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Help picking strategy games?

NoisyKillerHPB

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So I've dabbled in Starcraft and Warcraft since I was a kid and I've tried the odd RTS every here and there but I haven't found a strategy game I really, really like, partly cause I don't really know what I'm looking for yet. Depths of Peril sounded like my dream game but I was pretty disappointed with it. X-COM and Silent Storm are the only other real strategies I've played but could never get into them that much. Ohh and Dungeon Keeper(s?) 1/2 was cool but crashed too much for me. Could you guys give me some suggestions? Also my computer is poop (256 RAM, ATI x800 etc) so nothing too demanding :D!
 

SmokedWolf

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Any of the c&c games are worth a go.

Rise of nations is pretty good, like a cross between civ and c&c.

for a game like ss ja2 cannot be beaten.
 

Dagon

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Nexus: The Jupiter Incident
Homeworld 1 & 2
Europa Universalis 1,2 & 3

Nexus - The most realistic Space RTS
Homeworld 1 & 2 - great games with the great stories
Europa Universalis - pure fun for historian
 

WhiskeyWolf

RPG Codex Polish Car Thief
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Dagon said:
Nexus: The Jupiter Incident
Homeworld 1 & 2
Europa Universalis 1,2 & 3

Nexus - The most realistic Space RTS
Homeworld 1 & 2 - great games with the great stories
Europa Universalis - pure fun for historian

Homeworld = Yes
Nexus = I think this guy won't get into something that even a SF fan like myself couldn't finish - maybe someday.

Don't get me wrong, it's a good game (even great in some aspects) but after playing the homeworld series it's hard to satisfy my expectations.
 

Dagon

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Yep Homeworld is one of teh greatest games I ever played.
But you have to agree that Space Combat in Nexus, though more Hard Core is better.
It would be nice to have a game with story on level of Homeworld, with HW's research trees and small dose of micromanagement and Nexus combat. :)
BTW have you tried Sword of The Stars? Is it any good? I heard many very good opinions about it, and it was created by the half of Homeworld Cataclysm team. The other half is now creating a total Homeworld clone called Sins of The Sollar Empire.
 

Humanophage

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Dec 20, 2005
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Majesty: A Fantasy Kingdom Sim - if you enjoyed Dungeon Keeper, that should be your kind of game. You act as a ruler of a fantasy kingdom, and cannot directly issue any orders to your subjects. Instead, you use various incentives to make them do what you want. The setting is pleasantly humorous, the gameplay inventive.

Heroes of Might and Magic III - a fantasy turn-based strategy. Deep without having a steep learning curve. The atmosphere is amazing, too. If you find it to your liking, try Master of Magic, Age of Wonders I-II, and Disciples II.

Hearts of Iron II - probably the best game to get introduced to global strategies by Paradox, but still pretty hard. The other two excellent games of its kind are Victoria and Europa Universalis II. Victoria is said to be difficult and doesn't have a tutorial, but I think it's the most detailed and engaging game of the three. Give it a try after HoI. EUIII won't run on your PC.

Rome: Total War - a turn-based strategy with RTS battles. That's a major game, with a good community and mods. The campaign is epic. The game places a lot of emphasis on cinematic graphics, but your PC should be able to handle it. If it doesn't, try Medieval: Total War.

Emperor of the Fading Suns - a turn-based global strategy with an impressive gothic sci-fi setting. The descriptions of technologies alone can occupy one for a few hours. The game is very complex, so I suggest trying it once you get acquainted with other turn-based strategies.

King of Dragon Pass - this one is actually more of an RPG than a strategy. The player is a tribal chieftain who is to settle various troubles within the tribe and perform peculiar rituals. Most of the game consists of choosing various options in large descriptive dialogues. If you like your games wordy, deep, and non-linear, as you probably do, judging from your location, KoDP will suit you well.
 

Dagon

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DraQ said:
Homeworld 1 is awesome and thus a must-play.

I haven't played Nexus, though, can anyone say something more about it?

It was supposed to be Imperium Galactica III: Origins (prequel) but the gameplay was changed to be more of the Tactical Space RTS than 4X.
The graphics are fantastic, even though the game is from 2004. It looks like it would be developed today. The game is really good, worse than homeworld (unsuprisingly) but really great. It's a shame that we probably won't see a sequel, it was selling very poorly, though reviews were very positive, it was put recently on steam btw.

