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Micro-or-Mini Management PC Strategy Game?
darth_MALL writes "I've been looking high and low for the ultimate (could even be free!) single-player PC strategy game that offers detailed troop/battle management. I've met a few contenders that fit the bill: Medieval: Total War is a primo candidate, but Europe just ain't enough! I hate to say, the magic is gone - what I really want is to conquer the known universe from top to bottom. I checked out Ferion, as per another /.'ers suggestion, but it wasn't quite the same thrill as M:TW. What is a bloodthirsty, single player tyrant to do?"
Hearts of Iron is one of the most insanely detailed games I have ever attempted to play. And it's quite historically accurate to boot.
The micro-management detail is HUGE.
If you play a smallish to medium sized country, your very first turn could easily consume 3 real hours of detailed planning and order giving.
UNIX based Empire was an extremely complicated game, and a lot of fun.
Then there's VASL (www.vasl.org), which is a Java client for ASL - Advanced Squad Leader. Now THAT's a complex board game that's been made available for live or PBEM play.
I don't know if this fits the bill but Master of Orion 3 has TONS of micromanagement you can do. Though it may lack the action you're looking for, you can get down to really low level management or set policies and managers to do all the menial work while you conquer the galaxy. Good fun if you like getting hung up on the details.
Pretty widgets? What pretty widgets?
I'm the person that makes Pocket War (and yes there is only one of me.) It is a lot like the old text based empire game, but I guess that could be said about all games in this category to some extent. I have been told it is also like Empire Deluxe but I never played that one some I'm not sure.
Pocket PC Games
VGA Planets 3 and it's still-in development sequel Planets 4 probably has all of the micro-management and galactic conquest you'll ever need. They have a bunch of races (mostly blatantly, ahem, borrowing from popular sci-fi) each with fairly unique traits and abilities that make for unique strategies. Nothing like assimilating all of the enemy colonists on a planet with space-cover from your fleet of Cyborg cubes. Or perhaps if you are the "Evil Empire", you'd decide to just destroy the planet with the Super Laser on your Gorbi (AKA Death Star).
The combat is Strategic, not tactical -- you give your fleets their orders, they execute, and you watch the results in the 'VCR' of the combat that occured between turns.
Planets 3 has pretty decent computer players available, and Planets 4 may in the future. Mostly, though, these games are designed to be play-by-email, and are really most enjoyable when played that way. There are lots of automated hosting sites out there to help you find opponents and such.
Planets 4 is still in 'beta', but is rapidly nearing completion. I know that Planets 3 still has a fairly rabid fan base though.
The cool thing about these games is that they are pretty much all the work of one guy. Go Tim!
Anyhoo, Planets 4 can be found here:
http://www.vgaplanets.com/v4beta.htm
Space Empires IV Gold might be a game for you. The game is a customizable space conquest game that also allows for tactical, turn based resolution of space combat. Since you can design your own ships, you get to customize the ship design and tactics to suit your own style of fighting. There is also a substantial modding community coming up with customized race and technology sets.
Another game to look at is Age of Wonders 2. This game is a fantasy strategic game with tactical, turn based combat resolution. Cities can be upgraded ala Civ with different capabilities. Each city can produce a certain type of unit (or upgrade). Units are combined into armies and sent out to rampage.
It *is* a great, detailed Grand Strategy game. I prefer Europa Universalis (from the same makers) but that's just an affection for the time period. I'm also looking forward to their Crusader Kings. But there is a LOT of technology tree managing and economic stuff as well - if you just want a big RTS this may not be what you want. Tremendously fun game though. Kevin
Empire is a game that is played against human opponents over a computer network, usually the internet. It is possible for a game to last from a few hours to many months. While the common goal of an Empire player is to "win", there is no clear cut definition of what winning is. Players may seak to achieve whatever goals they want to achieve.
Typically, a game is "won" by a player or group of players who make a "win declaration" and defy the world to oppose their declaration. Such declarations usually must stand unopposed either for 24 hours or by all players still playing in the game. If they are opposed, they typically wipe out the opposition and re-declare. However, it should be noted that even finishing a game with a viable country can be considered a victory (especially for a new player).
Short games, called blitzes, require an intense and concentrated amount of effort on the part of players participating. They are a tremendous amount of fun if played against a full set of active players. Such games can heavily task your physical stamina. After many hours, your hands are dying to be unattached from the keyboard, your stomach is screaming for some form of sustenance, your family (if you have one) will wonder what deamon has possesed you and your brain will turn to putty, to say nothing of your digestive system and its need to purge itself once in a while. Ahh, Empire at its best!
"Regular" games usually have some sort of sign up period lasting a week or three, and will have a well announced start date. Games typically last around two months, give or take a month though some games have been known to go for the better part of a year. "Updates", which you may learn about in other parts of this guide, typically occur once a day. It is usually a good idea to be on the game around updates, though not absolutely necessary.
Empire is complex. There is no denying that. There are hundreds of thousands of 'pieces' in the game ranging from civilians to satellites to single units of food. The computer removes most of the complexity of the game, and allows you to manage things more easily. However, if you want to be the best of the best players, it will require you to micro-manage your country, paying attention to every detail. Small advantages in the beginning of the game can pay big dividends later. It is hard to catch up.
The learning curve for the game is, as a result, rather steep. But it is far from impossible to become a good player in just a few games. Once in a while there are players who become great in a few games. It's a matter of how good you really are at such games combined with your knack for managing the environment of the game.
Empire is not for the light of heart, nor the weak of mind. But for those who tread in the tortured landscapes of Empire battlegrounds, you will no doubt enjoy yourself on some level, perhaps satisfying inner neo-lithic desires in the process.
Quite simply, in this writer's mind Empire is the best game ever. Bar none.
Geoff Cashman (Mithrilien)
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Another plus (IMO) of Planets 4 is the scripting engine. You can create virtually any scenario you can dream of, and there are already several 3rd party programs to assist in script and map creation.
Over at Drewhead's hosting site, we've had a huge variety of games... Epic team games on huge custom maps - "Resource allocation" type games, where players get a fixed number of points to build their own starting equipment / fleet - "Flagship" type games, where the goal is to hunt down the enemy's flagship... I just finished hosting one game where the goal was to mine a huge amount of a certain mineral.
Point is, the rules allow a wide variety of game types.
Once the game goes gold, Tim will likely release DLLs and such to allow 3rd party programmers to write their own add-ons, making the game even more customizable.
There was an X-Com Collector's Edition released a few years back that included the original, the sequel, Terror from the Deep, and the 3rd game, X-Com Apocalypse (which I STILL haven't tried), which were designed for a more Windows-friendly, dos-less environment. While it is still a bit tricky to get running on Win2k, you can do it. Just google it, and you should be able to find out how. I'm sure you could probably find the Collector's Edition somewhere for around $10.
God I wish we had a good, new X-Com game.
Upgrade your grey matter, cause one day it may matter