the ''[[Master of Orion]]'' series...▼
** ...which was also followed by the fantasy-based ''[[Master of Magic]]''.▼
** ''Master of Orion 3'' riffed off this by including "The Xs" as actual [[McGuffin]]s within the game, including a semi-mythical "5th X".▼
* ''[[Galactic Civilizations]]'' and its sequel, ''GalCiv 2''.
** ''[[Galactic Civilizations]] 2'' in particular is known for its rather ruthless and diverse AI (which only cheats if you ask it to). It [http://www.computerandvideogames.com/article.php?id=161570&site=pcg&skip=yes has been known to produce some] [[Magnificent Bastard]] moments, where one AI empire will not declare war on you, but instead convince/bribe two (or more) other empires to do so. They tend to mock you in your moments of death (should you be killed) by revealing this fact.
*** And it doesn't even know who the player is, so it even pulls these on other AIs.
* ''[[Reach For The Stars]]''▼
* ''Stars!''▼
▲* ''[[Armada 2526]]''
* ''[[Imperialism]]'' might be called a "3.5X": the entire map is visible at the start, but the player must build specialized units to see if there is [[Memetic Mutation|gold in them thar hills.]] (Or iron, or coal, or diamonds.)
* ''[[
* ''[[Sid Meier's Alpha Centauri|Sid Meiers Alpha Centauri]]'' is the [[Spiritual Successor|spiritual "sequel"]] to ''Civilization'' <small>[[Recycled in Space|IN SPACE!]]</small>. The game's tagline is "Explore. Discover. Build. Conquer." They even managed to integrate that into the gameplay on a second level: Technologies are divided into types (Explore=scout/exploration/environmental technologies, Discover=pure science, Build=industrial technologies, Conquer=military tech) and a player can have the AI "Governor" of any given base focus on one or more tracks if he/she doesn't care for micromanaging.▼
* ''[[
▲*
* Same for ''[[Rise of Nations]]'', created when its developers realized they wanted a [[Real Time]] ''Civilization'' game.<ref>Just to be clear, that means you can go from throwing sticks to nuclear bombers in half an hour, not that it takes 5000 years to play a game.</ref>) It's an RTS with a [[Risk-Style Map]], but covers a lot of the same ground.▼
▲** ''Master of Orion 3'' riffed off this by including "The Xs" as actual [[McGuffin]]s within the game, including a semi-mythical "5th X".
** ''[[Rise of Legends]]'' is its sequel, using a similar resource and map system, but instead of real-world civilizations it has a three-sided war between [[Steampunk]] Italian city-states, [[Arabian Nights]]-style desert nomad magicians, and South Americans led by [[Ancient Astronauts]].▼
▲* ''Castles: Siege & Conquest'' is a simple, somewhat realtime 4X game in which you compete with other lords for rulership of France using guile and diplomacy after the king dies without issue. Once you claim the throne, expect even your closest allies to immedietely turn on you.
** ''[[
▲* ''[[Ascendancy]]'' was a game that let you control your species from the individual-planet-level project to managing the entire empire of star systems. It featured no less than twenty-one species, each with a different special ability - and humans aren't one of them.
** ''[[Age of Wonders]]'', another successor to ''[[Master of Magic]]''.
* ''[[Spore]]'' plays a bit like one of these during the Civilization and Space Phases of the game.▼
* The strategy games of [[Paradox Interactive]] :
** ''[[Crusader Kings]]''
** ''[[Europa Universalis]]''
** ''[[Victoria: An Empire Under The Sun]]''
▲* ''[[Reach For The Stars]]''
* ''[[Shores of Hazeron]]'' is a MMO 4X played from the first person perspective.▼
▲* ''[[Sid Meier's Alpha Centauri|Sid Meiers Alpha Centauri]]'' is the [[Spiritual Successor|spiritual "sequel"]] to ''Civilization'' <small>[[Recycled in Space|IN SPACE!]]</small>. The game's tagline is "Explore. Discover. Build. Conquer." They even managed to integrate that into the gameplay on a second level: Technologies are divided into types (Explore=scout/exploration/environmental technologies, Discover=pure science, Build=industrial technologies, Conquer=military tech) and a player can have the AI "Governor" of any given base focus on one or more tracks if he/she doesn't care for micromanaging.
