Old Strategy Games

[ohms_law]

Ever play Capitalism? ::shudder::
Hey, I really liked Capitalism!
:(

...humm, I think I'm going to reinstall it now.
;)

[Alloutwar]

Really? I gotta be honest, I didn't give it that much of a shot. I was a fan of all the Tycoon games and thought it would be fun...but after looking at all the micromanagement and trying to make a $0.05 profit on items...well man, it just seemed like work. When a game gets to that level, it's almost better to expend the effort looking at my investments, or starting my own store, and actually reaping a physical profit, instead of an imaginary one. :) But I haven't thrown it out, so I could install it and give it another try someday...

Usually, I start flipping through old games, get to 1998's X-Com: Apocalypse, and end up wasting the next 5 days playing that. :D

[ohms_law]

hehe

To each their own. I just spent yesterday evening playing it. Once you learn the ropes, it's not that much work, really. eh...
*shrug*

[TheNamelessPoet]

thre isnt a free dl of it anywhere is there *fingers crossed*

[justanewguy]

Anyone ever play that game where you run a company, and you actually have to layout the space in your office and your factory, buy office items and different types of machinery... then you have to hire people, and they have randomly created names and "vitals" as employees (almost as many as there are in BM)?

It looked and played a lot like The Sims in the way you built things and watched things unfold. I forget the name of it, but it was wicked detailed and complex. You had to take into account so much with employees, and some of them were alcoholics and would show up late for work all the time. Some were smokers and would take a lot of breaks. Some were lazy. You'd hire everything from salesmen to factory machine repairmen to secretaries. Then there were plenty of other things you had to do, including sales, marketing, etc...

Anyone recall this game? It wasn't Capitalism, but it was along those lines.

[ohms_law]

Anyone ever play that game where you run a company, and you actually have to layout the space in your office and your factory, buy office items and different types of machinery... then you have to hire people, and they have randomly created names and "vitals" as employees (almost as many as there are in BM)?
Unfortunately, yea.
:rolleyes:

I can't remember the name of it either, though.

[TheNamelessPoet]

Industry Giant, Entrepreneur and The Corporate Machine.?

[ohms_law]

The Corporate Machine. That was it!
:)

[gosensgo101]

Just bleck.

[Arctic Blast]

hehe

To each their own. I just spent yesterday evening playing it. Once you learn the ropes, it's not that much work, really. eh...
*shrug*

Man, what is it with old games, lately?

I finally did end up buying BM 09 a couple days ago and I've been playing Age of Mythology and Silent Storm pretty hard (not new, but they're new to me), and what is I've spent the last 2 days playing? Shadow President...a 1990 governmental sim I have to crank up in Dosbox. :D

[ohms_law]

lol

I played Shadow President for about a week, then just this week I started playing Superpower 2.
:D

[Arctic Blast]

Hmmmm...not familiar with that one. How is it?

[ohms_law]

Decent. It's basically exactly the same as Shadow Pres, but more up to date. However, I just found Geo-Political Simulator (http://www.geo-political-simulator.com/), which was just released, and it's awesome. Bought it yesterday and I've been playing non-stop since.
:)

[Arctic Blast]

So, was GPS worth the cost? Cause, DAMN is that a rather expensive title!

I've also been told the Supreme Ruler games are interesting...I'm gonna give the demos a shot and see what they bring to the table.

I love these kinds of games, so hopefully one of them suits me.

[ohms_law]

So, was GPS worth the cost? Cause, DAMN is that a rather expensive title!
Was it worth getting? Yes. Was it worth the $60? Hell no! The price is unbelievable, but I'm not too upset about it because it's a good game. There's been a patch each month so far too, so it seems that it'll be well supported (although, there's nothing to say that that will continue). Even with the updates though, it's still buggy in places. The trade system is buggy as hell, although it's (barely) usable. There's also a bit too much micromanagement, particularly in the trade area, and not quite enough feedback. For example, you'll often go to do something and find out after the fact that you've just pissed off 3/4 of your population.

