Favorite Strategy games?

[Hawkstream]

I love strategy games and play them far more than all other categories. I will list some of my favorites but love hearing about others as I am always looking for something new.

Civ 5 ( and the franchise) - will always be one of my favorite games!

Tropico 5 - Its not perfect but man have I killed a ton of hours on this game. It may be the single most addictive game I have ever played!

Company of Heroes 1 & 2 - One of the best although I think the 2nd didn't capture the magic of the first.

World in Conflict (!!!) - Maybe my favorite sleeper game of all time! I want a sequel to it more than any other game... period!

XCOM (series) - it has become very popular and for good reason. Its amazing and I cant wait the the new one!

I could keep going on but I would love to hear some of your favorites!

 

[WhiteLotus]

Supreme Commander.

 

[R-T-B]

Tropico 4 I love to death. Can't bring myself to Tropico 5, they killed the spanish/carribean theme they had going and went way too much with making the seemingly insignificant island a power of sorts which historically, the game series never assumed.

I also am a big fan of the Total war series, particularly those in europe and especially those during the Rome timeframe.

COH1 was/is great, haven't tried 2 yet.

World in Conflict indeed needs a sequel.

I also have a strange fascination with Civ4 and Fall From Heaven mod.

 

[Joss]

Company of Heroes, Napoleon Total War

 

[Hawkstream]

Tropico 4 I love to death. Can't bring myself to Tropico 5, they killed the spanish/carribean theme they had going and went way too much with making the seemingly insignificant island a power of sorts which historically, the game series never assumed.

I also am a big fan of the Total war series, particularly those in europe and especially those during the Rome timeframe.

COH1 was/is great, haven't tried 2 yet.

World in Conflict indeed needs a sequel.

I also have a strange fascination with Civ4 and Fall From Heaven mod.

Yeah I also LOVED Tropico 4 and I think the military aspects of 5 can be very frustrating as it takes you away of the core of the game. But if you just deal with it is a GREAT game. I honestly like it better than 4 now. Its so addictive...

 

[BumbleBee]

Galactic Civilizations III Multiplayer and XCOM on Ironman Classic.

 

[Brusfantomet]

Civ 5 is obligatory, the game i have played second most on steam, and only in singer player mode.

Have you tried WiC with mods? its fantastic at LANs.

I also played a lot of Sins of a solar empire, sins for short, even tho many hears it and think you are saying Sims its a game thats so slow against computer opponents that it feels like a turn based game, when it is real time.

 

[st2000]

lords of realm 2
settlers 2
thats the games i played a lot
new xcom once fully ended with 3snipers(2shots each)+3shotgunners(max dmg+crit) is absolutely boring(medics and heavymarines are useless in lategame)

 

[Hawkstream]

Civ 5 is obligatory, the game i have played second most on steam, and only in singer player mode.

Have you tried WiC with mods? its fantastic at LANs.

I also played a lot of Sins of a solar empire, sins for short, even tho many hears it and think you are saying Sims its a game thats so slow against computer opponents that it feels like a turn based game, when it is real time.

No I have not tried WiC with mods... I will give it a look!! Thanks!

 

[Aquinus]

The Homeworld series is really good. I personally think the Homeworld Remastered Collection is good and worth getting. I feel Homeworld was revolutionary. Supreme Commander is another good one.

 

[Kursah]

So many to list...

Homeworld Series
C&C through 3...especially Tiberian Sun and Sole Survivor
SupCom series (including 2)
Warcraft 2 and 3
Starcraft series
Dawn of War series
World in Conflict (+1 to sleeper hit!!!)
And much much more! I have a TPU Strategy Thread in my sig too!

 

[rtwjunkie]

This is a great topic!! I'm sure there will be no surprisesin first few, based on my screen name:

Rome: Total War (bit by bit complete overhaul with my own events script)
Total War: Rome II
Empire Total War
Company of Heroes (Blitzkrieg modded of course)
World In Conflict
Children of the Nile (citybuilding, but also strategy)
UFO Aftermath
UFO Afterlight
UFO Aftershock
Total War: Attila
Medeival 2: Total War

 

[LightningJR]

Civ5 for sure. Back in the day XCOM: Interceptor. I loved Age of Empires & C&C series back in day as well, they're not so great now. I love Capitalism as well but it's more of a simulation.

 

[FordGT90Concept]

Ground Control II: Operation Exodus was the spiritual successor to World in Conflict. Personally, I liked GC2 better.
Earth 2140/2150/2160
Command & Conquer: Generals
Empire Earth 1 & 2 (3 is garbage)
StarCraft 2
Company of Heroes
Valkyria Chronicles (this is almost like 3D chess--haven't had a game make me think that hard in a while)
Evil Genius
Startopia

We've hit a dry spell for RTSs it seems.

 

[Nordic]

Natural Selection 2. Before you say it is not a strategy game, is half is. It is an fps/rts. I play the heck out of that game, and it is very tactical. You just use real people for strategy, not AI.

 

[patrico]

C & C red alert and always got a laugh out of Battle for middle earth 2

 

[Kursah]

We've hit a dry spell for RTSs it seems.

