Re: OT) Best Turn Based Game: Fantasy or Space or War
 

<font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">Sid needs to be forcibly retired (or better: shot) before he butchers yet another classic game...

<font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">This only stems from not understanding the goal of real time combat. It will not be anything like RTS games. A simple pause option and then being able to issue orders while paused makes combat IDENTICAL to turn-based combat because you can control the lenght of the rounds (whereas they are fixed in turn-based), except that you get rid of all of the absurdities inherent in all turn-based combat systems.

[ March 19, 2003, 21:40: Message edited by: Imperator Fyron ]

Re: OT) Best Turn Based Game: Fantasy or Space or War
 

Warlords 3 Dark lords Rising. This was the 8 player email strategy game my friends and I got bored with after a few years and started a search for a new game, which turned out to be Space Empires! Now the 5 of us, since grown to over 10, all play SE4.

Re: OT) Best Turn Based Game: Fantasy or Space or War
 

<font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">HOMM I, II, III - I completely agree, my favorite fantasy games. HOMM IV was less fun, I think, because it was not balanced well.

Warlords III also a great game. (ditto the first two of the series).

MOM was fun, but, like SE4, requires you to behave and not exploit the imbalances for a fun single player experience.

Re: OT) Best Turn Based Game: Fantasy or Space or War
 

An old game that I just got is 'Stars!'. So far I love it. The race creation allows for amazing customization and remarkable balance. The traits also allow for some large benefits (as well as penalties) that majorly change the way the game is played.

My two favorite primary traits are Alternate Reality and Interstellar Traveller. Living in starbases or moving through stargates? Who could beat that? Maybe it's juct that they are two things that can't be done in SEIV.

Re: OT) Best Turn Based Game: Fantasy or Space or War
 

<font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">BOTF or BotF = "Birth of the Federation" a MOO2-esque Star Trek game.

It's got a lot of good features -- the interface customises to which race you're playing, for example.

But IMO it's also a deeply flawed game.

To start, no self-designed ships; you get a given ship at a specified mixture of technology levels, and that's it, that partiicular ship class is locked in at those stats.

Next, defense early on is a matter of lining outPosts along the border. Even a basic outpost, against a half-dozen early cruisers ... you'll win, with a moderately damaged outpost, 9 times out of 10.

Later on, it's a "no hope" issue, as starships grossly outgun starbases at later technology ... some of the later ships have better sHIELDS, per ship, than the later-tech starbases! Two or three of those, and the best starbase around is gone before it can even get far (if at all) past one of the attacker's shielding.

For three ... the maps, even the big ones, feel ... claustrophobic, to me.

Re: OT) Best Turn Based Game: Fantasy or Space or War
 

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BTW: MoM was great. Now there are at least 3 turnbased fantasy games in the works. One is "MOM2" from Firaxis (yes Sid does it again) the second is "Elementals" from Stardock and the third is Warlords IV from I2. (former SSG)

KlausD

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Wow. MoM2 with Sid? That would be great!!

Re: OT) Best Turn Based Game: Fantasy or Space or War
 

Before SEIV the game I played the most was Tribes and Tribes 2.

They both are MP first person based games, but are so very much more than any other game on the market in that classification.

You have to use strategy, cunning, tactics, and even a bit of bravery and cowerice to survive. Tribes made HL/CS look like childs play. The interaction, the chat, the players, the game play, and above all esle, the customizability of the game has only been equaled by SEIV. So ya, it is a damn fine game indeed and I am proud to say I love it.

They both are great games, but Tribes did a better job of drawing you into twelve hour gaming sessions better than Tribes 2 did so Tribes is by far my favorate with Tribes 2 coming in after SEIV. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon7.gif

There is also Rebellion and BOTF for those who enjoy good turn based and RTS games.

I disliked Empire Earth and many previous cloans of AOE's. Starcraft was fun, but it got old real fast.

[ March 20, 2003, 02:18: Message edited by: Atrocities ]

Re: OT) Best Turn Based Game: Fantasy or Space or War
 

Another vote for The Operational Art Of War!

Not turn based but much fun is Age Of Sail 2.

Re: OT) Best Turn Based Game: Fantasy or Space or War
 

For science fiction, my vote (if we're excluding SEIV of course) would be for Sid Meier's Alpha Centauri. If they had just made one more patch, I would still be playing it.

For wargames, I like Combat Mission - an excellent blend of turn-based tactics and real-time action. If SEV executes tactical combat in the same general way (give ships or Groups orders, click "go," watch action, repeat) I'm all for the real-time turn-based hybrid.

PS. Personally, I don't understand the fuss about real-time combat. We essentially have that in SEIV with strategic combat in simulaneous games: give orders, watch action.

Re: OT) Best Turn Based Game: Fantasy or Space or War
 

<font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">That would be awful. Sid lost his ability to make great games. Look at that pile of burning rubbish that is Civ3.

<font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">It is because some people have an unfounded fear of anything mentioning the phrase "real-time". They see C&C and Warcraft/Starcraft and think that is all that real-time is. They do not realize the possibilities, and how pauseable real-time (where you can issue as many orders and view whatever you want while the combat is paused) is better for combat than any turn-based system.

[ March 20, 2003, 03:01: Message edited by: Imperator Fyron ]