I've never played a strategy game

[oddech_wymarlych_swiatow]

Please, help me to choose a good and simple one.

Dark Colony

Most simple and most fun, perfect for beginners.

 

[Astral Rag]

Cossacks

is indeed a good game and it's currently part of this bundle:
http://www.bundlestars.com/all-bundles/conquest-bundle/

I forgot to mention that I have got Dungeon Keeper Gold. As I've said, it looks pretty fun and easy, so I think I'm going to start it.

Is KeeperFX necessary for GOG version?

Not necessary but I wouldn't play without it.

http://af.gog.com/forum/dungeon_kee..._and_install_instructions/page1?as=1649904300

Don't be fooled by the easy start and dark humour, DK gets pretty challenging later on.

 

[Cazzeris]

Cossacks

is indeed good game and it's currently part of this bundle:
http://www.bundlestars.com/all-bundles/conquest-bundle/

http://www.bundlestars.com/all-bundles/conquest-bundle/

This also contains Cossacks games http://www.bundlestars.com/all-bundles/battleground-bundle/

Commandos looks interesting, but they were much cheaper on Steam some weeks ago.

I forgot to mention that I have got Dungeon Keeper Gold. As I've said, it looks pretty fun and easy, so I think I'm going to start it.

Is KeeperFX necessary for GOG version?

Not necessary but I wouldn't play without it.

http://af.gog.com/forum/dungeon_kee..._and_install_instructions/page1?as=1649904300

Don't be fooled by the easy start and humour, DK gets pretty challenging later on.

My brother is playing Fable: The Lost Chapters right now. It's his first "Peter Molyneux game".

It seems that my 1st "Peter Molyneux game" will be much more challenging.

 

[Servo]

It should probably be your last Peter Molyneux game.

 

[Cadmus]

Cossacks

is indeed good game and it's currently part of this bundle:
http://www.bundlestars.com/all-bundles/conquest-bundle/

This also contains Cossacks games http://www.bundlestars.com/all-bundles/battleground-bundle/

Commandos looks interesting, but they were much cheaper on Steam some weeks ago.

I forgot to mention that I have got Dungeon Keeper Gold. As I've said, it looks pretty fun and easy, so I think I'm going to start it.

Is KeeperFX necessary for GOG version?

Not necessary but I wouldn't play without it.

http://af.gog.com/forum/dungeon_kee..._and_install_instructions/page1?as=1649904300

Don't be fooled by the easy start and humour, DK gets pretty challenging later on.

My brother is playing Fable: The Lost Chapters right now. It's his first "Peter Molyneux game".

It seems that my 1st "Peter Molyneux game" will be much more challenging.

Commandos 2 is in my opinion a perfect game for what it is. Nothing missing or extra, everything as it should be. It's not a strategy by any stretch. It's a squad based RTwP puzzle/tactics hybrid.

 

[Markman]

Well, the best or easiest start is with less complicated games like the real time tacticals that I mentioned, like Codname Panzers. But good luck finding those, maybe they'll appear now that Cossacks are also on Steam and GoG. If they do without the shitty DRM they had, I'll rebuy them in a heartbeat.
Dawn of War 2 is easy peasy to get a hang of, you have like 4 units to derp around with from section to section.

And yeah, RTS' are also easy to play, hard to master.
Warcraft 3, Starcraft 1 and 2, Age of Empires 2 and Mythology, Red Alert 2 to pick a few must play before you die games.
Command and Conquer: Tiberian Sun with Firestorm expansion(released 99' and 00') is free I think. Worth a playthough, IMO.

 

[The Plague]

Supreme Commander: Forged Alliance. Four different factions, huge battles, nukes and experimental units, land air and naval units. Good variety of mods and custom maps which you can grap easily from the fan created FAF (Forged Alliance Forever) client.
Note: The client i mentioned is needed to play it online since GPG closed the support for the game. It works both with the steam and retail version of the game.

~cheers

 

[Average Manatee]

God damn, everyone suggesting complex shit. Play Starcraft or Red Alert 2. Nice and simple for a first timer, still great games.

Out of those in the OP, Total War and CoH are probably the best starters, but I'd still recommend the above two over those.

Also play DOOM already. How is it that we are in 2014 and there are still people who haven't played DOOM?

 

[nomask7]

You'll have to play the old Warhammer: Dark Omen at some point. It's one of my top 5 favorite games of all time and I'm by no means alone in admiring it. It's challenging but easy to learn.

 

[Servo]

HoMM 1-5 on sale on GOG right now btw.

 

[Brotherman Bill]

Hi, I've never played a strategy game and I want to do it. Which one should I start?

