Turnbased/RTS

weiland79

Just looking for some suggestions for some good TB/RTS games for my fancy new Laptop. I'm looking at Empire Total war and Shogun 2 Total war and would appreciate any comments on them. I've played both of the Company of heroes titles a few years ago and loved them.
I prefer games grounded somewhat in reality, real weapons and plausable scenarios over pew pew laser beams and robots.

Thanks.

Retr0gamer

Get some of the classics.

Jagged Alliance 2 on PC or the Commando's games, both of which are available on GOG. I know you want reality grounded ones but you can't beat some Heroes of Might and Magic, also on GOG.

On steam you have X-Com.

Skerries

one that I absolutely love and have recently played again is World in Conflict based on a fictional scenario where Russia invades America in the late 80's, it has a fantastic story which you get emotionally involved with in between levels

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vSHULrAe2Xs

A newly released game in that same kind of mold is Wargame European Escalation which i'm looking ofrward to playing

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jq0rpLxhnlc

Spunge

Empire is good but you need to mod it with DarthMod to make it balanced and playable. And the sieges are terrible. But the scale is huge. Like you can take over europe, usa and india. Napoleon is supposed to be an improved, smaller version of Empire, i havent played it yet but i have it installed

Shogun 2 is probably better all round, although a lot smaller scale and especially if you prefer medieval style warfare to muskets and cannons etc.

Still neither are as good as Medieval 2 or Rome. Even though they are a bit older, they still feel better and the graphics are still solid for Medieval 2. Also the medieval 2 Lord of the rings mod is really impressive, but if you're not into that nvm.

weiland79

Actually i've played Medieval 2 to death and am interested to hear about the Lord of the rings mod.

gizmo

If you liked Company Of Heroes then you could try the Men Of War series, not as good as CoH but still worth a bash.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IxC-dbJm4G4

Going back a bit there was the Sudden Strike series which was pretty awesome too.

ShadowHearth

Retr0gamer wrote: »

Get some of the classics.

Jagged Alliance 2 on PC or the Commando's games, both of which are available on GOG. I know you want reality grounded ones but you can't beat some Heroes of Might and Magic, also on GOG.

On steam you have X-Com.

Bejesus lad, I am proud of you!

All as above. Might and magic 6 is really good. It's a turn based and rpg hybrid. Very unique and very good.

What spec is laptop? Total war shogun 2 is a bastord of the game. Even on my pc loading times are just freaking anomallity! I am really thinking of getting ssd just for my ste folder...

Civilisation 4? Ever tried that?

weiland79

http://www.komplett.ie/Komplett/product/15_16_inch/80003564/asus_15_6_k53sv_sx707v_i7_2670_8gb_640gb/details.aspx

This is the laptop. It will mainly be used for work.

Skerries

yeah it hasn't got the greatest gaming card in but it will play modern games on low to mid level settings

see here and scroll down to see gaming results

Dcully

Civ 5, brilliant turn based strategy game.

COH and WIC are also superb.

Overheal

+1 for Civ V. I'm also a fan of Sins of a Solar Empire: it's basically turn based even though things happen in real time. The pace at which things happen though mean you're always planning ahead somewhat, and if you don't you're wasting a lot of time: wars can be easily won if you think forward a little and pre-emptively send reinforcements to your frontlines, for example. The rest of the time you get to watch space battles unfold.

RiseToTheTop

Civilization IV. Trust me, it's much better than Civilization V. On amazon.com a reviewer gave CIV V 2 stars and 1,485 of 1,567 agreed with it.

Civilization is not like the Total War series where there is a lot of real-time action on the battlefield. Civilization is more city building, advancing technology mixed with turn based action.

Overheal

RiseToTheTop wrote: »

Civilization IV. Trust me, it's much better than Civilization V. On amazon.com a reviewer gave CIV V 2 stars and 1,485 of 1,567 agreed with it.

Civilization is not like the Total War series where there is a lot of real-time action on the battlefield. Civilization is more city building, advancing technology mixed with turn based action.

