Strategy Game Megathread - This one looks like something pretty special to be bad at

The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Video Games > Strategy Game Megathread - This one looks like something pretty special to be bad at

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disjoe: Feb 18, 2011

ninjewtsu posted:

I spent a decent chunk of my childhood playing Star Wars: Force Commander and I'm willing to bet that game was trash tier but if someone could just confirm that for me I'd really appreciate it

It�s truly one of the most abysmal games I�ve ever played and I played it a lot because I too was a child and had no taste

# ? Feb 3, 2020 05:40

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# ? May 20, 2024 23:05

KOGAHAZAN!!: Apr 29, 2013; a miserable failure as a person

an incredible success as a magical murder spider

ninjewtsu posted:

I spent a decent chunk of my childhood playing Star Wars: Force Commander and I'm willing to bet that game was trash tier but if someone could just confirm that for me I'd really appreciate it

I remember this being one of the really early 3D strategy games where they really hadn't worked out how the camera was supposed to work yet.

# ? Feb 3, 2020 13:24

Corbeau: Sep 13, 2010; Jack of All Trades

Ironic considering that Myth figured that out in '97.

# ? Feb 3, 2020 14:10

silvergoose: Mar 18, 2006; IT IS SAID THE TEARS OF THE BWEENIX CAN HEAL ALL WOUNDS

You know what star wars strategy game was at once completely trash and also extremely compelling?

Rebellion.

I loved building up those systems, getting production ramped up, building fleets, chasing rebel bases or making inroads into core systems.

Seriously though it was pretty lovely.

# ? Feb 3, 2020 14:22

double nine: Aug 8, 2013

silvergoose posted:

You know what star wars strategy game was at once completely trash and also extremely compelling?

Rebellion.

I loved building up those systems, getting production ramped up, building fleets, chasing rebel bases or making inroads into core systems.

Seriously though it was pretty lovely.

I mostly remember that game as carpal tunnel stimulator 1996

the UI was abysmal.

# ? Feb 3, 2020 14:34

StashAugustine: Mar 24, 2013; Do not trust in hope- it will betray you! Only faith and hatred sustain.

The FFG board game inspired by it is pretty good

# ? Feb 3, 2020 14:45

ZearothK: Aug 25, 2008; I've lost twice, I've failed twice and I've gotten two dishonorable mentions within 7 weeks. But I keep coming back. I am The Trooper!

THUNDERDOME LOSER 2021

The best Star Wars RTS is the Total Annihilation mod, by the way.

# ? Feb 3, 2020 14:47

silvergoose: Mar 18, 2006; IT IS SAID THE TEARS OF THE BWEENIX CAN HEAL ALL WOUNDS

StashAugustine posted:

The FFG board game inspired by it is pretty good

I still haven't played that, but yeah I've heard it's comparable to War of the Ring in style if not substance.

double nine posted:

I mostly remember that game as carpal tunnel stimulator 1996

the UI was abysmal.

Ooh yeah it sure was. I didn't do the real time battles cause I was terrible at them, but even the map view had a ton of clicking to get basic diplomacy or production done.

# ? Feb 3, 2020 15:43

Harveygod: Jan 4, 2014; YEEAAH HEH HEH HEEEHH

YOU KNOW WHAT I'M SAYIN

THIS TRASH WAR AIN'T GONNA SOLVE ITSELF YA KNOW

Love Stole the Day posted:

I think AoE2 has way more people playing than watching though and I'd be surprised if SC2's daily player counts over the past 7 years can come anywhere close to AoE2's consistency (even after being split across 2 games):

It was actually split across 2 games before Definitive Edition: the "HD" version on Steam and the Userpatch version on Voobly. The Voobly version ran better than HD but was a hassle to set up and join a game. Among other things, DE is an attempt to bring players into one place.

I was never big into competitive AoE2, but I'm loving ranked games on DE. The 1v1 games are pretty quick to get to and have actually been pretty competitive for me.

# ? Feb 3, 2020 17:27

Mordja: Apr 26, 2014; Hell Gem

Reposting in a marginally less-dead thread.

Mordja posted:

Anyway, here's an unsolicited list of mods* that OP didn't mention.

