I used to be a good fan of master or orion 2 and when I started to play board games, I was trying to find a 4X space game similar to MOO2 that I could play with my friends. Unfortunately, I never really found a game I liked.
I had a discussion some time ago with one of my friend who said that maybe it's not just possible to recreate the experience of MOO as a board game, and it should just remain as a video game.
But now lately, I have been thinking. Was finding a MOO2 baord game really what I was looking for?
Why did I want to play MOO2 as a board game?
I think the answer to those questions was:
- Play a space 4X games in a few hours instead of a dozens or more hours.
- Play with my friends without the hasle of setting up a LAN with multiple computers.
- Have better diplomatic relationship since the opponents are real players and AI diplomacy suck in all 4X video games.
So maybe the key to making a good 4X game is not about empire building, it's about diplomacy and Social interaction which is the only thing that board game can surpasses video games.
Now I am not sure if such game exists, but the goal would be to create a 4X negotiation game. Therefore every action you make needs somewhat the approval of the others around you.
The same concept could be expanded to other 4X games like civilization or master of magic where in that game, you are in a kind of constant cold war: if you nuke my city, I'll pestilence your empire.
The most of the empire building and exploration phase could actually be part of the setup so that the negotiation between players can occur on turn 1.
Don't know if what I say makes any sense.