I looked real hard ad Supreme Ruler myself, but it just seems like too much of a Real-Time Strategy game to me, which doesn't suit my taste at all. Other than that, it looks like a great game.

Regardless, I'm with you. These are my all-time favorite type of game. I remember playing Balance of Power back in the 80's, Shadow President, then Cyber Judas, Super Power, Superpower 2, and now GPS...
:)

[gosensgo101]

Anyone ever tried Freeciv (http://freeciv.wikia.com/wiki/Main_Page)? Its pretty much like the Civ series but free and with less glorified graphics.

[ohms_law]

Yea, it's not bad. FreeCol (http://www.freecol.org/) is better, though.
:)

[Arctic Blast]

Actually, I remember playing a Civ remake that I liked better than Freeciv...of course, I can't remember what the Hell the name of it was. AHA! Civilization : Evolution! (http://c-evo.org/) There's a ton of content made for it, and it's totally customizable. AIs, character sets, scenarios, it's there.

Oh, and if you're as geeky as me, you'll probably enjoy the total Star Wars conversion, and the total Lord of the Rings conversion. :D The forum/file list is kind of a poorly organized disaster, but there's some good stuff in there.

Anyway, I liked Supreme Ruler 2010 enough to pay $19.99 for it. It has a pretty good balance of politics, economy, military. 2020 is much newer, but from what I read on the forums, it's an absolute mess. The AI's broken, and the Diplomacy doesn't work...which seems to me to be a BIT of a problem in a political sim. :D But, the developer is hooked in with Paradox Games now, and they have a pretty good reputation for improvements through a patch.

Anyway, 2010's got a backstory that Larry Bond helped with...basically, the world economy collapses, and the US, Canada and many European nations splinter in to nation states. I can be the Prairie Provinces, and take the rest of Canada by force...of course, Quebec will be horribly irradiated...:p

Glad to hear GPS is getting patch support. I looked at the few reviews out there for it, and it sounds like the original release was just a mess, which is especially galling at THAT price. :eek: I was kinda bothered by the fact there wasn't even a forum with people discussing the game, which always puts up a big red flag for me. What is the developer trying to hide?

[RedsoxRockies]

Anyone ever play Baseball Mogul? I here its a good game...

[boomboom]

Hey, I really liked Capitalism!
:(

...humm, I think I'm going to reinstall it now.
;)
one of my favorites as well :)

[boomboom]

one of my favorites as well :)
In the 90's I played a ton of Age of Empires I, and World of Warcraft with Dial up. There was nothing like calling your friends computer at 2 o'clock in the morning...I was like 12-15 at the time...

[Arctic Blast]

In the 90's I played a ton of Age of Empires I, and World of Warcraft with Dial up. There was nothing like calling your friends computer at 2 o'clock in the morning...I was like 12-15 at the time...

Nice! I remember the 'fantastic' screeching sounds of modems syncing up with a friend. We'd play Empire Deluxe (http://killerbeesoftware.com/kbsgames/edee/) (DAMN! I can't believe that game still exists!), Rise of the Triad (which was an awful FPS for single player, but a blast multi), or Doom 2 (the first game I really got in to editing...I would create 30 level .wad files of a mix of levels I built, and that I got off of MP level disks, and we'd play for...oh...3 or 4 hours).

I was really in to the Age of Empires series, but sort of lost interest. I recently came to own Age of Mythology and Age of Wonders Shadow Magic, though...and they seem pretty cool (AoW is sort of a poor man's Masters of Magic, a game that desperately needs to be remade). If you still like games like that, boomboom, seek out a title called Rise of Nations (another recent dirt cheap find)...the best parts of the Age titles with the civilization advancements found in a Civ or Empire Earth game (just to show what I mean, the campaigns in the game are Alexander the Great, Napoleon, WW2 and Cold War).

[Arctic Blast]

Anyone ever play Baseball Mogul? I here its a good game...

It IS a good game, isn't it! I finally did pick it up. I do like the Depth Charts (though I wish they were interactive. I'd love to be able to set my chart at each position, with util guys able to be on the chart at multiple positions). OOTP is a well made game, and it has a lot to offer, but I'm just not willing to sink the time in to every bit of baseball minutiae like I am with football or with nonsports strategy games.