* ''[[Space Empires]]'', a series of highly-customizable 4X games with such an extensive system of micromanagement as to make the micromanagement need in the Civ games pale in comparison.▼
▲* ''[[Spore]]'' plays a bit like one of these during the Civilization and Space Phases of the game.
▲* ''[[Stars!]]''
* ''[[Spaceward Ho]]!''
* [http://egosoft.com Egosoft's] ''[[X (video game)|X]]-Universe'' series of games (''X-BTF'', ''X-Tension'', ''X2: The Threat'', ''X3: Reunion'', ''X3: Terran Conflict'') is a real time space simulation like ''[[Elite]]''. The series' motto: "trade, fight, build, think"
▲* [[Dominions|The Dominions trilogy]] revolves around various entities attempting to achieve godhood through the expedient method of wiping out all competition
* ''[[Sword of the Stars]]''.
* ''VGA Planets''.
* ''Armada 2525'' from Interstel, released in 1991, with most features of ''Master of Orion'' except custom ship, and semi-controlled (orders are limited once it started) combat on tactical map.
▲* ''[[The King of Dragon Pass]]'' is a strange example including lots of [[Role Playing Game|RPG]] and [[Visual Novel]] elements.
▲* ''[[Space Empires]]'', a series of highly-customizable 4X games with such an extensive system of micromanagement as to make the micromanagement need in the Civ games pale in comparison.
=== [[Real Time Strategy]] ===
* ''[[Age of Empires]]''
▲* [http://aurora2.pentarch.org/ Aurora] may be one of the most complicated space 4X games ever created. The game is more like a series of spreadsheets and drop-down lists than an actual game. Planets are generated with tectonics and ecosystems, ships must be carefully crafted with much thought put into the targeting and guidance systems as well as a whole plethora of minute details, armies and civilizations can be determined down to the individual person, needless to say this game is VERY detailed.
* ''[[
▲*
▲** ''[[Rise of Legends]]'' is its sequel, using a similar resource and map system, but instead of real-world civilizations it has a three-sided war between [[Steampunk]] Italian city-states, [[Arabian Nights]]-style desert nomad magicians, and South Americans led by [[Ancient Astronauts]].
▲* ''[[Age of Wonders]]'', another successor to ''[[Master of Magic]]''.
* ''[[
▲* ''Deadlock'' and it's successor ''Deadlock II'' had the aspect of different races fighting over a series of planets within a ''Dark Cloud', the original had only one planet, which led into it's sequal and it's storyline, having found that there was actually a series of planets further in, all formerly owned by mysterious ancient race, and the race to find the technologies and temples left behind instead of being built by the players.
* ''[[Star Ruler]]'' is another [[Real Time Strategy]] take.
▲* ''[[Shores of Hazeron]]'' is a MMO 4X played from the first person perspective.
== [[Web Comics]] ==
*
▲* The webcomic [[Erfworld]] takes a [[Deconstruction|somewhat disturbing]] look at what living in a world based on 4X and [[Turn-Based Strategy|TBS]] rules would be like.
** Not quite. In Erfworld, people explicitly do not know hot to make a solvent economy other than through spoils of war. If anything, Erfworld is a look at life in a Strategy Game ''without'' any other "Xs".
▲* The board/computer game ''Empire'' that is the source of the Wopuld family's wealth in Iain Banks' ''The Steep Approach to Garbadale'' is a particularly complicated one of these. A similar game: ''Despot'' features in his earlier novel ''Complicity''. The author might just be a fan of the genre.
▲* ''[[Twilight Imperium]]'': Basically ''Master of Orion'' as a boardgame.
▲* ''[[Age of Empires]]'' and ''[[Empire Earth]]'' is 4X made into a [[Real Time Strategy]] game.
▲* [[Avalon Hill]] made a game, ''Civilization'', on which the computer game is based, where up to 7 empires (out of 10 possible) compete from the Stone age to the Rise of the Roman Empire (or if you're one of the other civs, maybe the Greek, Egyptian, or Carthagenian Empire)
▲* [[Fantasy Flight Games]] brought out a board game version of ''Sid Meier's Civilization'' in 2010, designed by Kevin Wilson. The game remains mostly faithful to its PC counter-part, with production, research, combat, multiple victory conditions and a hidden map to explore, while condensing the whole experience to around 4 hours.
{{reflist}}
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[[Category:Strategy Game Tropes]]
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