For TBS: GalCiv2, MOO2 was one of the first games to really hook me, and it was an easy transistion.

For RTS: DEFCON, by Introversion. Cool concept, excellent execution, and amazing atmosphere combined with a great demo. I played the demo for about a week, then bought the full version.

Puerto Rico - a so so commercial implementation (by Dartmoor - Reactor 2004) of an extremely popular strategy board game. As such it is a turn-based strategy game where resources are managed and shipped, and buildings built all for victory points. I like managing resources.

GalCiv II and Medieval: total warII, no question.

Hi ALL.

For TBS games it GC2 ...

On the RTS game I'm been playing a game called Spring. It's a GNC open source
RTS game based around TA. A game worth trying IMO ....

For TBS, just a couple weeks ago I finished up a game of X-Com, the greatest TBS of all time. But I had just gotten a big paycheck and decided to buy GC2...and have been playing that ever since.

I haven't played any RTS games in a couple months, but the most recent was Dawn of War: Dark Crusade. I had liked the previous Dawn of War incarnations, and decided to get DC when it first came out. It was well worth the money.

GC2 of course for TBS.

I'm still loving Rise of Nations:Thrones and Patriots for RTS. And CnC Generals:Zero Hour. What I like about RTS in general over TBS is that your games don't take freaking 20 hours to play.

toothpastefordinner.com



Just kidding, guys

I've been playing a game called UFO: Afterlight, which is very good (sorta like squad-based TBS, but uses a superior (IMO) system called SAS - which is sorta like real time but everything your units do takes time, like in TBS, you can pause anytime you like with full control, and you can play the game in ultra slow motion for perfect control over tactical battles. So you get the same effect as TBS but it all resolves in real time and you can easily change a solders orders (or plan - series of orders) as situations demand. It has an excellent global/strategic layer too. Cool base management, research, production, and expansion design.

UFO: Afterlight is somewhat like the good old X-COM games, and a lot of old X-COM players play it. Some people even get confused and think they're the same series.

Aftershock, the previous "UFO" game, was good, but buggy and it had performance issues - Afterlight is vastly superior.

I thought Silent Storm was ok - it was fun to play for lack of any other squad based tactical TBS types of options (til I found Aftershock). The incredibly poor AI in Silent Storm and the time it takes for AI to do anything on it's turn makes SS tedious to me. I still had a lot of fun with it for a long time. The interesting character development, missions, and rich WWII flavor help lessen the impact of the utterly horrible AI.

I love squad-based tactical games like X-COM, Silent Storm, and the UFO series. I wish more companies would develop quality titles in the genre. (I never cared for the commando series - too rigid for me).

Another good TBS game that people might've missed, and that's not a squad-based tactical, is a game called "Shattered Union" - reminds me of the old "Fortress America" board game sorta - but on steroids. USA is split into different factions and you have to take over the country, with an army of modern forces you build up with funds you get for controlling territory. The focus is on the battles (ie, outside of your budget there isn't much else going on when you're not fighting in a territory).

And of course, I've been playing GC2:DA, but I'm taking a break while enjoying Afterlight, and sorta holding off on more DA til there's a patch. DA is plenty playable, but some of the bugs I've encountered are irritating enough drop DA down the priority list for now. :-/

Dawn of War: Dark Crusade, Majesty the Northern Expansion, occasional Starcraft: brood war and Warcraft 3 for RTS

Civ 3 for TBS

Of them all Dawn of War may be my favorite strategy game of all time as it portrays Warhammer 40K very well and it's the best in the series. I was brought in with the orignal Dawn of War just by the allure of a WH40K RTS and I've stayed with it because it remains fun. Great skirmish mode, great balance work, and the "campaign" is just perfect.

My second favorite has to be Majesty because it's simple and easy to play, a great game to just relax with. That I picked up a while ago because it looked interesting as hell and I haven't stopped since, amazing and unique game. Now if only the promised sequal was ever made.

- Malus

Master of Orion III, GalCiv, Civ3 and Spartan for TBS

Glory of the roman empire, Celtic Kings and Knights of Honor for RTS

For TBS, Id have to say Gal Civ 2 Gold Edition, followed by Civ 3. And for RTS... I dont play much of them, but Id have to say Rise of Legends, since its not a generic fantasy RTS, and the I love the steampunk aspect of the Vinci. Oh, and Warhammer 40K Dark crusade with the Annihilation mod.

Current TBS's that i play are: civ 4, and of course gal civ 2. I do so also enjoy the board game Settler of Catan, wish could count as a TBS. As for RTS's: Warcraft 3: Frozen Throne and Starcraft. I'm so old school, you don't even know the half of it..