[ohms_law]

I was kinda bothered by the fact there wasn't even a forum with people discussing the game, which always puts up a big red flag for me.
That's the one thing that's really getting on my nerves. That and the obvious language issues (the developer is French), which I'd really rather just fix myself than have to complain about to Eversim. Everything in the game is in binary .dat files though, nothing open like XML or anything. I don't know... it's starting to annoy me now, after a couple of days of playing it. Honestly, I can't really recommend it anymore, until a few months go by and they (hopefully) patch the game several times.

[Arctic Blast]

That's really too bad. It looks like they have a really nice sim engine put together, there, but the implementation has just been a little wonky. And, yeah, translation issues in a game become very annoying very quickly.

I've started getting in to Supreme Ruler 2010...it's fun, but, man, they just sort of throw you in to the world with vague goals. I'm still kind of finding my way around in the game. The Economics engine seems to work pretty well, and I like the military side of it...lots of R&D options available and such. Haven't dived too deeply in to diplomacy as of yet, but the sheer number of options available for exchanges/treaties/tech trades/etc. is mind boggling.

Part of the problem is that I've heard the siren's call of Silent Storm...again...:rolleyes::D

[RedsoxRockies]

What about Curling Mogul, thats a fun game. I just traded my sweeper because he had a 68 in sweep speed.

[gosensgo101]

What about Curling Mogul, thats a fun game. I just traded my sweeper because he had a 68 in sweep speed.Why are you obsessed with curling?

[RedsoxRockies]

I am not, but you are Canadian, so I assumed there was a chance you would be :p

[ohms_law]

Part of the problem is that I've heard the siren's call of Silent Storm...again...
That's always the problem I have too... I'm hearing HOI or Victoria calling me...
:)

[Jeff Olsen]

Part of the problem is that I've heard the siren's call of Silent Storm...again...:rolleyes::DThis? (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Silent_Storm) Couldn't get past the exploding warehouse mission without cheating.

[RedsoxRockies]

Yea, it's not bad. FreeCol (http://www.freecol.org/) is better, though.
:)

Just downloaded it o give it a try. I have never played Colonization, but I used to love the Civ series

[Arctic Blast]

Colonization was a terrific game...I'm hoping the remake using the Civ 4 engine lives up to the original!

Jeff : That's the one! You know, I never actually finished the game...I think maybe this time I will endeavor to push through. Fun game, though. I end up coming back to it pretty much annually, the way I used to with Xcom (ANOTHER game that is finally getting an official, full fledged followup title that will hopefully live up to expectation).

ohms : I've been trying to decide with Paradox title to pick up next (Absolutely loved Europa Universalis 2)...either Crusader Kings with the Deus Vult expansion, or EU3 with the Napoleon's Ambition and In Nomine expansions...any experience with either?

[ohms_law]

Yea, tons of experience. I own every Paradox title... ever.
:)

CK is alright, but it's not as good as any of their other games, in my opinion.
EU3 is good, just be aware that you have to have a video card with pixel shader 2 support.
Victoria is one of my all time favorites, but it's a more hardcore game.
Hearts of Iron 2 is a great game. I'd actually place that 2nd, after EUII (with EUIII a close 3rd).

ps.: CatKnight is a big Paradox games player as well.

[Arctic Blast]

Did you happen to see their announcement, then, that Hearts of Iron 3 is coming out next year? :D

Yeah, I've been asking on a few forums, and what you've said pretty much seems to be the consensus. I was also looking a bit at Victoria...how would it compare to the EU games? Right now, I leaning heavily towards EU3 with the expansions, but I'm also wondering if it might not be worth it to wait and see if maybe they release a 'Full' version after In Nomine has been out for a bit longer with all 3 packed in to one package, sort of like the Hearts of Iron Anthology.

[RedsoxRockies]

I played EU3 for a little bit, but it went to slow. It could have been good, but the game went to slow, probably because of graphics requirements or something

[Arctic Blast]

I noticed a few people complaining of that, but they all didn't have graphics cards with pixel shader 2, so that's probably what your problem was, as well. I know my card has that, so I'm all good there.

