Fog of War #2

[The Holy Saint, Grand High Poobah, Master of Monkeys, Ehlers]

reference: http://www.timewastersguide.com/view.php?id=1164

"I love the smell of lighter fluid in the morning. Smells like... Barbecue!"

For the record, this is the exact reason why I can't bring myself ot ever play Galactic Battlegrounds again, despite how amazingly fun an army of wookies must be.

[Spriggan]

I think Mustard will be happy with Civ 4 since they're changeing or removeing some of the gripes he had with the previous games.

[Entsuropi]

You ever play Rome Total War HoM. Never ever touch the single player campaign mode. It bogs down to a stupid degree later on, and is annoying in general. But one on one battles are fun as hell.

I'm playing DoW to death atm, i'll review Winter Assault when it finally arrives. Thats less resourcey and more fighty, if that helps.

Also, you missed one point. Games are not meant to be realistic. Realistic is you starting the game in Britain, spending 4 weeks on a ship to land in North America, marching for 10 days and then spending 5 hours standing in front of a fortress before someone you never saw shoots you.

Games are meant to be fun. Some games decide to do that through historical accuracy - like Close Combat and Combat Mission (both WW2 strategy games, one real time the other turn based). Others, like SC, DoW et all go for pure fun. Pirates of the Burning Sea, an upcoming ship-based mmorpg i'm waiting for, will have 'accuracy as far as it is fun'. That sort of thing.

Finally, Cossacks is terrible

[House of Mustard]

My complaint is not that resource-gathering games aren't fun -- it's that they're not wargames.  Winning Starcraft doesn't necessarily mean you are a good battle strategist.  Generally, winning Starcraft means that you have out-spent your opponent: you have better production, or at least better resource management.

And like I said, Cossacks wasn't great, but I really liked the troop formation aspects, and the accuracy of the history -- still not perfect, but interesting nonetheless.

[The Jade Knight]

I agree.  Starcraft-style games are all about resource management.  Personally, I find that the C&C line are less this way than the -craft line, but it's still strongly that way, especially in the initial set up.

Dune was, indeed, the first RTS of this sort (that I'm aware of, at least).

I've never played Civ, but I very much enjoy Civ2.  Great game.  If only it had been originally released as multiplayer.  My brothers and I learned a lot from it, though.  (for example, it was the first place I'd ever heard of Adam Smith) =þ

You'd probably like the upcoming Warhammer RTS (Mark of Chaos).  It's got an interface that might be somewhat like the Total War series, but from what I've read the emphasis is going to be much more on tactics and battle, rather than on resource management (thank goodness).

"Dark Omen", a previous Warhammer RTS was loads of fun, and was ALL about strategy (seeing as you didn't get much say over your army one way or the other).

[Entsuropi]

Dark Omen was actually all about playing the mission 4 times so you knew how to deploy properly. It loved to surround you and spring surprises on you that you didn't have a chance to respond to.

DoW remains my favourite game - i'm playing it to death online right now, learning how to use the Orks. When the expansion pack sees fit to arrive in my letter box, i'll review it.

[Fellfrosch]

I tried to get into DoW, but I grew bored of it very quickly. Same with Guild Wars. I'm almost afraid to buy new games now, thanks to those two big expensive paperweights I now have on my desk. That's the main reason I haven't sprung for Battlefield 2.

[Entsuropi]

You just described every game I own - great, but I cba actually playing them. I'm also play Dystopia, Day of Defeat: Source, Sid Meier's Alpha Centauri. All online with friends. And Battlefield 2, I turn up to my clans practices and no more.

[The Jade Knight]

Which Civ are you talking about, anyways?

[House of Mustard]

Civ3.  I used to own Civ2, but one day I taped the CD case closed and gave it to Fell -- I had to get it out of the house because I was playing it so much (and hating it).  Why I ever bought Civ3 after that I'll never know.

[The Holy Saint, Grand High Poobah, Master of Monkeys, Ehlers]

I find the nit picking about DUne to be silly. Since it's exactly the same thing as it's more famous decendant C&C. Same line.

[The Jade Knight]

Naturally.

At any rate, Civ3 looked to be much more micromanagement focused than Civ2 to me, so I opted to not touch it.

We did love Civ2 so.