[CaptainHaplo]

Can't do it. Can't pick just 5. There are so many great games that I have loved in my life.

If I had to say - right now.....

#1 Thief series - culminating in T3 - but all of em were great and scared the bejezzus outta me.

#2 Rome - Total War - I have MTW and MTW2 with expansion but somehow, Rome just is more... polished and sucks me in more. I started out with Shogun TW and then the Mongol Invasion - great game that was! I am looking forward to Empire!

#3 Warhammer40k DOW - both Dark Crusade and Soulstorm have eaten innumerable hours of my time. The first DoW was good - the Winter Assault expansion however was a serious flop. But DC and then Soulstorm really were a big leap. Another series that I look forward to the next one - Dawn of War 2

#4 Star Wars - Empire at War - This was what every Star Wars fan that owned Rebellion has wanted for many a year. Don't sleep on this one - I fully expect that there will be another run with this - and if so - it could improve even more. Larger planets, randomized surfaces for battle - explorable random universes, etc. The engine could be the foundation for an elite type (talk about classics!) RTS 4x galaxy game

#5 Klingon Academy - I so wish they would do for Star Trek what they did for Star Wars with EaW. Would need more of a focus on space - like Rebellion did - but it has SO much potential!

#6 All the rest. Starshatter TGS, Spaceforce:RU, Company of Heroes with Opposing Fronts, Pacific Storm Allies, Galactic Civilizations (I gotta get the last expansions still) , Imperium Galactica 2, Seadogs, Sins of a Solar Empire, Supreme Commander, the Brothers in Arms series, Nascar Racing 4, Blazing Angels 2 - the list goes on and on.

Ultimately - the one thing that drew me to the classics such as Silent Service and SS2, as well as SH3 and 4 - was the sense of freedom. I remember the old Lightspeed and Hyperspeed games, Elite Plus, Freelancer, Privateer, Wing Commander (Armada anyone???) and on and on and on. The freedom was what I loved, and still do. I don't need a storyline, but I do like a good one. I also enjoy the ability to create my own. Thats one reason I wish there really was a true, modern sequel to Elite. I know there have been many attempts, but they never really pulled it off. Often the games got too bogged down with complexity and lost the flavor. Some of the modern privateer remakes suffer from this. Though bless those guys for trying! If Spaceforce RU had playable capital ships, a randomizable universe (that would need to be MUCH larger) and the ability to build an empire - it would be the ultimate Elite remake.

I also miss the really good 4x games. Master of Magic, Masters of Orion 1 & 2 (3 blew really bad) were great games. I understand MoM may be getting an update - and its about time! Galactic Civilizations comes close to Moo2 - though graphically it suffers. But I don't mind - and support Stardock with my greenery because they care about gameplay (though impulse I killed asap). They also did good with Sins - though its a bit more on the simplistic conflict (hardcore) side.