solo turn based empire builder

[parone]

guys, im looking for a solo game, with the kind of depth/complexity of dom, but more for single player. i loved dom II, but really, this game is made for MP and modding. i am not that into those things.

are there any other games you can suggest? i loved warlords and there were a few other turn based games i enjoyed, but most were a bit simplistic(HoMM and its ilk).

any suggestions would be much appreciated

[Edi]

Conquest of Elysium 3 is coming out on February 20th, so not all that long. Check out the dev log thread in this forum.

[Olm]

I really enjoyed (and still do so sometimes) Age of Wonders: Shadow Magic.
The only rightful heir to Master of Magic (Which I also dig out time and again).
Fantasy War is also very good, but thats more on battle tactics, no empire building. Its successor Elven Legacy looks good, but I did not try it yet, as all my time goes into Dom3 atm.

[parone]

olm, was that the first age of wonders? god i loved that game. always played the big map, and had to have played in 200+ hours. i gog AOWII but was underwhelmed.

as far as COE, is that basically a dominions built for single player? i know it was a precursor to Dom. those things, by the way, are pluses for me.

[Olm]

Originally Posted by parone

olm, was that the first age of wonders? god i loved that game. always played the big map, and had to have played in 200+ hours. i gog AOWII but was underwhelmed.

No, it was planned as an expansion to AOWII, but then came out as a standalone game. It's often referred to as AOW 2,5.

I played AOWI and remember that there was one single thing that ruined the game for me: Heroes were much to strong. After some training they would crush every army.

In SM that is much better balanced. I do not remember having played AOW II, I guess I advanced to SM immediately.
Well, all I can say is: It's great, and there is much community content (great scenarios!!) for it. You can probably get it for small coin and should give it a try.

[ghoul31]

The civilization series was probably the deepest empire builder.

I spent many years playing civ 2

[Olm]

Originally Posted by ghoul31

The civilization series was probably the deepest empire builder.

I spent many years playing civ 2

Oh yes, Civ 2 was great. Never played one of the later thoroughly, but I still sometimes start a Civ 2 (really Freeciv) game.
What it misses ist battle tactics.

[curtadams]

Civ 4 is a big improvements over earlier Civs in terms of depth because much more effort has been put into balancing strategies. Expansion in particular is no longer an unmitigated good. It's also highly mod-able and there are fantasy versions if you are playing on a PC (not on a Mac due to OS-dependent advanced modding).

Civ 5 supposedly has tactics but this is offset by the fact the computer doesn't do tactics well. My computer doesn't support it so I can't say from experience.

[Doo]

Civ IV with the Fall from Heaven 2 mod is great to scratch that fantasy empire building itch. It has complexity but of a different type than Dom3. You need the Beyond the Sword expansion to play Fall from Heaven 2.

Civ V is.... not worth the money. It can be fun and I have enjoyed it but wouldn't recommend it over Civ IV. I hope Civ VI will bring back the glory for the franchise.

Elemental: Fallen Enchantress is looking good. I have the beta and am impressed with what I see. Elemental:War of Magic was a poor game, Fallen Enchantress seems similar but is so much better. Barring an epic failure the game should do well.

Warlock: Master of the Arcane from Paradox looks nice but without being able to see how the combat AI is its hard to say if it will be Civ IV: Fall from Heaven with tactical combat or another Civ V.

[Gandalf Parker]

Master of Magic
Stars!
Space Empires IV (but not Space Empires V )

I liked all of them and I think its for the same reasons that I like Dominions 3

Also the upcoming Conquest of Elysium 3 by the same guys that made Dominions 3.