Title says it all. I've not played a "serious" strategy game lately. I'm exclusively into action and FPS. The only strategy games I've ever played are Age of Empires 2 (long ago! - didn't like it), C&C Generals and Rome Total War. I have played RTW A LOT for more than 5 years and what I have liked so much are both the turn-based empire management aspect and the superb rts style combat. I'm trying to find a similar game in a space setting. Preferably I'm looking for a 4X game that is both immersive - complex and also has a satisfying tactical combat aspect, like RTW. I've heard good things about Galactic Civilizations II but the automatic combat wouldn't appeal to me. Any suggestions?
An RTS! Wouldn't all the management be overwhelming in real time?P01nt-blank
Not really. The battles can take even several minutes when you have a, say, 30 vs 30 ship fight (which is about average sized). Theres plenty of time to fight and perform empire management.
Maybe if you've got 3 on going fights each on seperate solar system while trying to influence push somewhere else, yeah, you might be overwhelmed.
Sins is pretty slow paced, you'll be able to manage everything no problem. Sword of the Stars is not bad either, although I couldn't really get into it. By the way, there's currently a sale going on at D2D and Swords is really cheap (6$, pretty good deal if you're interested).
If you want a little challenge and something different, check out AI War: Fleet Command by Arcen Games. Awesome game, awesome developer. It is on Steam, D2D, Gamersgate and possibly Impulse.
Sins is a good recommendation like the others suggested. If you do choose Sins, get the expansion packs too. They're rather cheap and provide good content. Another game I would recommend, that others have not yet, is Master of Orion 2. It is an old school 4X game, but it provides everything that you are looking for. It's not a RTS, but a TBS in both the empire building part and the tactical battles. You can have massive fleets facing off with each other and those battles can take a while. Not to mention you can design your own ships and pit them off against your rivals. You can get it cheap these days. I know Impulse sells it.
I think we need to remind ourselves what 4X is and stands for, because while Empire at War and Homeworld are great games, they are NOT 4X. Anyway, to my picks: The best of the bestSins of a Solar Empire: this is really just a RTS with 4X elements added on top, but it's a very successful implementation. Galactic Civilizations II: turn-based. Master of Orion II: turn-based. A little old school, but it's a goody. Available at Impulse and Good Old Games. Alco considerSword of the Stars: turn-based. Also watch out for the upcoming sequel. Haegemonia: real time (I think). Also available at Good Old Games. The Space Empire series: The link shows SEV, but I heard SEIV is better. I don't where you can get them, but I think I saw SEIV or SEV at Gametap or Direct2Drive. It's shame that Fragile Allegiance is impossible to get nowadays. You used to be able to get it at Home of the Underdogs, but aside from the dubious legality of that site, it's also completely shut down. I have a CD copy, and it is my favourite game of all time - Gamespot rated it 6.2 because they suck. In my opinion, it is the most technically successful real-time implementation of a 4X space strategy game I've ever played - it's not just a RTS with 4X elements added on top like SOASE, but a full-blooded 4X game made to work in real time. And despite some flaws and limitations, it works really well. Edit - GOG is back up, so I edited to add direct links.
... It's shame that Fragile Allegiance is impossible to get nowadays. You used to be able to get it at Home of the Underdogs, but aside from the dubious legality of that site, it's also completely shut down. I have a CD copy, and it is my favourite game of all time - Gamespot rated it 6.2 because they suck. In my opinion, it is the most technically successful real-time implementation of a 4X space strategy game I've ever played - it's not just a RTS with 4X elements added on top like SOASE, but a full-blooded 4X game made to work in real time. And despite some flaws and limitations, it works really well.madrocketeer
Speaking of dubious legality, there are still sites offering Fragile Allegiance downloads. That being said, I bought a cd copy a few years ago (second hand) though I must admit I didn't try playing it yet. With games of that age I always fear the user interface is going to be too clunky to compare to nowadays' games.
Speaking of dubious legality, there are still sites offering Fragile Allegiance downloads. That being said, I bought a cd copy a few years ago (second hand) though I must admit I didn't try playing it yet. With games of that age I always fear the user interface is going to be too clunky to compare to nowadays' games.
noctilucus
The interface is on the large side, but this is a DOS game played on smaller monitors back then. But the tutorials, though non-interactive, are still very informative and helpful. Watching them all is essential. It's not as straightforward as SOASE, but it's not that hard once I got through all the tutorials and played for a couple of hours. In no time I was doing crazy and frantic macro-managements like sending fleets to multi-front battles while simultaneously launching my missile stockpiles at multiple enemy asteroids which have recently been cleared of missile defences by my agents.
What most said Highly recommend Sins of a solar empire+entrenchment add-on since it adds the so needed better planet defenses and Starbases ( as for the diplomacy add-on not that necessary ) Also despite real time dont worry about been overwhelmed since the game it has a really slow pace that allow you to manage your empire and go into battles ( and thats in the normal speed and you can change the speed in options between slow,normal and fast and even fast is slow paced ) One word of advice if you go with sins just try and conquer as much planets as you can at the start of games using a small fleet build with the initial resources to maximize the resource income ( if you dont do that you will always find yourself waiting alot for resources to gather and there is a chance you might need immediately some ships fast to defend a planet )
We've just released our browser-based Space Strategy game: Astriarch: Ruler of the stars It is a 4x game that is easy to get the hang of and doesn't require lots of time to play. You can play for free at: http://www.astriarch.com/
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