A 4X built around decisions, not chores
Dominus Galaxia is a 4X space strategy game where you explore, expand, exploit and exterminate across a hex map of stars. The design goal is to keep the interesting strategic choices front and centre and cut the repetitive busywork. Colony management and fleet movement are handled with sliders rather than build queues, so you set direction and the game handles the routine. Battles are turn-based and hex-based, with turn costs, special devices and terrain that matters. What you have here is a fully featured, un-redacted beta that is playable from start to finish, the result of over four years of work.
Playing together in one room
The game supports Hotseat multiplayer, so you and your friends take turns on the same machine, each playing your own empire while the others watch and wait. Deathmatch and Team Deathmatch modes are there for groups that want a straight war-game without the diplomacy layer. Tactical combat supports more than two belligerents, so a single battle can involve several players at once. Steam's Remote Play Together feature is listed for this game, which lets people join in over a connection rather than being in the same room.
Setting up the match to suit your group
A lot of the game's feel is set before the first turn. Expansion can work by building colony ships, building starports, or sending colonists straight out. Starlanes and transient wormholes are optional, and research modes can be switched as well. The AI comes in static and adaptive flavours, and production bonuses are set separately from skill level, so you can face a clever opponent with less production than you or a weaker one with more. Battles can be auto-resolved at any time, or you can start a fight manually and resolve the rest after a number of turns, which keeps long wars moving.
What else is in the box
The tech tree is infinite and semi-random, split into six fields that can be researched at the same time. Ship design goes in-depth, with an optional Diablo-style crafting component. Strategic terrain includes impassable, slow and sensor-blocking nebulae, plus wormholes. Diplomacy includes a tech trading system built to be less exploitable, a relationship system where high relationship boosts trade revenue and low relationship hinders spying, and an intelligence system for gauging how strong opponents are. Planetary bombardment and invasion are on the table, background combat runs on the same logic as player battles, and modding is strong enough that many mechanics can be adjusted from text files.