A few years ago (actually probably more than a few), 4X games were pretty popular. A 4X game, in case you don't know, is a game which involves eXploring, eXpanding, eXploiting, and eXterminating. Hence the term "4X". Two very well known games in this genre were Civilization (which is still pretty current) and Master of Orion (which isn't).

I've recently been poking around with some web-based games, looking for something a little less time-intensive than MMORPGs and more along the 4X style of play, so I've been playing some of the browser-based strategy games which give you a certain number of turns or action points over time. These games are the sort of thing you check in on a few times a day to see how your town/empire/galaxy/whatever is progressing and perform various bits of combat and assorted mischief-making.

Anyway, yesterday I stumbled across a game called Cosmic Supremacy, which works in that time-based fashion and is sort of a cross between Civilization and Master of Orion. It's set in space and has you colonising planets, building ships, and causing (or receiving) galactic trouble with other players.

The reason I'm posting about it here is because it impressed me a great deal. It's only gone live within the last 2 or 3 months but has apparently been in development and testing for several years and the end result is very slick. Here's a screenshot of the interface (click on it for more at the official site):

I'm still new to it myself, but I urge anyone who's ever played MoO to try it out. Because it's tick-based, it's a little slow starting off since you don't have much in the way of planets to mess about with. You'll get more to do as time progresses, but it's meant to be a game you occasionally check in on, not something you sit at solidly for an hour or two.

Oh, and it's completely free to play, by the way. There is a premium subscriber option, but that doesn't give any gameplay advantages over non-premium players, unlike a lot of the other "freemium" games out there. And no, I'm not affiliated with it in any way, but I'd like to send some players their way to help them build up their player base.

My old Docking Station agents are now available again and can be reached by clicking the Docking Station link at the top of the page.

These are now all contained in a single zip file.

My Docking Station site no longer exists, but below is a zip file containing all of the agents I created. Each is in its own zip file within the main file.

If you are just poking about here and are wondering what Docking Station is, then you might like to go to the official site.

Some of these agents were co-created with other community members. Full credits are given in the readme.txt file in each zip file.

The following agents are included (the download can be found at the bottom of this page):

	Bounty Bugs (1.1) These little bugs are tasty and fun for creatures to eat, but if left alone long enough they have a little surprise in store.
	C3 in DS: Aquarium (1.1) Allows the use of the Creatures 3 aquarium meta-room in undocked Docking Station worlds. Requires Creatures 3 to be installed.
	C3 in DS: The Crypt (1.0) Allows the use of the Creatures 3 crypt meta-room in undocked Docking Station worlds. Requires Creatures 3 to be installed.
	C3 in DS: Ettin Desert (1.3) Allows the use of the Creatures 3 Ettin desert meta-room in undocked Docking Station worlds. Requires Creatures 3 to be installed.
	C3 in DS: Grendel Jungle (1.1) Allows the use of the Creatures 3 Grendel jungle meta-room in undocked Docking Station worlds. Requires Creatures 3 to be installed.
	C3 in DS: Norn Terrarium (1.0) Allows the use of the Creatures 3 norn terrarium meta-room in undocked Docking Station worlds. Requires Creatures 3 to be installed.
	Camera Fixer (1.0) Use this to keep your Docking Station cameras in place.
	Calm Balm Vendor (2.5) This is a hosted agent created by MNB. This vends the Calm Balm potion from the Hardman Norn pack.
	Docking Station Remover Pack (1.0) This is a hosted agent created by MNB. Removes various elements of the ecosystem injected by the C3 in DS agents to help speed up the game on slower machines.
	Dummy Control (1.2) This control panel allows you to make the training dummy moveable by the hand (you).
	Egg Layer Remover (1.0) When injected, this agent removes the Ettin and Grendel egg layers from the current world.
	Electronic Butler (1.1) This electronic device monitors the speech of creatures anywhere in the world.
	Home Spray (1.2) This spray releases clouds into the air that help homesick Norns feel better.
	Medical Monitor (1.4) This agent adds a panel to the left of the screen that displays the bacteria and toxin levels of all your creatures.
	Mystery Agent (1.0) This agent...  No, that would spoil the fun.
	Noisy Maracas (1.1) These maracas are fun for creatures to play with, but we all know how irritating they can be, and other creatures feel the same way...
	Norn of Infertility (1.4) This agent checks for possible immortal and fast-aging Norns and attempts to keep them infertile.
	Norn of Knowing (1.3) This agent checks for possible immortal and fast-aging Norns.
	Norn Statistics (1.2) This agent adds a panel to the left of the screen that displays various information about your creatures, including their age, life stage, generation, and if they have been through the warp.
	Panatreea Potion Vendor (2.5) This is a hosted agent created by MNB. This vends the Paratreea Potion from the Treehugger Norn pack.
	Roamer (1.11) This robotic spider-rock wanders around the world, occasionally releasing sprays as needed.
	Selective Force Field (1.1) This force field can be configured to prevent certain types of creatures from passing, based on race and life stage.
	Towel (1.0) A tribute to Douglas Adams.
	Trapper Planter (1.0) This useful tool allows you to plant extra trappers almost anywhere in your world to help get rid of pesky bugs.

My Docking Station site no longer exists, but I will make my old Docking Station agents available as a single zip file shortly.

So if you've arrived here looking for those then please check back later.