Source
r/gamingsuggestions•
Timthos

Easy to pick up PC strategy games?

To my surprise, I've enjoyed the new XCOM: EU way more than I expected. I wasn't even sure I'd buy it considering I never got into the originals, but now I've already spent 72 hours with it. With the first XCOM, you're just immediately thrown into an overwhelming number of menus and gameplay systems. While I appreciate the depth, I don't like having to spend hours learning how to play a game before I can even get into it. The new XCOM, while it may not have the same endless depth as the originals, eases you into the mechanics and is very easy to jump right into playing. What are some other strategy games that you can pick up and start playing immediately? I'm especially interested in turn based games from the last decade or so and hopefully ones with multiple facets of strategy and tactics, similar to XCOM's base and panic management meta-game layered over squad based missions. It's not a genre I tend to play much, and I'm wondering if there are other games out there I'd enjoy like I have XCOM (also enjoyed Civ 5).

Posted Oct 20, 2012, 4:42 PM UTC

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Angron•

I've not played xcom yet, but I'm a massive Civ fan.

In terms of turn based games I play a lot of total war, which is half turn based, but it can take a bit to pick up what your meant to be doing.

Final fantasy tactics was always fun, not played it since a GBA version though so cant speak for the newer ones.

Greed Corp is a nice little indie game with very simple controls that's fun to play for a few hours and its available on steam.

Frozen Synapse is an interesting little game, love the idea of it but couldn't really get into it myself.

Unfortunately as much as I love them I don't know many turn based strategy games, so I guess I'll keep an eye on this thread as well

3
TimthosOP•

I've never played Greed Corp. I'll have to take a look at that.

I did play FF: Tactics in a college a long time ago. It was pretty good, but I eventually got tired of just how ridiculously long some of the battles could be. It just drives me crazy to play through an hour long fight only to lose. That's always been my issue with RTS games.

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Angron•

I can see where your coming from, but it's something I quite like in strategy games myself, greed corp is usually over pretty quickly once everything is destroyed though

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touchofike•

Thanks for mentioning Greed Corp. I have it but forgot all about it. Will have to play that.

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RadioZone•

Firstly, great that you like XCOM! As a lover of the original, I can definitely appreciate how they made the new XCOM easier to access, even at the sacrifice of a certain level of depth.

Sounds like turn-based strategy games are definitely your thing. My first recommendation is to check out a game called Frozen Synapse - it's a squad based tactics game in a similar vein to XCOM. It focuses only on each battle though, so there's no macromanagement like in XCOM, but the depth of each battle is phenomenal - instead of moving one solider at a time, for example, you give orders to all of your troops, end your turn, and all your soldiers play out their orders simultaneously. This makes for some really complex tactics to emerge that depend on each soldier performing their role, and making sure your movements are timed well. I think it's fairly easy to learn and pick up the basic rules, but the depth comes from combining your troops different actions to determine the best tactic. I'd recommend trying out the demo on steam, to see if it's your sort of thing.

If you like the idea of multiple facets of strategy, then any of the Total War series could well do. Although the battles are in real time, and thus a lot harder to keep track of, you've got the multiple elements of controlling your empire in a turn based system, plus battling it out with your army in real time for each actual engagement. Shogun 2 is probably the best TW out right now, and I believe there's a demo for that. Also heard about the Total War Battles spin off, which has battles that are turn-based, but I haven't played it so couldn't say whether it's good or not.

I've also heard good things about Unity of Command, which is next on my to play list - I haven't played it myself, but apparently it's a fairly detailed turn based strategy game that is easy to get to grips with, but again has a lot depth to it. This video seemed to show it pretty well.

Finally, one game that everyone seems to mention when talking about games similar to XCOM which I've never heard of is Valkyria Chronicles. Can't say a thing about it, but hey, that's what the hive mind churns out!

Hope that helps!

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Angron•

I forgot Valkyria Chronicles off my list! good call, it has a weird style but it's a nice game.

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TimthosOP•

I actually have both Frozen Synapse and several Total War games on Steam. I didn't get into Frozen Synapse, but I should probably give it another try at some point. Total War, on the other hand, has always kind of pushed me away by how long the real time battles can be. I know there's an auto-resolve option, but that seems like I'm just missing a huge portion of the game. When I played Medieval Total War years ago, I remember I eventually ended up auto-resolving every encounter. I am thinking about finally trying to play Shogun 2, which I've had since its first Steam sale.

I did play the demo for Valkyria Chronicles a while ago, but it didn't really grab me. I am very picky when it comes to strategy games. I think XCOM was the first one I really got into since the SC2 campaign.

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Angron•

personally I thought Shogun was quite poor compared to other total war games, the lack of unit types, smaller map size and a history I'm not very familiar with put me off that game, Rome on the other hand...

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TimthosOP•

I actually have Rome as well. I remember being really excited for it before it came out since I was into Latin and Roman history, but never got around to playing it. Now I can just never get myself to start a strategy game unless it spoon feeds me mechanics, apparently.

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