Arcen Games

Other => Off Topic => : TheVampire100 June 20, 2016, 03:40:15 PM

: My favourite Strategy Games of all times
: TheVampire100 June 20, 2016, 03:40:15 PM
A warnign ahaead. People who kknow me will know that I talk a lot when I tell about games I like. If you you find me annoying, just skip the entire post and simply tell me what strategy games you like. If you are still interested, you can read below.
I'm not including AI War for obvious reasons. It deserves a place int his list but there is a whole forum about this game here, so I don't need to talk about it.

Earth 2150 series
Actually three games (Escape from the Blue Planet, The Moon Project, Lost Souls). The story of Earth 2150 is that after a big nuclear war, the earth left its orbit and races towards the sun. The three factions that live on earth are now faced with their imminent death. The only hope for survival are ark ships that transport humanity to mars.However, because of previous wars, mainly the big war in 2140, resources are rare on earth and there isn't enough metal left to save everyone, so each faction fights over the leftovers.
You play as oen of the three factions and each faction has a different play style and different units. The Eurasian Dynasty (ED) can be described as the common modern army faction of europe. They have little technological advancement and their units are basic helicopters, tanks and jeeps like they are today. However, later in the game they get some very strong weapons with the development of lasers and ion cannons that can kill units without directly damaging them. they also have soem of the most tankiest units int he game, making it hard to kill them.
The United Civilised States are the succesor of the USA. After the USA failed and collapsed, they created a new state under the direction of artificial intelligences, GOLAN and NEO, the first serves as military tactician and the second as politicial adviser. The president in the UCS is not voted but elected from a lottery and serves only a very short time. The UCS uses mechs in different shapes, bipedal or spider-like. They have very strong weapons already in the early game wit plasma cannons being a threat the entire game.
The Lunar Corportation lives actually on the moon and not Mars and are a feminist commune that hates violence and war. But because of the upcoming destruction of earth they have no other choice but to koin the war. Because they aren't interested in war, they have very poor units with almost no fighting power. However, their units can regenerate health over time and are the only units in the entire game to do so. They have also very fast units and all units can hover over water unlike the other factions, making them usable in multiple situations. They also have the unique ability not to rely on builder units but instead you can build where you have vision and units nearby. The buildings get send down directly from moon (where the LC actually resides).
What I liek about the game is the unit builder. You can use the chassis and weapon for every unit on your own, deciding what you need in what situation. You can even combine multiple weapons on some of the stronger units. The main camapign of the game features many different missions and most of the time is your goal to collect a specific amoutn of resources fot the space ship. You can always decide to use resources on a mission either for the overall end goal and send it to your space ship or you use it directly on the mission map for units in order to defeat your opponent and get his resources as well. If you defeat your opponent fast enough, there are still enough resources left for you to send to your base. There is also an overall time limit that ticks down in every mission. If you cannot complete the ship before it reaches zero, you loose the game. On the brigth side, you don't have to win every single mission int he game, only some very important missions have to be won. However, you loose the benfits if loosing a mission, for example you loose a new prototype that you should've rescued, so you cannot build this new unit in later missions.


