Can Anyone Recommend a Good "Builder"?

[Computer Gamer Refugee]

Settlers 2 is the game you need. If you didn't play it back in the day, then you should try it asap. It's pretty light on the military aspect, but other than that, it's all about building stuff and watching your settlement grow and prosper.

Civ series is also a good one. You say you did play it, so perhaps it's not the thing you're looking for. You might also try Colonization. I actually like the original one more than any of the Civ games.

Playing HOI 2/3 with Soviet Union also has lots of turtling involved. I like to play those games with CCCP, since there's lots of planning and micro involved when preparing for the inevitable German rape.

Other than that? I don't know, Ceasar series perhaps? Then again, I didn't play any of the games from the series for too long so I'm not going to say anything more.

This

 

[Rpgsaurus Rex]

You are pretty much describing Settlers 2. Play it now! It's one of the best games ever made, although it has some quirks and annoyances.

My economy needs iron, I keep giving them the ore but they keep giving me pigs! Fucking nightmare.

 

[catfood]

You are pretty much describing Settlers 2. Play it now! It's one of the best games ever made, although it has some quirks and annoyances.

My economy needs iron, I keep giving them the ore but they keep giving me pigs! Fucking nightmare.

That's the copy protection in Settlers 3.

 

[BlitzKitchen]

I'm currently DLing the Settlers 2 from GOG. Is there anything I should know before diving into it?

 

[hoverdog]

I'm currently DLing the Settlers 2 from GOG. Is there anything I should know before diving into it?

Start loving roads. I mean it. Roooooooaaaaaaaaadsssssss.

 

[Gruffalo Soldier]

Just recently got M.A.X 1-2 off gog and while being a tbs game the base building seems rather fun.

 

[KoolNoodles]

Of recent games I can only recommend Anno 1404(or Dawn of Discovery), and perhaps the future version which I hear is more of the same(and seemed like it in the demo). Probably one of the better "building" games I've ever played. For older titles, I had fun with Settlers, Caesar/Pharaoh type games, and Dungeon Keeper. Sim City series is fun to mess around with, but gets a little stale after all these years. I heard from a friend that Cities XL was an okay game after all the added content/patches, though never tried it myself.

 

[Keshik]

Not sure if it classes as a builder but i got a similar feeling when playing Railroad Tycoon 3, can be a breeze once your system is up and clicking, but I suppose they're all like that. Definitely recommend one of the Caesar games, maybe the third game.

 

[ohWOW]

I need to play Cultures 2 again. Thanks for reminding me that shit.


So much better than Settlers.

 

[BlitzKitchen]

Settlers 2's interface is conflicting with my popamole brian. Kinda wish it was more like Caesar 2's or something.

 

[Dead Guy]

I bought Stronghold 3 because I wanted to build and manage a castle, and defend it. Started playing the campaign and all I got to do was build farms and shit on flat ground in the middle of a forest and hire peasants to figh a bunch of dudes a couple of times. That's what the first four or so missions were like. Then I quit in disgust. From what I've heard the earlier ones might actually be about building?

 

[BlitzKitchen]

I bought Stronghold 3 because I wanted to build and manage a castle, and defend it. Started playing the campaign and all I got to do was build farms and shit on flat ground in the middle of a forest and hire peasants to figh a bunch of dudes a couple of times. That's what the first four or so missions were like. Then I quit in disgust. From what I've heard the earlier ones might actually be about building?

Yes. Well, the original Stronghold at least. Comes with a dedicated gather resource/build mode. Building castles can get pretty intricate and fun. Though building is also important when you are playing adversarial or on some of the missions.

I haven't played the 2nd installment but I heard it was poor.

 

[KoolNoodles]

Stronghold and Stronghold: Crusader are mostly about building castles. The resource gathering is very spartan. The combat is very blobby and simple, but castle design is fun and complex enough to be engaging. Multiplayer is a blast with Crusader. Not sure if anyone still plays though.

