Oh, yes! I forgot that gem! Thanks for reminding me...seriously though, I agree with you. In fact, the one I'm playing now you have a castle (and eventually several castles if you do well) and manage what parts of it you build up, what type of military unit to recruit, who to attack, etc. It also has alliances, so if you want to synchronize an attack on someone, you have to plan and communicate, two things that are hard for me.

*grins* I enjoy a good turn-based strategy like many people enjoy chess.


That's the idea.

Another thing these games can teach you is patience. The way I used to play Warcraft (not to be confused with World of Warcraft) and Starcraft a single level could take days. I would use my resources wiser than my opponents and wait til they ran out of resources before attacking. (and to a large extent I still play that way )

I prefer Real-Time strategy games, like Star Wars: Empire at War and Lord of the Rings: Battle for Middle-Earth II.

That's awesome!

On, say, Battle for Middle-Earth, I'd play defensive as I built up my army and camp, and use heroes to attack the enemy. Then later, I'd crush them.

Is Battle for Middle Earth anything like Empire at War? Empire at War is very good.

For Empire at War I'd take my two or three strongest heroes and obliterate everything. That game can get a little easy sometimes.

Yeah, Battle for Middle-Earth is basically the LotR version of Empire at War.

I had a bunch of trouble with the Rebel campaign for a while, because I could not beat the mission where you get the prototype X-Wings. I figured it out eventually.

The Rebel campaign is what I had the most problems on also.

Yup. Keeping those pilots alive was a pain.

I think I even lost a Y-Wing squadron on that mission.

*chuckles* I go into that mission knowing I'll lose a Y-wing squadron.

Probably a good attitude to have on that one.

I want to get a laptop so I can my games back on it, instead of on my school computer.

*nods* I haven't been playing computer games as often since I started writing, but my comatose computer stopped the little amount I was doing in its tracks.

Right. My computer's really good, but they don't want a whole lot of games on it.

I also have another one called Shattered Suns which didn't work on my old one. It made the screen go psychedelic.

*groans* There are so many old beauties that will make modern computers go berserk!

It's not even old. It came out in 08. It claims to be the first 3D RTS Sci-fi game. Then the company was liquidated when the economy collapsed, so I couldn't even contact support.

That's awful.

Yeah, it is.

Has anyone here played Civilization IV?

No, but I've wondered what it's like. Could you enlighten me (and any others unfamiliar with the game)?

Civilization is about conquering a generated map by constructing cities, developing technology, and in the end blowing everyone else up. You begin in the year 200 b.c, and the official end is 2050 a.d, though you can play farther than that.

At the beginning, you have two units: A settler unit, which can create one city, and a scout unit. Scouts can explore and find resources easier than any other unit.

From then on, you can order your city to build another unit, probably a warrior or worker this early on. Warriors can defend and attack, while workers just build improvements on the city. (Such as farms, workshops, cottages, etc. But they must be within the city's cultural boundaries) You begin researching, and from then on, it's a race for getting nuclear weapons, and in one ending, reaching the moon.

It's 3d, trees, units, and such are 3d, but you only can see above ground; no unit-eye view of the area. There are barbarians who gradually vanish as the game progresses, as well as wild animals.

This game includes a world builder, where you can construct your own scenario for play. All things can be edited in-game, including the AI players' units and cities.

Multiplayer works, though I don't know anyone who plays it (thus asking people here), and you can team up and give your teammates hints using a note tool, which allows you to drop a short message over a tile.

Main features are:

- Land, Air, & Sea are conquerable, with bombers, tanks, and submarines
- Multiplayer
- 10+ difficulty settings
- 8+ Map generation styles
- Many settings for barbarians, AI, and even ocean levels
- Game length is adjustable; 4 levels, from Quick to Marathon

That is most of Civilization.

Wow, sounds epic! I hope you find someone to play...if I ever get it, I'll PM you about it.

Lately, I've been enjoying historical real-time grand strategy games built on the Clausewitz Engine, from Paradox Interactive, namely Europa Universalis III and Victoria 2.

I highly recommend them. They're very accurate (though not perfect), very detailed, strategically deep, highly moddable, and your experiences make great stories.

Those sound cool as well!

I've played Civ I and II, but none of the others in the series. However, I did read an article on the most recent number of the series (I can't remember if that is IV or V ). The article made me very interested in the most recent installment and unfavorably disposed towards everthing in between that one and II.

It's V, but I have IV because my computer isn't powerful enough to run V. I got it off a company called Steam. They sell games like this, legally.

Interesting.