Recommend me a game

[Narkis]

I need a new time waster. A game old enough to run on my laptop, but one that I haven't played to death yet. Which excludes CnC:Generals, MoO 2, Alpha Centauri, and GalCiv 2, among other things.

Only three things are required: That it's a strategy game, has stuff blowing up, and can run comfortably on a two-year old midrange laptop with Windows Vista. Any recommendations?

[DaZergRock54444]

The Starcraft 1 BattleChest (current edition) claims Vista compatibility and goes for 10-20 USD

[Hawkwings]

Slightly outside your parameters, but have you looked into the Battle for Wesnoth?

[Zaune]

If you haven't already run across it, Warzone 2100. The design-your-own-tanks gimmick that was supposed to be its primary selling point isn't all it's cracked up to be, as you can't pause the game to do it even in single-player and you have to redesign everything at the start of each multiplayer or skirmish game, but it's the only RTS I've ever played that properly simulates indirect-fire weapons.

[The Romulan Republic]

Slightly outside your parameters, but have you looked into the Battle for Wesnoth?

Yeah, its more tactics not strategy, but I feel compelled to second this anyway.

Narkis, I'm not sure what your laptop will run, I've always been fond of the Age of Empires series. The early games might not meet the "stuff blowing up" requirement due to the time period, but the third one has mortars and rockets that create some pretty fireballs.

[doom3607]

Sword of the Stars, maybe? The computer I run it on has no components less than two or three years old. Two gig of RAM... yeah, an older laptop should be able to do it on a lower setting if I can manage the highest.

[Narkis]

Thanks for the suggestions guys. Unfortunately Starcraft and Age of Empires are also games that I've played to death. Basically, if it's old and famous, you can safely assume I've played it, and I'm sorry I didn't specify that before.

Wesnoth is a great game, but it doesn't have stuff blowing up. Killing people with sword and magic is not nearly as cathartic as watching them explode in a pretty fireball.

I never liked Sword of the Stars. I don't know why, in paper it should've been the perfect game for me. But something in its implementation was lacking.

But Warzone 2100 looks promising. I'm downloading it now, and if it does have decent artillery, it'll be just what I need.

[doom3607]

Real time with a bit of customization... maybe Earth 2160, actually? Runs fine on my computer, has a bit of customization, not bad graphics, and explosions in vast numbers.

Vast numbers indeed when the UCS gets up to speed... *cue robot tank spam*

[Stark]

SotS is a case study in how to build a UI that does not scale. It's fine on a dozen stars; on 100 each turn is automated or a giant chore.

Narkis, Warzone is an artillery turtle man's wet dream. I'm not sure what the Resurrection guys have done to the tech trees (its not vanilla) but if you can remember how to tech into either artillery guns or rockets you'll have great fun.

[Falarica]

You might be able to get Starcraft II running on low graphics on your laptop. Might not have enough explosions though.

I'll mention the Homeworld series for completeness sake. Dawn of War and Company of Heroes are also barrels of fun and quite cheap.

[doom3607]

Crap, how did I forget Homeworld? I play that all the time, modded mostly but still!

Thanks for catching that one Falarica!

Also, SotS 2 will be out in September. Maybe it'll have an improved UI?

Also, Achron is worth a mention just for the cool unique mechanic.

"I wiped out your army, sucker!" "No you didn't, you wiped out half of it. While the other half was wiping your base out before it built your army. Your army goes poof in three... two..."

[Zaune]

SotS is a case study in how to build a UI that does not scale. It's fine on a dozen stars; on 100 each turn is automated or a giant chore.

Narkis, Warzone is an artillery turtle man's wet dream. I'm not sure what the Resurrection guys have done to the tech trees (its not vanilla) but if you can remember how to tech into either artillery guns or rockets you'll have great fun.

Far as I know they've not done much to it besides some minor balance tweaks, but a thorough read of the wiki and forums is a good idea before you start. And artillery turtling only works versus the AI in skirmish, which seems to have no clue how to use counter-battery radar.

[2000AD]

The X-Com games.

Civilization 4 and it's many, many mods (I reccomend Fall From Heaven 2), though a lot of the good mods need the expansion Beyond the Sword as well, which isn't a bad thing as BtS is one the best expansion packs of all time.

Would one of the older Total War series run on the laptop, like say Rome or Medievil 2? Some good mods out for them too, both have a Lord of the Rings mod among many other 'realism' mods. Not sure if it meets the 'stuff blowing up requirment' though.

Mechcommander 1 and 2. Hmmmm.... they were released for free download (Completely legit) a few years ago but the site that got the ok from Microsoft to do so (Mechcommander.org) has since gone down. I can find the MechCommander 2 source code on Microsofts site (link below), but not sure if it's the game or the game engine or something else. Either way since they've been released for free download I doubt anyone will be coming after you if you torrent them or something.
http://www.microsoft.com/download/en/de ... n&id=11457
(In related but not-strategy games, Mechwarrior 4 was released for free and that site is still up and running: http://www.mektek.net/projects/mw4/download.html)

EDIT: A birt more googling reveals the Mechcommander Gold download on Shacknews:
http://www.shacknews.com/file/20900/mec ... -free-game

[2000AD]

Ghetto edit since apparently i cant edit the old post again.

