Favorite Strategy Video Games?

Been playing lots of open world stuff lately and I think I'm ready for a change of pace. Came back to a turn-based RPG last night that I've been meaning to finish for years. And the Playstation Store sale has me interested in a couple strategy titles again. Thinking of buying Aven Colony for PS4 and also grabbing a cheap copy of X-Com: Enemy Unknown (the second one is on sale on the PS Store) to get an introduction to that series.

Anyone have some favorite strategy games to recommend for either console or PC? What do you like about them?

Aven Colony looks cool; it used to be on my Steam wishlist. I haven’t picked it up yet because of the reviews. Hopefully they can improve it in the future. I have X-Com: EU, and it was pretty fun… would probably say hold out for the second one though. Will any strategy game do? I can recommend a great RTS.

My favorite RTS is Dawn of War: Dark Crusade, which is a standalone expansion to Dawn of War that includes 7 playable races (take that StarCraft), and a single player campaign that has good customization. It’s set in the Warhammer 40k universe, which I find interesting. There is another expansion for DoW called Soulstorm. It adds 2 additional factions (bumping the total to 9), but the last two are not to my liking and people say the final expansion is a little unbalanced (also adds poorly designed flying units).

Despite being Sci-fi, there is a good mix of melee and ranged combat. The main reason I picked this up is because of the unit fatalities. When a unit kills another unit in melee, he performs a unique kill animation and they actually interact; other RTS games are like whack-a-mole without any real interaction. Controlling and customizing a commander on the battlefield is also nice. I remember specifically upgrading my PC for this back in the day, heh. There is also an amazing modding community that has made some impressive stuff, like adding more races to the game. Lots of replayability there.

They made DoW 2 and 3, but have failed to recapture the greatness that the first one delivered IMO. DoW 3 is especially bad. DoW: Dark Crusade is pretty cheap on Steam if you want to check it out… though I know you’re more of a console gamer, eh?

My favourite would be the Civilisation series of games (they totally count as strategy, right?)

I played the original Civilisation back in the day, then played Civilisation II, then many years later had a go at FreeCiv, before picking up Civilisation IV.
I've also dabbled a little with Civilisation Beyond Earth.

The thing I've always loved about civ is that it's not just all about fighting. You get to build a civilisation, you can be as peaceful or as warlike as you want. I have a tendency to write a narrative backstory as I play. There's something satisfying about creating a sprawling empire with many cities, all producing great wonders, earning the respect of your neighbours.

Archsaint wrote:Aven Colony looks cool; it used to be on my Steam wishlist. I haven’t picked it up yet because of the reviews.

What were the negatives in the reviews? I've watched a few youtube reviews and they were very positive, saying it was very polished and easy to get into. The one negative review I watched was from someone who wanted more complexity to the game. So my impression is that it might be a good strategy game for someone like me, who wants to scratch the itch every few years but isn't a regular strategy game player. What do you think?

As for RTS games, I'm theoretically open to them. But I've tried a few and they never stick for me. I think it comes down to me wanting the ability to pause time to look everything over and consider my options. Many RTS games let you pause, but don't allow you to scan the battlefield and sort through your tactical options while paused. "Real Time With Pause" is my sweet spot, as in games like Baldur's Gate, Neverwinter Nights, Dragon Age and (from what I've been hearing) Aven Colony.

Oh, and by "second game" in the X-Com series, do you mean "Enemy Within"? I just learned last night that EW isn't a sequel but a sort of heavily expanded re-release of Enemy Unknown. So I plan to return EU to Gamestop today and get EW instead. Of course, if you meant "X-Com 2", I've got my eye on it for play eventually. It's on sale on the PSN store this week and that's actually what prompted me to check out Enemy Unknown.

AdamCollings wrote:My favourite would be the Civilisation series of games (they totally count as strategy, right?)

I played the original Civilisation back in the day, then played Civilisation II, then many years later had a go at FreeCiv, before picking up Civilisation IV.
I've also dabbled a little with Civilisation Beyond Earth.

The thing I've always loved about civ is that it's not just all about fighting. You get to build a civilisation, you can be as peaceful or as warlike as you want. I have a tendency to write a narrative backstory as I play. There's something satisfying about creating a sprawling empire with many cities, all producing great wonders, earning the respect of your neighbours.

The Civ series has been a blip on my radar for years! I think I've never taken the plunge because I really need some orcs, wizards, plasma rifles or SOMETHING out of this world to really hook me. What have you thought about "Beyond Earth"?

Paeter wrote: What were the negatives in the reviews? I've watched a few youtube reviews and they were very positive, saying it was very polished and easy to get into. The one negative review I watched was from someone who wanted more complexity to the game. So my impression is that it might be a good strategy game for someone like me, who wants to scratch the itch every few years but isn't a regular strategy game player. What do you think?

Yeah, lack of complexity is one of them. Some people are saying that it’s too easy, and that you can run out of things to do pretty fast. But I hear they released more content in a patch awhile back. For me, it might be worth a buy on sale, the concept it really awesome. Keep in mind that I'm overly cautious when buying games over $10. Do you have Steam by chance?

Paeter wrote: As for RTS games, I'm theoretically open to them. But I've tried a few and they never stick for me. I think it comes down to me wanting the ability to pause time to look everything over and consider my options. Many RTS games let you pause, but don't allow you to scan the battlefield and sort through your tactical options while paused. "Real Time With Pause" is my sweet spot, as in games like Baldur's Gate, Neverwinter Nights, Dragon Age and (from what I've been hearing) Aven Colony.