Thandor
A german sci-fi strategy game that wasn't very popular outside of Germany. The story isn't very clever btu the gameplay itelf is good. In the future humanity has expanded it reaches among multiple planets and deep into space but eventually discovered the alien race "Golraths" who fought mankind mercilessly. The only chance was for all factions of mankind to unite and build the "Alliance". They won the war but soon after it the factions break up again and do their own thing. With the return of the Golraths, the remains of the Alliance have no other choice but to force the other factions back into the alliance, even if it means to fight them. The missions feature battles against each of the different factions (each reresented by a different color) until they decide to join you again for the final mission against the black Golraths. Unlike Earth 2150, this game uses the same units for every faction, they are only represented by color. Common units are jeeps, mechs, ships, tanks and later hovering units. In order to gain access to new units and weapons you have to research it in different research facilities that you can build. The game uses two resources, xenit and tritium. Xenit is basically metall and can be extratced on specific spots with a mine. Tritium are radioactive hydrogen atoms that are extratced from specific water spots with special pumps. Unlike other rts games, there is no limit on how much you can extract from one spot (as far as I remember) but you can only build one mine/pump at the spot because multiple mines won't improve the production. You can however upgrade mines and pumps for more extraction. For more you simply need a new spot where you can build. Xenit is used for building units and buildings, tritium is used as energy resource in power plants. A special rule int he game is, that you can only build near your headquarter and other buildings you have built. To expand your reach, you have to build more or use a special "settler" unit that acts as minituarized, mobile headquarter and will transform into a building once used up. The goal in every mission is to destroy the enemy headquarter. I really like the concept of the game and how the different units work and itneract. Tanks for an example are very strong armored and hard to kill, but also the slowest unit in the game with short weapon range. It's not easy to kill them but you can outrun them. Walkers are bipedal mechs and can mount multiple weapons but are a little expansive and the earlier models are squishy. Jeeps/cars are the cheapest unit sin the game but can mount only weak weapons and are easy to destroy, they serve as scouts or early harassing method. Glider are, despite being an hovering unit, very slow, but can mount the strongest weapons in the game. They are the ultimate end game unit. Therer are also some minor sea units but there aren't many maps with water and the ones that have water don't rely on sea dominance.
If you are really nasty, you can use planes. Planes aren't directly controllable and reside in their specific airport. they are armed with special bombs and you can select a region that they shall bomb, travelling to the specific location after some time and dropping their package.


Space Colony
Combine Sims with space and aliensand you have a basic idea what this game is about. In Space Colony you control multiple colonists on a planet that work for a big and greedy trading company. Your mission is to collect resources on planets and create products to sell for your employer. Besides that you have also to maintain the well being of your colonits in best Sims manner. You have to feed them, wash them, make them happy, let them make friends with each other and so on. On some planets there are also aliens that attack your base and that you have to figth off with turrets and shields. Unlike Sims, all colonists are predesigned, everyone has specific traits and abilities. The campaign eventually branches into two paths, one militaristic where you fight aliens and another economy path where you have to make enough profit. You can always switch between the two paths when you have finished a mission.

Startopia
Many space games in this list. This is another one. Startopia is more of management game instead of a typical RTS. Your job is to maintain the space station "Startopia" which acts as entertainment ceter for bypassing aliens. You have to build up the needed facilities for snacks, health, resting and a lot of other stuff. In order to build stuff you need boxes with blueprints (and builder robots). At the start of the game you get blueprints for the most needed stuff but later you have to buy or trade with merchants for more. A special feature in the game is that energy acts both as resource and as currency. You need energy to maintain your buildings but you also need it to pruchase new stuff or pay your workers. Customers will of course pay you with energy. Additionally you can collect energy with solar collectors. Later in the game there is also some fighting but not much, the game is mostly about managing yur space station. Soemtimes you have to build prisons because there are criminals amoung the tourists, in some missions there is a rival builder and you have to open his section of the space station and take it over.
The game is really cool but I always failed the mission where you have to produce X amounts of medical supplies because I ran out of time.

Wiggles
Another german game, in other countries it was called "Diggles" instead. This time it's not about space, it's about dwarves. The godfather Odin has lost Fenrir, his pet dog, who escaped to the undergroudn world and goes on a rampage. Odin wants his dog back and tasks the dwarves ith the search for it. The dwarven king decides with a contest which of the different dwarven clans gets the privilege of the mission. The Wiggles clan wins and starts with the search. The game is similiar to Dwarf Fortress (but older) withtout the terrible UI. It also features side view instead of top down view, you view the entire mountain and underground world from the side. You control the dwarves and have to keep them happy with food, sleep, hobbies and other stuff but you also have to sarch for the lost rings of the chain that you need to capture Fenrir. There are a lot of enemies that you can encounter and you have to equip your wiggles with weapons and armor and train them in combat. You can also build traps for the stronger enemies like trolls. Every dwarf has multiple stats(skills he can learn, for cooking, capentry, masonry and other stuff. They train these stats by fulfilling specifics taks, for example cooking a meal or chopping down a mushroom (because trees are too big for the tiny dwarves). You also have to dig out caves otherwise you cannot build new furniture and other stuff, liek a i am spam, a bar, a trainign dojo a sapentry bench and other stuff. If a dwarf has enough experience in one skill, he can research a new beuilding for the entire clan. Eventually your dwarves grow old and die but your dwarves marry and reproduce over time, the offspring has some of the experience of its parents. Its a really good and mostly funny game but the game is giant, you easy loose the orientation in the giant world and the camapign is ramdonly generated each time you start a new one. While the missions are the same, the location of the important stuff shuffles each time. Even with the printed walkthrough I never could complete the game.

