What is your favorite strategy game?

Dear all,

Back when graphics were minimal, strategy games, specifically civ 1 took on the most depth for me as a gamer.

Medieval 2 Total War has been my favorite lately, but what else is out there?

What are your favorite strategy games today? (Starcraft 2 looks promising.)

zoo

Just to add, the very first strategy games I ever played that I guess got me in to the genre were 2 real old school games on my Amiga called Syndicate and Utopia. Awesome games. Loved Utopia.

Starcraft and the old warcraft games are good I like the whole C&C series though not generals so much. The Total war games are great I lreally like the realitic way that they reward good stratagy and not just massive swarm tactics. I like SupCom because of the huge scale and the massive number of units.

One of my current favorite RTS games is COH i like how the infantry will use cover inculding freshly made craters and how even 1000 rifle bullets won't hurt a tank and how the tanks can be damaged in different places like blowing up its main gun so it can't shoot. and its fun to make a group of tanks crash through a wall or watch then blast a big hole in a building that enamy infantry are hiding in.

I hope that SC2 is as great as the first on was when it came out, I still play SC1 every now and then even though the graphics are looking a bit old its still classic

lol, I was never a pro at ANY game, I consider myself jack of all trades, master of none gamer (I usually learn quick, and become quite good, but never pro). I learn as much as I can, like in BF2, I looked up all game's weapon stats, etc, I use that info partly in game to size up enemies etc. I had 2 friends in unversity that just smoked me at Starcraft, they just played that game, I only one very rarely, if they made a frekin huge mistake.

PS, it's UT3, not ut4. My uncle and cousins sucked at SC too, there was no challenge lol, I always prepared for their eventual backstabs too.

Homeworld rocked. It took me so long to get good at that game.

Alpha Centauri/Civ 2

Ananan,

No joke! Alpha Centauri was one that I was just getting good at when I lost it. I am too lazy to go find it on ebay. Civ2 is still gold. Cataclysm was my favorite of the two, in fact, I still have it and will have to go dig it up. There were some great mods for that game, they let you have quite a few more ships then the default game. Great reminder man.

On that note, I think my other favorites, not mentioned, are the old school hex based movers, the panzer general series, perfect general etc. Their natural move was to the free moving games we know today like SC or Total Annhiliation -> Sup Com.

zoo

Microprose classics. Oh how things have changed. I was just playing Master of Orion 2 last year.

It's not strictly in the genre because it fits into a couple of others, but I'd have to say Dungeon Keeper.

I was a master of the micromanaged imp rush. Build a T shaped tunnel as far out as you think is safe, and right across the map, then get the imps to fortify all the outside walls. It's very risky, but a guaranteed win when you've sealed off the enemy from the portals and gold/gem seams. And for when he gets round to researching the destroy walls spell, you've filled all the tunnels with lots of lovely traps, and hopefully teched/trained up a few high level vampires that you can possess (FPS elements) and walk to his dungeon heart, where they can cause a lot of damage.

RTS:
Age of Empires 2
Caesar 3
Starcraft
Company of Heroes

TBS:
Master of Orion 2 (not 3!)
Galactic Civilisations 2 : Dark Avatar
Civilisation 2
Civ: Call to Power 2 was good as well - a bit different to Civ2.

AOE II always looked cool to me, and seeing that many here like it, I may pursue that on a clearance rack somewhere.

Disciples Sacred Lands looks like the Heroes of Might and Magic series, but I have never played it.

Dungeon Keeper, is that the one where you design the dungeon with baddies and the 'hero' tries to get through?

I see COH again as a favorite. That demo was awesome, but I just cannot play that in front of anybody as the language is terrible. Personally, I sort of don't care, but it gets old and to me, it can be offensive. Does anyone that plays that know if there is a toggle for the language?

(I realize the fact that your are blowing people away and maybe that should be a bigger deal, but frankly, its a game, and that is all it is. I don't want to hear the same swearing over and over and over, I just want to play a game.)

The good games seem to stand the test of time as they are repeated here. I wonder how RobWright is doing on vacation? His Redsox are going to the World Series.

zoo

Hell yah! Dungeon keeper rocked!!!

red alert as another good one because it had BOATS!
warcraft 2 over 3.. because.... of...BOATS

RTS don't appeal to me the older i get. Requires to much planning before playing the game. It's just like chess but moving pieces

Oh yeah, Rome Total War is still a great game. I like to sit back, look at my lands and crush those barbarians. I hate those scythe chariots though, they tear my infantry up.

zoo

Stemnin,

I never played Battlezone 2, but a friend of mine said it was cool as well. He said it was action in the tank and resource managment all at the same time.

Is that Disciple sacred lands like the Heroes of Might and Magic series, if you are familiar with them? I don't remember seeing that much prior to your mentioning it here. I am also out of the loop sometimes, so don't take offense.

zoo

Yep - the 2 are quite similar. Disciples is one of those great underappreciated games that lots of people buy eventually because of word of mouth, but seemingly no one buys when it comes out. Turn-based strategy does have the advantage of being pretty easy to set aside for a while if RL intervenes while gaming - God help me if the kids need something during a WoW raid...

FFXII is actually pretty good
I was thinking of getting a copy of RISE & FALL: Civilizations at war. I played the demo and it seemed pretty good.

i liked the c&c series but atm im really into world in conflict online

All time - Starcraft
Currently - only playing C&C 3

Dune 1, 2 + C&C's, syndicate, Dungeon keeper, battlezone 2, dark regin...warcraft I & 3 (2 is too cartoony)

My favorite strategy games of all time are definitely the C&C series. Dune was the very first video game (no joke!) I ever played at the age of 5. I grew up playing all of the other ones. The whole reason I got into computers was so I could play Renegade withe maxed out settings. My dad and I set up our first LAN connection just so we could play tiberiun sun and Renegade and all the rest together. We even bought multiple copies of the same game just so we could play (stupid cod key). Generals was horrible (just another Arab-racist game), but Tiberium wars made up for it. In all, C&C is definitely the best series of strategy games I have ever played. I also enjoy Civ4: BTS and COHF. Age of Empires was another good series, but I stopped playing it after the Conquerers expansion.

I can't believe that I forgot the DoW games.

I also forgot civ1, 2, 3 and AoE and AoW,
I'm probably still forgetting one or two.