What next in my strategy game journey?

[Joseph]

Good evening,
So recently I decided to try and conquer my fear of playing atmospheric, scary games by buying Stalker:SoC. I've lasted about 10 hours before starting to grind to a halt in terms of motivation to play so I've decided to crawl back to my hole in the ground where I play strategy games, but here's the problem: I've worn all my current strategy games to the bone and now I'm looking for something new.

So far in my strategy game journey I've gone from Worms, to Age of Empires, to DoW, to Total War games, to other Total War games. So what I'm after is something where you command a country and allows you to go deeper into the politics/bribery/espionage/diplomacy side of things.

I'm also currently waiting for Stronghold 3 and Crusader Kings 2.

[TimA]

Have you considered Europa Universalis 3? They'll be on sale on Steam now, too.

Very deep and complex (for me), but really interesting because it's a sandbox and you can pick a state and basically do whatever you want through a few hundred years of history.

[cpugeek13]

I'd have to also recommend you try EU3. I picked it up the other day and I can't stop playing it. Its like the Total War games, except without the battles, and better everything else. Also, despite its appearance, its actually an RTS.

[westyfield]

This isn't political or diplomatic, but you could do a lot worse than Supreme Commander 1 (and Forged Alliance). The economy system is great, it's really satisfying to learn how everything fits together and build a monstrous tank-spewing industrial base.

[vinraith]

Europa Universalis 3: Chronicles is a logical step considering your background and interests, and will serve as a useful introduction to Paradox strategy mechanics for when you ultimately pick up CK2.

[Serenegoose]

Vinraith pretty much has the right of it - I'm not sure EU3 will quite scratch the itch you have (though it'll come close) but it will really help set you up for when you get CK2, which by the sounds of it, is exactly what you want.

[Joseph]

I had been eyeing up EU3 on Steam. Which one would be the one to get? Chronicles? Since that has all the previous stuff in I believe.

[Schaulustiger]

Yep, Chronicles includes all four expansions which really expand the base game in meaningful ways.

Just make sure to at least read the manual or - even better - the Strategy Guide as they explain some of the more intricate features.

Oh, and don't be afraid of minting. Everyone on every forum will warn you about it, but it's not as bad as they say.

[Joseph]

I think my head is about to explode. Had I bought Chronicles off of Steam about 10 minutes ago it would have cost me £5 or just a little more, now it costs £13.39. This is terrible.
Just bought it anyway :)

[StrangLove]

Hearts Of Iron III?

[Veracity]

Romance of the Three Kingdoms XI, because it has debate fights and is generally splendid. Unfortunately never cheap anywhere, that I've noticed. It's vaguely like Total War, probably even less complicated.

[Heliocentric]

Why do you want diplomacy? I've always found it lacking unless you are dealing with real people... and then its brutal.

Thing is, I think you are targeted on the elements most likely to disappoint.

Try the company of heroes demo its got buildable and destroyable directional cover(meaning viable flanking), it models supression, its got some of the best voice acting in the genre, no dirt mining, tanks are literally immune to small arms fire etc (so less killing tanks with rifle fire) and you can fire so much artillery at an area that the ground is a mass of charred embers.

Or, yunno, play diplomacy against a script and a random number generator.

[Giaddon]

If you're willing to learn a bit and find human players to play with, Solium Infernum is very fun.

I enjoy it a lot vs. AI, but against people, it's amazing.

http://crypticcomet.com/games/SI/Solium_Infernum.html

Civilization is also a good bet. I actually like V, but many prefer IV.

If you're willing to go old school, GOG recently added Alpha Centauri, my favorite strategy game ever. Good diplomacy, awesome maps... $6 is a fantastic price. Check it out!

http://www.gog.com/en/gamecard/sid_m...alpha_centauri

[StrangLove]

Try the company of heroes demo its got buildable and destroyable directional cover(meaning viable flanking), it models supression, its got some of the best voice acting in the genre, no dirt mining, tanks are literally immune to small arms fire etc (so less killing tanks with rifle fire) and you can fire so much artillery at an area that the ground is a mass of charred embers.

If we're abandoning diplomacy games, I'd suggest MOWAS over COH. For one thing, MOWAS models a lot of things better than COH, such as armour penetration and infantry inventories. It's very much about the micromanagement, but if you can master it, it's brilliant fun.

[Kelron]

Why do you want diplomacy? I've always found it lacking unless you are dealing with real people... and then its brutal.

Thing is, I think you are targeted on the elements most likely to disappoint.

I find the Paradox games handle the diplomacy well, although Crusader Kings is the only one to make a big thing of spying and intrigue. EU3's AI can be somewhat mechanical, and obviously you're limited to interaction through preset options, but it still presents a challenge and is often more devious than you might expect. And of course all their games support multiplayer.

[Peter Radiator Full Pig]

Civ V beats IV by a long shot. Solium Infernum sounds brilliant, read the RPS report on it. He also has another single player strategy game.

[Lightbulb]

Glory of Nations might be better than EU3. But EU3 (with all expansions) with mods is brilliant.

Just to add a little more. My brother plays a lot of these games (and I've played a lot of EU3 and HOI) and basically out of the box they are ok. With mods that flesh out things, add many more events and tweak things for balance you get a much more interesting game. The added events mean that there is less of the sitting watching the game waiting for something to happen and the balance tweaks just make everything better.

Would highly recommend them at strategy games.

There is however a HUGE difference between a strategy game and an RTS. Things like EU3 need a bit of learning before they become fun. But you can still have fun so long as you take the attitude Losing is Fun! :)

[lunarplasma]

Thanks to the recommendations on this forum, I ended up getting Sword of the Stars.

My god, I've been missing out all these years by not getting it sooner!

[Tikey]

yay! another one. We should start a multiplayer game some day.