Recommend me a Space 4x4
 

There a lot of them out there and I've tried a few but so far haven't found one that hits my niche. I enjoy exploration, ship/base design, economy, diplomacy, empire building. I do not like random tech trees or tactical combat. Ideally combat plays a minimal role or at least auto-resolved.
I like Beyond Earth but it is planet bound and I want Space!
I like Endless Space but I keep getting destroyed in combat and I have read that enemy AI will at attack at some point no matter what you do.
I have Space Empires IV but it crashes on launch.
I have X2: The Threat but I cannot figure out the controls or how to do anything <- badly needs a tutorial!

Master of Orion 2 or the new one…

I greatly enjoy Stellaris, though it only meets your "ship/base design" requirement barely, and it does have a random tech tree, so not sure whether I would recommend it for you.

But, you might want to look into Galactic Civilization. I only played number 2 briefly, but from what I remember it fit your requirements.

Also, not sure why X2 is in your list as it's not really a 4x game. :)

+1 for MOO

Really any of the Master of Orion games (although I haven't played 3, I hear it's lame?)

If X2 interests you, you may want to try Eve Online. A little bit of a learning curve, but it has a good tutorial. After years of a solid following, they're releasing a free-to-play component here shortly.

I played MOO3 for a while, but it felt very slow-paced and with too many disconnected things to do. Graphics were very pretty for the time, but gameplay was not as interesting in my opinion.

I haven't played the new MOO, but it looks good. MOO2 was great fun however.

Distant Worlds: Universe

Moddable and you can automate things if some of the micromanagement is a turnoff.

I have GalCivII wishlisted on GOG so I think I will get that. Distant Worlds sounds good but expensive, I'll keep an eye on it and get it if it drops into my price range.

MOO2 is a must.

The one thing that I liked about MOO3 was the ground-based planetary combat. It was a neat idea that should have been explored further.

You can build an empire and play it in a way that keeps combat minimal. Seems to fit somewhat.

I wouldn't play X2, though, or even the first X3 game. X3:Terran Conflict is the one to go for in this case. You'll be in some battles if you play the quests but you can make a boatload of money doing taxi missions then getting into space factory building and trading. (Plus I made a little tutorial (plug plug))

On the 4X side, you're really describing GalCiv. No tactical combat. Lots of ship design. I've played some GalCiv2 games where I haven't fired a shot by going with influence victories. (Most often, though, somebody does decide to attack so I have to fight them off real quick.)

I've tried Distant Worlds but I don't think you can do that one in such a way that battles will be rare. You can make games where battles will be rare for the first half or so but eventually….

Master of Orion 2, Star Trek: Birth of the Federation, Endless Space, Galactic Civilizations 2, Sid Meier's Alpha Centauri.

Those would be your best choices.

P.S.: Endless Space is not that difficult when you get a hang of it. It just has a long learning curve, but when you get it, you can play on the hardest difficulty witout problems.

3 is actually not bad in multiplayer, but in singleplayer, the braindead AI make it a poor game. That, and there are elements that don't seem to work properly, which the AI don't know don't work…

In most 4X space games you'll sooner or later end up at a stage where you'll have to confront the AI, or alternatively, have a big enough fleet as to deter the AI from attacking you (more often than not, both). This is true for Master of Orion, Galactic Civilizations, Endless Space, Stars! and any other 4X space I can think of. But at least you don't have to deal with tactical combat in these games. Sword of the Stars can also be played with automated tactical combat (get the first one, not the second one).

Actually, I think you might be able to play Aurora in a non-violent way, but Aurora is just amazingly complex, and I was never able to get into it (Aurora is, by some, described as "being to Dwarf Fortress what Dwarf Fortress is to other games").

I got GalCivII yesterday and played it all night. It's perfect, I played as pacifist Atarians. I did get drawn into a couple of battles .For the first one I didn't have ANY military tech researched but I found ( random luck event ) "Lucky Ranger" a precursor ship that was WAY o.p.! LOL. 2nd war I got drawn into because my Allies got declared on and I felt obligated to join in. Eventually won with Ascendency.

Stellaris is fine, it's different in that it has lots and lots of events. It gets stale in the 'middle game', but you'll get your money's worth I'm sure.

Star Control 2, Alpha Centauri (not space rly but more like civ) and Endless Legend

How does GalcivIII compare to GalcivII ?

Haven't played Endless Legend, Alpha Centauri is dope (Civilization in Space) and Star Control 2 is one of the greats that every gamer needs to play at least once (but isn't really a 4x game. It's…a Star Control game. :P)

GalCiv seemed cool from the very little I played, and the Master of Orion series looks incredible (another one I haven't played yet).

If you want something in a fantasy RPG-style setting the best ever 4x game is Master of Magic. Just wanted to shout that game out because it's another game that every fan of RPG/4x/fantasy/etc. needs to play!

Got to love the Rpg Watch effect. Thanks guys. After reading this thread, I remembered I actually love 4x space games and low and behold, Distant Worlds went on sale. Geeze, this game has so much going on. I watched 2 of the tutorials and played a small universe, custom game and before long, its early in the am and I am hopelessly addicted. Great, Great game!

Errr, I should point out that it's a 4X game. The only time I've seen 4x4 is when talking about off-road vehicles.

Distant Worlds is pretty cool with all its automation. It pretty much forces battle on you, though, and I really don't like RTS-style combat much. I ended up starting games, doing a lot of expanding, exploring, and exploiting but quit once the exterminating started in earnest.