Decent strategy PC games?

[Esequiel]

Just tried Empire: Total War which i bought a year ago and never played. I vaugley remember playing civilization IV at some point aswell, but it didnt hold my interest.

 

I like starting out small, farming/mining/growing to earn money then expanding. I used to enjoy games like Theme Park, Theme Hospital, Sim City, Mega-Lo-Mania, Populous, Comand and Conquer (PS1 version).

 

Im looking for something in a similar vain, something that will hold my interest for a while.

 

Any recommendations?

[Burny]

By that description, definitely the Anno series.

 

They're mostly centered around building up a working economy and fighting isn't much of a priority. You start on some island with a couple of tools and other basic resources. With that you start to build up a city of wooden huts. The more your city advances, the more your inhabitants develop needs that are increasingly hard to satisfy. Eventually you'll set out to islands in other climatic zones, where you can cultivate and produce more elaborate wares (spices, tobacco etc.).

 

If you're good enough, you'll be able to build a rather decadent palace.

 

 

 

Edited March 14, 2011 by Burny

[Esequiel]

I do like the look of that, £14.99 is pricey for a game i might not like though! And i cant seem to find a demo anywhere

[Ville]

My fav strat series is no doubt Age of Empires.

 

 

AoE II - Age of Kings

 

 

Age of Mythology

 

 

AoE III

 

 

The gameplay is pretty similar to Command & Conquer, i.e. you just click units around in real time. Your basic units are the villagers, who gather resources by hunting, foraging, fishing, farming, mining, cutting wood etc. They are also used to build everything from houses to walls and towers, and also to repair damaged buildings, ships and mechanical units. As you can move the villagers around, you can also build anywhere you like, making resource gathering and base building much more interesting...

 

Haven't played AoE III apart from the demos, but all the previous games I liked very much, especially AoM There's just something awesome about the whole villager mechanic, gives you much freedom to play the game the way you want to...plus the historical / mythological settings are great, great fun building an Egyptian / Saracen / Atlantean / whatever empire! All have demos available, so feel free to check 'em out!

 

Another one I could recommend is Emperor - Rise of the Middle Kingdom. A pretty different game mechanic, focus on city planning and infrastructure, i.e. creating production chains and providing different things for the citizens.

 

 

Rise of Nations, very much like AoE and Civilization combined.

 

[Burny]

I do like the look of that, £14.99 is pricey for a game i might not like though! And i cant seem to find a demo anywhere

 

Tried the demo section of the official site?

[Emasher]

Civ City: Rome isn't bad and is fairly cheap.

[nightwolf]

I'm in agreement with Age of Empires here, classic!

 

I don't know if it's your thing, but have you maybe looked into starcraft 1?

[Will]

Theres a really good one called Shogun 2 that's about to come out so I'm told.

[Sméagol]

Theres a really good one called Shogun 2 that's about to come out so I'm told.

And there's a demo available right now.

[The Bard]

Company of Heroes.

[MoogleViper]

Civilisation - Call to power 2. Best strategy game ever.

[The fish]

Empire Total War with the Imperial Splendour mod (and Blood & Smoke, flags and musket SFX for me, because I'm that sad) is about as awesome as awesome gets, especially if you like cannon, musket and sail-based warfare, and it's older brother, Rome Total War - with the Rome Total Realism mod - is a safe bet, but expect to be playing it for a long, long time - you start off small, and have a massive area to conquer. Company of Heroes is as a good as WWII strategy games get.

 

If you want pure, simple strategy, I have to recommend the nuke-tastic Defcon. You can't win, but maybe you can lose the least...

 

Age of _______ has (have?) always been a thoroughly unrewarding experience for me. I prefer my historical games to have a wiff of realism/accuracy.

 

I should also put in a word for the old-but-awesome Total Annihilation, though it might not be what your looking for. I have to say, if you're not a Total War fan (tsk tsk tsk...), give Defcon a shot. You can get the rather good demo here, and if even has a taste (1vs1 instead of the full 6 player mode) of the multiplayer. Everybody dies.

[Oxigen_Waste]

Civ IV

 

Company of Heroes

 

Warcraft series

 

Starcraft series

 

Total War series

 

Age series

 

You know... the usual.

 

Battle For Middle Earth 2 is also cool.

[Rummy]

AoE2 for me all the way.

[Choze]

Yes the strategy genre on PC is safe right now.

[McPhee]

TW: Shogun II is awesome. Best instalment in the series by a country mile. Hard though. Much harder than any of the other games were.

[Oxigen_Waste]

TW: Shogun II is awesome. Best instalment in the series by a country mile. Hard though. Much harder than any of the other games were.

 

I wouldn't say it's the best by a country mile. In fact, it's probably the first time in the series a new title's come out and hasn't totally surpassed every other game before it, due mostly to the fact that they removed many of the succesfully implemented changes made in Empire, which is a questionable choice. But it's awesome, yeah!

 

And if we're being honest, they're all pretty much the same, there's no "best one" to single out.

[Wesley]

Fuck those games.

 

[Ville]

Well, this thread got me thinking... → AoE III Complete Collection get! First part of the campaign completed, has been fun Moving to North America next, should be even more interesting...NA Indians for teh win.

[Mundi]

Judging from the list I would say check out Tropico 3.

Its a god game where you play as a president of a tropical island, can get very addicting and stressful.

I would at least check the steam demo.

[EddieColeslaw]

Played AoE II Age of Kings constantly last summer. It's a bit old, but simple and playable, with sufficient graphical prettiness (I'm afraid the first AoE is too fug for me).

[Shorty]

AoE II is one of the first games I ever played online, along with Worms 2. Was a great game then, imagine it still is now, although tbh the online mode is still the best. Co-op skirmish matches were amazing. Wololo!

 

I got AoE III on Black Friday when it was 10p from Games from Windows Live, but I've yet to play it... I don't think the magic will be there anymore!

 

I believe C&C and Red Alert are free to download from EA's website.

[heroicjanitor]

The best single-player strategy games were the city-building ones for me. Zeus:Master of Olympus is my personal favourite, and anything else made by those guys is good too. Pharoah, Emporer: Rise of the Middle Kingdom etc Not many around any more but I'm sure you'll find one cheap if you look. The Zeus one is the best because of the way you can build a military and send them to other parts of Greece look to conquer and loot and stuff, and you can also trade the goods you produce.

[Haden]

I wouldn't say it's the best by a country mile. In fact, it's probably the first time in the series a new title's come out and hasn't totally surpassed every other game before it, due mostly to the fact that they removed many of the succesfully implemented changes made in Empire, which is a questionable choice. But it's awesome, yeah!

 

And if we're being honest, they're all pretty much the same, there's no "best one" to single out.

 

What do you mean by that? I may purchase Shogun but that sounds a bit worrying.

[drahkon]

Black and White 2. Mind you, the combat is nothing compared to the likes of AoE. I enjoyed it, though.