4x RTS Games that let you pause (like Sins of Solar Empire)

[Sermil]

So, I really like Sins of Solar Empire. But even with the expansions, I think I've pretty much played it to death.

Are there other, similar games out there? In particular, I like that I can pause the game, and then look around and give orders. Most games let you pause, obviously, but don't let you issue orders while paused. I like Real Time Strategy games, but I don't like the time pressure. (And yes, I know there are such things as turn-based strategy games. I play plenty of Into the Breach and Fire Emblem and Civilization. But sometimes, I crave the more casual gameplay and bigger explosions of Sins)

A 4x RTS like that would be even better.

Any suggestions?

[tonberrian]

Stellaris. It also lets you pause the game and issue orders, and it's pretty fun, and has a long dev cycle of support to go, judging by other Paradox games.

[Grif]

The AI Wars series should scratch that itch. It's a top down tower defense/RTS hybrid where you play as the remnant of humanity against an overwhelming AI force. It also makes for a grand coop game if you can find ths hours and players to do so, but it plays perfectly fine on its own.

[Artanis]

Stellaris. It also lets you pause the game and issue orders, and it's pretty fun, and has a long dev cycle of support to go, judging by other Paradox games.

Anything else by Paradox as well: Crusader Kings 2, Europa Universalis 4, Victoria 2, and Hearts of Iron 4 all work this way (though none of those are in space the way Stellaris is).

[tonberrian]

They're all very good, at least the ones I've tried (CK2 and EU4), but they're not strictly 4x the way Stellaris is.

[Thomas Cardew]

Offworld Trading Company might be worth a cursory glance. It's about economic warfare and creating a monopoly. It's decidedly less 4X, more RTS, and generally lacking in explosions but it does include a pause button. It's a great game in its own right but kinda falls in the cracks.

[CarpeGuitarrem]

They're all very good, at least the ones I've tried (CK2 and EU4), but they're not strictly 4x the way Stellaris is.
Yeah, Stellaris features heavy Expansion and Exploration because everyone starts on one planet in an empty galaxy.

The other Paradox games start with a fully populated map, so it's very different; you expand by taking other players' territory.

[Artanis]

They're all very good, at least the ones I've tried (CK2 and EU4), but they're not strictly 4x the way Stellaris is.

True. EU4 can be a bit 4x-ish if you go heavy into colonization, but you're right, they aren't really 4x games.

[Aeson]

Distant Worlds: Universe.

Possibly Sword of the Stars or Star Wars: Empire at War if you're okay with discrete tactical and strategic layers; Empire at War is pausable real time on both layers whereas Sword of the Stars is turn-based at the strategic and pausable real time on the tactical layer.

[Aotrs Commander]

SotS is alos the gold-standard for said RTS tactical combat; I have yet to find anything that comes close unfortunately.

[Anteros]

Not exactly what you're looking for, but similar: They are Billions. RTS with a heavy focus on survival and frequent pauses while issuing orders is a core part of the gameplay. It's not 4X though.

[houlio]

Distant Worlds: Universe

I was going to mention this one as well. It let’s me do a lot more of the zoom in and watch my ships buzz around that sins has. It’s got a lot of other stuff going on with it of course, what with ship design, some basic ground combat, and more diplo/espionage options, but it scratches that same immersive itch for me that’s Sins did.

That said, you kinda need to watch a tutorial or let’s play on Distant Worlds: Universe as a lot of it isn’t all that intuitive. The UI is also rather atrocious, although somewhat mitigated by mods, and it’s graphics/sounds in general feel underwhelming. That said, the process of slowly expanding, designing your ships and orbital bases, dealing with other empires or pirate groups is quite fun and immersive once you devote the time to figuring the game out and jumping in.

[Cikomyr]

SotS is alos the gold-standard for said RTS tactical combat; I have yet to find anything that comes close unfortunately.

I know I loved that game just for the Spesh Battles. Man. Talk about playing the game being its own reward. Watching the speshship go "Pew Pew" is as entertaining as it gets.

[Sean Mirrsen]

I don't think there have been any realtime 4X strategy games that don't let you give orders while paused. Because that's the whole point of the pause, to let you manage the whole thing.

As far back as I can think, to Remember Tomorrow and Imperium Galactica II, realtime 4X games let you give orders while paused.

Adding to these and the other games mentioned in the thread, Star Ruler 2 is a great game that's free (open source, even), StarDrive sort of fizzled out but you can look for the StarDrive-Blackbox project that aims to revive it, and if you're not much into reading russian to play Remember Tomorrow, the game got remade and updated as Polaris Sector.

[Yaktan]

Where do you find Star Ruler 2 free? It is $25 on the Steam store. I did really like what I played of the original, on my old laptop that could just barely handle it.

[Sean Mirrsen]

Where do you find Star Ruler 2 free? It is $25 on the Steam store. I did really like what I played of the original, on my old laptop that could just barely handle it.

It's gone opensource now. You can build your own version if you feel like it, or download some other awesome person's version.

Like this build I got, with the original copyrighted music replaced with fitting freely-available tracks:
https://github.com/Megalex42/StarRuler2-Source/releases