Depends on the KIND of RTS you want... if you want more macro style, like SupCom, then pay attention to Ashes of the Singularity, and even Planetary Annihilation has come a long ways since beta/gamma/release. There's always the oldschool Warzone 2100, or the modern and MP supported SpringRTS engine-based games ( https://springrts.com/ ). They're not as smooth or polished an experience as SupCom, PA, etc...but they're good and relevant. Planetary Annihilation is good fun too, and is continually getting updates and can be had on sales as low as $6 though I don't think $30 is unfair either. UberEnt is keeping after it...which is more than I can say for many other devs.

If you want more tactical, the Dawn of War 2 series is still decent-ish...though getting old. While fun, I did prefer the first DoW series to 2 as it was more of a true RTS, or the substructure for what made Company of Heroes. I haven't tried CoH 2 but might be worth a look.

Homeworld Remastered was released a few months ago, and comes with the originals as well. Quite fun.

There's another indie title on steam that's pretty fun, albeit a little rough, called Void Destroyer that blends space RTS and flight/combat sim quite nicely. Worth a cheap investment.

There's the Wargame series, those are more serious, beautiful and sound amazing, and are very technical and is more like RT-CHESS with tanks, planes, boats, infantry, jets. Very addictive and super challenging. Granted it's more of an ARTS.

There's the mods and such keeping SupCom: FA (Forever) alive. I play SupCom 2 with my boys A LOT...honestly it's a fun title if you don't try to compare it to to 1 or FA.

C&C is supposed to be getting a real reboot eventually, I had no interest in the browser game...and we shall see...I wish Westwood would reform and do it right...make a Tiberian Sun 2 with DX12 and physics on a SupCom scale...

So yes it's not the most active strategy season, there's plenty of good strategy out there and some new stuff out or coming soon. Ashes is the next big title, and it does look good from what little I watched earlier this year...we shall see.



EDIT:

I forgot to mention Star Ruler 2 if you want a surprisingly good indie sequel space RTS...pretty badass.

If you want something larger scale, with A LOT more, check out Distant Worlds: Universe.

 

[FordGT90Concept]

C&C is supposed to be getting a real reboot eventually

It was canceled in 2013 because they wanted to rebrand it into a free to play game. The last talk of a reboot was in November 2013.

 

[R-T-B]

OMG Thanks for mentioning Spring. That looks awesome for something I've been meaning to try.

 

[Delta6326]

Some are,

Red Alert 3
Warcraft 3
StarCraft II
Civ Beyond Earth (I know most don't like it, but I do)Hadn't played since Civ3.

Ashes of the Singularity, looks interesting will have to wait for more details. Probably to fast passed for me, I like to sit back, make lots of money and make a massive army.

 

[rooivalk]

I think there are few different strategy sub-genres.

Classic RTS : C&C Zero Hour. It's not perfect, it's imbalance, but I love it the most. Every faction has some kind personality too. I like C&C TW3 Kane Wrath too for its similar feeling.
Micro RTS : Warcraft III. Very high quality game in my opinion and a lot of custom maps, a total value. Second place is Company of Heroes 1.
Macro RTS : SupCom 1. Honestly this genre isn't my cup of tea.
MOBA : Heroes of the Storm. Not my cup of tea either but HotS is pretty fun.
Real Time Tactics : Commandos 2. Pretty fun, but maybe a little bit too easy.
Tower Defense : Orcs Must Die! 2. Not classic tower defense but extremely fun. The game that teach me that macro could be important feature.
4X : Civilization V. I put a lot of hours into it, although to be honest because the wait time is very long at the later turns.
Turn Based Strategy : Heroes of Might and Magic V. I like the art style, the music, the units, the skillwheel, and even the story feels grand.

 

[droopyRO]

Ground Control and expansion(GC 2 sucked), Jane`s Fleet Command , Full Spectrum Warrior, the planning phase from Rainbow Six and Rogue Sprear, Warcraft 3 and many of the above mentioned like Company of Heroes, Dawn of War 1 and 2, Xcom series, SupCom, Wargame etc.

Ground Control II: Operation Exodus was the spiritual successor to World in Conflict.

GC2 came way before WiC.

 

[Brusfantomet]

I almost forgot, Dungeon Keeper 2 its close to a building game more than strategy. But its still a relay relay good game, that you can get cheaply on GOG

 

[R-T-B]

I almost forgot, Dungeon Keeper 2 its close to a building game more than strategy. But its still a relay relay good game, that you can get cheaply on GOG

Tropico is also mostly a building game, honestly.

 

[RCoon]

RTS is one of those genres everybody has some sort of love affair for, or at least has enjoyed once game from it in the last 20 years, whether it be C&C or Star Wars.

Warcraft III probably takes the cake for me, spent far too long designing custom maps. In fact mine are still hosted to this day for anyone that wants to give them a bash!
Custom hero map with up to level 80, tonnes of custom items, and multiple objectives (optional) as well as a few hat tips to some other titles: https://www.epicwar.com/maps/143143/
And this, which never actually got finished: https://www.epicwar.com/maps/142624/

I still have a legit copy of Warcraft III, so if you wanna hit up some custom maps, try some warchasers or whatever, I'm down for that.

For modern RTS, I love me some Endless Legend.