Looking for a new game

[Magnate]

Hi all,

Felt like reinstalling EU:Rome today - my favourite of all the Paradox 'grand strategy' games. Just wondered if anyone had any more recent recommendations in this genre. I'm looking for a Civ-style game, with grand scope and timeline, but with lots of knobs to twiddle (characters, armies, research etc. etc.).

I haven't tried Crusader Kings II yet - I really liked the original, but fear that the new one will be dumbed-down.

Any views on CK2 or any other similar large strategy game would be very welcome.

Happy xmas/new year all.

[ekolis]

Does it have to be a historical strategy game, or do space 4X games count, too?

[Magnate]

Does it have to be a historical strategy game, or do space 4X games count, too?

Ooh, space would be fab. The problem I've always found with space games is getting the scale right though. SE5 was way too slow; last really good space games I played were Sword of the Stars (turn-based) and Sins of a Solar Empire (real-time). They were both great fun, but a tiny bit too macro for me (e.g. all ground combat abstracted away). What I really want is a modern-day rewrite of MoO1 ...

[Magnate]

Hmmm. A bit of browsing turns up a SotS sequel, the unexpectedly-named Sword of the Stars II, and something called Elemental: Fallen Enchantress from Stardock (the makers of Sins). The latter is supposedly the spiritual heir to MoM, or as someone put it "Two parts Civ to one part HoMM". We'll see.

[ekolis]

SotS2, despite what you may have heard, is actually pretty good. It was just REALLY, REALLY buggy on the initial release!

[tg122]

I thought Crusader Kings 2 was a great game, although I have never played the first one so I can't comment on whether or not it's dumbed down a lot. Either way, I think it's regarded as a solid game by most fans of the genre and I've seen it nominated for game of the year on a few different sites... it may have won also, not sure.

I noticed nobody mentioned Galactic Civilizations 2, which I thought that was an excellent game. I would highly recommend it.

[Magnate]

I thought Crusader Kings 2 was a great game, although I have never played the first one so I can't comment on whether or not it's dumbed down a lot. Either way, I think it's regarded as a solid game by most fans of the genre and I've seen it nominated for game of the year on a few different sites... it may have won also, not sure.

I noticed nobody mentioned Galactic Civilizations 2, which I thought that was an excellent game. I would highly recommend it.

Thanks everyone for the responses. I have actually tried GC2 a while ago - for some reason I never got into it. It just struck me as somehow soulless - nice and polished, and balanced, yet not really immersive. I think I find immersion more difficult in a sci-fi setting anyway.

Will try SotS2 and CK2 then. Thanks for the tips.

[Cerebrate64]

While I've never actually played civilization before, there's this awesome game I bought from gog called master of magic. People compare it to civilization though and from what I've seen of civ, they certainly are similar. In master of magic you take control of a wizard trying to take control of the world. Lots of units and spells to research, best turn based strategy I've ever played. No timeline though, its fantasy only. I just wish it would run right on my lousy laptop.

[T-Mick]

FreeCiv is nice if you want to try Civilization. It's based on Civ 2 (The best one, IMO), and it's completely free. Plus, you can play a few online games, if you feel confident.

[Mondkalb]

While I've never actually played civilization before, there's this awesome game I bought from gog called master of magic. People compare it to civilization though and from what I've seen of civ, they certainly are similar. In master of magic you take control of a wizard trying to take control of the world. Lots of units and spells to research, best turn based strategy I've ever played. No timeline though, its fantasy only. I just wish it would run right on my lousy laptop.

Master of Magic is one of my all time favorites. It's a shame that Microprose never made that promised sequel.
Age of Wonders is nearly a MoM clone. It lacks a bit of I don't know what, that made MoM so special, but it is nevertheless a great game. There was an Age of Wonders II and also a slightly better Age of Wonders: Shadow Magic.

All of the Civilization games are great in their own way, some of them have good AddOns or Mods transporting the original game into the far future or fantasy realms.

What about Dwarf Fortress? It is by far the most complex city-building/stategy/simulation game ever. Though it is still in early beta state, it is playable by all means and one of the most enjoyable games once you have mastered the learning - eh, cliff.
Beeing an ASCII based game there are also a lot of different tile and graphic sets available for DF, and for the lazy newbs there is the Lazy Newb Pack wich comes with a lot of extras and an easy access options window:

http://www.bay12forums.com/smf/index.php?topic=59026.0

[Magnate]

Funny that this thread should get resurrected just as I've found my next game - and it's the best successor to MoM that I've found yet (Elemental: Fallen Enchantress). Loving it so far.

Master of Magic is one of my all time favorites. It's a shame that Microprose never made that promised sequel.
Age of Wonders is nearly a MoM clone. It lacks a bit of I don't know what, that made MoM so special, but it is nevertheless a great game. There was an Age of Wonders II and also a slightly better Age of Wonders: Shadow Magic.

I quite liked the AoM games but they didn't grip me the way MoM did. Looking back over the last several years I always broke out DosBox to play the original MoM rather than loading up any of the AoW games (to be fair I'm not sure I tried II, but I definitely played I and SM). I wonder if E:FE will go the same way.

All of the Civilization games are great in their own way, some of them have good AddOns or Mods transporting the original game into the far future or fantasy realms.

I burned out on Civ I (my first experience of seeing the sun rise while thinking "just one more turn") so never played II. I did play all of III, IV and V and think V is clearly the best of those. To my knowledge it doesn't have the awesome range of mods that IV has though. Maybe that's still to come.

[mtadd]

A relative newcomer out of Russia is Eador - Genesis, which you can get at GOG.com. Its a turn-based strategy game with empire building, city building, rpg elements, and tactical battles. Its also quite difficult, but if you're not playing for points, you can easily undo turns that you make those minor errors in.

Though there's no English manual, the tutorial is enough to get you started, and there's a community encyclopedia in Russian which Google will happily translate for you.

There's also a remake in pretty 3D graphics coming down the pike as well if the 2D tile graphics aren't your cup of tea.

[Cerebrate64]

While i remember i might as well mention Empire. I'm not into it much but its a good game. The original version is free and you can get it here.

http://www.classicempire.com/

Really simple turn based wargame but you may like it.

Also, i would like to second Dwarf fortress.

[Mikko Lehtinen]

If you like Empire, you will love Massive Assault or it's sequel Domination. Turn-based wargames with quite pretty graphics. I'm getting addicted to playing Domination World Wars against the AI. Games are much faster than in Empire and I think more strategic, too.

There's a newer version, but it's multiplayer-only (I think). These two had a pretty tough AI.

[Elbereth]

If you're looking for something civ-like but with some scifi ingredients I'd go for Alpha Centauri.

If you want a very deep, very complex strategy game, I'd go for the Hearts of Iron series.