Wish there were more "3x" games, like Thea, where you don't have to build an empire and the fight the whole bloody galaxy, just manage one base and focus on combat, trade and exploration instead of endless management tasks.
That is an interesting phrasing.
4x is explore, expand, exploit, exterminate.
Thea was at its initial release a 4x. It was also one of the few games that made a proper use of the apocalypse craze around.
Devs used a post apocalyptic setting to provide an uncommon formula of the x expansion.
Thea is a world picking up and the flimsy level of consumption of the environment did not allow a steady, robust, permanent type of expansion. So devs opted for a nomadic kind of expansion, based on necessary expeditions to support a settlement.
The idea was brilliant, maybe even new and the execution was on par.
It introduces tension as the survival of the settlement relied on a fragile form of expansion. Nothing was acquired and everything could be lost by a miscalculated attempt to expand.
Then, players do not like tension in gameplay these days, they prefer long tranquil streams that ensure security and a full causality between reward and effort.
So the expand feature got diluted release after release. Maybe indeed up to the point that it might be better to speak no longer of expansion.
Nevertheless, Thea was 4x and the different take on expansion is an organic feature stemming from the post apocalyptic setting.
This makes any port unsure. Thea was thought as a whole, not as a collection of bits to please players who like it, have fun with it.