5 ms·

I yearn for the days of turn-based strategy games. I played HoMM2 and (even moreso) 3 a ton. I loved the tactical combat and that resource management didn't ge

by cletus 5y ago

I yearn for the days of turn-based strategy games. I played HoMM2 and (even moreso) 3 a ton. I loved the tactical combat and that resource management didn't get out of hand. I played a ton of user-made maps. Loved it. The other two games of this genre I played a ton were Civ1 and Civ4. I can literally recall waking up at noon, starting up Civ1 and then looking out and it was dark. I didn't really play Civ2 and Civ3 as much. They just added isometric view and even more micro-management (IMHO). But that all changed with Civ4. It still had the stack of doom problem but the solution added in Civ5 (one unit per hex and hexes were also new) I found to be just annoying as it forced a dance to get units placed. Plus once you got ranged/siege units to range 3 I felt like it was game over. Anyway, the big thing that kept me on Civ4 wasn't the base game it was a player mod called Fall From heaven 2 [1]. The depth was amazing. I'd really hoped they'd make a standalone game or a new version but I believe the creator now works at another game company. So I never liked RTSs. To me it was a different kind of game that focused on APS (actions per second). It's just not my scene. But turn-based games like HoMM and Civ are so rare these days it makes me sad. [1]: https://forums.civfanatics.com/threads/mod-fall-from-heaven-ii.171398/ https://forums.civfanatics.com/threads/mod-fall-from-heaven-...

acjohnson55 5y ago
You might try Great Big War Game on mobile. It's simple, but fun. Also, did you ever get into Tank War style games? I used to love Worms.
fgonzag 5y ago
Those days never left. There's been a ton of TBS games released throughout the years, some of them very very good. It's my most played genre by far. Endless legend, XCom 2, Fallen Enchantress, Age of Wonders 3, Age of Wonders: Planetfall, battletech, some tbs rpgs like divinity original sin 2, the total war series is a hybrid RTS/TBS genre, card games, tower defense games, and auto battlers.
- SSLy 5y ago
  Endless Legend / Space2 / Humankind too.
- splittingTimes 5y ago
  Let me add M.A.X. - Mechanized assault and exploration. Best TB strategy game and AI. Sadly there source of this is lost as well.
- katbyte 5y ago
  Age of wonders 1 & 2 are what got me to stop play HOMM, same feel with better graphics
  - wink 5y ago
    Sometimes the devil is in the details, I've always been a huge fan of HoMM, but AoW never really clicked for me. (I think I tried 1,2, and 3).
_Algernon_ 5y ago
The town tiles growing over time mechanic of Civ 4 was amazing, and made war costly even if you didn't lose cities or units.
simonebrunozzi 5y ago
Master of Magic, Master of Orion II? XCOM?
- cletus 5y ago
  I wanted to like 4X space games but I honestly never found one I particularly liked. Too quickly they descended into tedium. That includes MOO/MOO2. YMMV. I did play Master of Magic and really enjoyed it. Adamantium halfling slingers anyone? I also played the original XCOM and enjoyed it although it became simple once you had the right tech (blaster bombs?). They allowed you to breach spaceships at any point you want, which was way easier.
  - artificialLimbs 5y ago
    Chooch to Create Artifact as fast as possible while building Skill Points as much as possible and hope to god you last early game because if you can get CA with high SP you are about to win.
  - simonebrunozzi 5y ago
    > Adamantium halfling slingers anyone? With Alchemist guide, of course, otherwise you would lose the benefit. Yes, best unit ever. And Life spells.
- dccoolgai 5y ago
  Orion 2 might still be the GOAT.
Cyphase 5y ago
The Battle for Wesnoth https://www.wesnoth.org/ https://www.wesnoth.org/ > The Battle for Wesnoth is an open source, turn-based strategy game with a high fantasy theme. It features both singleplayer and online/hotseat multiplayer combat. > Explore the world of Wesnoth and take part in its many adventures! Embark on a desperate quest to reclaim your rightful throne... Flee the Lich Lords to a new home across the sea... Delve into the darkest depths of the earth to craft a jewel of fire itself... Defend your kingdom against the ravaging hordes of a foul necromancer... Or lead a straggly band of survivors across the blazing sands to confront an unseen evil. > The choice is up to you...
- HideousKojima 5y ago
  Wesnoth is too heavily based on RNG for me (and apparently a lot of others who have tried it). Different terrain tiles changing your chance of getting hit is a cool idea in theory, but in practice it makes strategy less important and lucky dice rolls more important, especially when some tiles can give you a 70% or 80% chance to dodge. Increasing defense based on the tile you're on (and maybe a small dodge chance boost like +5% or +10%) would make it much more about strategy.
  - Cyphase 5y ago
    Both exist; see this for more details: https://wiki.wesnoth.org/Defense_and_resistance https://wiki.wesnoth.org/Defense_and_resistance
  - Andrew_nenakhov 5y ago
    Wesnoth is great and nicely balanced. Complaining about Wesnoth RNG is for losers. Wesnoth gives you an estimate of how much damage did you do against the expected. In long games, luck always evens out. In short games, it evens out across other games. Just accept it as a stroke of fate, and to your best with what you get.
    - chongli 5y ago
      That hasn't been my experience. From what I've dealt with, a run of bad luck early will leave your army perpetually behind the curve. Since units need to survive battles to level up you can be totally destroyed by some bad luck. Sure, your dice rolls will even out over the long run but the effects of early bad luck will compound throughout the game.
JonathanFly 5y ago
These games never stopped and are arguably better than ever. Just of the game designers you mentioned: The Lead Designer of Civ 4 just released Old World. It's designed around reducing end game slowdown by limiting the number of orders you can place each turn, mechanically you play a series of leaders who can only give out so many orders and have to manage their dynasty, Crusader Kings style. An excellent game. https://mohawkgames.com/oldworld/ https://mohawkgames.com/oldworld/ The designer of Fall From Heaven made Fallen Enchantress and I think a modern Star Control remake. Can't speak to their quality personally. The designer of the original XCOM recently released Phoenix Point. Haven't tried this one yet but it's on my list. Turn based tactics games in general are extremely popular. Pathfinder Wrath of the Righteous has a HoMM2 style army battles built into the RPG campaign (though it's reportedly quite buggy and unbalanced...) The game overall is fantastic, and the party-level combat is also turn based if you like. Baldur's Gate 3 is turn based. Some personal favorites are all the Long War variants. XCOM 1 Long War, XCOM 2 Long War, and now XCOM 2 Long War of the Chosen. Edit: If you're looking for something specifically like Fall From Heaven, I'd say give Endless Legend a try. It has a similar feel in the way it combines theme and mechanics. It came out in 2014 but it's still getting updates and content to this day.
- dcow 5y ago
  Endless Legend is amazing as well as all the other games from Amplitude. They just released Humankind which is a Civ style game but instead of playing a single civilization the whole game your empire evolves with traits from societies of each era as you play through history.
- nottorp 5y ago
  > The Lead Designer of Civ 4 just released Old World. Looks like an Epic exclusive to me. I don't want to condone that so I'll sadly have to avoid it.
- specialist 5y ago
  Polytopia is my current solitaire (casual game). I've long been looking for a game like Final Fantasy Tactics with "native" controls. Meaning not a recreation (port) of the gamepad controls. Basically a prettier Wesnoth. Wesnoth is great. I just prefer the isometric grid. The Final Fantasy WotL for iOS also has too much fussing with unit's gear. Said another way, the UX of Polytopia with the campaigning of FF WotL.
jkhdigital 5y ago
> once you got ranged/siege units to range 3 I felt like it was game over It wasn’t game over, but it made military strategy exceptionally one-dimensional. Early game was all about getting a set of range 3 archers as quickly as possible, mid game was all about getting a set of range 3 catapults as quickly as possible.