Trapt
Hardly a strategy game but I still list it. This game is part of a bigger series but it was the first part that was released outside of japan. In the game you play a princess that has to flee from her castle after she was accused to kill her own father. She escapes to an old mansion which is rumored to be the prison of the devil himself. And exactly that devil gives the princess a special power to protect herself from her pursuers. she can now create and place traps around the mansion and use them to kill enemies. The devil uses the souls of the fallen enemies to free himself and you can use the freed souls as currency to buy new traps.
A typical mission features the protagonist being chased by soem enemies and you have to place traps around the different rooms of the mansion and then bait enemies into the to hurt and kill them. To get the best out of your traps you have t create combos with multiple traps, whcih not only increases the damage but also the amount of soul energy you get from them (in other words, money). There are also some special traps hidden among the mansion that you can activate with special actions that you have to dicover. These traps have a special cutscene when activated (mostly really brutal) and coutn as big combo when used. However they can only be used once per level.
During the development of the game you get access to new rooms (and new environment traps) of the mansion but the enemies get also stronger. If you hurt enemies too much but don't kill them, they will flee the mansion. The way you play the game affects your ending.
Its really interesting to find out how the different traps work together, what effect they have on the envoronment and how to maximize your combos. I think however, the game lacks varitiy towards the end. A lot of the newer traps are just "upgrades" of your starter traps, you eventually also run out of good environment combinations because the different environment traps repeat themself. On some long levels you just run around in sircles and activate the same traps again and again, hoping to get somethign good next time. It is however fun enogh to play for some hours until you run out of things to do.

Dungeon Keeper
A classic among games, so I keep it short. You play as evil presence that manages an underground dungeon. Liek the ones in rpgs but this time you are not the hero, you are the evil mastermind. You dig out rooms, build traps, hire some monsters and wait for stupid heroes to step into your dominion and die. You expand your evil realm with each mission. The game is still one of the most liked games of all times because the concept is so unique. This game was oen of many inspiriations for the flood of sandbox games, for example Dwarf Fortress.


I have many more games but I think I talked already too much.
: Re: My favourite Strategy Games of all times
: Logorouge June 20, 2016, 06:00:42 PM
Dungeon Siege
I think you meant Dungeon Keeper. :P

Very nice list by the way.
: Re: My favourite Strategy Games of all times
: TheVampire100 June 20, 2016, 06:02:50 PM
Yeah, you are right, I will fix this. Dungeon Siege is a RPG.
: Re: My favourite Strategy Games of all times
: Mánagarmr June 21, 2016, 01:18:06 AM
Yeah, you are right, I will fix this. Dungeon Siege is a RPG.
A pretty good one, at that.
: Re: My favourite Strategy Games of all times
: crazyroosterman June 21, 2016, 06:06:02 AM
does anybody else remember a licensed game for the original xbox called aliens vs predators extinction? there was barely any content to it at all (just 10 missions for each faction and that was literally it no skirmish no multiplayer no nothing) but asides from that I remember having a blast with it.
: Re: My favourite Strategy Games of all times
: Mánagarmr June 21, 2016, 06:47:07 AM
My favourites, without too much fluff:

Carrier Command
Carrier based island-conquering game from 1988. Great fun was had.

Total Annihilation
Do I really need to say anything? Huge maps, loads of units, great gameplay, physics-based combat (artillery shots could hit airplanes by accident etc) and just tons of fun.