Tiberian Sun:
-NCM Revolution is an old, but decent mod that adds a new civilian-based faction to the game.
-Dawn of the Tiberium Age brings the original C&C to the TS engine, with a few optional additions. Includes a bunch (all?) of missions and some co-op maps. Doesn't require TS to play.
-Twisted Insurrection takes place in a "what if NOD won the first war" scenario. The factions have been re-imagined and its got its own set of campaigns. Doesn't require TS to play.

RA2: Yuri's Revenge:
-Allies Revenge 2 is one of the oldest TCs for RA2 and probably feels pretty primitive these days, something of a historical curiosity I guess.
-Warhammer 40k: Red Alert does exactly what you'd think it does.
-Mental Omega is a megamod that adds a shitload of new units, campaign missions, co-op maps, gameplay modes and a somewhat controversial new faction. See previous post.
-It Came From Red Alert! makes RA2 into RA1. Pretty sure every newish C&C game has a throwback mod like this.
-D-Day is a big WW2 total conversion. Nothing more, nothing less.
-EASB HOUR is a Chinese-made conversion that borrows heavily from C&C Generals. Kind of meme-heavy, but it does a bunch of impressive stuff with the engine.
-Tiberium Crisis is another Chinese mod, this one sort of backports C&C3 to RA2 and comes with its own 20 mission campaign.
-Red Resurrection boots out Yuri while greatly expanding the Allied and Soviet arsenals, with an emphasis on quality and unit diversity.

Command and Conquer: Generals � Zero Hour
-Shockwave is probably the most famous one. It adds a bunch of well-made new units, balance changes and maps to the game.
-Rise of the Reds is a followup to Shockwave (same team) that adds European and Russian factions, adds a bunch to the original three, and makes significant changes to the gameplay. Probably the most-played multiplayer mod.
-Contra is a big Russian mod that's very Russian in design. Super units, faction asymmetry, loving nuclear Scud Storms. Somehow I think it's actually considered balanced and is also popular online. Tech is locked by Generals rank.
Operation Firestorm is a newer mod that's still in active development. It's an "expansion" mod like Shockwave that adds a bunch of new stuff while remaining closer to Zero Hour's underlying mechanics than ROTR or Contra.
-XenoForce makes Generals into Gundam. Not even slightly balanced but fun to compstomp the base-game teams with OP mecha and satellite drops.
-Only War is 40K again. Unfinished again, but neat.
-Mideast Crisis is an imagined war between Syria and Israel. Was made before the real Syrian crisis so it's not as tasteless as you think.
-C&C: Untitled adds a bunch of new units (shock!) and remodels existing ones. Fun mod, and notable for some guy on Reddit trying to use its assets to trick people into thinking he was making a Generals remaster or something.
-End of Days is another war mod that, unlike most others, hews closer to ZH gameplay. Which works surprisingly well. Also adds Russia because what mod doesn't? Full disclosure: I wrote some unit lines for a currently unreleased version of the mod.

Command & Conquer 3: Tiberium Wars
-C&C 3: The Forgotten. It adds the Forgotten. Duh.
-Tiberian Dawn. GUESS!
-Tiberium Essence is pretty much the Shockwave of C&C3. Lotta new toys, brings back stuff from TS, its maps aren't as drab and washed out as C&C3's own.
Also, should mention that Mideast Crisis 2 is more of a futuristic-themed war than its predecessor, hence Israeli murderblimps and UN siege tanks.

Red Alert 3 honestly doesn't have any mods I'd consider very high quality, I'm afraid, and it's probably my least favourite game in the series to play. A Chinese mod team recently revealed Red Alert 3:Corona which looks to be very high quality and similar to a Shockwave/ROTR in scope but there's no release date on that one.

*There's also a bunch of mods, especially for TS and RA2, that have been in the works for the better part of a decade that keep threatening to release I didn't mention. Most of those are basically overambitious, one-man projects or initially promising but oft-abandoned works by the sizable Chinese modding community.

# ? Feb 3, 2020 17:40

Sparq: Feb 10, 2014; If you're using an AC/20, you only need to hit the target once. If the target's still standing, you oughta be somewhere else anyway.

ninjewtsu posted:

I spent a decent chunk of my childhood playing Star Wars: Force Commander and I'm willing to bet that game was trash tier but if someone could just confirm that for me I'd really appreciate it

I remember it as a really clunky and unintuitive game, but also fairly innovative as it had a decent 3D engine, the concept of soldiers crewing buildings and units that can be assaulted in order to capture them, air units dogfighting, and builderless base and unit deployment. It kind of looks like a really early concept version of Ground Control II.