by cletus 5y ago

acjohnson55 5y ago

You might try Great Big War Game on mobile. It's simple, but fun. Also, did you ever get into Tank War style games? I used to love Worms.

fgonzag 5y ago

Those days never left. There's been a ton of TBS games released throughout the years, some of them very very good. It's my most played genre by far. Endless legend, XCom 2, Fallen Enchantress, Age of Wonders 3, Age of Wonders: Planetfall, battletech, some tbs rpgs like divinity original sin 2, the total war series is a hybrid RTS/TBS genre, card games, tower defense games, and auto battlers.

SSLy 5y ago
Endless Legend / Space2 / Humankind too.
splittingTimes 5y ago
Let me add M.A.X. - Mechanized assault and exploration. Best TB strategy game and AI. Sadly there source of this is lost as well.
katbyte 5y ago
Age of wonders 1 & 2 are what got me to stop play HOMM, same feel with better graphics
- wink 5y ago
  Sometimes the devil is in the details, I've always been a huge fan of HoMM, but AoW never really clicked for me. (I think I tried 1,2, and 3).

_Algernon_ 5y ago

The town tiles growing over time mechanic of Civ 4 was amazing, and made war costly even if you didn't lose cities or units.

simonebrunozzi 5y ago

Master of Magic, Master of Orion II? XCOM?

cletus 5y ago
I wanted to like 4X space games but I honestly never found one I particularly liked. Too quickly they descended into tedium. That includes MOO/MOO2. YMMV. I did play Master of Magic and really enjoyed it. Adamantium halfling slingers anyone? I also played the original XCOM and enjoyed it although it became simple once you had the right tech (blaster bombs?). They allowed you to breach spaceships at any point you want, which was way easier.
- artificialLimbs 5y ago
  Chooch to Create Artifact as fast as possible while building Skill Points as much as possible and hope to god you last early game because if you can get CA with high SP you are about to win.
- simonebrunozzi 5y ago
  > Adamantium halfling slingers anyone? With Alchemist guide, of course, otherwise you would lose the benefit. Yes, best unit ever. And Life spells.
dccoolgai 5y ago
Orion 2 might still be the GOAT.

