Originally Posted by GlobalExplorer

As an old school strategy gamer who grew up in the late 80s and 90s strategy I feel the genre is almost dead.

But there there is at least one recent strategy game that I can recommend to anybody, full heartily as an example of how games should be today:

Galactic Civilizations 2

I can imagine your reaction as a wargamer is to look away because you dont like Science Fiction - thats how I felt about it at first - but do yourself a favour and try it. It is well thought out, replayable, it has nice graphics and sound, and most importantly a very competitive, almost human like AI. Strategy is about making tough decisions, having to wage impossible options and pondering over new approaches during the night, until your head starts smoking, and GalCiv2 is exactly that kind of game.

Unlike most games (among that the recent TW games) who are only fun in the beginning, GalCiv gets more interesting after the mid game. That is because there are alot of interesting, unexpected special events (like in my last game the Snathi suddenly stole the whole technology from the most advanced civilization and offered them for sale), because the AI adapts to new situations and is generally very challenging, and because you will discover that game has much more to offer (like I discovered space stations offer huge possibilities in defending your most important planets and boosting the economy).

One of the nicest parts is the ship designer that allows you to create your own spaceships, depending on the level of technology you have achieved. I sometimes spent several hours just designing a new generation of ships, always forced to wage between speed / firepower / price, and the need to create ships that would fulfil and fit perfectly into my tactic plans.

There is so much more I could say, but maybe I better stop here and recommend you read some reviews or try out the demo, which you should get here:

http://www.galciv2.com/Downloads.aspx

Well yeah if someone asks me about a good (and new) strategic game, I will always recommend this one.

GE

Originally Posted by JALU3

How is Star Wars: Empires at War in comparrison to Star Wars: Rebellion?

Originally Posted by WolfOfCampscapel

Master of Orion II: Battle at Antares ... wonderful replayability. These days, I tend to take it out once a year or so and play it for far too many hours straight. Both the strategic and the tactical mode are turn-based and way too much fun.

Originally Posted by WolfOfCampscapel

Master of Orion II: Battle at Antares ...

Originally Posted by GlobalExplorer

you too should have a look at GalCiv2 then. I really liked MOO2 when it was new, but never found anything like it in about 10 years .. until GalCiv2, which I think is the real spiritual successor of MOO.

Originally Posted by JALU3

To Bad MOO: III was such a bomb . . . :nope:

Originally Posted by SteamWake

I beta tested that game.

I wrote a long laundry list of bugs and gameplay issues.

The response I got back was "Were you able to load and run it okay ? Good, thanks thats all we wanted to know." :doh:

Originally Posted by GlobalExplorer

you too should have a look at GalCiv2 then. I really liked MOO2 when it was new, but never found anything like it in about 10 years .. until GalCiv2, which I think is the real spiritual successor of MOO.

Originally Posted by SteamWake

I beta tested that game.

I wrote a long laundry list of bugs and gameplay issues.

The response I got back was "Were you able to load and run it okay ? Good, thanks thats all we wanted to know." :doh:

Originally Posted by Chock

You could try the Battle of Britain 2 flight sim, as even though it's a flight sim, it can also be played as a Non-flying campaign where you are a controller, so you can direct the Battle of Britain RAF defence, or the Luftwaffe's attack. And it's fairly cheap to get hold of. Not exactly what you are looking for, but cheap, so maybe worth a look.

Also not quite along the exact lines of what you want, but still great fun in a manner similar to the battles part of TW, is Combat Mission, which if you've never tried it is a turn-based WW2 battle scenario game very much like traditional military wargaming in effect, but with computer graphics. There are lots of scenarios for it available and it's great on multiplayer if you know someone with similar interests who can fight you as a human opponent online. Kind of like a great game of chess with high explosives!

If you can find a copy, the old Fighting Steel is also a similar thing to Combat Mission with WW2 battleships fighting it out, although not turn based. Graphics are somewhat dated now, so if eye candy is a must, you won't like it, but it's still a good game and it does run on XP.

Anyway, just some suggestions

:D Chock

Originally Posted by ausraider

If your going for BOB - I might suggest Universal Combat or something along the lines of Derek Smart - which is as open ended as you can get IMO.
But Turn Based games - open endedly - aren't all their snubbed to be.

Ausraider.

PS:
DS notwithstanding....

OFP is certainly as open ended as you would like it to be - and should be reasonable bucks nowadays.
Make sure you get the FULL Resistance campaign version.

Originally Posted by ausraider

If your going for BOB - I might suggest Universal Combat or something along the lines of Derek Smart - which is as open ended as you can get IMO.

Originally Posted by GlobalExplorer

Was it really necessary to bring Drek Smart into this discussion?

Originally Posted by RedChico

Oh boy....:nope:
Those forbiden 2 words. :nope:

Originally Posted by Chock

Also not quite along the exact lines of what you want, but still great fun in a manner similar to the battles part of TW, is Combat Mission, which if you've never tried it is a turn-based WW2 battle scenario game very much like traditional military wargaming in effect, but with computer graphics. There are lots of scenarios for it available and it's great on multiplayer if you know someone with similar interests who can fight you as a human opponent online. Kind of like a great game of chess with high explosives!

:D Chock