It was also really hard for 12 year old me and couldn't beat the first campaign. Despite its big flaws I remember it as fairly decent and it had Star Wars rock/metal music.

silvergoose posted:

You know what star wars strategy game was at once completely trash and also extremely compelling?

Rebellion.

I loved building up those systems, getting production ramped up, building fleets, chasing rebel bases or making inroads into core systems.

Seriously though it was pretty lovely.

I loved carpeting the galaxy with thousand of Sullustan Regiments. Poor little buggers, they died easily but they were increadibly cheap.

I'm starting to be aware of my love for clunky weird strategy games.

# ? Feb 3, 2020 17:57

Meme Poker Party: Sep 1, 2006; by Azathoth

Star Wars: Rebellion the video game is very good, even though it's also very bad.

Star Wars: Rebellion the board game is very good.

# ? Feb 3, 2020 18:09

silvergoose: Mar 18, 2006; IT IS SAID THE TEARS OF THE BWEENIX CAN HEAL ALL WOUNDS

Chomp8645 posted:

Star Wars: Rebellion the video game is very good, even though it's also very bad.

Star Wars: Rebellion the board game is very good.

A very good summation.

# ? Feb 3, 2020 19:44

ZearothK: Aug 25, 2008; I've lost twice, I've failed twice and I've gotten two dishonorable mentions within 7 weeks. But I keep coming back. I am The Trooper!

THUNDERDOME LOSER 2021

A Year of Rain is dead.

https://steamcommunity.com/games/319540/announcements/detail/1692726369386052405

I didn't buy in but was mildly curious at an attempted indie Warcraft 3. Turns out this was one of those cases where they needed EA money to complete the project and didn't get the sales needed to get across the finish line. Trying to make a MP and e-sports focused game probably didn't help.

# ? Feb 7, 2020 12:48

Love Stole the Day: Nov 4, 2012; Please give me free quality professional advice so I can be a baby about it and insult you

ZearothK posted:

A Year of Rain is dead.

https://steamcommunity.com/games/319540/announcements/detail/1692726369386052405

I didn't buy in but was mildly curious at an attempted indie Warcraft 3. Turns out this was one of those cases where they needed EA money to complete the project and didn't get the sales needed to get across the finish line. Trying to make a MP and e-sports focused game probably didn't help.

Here's a released indie Warcraft 2: https://store.steampowered.com/app/946660/Loria/

It has a free demo and I thought the campaign was fun.

On a related note, again, Tooth and Tail is super underrated.

# ? Feb 7, 2020 14:44

Kris xK: Apr 23, 2010

ZearothK posted:

The best Star Wars RTS is the Total Annihilation mod, by the way.

I would like to know more...

God I love TA back in the day. If theres a good reason to reinstall...

# ? Feb 7, 2020 18:18

DarkAvenger211: Jun 29, 2011; Damnit Steve, you know I'm a sucker for Back to the Future references.

ZearothK posted:

A Year of Rain is dead.

https://steamcommunity.com/games/319540/announcements/detail/1692726369386052405

I didn't buy in but was mildly curious at an attempted indie Warcraft 3. Turns out this was one of those cases where they needed EA money to complete the project and didn't get the sales needed to get across the finish line. Trying to make a MP and e-sports focused game probably didn't help.

Trying to keep a decent sized multiplayer community is vital to the success of these games. And success is kind of measured by a mix of how good the actual game is and how much they get the word out about the game. If it was the best RTS ever released it still wouldn't get off the ground if they don't manage to rope in enough people. Multiplayer games take a long time to find because of the lack of players, and then players start leaving because it takes too long to find a game. It's a vicious loop that will kill a game off so early it never has a chance to pick up momentum again.

I love strategy games but mostly for the multiplayer components. Some single player campaigns have been able to interest me but I have the most fun when I'm against another player. It just sucks that it's getting increasingly hard to find any new RTS games with a decent amount of players looking to play online. If I hear of a new RTS coming out that's vaguely interesting I have to jump on it immediately if I want to be able to play some multiplayer games. If I pick up the game a month after release there's a good chance no one will be playing it anymore.

# ? Feb 7, 2020 18:45

ZearothK: Aug 25, 2008; I've lost twice, I've failed twice and I've gotten two dishonorable mentions within 7 weeks. But I keep coming back. I am The Trooper!

THUNDERDOME LOSER 2021

Kris xK posted:

I would like to know more...

