Indie Strategy Games - post 'em if you find 'em

[Jason]

That MM clone might be worth keeping an eye on.

 

[Mefi]

http://www.iqsoftwaregames.com/data/ww2.rar

Free showcase demo of Polish WW2 corps/division game. Turn-based and map is hex-ellated

Demo is just to show off the game and for a kind of public beta.

 

[Jason]

It's time to start adding to the list again.

Here's War In Europe II. It's an operational level WWII game, designed mainly with PBEM or hotseat in mind. There's no A.I. since it's intended to be faithful to the old boardgame version. Here's where you get the demo.

 

[Severian Silk]

I think wargames should go in their own thread.

 

[Mefi]

I think RTS should be removed from the strategy forum but hey, opinions are like arseholes...


A free RTS based on Total Annihilation. (30mb download). Made by fans apparantly and still an ongoing project.

http://taspring.clan-sy.com/

 

[Severian Silk]

FreeOrion - a GPL'd remake of the DOS classic.

 

[LCJr.]

War of Enlightenment. Free online turnbased strategy game for 20 players. Includes singleplayer demo. Full singleplayer version is 30 euros.

http://www.warofenlightenment.com/index.shtml

 

[AZ]

Have you seen 1848? http://battlefront.com/products/1848/download.html

It is a free hex based strategy, nice gfx. It's about a civil war in Austria.

"1848 is a turn based computer strategy game for the PC. The game is set during the violent era of the Hungarian Independence War of 1848-49. 1848 was a year of revolutions. Most of the uprisings were crushed quickly, but Hungary was an exception. While Austria was occupied in dealing with the independence movements in Italy, Hungary used the time to train and deploy a competent army.. The newly created Honved Army suffered some set-backs in 1848, but in the 1849 spring counter-attack, the whole country was liberated. Victory was sweet but short for Hungary – in the summer of 1849 the Tsar of Russia intervened with 200,000 troops. In history, this force could not be stopped. Can you change history?" - As the developer said.

 

[Naked_Lunch]

1848 rocks.

 

[Slylandro]

Drainstorm is a nice, humorous turnbased game that's deep enough to be fun but still accessible enough to be good in between coffee breaks. And hey, it's literally tilebased. Style points for sure. :D

http://ourworld.compuserve.com/homepages/dhorner/

 

[Jason]

Everyone should know about the most recent Steel Panthers release, winSPWW2

# Tactical single and multi-player gameplay of combined arms combat from 1930 thru 1946.
# Based on the classic Steel Panthers game, although winSPWW2 is a total reworking, both inside and out, of the system.
# Fully Windows compatible, with a complete removal of all DOS problems. All sound and mouse routines Windows compliant now.
# Full screen or windowed, using either DirectX or Windows GDI based graphics.
# Game resolution can be raised to 800x600 (original was stuck at 640x480), with even higher resolutions available with the enhanced CD version.
# New zoom-in level and a revised game palette.
# Over 332 scenarios, 66 of which are totally new to winSPWW2.
# 60 new maps and 275 new photos.
# Six new nations: Slovak Republic, Manchukuo, Italian Social Republic, Vichy France, Polish Communists, and Chinese Communists.
# 500+ new and revised vehicle/aircraft icons.
# Scripted long campaigns added for France, Chinese Nationalists, and Chinese Communists.

And it's free, unless you want the CD version with higher resolutions and other useless extras.

 

[LCJr.]

Talk about competition for market share. Two versions of the same game.

http://www.matrixgames.com/games/downloads.asp?gid=297

Had the time to make comparisons between two yet Baby Arm?

 

[Jason]

No, I've only fiddled around with winSPWW2 enough to tell you that the graphics are better than winSPWAW. Here's a thread that can give you more detailed "under the hood" differences.

The main difference with winSPMBT is that WW2 is obviously a World War II game and MBT is a modern warfare game.

 

[Mefi]

The matrix version has a graphics mod called SPWAW Enhanced with the OOBs redone historically. It rocks. http://www.spwaw.com/phpBB2/viewforum.php?f=96

Download the Das Reich campaign from that site btw (not compatible with Enhanced yet sadly). Absolutely awesome campaign for the game.

There isn't much difference between the two games - both are open to being 'gamed' and the systems abused. SPWAW could use some more fixes for its 8.403 beta patch to resolve some outstanding issues whereas SPWW2 has ongoing support. In SP mode, both games have very unimpressive AI. Can't really choose between the two - if I was paying, I'd go for SPWW2 for the support but that's the only really decisive difference.