Humanophage said:
Emperor of the Fading Suns - a turn-based global strategy with an impressive gothic sci-fi setting. The descriptions of technologies alone can occupy one for a few hours. The game is very complex, so I suggest trying it once you get acquainted with other turn-based strategies

I love Fading Suns tabletop RPG, ANd teh setting is great indeed!
 

DraQ

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Dagon said:
The graphics are fantastic, even though the game is from 2004. It looks like it would be developed today. The game is really good, worse than homeworld (unsuprisingly) but really great. It's a shame that we probably won't see a sequel, it was selling very poorly, though reviews were very positive, it was put recently on steam btw.
I consider graphics secondary to the rest of the experience, besides, Homeworld's graphics was more than sufficient (not that I don't enjoy eyecandy, it's simply low priority for me), so I have to ask:

How does the gameplay look like and what are it's 'hardcore' aspects?

and

Where would you place this game on Haegemonia-HW2/Cataclysm-HW1 from worst to best scale?
 

Dagon

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My scale is quite different because It looks like this
HW1 > HW2 > NEXUS > HWC
I didn't finished Haegemonia, I started playing it but I didn't like it very much, though it was quite some time ago, maybe I will give it a second try - is it worth it?
In Nexus I played it on "Professional" difficulty setting and the fights were really tough, much harder than HW2 for example:P.
And the gameplay, here you can find some. it sometimes simillar to Homeworld but there are differences, I find it to be more tactical oriented.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=46G7-9BdNmM&feature=related


EDIT: Some logical errors in my post
 

WhiskeyWolf

RPG Codex Polish Car Thief
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BTW have you tried Sword of The Stars? Is it any good? I heard many very good opinions about it, and it was created by the half of Homeworld Cataclysm team. The other half is now creating a total Homeworld clone called Sins of The Sollar Empire.

Never heard about it - I will have to check.

There's a Homeworld clone in production? SWEET!

Emperor of the Fading Suns - a turn-based global strategy with an impressive gothic sci-fi setting. The descriptions of technologies alone can occupy one for a few hours. The game is very complex, so I suggest trying it once you get acquainted with other turn-based strategies.

Next thing to check.

I haven't played Nexus, though, can anyone say something more about it?

How does the gameplay look like and what are it's 'hardcore' aspects?

This game is really "hardcore" - because the thing is when it comes to MOVEMENT you have only something like 30% of freedom comperd to HW, other meaning of "hardcore" is that only a player-fan can sit throught this game to the end. It's quit long and when I played - I was somewhere at the end (I think) - my 2nd hard-drive died (I had the saves), after that I couldn't bring myself to finish it.

*MOVEMENT - you don't see this this type in every RTS, look on the youtube for a gameplay.
 

mondblut

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I second Emperor of the Fading Suns and King of Dragon Pass suggestions.

Add Dominions 2 or 3, MASSIVE fantasy strategies, and Crusader Kings, Europa Universalis gone medieval.
 

DraQ

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WhiskeyWolf said:
you have only something like 30% of freedom comperd to HW
What?

The first interpretation, most likely wrong, that springs to mind is that there is 1/3 degrees of freedom compared to homeworld, so that ships can, for example spin on one axis and slide along linear rail. Could you elucidate this movement oddity?
 

NoisyKillerHPB

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Somewhat addicted to Depths of Peril now. I guess there was something I didn't get that made it annoying before. Homeworld looks pretty damn cool, I've never played an RTS of that type (in space and etc ;o). King of Dragon Pass sounds nifty too. I'll try out a bunch of these, thanks for the help :0!
 

Jason

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BTW have you tried Sword of The Stars? Is it any good? I heard many very good opinions about it, and it was created by the half of Homeworld Cataclysm team. The other half is now creating a total Homeworld clone called Sins of The Sollar Empire.
Sins isn't really a Homeworld clone since it's designed to be a real-time 4X, rather than just a RTS.
For info on SOTS, check here and here.
 

OSK

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NoisyKillerHPB said:
X-COM and Silent Storm are the only other real strategies I've played but could never get into them that much.

*Leaves*
 

WhiskeyWolf

RPG Codex Polish Car Thief
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DraQ said:
WhiskeyWolf said:
you have only something like 30% of freedom comperd to HW
What?