God I love TA back in the day. If theres a good reason to reinstall...

That'd be SWTA! Still hosted in the eternal TAuniverse. There is a Spring version too, but I haven't ever played it.

gently caress, now I am going to reinstall Total Annihilation.

# ? Feb 7, 2020 19:00

Tiny Timbs: Sep 6, 2008

Love Stole the Day posted:

Here's a released indie Warcraft 2: https://store.steampowered.com/app/946660/Loria/

It has a free demo and I thought the campaign was fun.

On a related note, again, Tooth and Tail is super underrated.

Loria looks neat, thanks for the recommendation

# ? Feb 7, 2020 19:07

Tiny Timbs: Sep 6, 2008

TA: Escalation seems to be the most popular TA mod right now. It backports a bunch of stuff from Supreme Commander, which is just a wild concept.

# ? Feb 7, 2020 19:08

Mordja: Apr 26, 2014; Hell Gem

Fallom posted:

TA: Escalation seems to be the most popular TA mod right now. It backports a bunch of stuff from Supreme Commander, which is just a wild concept.

Not quite. It adds its own versions of a couple things like the Monkeylord (removed from the current release, to be added in a future, big T4 update) but the majority of its unit concepts are new/from the TA community. TA Zero is also a good one, it's got Starcrafty faction asymmetry with TA's far superior gameplay mechanics.

# ? Feb 7, 2020 19:12

Kris xK: Apr 23, 2010

ZearothK posted:

That'd be SWTA! Still hosted in the eternal TAuniverse. There is a Spring version too, but I haven't ever played it.

gently caress, now I am going to reinstall Total Annihilation.

Looks awesome, thanks!

Now, which online store did I rebuy TA from...

# ? Feb 7, 2020 19:22

Tiny Timbs: Sep 6, 2008

Mordja posted:

Not quite. It adds its own versions of a couple things like the Monkeylord (removed from the current release, to be added in a future, big T4 update) but the majority of its unit concepts are new/from the TA community. TA Zero is also a good one, it's got Starcrafty faction asymmetry with TA's far superior gameplay mechanics.

It adds shields and adjacency bonuses, too. I didn�t say it only backported stuff from SC. There�s definitely a lot more in there

# ? Feb 7, 2020 20:19

working mom: Jul 8, 2015

Corbeau posted:

Ironic considering that Myth figured that out in '97.

There was a recent mini documentary on yt with the developer explaining how they did it, a lot of it was stills of a rendered 3d environment to save space on the cd

# ? Feb 8, 2020 12:57

ZearothK: Aug 25, 2008; I've lost twice, I've failed twice and I've gotten two dishonorable mentions within 7 weeks. But I keep coming back. I am The Trooper!

THUNDERDOME LOSER 2021

Mordja posted:

Not quite. It adds its own versions of a couple things like the Monkeylord (removed from the current release, to be added in a future, big T4 update) but the majority of its unit concepts are new/from the TA community. TA Zero is also a good one, it's got Starcrafty faction asymmetry with TA's far superior gameplay mechanics.

Color me curious. Is that TA Zero related to the standalone Zero-K game?

# ? Feb 8, 2020 13:03

Dandywalken: Feb 11, 2014

Red Alert 2 Mental Omega rules

# ? Feb 8, 2020 15:46

ZearothK: Aug 25, 2008; I've lost twice, I've failed twice and I've gotten two dishonorable mentions within 7 weeks. But I keep coming back. I am The Trooper!

THUNDERDOME LOSER 2021

Love Stole the Day posted:

Here's a released indie Warcraft 2: https://store.steampowered.com/app/946660/Loria/

It has a free demo and I thought the campaign was fun.

On a related note, again, Tooth and Tail is super underrated.

Oh yeah, I tried out the demo and it's pretty fun. Will probably get it next sale cycle. I'd call it more of a Warcraft 3 in Warcraft 2's clothes, to be fair, given the hero mechanics work in the very same way.

# ? Feb 8, 2020 16:38

Mordja: Apr 26, 2014; Hell Gem

ZearothK posted:

Color me curious. Is that TA Zero related to the standalone Zero-K game?

No relation.