 

[DaViLLaN]

There are a ton of differences between SPWaW and winSPWW2. Excluding asthetics, the main differences lie in the battle mechanics. In WaW, you can use a squads/vehicles individual weapons to maximize firepower per current target. In winSPWW2, all weapons fire all the time. Sounds like not a big deal, until you play the game a bit. Also in WW2, armor is almost ineffective against infantry. WaW has a bit of unrealistic arty system, and things like opportunity fire are done very different. There are a ton of other differences and if anyone cares, I will go into more detail.

I personally prefer SPWaW( from matrix games), but both are great games and both are free, so I recommend trying both games.

 

[Mefi]

To be honest, the differences aren't really relevant other than to offer different opportunities to 'game' your PBEM opponent.

SPWW2 is based on a simpler combat engine than on SPWAW so comparing the two directly is a bit pointless. Both games have flaws which come from design decisions made back when the Steel Panthers franchise split into two parts.

Not sure what you mean by SPWAW's arty being unrealistic. I guess you mean the instant arty called in by the US? Sure, but no-one has ever accurately defined how long a game turn actually is. Unless it's seconds, then there's nothing wrong with quick arty support. There is a problem with the actual arty mechanics with SPWAW's 8.403 (due to a coding error to correct an earlier bug with splash damage) but that's a bug not a design feature.

The differences don't fundamentally change the way the game is played. Neither are particular stellar in the AI department and so SP revolves around either seeing how long you can last against overwhelming odds or seeing whether you can wipe out the AI faster than you did last time. And in PBEM, both are equally very open to being gamed without houserules and an honest opponent.

And yes, Naked Lunch and Babyarm, I have written that review for SPWW2. I just need bloody screenshots.

--------------------

Anyways, a free game from one of the main US defence contractors....

http://www.army.mil/fcs/f2c2/index.html

Squad level tactical more than strategic I guess.


Registering signs you up for immediate deployment to Iraq :D

 

[AZ]

http://frozenempire.net/lom/index.htm

Anybody have seen this? Free, indi, turnbased, 3d..

 

[sheek]

http://frozenempire.net/lom/index.htm

Anybody have seen this? Free, indi, turnbased, 3d..

Looks really intereseting so far.

 

[sheek]

You can get Incubation now on abandonware sites.

 

[onerobot]

Horizon, an incredibly obscure 4x game, has been under development by the five person team of L30 for at least three years now.

Unfortunately, other than a page devoted to it at Orion Sector and a largely unhelpful cinematic trailer there's little in the way of information about the game to be found.

edit: There are a few interesting discussions about design in their forums if you're willing to dig a bit.

 

[LCJr.]

Doing my rounds so haven't had a chance to try any of these yet. Most are still in development but all have downloads.

Nether Earth Remake http://www.braingames.getput.com/nether/
Remake of what they claim is the first RTS. Originally on the Spectrum.

Freelords, Warlords clone http://freelords.sourceforge.net/news.php
The graphics are unique to say the least.

GalaxyMage, JRPG tactical http://www.galaxymage.org/index.php/Main_Page
I just know this one will be real popular here

FreeCol is still alive and progressing. http://www.freecol.org/index.php?section=1
Out of about a half dozen Colonization clones this is the only one still kicking.

Warzone2100 Resurrection Project http://wz2100.net/
Fan project working on improving Warzone2100. Sourcecode was released 12/2004.

Really Rather Good Battles In Space http://rrgbis.sourceforge.net/index.php
Space fleet RTS. With a name like that you just know it's good.

Rail World, Railroad simulator. http://www.kolls.net/rwwiki/index.php?title=Rail_World
OK not really a strategy game but might prove an interesting diversion.

Invasion:Battle of Survival http://bos.seul.org/index.shtml
RTS built on the Stratagus engine http://stratagus.sourceforge.net/
The Games on Stratagus lists 8 more games built on the engine.

 

[Jason]

Been watching Galaxy Mage for some time (can't resist a Tactics Ogre/FFT wannabe), but I've been unable to get throught to their site lately. Did they give up or is it just me? Last update I know of was in March.

Out of about a half dozen Colonization clones this is the only one still kicking.

Swecol (aka Project Colonies) looks like it's still alive.

 

[LCJr.]

Been watching Galaxy Mage for some time (can't resist a Tactics Ogre/FFT wannabe), but I've been unable to get throught to their site lately. Did they give up or is it just me? Last update I know of was in March.

Out of about a half dozen Colonization clones this is the only one still kicking.

Swecol (aka Project Colonies) looks like it's still alive.

The link I posted works for me. Looks like it's really slowed down http://www.galaxymage.org/forum/viewfor ... 2d7bd2f10e

Thanks for the link to Swecol.

 

[LCJr.]

Master of Magic Clone is back. Webpage had been down for quite awhile.
http://www.masterofmagic.co.uk/showpage ... ename=main
Latest version is 0.60. No AI yet so MP only.

 

[Gwendo]

http://www.naked-war.com