The first interpretation, most likely wrong, that springs to mind is that there is 1/3 degrees of freedom compared to homeworld, so that ships can, for example spin on one axis and slide along linear rail. Could you elucidate this movement oddity?

The thing with the movement is that you can't go everywhere you want like in HW (spacebar, move, LMC where you want to go).

The situation here is different - for example in one mission you have to board a space-station, for that we have a small dropship with space-marines. To do that we have to get close with our main ship but the station is on the other side of the sector not to mention this sector is a field of asteroids with a pretty decent defense system of rockets that will rain on us as soon as we a approach.
In HW you would probably make a detour by making a few check-points.
Here we can only get near "something" (ex.ship, torpido-battery, wreck of a ship, UN object) by clicking on it with the mouse. So to make a detour we click on the farest object to the left - ship wreck - an we advance (because we aren't far enough we get 2 missiles in our ass).

This system may look very unappealing but belive me - it's not. I would call it more tactical.

One more thing - this game is right behind HW games, the rest of the eye-candy can go fuck itself.

Also look here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bhhnRXdNXCw
 

Lord Chambers

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Jan 23, 2006
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Why the hell is Civ4 so underrepresented on this board? It's simply the most addictive strategy game I've ever played. Since every version since CivNet (essentially the first Civilization game, circa 1995) I've played, developed an addiction that interferes with my regular life, then played until I was burnt out, uninstalled for a couple months, and come back to find it as fun as ever.

Civilization 4, the most recent in the series, is the best of them all, though probably the most complex and difficult to learn. However, the gameplay on the whole is pretty streamlined, and you spend the majority of your time plotting overall strategy through your tech development, building construction, city placement, and diplomacy, as opposed to micromanaging details.

The complexities of the game are well documented in the in-game Civilopedia and there are 8 or so difficulty levels which cater to the complete beginner to the all-but-impossible, so there is really no entry hurdle as there are trying to break in to other-well established series.

Five stars for Civ4.
 

DraQ

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WhiskeyWolf said:
Here we can only get near "something" (ex.ship, torpido-battery, wreck of a ship, UN object) by clicking on it with the mouse. So to make a detour we click on the farest object to the left - ship wreck - an we advance (because we aren't far enough we get 2 missiles in our ass).
Sounds annoyingly artificial.
 

WhiskeyWolf

RPG Codex Polish Car Thief
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DraQ said:
WhiskeyWolf said:
Here we can only get near "something" (ex.ship, torpido-battery, wreck of a ship, UN object) by clicking on it with the mouse. So to make a detour we click on the farest object to the left - ship wreck - an we advance (because we aren't far enough we get 2 missiles in our ass).
Sounds annoyingly artificial.

It's not, you must try it.
 

dragonfk

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Lord Chambers said:
Why the hell is Civ4 so underrepresented on this board? It's simply the most addictive strategy game I've ever played. Since every version since CivNet (essentially the first Civilization game, circa 1995) I've played, developed an addiction that interferes with my regular life, then played until I was burnt out, uninstalled for a couple months, and come back to find it as fun as ever.

Civilization 4, the most recent in the series, is the best of them all, though probably the most complex and difficult to learn. However, the gameplay on the whole is pretty streamlined, and you spend the majority of your time plotting overall strategy through your tech development, building construction, city placement, and diplomacy, as opposed to micromanaging details.

The complexities of the game are well documented in the in-game Civilopedia and there are 8 or so difficulty levels which cater to the complete beginner to the all-but-impossible, so there is really no entry hurdle as there are trying to break in to other-well established series.

Five stars for Civ4.

I've played every single Civilization title that was avaible. And I must say I am not impressed with number IV. It's good, but then again its not great.

I just dont feel the joy like I did with number I and II. Also Alfa Centauri was very nice and there are few gameplay aspects from Call to Power that I would gladly see in the newest installment of Civilization.
 

Dagon

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WhiskeyWolf said:
DraQ said:
WhiskeyWolf said:
Here we can only get near "something" (ex.ship, torpido-battery, wreck of a ship, UN object) by clicking on it with the mouse. So to make a detour we click on the farest object to the left - ship wreck - an we advance (because we aren't far enough we get 2 missiles in our ass).
Sounds annoyingly artificial.

It's not, you must try it.

Yeah you really should. I found combat to be much better than Homeworld's
I just got the DVD version of NEXUS, it was given today by polish game magazine called CD ACTION :D :D :D
 

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