As someone uninitiated on Civ I found Civ V much easier and more enjoyable to dive into than IV. Just saying.

RiseToTheTop

Overheal wrote: »

As someone uninitiated on Civ I found Civ V much easier and more enjoyable to dive into than IV. Just saying.

I never played a Civ game before Civ IV. I got a new PC and was looking for strategy games and noticed the good rating on the game cover in game.

You won't know what your doing first time round, but I was profoundly impressed by Civ IV on my first game. The first couple of games your learning and you enjoy the learning part. It is not tedious to learn. I've been playing the game for the past 2 years and there is no end in sight.

I agree that Civ V is easier to get into, but IMO it not as deep or rewarding as Civ IV.

SeantheMan

I also preferred Civ5 over Civ4

Sasquatch76

My monthly obligatory mention for Frozen Synapse - simulataneously taken turns, and more tactical than grand strategy. And it won't really push a fancy new laptop either... But it's freakin awesome, and I must recommend it every opportunity I get!

I also recommend the Third Age mod for Medieval II TW. The latest version has settlements modeled on the movies' locations and there are a tonne of sub-mods to tweak the gameplay style to your own tastes. I also find it's the best TW for variety of faction. Great fun!

Blowfish

How big of a scale do you like your strategy games?

Paradox are pretty much the daddy of 'Grand Strategy' games and all of their games are set in specific historic periods. They tend to be a lot more in depth and have a steeper learning curve than most so aren't as approachable as the likes of Civ/Total War, but if you want something on an 'epic' scale, they really can't be beaten. A few of them:

Europa Universalis III - Late Medieval/Renaissance era with a focus on exploration/colonisation of the new world and the Mercentilism/Free Trade shift.

Crusader Kings 2 - Medieval period. Focusses much more on individual characters and creating a powerful dynasty with all the plots, assassinations, subterfugue and backstabbing that goes along with it.

Victoria 2 - Industrial era with a focus on 'modernisation' and resource management with factories etc.

Hearts Of Iron III - WWII, combat focussed.

Sephiroth_dude

[QUOTE=gizmo;77461350

Going back a bit there was the Sudden Strike series which was pretty awesome too.[/QUOTE]

Many people still playing that?

Are you into RTS SIM games ?

If you are I'd recommend anno 2070 or 1404

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X0XR6AQr19I

Sir Digby Chicken Caesar

world in conflict is amazing
it's a great game and buckets of fun to play but the narration and story is actually engaging, when I was playing a mission and someone would radio in a message I didn't just "hear words, act on words" I thought about the message as it was coming from that character in the game and what it meant for them. I was treating them as "realer" (actually.. more real?) characters than in any other video game I could think of.

Dcully

Agree about world in conflict, great multiplayer.
I started Jagged Alliance back in Action lastnight, only done the tutorial and part of the first mission but if feels great to play so far,proper tactical gameplay with a real sence of danger around every turn plus its very atmospheric which is a plus.
Apparently it has some AI pathing issues?
My only niggle so far is camera control is awkward.

The OP should definitely consider it too.

weiland79

So i went with Empire Total war and World in conflict for starters. Installed and had a quick look at TW last night. Damn it's big, and kind of a bit intimidating.
I also tried to install one or two old favs and ran into some difficulties,maybe someone can shed some light for me.

First one was Medieval Total war.The first disc installs no problem but when i put the second disc in it tells me that there is a device I/O error, this used to happen with my old laptop running on XP but i thought it was just my 6 yr old machine acting the dick.

Second is Company of heroes. As soon as i try to install, it tells me that i have not put in my CD code and shuts down,yet it hasn't given me the opportunity to put my code in.

Any thoughts?

Thanks.

Dcully

Started playing ANNO 2070 myself, its bloody addictive.
Tough going for a noob like me to the series but its a very impressive game.

Reekwind

Strongly second any mention of Paradox. Those games have consumed countless hours of my life. EUII and CKII are masterpieces

And if you're going to play Civ then Civ 2 is the only way to go. Alpha Centauri is an acceptable alternative