Did you like that type of game, RedSox? If so, I'd suggest taking a look at EU2...hell, you can buy the freakin' thing new for 10 bucks these days.

As for me, I took a breeze through the Crusader Kings forums, but I wasn't all that blown away, but they also have the distributor rights to an older title called Knights of Honor. I found a demo of it on a different site, and liked what it had, so $20 later, I've got my medieval fix. It's actually got a fairly similar style to Paradox's games, so I'm not surprised they picked up full distribution rights for it. I am going to hold off on EU3 for a little while, partly to see if they maybe package everything up, and partly to give me a chance to finish some of the games I've already got on the go.

[ohms_law]

If you liked EUII, then you'll probably like Vicky. It had a ton of problem when it first came out, but they fixed everything. Like I said though, it's a hefty game. It's less of a war game and more of a strategy game, and the warfare that does occur... well, it's World War I. Slow, plodding, and lots of death and destruction.
:)

[RedsoxRockies]

I love history , so I love strategy and war games. I alos like challenging stuff. I used to have a ton of RTS, and turn based strategy games and stuff. Recently, the only computer game I have been playing is Baseball mogul, but yea, I have thought about trying the victoria games, and that hearts of Iron one.

[Arctic Blast]

I never totally got in to Hearts of Iron for some reason...really don't know why. :confused: It does seem to be a good game, though, and they're still pumping out more. HoI 2 : Armageddon just came out a little while ago, and a 3rd is in the works.

Basically, Paradox is awesome. :D They remind me a lot of Koei back in the day...Genghis Khan, PTO, L'Empereur, etc., before they apparently made the business decision to just spit out endless Dynasty Warriors games. :(

[ohms_law]

Yea, no kidding. Paradox looks like they've decided to get into publishing instead of change their style, though.

[Arctic Blast]

Yea, no kidding. Paradox looks like they've decided to get into publishing instead of change their style, though.

Which is all good with me, so long as they're picking interesting stuff...which, so far, they seem to be. And as long as they keep developing good material.

Paradox and Matrix Games are probably my two favorite games companies right now.

Almost forgot...on another forum I visit sometimes, they're discussing GPS, and one of them found an actual English language forum for the game (which apparently is going to get a store release later in the year under the name 'Commander in Chief'). Anyway, figured you might be interested, so here (http://geopoliticalsimulator.freeforums.org/index.php) ya go.

[ohms_law]

heh, I just found that forum yesterday.
:)

[Arctic Blast]

So, since it's a game you really seem to enjoy, and I'm curious, tell me about Victoria. Game options, management level, all that fun stuff.

[ohms_law]

Well... if you've played EU, it's pretty much the same as that. The key differences are the time period (obviously), and pops. Populations in Victoria are grouped by nationality (more or less, it's not a perfect system), and they emigrate/immigrate (mostly to the US, obviously). Pops are actually the main criticism of the game as well though, since they require management. They add quite a bit of complexity to the game.

The one thing that I don't like so much is how the Economic model is changed from EU. Provence's are organized into Areas (state size groups), and the industries are in the Areas instead of the provinces.

I don't know, you really have to see it to really understand. I love it, but it's not a perfect game by any means. I think it's definitely worth trying though.

[Arctic Blast]

From what I've seen about it on the PAradox forums, it seems to be very much of a love it or hate it game...there is absolutely no middleground for anybody when it comes to Vicky. Anyway, it really isn't all that expensive, so I might just pick it up regardless. I really don't have anything that fills that time period, which certainly is an interesting one.

I haven't really read up on the Revolutions expansion...what does it add, and if I were to just grab the base game for now, would my enjoyment be affected by not having any features Rev added to the mix?

[ohms_law]

From what I've seen about it on the PAradox forums, it seems to be very much of a love it or hate it game
Definitely!

I haven't really read up on the Revolutions expansion...what does it add, and if I were to just grab the base game for now, would my enjoyment be affected by not having any features Rev added to the mix?
Well... to be honest, I can't really remember playing without Revolutions. I know that it packaged all of the fixes prior to it, then added more. That was the main feature. There are a few minor additions though, I just can't really recall what they are off hand.

