Noob Seeking to Expand Strategy Library

[Ishal]

Bloated Guppy posts good strat games like a sir.

I'll add my list as well.

Homeworld (oldie but a DAMN goodie)
Homeworld 2
Sins of a Solar empire (get trinity if you can)
Masters or Orion
Sword of the Stars <---- another goodie
Age of Empires 2 Age of Kings
Total War series
Command and Conquer 3 Tiberium Wars

End Of Nations. <--- this one isn't out yet but I think open beta is coming soon. I was in closed beta and its really fun.

 

[sextus the crazy]

Company of Heroes. Seriously, Company of Heroes.

This. More than half of the RTS conventions I was familiar with were wiped away by this game, and it's currently my favorite strategy game so far. This game has a complex cover system for infantry (soldiers automatically take cover behind walls and objects), a resource system in the form of capturing strategic points instead of gathering, and the best destruction physics I've ever seen in a strategy game so far. Plus, the gameplay's addicting as hell and requires more tactical thinking than simply rushing the enemy with a single unit type.

The single-player campaign's got missions based on actual WWII battles, including D-Day (the very first mission is Omaha Beach, Saving Private Ryan stye). The realism they put into the game doesn't take away from the incredible fun that comes out of it.

There's a reason why this the highest-rated RTS of all time. If you have a good computer, GET THIS GAME NOW. Preferably the complete set with the expansion packs.

I've got like 250-300 hours of gameplay on my copy. I've played almost no multiplayer and half the campaign, but I've enjoyed the shit out of co-op skirmish with my friends.

 

[Kathinka]

company of heroes already got a lot of praise in this thread, and rightfully so!

also, give world in conflict a look. great game, multi-and singleplayer.

 

[Tahaneira]

You would seriously do that? Damn. I would greatly appreciate it, good sir/madam. Thank you.

Sure, why not? You seem like a nice chap, and everyone I know already has it. I just need a Steam name or an email.

Alrighty then. My user name is Tahaneira [http://steamcommunity.com/profiles/76561197998113787] (What can I say, I like consistency. And I can usually be certain it's free.), let me know if there are any issues. And again, thank you very, very much.

 

[WouldYouKindly]

Civ is fun, but I find it a little dry. The Total War series is my bread and butter. You get good turn based strategy on top of generally great tactical real time strategy. I recommend Rome and Medieval 2. Medieval 2 is not as good but definitely comes into it's own once you get a few good mods for it. I recommend the Stainless Steel mod. It makes unit progression more than just about money. You need to wait for the advancement to be made. For instance, you can't recruit top tier cannons just a few turns after gunpowder becomes a thing, same thing with musketeers. I do love my plate armored hand cannons. Fire wildly inaccurate shots then proceed to charge in with the swords and win easily against a lot of units. Also, knights will wreck your day if you let them hit anything but the front end of a spear wall. I've routinely obliterated units of lighter troops with one charge, even if they had spears.

Sins Of a Solar empire is fun simply because one of the races ultimate weapon is essentially weaponized love.

I don't think another person needs to recommend Company of Heroes, but I will.

Wargames European Escalation is punishing if you go too aggressive, but it's supremely deep. Supply convoys are your friends. So are heavily armed attack helicopters. Artillery, I've found, has limited uses. Good for forcing infantry out of a town though.

 

[aegix drakan_v1legacy]

Galactic Civilizations 2.

It's like civ. But in SPAAAAACE. And you can make your own ships as units.

And the AI tends to be unique and creative for each race.

I personally LOVE the game.

 

[Jamous]

Dude, Total War. Buy, and play, Total War. Every fucking one of them. Buy them and play them now.
As for Civilization, general consensus agrees that Civ IV is the best if you lke to take care of your society in more detail, and Civ V if you just like less details but equal action. While Civ I-III were great (I grew up with them) they are far outdated in graphics, and frankly I am unsure if a modern computer can even run them.

http://store.steampowered.com/app/4760/

The best Total War game as of yet. Only 10 or so USD on Steam. Check it out.

Good to see this is the first comment. Seriously though, the Total War series is by far and away the best strategy game I've seen. It's just so... Oh god I love it. Honestly, if you're looking for some awesome strategy gameplay, both in terms of government and battles, look no further.

 

[SuperSuperSuperGuy]

If you like turn-based strategy RPGs, then games like Fire Emblem, Disgaea and Soul Nomad and the World Eaters would be up your alley. Advance Wars is also good, and Battalion Wars is real-time tactics and an action game. I've also been having fun with Civilizations IV and V. I'd recommend looking them up.

It really depends on what kind of strategy you like, honestly.

 

[Iori Branford]

I'm just now starting to feel the XCOM love, but not through the official games. The remake will need some more updates before I grab it, and the original's interface aged so poorly I can hardly tell the functions of most (nearly identical) buttons.

http://openxcom.org/ is a straight port of the original and the hub of the fanmade XCOMlike scene. Myself, I'm partial to http://ufoai.org on desktop and http://www.xenowar.net/ on Android.