Dungeon Keeper 2
Never played the first, but the second (in spite of it's bugs) gave me many weeks of fun.

Supreme Commander: Forged Alliance
Essentially a re-hashed Total Annihilation with a tighter narrative and four factions that were actually unique. Still the same amazing scale and physics based combat.

Kohan: Immortal Sovereigns/Ahriman's Gift
Squad based strategy game with really great mechanics for interesting battles. Take advantage of terrain, formation and logistics to win.

Age of Wonders 2: Shadow Magic
Best AOW game in my opinion. Taking the best from Heroes of Might and Magic and giving it an actual combat system. Wonderful world, multiple races and tons of fun.

XCOM
The originals. Probably like Enemy Unknown/UFO Defence the most, shortly followed by Terror From The Deep. Probably like Apocalypse the least but that's probably more down to the fact that I closely followed its development so I KNOW what got scrapped. The game that was released was good, but just a shadow of the original concept.
: Re: My favourite Strategy Games of all times
: chemical_art June 21, 2016, 06:15:59 PM
does anybody else remember a licensed game for the original xbox called aliens vs predators extinction? there was barely any content to it at all (just 10 missions for each faction and that was literally it no skirmish no multiplayer no nothing) but asides from that I remember having a blast with it.

That game is by far my favorite dark horse strategy games. Each of the factions felt unique in play and the atmosphere was tight. The game had no sense of balance in the missions and that made it both enjoyable and hair pulling. I remember one mission where as humans you have to hit and run predators because even in the most entrenched position you would simply evaporate even with a full squad.
: Re: My favourite Strategy Games of all times
: crazyroosterman June 21, 2016, 07:44:50 PM
does anybody else remember a licensed game for the original xbox called aliens vs predators extinction? there was barely any content to it at all (just 10 missions for each faction and that was literally it no skirmish no multiplayer no nothing) but asides from that I remember having a blast with it.

That game is by far my favorite dark horse strategy games. Each of the factions felt unique in play and the atmosphere was tight. The game had no sense of balance in the missions and that made it both enjoyable and hair pulling. I remember one mission where as humans you have to hit and run predators because even in the most entrenched position you would simply evaporate even with a full squad.
yea I felt like they sort of blew their load funding wise on the factions they are pretty fleshed out and yea the missions them self's were really fun immersive
your definitely right about the balance though  the aliens always seemed super over powered to me at least once you got up to your full size you were pretty much unstoppable but I guess in that regard they got the authenticity down to a T since that was always meant to be the aliens things in the mythos
and with the predators being the second strongest and then the marines being giant weaklings although I think I never got past that mission you mentioned though since I never got out of the mentality of turtling with that faction
I think their could have been potential for that game to have a great competitive scene though with proper balancing and actual multi player of course
because there is depth in that game for what limited amount there is particularly the reinforcing mechanics I aboustley adore how different each factions means of reinforcing is I personally would be interested now to find out how players competitively would have used the face huggers for instance.
: Re: My favourite Strategy Games of all times
: Wingflier June 25, 2016, 11:08:28 PM
1. Any of the Total Annihilation series -

Total Annihilation, Supreme Commander, Supreme Commander 2, TA Spring, Planetary Annihilation - anything in that vein, those are just amazing games. It would be tough to choose a favorite, and every single one of them STILL has a community continuing to work on them, sometimes over a decade after they've been abandoned by the developer. That's how you know it's a good series.

2. Company of Heroes series -

Both Company of Heroes 1 and 2 are masterpieces in my opinion. There's an absolute plethora of generic WW1 and WW2 era strategy games, and these just stand out as the best. Company of Heroes 1 was obviously a classic, it defined the genre. Company of Heroes 2 when it came out was...eww. The single player campaign was a joke, apparently insulting to the Russian people it was supposed to be honoring and representing. The two factions (Russia and Germany) were pretty unique, I guess, but the game left a lot to be desired. Well after about 4 years of expansions, new content, new commanders, and balance patches, it's got to be one of the best strategy games of all time. The 5 different factions, British, Russian, American, Oberkommando West, and Wehrmacht are all fantastically unique and interesting in their own way. That each of them has 6 or more commanders to further individualize their factions gives the game almost endless replayability in multiplayer. Rumor has it that the need expansion will add the Japanese, and at that point (with 3 allied factions and 3 axis factions), the game will be truly complete.