Whatever you do though, be sure to get VIP.

[Arctic Blast]

Definitely!

Well... to be honest, I can't really remember playing without Revolutions. I know that it packaged all of the fixes prior to it, then added more. That was the main feature. There are a few minor additions though, I just can't really recall what they are off hand.

Whatever you do though, be sure to get VIP.

Sounds like Rev removed some of the micromanagement from the economic engine (from what I've read, the increased complexity there is probably the single biggest difference from the EU series...aside from the time period, of course). It also does have some additional bugfixes and streamlining of other game parts, and seems to really beef up partisans/rebels, so I would have to say it sounds rather essential.

What is VIP?

[ohms_law]

VIP = Victoria Improvement Project. It's a mod.

[Arctic Blast]

Aaaah, okay. I'll check in to the mods subforum for Vic and do a little reading. :D

[robinhoodnik]

I just picked up Civilization IV Colonization. Great modernization of the classic game. Addicted to it all over again.

[Arctic Blast]

Well, I just found a massive trove of mods for the original Ghost Recon with the expansions, so I re-installed that. :D

[Jeffy25]

is there anything like corporate machine that is neweR?

[RedsoxRockies]

I just picked up Civilization IV Colonization. Great modernization of the classic game. Addicted to it all over again.

I am thinking about getting it

[Arctic Blast]

is there anything like corporate machine that is neweR?

Do you mean similar subject manner or similar style of game? I'm not really sure of anything off the top of my head...business sims don't really come out all that frequently.

[Jeffy25]

Do you mean similar subject manner or similar style of game? I'm not really sure of anything off the top of my head...business sims don't really come out all that frequently.

I just meant anything relatable. It seems like my sort of game, and I would wanna try it out.

[robinhoodnik]

I am thinking about getting it

The nice thing about it is that a lot of it hasn't changed. Many of the old key commands still work, stuff like that. The only gripe I have is that the maps aren't large enough anymore. You can select huge and it's probably small to medium by the old Colonization standards. I liked being able to play for decades or even a century and only run into the occasional scout from another European power. There are mods to fix that though, I got some of them, but haven't read up on how to install them yet.

Overall, I'd recommend the game.

[flapper]

I have Capitialism, just never took the time to grasp the instructions. I should try again after I move.

[Alloutwar]

I was the same way. I played it for 10 minutes, thougth it was as exciting as balancing my checkbook or shopping for bargains. It felt like work, kind of...and if I'm donig that much work, I want a tangible result - getting paid, finding a deal, seeing my stock value rise.

I still have it on CD, but I think I'd rather play Baldurs Gate or PTO than attempt to learn the intricacies of Capitalism - at that point, I might as well finally suck it up and learn OOTP's interface. :)

[Phoenix9139]

Its all about Hearts of Iron II...but if your looking for more of an old game I would say it would have to be PTOII I had it for my Saturn and played it forever...in fact I had to buy a replacement Saturn so I could still play it

[Arctic Blast]

Its all about Hearts of Iron II...but if your looking for more of an old game I would say it would have to be PTOII I had it for my Saturn and played it forever...in fact I had to buy a replacement Saturn so I could still play it

PTO2 was a FANTASTIC game. The golden age of Koei...

Speaking of Koei, has anyone played that Romance of the Thre Kingdoms XI that came out last year? I'm curious if it harkens back to their great stuff of 10-15 years ago.

[Phoenix9139]

No, the last one I played was Three Kingdoms X, I really liked it, and I feel the strategy game as a whole have been going downhill even though the technology has gotten better

[Alloutwar]

not yet, but as soon as my laptop is working again I will be downloading and playing ROTK XI

[Arctic Blast]

not yet, but as soon as my laptop is working again I will be downloading and playing ROTK XI

Sweet. Definitely let us know how it is, AOW.

[flapper]

I played the Romance of the Three Kingdoms series since its beginning or close to it and it's a great series. I was shocked that my wife even liked playing it.