Ah, gotcha. Having a pause mechanic is nice. Did a quick search, apparently you can pause in Dark Crusade. But if you’re looking for more of a turn based RPG, you should check out Divinity: Original Sin 2. It’s on my wishlist, waiting for the price to drop, has really good reviews.

Paeter wrote: Oh, and by "second game" in the X-Com series, do you mean "Enemy Within"? I just learned last night that EW isn't a sequel but a sort of heavily expanded re-release of Enemy Unknown. So I plan to return EU to Gamestop today and get EW instead. Of course, if you meant "X-Com 2", I've got my eye on it for play eventually. It's on sale on the PSN store this week and that's actually what prompted me to check out Enemy Unknown.

Oh, no. Enemy Within is DLC for X-Com: EU (which was good IMO, added lots of stuff). I meant X-COM 2… which is actually XCOM 2, no dash (weird). There's swords in XCOM 2.

Paeter wrote: The Civ series has been a blip on my radar for years! I think I've never taken the plunge because I really need some orcs, wizards, plasma rifles or SOMETHING out of this world to really hook me.

If you’re looking for a game like Civ but fantasy based, you should check out Endless Legend. It’s a game in my Steam library that I’ve been meaning to play, but 4X games are hard for me to get into.

I'll second Endless Legend as speculative fiction version of Civ. I've got that as well, although only really played about an hour of it. Just did the tutorial with my son before he got bored and wanted to move on. My first impression was that it was pretty complex and will take some time to learn. But yes, it's basically civ in a fantasy world.

As for beyond earth. I have played a bit, though not heaps. The thing is, these games only work on the wife's laptop
I've enjoyed it, but it doesn't quite scratch the nostalgia itch from the original, since it's so different. That's okay. You won't have that nostalgia for the original civ anyway.

Beyond Earth does a good job of transposing the civ experience into a sci-fi narrative. The nations of Earth are colonising an alien world (and yes, there are aliens. Mostly animal-based so far, it seems). The really interesting aspect is that this isn't earth. The ecology of the planet is different. There is a miasma fog that is harmful to humans but necessary for the indigenous life. (so if you clear it, you're less likely to have your city attacked by giant alien scorpions.)

You get to choose the direction you take your people. Try to tame the world to be more hospitable for humans, or genetically modify your people to become more alien. This serves as a point of conflict in the game, with other civilisations. If you start clearing away the miasma, you may face trade sanctions or even war from other more 'ecologically minded' nations, who feel that we shouldn't be terraforming the world to be more compatible with us, we shoud adapt to be more compatible with the planet. It's really quite interesting stuff.

The visuals seem quite dark compared to previous civ games. It's an alien world, so it should it different, but I gotta admit, I'd like to see a little green occasionally.

One criticism I've heard of the game (which applies to Endless legend as well) is that the spec settings makes it harder to play. Everyone knows what coal and iron are, and why you'd want them. But what are Kryton Crystals, or Bovellium? Why would care to have them? Personally, I think this adds to the sci-fi mystery. Your characters are on an alien world. They're not SUPPOSED to know what all this stuff is at first, so the uncertainty adds to the immersiveness of the experience.
Though I'll admit, I find the tech tree overwhelming and not sure what to research.

Archsaint wrote:
Do you have Steam by chance?

I do! Rarely use it though. Just like using a gamepad too much. And even though I have several PC gamepad options, including a Steam controller, a lot of PC games just don't bother with making good gamepad controls (or even including the ones they made for their console version! Argh! Path Of EXILE!!!!!).

Archsaint wrote:
Ah, gotcha. Having a pause mechanic is nice. Did a quick search, apparently you can pause in Dark Crusade. But if you’re looking for more of a turn based RPG, you should check out Divinity: Original Sin 2. It’s on my wishlist, waiting for the price to drop, has really good reviews.

Sweet! Got Dark Crusade open in a tab to check out later! And D:OS 2 is definitely on my radar. Gave up on the first because you can't grind for experience but the Game Master features of 2 alone could get me to buy it at some point.

Archsaint wrote:
There's swords in XCOM 2.

Holy crap that's too cool. I picked up Enemy Within and am really enjoying it. So I'm sure one of those swords will have my name on it someday!

Archsaint wrote:
If you’re looking for a game like Civ but fantasy based, you should check out Endless Legend.

Another tab opened! You're a fount of knowledge! Thank you!

Thanks for the info, Adam! Another tab opened! I'll need to check out reviews, but Beyond Earth sounds pretty cool! Thanks!

Paeter wrote:I do! Rarely use it though. Just like using a gamepad too much.

Ah, cool! Feel free to add me if you’d like. Just search Archsaint (there’s a few other people with that name, but should be obvious which one is me). Sometimes I get promotions on Steam (discounts, free stuff) and don’t have anyone to pass it to. I’m usually in constant offline mode though.

Paeter wrote:And even though I have several PC gamepad options, including a Steam controller, a lot of PC games just don't bother with making good gamepad controls (or even including the ones they made for their console version! Argh! Path Of EXILE!!!!!).

I had no idea that there was such a huge difference between using a controller on consoles compared to the PC? I use a wireless 360 controller and haven’t had any problems, most games pick that up and have customization. Haven’t tried the Steam controller, but I do have Steam Link for movies and stuff (which is nice).

Oh you’re into POE, eh? Should try Grim Dawn if you get a chance, I prefer it over POE. Full controller support too methinks.

Paeter wrote:Another tab opened! You're a fount of knowledge! Thank you!

Lol, no problem man. Glad to help!