` :::::I just received a message on my Talk page: ``Let me know how you'd like to distinguish ``common features`` that are commonly found in other genres (e.g.: technology tree), and ``common features`` that are more distinguishing (e.g.: non-teammate diplomacy, peaceful victory).`` :::::I'm sympathetic to the idea because it matches my mental image of ``4X``. But unfortunately I don't think the evidence supports it well enough. Non-teammate diplomacy is irrelevant or often forbidden in human-vs-human 4X games; and Age of Empires offers peaceful victory conditions but AFAIK most people (notably Moby Games) exclude Age of Empires from ``4X``. `