Shacknews also has the MC2 download, in case the source code one isn't the actual game:
http://www.shacknews.com/file/20899/mec ... -free-game

[Narkis]

SotS is a case study in how to build a UI that does not scale. It's fine on a dozen stars; on 100 each turn is automated or a giant chore.

Narkis, Warzone is an artillery turtle man's wet dream. I'm not sure what the Resurrection guys have done to the tech trees (its not vanilla) but if you can remember how to tech into either artillery guns or rockets you'll have great fun.

Mein Gott, it's beautiful. I just attacked the AI's base with a bunch of tanks and floating Gatling howitzers, and the static Gatling howitzers I'd built for base defense fired with them from halfway across the map. There should be more games that let you rain death and destruction with Gatling howitzers from halfway across the map.

I'll check the rest out when I can get some time. Thanks again for the suggestions!

[Dave]

the only RTS I've ever played that properly simulates indirect-fire weapons.

Total Annihilation and Supreme Commander spring to mind, with the former handily meeting Narkis' hardware requirements. (getting it to run on Vista took a touch of fiddling with the compatibility options though)

I cut my teeth on TA and loved every minute of it. When your artillery pieces rack up enough kills to have the accuracy to directly hit hovering construction aircraft... you know it's a good day.

[Hawkwings]

Yeah, but WZ2100 has TA artillery beat. Arty radar, counterbattery radar, automated firing linked with sensor towers...

The only complaint I have is that the command turret makes unit selection and movement so much more difficult.

[Stark]

Yeah, the interface for the radar/unit control is pretty bad. If only any other game had improved on it? The CB stuff in particular could have used a lot more interactivity, but in the modern would there'd be a 'strategic overlay' you could use to quickly pair guns with sensors and create fire rules etc.

[Stark]

Mein Gott, it's beautiful. I just attacked the AI's base with a bunch of tanks and floating Gatling howitzers, and the static Gatling howitzers I'd built for base defense fired with them from halfway across the map. There should be more games that let you rain death and destruction with Gatling howitzers from halfway across the map.

I'll check the rest out when I can get some time. Thanks again for the suggestions!

Just wait till you work out how to tech into napalm rotary howitzers. :V

[Narkis]

Just wait till you work out how to tech into napalm rotary howitzers. :V

HOW? I stopped ignoring flamer research, but I can only figure out regular napalm howitzers. Which are some fine engines of destruction I admit, and I love the smell of napalm in the morning just as much as the next guy, but their rate of fire isn't high enough. And I have to supplement them with normal rotary howitzers to get a decent volume of shells flying across the screen. How can I make a proper rain of fire happen instead of just a drizzle?

Yeah, the interface for the radar/unit control is pretty bad. If only any other game had improved on it? The CB stuff in particular could have used a lot more interactivity, but in the modern would there'd be a 'strategic overlay' you could use to quickly pair guns with sensors and create fire rules etc.

This game needs to exist...

[Zaune]

Pretty sure napalm rotary howitzers aren't in the latest version, and in fact I'm not sure they ever made it past the demo.
And there's talk of an interface overhaul in a future version.

[Dave]

talk of an interface overhaul in a future version.

Thank <diety>. I have no idea what half the buttons mean, especially when trying to get a network game going. (but then I didn't put that much effort into it.)

[Zaune]

I didn't find it all that bad, personally, though it took me a while to figure out how to use commanders effectively.

[RecklessPrudence]

You can get Warzone 2100 pre-configured to work with Vista from dotemu.com for a reasonable* price, only problem is it doesn't have any of the patches or anything. I picked it up for free on their anniversary sale and haven't regretted it, which I wouldn't say for all the games I got from there.

And there's Conquest: Frontier Wars, which I ...found after seeing Stark recommend it a few times, and enjoyed the hell out of. I enjoy strategy games, but I'm not that good at them, so I haven't played either of these online (although if there is an online player community for a game this old, it's probably the die-hards who have memorised EVERYTHING and could put the best Korean cyborgs to shame), plus I've got Uni work, so I haven't even finished Conquest's campaign, but it's a damn good game that had a lot of things in it modern strategy games could learn from.

EDIT: * - At least, I think it's reasonable. For some reason, their site won't let you see prices for something you already own, and since I got it for free, I can't even look at my email receipt.

[Zaune]

You can get Warzone 2100 pre-configured to work with Vista from dotemu.com for a reasonable* price, only problem is it doesn't have any of the patches or anything.

You are aware that the source code was released under the GPL in 2004, right?