DELETED
- Thread starter deleted139124
- Start date
Recommended Videos
Well, I'd recommend Firaxis games in general, and you've started off ok with XCOM. Firaxis also makes the Civilization series, and Civ 5 is meant to be a bit more accessible than its forebears.
Those are primarily turn-based - if you're after real-time strategy, Starcraft 2 is pretty accessible and the story campaign is a decent tutorial for one of the races.
I can't remember if Rome: TW has a tutorial or not, but it is a pretty awesome game regardless.
Those are primarily turn-based - if you're after real-time strategy, Starcraft 2 is pretty accessible and the story campaign is a decent tutorial for one of the races.
I can't remember if Rome: TW has a tutorial or not, but it is a pretty awesome game regardless.
The Total War series is a strange mixture between Turn Based for the overview on the campaign map and Real- Time occurring for the actual battles that take place. If you're just starting out then I recommend an earlier one like the first Rome so you can get a taste for the different styles of strategy and then you can make your way from there with your newfound knowledge.
I personally reccomend Heroes of Might and magic eiter 3 or 5 amazing turnbased fantasy strategy games very complex but once you get into them they are amazingly fun lots of variety in units and both available on GOG
Starcraft 2's single player is pretty newbie friendly.
- There are a number of tutorials that cover some of the basics, which I'd highly recommend doing on your first time
- After that, the campaign does a good job at starting small and then ramping up, you can lower the difficulty at each mission screen if you're having trouble.
- There are even "Challenges" which sort of serve as a little primers on how to deal with some common multiplayer strategies as well, should you ever decide to try multiplayer.
However, I must warn you that Starcraft's multiplayer is pretty unforgiving, even Bronze league has a large number of players who are extremely skilled. The first few matches you're going to have your face plowing the ground. It's fun if you love challanges, but it's not easy at all.
- There are a number of tutorials that cover some of the basics, which I'd highly recommend doing on your first time
- After that, the campaign does a good job at starting small and then ramping up, you can lower the difficulty at each mission screen if you're having trouble.
- There are even "Challenges" which sort of serve as a little primers on how to deal with some common multiplayer strategies as well, should you ever decide to try multiplayer.
However, I must warn you that Starcraft's multiplayer is pretty unforgiving, even Bronze league has a large number of players who are extremely skilled. The first few matches you're going to have your face plowing the ground. It's fun if you love challanges, but it's not easy at all.
I think Civilization V is a good place to start. The UI is intuitive for a strategy game, and it can be played and enjoyed knowing only a small part of the features. It also helps that there are lots of difficulty levels, so its a good game to grow with. At the very lowest level it's practically impossible to lose, and at it's highest almost impossible to do well.
Civilization doesn't have tutorials per se, but it's gameplay is designed in a way to start you off with very few options, and then it ramps up complexity as you progress.
Another advantage is that it has a built in reference with most of the necessary information to play. No need to alt-tab and look up some wiki on the internets.
Civilization doesn't have tutorials per se, but it's gameplay is designed in a way to start you off with very few options, and then it ramps up complexity as you progress.
Another advantage is that it has a built in reference with most of the necessary information to play. No need to alt-tab and look up some wiki on the internets.
If you want turn-based, Civilization is definitely the place to start. Civ3 and Civ4 are sort of recognized as the best games the series by different people, but Civ5 is a much easier place to start while still maintaining a decent level of depth. Overall, all of them are great games, and I would highly advise checking them out and pretty much everything else Firaxis puts out. As a side note, they also made Civilization Revolution on the consoles, but that game really isn't at all like the PC versions.
I'm not as well-versed on RTS games, but Starcraft 2 is well understood to be the top of the genre. Company of Heroes is also a major franchise, and most people I know enjoy the Age of Empires series.
If you want a mixture, Total War is the place to go. Rome: Total War is the favorite among people I know, but I do know a lot of people enjoyed Shogun 2 as well.
I'm not as well-versed on RTS games, but Starcraft 2 is well understood to be the top of the genre. Company of Heroes is also a major franchise, and most people I know enjoy the Age of Empires series.
If you want a mixture, Total War is the place to go. Rome: Total War is the favorite among people I know, but I do know a lot of people enjoyed Shogun 2 as well.
