The Strategy Game Thread (All Platforms)

[SM]

Forgot about Empire Earth.  I dug it until the Second World War, when I recall getting a right arsekicking.  Constantly.

[Rong]

yeah i didnt like when empire earth started getting too futuristic, thats why dawn of the modern age is good only goes to ww2.

I remember putting in hours into EE multi with mates, i miss the all nighters doing that on a LAN.

[RagingDragon]

lol aint got the time for long ass war journals. 

I'm about 3 hours into it, spread out across the weekend... and i'm already on April 1st 2040.
Playing on genius mode. Pretty tough! Tons of dead soldiers...

Couple of bases: one near israel, one near japan. So far so good...

f**k these guys btw... 

I love the circumstantial badasses that you wind up having in the X-Com games. Spiffy alien, too; damn I'm excited to play that. Do you make surface bases or are the bases underwater? I've really been enjoying some classic strategies lately. Crushed my way through the original Stronghold on very hard until the dreaded mission 15, and spent more than a few hours on Dungeon Keeper. Takes me back. Evil is good.

Modern strategy games could really use some of the creativity and attention to detail found in abundance in some of these older games.

[WinterActual]

Stronghold is awesome game. Last year I tried to beat it again for the good old times but I couldn't finish one mission where they give me partially built wooden fort and I have to finish it while being attacked and then to repel the attack. I tried for weeks and I never made it so I gave up lol. I gotta try again in the near future for sure.

[Blacklabel]

Do you make surface bases or are the bases underwater?

Bases are strictly underwater. Some weapons work only underwater, so you gotta be careful when selecting equipment for each mission. Terror site missions take place on the surface and can be on cities like on the original XCOM, but also on island resorts and cruise ships! Yeah, you get to save babes in bikinis from the evil Gillmen!



This is a good bible.
http://www.ufopaedia.org/index.php?title=TFTD

[HappyAlien]

Back in High School I loved the original XCOM, Warcraft 1\2 and StarCraft. In 2006 I got addicted to Galactic Civilisations 2 which was similar to Masters of Orion. Loved building my own ships and naming them stuff like 'Defiant Class'. Plus naming all the planets after ones in Star Wars or Star Trek or cities in Australia.

Hearts of Iron 2 looks really good too and I want to buy that. See if I can take the Soviet Union as the Germans or play as the British Empire and make sure they stay a major power by the end of WW2 instead of becoming a third rate power like they did. Only problem is that I haven't had time to play my PS3 games and Xbox games let alone time to play the PC games I want to play, gonna have to set aside some time.

[RagingDragon]

Do you make surface bases or are the bases underwater?

Bases are strictly underwater. Some weapons work only underwater, so you gotta be careful when selecting equipment for each mission. Terror site missions take place on the surface and can be on cities like on the original XCOM, but also on island resorts and cruise ships! Yeah, you get to save babes in bikinis from the evil Gillmen!



This is a good bible.
http://www.ufopaedia.org/index.php?title=TFTD

Delicious. Do you have the Steam versions? Most of their games are good to go on purchase, but I'm just curious as sometimes older games can be a little buggy from them. Some don't seeem quite as stable as Good Old Games (www.gog.com), a site that I couldn't recommend more.

I hear you @ HappyAlien, finding time can be a bitch, especially with grand strategy games like Hearts of Iron. They take some time to learn, but the depth they offer is second to none. I've really been wanting to finally pick up Crusader Kings 2 and get into that, but the time issue is the same for me.

Been getting distracted by too many games already lol, and lately I've been working on finishing older games I started and never got around to completing.

Edit - Dungeon Keeper just wished Peter Molyneux a happy birthday. If you own it, fire it up to see the message. Crazy.

[RagingDragon]

Double post but Iduncare

God, X-Com: UFO Defense, I forgot how bloody hard you really are. Even on beginner my first mission to a crash site went great, no one killed. The second mission, lost 3 soldiers when an alien popped out of the UFO and blasted my heavy gunner before he or the other guy covering had a chance to react.

Then a few days later I get my first terror mission in Montreal. Holy sheep shit. I engage a few of the big two-legged alien monsters from the ramp of my ship, then on turn 4, some sort of fire rocket comes flying out of a neighborhood house and 5 of my soldiers are immediately down, knocked unconscious (including the squad leader.)

Needless to say, that mission didn't end well.

Being an X-Com noob, I take it reaction time and time units remaining play a big factor in whether or not you get a shot off on the Aliens turn?

[Blacklabel]

There's a few buttons near the soldiers Rank that activate the type of "reaction shot" you want your soldiers to do on the aliens turn. Snap shot, etc..

And learn to use cover and spread your troops to avoid losing too many soldiers when they throw grenades or rockets at you. Me, i stick to the tried and true good old "send a couple of tanks in first, with the soldiers to protect the rear" BLITZKRIEG strategy.

Had to abandon my first Base attack on Terror from the Deep... soldiers kept getting mind controlled... only managed to lose one of mine while killing 7 of theirs... still a positive ranking despite an aborted mission. I have to research their mind control units and get access to that power soon.. hummm..

Oh Raging Dragon... XCOM in general is based on this tv show...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=US7IF31wDVM# 

[RagingDragon]

Oh Raging Dragon... XCOM in general is based on this tv show...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=US7IF31wDVM# 

Ho boy that was groovy.

Looks like a live-action cartoon.

Godspeed with your defense of the deep! I did well on a recent terror mission, but haven't built any alien containment facilities yet, so no prisoners to study. It's crazy awesome how tense the turn-based combat manages to get.

[Blacklabel]

hehe did you spot all the XCOM elements in that opening?

Secret Organization fighting against alien invaders... they send interceptors after the UFO's.... then when the UFO's crash or land they send in tanks and soldiers to kill the aliens... There's even alien autopsy's etc...

[RagingDragon]

hehe did you spot all the XCOM elements in that opening?

Secret Organization fighting against alien invaders... they send interceptors after the UFO's.... then when the UFO's crash or land they send in tanks and soldiers to kill the aliens... There's even alien autopsy's etc...

It was uncanny.

All we need is SID in the games, and that moonbase with purple hair guuuuuuuurl!

[Blacklabel]

Finally destroyed an alien colony. Hurrah! One down, one to go... but i have to "conquer" the next one... i'll need the tons of resources they have to sell, etc.

How's that war going, RD? 

[RagingDragon]

Finally destroyed an alien colony. Hurrah! One down, one to go... but i have to "conquer" the next one... i'll need the tons of resources they have to sell, etc.

How's that war going, RD? 

Dude. I'm playing on beginner and I've been replacing around 4 soldiers each mission. The terror sites are bloody hard!

I'm a perfectionist when it comes to strategy and command, so losing soldiers bugs me, but after the first few re-loads, I realized that it's just gonna happen lol. I'm getting used to it now, but I still try and keep them alive of course. Working on getting my second base up and running. Built my first in Alaska (don't know why lol,) and my second one is in central Africa, for the best coverage so far.

Such a fun game. Do you use any mods to change the initial base layout or anything? Was checking this out earlier:
http://openxcom.org/

Supposed to be a great open-source version of the game with many bug fixes and improved AI. Don't know how it works with the steam version, though.

[Blacklabel]

Havent tried playing with mods...

Try playing on genius level Then come back here and WEEP! Soldiers die like flies... best not to get too attached.