It seems the explorminate website has fallen prey to malware. Thankfully someone archived it:
https://web.archive.org/web/20150119222624/http://www.explorminate.com/4x-games-of-2015Star Citizen and Galactic Civ 3,other than that i haven't seen anything else that looks promising.
Since apparently I am the only pessimist in this entire forum, here are some games that do look promising (though Endless Legend doesnt count because it is demonstrably good)
http://www.explorminate.com/4x-games-of-2015/
At The Gates
Developer: Conifer Games
This one reminds me of the Norse Civilization from Age of Mythology, except it is a turn based strategy. Endless Legend has a similar race that does this too. Having this idea as the central mechanic to a game looks interesting
StarDrive 2
Developer: ZeroSum Games
Turn based strategy 4X space game with real time battles? Yes please!
Stars in Shadow
Developer: Ashdar Games
A 4x game made by two guys. It is made by just two guys!
Having mastered it:
Endless Legend is a terrible game. Too many strange and stupid game idea decisions were put into it.
At The Gates - didnt get released until 2019. It was alright but was missing a lot of features, basic features which the game should have been released with.
Stardrive 2 in theory should be the best space game ever, but it is let down because of monster closets. If you dont know what a monster closet is, it is a 'feature' of Doom 3 where monsters were scripted to appear and would appear out of thin air in areas which were dead ends, basically monsters suddenly appearing in closets. Stardrive 2 has the same problem, with hyper aggressive invincible aliens suddenly appearing if you blunder your way into one of the closets through no fault of your own. Im not sure if the computer triggers monster closets too.
Stars in Shadow released in 2017 was one of the best Master of Orion 2 clones. Unfortunately its combat is poo and it is a Master of Orion 2 clone so I might as well just play MOO 2.
Homeworld:Shipbreakers, but that's probably years away.
Star Citizen too I guess.
Star Citizen: 10 years in Alpha. What a scam