 

[Orange12345]

--------------------------------------DEMOS------------------------------------------------


X-com EU, Civilization 5, Dawn of war 2, Total War Shogun 2 and many more all have demos on steam

EDIT: I just remembered a great series Advance Wars, its turn based strategy and super fun 1 and 2 are on the gba and are probably hard to find but 3 and 4 are on the ds so you could probably find them with a little searching

 

[Kaymish]

Tropico 4 ive just got my hands on it when it was on the steam sale and its been sweet so far who does not want to play as the dictator of a Caribbean banana republic pity you cant stamp out religion ive tried very hard to do that they still ended up winging for churches even though they were the secret police HQ
and elections are a thing of perfect beauty "el Presidentee it is time for tropico's elections what are you going to do" "it is OK supreemio i know the people love me with all their hearts an election will be unnecessary this year" all while the people are over worked under paid living in shacks and on 1 meal a day

there are flaws but there is even a demo on steam so you can test it out with no money down

 

[Signa]

Supreme Commander (not 2) and Company of Heroes should have you set for life.

If you want something a little more 4x like Civ, but not Civ, Sins of a Solar Empire is worth a look.

 

[thiosk]

Dude, Total War. Buy, and play, Total War. Every fucking one of them. Buy them and play them now.
As for Civilization, general consensus agrees that Civ IV is the best if you lke to take care of your society in more detail, and Civ V if you just like less details but equal action. While Civ I-III were great (I grew up with them) they are far outdated in graphics, and frankly I am unsure if a modern computer can even run them.

http://store.steampowered.com/app/4760/

The best Total War game as of yet. Only 10 or so USD on Steam. Check it out.

Agreed. Rome is the best. I love the strategy game as much as the tactics, and I wish I could find another game that was equally cathartic

 

[NinjaSocks333]

Yeah, as said above Dawn of War is pretty good. Make sure you get Dark Crusade, it's kind of like Risk meets the grim dark future of the 41st millennium.

Endless Space is a turn based strategy game based on going out from your home planet to colonise the stars. You meet other races in the galaxy, form alliances, trade, break alliances, go to war over important systems, defend yourself from other empires or pirates. All while making sure your people maintain a decent quality of life, it doesn't matter how industrially prosperous molten planets are, people don't like living there.

Has anyone said Empire Earth yet? Empire Earth is quite fun. It's a bit Age of Empires-y, but goes right from the stone age to like the 23rd century.

All of what he said plus Ground Control and Stronghold:Crusaders. Amazing games that are just a bit different from your standard RTS

Oh and for space sims, X:Beyond the Frontier!

 

[MammothBlade]

And by 'expand' I mean 'start.' I don't really have that much experience in strategy games. I find the StarCraft series a lot of fun, as well as WarCraft III. Age of Mythology is one of my most beloved games of all time. I tried to play Alpha Centauri once but remember becoming horribly confused and made absolutely no progress whatsoever.

However, lately I've had an itch to get more in-depth into the genre. I've got my eye on X-COM: Enemy Unknown, but the problem is that apart from that, I have no idea where to start. It's the usual problem with reviews and forums: various people claiming this series or that game is best ever, decrying all other contenders, people arguing that certain installments are the best or worst examples of the series, often using the same examples. Everyone seems to agree the Civilization series is worth playing. Well, which one? There are five of the fuckers. And AoM is based off the Age of Empires mechanics, right? But which one of those should I pick up first? And those are just the ones I've heard of.

So I need some help. I've decided to ask you guys in the hope that you can recommend me good places to start and good strategy games in general. Hopefully, the bias will be fairly consistent and I can get enough info to try a few things out to figure it out for myself.

So, to bring my inability to state a simple request to a close: what strategy games should I start with?

(A few ground rules: I don't care about multiplayer. Campaign, custom campaign, vs. A.I., that sort of thing. Good story is appreciated but not necessary. And if there are any with mythological bents to them, please kick them my way.)

Thank you in advance for listening to my rambling.

Mythological bent, huh?

There never was a sequel to Age of Mythology, but Rise of Legends could definitely be considered its spiritual successor. It isn't as great as AoM in my opinion, but it's by the same guys who made Rise of Nations, surprise surprise.

There's also the Warhammer 40k Dawn of War series, check that out if you want a mixture of Science Fiction and Fantasy IN SPACE.

 

[DrBonBon]

The Men of War-series. If you don't like how your soldiers AI is working, you can literally take control of your soldiers TPS-style. There is something unforgettable about waiting for a tank to roll near you and throw a satchel to take care of it.

 

[Pink Gregory]

Taking a sideways glance at it, seeing the recommendations for XCOM and Jagged Alliance, y'might want to give the Commandos series a look.

It's not so much strategic as it is tactical, and it's hard as balls, quicksave is your friend, but it's pretty rewarding.

Endless Space is considered by some to be something of an unrelated successor to GalCiv II (I wouldn't know about that myself, haven't played GalCiv) but it's not without it's problems (apparently).

 

[Tahaneira]

There never was a sequel to Age of Mythology, but Rise of Legends could definitely be considered its spiritual successor. It isn't as great as AoM in my opinion, but it's by the same guys who made Rise of Nations, surprise surprise.

YUS.

One of my greatest regrets is that there was never a proper sequel to AoM. I've idly considered tracking down whoever it was that bought the rights and pleading with them to make one for a while now. Alas, it is not likely to happen.

Well, it seems the floodgates have closed. I never really expected this big of a response and I want to thank you all again for your help. It seems Total War is mildly popular, and pretty much everything else sounds intriguing as well. I'll be looking out for them when I trawl the stores.

Thank you all.