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Turn-Based Tactics Seeking recommendations for modern TBS Squad Tactic games

Angelo85

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Sup guys,

I'm wondering which "modern" - as in released within the last let's say roughly decade - Turn based squad tactic games you can recommend.

I'm looking for games in the vein of Jagged Alliance, Xenonauts, Battle Brothers to give you a rough idea.

I've seen some games on Steam that look interesting at first glance like Hard West, Fallen: A2P protocol, Mordheim and wonder which one of the newer games in the genre is worthwhile, hence this Thread. I also haven't played XCOM 2 (I did play and was let-down by XCOM 1).

If it's a really good game I might also suffer through real time / with pause but turn based is highly preferred. Same applies to Anime/JRPG Tactic thingies like Valkyria Chronicles.

But please don't let that reservation on my part discourage you and recommend me whatever you deem a good game in the genre.
 
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keep playing those you already played. there's nothing to be seen here.
there's nothing like ja2 1.13.
 

rezaf

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First of all, no such thread is complete without Silent Storm getting a mention. It's just that good, at least before PanzerKleins enter the stage. But now significantly older than a decade, so I guess it doesn't apply.

Other than that ... there's been far too few decent games of this type. Maybe Invisible Inc.?
I was going to say maybe Cold Contract will become something nice, but then remembered they actually ceased development after sitting on steam for a year or something.
http://store.steampowered.com/app/243970/
Ah well, we still have JA2 1.13 and OpenX-Com, so I guess we can live without another JA:Flashback or somesuch...
 

Ebonsword

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Mar 7, 2008
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2,326
I quite liked Warhammer 40K: Deathwatch.

It's not as deep as the best games in the genre, but the basic combat is good, the character building is *very* addictive, and it's pretty reasonably priced.

warhammer_40k_deathwatch_ee_six.jpg
 

Taka-Haradin puolipeikko

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Codex 2016 - The Age of Grimoire Make the Codex Great Again! Grab the Codex by the pussy Bubbles In Memoria
Hard west is quite good.
Also if you can stomach RTwP, then Door Kickers might be worthy.


e. seconded for Invisible Inc.
 
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Galdred

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Steve gets a Kidney but I don't even get a tag.
I quite liked Warhammer 40K: Deathwatch.

It's not as deep as the best games in the genre, but the basic combat is good, the character building is *very* addictive, and it's pretty reasonably priced.

warhammer_40k_deathwatch_ee_six.jpg
I find it much better than Space Hulk: It has a very good level design, and the harder difficulties can get brutal (but the beginning/early difficulties are too easy).
It gets a bit grindy if you want to assemble an all star squad, but you can cheat engine it if you prefer, so it's not a big concern.
It plays somewhat close to Incubation.
 

Epsilon

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Jul 11, 2009
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Laser Squad?... Since you've already played the best in the genre, have you tried branching out and play stuff reminiscent of them? Stuff like Panzer General 2 or Mechanized Assault and Exploration.
 

ERYFKRAD

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Strap Yourselves In Serpent in the Staglands Shadorwun: Hong Kong Pillars of Eternity 2: Deadfire Steve gets a Kidney but I don't even get a tag. Pathfinder: Wrath I'm very into cock and ball torture I helped put crap in Monomyth
It's Russian (I think), so would I need mods/patches for this or is it alright enough out of the box?
There are two versions you get when you buy it on Steam. The vanilla version needs the Blue Sun mod. But the hard life version is okay out of the box, though it is waaaay more hardcore.
 

ArchAngel

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+1 for Hard West.

Also try nuXcom with LongWar mod. It is a pretty different game.
 

Dayyālu

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Tenplar Battleforce is weirdly good. It is quite simple in a lot of details, but the amount of love the devs poured on it is impressive. It's like a bunch of guys said "We're going to make a GOOD WH40k game! We don't have the money for licenses so we're going to write up whatever we can. Let's do this!"

And they did.

Minuses are the interface, quite clearly made for both PC and tablet, and the enemy variety somewhat on the low side. But it's solid, and worth the little money it costs. Plus, they keep updating it and patching it.
 

