TBS Alternatives

[Harry Seldon]

As I wait for MOO3 to come out, I've been flipping through some of my old games looking for TBS. All I have is MOO1/2 and MOM. I'd like to invest in some new games of this genre but I'm not aware of many titles. I've seen the Civ series and Sid Meier's Alpha Centauri tossed about in this forum; what are some other ones I should look for and which are classics I'd be a fool not to own?

[Arnelos]

Buy Sid Meier's Alpha Centauri. It's pretty good.

[kalbear]

SMAC has a lot of things going for it, especially for fans of MOO. It's a much better civ game than most give it credit for, even with the bugs; the factions have a lot of flavor to them to the point of playing 'within faction', the storyline is sufficiently cool in a sci-fi way, and it can be very addictive.

It's not a perfect fit, but I'd say it's likely the best out there.

[vmxa1]

How about Stars!, Pax Imperium2, Space Empies III or IV. These are similar to Moo games. Only SEIV is still for sale, maybe SEIII as well. Stars can be gotten and a key to gt it going , I understand. Pax may be hard to find and is real time, but plays like TBS. I still play all of these and Ascendancy. Even get in a game of Alien Legacy once in a while and Star Generals, sick huh.

[vishniac]

I agree totally: SMAC and its expansion (Alien Crossfire) are great. (BTW, which "bugs" are you, Kalbear, talking about?).

If you're into space exploration, you can enhance your experience by first reading The Martian Trilogy ("Red Mars", "Green Mars", "Blue Mars") by Kim Stanley Robinson. It was one of the sources of inspiration for the authors, and a great series of books.

[RolandtheMad]

I highly recommend SMAC & SMACX (The expansion). Alpha Centauri is a really, really good game. Like someone else said, the story is good (you can turn it off when youre tired of it too), the factions have real depth, diplomacy is good.. all around good game. Don`t know what else to say.

Another game I recommend is Call to Power 2. Alot of people don`t like this game, but it is pretty good after you put some mods on it - all available here at Apolyton.

Imperium Galactica 2 is a nice game. I like it, some people don`t because of it's lack of depth. After you beat it once or twice there is no replay value.

In regards to SE3, you can download the demo then have it cracked. I didn`t think it was worth paying for. Too tedius. I hear the same about SE4.

You could try Civ 2 ToT (Test of Time). It is an o.k. game I guess. Doesn`t have build queues though. I couldn`t stand that.

As for Civ 3 - I`ve only heard bad things about it. I considered buying it when it came out but I`m glad I didn`t.

Finally, consider a game called Stronghold. It isn`t TBS, but it is a true medival strategy game. If you`ve ever wanted to play a really, really good castle building game this is it. There are two campaigns (Military and Economy) and a free build mode.

So, I say get SMAC. The others are kind of iffy. If you`ve already got SMAC I`d go CTP2 if you want a civ type game or Imperium Galactica 2 if you want a space game.

[Kc7mxo]

I've been playing Medieval Total War a lot lately.

The diplomatic options are a bit weaker than Civ 3, but that really doesn't deter from the entertainment. THere's loads of options, and 3d battles with 3200 troops to a side can be pretty sweet. Especially if you have reserves extending beyond that.

I've had some battles where bodies carpeted the field as far as the eye could see. Quite fun, and units actually win battles they should win. The patch fixed just about every problem I had with the game, and it plays great on my system.

Very fun game.

[Harry Seldon]

Originally posted by Kc7mxo
The diplomatic options are a bit weaker than Civ 3, but that really doesn't deter from the entertainment.

My diplomacy has always been my sword anyway.

This is quite a shopping list so far...

[kalbear]

Which bugs was I talking about? Well, there are still crash bugs now and then. There's the infinite missile bug, which was very lame at the time. There were some odd pathing issues that caused extraordinarily long turns, especially once a person gained mag tunnels.

Things like that, basically.

[Tolver]

Pax Imperium2

I refer to this game as PAFF! imperium. Cause while you are playing the game goes PAFF! and you are back to the desktop.

[vmxa1]

Hum, I played it on Window 95/98/SE/ME and now XP and never had any crashes on many different pc's? From unpatched up the next to the last one. I think the last one I did not use, I forget if it was 1.06 or .07. 1.03 was fine.

[Kc7mxo]

I played the demo for pax2, had a whole bunch of problems with it. never bought the retail. was it any good?

[vmxa1]

I like it, but it has lots of micromanagement. If you like having tons of tech to research, you may like it.
The worse part to me is the spy aspects. You can steal a whole planet.

[Skanky Burns]

I wonder how the thief fits that in his pocket.

[vmxa1]

It is crazy. I have had planets revolt and join me that I had not known about before then.