Help me find a niche strategy game!

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Hot_Potato

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#1 Hot_Potato
Member since 2004 • 3422 Posts

Ok, I'm going to assume the type of game I'm looking for here is very niche. I want a strategy game with very little emphasis on fighting, but instead emphasis on building villages and expanding the economy or commerce. The most enjoyable part of Black and White or the Warcraft 3 demo was building up settlements and having the people do things like gather supplies.

So far the closest thing I've found was Settlers: Rise of an Empire. The only reason I haven't jumped the gun yet is it got some luke warm reviews, and from what I've heard it has been simplified quite a bit from the previous games.

Does anyone know of any games similar to Settlers, or to and extent Black and White, or to an extreme extent, Warcraft 3? I want emphasis on expanding small villages rather than fighting. Plus I'm taking US history and we read Their Eyes Were Watching God in English, and the whole growth and development of villages interests me. Any help or suggestions would be appreciated.

Right now my top choice probably is Settlers, or trying to find my Black and White disk :P 

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krazyorange

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#2 krazyorange
Member since 2005 • 2669 Posts
Try Caesar 3, or any of the Impressions titles (Pharaoh, Zeus, etc). They all feature extensive economical buildup with very little combat.
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pvtdonut54

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#3 pvtdonut54
Member since 2008 • 8554 Posts
civilization4 + beyond the sword? there is a military factor but not much if you choose to avoid war.
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Sonir77

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#4 Sonir77
Member since 2006 • 1846 Posts
Get the first Stronghold game
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mrbojangles25

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#5 mrbojangles25
Member since 2005 • 60713 Posts

sounds kinda silly but Supreme Commander.

Ya, it focused on combat, but when you played skirmish you could be completely defensive (i.e. build a lot of stuff) and then win with a couple good nukes.

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aliblabla2007

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#6 aliblabla2007
Member since 2007 • 16756 Posts
What you're looking for would be a citybuilder, methinks.
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thusaha

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#7 thusaha
Member since 2007 • 14495 Posts
1701 A.D. ?
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Mapleleafs4life

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#8 Mapleleafs4life
Member since 2006 • 524 Posts
rise of nations is exactly what your looking for and is one of the greatest rts games of all time.
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DOS4dinner

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#9 DOS4dinner
Member since 2008 • 1072 Posts
Well...not really a city-building strategy, but Defcon is definitely niche. If you like 1980s vector graphics updated to today's standards, you'll love it.
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krazyorange

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#10 krazyorange
Member since 2005 • 2669 Posts
Well...not really a city-building strategy, but Defcon is definitely niche. If you like 1980s vector graphics updated to today's standards, you'll love it.DOS4dinner
Agreed, plus it's a pick-up-and-play type of game
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frillydilly

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#12 frillydilly
Member since 2008 • 25 Posts
It has to be populous. It is very old but very fun. Populous the beginning by the way. You have a tribe and you have to defeat the other tribes using braves and magic spells. I just spend ages creating all the houses and huts. You make huts and the braves breed and you make balloon huts and training huts and its just basically a very fun game. I think it is just what you are looking for. It does work on XP... sometimes... if you run it on compatibility mode for windows 2000... Lol im really blabbering on about populous. It's just such a fun game.
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Baranga

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#13 Baranga
Member since 2005 • 14217 Posts

1701 A.D. ?thusaha

rise of nations is exactly what your looking for and is one of the greatest rts games of all time.Mapleleafs4life

And Rise of Legends.

Sins of a Solar Empire can be played like this too, since the fights are mostly automatic. You just keep spamming ships, and concentrate on developing your empire.

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spierdalaj666

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#14 spierdalaj666
Member since 2004 • 865 Posts

You can always try settlers 2 (there's a 10th anniversary edition out), as it concentrates on city building.

How about one of the sim city games?

As mentioned before, caesar 3 is a good one.

You can also try europa universalis 3. It concentrates on trade, diplomacy, war, colonization, etc. Get the magna mundi mod if you end up picking this game up.

Galactic civilizations 2 (similar to civilization 4) is a 4X game that combines war, diplomacy, research, etc.

Sorry but i can't think of any other games right now. Good luck.

 

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Wasdie

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#15 Wasdie  Moderator
Member since 2003 • 53622 Posts
rise of nations is exactly what your looking for and is one of the greatest rts games of all time.Mapleleafs4life
There is a lot of focus on combat, that is why the resources were so streamlined.
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Hot_Potato

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#16 Hot_Potato
Member since 2004 • 3422 Posts
Well...not really a city-building strategy, but Defcon is definitely niche. If you like 1980s vector graphics updated to today's standards, you'll love it.DOS4dinner
I have Defcon and I love that game! Thanks for all the suggestions guys, I'm going to look into all of them and hopefully find the right one
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Baranga

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#17 Baranga
Member since 2005 • 14217 Posts

[QUOTE="Mapleleafs4life"]rise of nations is exactly what your looking for and is one of the greatest rts games of all time.Wasdie
There is a lot of focus on combat, that is why the resources were so streamlined.

But you can always win by using diplomacy or having a good economy.

I constantly play Rise of Legends, and the last few times I won only by focusing on economy. If you know what you're doing, you can completely bypass combat.

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Wasdie

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#18 Wasdie  Moderator
Member since 2003 • 53622 Posts

[QUOTE="Wasdie"][QUOTE="Mapleleafs4life"]rise of nations is exactly what your looking for and is one of the greatest rts games of all time.Baranga

There is a lot of focus on combat, that is why the resources were so streamlined.

But you can always win by using diplomacy or having a good economy.

I constantly play Rise of Legends, and the last few times I won only by focusing on economy. If you know what you're doing, you can completely bypass combat.

Yeah, but usually you still have to have some sort of defense or the enemy will attack you successfully.