Can vouch for these:
SSI’s “Generals” games
The Ardennes Offensive
Combat Mission: Beyond Overlord/Barbarossa/Afrika Corps
This game is okay, but not really as good as those – but welcome MOTS for Panzer General fans:
Shattered Union
Haven’t played extensively, but hear good things:
Steel Panthers: World at War
Korsun Pocket
The Operational Art of War III
Fire Emblem series
Popular but perhaps too casual for a genre devotee:
Advance Wars
Still not out:
Disciples 3
Solium Infernum
Confirming the merit of things mentioned by others:
Blood Bowl
Age of Wonders/Age of Wonders: Shadow Magic
Colonization
Medieval 2: Total War
Silent Storm (watch out for Starforce)
Jagged Alliance/Jagged Alliance 2
Sword of the Stars
Dominions 3 (It turns out I don’t suck as much at this game as I thought I did, I just chose the worst possible faction back when I got into a Qt3-organized game. Screw you, Late Ulm!)
Disciples 2
Denying the merit of things mentioned by others:
Empire: Total War (this game is currently broken)
Not technically turn-based, but…
Paradox games
Couldn’t get into it, but probably didn’t give it a fair shake:
Battle for Wesnoth
I’ve played the vast majority of stuff mentioned, but I do appreciate the tips. I tried the demo of Knights of the Chalice and I think it’s a tad too old school for me. I am going to try Battle for Wesnoth now, looks like it has possibilities.
Ideally, I’d love a good TBS 4X but doesn’t look like theres anything I haven’t already tried.
The new Elven Legacy/Fantasy Wars expansion Ranger is coming out this Tuesday. It’s only $9.99 so I’ll probably pick it up at some point. I’ve definitely enjoyed both Fantasy Wars and Elven Legacy.
I sincerely think that if you are a turn-based gaming fan and haven’t played the Dominions series, you should remedy that issue.
Pretty much everything people have mentioned in this thread that I’ve played is worthwhile, although turn-based gaming is pretty broad and I’m not quite sure what Dan is looking for. Hardcore hex wargames like Korsun Pocket and Operational Art of War are quite different from Jagged Alliance and Blood Bowl. Since Dan mentioned 4x games in the original post, I’d also suggest the Space Empires series, except maybe the last one, which had some problems when I played it but maybe they are all fixed.
Slitherine is also about to release something called HISTORY™ Great Battles Medieval. I’m not a big fan of previous Slitherine games, but maybe this one will correct previous mistakes.
And I have to mention one of my all-time sentimental favorites: Emperor of the Fading Suns. I loved that game, and it is such a shame that the AI was so fatally broken. But the time I spent learning that game and figuring out how broken it was was some of the best gaming time I have spent, ever. There is even a massive FAQ written in 1997 by some super-fanboy named Tom Chick. I wonder what happened to him - he should have designed 4x space fantasy games for a living.
EDIT: Looks like Dan beat me to the post, and clarified that he was looking for a good 4x TBS. I think EotFS could be classified that way.
The UFO series. Aftermath, Aftershock etc. They’re 4x TBS with real time moving when not in combat (ala JA 2). Not the greatest games ever made, but they’re not terrible either.
I’d throw Space Rangers 2 in this mix as well, since it’s pseudo turn based.
Have you tried the Disciples series? It’s pretty good.
I was just mucking around on the Slitherine and Ageod websites and didn’t see anything that grabbed me sadly, although I also have some interest in that History: Great Battles Medieval offering. There’s a thread on that game but only one or two guys have chimed in with impressions, I’d like to hear a bit more.
Is Emperor of the Fading Suns available for download? I managed to miss that back in the day and am not averse to some old school gaming if I can get the thing to run on Vista.
As for classics like HoMM and Dominions, I have played those. I played Dominions II a good amount, even a couple of multiplayer rounds with QT3 guys. Oh and I’ve played every flavor of Disciples as well. I’m a TBS whore but sadly the production just cannot keep up with my appetites.
Heck I even got some mileage out of the crappy PC version of Diplomacy, which is a half assed but kind of fun in a beer and pretzels way single player game if you use the (sad, predictable) AI. (Hint: The AI Austrian player will let the Italian player poach Trieste on the first turn, EVERY FUCKING TIME, it makes me cry.)
Have you played Lost Empires:Immortals? I haven’t actually tried it, but if I were in the market for 4X TBS games that I haven’t tried yet, that would be one I would check out. My curiosity was piqued by this review:
…in general, I think outofeight is a pretty good source for finding strategy games that might otherwise have gone under the radar, since the guy who writes it seems to obsessively track down just about everything in the genre (and some stuff outside it). His list of 8/8 and 7/8 games is also a good place to look for interesting things:
I’m not sure if you’d be open to this, but I’d suggest looking away from video games entirely and digging into traditional board games. If turn-based strategy has declined in the video game world, it’s been hugely resurgent among board games. There’s been a creative explosion in recent times, with innovative, elegant mechanics and unique, varied themes. You can also play lots of them online for free if you don’t want to play in person.
No, those games have no turned based element at all. You merely adjust game speed on the fly, much like freedom force. Nothing like Jagged Alliance 2 at all.
I think they’re like Baldur’s Gate: while it doesn’t “feel” very turn-based, the underlying mechanics are actually built on separate “turns” in which events happen…
They actually do have turn based elements to them. When you encounter an enemy the game pauses, and you issue orders to individual units. Those orders are carried out in a pause/play fashion that simulates “turns” without actually calling them that. To me, they’re exactly like JA2, just not based so much on action points.
