Will have to wait for a game company to bring a game for that time out.

It seems a perfect setting with the country broken up and was a melting pot of different factions and invaders, then add the cocktail of 2 religions competing each other. One day.

I think the problem is things in western europe were a bit too messed up at the time.  There was no real control over large mass of land/population, a few rulers here and there etc.

There was much (relative always) stability and empires/kingdoms and wars and progress in the former/then eastern Roman Empire and its neighbours, that could work, but I doubt most companies would like to try that since their focus is the english speaking world first of all then the rest.

AI War has a really good demo...definitely give it a try. I've quite enjoyed my (admittedly limited) time with it.

I'm a big fan of EU 3 with the expansions, BUT I would never recommend a Paradox game to someone who isn't a hardcore strategy gamer with a fair amount of patience. If that's you, give it a go.

Rome total war barbarian invasion is set during that period and it is TBS with real time battles. The Romano-British faction are not playable, but there are mods that change this.

If you like fantasy, King Arthur the role-playing wargame is also set in this era and is similiar in gameplay.

Baron Zinq,

If you're looking at getting a new space strategy title, you could do a lot worse than to pick up Armada 2526.  I've only been playing it a few days so far, but I'm already really enjoying it.  The battles are a bit weak IMO, but the excellent AI and diplomacy works really well and more than makes up for it.  Also, you can have some truly massive maps for epic games if that's your thing (I know it is for me!). 

I cannot (and so will not) claim Armada is the best game I've played in a long time -- I've simply not been able to play it enough yet to know whether that's true -- but it is at least a good game.  Maybe even a great game.  I'm still having fun with it, which I suppose is the most important benchmark.... 

another one to try is- Aurora.  It is a 4X game that uses a sub-pulse method of game advancement. Sub-pulses are pretty much "micro turns", that is, you give your orders, and then hit a particular sub-pulse interval. That interval then passes within the game, and you can now give new orders.

Downside- needs a minimum 1280x1024 resolution (workaround lower down; 1280x960 CAN be done though it isn't recommended, see the forums for sys requirement of the game), and you need to join the forums to be able to download it.

Upside- its on v4.7, and is completely free. To be precise, v4.2 can be downloaded without joining the forums, but to obtain the 4.7 patch (or use a later clean installer, like v4.6 or such), you do need to join. The install requires only 100 MB install space (database file may grow over time though).

The workaround to the high resolution requirement- get this freeware program, 360Desktop. It is a "scrolling desktop" utility application, and comes with 2 panoramic backgrounds. Many others can be downloaded from the site (using IE or Firefox) or directly from with "360 Manager" component of the application. This utility will allow one to "scroll" around the desktop to reach the different windows Aurora uses.

360 Desktop has 32-bit and 64-bit Windows versions. The program is Windows-only.

What can anybody say about AI War - Fleet Commander? Did anyone try it? How is it different from Sins (except that Sins is 3d of course)?

I haven't had a chance to spend much time with AI War, but I quite like it. The demo really lets you get in to the game and see if it's something you'll like. I can't speak to the differences as I don't have Sins.

Thx does anyone have experience with both games?

AI War is a whole different beast compared to Sins. First, there is only single and cooperative play against the AI in AI War so you can't play against your friends but you can play with them. Second, the scale in AI War is generally much larger than Sins. Fleets commonly number in the thousands mid to end game and you can set up maps with up to 80 stars (nodes on the map) to fight over. Overall, its a very different game and I'd recommend you try out the demo from the developer's main site. It lets you play through all of the tutorials and you can play the main campaign as many times as you want with a 1 hour time limit. If you do buy the game, any copy you purchase can be activated on Steam as well. So if you buy it on Impulse or off of the developers website, you also can register the game on Steam.

LINK

Hi,

I would advise one of the last three games by magitech:

- Sango 2 (China during the 3 Kingdoms)

- Takeda 3 (Japan in Sengoku period)

- Strength & Honour 2 (Antic World from Spain to China).

All these games have a turn based strategy map and real-time battles that you may let autoresolve. Graphics are basic but the gameplay and the AI are top. They are fairly unknown but really great.

I'll soon be forty too...

About the Dark Ages, a game has been released some time ago called Great Invasions which covers that period. It's still being sold and supported by AGEOD which now belongs to Paradox.

Cheers

Strength & Honour 2

Looks very promising, but also quite similar to the Total War games, but then with lower graphics. How does it compare?

@Wirespeed91: Thanks for your explanation. Is there any diplomacy in this game? Or is it only fighting?

There is diplomacy in that you can give ships and such to your allies, but you can't break alliances nor create new ones and you can't negotiate with the AI. The game is purely the human players (1-8 players) vs the 2 AI players (that scale in difficulty the more people that are playing). It's asymetric warfare with the humans being the little guys trying to overthrow the AI's controlling the galaxy.

It's kill or be killed, but the good thing is the pace is generally however fast or slow you want it to be. The harder you push the AI, the harder it pushes you back. The AI escalates the situation only when you destroy or capture certain structures. Therefore you can manage how agressive the AI is by your own aggression and you have to use good judgement to plan when and where you are going to attack. The details are hard to explain in a forum post where I'm trying to be somewhat concise. The best way to learn about the game is to download and play the demo.

The overall concept is similar, you manage your cities and your armies, engage in diplomatic actions and so forth. The biggest difference is the extensive use of individuals at all levels. In an army with 10 divisions, you'll have 1 marshall and 9 generals...each influences it's troops, learns and may die. There are a very large number of qualities for each individual. They'll also have a big impact as governors, diplomats, members of political parties. Generally, each individual will have it's own agenda. You don't have to go that deep but you can. I like the fact that i can play the Huns or the Mauryas too. And the AI is top imho.

Cheers