[Arctic Blast]

I played the Romance of the Three Kingdoms series since its beginning or close to it and it's a great series. I was shocked that my wife even liked playing it.

I enjoyed all those classic Koei games...they had a lot of really good stuff.

So, have you played ROtTK XI, the one that came out last year? Is it similar to the older ones?

[RedsoxRockies]

I have been doing a lot of Civ 4 lately with the Fall From Heaven 2 mod

[michaelg123789]

I used to play Civ 2 a TON!

[reflections]

I played the Romance of the Three Kingdoms series since its beginning or close to it and it's a great series. I was shocked that my wife even liked playing it.

Man I loved that game.

[Arctic Blast]

It's pretty much been nothing but Mount & Blade (http://www.taleworlds.com/) since it was on sale on Gamersgate over the weekend.

[RedsoxRockies]

It's pretty much been nothing but Mount & Blade (http://www.taleworlds.com/) since it was on sale on Gamersgate over the weekend.

Is it an online game or not? It looks pretty cool. I just bought Empire Total War, but I can't get it to work. When i try to start a battle or campaign, it will load half way, then the loading bar starts shooting back and forth. And you can hear the battle happening while this is going on, and you can even select units: but you can't see them... :(

[Arctic Blast]

Is it an online game or not? It looks pretty cool. I just bought Empire Total War, but I can't get it to work. When i try to start a battle or campaign, it will load half way, then the loading bar starts shooting back and forth. And you can hear the battle happening while this is going on, and you can even select units: but you can't see them... :(

M&B isn't online...YET. There's an upcoming expansion that will be adding that, though. Overall, I'm having a lot of fun with it. It's sort of Fallout 3-esque, in that you're dropped in a world (pretty much modeled after Earth circa 1250 or so), and you can then do whatever the Hell you want.

ETW, unfortunately, has a LOT of tech issues at the moment...one reason I haven't even bothered getting it yet. The other reason...all of the TW series usually suck until they reach about the 3rd patch, and the mod community starts getting in to it.

[BloodyBandage]

best strategy game...RTS game was Warcraft and Humans :) also known as Warcraft 1...the whole series is solid. Warcraft 3 and Starcraft as well. For a turn based strat game I recommend checking out Heroes of Might and Magic series.

[cfeedback]

What is this strange land where people talk about two of my favorite gaming companies of all times, Paradox and Koei?!?

Haven't played ROTK in a long time but I still play EU3 daily and everyone once in awhile I'll dust off Victoria, Crusader Kings, and even EU2. Can't wait for HOI3 to come out, I've been following the developer diaries and it's looking fantastic!

[RedsoxRockies]

What is this strange land where people talk about two of my favorite gaming companies of all times, Paradox and Koei?!?

Haven't played ROTK in a long time but I still play EU3 daily and everyone once in awhile I'll dust off Victoria, Crusader Kings, and even EU2. Can't wait for HOI3 to come out, I've been following the developer diaries and it's looking fantastic!

Hearts of Iron 3 looks awesome, I have never played on of the games, but they sound fun and I liked EU3.

[Arctic Blast]

Hearts of Iron 3 looks awesome, I have never played on of the games, but they sound fun and I liked EU3.

They're a solid series. It looks like the AI can finally be counted on to manage the more general concerns with running provinces this time...that would be a welcome change!

[Phoenix9139]

i cant call any of those real time clickfests like C&C and star craft as a real strategy game, there was a time when i once could but it really who can build more faster there is no real thought in to deeper long term choices you get with a Hearts of Iron, Vicky, to a lesser extent Civ. those real time games i just cant see as strataegy like a Hearts of Iron or PTO or ROTK. here are a few other great strategy games that i have enjoyed. Imperiam Galactica III, also a little lame but Star Trek Birth of the Federation was a fun game, and one of my all time greats was Iron Storm for the sega saturn

[OldYankFan]

How about Sid Meier's Gettysburg?

I was addicted to it for a couple of years. On-line I was ranked as high as 7th in the World, though I got to say I was most likely the worst player ever to make the top ten.