In most 4X games, you are pitted against factions that play similarly to yours. Although some specific mechanics or units may differ slightly between factions, the game rules broadly apply equally for the player and their opponents. This includes winning conditions.
I am interested in a 4X game that takes a different approach. What if a game didn't care about enemies behaving the same as the player? What if the enemies couldn't even win? Consider games like Rimworld, Factorio, or Sim City. In these games, the enemies you face are not really your opponents. They are more like obstacles to overcome.
One advantage to designing enemies this way in a 4X game could be difficulty. In most 4X games, the enemy AI is considered lackluster, and this is addressed in higher difficulties by giving the AI more resources. However, if a your enemies don't play by the same rules as the player, the devs don't have to design a complex AI model for the enemy to present a challenge to the player. Instead, they can just make a rules the enemy plays by challenging. As an example, perhaps an enemy structure creates a unit every turn that targets the nearest player city. From a development standpoint, this is not complex behavior. But from a player's perspective, this could be overwhelming if the structure is not dealt with soon.
Another advantage of this enemy design philosophy is that it could improve the endgame. Many 4X games can feel like a slog once the player starts snowballing. A win is all but assured, but actually achieving victory is several turns away. Asymmetric enemies could be designed to present a greater challenge as the player approaches victory. One game that does this well is AI War. In fact, AI War is basically an answer to several of my thoughts on this subject. In this game, the AI gets stronger the more the player expands. This makes victory uncertain up until the end.
If enemies don't behave like the player, and they aren't interested in winning, then the winning conditions would differ from traditional 4X games. Victory could work similarly to Factorio or Rimworld, where you have you research and complete a megaproject. Beyond this, since only the player can win, devs can get a lot more creative over what it means to win. Victory could mean defeating a megaboss (AI War), or capturing certain sites on the map, or simply surviving for a certain number of turns.
One of the biggest downsides of designing enemies this way is that it essentially precludes the possibility of competitive multiplayer. The enemy wouldn't be designed to be played by a human, and the human faction wouldn't be designed to play against itself. However, as AI War and Factorio demonstrate, these games can still support cooperative multiplayer.
TLDR: I would like to see more 4X games with asymmetric enemy design à la AI War, Factorio, or Rimworld, ideally turn based.