# ? Feb 8, 2020 17:47

Mordja: Apr 26, 2014; Hell Gem

Some dude's remaking Hostile Waters in Unity, first version's out but no clue if there's much to it.
https://www.moddb.com/games/hostile-waters

# ? Feb 9, 2020 01:22

Love Stole the Day: Nov 4, 2012; Please give me free quality professional advice so I can be a baby about it and insult you

This one looks pretty polished: https://store.steampowered.com/app/718650/Driftland_The_Magic_Revival/

Has anyone tried it? It looks like a Northgard-like.

# ? Feb 14, 2020 03:06

Tiny Timbs: Sep 6, 2008

mother fucker that's a netstorm-like

# ? Feb 14, 2020 03:18

Infidelicious: Apr 9, 2013

I tried it, expecting netstorm and got WC3 so returned it.

# ? Feb 14, 2020 03:26

Eschatos: Apr 10, 2013; pictured: Big Cum's Most Monstrous Ambassador

Man I am absolutely obsessed with field of glory empires right now. Perhaps the best system for building cities/economy that i've seen, with some fairly simple rules for building tiers + producing and trading goods that lead to real complex possibilities for optimizing everything. Meanwhile i'm constantly dealing with druid rebellions in britain, retreating from the german front to consolidate my forces before the massive encroaching barbarian horde, and trying to chase down epirus' pillaging army in the balkans. All while trying to build up a big enough score lead to overtake india and actually win the dang game. Also my pretty good emperor got assassinated and replaced by a total shithead who at least gives decent conquest objectives. At least i've finally managed to turn italy from constantly having to enforce martial law to prevent rebellions into a utopian economic powerhouse that can pump out two armies for every one they kill.

# ? Feb 14, 2020 06:21

Theswarms: Dec 20, 2005

Love Stole the Day posted:

This one looks pretty polished: https://store.steampowered.com/app/718650/Driftland_The_Magic_Revival/

Has anyone tried it? It looks like a Northgard-like.

I went in expecting a Majesty and it's like a very overcomplicated and much more boring Majesty. I don't recommend it.

# ? Feb 14, 2020 17:07

Lichtenstein: May 31, 2012; It'll make sense, eventually.

Theswarms posted:

I went in expecting a Majesty and it's like a very overcomplicated and much more boring Majesty. I don't recommend it.

This ^^^

I was pretty hype about getting fake Majesty, but... it's just kinda basic and boring. It taking focus away from heroes and variety and into balancing an economy means that... it has a pretty nice numbers balancing core to it, until you realize you just get to do the same blobbing exercise all over again and it doesn't really lead anywhere. Just... building some more huts and balancing whichever resource starts falling off in production.

# ? Feb 15, 2020 01:04

bug chaser chaser: Dec 11, 2006

Fallom posted:

mother fucker that's a netstorm-like

completely forgot about the game but holy poo poo I was addicted to it as a kid

edit: just read Infidelicious' comment. shame

bug chaser chaser fucked around with this message at 06:30 on Feb 15, 2020

# ? Feb 15, 2020 06:28

GyverMac: Aug 3, 2006; My posting is like I Love Lucy without the funny bits. Basically, WAAAAAAAAAAAA
AAAAAAAAAAAHHH
HHHHHHHHHHHHHH

Been having a hankering to play Warhammer: Dark Omen lately. But its impossible to get a hold of (legally) and I fear it hasn't aged that well. That game was really fun, and I hope someone will make a game similar to it. Managing a mercenary outfit, equipping them with weapons and items, branching mission paths etc.

# ? Feb 15, 2020 23:29

Beefeater1980: Sep 12, 2008; My God, it's full of Horatios!

Would legit love an updated Shadow of the Horned Rat, yes-yes.

# ? Feb 15, 2020 23:41

LLSix: Jan 20, 2010; The real power behind countless overlords

GyverMac posted:

Been having a hankering to play Warhammer: Dark Omen lately. But its impossible to get a hold of (legally) and I fear it hasn't aged that well. That game was really fun, and I hope someone will make a game similar to it. Managing a mercenary outfit, equipping them with weapons and items, branching mission paths etc.

You should take a look at Battle Brothers

It also sounds like you might like XCom if you haven't played it yet.

# ? Feb 16, 2020 01:00

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# ? May 20, 2024 23:05

Theswarms: Dec 20, 2005

Shadow of the Horned Rat is on GOG but the control scheme makes me wonder how the gently caress I ever played this game.

# ? Feb 16, 2020 01:04

The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Video Games > Strategy Game Megathread - This one looks like something pretty special to be bad at

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