I have these ones:

- Jagged Alliance 2 Gold Edition
- Civilization III Complete
- Civilization IV Complete
- Medieval II: Total War
- Rome: Total War
- Company of Heroes

Please, help me to choose a good and simple one.

Bro, you've got a damn good selection, you could really start with any of these and have a good first strategy game.

Thanks.

Jagged Alliance 2 is squad-based and is more similar to an RPG. It's mostly on a tactical level, with very limited strategic layer. It's an amazing game, especially with the 1.13 mod.

Civ IV is the best Civ game. It's what I'd recommend as a first Strategy game. Civ is very simple, if it's your first time playing a strategy game it might be a big confusing at first, but it is really easy to learn and the in-game encyclopedia has all the answers.

You've got the two best Total War games there. They're not very complicated, especially since the AI is kind of retarded. Just load up whichever and start. Strategic layer is pretty simple, the focus is on battles.

I forgot to mention that I have got Dungeon Keeper Gold. As I've said, it looks pretty fun and easy, so I think I'm going to start it.

Is KeeperFX necessary for GOG version?

KeeperFX contains all of the files necessary to play, you just need to put a cd in your drive, or emulator, to make sure you bought it. It's trivial to aquire though. Just remember the command to up resolution while playing, I think it's alt-R but i don't remember. The initial zoom is a bit uncomfortable.

Also, ignore the people saying Dune 2, they are massively pretentious or stupid. Dune 2 was primitive beyond belief by our standards, to the point wher you couldn't select more than 1 unit at the time. It's respected as being the innovator and stuff but in this case that doesn't mean it's good.

 

[Dim]

Try CEVO before any of the civs. Also Wesnoth.

 

[Declinator]

Too late for edit:
Don't start your RTS gaming with the fucking JA2, it's got nothing to do with the classic Dune/Warcraft RTS archetype, it's complicated and nuanced and after finishing it (after 3232387284738 hours) you won't be any closer to understanding an RTS than if you'd played Zelda.

Uhm and now I realize you just said "strategy" not necessarily RTS, but I kinda took it for granted because that's the most basic kind of strategy as understood today (no..?)

If someone starts talking about strategy games I think Civ not C&C. For me "basic kind of strategy" games are 4X or grand strategy, not RTS. As a child I called RTS games "light strategy" and it remains accurate as these kinds of games are simply less about strategy than the more pure examples. This obviously does not necessarily mean they are inferior (though they totally are.)

Also, ignore the people saying Dune 2, they are massively pretentious or stupid. Dune 2 was primitive beyond belief by our standards, to the point wher you couldn't select more than 1 unit at the time. It's respected as being the innovator and stuff but in this case that doesn't mean it's good.

While I agree that Dune 2 should not be the first RTS he tries or perhaps should not even be on the list, it is by no means "primitive beyond belief by our standards" aside from some ye olde UI quirks (most significant of which is the aforementioned lack of being able to choose multiple units at once.)

Frankly, most things in Dune 2 should be familiar to anyone who plays modern RTS as very few things have changed at all.

 

[Chef_Hathaway]

Could always play Dune 2000 for the updated feel.

 

[sigma1932]

The King's Bounty Series isn't bad for an RPG/TBS hybrid... strategy part is similar to HOMM series.

 

[asper]

You'll have to play the old Warhammer: Dark Omen at some point. It's one of my top 5 favorite games of all time and I'm by no means alone in admiring it. It's challenging but easy to learn.

Agreed, but I think Dark Omen is very hard to run on modern systems. I think you'll need a Win 95 virtual machine (?)
Pretty brutal game for a beginner, or actually for any player, though.

 

[spectre]

I think you're confusing Dark Omen with Shadow of the Horned Rat. I remember the difficulty was "just right to be challenging".

 

[nomask7]

You'll have to play the old Warhammer: Dark Omen at some point. It's one of my top 5 favorite games of all time and I'm by no means alone in admiring it. It's challenging but easy to learn.

Agreed, but I think Dark Omen is very hard to run on modern systems. I think you'll need a Win 95 virtual machine (?)
Pretty brutal game for a beginner, or actually for any player, though.

I'm sure it works on all post-release windows systems if you google for instructions or fixes. There were only one or two things you had to do to make it work flawlessly on modern systems before win 8.

Also, as that other person said, I think the difficulty is just right. I don't think you'll be able to defeat the campaign on your first try, but maybe on your second. At least you'll be able to get far with your second try. I like it that the player can't choose a difficulty level, because I think much of the quality of the game depends on how extremely well it's balanced.