(http://cdn.akamai.steamstatic.com/steam/apps/365820/extras/UKF_Blog_Infographic_FactionProfile_Revised.png?t=1458821409)

3. Battlezone 1 and 2.

These are games that, even decades after my childhood as ended, I keep coming back to. Very few people even know about them, but they were one of the first attempts to hybridize and successfully combine First Person Shooter with Real Time Strategy, and to do it successfully. Battlezone 1 Remastered is $13 on Steam and Battlezone 2 is essentially freeware, still being worked on by one of the developers over a dozen years after it was released and abandon by the development team. They are both great games and wonderful to play in LAN parties and with friends. Can't recommend them enough.
: Re: My favourite Strategy Games of all times
: Wingflier June 26, 2016, 05:13:27 PM
In other news, I just got one of the best Commanders in the game for FREE just by playing.

It was so epic.

I was playing a game (2v2), and we were doing pretty well. It was even but I think we would have eventually won. Well, my ally drops (probably computer or internet trouble), and so it's me and the terrible AI vs. two experienced players.

I don't know why I didn't just give up at that point, probably because I'm a masochist, because I should have known there was no chance in a 2v1. They couldn't take my base so they just began shelling me with rockets and artillery in endless barrages which was killing everything I had, and giving me very little chance to retaliate. After about 20 minutes of screaming at my computer screen ("OH MY GOD THIS GAME IS SO BULL****"), I finally surrendered, realizing there was no hope.

Well, it was all worth it because I got one of the best Commanders in the game as a reward. I was actually thinking about buying this guy with real money or the in-game currency recently. I was astonished to get him and very happy :D

(http://i.imgur.com/cmPuNtE.jpg)
: Re: My favourite Strategy Games of all times
: eRe4s3r June 29, 2016, 03:39:30 PM
In other news, I just got one of the best Commanders in the game for FREE just by playing.

What.. game? Is that some weird Company of Heroes F2P game?
: Re: My favourite Strategy Games of all times
: Wingflier June 29, 2016, 04:48:59 PM
No, that's company of heroes 2. Courtesy of their new war spoils update.

http://us10.campaign-archive2.com/?u=851233b477359f3527726f6ca&id=f61df99258&e=4eab1c3c5c

You get the exact same points for winning towards your next reward by playing against an easy computer as you do playing against level 400 players. It's actually kind of insane. You could almost call it abusable.
: Re: My favourite Strategy Games of all times
: eRe4s3r June 30, 2016, 01:56:59 PM
No, that's company of heroes 2. Courtesy of their new war spoils update.

http://us10.campaign-archive2.com/?u=851233b477359f3527726f6ca&id=f61df99258&e=4eab1c3c5c

You get the exact same points for winning towards your next reward by playing against an easy computer as you do playing against level 400 players. It's actually kind of insane. You could almost call it abusable.

Wow... I .. actually must have intentionally forgotten that this game existed ;P

Judging from the steam forums, for the better ;p

Also what is up with this game, first 3 topics I found were "balance is borked" "infinite range glitch" and "disconnects"

3 things you definitely don't wanna read 3 years after release....
: Re: My favourite Strategy Games of all times
: Wingflier June 30, 2016, 04:00:35 PM
Using the Steam forums as an indicator of a game's quality is like going to the Youtube comments section to understand world politics. I mean you can do it, but I wouldn't recommend it.
: Re: My favourite Strategy Games of all times
: TheVampire100 June 30, 2016, 04:15:05 PM
Using the Steam forums as an indicator of a game's quality is like going to the Youtube comments section to understand world politics. I mean you can do it, but I wouldn't recommend it.
Pretty much this. Steam forum users tend to overreact because of tiny things. Plus, add tons of trolls that create topics just because they want to see the world burn and have nothing better to do in their life.
This does not mean that steam forum users never make valid points, you just have to look out what opinion to trust.
: Re: My favourite Strategy Games of all times
: TheVampire100 July 03, 2016, 10:08:16 PM
I want to add some new games to the mix.