You can also look up the Disciples series. It's a turn-based strategy game with an engaging storyline and a reasonably high difficulty level that is nevertheless quite scalable to individual tastes. More importantly, the Disciples games as a whole have a massively epic feel to them and can give you many gaming hours for their price.
You can also look up the Age of Wonders series. That's also turn-based but a second choice when compared to Disciples (personal opinion, naturally). If you do, avoid Age of Wonders 1; that's one of the 'flight instrument panel UI' titles.
You can also look up the Age of Wonders series. That's also turn-based but a second choice when compared to Disciples (personal opinion, naturally). If you do, avoid Age of Wonders 1; that's one of the 'flight instrument panel UI' titles.
Rome Total War is a good shout. Cheap and not hard to pick up but with a few tricks that will take a while to get the hang of. Civ 5 is pretty good if you want more turn based combat. I'd also say Warhammer and Warcraft 3 games are pretty solid too, though I mainly play Warcraft 3 for it's story. It's very beginner friendly.
For the very friendly games out of the ones I've played I'd recommend Rome Total War or Warcraft 3, then move on to Warhammer. Though the single players in all the games are pretty easy to get into, the online multiplayer will have you floundering, it still does for me and I've played the games for years but I'm just not all that good at them
For the very friendly games out of the ones I've played I'd recommend Rome Total War or Warcraft 3, then move on to Warhammer. Though the single players in all the games are pretty easy to get into, the online multiplayer will have you floundering, it still does for me and I've played the games for years but I'm just not all that good at them
Overall, I consider the Total War series to be the greatest strategy series ever made, since it's arguably the most realistic. Steam should have the whole back catalogue available as well. Total war is a series where you manage thousands of soldiers in real time battle, complete with troop morale, training, and terrain bonuses. You will never find a more in depth war simulator if you want a realistic experience. You only have the soldiers you bring with you however, so this is completely different from the resource gathering in, say, starcraft. It's also quite different from X-COM, for that matter. Easily my favorite series.shapaza said:
I'm playing Valkyria Chronicles for PS3 right now, and it's brilliant. Basically a WW2 strategy game in all but name. A unique blend of turned based and real time strategy, it's kind of like a weird fusion of X-com and Fire Emblem, and it works. I'm currently addicted. Speaking of which...
Fire Emblem Awakening is quite good. Small scaled battles with a decent story. It fuses RPG elements with turned based strategy. Every soldier is unique and well developed, even allowing you to develop their relationships with other characters, sometimes to the point of marriage. Permadeath also means that it is possible for them to be lost forever, just like X-com, which hurts from both a story telling and gameplay point of view.
Starcraft is good if you want a game where you fight over specific parts of the map, and build your army during the battle. I never cared for it, but I understand it has a devoted multiplayer following, if that's your thing.
Star Wars Empire at War was a surprisingly deep strategy game. Similar to Total War, you build massive armies on a large intergalactic strategy map, then allocate your resources to attack enemy planets while defending your own. There are both space and land battles, with both the Empire and Rebellion having unique gameplay options. There are great mods available too, so it's well worth the money you would put into it.
Civilization was mentioned a few times as well. A great series if your more interested in building countries than destroying them. I rarely fought wars in the game, but there are strategy elements involve as well when it comes to fighting.
I know this list is a little overwhelming, so I'll just list one more. By far the most in depth and brilliant strategy game of all time, Lemonade Stand is a business simulator where you try to maximize your long term profits over the course of several months, all while contending with the weather and the fluctuating changes in supply and demand.
well if you want to focus more on battle statergy than actual economy and political managment of a country get Myth II soublighter. Or if you want a mordern style fighting game with more battle stratergy get Wargame: european escalation
If you want to focus on economy and political scenes more Get Crusader Kings, europa ect any of the paradox games series
If you want a balance between both, look at the total war series. I do not recommend rome, or medival they were great in their time but I find the game way too dated to be appealing. Empire or Medival II is the way to go for this reason.
If you want turn based stratergy and not real time stratergy as listed above I would look at the Heroes and Might and Magic scene as mentioned. Number 3 is the best out of the series by far though if your a graphics snob I would recommend 5 as well was not too shabby either.
