Recently, I've been finding myself more and more interested in the 4X genre, as well as grand strategy. I bought, but have yet to play Sid Meier's Alpha Centauri. I also have Endless Space (the first one), Star Wars: Rebellion and Age of Wonders III. The primary reason I haven't played SMAC yet is because I've heard many people talk about how it's not necessarily the best 4X game for beginners, so I decided to stop by here and ask for some recommendations for good starter 4X games as I don't want to try to pour a lot of my time/effort into any of them unless I know what I'm doing.

My biggest problem is that I feel really overwhelmed by the scale of it all. I enjoy some turn-based strategy games like the Heroes of Might & Magic series. I absolutely love RTS games, such as the Annihilation games (Total Annihilation, Total Annihilation: Kingdoms and Planetary Annihilation) and Divinity: Dragon Commander, but those are just one-off battles and require a lot of quick thinking as opposed to the turn-based, more calculated gameplay. If there are any "lite" 4X games for me to try, that would be ideal.

I can't really afford to buy any games right now but I'll definitely pop some of the recommendations on my wishlists, whether they're here, on Steam or another platform. Oh, and if anyone has any tutorial videos/playlists that they could recommend for this genre, I'd deeply appreciate it.

Master of Orion 2 is my personal favorite. The main thing I like about it is exactly that it's not as bloated as most other 4X games.

Also, it has (actual useful) tool tips for everything with just a right-click away. I always loved that feature. Who needs a manual? ;) For its time that wasn't really a common feature, and it still works better there than in much newer games.

Nice, it looks intriguing! I've added it to my list, thanks!

Field of Glory: Empires is actually quite a good choice. The management in the game is also not that hard in my opinion. One thing to take note however, is that the game provides you with no tutorial whatsoever. You're only left with a question mark sign on the top right corner of every tab that you open to tell you the descriptions of each and every single feature that tab contains. Unfortunately, even the information provided through those question mark signs alone are not sufficient or merely a fraction of the complete information that the game's manual provides. Therefore, in order to really get yourself acquainted with the game, your only options are the game's manual, and YouTube videos for tips and tricks.

P.S.: It's a turn-based game. Knowing how you love RTS games, I hope this aspect of Field of Glory: Empires won't dissuade you from at least checking the game out.

Oh nice, that looks like a cool cross between what I've seen of Civ and Age of Empires! I'd definitely need to watch a video series or something if I wanted to delve into it, though. As for its turn-based aspect, I don't mind that; I play the Heroes of Might & Magic games a little and they are turn-based as well. I prefer real-time combat in games to turn-based combat but in strategy games, turn-based feels just as natural to me as real-time.

Master of Orion (2016) is also a good place to start IMHO. Later on, if you're also looking for a RTS, not a TBS, there's Sins of a Solar Empire, one of my personal favorites, but it lacks a story-driven campaign and is essentially only a sandbox skirmish game in single player. If that doesn't put you off though, the gameplay is... stellar :P.

For a beginner I would simply recommend Civilization, for instance Civ 3 (https://www.gog.com/game/sid_meiers_civilization_iii_complete).
You can play on easy mode until you understand the mechanics, and because of the "real" background it "makes sense" right from the beginning. You don't have to look up if plasma oder antimatter weapons are better, or if you need to build a foo-temple or a bar-institute.
That a tank is probably better than a swordsman is kind of self-explanatory.
The only things you might want to look up are city management, unrest-control and the ups and downs of ground tiles for founding successful cities.

Civilization is a good start, and is the original and simplest of that type of games to which Alpha Centauri belongs.

The original Master of Orion is relatively easy to learn, and has more replayability than the Civ type of game due to the asymmetric factions and semi-random tech. My favourite 4X (not that I've played any of the modern, ones).

You can try Birth of the Empires if you're a Star Trek fan. You can get it from itch.io: https://blotunga.itch.io/birth-of-the-empires

Maybe Stellaris, right now there is a promo for it

NP, it's a remake of Birth of the Federation, though with no Star Trek assets due to licensing etc. If you need help with it, can always ask. My main advice for now is to play on the easiest and expand as fast as you can (colonize as fast as possible)

I love Thea 2 The Shattering, but maybe it's not beginner friendly.

Yeah, I'm gonna give it a try since there's a free weekend for it via Steam right now. If I like it, I'll definitely grab it but it'll have to wait until the next sale, unfortunately. :(

Sure thing, thanks for the offer! I'll let you know if I need some help.

Hmm, nevertheless, it looks really cool and I've added it to my list!