I need a strategy game which doesn't suck.

[Dinner]

I loved EU2, EU3, Civ4, HOI2, but thought HOI3 sucked ass while I got bored of Shogun 2 with in 48 hours. What's a good game which doesn't suck ass?

[Dinner]

Oh, and Civ5 can lick my nutsack.

[Tuberski]

Yeah I heard it was a lot of micromanagement.

ACK!

[N35t0r]

The new HoI2 expansions? Darkest Hour and Arsenal of Democracy?

There's even another one called IC that works on top of either of those two (or armageddon) and adds a shittonload of provinces (yes, that many) called Iron Cross.


[edit:] Granted, it's more of the same, but it's still better more of the same

[Dinner]

I have Arenal of Democracy but it's a buggy mess which they haven't fixed (I have yet to see a single capital ship sunk in that game), I haven't heard of Darkest Hour so I will look it up, I also already have Iron Cross.

[N35t0r]

I've played AoD + IC as the USA and sunk the entire Japanese fleet with my carriers (they've still got a couple of light ships going around), as well as AoD + CORE as the Soviets, and here the japs have lost most of their capitals, and sunk a couple of british and US ones in return.

[Nikolai]

Sengoku is said to be the most polished PI game at release to date. It's a lot simpler than normal PI games, but it is basically Shogun: Total War reimagined into PI's grand strategy recipe.

Darkest Hour is awesome, especially the Kaiserreich mod.

[Proteus_MST]

Hm, it may be old, but did you try Rome Total War?
IMHO it is still a fine game, especially if you use some of the mods that increase the realism of the game

[Kitschum]

toawiii

[Docfeelgood]

chess

[onodera]

Frozen Synapse is sold as pay what you want atm, so you can give it a try. However, it's a tactical game.

[Jon Miller]

I have also been in the mood for this.

I Recently bought:
Making History II

But haven't really tried it out yet.

Is DH really worth it? Or AoD?

JM

[Jon Miller]

You can also go oldschool:

http://planets.nu/home

JM

[Nikolai]

I have also been in the mood for this.

I Recently bought:
Making History II

But haven't really tried it out yet.

Is DH really worth it? Or AoD?

JM

I'd say DH is well worth it, AoD not so much.

[Jon Miller]

How does it compare to HoI3? Is there a Mac version?

JM

[Nikolai]

It's a game developed by using the HoI2 source code that PI licences out. So think HoI2.5.

EDIT: Only Windows I think.

[Jon Miller]

That doesn't tell me how it compares to HoI3...

JM

[Nikolai]

It should. HoI3 is using a much newer engine, with 10x or something the provinces, a completely different command system. A different game in so many ways. HoI3 with the two XPs is good, but many sees HoI2: Doomsday/Armageddon and DH(which is developed from that version) as better, despite the smaller scope.

[Jon Miller]

Why?

JM

[Nikolai]

HoI3 at release was PI's most buggy game ever, and it has big speed issues. Both are improved a lot, but the speed is still a bit too low for people not one new computers. The last XP gave multi-core support though. That is the main reason, the other being that HoI3 is much less event driven and a lot of people didn't like that.

[Jon Miller]

So the biggest reason why DH is better is because it is more event driven?

Can you explain why this makes DH better?

I am confused to why I should care about HoI3 being buggier on release and I don't really notice big speed issues (but then the only games I play to late is as Turkey).

JM

[Nikolai]

I never said I find it better. I find DH the best of it's type, and HoI3 at its present state good. You asked for the views on the games, I gave them, and tried to explain the differences. I play both, as I find they are such different games both can be enjoyed in their own right. But DH has one big boon: It has the awesome mod Kaiserreich.

[Jon Miller]

What is awesome about it?

I ask for views because I want to know why you like or don't like something. Just knowing you like/don't like something doesn't help much.

JM

[Nikolai]

I've posted about it before on the boards, but this is the story:

Kaiserreich is an alternative scenario where Germany won WW1 and the world changed forever.
So the British Empire fell, the remnant being in Canada.
Shortly after game start, the US is almost guaranteed to fall into a second civil war between the fascist, the syndicalists(alternative form of communism that never survived in the real world, here it is the opposite) and the "real" US, which is either democratic or a dictatorship under general McArthur.
Britain is syndicalist, France is the leader of syndicalism, Italy is divided between the syndicalists and a loose confederation lead by the pope and controlled by Austria.
Austria is deeply decentralized, and centralization is almost guaranteed to lead to civil war.
Germany controls eastern and central Europe as puppets. Much of Africa is under their indirect control by the Göring led Mittelafrika.
China is divided between the Qing, a German company turned country, a Chinese republic and a theocratic entity in the interior.
India is divided between the syndicalists, the princely federation and a democracy.
The Ottoman Empire survived the war, but is weak and unstable.
Russia's whites won the civil war, but the tzar and his family still died, and Kerensky set up a republic. Much of the empire is lost, and you can try to take it all or some of it. At the start of the game, Kerensky is assassinated and for the next few years you can choose different paths, like democracy, fascism and syndicalism. You do risk a second civil war, which means you risk loosing Siberia to the rebels, the industrial heartland to the syndies, and the Japanese puppet around the mainland next to Sakhalin might or might not intervene with its puppet master.
South America is a battle ground of syndicalism vs the world.
National France lives on in Africa, waiting for revenge.
Spain is ripe for a civil war between the Carlists, Monarchists and the syndicalists.
The pope(or rather, the one most likely to win the imminent election) wants to unite the Catholic nations of the world in a pseudo-fascistic alliance to combat atheism.

[Jon Miller]

That is intersting.

JM

[Garth Vader]

You can also go oldschool:

http://planets.nu/home

JM

Yes play this. My favorite strategy game. The only downside is it's MP only.

[Dinner]

HoI3 at release was PI's most buggy game ever, and it has big speed issues.

I can remember how god aweful slow it was even though I had a new system which vastly exceeded not just the minimum specs but their recommended specs. I made a thread complaining about how slow the game speed was even on the highest settings, listed my specs, and then one of PI's dirt bag mods called me a liar and banned me from the HOI3 forum even though I was a registered owner. PI later (months later) said they understood the speed problem was a major issue and spent several patches addressing it. No, the ****ers still haven't let me back in the HOI3 owner support forum/technical support forum nor has the shitbag ever apologized for calling me a liar (even though PI itself later ended up admitting that I was completely right about the horrible speed issues of HOI3).

That's why I now refuse to buy PI games and simply pirate them despite the fact that I had purchased just about every PI game which has come out in the last decade. You turned a loyal customer into someone who will never give you a penny ever again so **** you, Paradox.

[kentonio]

HOI3 with Semper Fi and For the Motherland is an incredible game. Easily as good as II and probably quite a lot better.

[N35t0r]

I never could get into 3... too much to micromanage

[bantams]

Settlers 7 is ok if you can live with Ubisofts always online policy

I Was Thinking about Getting Stronghold 3 this weekend But am waiting to see some reviews first