Cyphase 5y ago

The Battle for Wesnoth https://www.wesnoth.org/ https://www.wesnoth.org/ > The Battle for Wesnoth is an open source, turn-based strategy game with a high fantasy theme. It features both singleplayer and online/hotseat multiplayer combat. > Explore the world of Wesnoth and take part in its many adventures! Embark on a desperate quest to reclaim your rightful throne... Flee the Lich Lords to a new home across the sea... Delve into the darkest depths of the earth to craft a jewel of fire itself... Defend your kingdom against the ravaging hordes of a foul necromancer... Or lead a straggly band of survivors across the blazing sands to confront an unseen evil. > The choice is up to you...

HideousKojima 5y ago
Wesnoth is too heavily based on RNG for me (and apparently a lot of others who have tried it). Different terrain tiles changing your chance of getting hit is a cool idea in theory, but in practice it makes strategy less important and lucky dice rolls more important, especially when some tiles can give you a 70% or 80% chance to dodge. Increasing defense based on the tile you're on (and maybe a small dodge chance boost like +5% or +10%) would make it much more about strategy.
- Cyphase 5y ago
  Both exist; see this for more details: https://wiki.wesnoth.org/Defense_and_resistance https://wiki.wesnoth.org/Defense_and_resistance
- Andrew_nenakhov 5y ago
  Wesnoth is great and nicely balanced. Complaining about Wesnoth RNG is for losers. Wesnoth gives you an estimate of how much damage did you do against the expected. In long games, luck always evens out. In short games, it evens out across other games. Just accept it as a stroke of fate, and to your best with what you get.
  - chongli 5y ago
    That hasn't been my experience. From what I've dealt with, a run of bad luck early will leave your army perpetually behind the curve. Since units need to survive battles to level up you can be totally destroyed by some bad luck. Sure, your dice rolls will even out over the long run but the effects of early bad luck will compound throughout the game.

JonathanFly 5y ago

These games never stopped and are arguably better than ever. Just of the game designers you mentioned: The Lead Designer of Civ 4 just released Old World. It's designed around reducing end game slowdown by limiting the number of orders you can place each turn, mechanically you play a series of leaders who can only give out so many orders and have to manage their dynasty, Crusader Kings style. An excellent game. https://mohawkgames.com/oldworld/ https://mohawkgames.com/oldworld/ The designer of Fall From Heaven made Fallen Enchantress and I think a modern Star Control remake. Can't speak to their quality personally. The designer of the original XCOM recently released Phoenix Point. Haven't tried this one yet but it's on my list. Turn based tactics games in general are extremely popular. Pathfinder Wrath of the Righteous has a HoMM2 style army battles built into the RPG campaign (though it's reportedly quite buggy and unbalanced...) The game overall is fantastic, and the party-level combat is also turn based if you like. Baldur's Gate 3 is turn based. Some personal favorites are all the Long War variants. XCOM 1 Long War, XCOM 2 Long War, and now XCOM 2 Long War of the Chosen. Edit: If you're looking for something specifically like Fall From Heaven, I'd say give Endless Legend a try. It has a similar feel in the way it combines theme and mechanics. It came out in 2014 but it's still getting updates and content to this day.

dcow 5y ago
Endless Legend is amazing as well as all the other games from Amplitude. They just released Humankind which is a Civ style game but instead of playing a single civilization the whole game your empire evolves with traits from societies of each era as you play through history.
nottorp 5y ago
> The Lead Designer of Civ 4 just released Old World. Looks like an Epic exclusive to me. I don't want to condone that so I'll sadly have to avoid it.
specialist 5y ago
Polytopia is my current solitaire (casual game). I've long been looking for a game like Final Fantasy Tactics with "native" controls. Meaning not a recreation (port) of the gamepad controls. Basically a prettier Wesnoth. Wesnoth is great. I just prefer the isometric grid. The Final Fantasy WotL for iOS also has too much fussing with unit's gear. Said another way, the UX of Polytopia with the campaigning of FF WotL.

jkhdigital 5y ago

> once you got ranged/siege units to range 3 I felt like it was game over It wasn’t game over, but it made military strategy exceptionally one-dimensional. Early game was all about getting a set of range 3 archers as quickly as possible, mid game was all about getting a set of range 3 catapults as quickly as possible.