adaliabooks: Endless Legends
I remember looking at Endless Legends at some point and being turned off by the different versions and all the DLC available. Some of it seemed to introduce entirely new gameplay mechanics, like espionage. I don't think I saw a Complete version among them, or if I did the jump in price might have been what scared me away.
What is the version you would recommend I'd get? How important is the DLC? In Civ the expansions at least are vital to the experience.
TentacleMayor: Why does everyone overlook Beyond Earth? Get it with Rising Tide, it's pretty damn good. BE is like Civ 5, underwhelming state on launch but after many patches and an expansion, it's well worth playing.
OneFiercePuppy: Age of Wonders 2, Alpha Centauri, Galactic Civilizations 2, Stellaris.
Sorry, I should've mentioned Beyond Earth, which I imagine I would sooner dedicate my time to before maybe moving on to Alpha Centauri. I do have it. I was in the middle of a playthrough, not quite feeling it. Rushing to claim land early on, and some of the environmental hazards and whatnot. I got a bit distracted playing something else, when I tried coming back to it the game simply wouldn't run. It'd crash on startup even though it had been fine before. I didn't manage to fix it, so I just uninstalled it and never got around to re-downloading it with my slow internet speed. I should probably give it another shot.
Age of Wonders (3? I think that's the one I had) didn't quite click with me right off the bat, but I admit I put very little time on it. It's another one I could stand to give another shot.
Stellaris looks a bit too RTS for my liking, but Galactic Civilizations seems to be turn-based, I had no idea. I do think I prefer the 1UPT (had to look that up :P) style though.
No, I do not have it, but that's an RTS. I edited the OP to make it more clear that I really don't go for RTS games. I can't quite explain why. I tried playing Starcraft, Age of Empires 3, some Total War, I just find it real boring all those tiny units, clicking around, watching the animations play out. Weirdly though, I love Turn-based RPGs/SRPGs. I think the scale is smaller, there's less of an emphasis on crafting units, if at all, and the turn-based nature makes it feel more suspenseful perhaps, what with hoping your unit will survive or dodge an attack, or land a critical, etc.