 

[asper]

That Cultures game looks gorgeous and I totally missed it back in the day. Are there any patches or high-res mods for it?

 

[Misconnected]

That Cultures game looks gorgeous and I totally missed it back in the day. Are there any patches or high-res mods for it?

Not that I'm aware of, but both ran without problems for me on Win7x64 on a 16:10 panel. However, one of them is a RTS, and while not particularly bad, it isn't particularly good either. I think Cultures 2 is the builder, but double-check before you buy or you just might end up very, very disappointed.

 

[Goliath]

Cultures 1 & 2 are the good ones (very similar). The creators were awesome programmers too. These old games still run without issue on 64-bit Win7. The games support high-res out of the box but I would not suggest using those modes because then everything becomes too small and you can barely see your little vikings. Personally I have a 1920x1080 screen but I play in 1280x720.

 

[Horus]

I bought Stronghold 3 because I wanted to build and manage a castle, and defend it. Started playing the campaign and all I got to do was build farms and shit on flat ground in the middle of a forest and hire peasants to figh a bunch of dudes a couple of times. That's what the first four or so missions were like. Then I quit in disgust. From what I've heard the earlier ones might actually be about building?

Yes. Well, the original Stronghold at least. Comes with a dedicated gather resource/build mode. Building castles can get pretty intricate and fun. Though building is also important when you are playing adversarial or on some of the missions.

I haven't played the 2nd installment but I heard it was poor.

Crusader was better.
Lack of farmlands meant that there were constant fightining for oases,so multiplayer was essentially beign dick against opponent(slaves,hundreds of slaves) and destroying his economy.

 

[Livonya]

Is it possible to buy Cultures 1 or 2? I haven't been able to locate them as downloads for sale... bummer.

 

[olgar]

Is it possible to buy Cultures 1 or 2? I haven't been able to locate them as downloads for sale... bummer.

You can buy them at dotemu.

 

[Kaucukovnik]

Start loving roads. I mean it. Roooooooaaaaaaaaadsssssss.

Roads defined Settlers for me, so I never got into 3 and later. I just couldn't forgive them for throwing away such a great concept. You can cripple your production chain by badly designed roads, but you can have so much fun optimizing it!

For a long time I couldn't enjoy all the 3D city and empire-building games neither. The "cute ant city" factor is usually ruined by zooming into angled polygons and blurred textures. Less of an issue nowadays, but still...

 

[RedScum]

City builder sale on GOG if anyone is interested.

http://af.gog.com/promo/city_builder_s_special?as=1649904300

 

[MetalCraze]

I approve of Tropico 4

The island generator is quite nice and can take you from a shithole in a constant crisis due to being in the middle of a desert to a rich tropical paradise with rainforests, gold and oil. It has enough content to make your shithole look varied.

You also need to dance in between USSR and US unless you want to get liberated/get your proletariat liberated and keep your people in check unless you want them to rebel. So the military aspect is present as well.

 

[RedScum]

I approve of Tropico 4

The island generator is quite nice and can take you from a shithole in a constant crisis due to being in the middle of a desert to a rich tropical paradise with rainforests, gold and oil. It has enough content to make your shithole look varied.

You also need to dance in between USSR and US unless you want to get liberated/get your proletariat liberated and keep your people in check unless you want them to rebel. So the military aspect is present as well.

Agreed, great game.

 

[Livonya]

I ended up buying Cultures 1 for $1.15 from GamersGate. Was so cheap, why not give it a try.

 

[vitamin]

There is also series of Patrician games - I'm not sure though, if these games meet OP's requirements? But for example, Patrician III looks nice:

http://www.mobygames.com/game/patrician-iii

from gog.com:

What's cool about it:

• Support a medieval city by building warehouses, mints, schools, barns and much more and become its governor
• Run massive trading operations and cope with consequences of enhanced seasonal weather effects
• Battle pirates and rivals in great naval battles