Rome/Roman themed strategy games?

[KR777]

I liked the demo of this one.
https://rpgcodex.net/forums/threads...-tactics-set-during-the-numantine-war.150513/

Have you played this one?

https://store.steampowered.com/app/588080/Numantia/E

It's got the same vibe, and I'm curious how it stacks up

It's not only got the same vibe, it's from the same developers with the same theme ("the numantine war"). Seems the old studio fell apart for some reason, but the devs came back and created a new studio and a new game on the ruins of the old one. Both games look very similar, but hopefully they've improved the new one in every possbile aspect. At least the reviews hint at that

 

[catfood]

Caesar III

 

[Infinitron]

I liked the demo of this one.
https://rpgcodex.net/forums/threads...-tactics-set-during-the-numantine-war.150513/

Have you played this one?

https://store.steampowered.com/app/588080/Numantia/E

It's got the same vibe, and I'm curious how it stacks up

It's not only got the same vibe, it's from the same developers with the same theme ("the numantine war"). Seems the old studio fell apart for some reason, but the devs came back and created a new studio and a new game on the ruins of the old one. Both games look very similar, but hopefully they've improved the new one in every possbile aspect. At least the reviews hint at that

Source: https://steamcommunity.com/games/588080/announcements/detail/4174344193742264757

The Farewell to Numantia
Welcome to Songs of Steel: Hispania

We inform you that the video game “Numantia”
will no longer be available in the Steam store for new players soon
. Those who have purchased the game will
still be able to access it normally from their Steam library
. If they do not have it installed yet, they can always download it again. "Numantia" was more than just a game; it was the beginning of an adventure shared with all of you.
On the foundation we created in “Numantia”, we have built
“Songs of Steel: Hispania”
, the new and more ambitious video game we are working on. There is a new team behind it, Meteorbyte Studios as developer and Combat Time as producer and publisher, who have created all the battles and scenarios completely new, and included new mechanics and improvements in all technical aspects.
We invite you to visit the "Songs of Steel: Hispania" page to
learn more about its development
, through the trailer and the dev diaries that are being published.
https://store.steampowered.com/app/2603300/Songs_of_Steel_Hispania?snr=2___
For those of you who purchased “Numantia” on Steam, we want to offer you a
reward for your trust in us
in the past. Those of you who have purchased “Numantia” on Steam can contact us by writing to
press@combattime.games
, from where we will inform you.
We sincerely appreciate your continued support and are excited for what the future holds for "Songs of Steel: Hispania."
Sincerely,
The Combat Time Team.

 

[The Wall]

Rome is such beautiful setting! For movies, series, video games, everything. Music from Caesar III plays inside my head while reading this thread. Missed opportunity is 90% of media being set in Early/Rome at height of power. Late Rome and 1000 years long Rome's continuation through Eastern Roman Empire, especially during the reign of Justinian, would be wonderful backdrop for RPG or strategy/city-builder

 

[Lacrymas]

The Bronze and Classical Ages are severely underutilised in general. Devs like to focus on the, imo, much more boring Medieval Ages because they are safe. The problem with them is that there's very little variety in culture. The most prominent are Christians and Muslims because the two religions have overtaken most of the then-developed world. There's very little difference between Medieval England and France for example. In the Bronze and Classical Ages, you have the pagan religions alongside the so-called world religions like Judaism, Christianity, Zoroastrianism, etc. On top of them you have the very culturally distinct peoples of Hatti, Egypt, Babylon, Kush, the Greek states, Rome, etc. and the various tribes like the Gauls, Thracians, Vandals, Numidians, etc.

 

[Harthwain]

Devs like to focus on the, imo, much more boring Medieval Ages because they are safe. The problem with them is that there's very little variety in culture. The most prominent are Christians and Muslims because the two religions have overtaken most of the then-developed world. There's very little difference between Medieval England and France for example.

You're forgetting about politics here.

 

[Lacrymas]

Devs like to focus on the, imo, much more boring Medieval Ages because they are safe. The problem with them is that there's very little variety in culture. The most prominent are Christians and Muslims because the two religions have overtaken most of the then-developed world. There's very little difference between Medieval England and France for example.

You're forgetting about politics here.

Name one game which does Medieval politics well.

 

[JarlFrank]

Devs like to focus on the, imo, much more boring Medieval Ages because they are safe. The problem with them is that there's very little variety in culture. The most prominent are Christians and Muslims because the two religions have overtaken most of the then-developed world. There's very little difference between Medieval England and France for example.

You're forgetting about politics here.

Name one game which does Medieval politics well.

Crusader Kangz?

 

[Igge]

Name one game which does Medieval politics well.

Crusader Kangz?

nobunaga ambition? mount and blade?

 

[Lacrymas]

Sure, Crusader Kings is a game with medieval politics in it, but are the nations really that different from one another?

 

[JarlFrank]

You asked whether it does medieval politics well, not whether the nations are different.

It's a Paradox game, they rarely have nations that feel different - Europa Universalis, a game that lasts from 1400 to 1800 and spans the entire globe, doesn't even have nations that feel different to play!

 

[KR777]

You asked whether it does medieval politics well, not whether the nations are different.

