Suggestions for Strategy Games

STARCRAFT 2 without a doubt. It'll be released Tuesday and it's going to be epic. It's the obvious answer to me since I'm obsessed with this game, but there are actually other games that exist.

If you aren't into "Real-Time Strategy" where speed of decision making and dexterity are factors you may want to check out the Civilization series, which has slower paced turn-based play.

I'd also recommend Sins of a Solar Empire. In a way it's between Starcraft and Civilization. It doesn't require the fast-twitch of Starcraft but it's still real-time and more exciting in my opinion than turn-based strategy games.

Napoleon: Total War also looks good, but I haven't played it. Read some reviews of these games at pc.ign.com.

well you like city building and such games or war games ,go to game sites like gamespot , trust me you will find more than you need.

Strategy is a very broad genre, and strictly speaking SimCity isn't a strategy game in the strict sense of the word; more of a simulator.

So, to narrow it down, you need to answer a few questions for yourself:

1) Turn-based or real-time?
2) Setting? (Fantasy, sci-fi, WW2, modern, etc)
3) Style? (Fast tactical combat, slow-paced strategic combat, city building & economy with little or no combat, etc)
4) Old or recent? many of the best strategy titles are 5+ years old by now.

I guess I'd probably want to try a turn-based & real-time just to see which one I like more. In the past I've enjoyed games like Diplomacy (board game) as well as some WWII games.

It sounds like Civilization might be a good turn-based game to try and Starcraft sounds cool but my "fast twitch gaming skills" pretty much suck   Maybe a slower strategic combat might be a good place to start.

Given that, what would you suggest as a couple of games to try?

Thanks for the help!

I've been RTS'ing since Dune II, so there is a whole host of games I could recommend. My personal favourites include the Command and Conquer series, the Age of Empires series, Lord of the Rings: Battle for Middle-Earth, WarCraft, StarCraft... The list goes on. Most of those are quite fast-paced, but you can always turn down the difficulty until you get up to speed.

Civilization is a great series, so +1 to that. Most RTS games tend to be of the "fast twitch" variety, but for something a little slower, you may enjoy the Total War series. It spans a big chunk of history and has some higher-level strategic gameplay as well, not just tactical combat. For sheer scale, you have to check out Supreme Commander. And if WW2 is your thing, Company of Heroes is an absolute must.

Hope that's enough to get you started.

for real-time strategy, i would recommend the command and conquer series, age of empires series, and starcraft

for turn-based, i would recommend civilization and the total war series

All that being said, I can't recommend starcraft enough, even for people without "fast twitch" ability. The game was designed to be very easy to learn but impossible to master, so its fun for all skill levels. The online matchmaking service can't be beat nor can the polish of the single player campaign I'm sure.

Check out http://us.battle.net/sc2/en/blog/39302, WWW.starcraft2.com

P.s. ruleof72: my dad, a statistician   , played starcraft 1 with me and loved it at the age of 51.

supreme commander 1 forged alliance, supreme commander 2 = the pwnzorbbq of strategy. Really has no coherent background story or campaign however.

command and conquer - all

starcraft 2 tomorrow. yayyy

Thanks for the replies! I think I've narrowed the list down to Civilization IV, the original Starcraft, and Company of Heros. That should get me started. But I have a question:

All I can find is Windows XP versions. None of these games say they will work on Windows 7. I am getting the 64 bit install. Will they work?

most games that worked well with xp will adapt to windows 7. You can even specify for programs to run "in compatibility mode" with another version of windows.

some games are just to oldschool to adapt. Civilizations and company of heroes will probably work, but starcraft was made when windows 98 was the hotness so its questionable. Google that one just to be sure.

Those games were released long before Win Vista or Win 7 were released. Game publishers do not re-test older games on newer operating systems.



If you are interested in a turn based space strategy game then I recommend Galactic Civilization I and II. Gal Civ's AI is pretty good. Good enough to actually beat me the first time I played it. I can run rings around Sid Meier's Civilization series AI.

For a fantasy based game you may want to look into Elemental: War of Magic. It uses an AI engine that is based on the one in Gal Civ. These games are published by StarDock.


Edit: Gal Civ II does work with Win 7 64-bit because I tested it. Elemental should work in Win 7 since it will be released soon.

Anything's possible with a bit of tweaking. I've managed to get some pretty old games running on Windows 7, all the way back to the original C&C (circa 1995)

wow & command and conquer tiberium twilight

You like C&C4?

Heathens, all of you! Best turn based strategy game out there is Heroes of Might and Magic 3. Go HOMAM!

Fantastic game, no arguments there. Simply forgot to mention it.

Strategy games cover a very large amount of games:

RTS:
Starcraft II
Company of Heroes
Dawn of War (I & II)
Sins of a Solar Empire (More or a cross between 4x and RTS)
Supreme Commander
World in Conflict

4x:
Civilization IV Gold
??? (Really, is there anything besides Civilization?  )

Galactic Civilization I & II by StarDock.

The AI engine in Sid Meier's Civilization series can't hold up to the more advanced AI engine of Gal Civ. Gameplay is superb.

I can't understand how to play "Sins of a Solar Empire".

Also what is "4x"?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/4X - "explore, expand, exploit, and exterminate"

Sins of a Solar empire is a mix of Strategy (exploring, upgrading planets/facilities) and RTS (gameplay, unit production, unit fighting, etc), making it a very unique game. Takes a while to learn the in's and outs though, but a very, very underrated game all and all. You *might* want to check in on gamefaqs; someone has to have a detailed description of the mechanics to help you out if need be.

underrated? Did it not get a 90 or above in pc.ign reviews? loljk. I could never get into it because it lacked any single play campaign/story/explanation for the battle. I suppose I never gave it much of a chance thou.

I'm addicted to starcraft 2 campaign crack

I agree with you; its definattly more geared toward internet players. I can only imagine what an 8 player 12+ hour game would look like 0-O.