Modron

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Just throwing out of list of decent games not mentioned so far:
Blackguards - Recommending the first one in case you haven't played it.
Telepath Tactics
Expeditions: Conquistador
Chroma Squad
The Dwarf Run

Odds and ends:
Blood Bowl: Chaos Edition
Legends of Eisenwald
Wasteland 2
Steamworld Heist (essentially worms with robots and stats)
Banner Saga
 

Modron

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Better to cast the net wider beyond Silent Storm, Xenonauts, Hard West, and Invisible INC just in case he finds a tactical/strat game he could enjoy then be too far constrained in my opinion. Besides how many games are actually in the line of Xcom and Jagged Alliance (especially in this last decade).
 

Angelo85

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Cheers for all the suggestions guys :love:

MadMaxHellfire "keep playing those you already played."
yeah it is convenient to stick to what you know especially when it's the best the genre has to offer but you gotta broaden your horizon some time man. After all you can only feed Deidranna a lead meal so many times before even such a fun activity starts to get a bit stale. (I know, I know: sacrilege! And all that jizz :D)

rezaf Silent Storm: I did play silent storm quite some time ago and remember it to be rather fun. I haven't played Hammer & Sickle though, which seems to be similar and the unofficial successor. Is that one good too? Couldn't find it on neither GOG nor Steam sadly so might be hard to acquire.
Invisible Inc.: Can' really pin it down but somehow doesn't interest me that much even though it has good reviews and gameplay looks decent judging by viewing videos on Youtube.

Ebonsword Deathwatch: Thanks for the suggestion, I did play the game through the whole campaign on the starting difficulty and the game is indeed fun despite it's bite sized levels and grindy nature unless you give in to the micropayment stuff (or cheating like Galdred mentioned). The curse of it's mobile origin I presume.

Taka-Haradin puolipeikko Door Kickers: another good suggestion, thanks. I picked it up a while back and played it for roughly eight hours and those were quality, entertaining eight hours. Yet it started to get quite repetitive after that point for me personally. Kinda like a "been there, done that" feeling you know?

ERYFKRAD 7,62: Looking at Screenshots from Steam I vaguely recall playing a pirated copy some time ago with a bad english translation and the feeling that I'm playing a poor man's attempt of recreating the Jagged Alliance style in real time. Almost like Back in Action only worse. But perhaps I didn't do it justice and ought to give it another go, proper this time around with the mentioned Blue Sun mod as well.

Mustawd Dayyālu Templar Battle Force: Funnily enough I deliberated getting the game a little while ago when I saw the first couple minutes of a gameplay video by TotalBiscuit of all people. But then I realized the creator of the game also did make Heroes of Steel, which is in and of itself a game with the right ideas and generally fun concept - which I picked up some time ago as part of a Bundle for 1$ - but was rather infuriated with by the little things like extremely long turn times even in small to medium sized fights, forced time eating turn based movement even with no enemies around etc. that are pretty much all things that make me hate unadapted ports from mobile games. And I was afraid the same issues might plague Templar Battle Force as well so I didn't pick it up or give it another thought. Since you two recommended it and I enjoyed the spirit - despite bad mechanics - of their first game, I will give it a go. Thank you.

laclongquan The only title from that trilogy I played was the first one, UFO: Aftermath. The art style evolution of the trilogy towards the comic style indicated to me more dumbed down, casualized gameplay so I never touched them. It's 3 against 1 in this Thread so far against those games so I won't bother with further investigation. But still thank you.

Modron Interesting list, naturally I played pretty much all of the RPGs from it plus Blood Bowl (which I found a little bit too random for my tastes by the way. Yes I know it's faithful to the tabletop but still). Chroma Squad is a little too far on the japanese scale of things for me personally. Same applied to Telepath Tactics at first glance when I initially found that game but I might have been wrong about that first impression. I always associated it with stuff like Final Fantasy Tactics or Fire Emblem.


Once again, thanks to everyone that replied and for all the suggestions. I will pick up Hard West and Templar Battle Force for the weekend and start from there. But feel free to keep the suggestions coming and this Thread going!
 

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