It's a Paradox game, they rarely have nations that feel different - Europa Universalis, a game that lasts from 1400 to 1800 and spans the entire globe, doesn't even have nations that feel different to play!

Of course it does, at least with DLC that give different mechanics to nations. To play Ming is very different from Venice

 

[Johannes]

You can have a shitton of cultural variety in a medieval setting. Take even just England around 1000 ad, you have Briton, Anglo-Saxon, Viking peoples and then Normans there. If you know the period you can definitely make a lot of interesting stuff with that, both narratively and strategically.

 

[Harthwain]

Devs like to focus on the, imo, much more boring Medieval Ages because they are safe. The problem with them is that there's very little variety in culture. The most prominent are Christians and Muslims because the two religions have overtaken most of the then-developed world. There's very little difference between Medieval England and France for example.

You're forgetting about politics here.

Name one game which does Medieval politics well.

You started by saying that "There's very little difference between Medieval England and France for example", but even the history of France alone proves you wrong in this regard, because it wasn't purely the war between England and France as Burgundy played a major role in the conflict and the authority of the French kings over their vassals wasn't as solid at the start of the Hundred Years War as one might think (which is something that Field of Glory: Kingdoms tried to model). Hell, even the king of England was technically a vassal of the king of France. It was that messy. You also have Joan d'Arc, a woman who led the French armies in battle and got burned at the stake by the English. "Medieval Ages are boring because they are safe", my ass...

You either don't know the Middle Ages enough to see how interesting this period can be or just don't appreciate it for whatever reason. Neither is good enough justification.

 

[Lacrymas]

You can have conflict between two neighboring villages, that doesn't make them culturally distinct. England and France were both feudal Christian nations with essentially the same beliefs, dress and architectural style, even sharing nobility. They are nowhere near as different as the various Bronze/Classical Age peoples. What I mean when I say they are safe is they are economically safe to feature in contemporary media. They are disproportionately featured in fantasy and non-fantasy.

 

[Johannes]

You can have two neighboring villages culturally distinct from each other. Even if they're of the same ethnicity you can play up whatever differences you want them to have - maybe one is catholic and the other village has turned to some heretic cult. Their rulers are opposites in character and this is reflected in how the whole place is organised. Whatever you want as the creator.
Everyone knows differences between Athens and Sparta though they're both Greek.

Generic French village #1 vs generic French village #2 isn't that less interesting than generic celtic village vs generic germanic village, if its just a palette swap.

 

[Harthwain]

They are disproportionately featured in fantasy and non-fantasy.

You could say the same about Greek influence some time ago when it came to art and literature.

You can have conflict between two neighboring villages, that doesn't make them culturally distinct. England and France were both feudal Christian nations with essentially the same beliefs, dress and architectural style, even sharing nobility. They are nowhere near as different as the various Bronze/Classical Age peoples.

Eh, you can have interesting games even when sides are virtually identical (Lords of the Realm 2, to name but one example). How many Bronze Age games are there that are good because they have "different/various Bronze/Classical Age peoples" (and not just offer different skins of different cultures)? I recall only Field of Glory: Empires.

 

[Lacrymas]

I'm easy to please, so even just different skins is good enough for me. Old World plays differently, especially in the early game, depending on which people you choose (f.e. Babylon and Carthage are polar opposites). Field of Glory 2 also features distinct armies that need different tactics to be effective. Hell, even the Julius Caesar vs Pompey historical battle plays different depending on which of the two you choose. Age of Mythology's factions/races are obviously different. There aren't a lot of bad Bronze/Classical Age games out there.

 

[Axioms]

You asked whether it does medieval politics well, not whether the nations are different.

It's a Paradox game, they rarely have nations that feel different - Europa Universalis, a game that lasts from 1400 to 1800 and spans the entire globe, doesn't even have nations that feel different to play!

There is not a reaction image powerful enough to signify my agreement with this statement.

 

[Axioms]

Devs like to focus on the, imo, much more boring Medieval Ages because they are safe. The problem with them is that there's very little variety in culture. The most prominent are Christians and Muslims because the two religions have overtaken most of the then-developed world. There's very little difference between Medieval England and France for example.

You're forgetting about politics here.

Name one game which does Medieval politics well.

You started by saying that "There's very little difference between Medieval England and France for example", but even the history of France alone proves you wrong in this regard, because it wasn't purely the war between England and France as Burgundy played a major role in the conflict and the authority of the French kings over their vassals wasn't as solid at the start of the Hundred Years War as one might think (which is something that Field of Glory: Kingdoms tried to model). Hell, even the king of England was technically a vassal of the king of France. It was that messy. You also have Joan d'Arc, a woman who led the French armies in battle and got burned at the stake by the English. "Medieval Ages are boring because they are safe", my ass...

You either don't know the Middle Ages enough to see how interesting this period can be or just don't appreciate it for whatever reason. Neither is good enough justification.

Yeah, there are actually a lot of interesting differences in Europe during the periods Paradox games cover. But Paradox games are mostly too simplistic to represent them. Which is fine, EU4 is an incremental game combined with a map painter. Nothing wrong with that. It really has very little to do with history, though.