Simple Strategy Games

When it comes to strategy games, the more complex the better, as far as I'm concerned. However, as work on my dissertation ramps up and I'm finding myself spending ten-twelve hours a day wrestling through sources and trying to bang out coherent sentences, I'm developing a craving for short, simple strategy games to relax with. I know, I'd probably be better off with another genre, but strategy games are my jam.

The HoMM series seems like a likely contender, but I've played it so much that I'm looking for something else. I've recently become addicted to the early Warcrafts, but again, after playing through all of Warcraft 1, Warcraft 2, and a decent chunk of Beyond the Dark Portal, I'm starting to look for something else.

So I thought I'd ask here. What's your mac and cheese of strategy games? What are your go-to games for the end of a long day when you just want something comfortable to chill out?

 

Yep, homm is the go to casual strategy for many. On a similar vein, you might try King's Bounty or Disciples (I and II are safe, I heard that they actually unfucked III in one of the releases, but hever gotten round to checking
For something with similar atmosphere, Age of Wonders is also quite simple and satisfying (Shadow Magic was the high point iirc).

I'm not really into RTS, the only ones that really stuck with me was Total Annihilation, Supreme Commander (2 is best avoided), Company of Heroes (2 is noticeably inferior) and Dawn of War (Dark Crusade is where it's at, avoid number 2
... yep, there's a pattern, but Chaos Rising is playable) All good for some mindless fun in skirmish mode.

nuXCOM by Firaxis could also qualify as a casual strategy game. Personally, I finished it once and got bored with it, but ymmv.

Civilization is a real time eater, I wouldn't recommend if you have responsibilities. Civ4 is a good starting point and has plenty of excellent mods.
Civ5 was shite on release and I never really gotten back to it, is supposedly better with expansions (funny enough, same thing could be said about 4).
Pandora is like a Civ4 mod with emphasis on combat (tries to be Alpha Centauri... but really isn't). Good for what it is.

Sadly, I'm finding that I can't really pull an all-nighter with Civ like I used to. My priority is to focus on strategy games that actually let me accomplish something in 2-3h bursts (which means all sorts of Paradox or Total War games are out of the picture).
If some of this resonates with you, do yourself a favor and try Invisible Inc. For quite some time it's been my go-to game in these situations. Endless replayability, heavy roguelike influence, very customizable, turn based stealth. A true Gem.
My other go-to game is Chessmaster, normally I need to be focused and rested for chess, however this version has a brilliant selection of customizable AIs to choose from, so you can have fun with a 300 ELO idiot in a quick, 10 minute game.

And there's plenty of oldies you can look into: Fallout Tactics, Dark Omen, Dungeon Keeper 1-2, Populous

 

Command & Conquer. Build, harvest, mass-produce, destroy everything -all listening to cool music and doing it for Kane or sexualized commie girls (Red Alert).

 

What about Fantasy Wars or the Kings Bounty games? Both are fantasy turn-based strategy games.

 

Total Annihilation Zero
Starcraft Revolution
C-evo
Royal Warfare 1/2 (browser game)
heroes 5.5
factorio
Medieval TW 1

 

Unity of Command for turn limit based, turn based WW2 strategy. Really good for relatively quick "chess-like" strategy scenarios. Easy to learn, good presentation, etc.

Total War games are more "mac and cheese", though. Not overly complex, but just enough to make them not boring(except for the really bad versions), and always fun to watch little dudes smash each other up.

Civilization games can be comforting because they are quite leisurely, and the beginning of the game with exploration and building stuff is just fun and relatively stress free.

Second Disciples 2, pretty nice for that style of game and not as.....overwhelmed with "stuff" as some others.

Newer game I'd recommend would be Factorio, because there's not much more comforting than just building shit. There's a slight risk of "alien attack", but it's pretty leisurely. If you can find a friend, it's a nice game to shoot the shit over while playing. It's not really simple, but the difficulty is sort of what you make it.

 

Oh, and Blitzkrieg and Ground Control/World in Conflict are quite direct and immediately fun also.

 

Form the newer ones I would add:
Ultimate General
Door Kickers - not really a strategy game, it plays like top down Rainbow Six, or Swat - but much less chaotic than Police Quest Swat 2.

Both titles worked for me when I wanted a quick "strategy" fix.

 

Warlords series.

Panzer General and its spin offs. You also have a very active modding community that produced huge number of fan made campaigns of many other conflicts beside WW2.

 

Hex Empire. Greatest simple strategy game ever. I'm not even sure it's "strategy" as opposed to a puzzle game, but it's delightful.

 

Just go with Diablo or other hack n' slash, it is strategish in terms of equipment, skills, health and other resources but you don't need to develop insane strategies to beat it. If you have trouble then just grind until you beat your foes into submission of xp dominance.

 

Battle Academy
Unity of Command
Vietnam '65
Sid Meier Ace Patrol

Lately I picked up Templar Battleforce, but I dunno if it gets super intense yet or not. It's what I play in the coffee shops at the moment.

 

TB can be pretty intense at times with huge hoards of bugs overrunning your dudes.

 

Look forward to it. I did see it had some hardcore challenges like Ironman campaigns and what not. My problem with it right now is the Tutorial won't ever fucking end.

 

Yeah it took me 2 hrs or so to reach the point where the game got challenging.

 

Isn't that more of a tactics game though? If MilesBeyond likes casual tactics games there's a few I can recommend.

I can totally empathize with his search for something more "casual". After a hard day at work I usually reach for an ARPG I can mindlessly click things to death with and still listen to my favorite political/history/RPG podcasts.

 

Play Z (not Steam version) or Warlords Battlecry 3.

 

Yes, Z is like Red Alert with a different flavor.

 

When I want to play something quick in between, the most simple is Chess. When I play something in trains or airplanes it's either Chess or a adventure games. Shredder is a good engine to play against, and a game is over in 10-20 fast turns if I set it lower than myself (a 100 points already makes a big difference). Another would be Poker. If you're interested try Try Governor of Poker 2, it's a lot of fun and even has sort of a campaign mode.

As to real computer games, these may not all be exactly strategy games but should entertain you as a strategy gamer. They are all good games which dont require much preparation.

Spacechem
Sim Golf
Plague Inc.
Terratech
Galactic Civilizations 2
Prison Architect
Atlantic Fleet

The following are games which I havent played yet (or very little) but could fit the bill:

Battle Academy
Pike and Shot
Unity of Command
Victory and Glory
Commander The Great War
Lock and Load Heroes of Stalingrad
Conflict of Heroes
Ultimate General Gettysburg
Battle of The Bulge (the new game from iOS)

 

Chess tactics is always good. There are endless apps if you have a mobile device. Or if you have wifi, I recommend Chess Tempo (PC or mobile).

 

Warlords 3
Warlords Battlecry 2/3
Age of Empires 1
Swarm Assault

 

In a similar vein to OP's question, are there any stress-free 4x games? With you being able to just build your civ and NOT have to worry about the (most often than not) shitty and tedious combat? Empire builders maybe?

 

Master of Magic. You can play an entire game in an afternoon.

 

Kill yourself