If you want to focus on economy and political scenes more Get Crusader Kings, europa ect any of the paradox games series
If you want a balance between both, look at the total war series. I do not recommend rome, or medival they were great in their time but I find the game way too dated to be appealing. Empire or Medival II is the way to go for this reason.
If you want turn based stratergy and not real time stratergy as listed above I would look at the Heroes and Might and Magic scene as mentioned. Number 3 is the best out of the series by far though if your a graphics snob I would recommend 5 as well was not too shabby either.
Most strategy games I've played had pretty damn good tutorial campaigns (though one of my favorites has no campaign at all. The way to get to know Sins of a Solar Empire is to start a game against an easy AI opponent and just try everything).
As in any thread for strategy recommendations, I recommend Supreme Commander and Supreme Commander: Forged Alliance (in that order, Forged Alliance's campaign really assumes you played through Supreme Commander's campaign). Very deep systems, extremely flexible and powerful UI... and the first game familiarizes you with those at a very easy pace.
Also, Forged Alliance is a technical marvel. The engine can effectively utilize up to 17 CPU cores.
As in any thread for strategy recommendations, I recommend Supreme Commander and Supreme Commander: Forged Alliance (in that order, Forged Alliance's campaign really assumes you played through Supreme Commander's campaign). Very deep systems, extremely flexible and powerful UI... and the first game familiarizes you with those at a very easy pace.
Also, Forged Alliance is a technical marvel. The engine can effectively utilize up to 17 CPU cores.
Starting off I'd recommend Warcraft 3. Why? Simply 'cause the campaign is a tutorial in some senses, and its relatively small scale for a strategy game. It does require a lot of Micro to do well in, but you shouldn't be playing online competitive so that shouldn't matter. On the lowest difficulty the AI will not attack you. Well, it might, but I played for half an hour and all it did was build up its defences until I went and killed it. It is a bit weird at the start, but you can learn to play it fairly easily.
Next up would be Starcraft 2. Again the campaign is like a tutorial, and there are also dedicated tutorials in the game as well. Micro focused too, though the AI is a tiny bit harder on the easiest difficulty. It literally flashes the button to press when it tells you what to do though, so you shouldn't get lost learning it.
Then I'd move to the Total War series. It crosses RTS fights with 4X style civilization building. They also generally have decent tutorials. Note: Don't expect to actually complete the campaign goals on easy for a while. Its hard until you get the hang of the 4X side of things.
After you get a basic idea of how to play the 4X side of the Total War series, Civilization V. Its noob friendly, and is entirely focused on the 4X side of things. Easy AI basically lets you win. Well, it should by this point. You might still lose, but it'll be a struggle. Note: Unlike the Total War games where cities are already placed on the map and you only send armies to capture it, in Civilization the world starts completely uncolonised. No cities, just your starting units. Its up to you to create the cities with the dedicated "Settler" unit.
After that, Civilization IV. Greatest Civ game made, especially with its expansions. A lot more in depth than vanilla Civ V [Can't speak for with expansions], and is a brilliant game.
From there, you'll have experienced the main major types of strategy gameplay. Just find a strategy game that looks interesting to you, try it, and keep playing it if you find it fun, find a different one if you don't.
Next up would be Starcraft 2. Again the campaign is like a tutorial, and there are also dedicated tutorials in the game as well. Micro focused too, though the AI is a tiny bit harder on the easiest difficulty. It literally flashes the button to press when it tells you what to do though, so you shouldn't get lost learning it.
Then I'd move to the Total War series. It crosses RTS fights with 4X style civilization building. They also generally have decent tutorials. Note: Don't expect to actually complete the campaign goals on easy for a while. Its hard until you get the hang of the 4X side of things.
After you get a basic idea of how to play the 4X side of the Total War series, Civilization V. Its noob friendly, and is entirely focused on the 4X side of things. Easy AI basically lets you win. Well, it should by this point. You might still lose, but it'll be a struggle. Note: Unlike the Total War games where cities are already placed on the map and you only send armies to capture it, in Civilization the world starts completely uncolonised. No cities, just your starting units. Its up to you to create the cities with the dedicated "Settler" unit.
After that, Civilization IV. Greatest Civ game made, especially with its expansions. A lot more in depth than vanilla Civ V [Can't speak for with expansions], and is a brilliant game.