The Nations
This came out around the same time when the settler series was very popular. It was released some months after settlers III anf eatured similiar gameplay. You play as one of three nations (Pimmons, Amazons and Sajiki) which have their own units, beuildings and resources. Your goal ist to make your nation great and either trade or fight with the other two nations. The game used some good mechanics. You started out with two carriers and one builder. In order to get new units and jobs you had to build houses (in different sizes for different amount of villagers). The villagers coudl then be send to one of the many trainign facilities and teached to one job or to a military unit. Buildign an new house didn't had an immidate effect, villagers had to be "attracted" to your nation. In order to do so you had to make the citizens happy. Give them luxury resources, food, entertainment buildings. It was a really good game with a good progression mechanic. It had a sequel that however tried to make somethign new and ruined the formular. one thing was that the villagers now were divided into male and female and that the male (female for the amazons) citizens were the only one you could train for jobs while the women were only there for breeding (which was also new instead of the old nomad attracting mechanic) and collecting berries. Wow, sexist.

Impossible Creatures
Oh god, this game. It's so funny. The setting of the game features a new technology that allows to create new creatures out of multiple different animal genes. This basically means you could mix a skunk with a wolf and the animal would benefit from both. it could have the tail of the skunk and shoot the stinking liquid they are known for while still bite enemies with the head of the wolf. So in other words, you could create impossible creatures. Funny looking creatures.
The story centers around a war reporter that searches his father who invented this new technology. His father seems to be kidnapped or maybe even killed by some guy who wants the technology for himself.
Missions feature battles of your creatures with enemy creatures and in typical RTS manner you had to destro the enemy base. The good thing was the idea that you collect animal DNA (there are several animals hidden in the different maps) and then mix your own creatures with that. The player has freely the choice to mix two animals and change the appearance 8and stats) like he wants. The creatures get abilities depending on the animal parts used, some animals are more durable, some are stronger and some are faster but only on specific animal parts. For example speed is obviously determined with legs. In the later stages you could also assemble marine and flying creatures. Reall cool and hilarious game.

Yu-gi-oh Capsule Monster Coliseum
This may seem strange but yes, this is one of the best strategy games I've ever played. First i have to say, this is not the typical Yu-Gi-Oh card game. The Yu-Gi-Oh universe just serves as backround for characters and units.
Instead the game is a turn based tactic game, similiar to games like Final Fantasy Tactics. In this game you are participant of a gaming tournament that uses tiny capsule monsters for battles. In each fight you choose your capsules. Every palyer has also a base crystal. The goal ist to destroy the enemy crystal or to defeat all monsters. At the start of the battle you place your capsules around your crystal, your enemy does the same. In each round you get some resource points from your crystals, these points can be used to open a capsule and release the monster inside. As long as the monster is still in the capsule, it cannot do anything. Stronger monsters cost more resources and can therefor be summoned later int he game while weak monsters can be summoned in the firt round and be used for rush tactics. every monster has different elemental attributes, movement pattern and range, attack pattern and range and of course ty<pical stats like hp and attack damage. Most mosnters have also a special ability that can be used from time to time.
Besides the attributes of the monsters, you also have to watch the envorinment. every envoriment features special effects and like monsters an evnironment can have elemental attributes. This counts for both the entire map and the field your monster currently stands. Your creature can get either a benefit or disadvantage depending on its attribute. Positioning your monsters is very important in this game, as well as cornering your opponent. Your mosnter level also up after attacking or destroying enemy monsters. Some monsters may even evolve into new monsters when they reach a certain threshold or stand on a specific field. A special system in the game is fusion. Some special monsters can be combined for a bigger, stronger mosnter if they stand together and have a high level.
Between fights you could buy new monstrs int he shop but after each figth you could also select a monster of your opponent, increasing your collection.
I wish they would have made a reamke for pc or something like this but this will never happen.