I've played Civ I-IV and Moo I-III (I didnt' play 3 for more than a few hours unfortunately). I played AC but I never really got too into it, someone borrowed and broke the disc (literally cracked all the way through) and I never gave it another shot. I was hoping to try out a new but similar game to these. I'm not picky about graphics, but I have a nice enough computer to run anything out there. Just looking at 4x games on Wiki it lists:
# Galactic Civilizations (2003) with Galactic Civilizations: Altarian Prophecy expansion pack
# Galactic Civilizations II (2006) with Galactic Civilizations II: Dark Avatar expansion pack (2006)
# Sword of the Stars (2006) with Sword of the Stars: Born of Blood expansion pack (2007)
# FreeOrion (2007) (open source)
# Lost Empire (2007)
# Armageddon Empires (2007)
# Sins of a Solar Empire (2008)
Also I've seen the Total War games and they seem pretty fun to me too.
I prefer to play aggressively with military in all of the games I've played, but at the same time I prefer the turn-based aspect. I prefer the tactical maps on MOO to Civ, but still enjoy Civ combat. Also, I plan to play mostly just single player in case that would influence a recommendation.
Also I have Civ IV BtS, so I could give Final Frontier a shot too.
So what do you guys think I should try out next?
What next?
I've been playing Space Empires V for the last 1.25 years. I'm enjoying it immensely. Most of the bugs have been eliminated in recent patches. It takes a LOT longer to play than MOO2 does, though, because the level of detail is so high. The two largish multiplayer games I'm in require 1-3 hours of my time to take each turn, and we're putting out about 2 turns/week (5 players for one, ~10 for the other).
There are a number of different play modes. In the big picture sense, you can play the turns sequentially (similar to the board game Risk, you do your moves, then the next player gets to), or simultaneous turns (similar to MOO2...orders are given, then when you're done entering them, all orders for all empires are executed simultaneously).
Combat can be controlled tactically in a sequential turns game, or strategically in either type of game. Strategic combat is played out according to combat strategies that the player programs, combined with fleet formations you might assign.
The biggest drawback to the game is that with the very high level of detail comes something of a long learning curve, and the game manual doesn't fill in a whole lot of detail beyond what is needed for a rudimentary understanding...I've sometimes had to lean on forums and online strategy guides. Perhaps tied for first in the single player game realm is yet another side effect of the complexity...turn execution can take a long time as a large game develops. I've heard reports of 15-20 minutes/turn in games with large maps and many AI empires.
Most games have a few quirks to learn about and adjust for, and with the depth comes opportunity for more. I can't think of what they might be at the moment, but I'm sure they must be there.
Should you decide to try it, use one of the mods that are available for the game, because the AI in the stock game is quite inept. I only play multiplayer against human opponents, but I hear that the "Balance Mod" has a pretty good AI (not to mention a much better set of gama parameters).
There are a number of different play modes. In the big picture sense, you can play the turns sequentially (similar to the board game Risk, you do your moves, then the next player gets to), or simultaneous turns (similar to MOO2...orders are given, then when you're done entering them, all orders for all empires are executed simultaneously).
Combat can be controlled tactically in a sequential turns game, or strategically in either type of game. Strategic combat is played out according to combat strategies that the player programs, combined with fleet formations you might assign.
The biggest drawback to the game is that with the very high level of detail comes something of a long learning curve, and the game manual doesn't fill in a whole lot of detail beyond what is needed for a rudimentary understanding...I've sometimes had to lean on forums and online strategy guides. Perhaps tied for first in the single player game realm is yet another side effect of the complexity...turn execution can take a long time as a large game develops. I've heard reports of 15-20 minutes/turn in games with large maps and many AI empires.
Most games have a few quirks to learn about and adjust for, and with the depth comes opportunity for more. I can't think of what they might be at the moment, but I'm sure they must be there.
Should you decide to try it, use one of the mods that are available for the game, because the AI in the stock game is quite inept. I only play multiplayer against human opponents, but I hear that the "Balance Mod" has a pretty good AI (not to mention a much better set of gama parameters).
Hi, Guys.
Yeah, the Space Empires V is really complex and vast game. But IMO it’s too time consuming (especially in conditions of lack of time like mine life for example).
But what do U think about old school MoO2 with MODS? Did U play them?
For example, EXPa Mod created by me – it fixes many imbalanced things compared Original and after testing it I think EXPa Mod is rather fun (U can find details here viewtopic.php?t=559). And what about PK Evo Mod or Siron DC Mod – Did U try them?
I just don’t understand, why everyone forgetting so fast about really fundamental games and their abilities for presenting new features, possibilities. Why everyone forgetting about potential of that games (in this event it’s potential of MoO2 with Mods)?
I can make an example about this – it’s Star Craft. Regardless of new fancy RTS, Star Craft still is THE BEST RTS, which counted like the most balanced and full-featured RTS of whole times – and Star Craft still presents new possibilities for players.
IMO Master of Orion 2 does not give way to Star Craft in depth or complexity and can be re-moded for even more dynamic and fast playing (I have some thoughts about it). But if everyone just turn away from a game, then it’s meaningless to do re-moding or game upgrading.
So don’t turn around – genius Game will die without support
Yeah, the Space Empires V is really complex and vast game. But IMO it’s too time consuming (especially in conditions of lack of time like mine life for example).
But what do U think about old school MoO2 with MODS? Did U play them?
For example, EXPa Mod created by me – it fixes many imbalanced things compared Original and after testing it I think EXPa Mod is rather fun (U can find details here viewtopic.php?t=559). And what about PK Evo Mod or Siron DC Mod – Did U try them?
I just don’t understand, why everyone forgetting so fast about really fundamental games and their abilities for presenting new features, possibilities. Why everyone forgetting about potential of that games (in this event it’s potential of MoO2 with Mods)?
I can make an example about this – it’s Star Craft. Regardless of new fancy RTS, Star Craft still is THE BEST RTS, which counted like the most balanced and full-featured RTS of whole times – and Star Craft still presents new possibilities for players.
IMO Master of Orion 2 does not give way to Star Craft in depth or complexity and can be re-moded for even more dynamic and fast playing (I have some thoughts about it). But if everyone just turn away from a game, then it’s meaningless to do re-moding or game upgrading.
So don’t turn around – genius Game will die without support
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