From there, you'll have experienced the main major types of strategy gameplay. Just find a strategy game that looks interesting to you, try it, and keep playing it if you find it fun, find a different one if you don't.
Dawn of war series is a nice intro game for an rts newbie due to the squad mechanic type so you won't have to wrestle with putting large numbers of single units into squads nor worry about optimum ressource collector rates (here you get ressources for holding locations instead), and is a good stepping stone to company of heroes series.
In all relic games you'll learn quickly as you play the campaigns
Trying not to repeat others suggestions but would big up sins of a solar empire as a newbie friendly fun rts that might serve as a gateway game to the 4x genre.
In all relic games you'll learn quickly as you play the campaigns
Trying not to repeat others suggestions but would big up sins of a solar empire as a newbie friendly fun rts that might serve as a gateway game to the 4x genre.
i say it depends on what kind of strategy are you looking for for. if its an RTS in my idea go for age of mythology. its a really old game but is absolutely awesome. i dont know how you can get it but if you could do. its really great. i dont recommend starcraft because personally i found it too boring. that was my opinion(i dont play multiplayer). older C&C's are a nice option too. especially zero hour. they have aged really well and are easy enough with many tutorials. but dont go in online modes. you get your ass handed to you.
many great options for turn based have been said before me so i wont go into it.(its also because the only turn based strategies i have played is civ 5 which i hated and total war series).
and i say dont go into total war before you have a little experience with strategy games. because the battles of total war are the most realistic and the most complex.
many great options for turn based have been said before me so i wont go into it.(its also because the only turn based strategies i have played is civ 5 which i hated and total war series).
and i say dont go into total war before you have a little experience with strategy games. because the battles of total war are the most realistic and the most complex.
Oh man. There are sooo many possibilities. Many of the above posts have already taken away any suggestions I can make for a beginner. Civilization V, Rome: Total War, Starcraft 2, Company of Heroes 1, the list goes on and on. It really depends on what kind of 'strategy' game you like, because all of the games I just listed are very different from each other.
I'd recommend Kings Bounty myself, but if you've time to go into it and don't mind delayed gratification and really bad graphics Rome:Total War would be a good place to start. Mind you if you play Total War it's likely to suck up a few hundred hours so rather than worrying about a sale I'd find the best one for you. Be careful about Civilization though, while people generally refer to them as strategy games they're really more simulations than anything. Fun and terrifyingly addictive but the appeal is largely about seeing how things play out with different cultures and technologies.
Oh and since you mentioned Xcom I have to mention the mods. If you haven't already there are a few mods you should definitely check out.
Xcom Toolboks has some camera tools that dramatically improve the pace and visibility of the game. While I was always slightly aware of the annoyance of the controls in Xcom it's not till I toyed around with this I realised just how bad it is. This mod makes it 10x as fast and smooth to play. I'm not even exaggerating.
Warspace Extension makes some subtle tweaks that substantially improve the game, it's hard to really quantify how much of a difference it makes but the game feels a lot more interesting and tactical. I'm most impressed in how it affects the strategical layer of the game, you really do have to weigh up whether you can send your troops into a meat grinder to stop a country withdrawing from the council.
Oh and since you mentioned Xcom I have to mention the mods. If you haven't already there are a few mods you should definitely check out.
Xcom Toolboks has some camera tools that dramatically improve the pace and visibility of the game. While I was always slightly aware of the annoyance of the controls in Xcom it's not till I toyed around with this I realised just how bad it is. This mod makes it 10x as fast and smooth to play. I'm not even exaggerating.
Warspace Extension makes some subtle tweaks that substantially improve the game, it's hard to really quantify how much of a difference it makes but the game feels a lot more interesting and tactical. I'm most impressed in how it affects the strategical layer of the game, you really do have to weigh up whether you can send your troops into a meat grinder to stop a country withdrawing from the council.
If it hasn't been mentioned and you're a sci-fi fan, it's worth looking up the old 'Empire at warr' game. It's the best time I ever had in a strategy game that emphasizes territory control. Also, yeah, Civ V bandwagon here. You'll waste many hours of your life there, but one warning.
If you play, do not trust Gandhi.
He will betray you. Every time.
If you play, do not trust Gandhi.
He will betray you. Every time.