Welcome to /vst - Video Games/Strategy: /vst/ is a place to discuss all types of strategy video games, including both turn-based and real-time strategy, turn-based and real-time tactics, single-player and multi-player (including MOBAs). All platforms are welcome. Does this mean discussion of strategy games is banned on other video game boards? No! /vst/ is just a separate board specifically focused on strategy games where discussions about your favorite games can thrive. Please familiarize yourself with the rules and remember to use the spoiler function where appropriate!

Steam Machine & STRATEGY games: How well you think this will perform on strategy games (and specifically the unoptimized garbage Paracuck keeps propping up)? Specs-wise it looks fine, though I don't know how well SteamOS runs games made for Windows. Also even though VR is typically viewed as a meme gadget, imagining the entire world projected on my living room wall for me to paint gives me a massive hard on. What do you guys think?

EUV / EU5 / Europa Universalis 5: THE LAST CRUSADE https://store.steampowered.com/app/3450310/Europa_Universalis_V/

/mbg/ - Mount & Blade General: A toast to /mbg/ >M&B Wiki https://antifandom.com/mountandblade/wiki/Mount_&_Blade_Wiki > BANNERLORD >Pastebin https://pastebin.com/tAvcAbpT >Custom Banner Maker https://bannerlord.party/banner/ >Banner Code Sharing https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1MEM-0Fz0yetJ8cZgLrPpHuDU6dO33bhsFiHsiWwiCDM >Asset Extractor https://github.com/szszss/TpacTool >Create Custom Companions https://butterlord.com/wanderers > WARBAND >Warband Pastebin https://rentry.org/x7u7t >Noob Guide (READ This) https://imgur.com/a/FMAqV >Anon's Mods and Upstab Guide: https://pastebin.com/agwZu9Df >Thread(looted): >>2178900

Heroes of might and magic Older Era: Your thoughts on the demo? So far what's your favorite: >faction >unit >hero Personal I found myself gravitating toward Dungeon the most. It got some really nice line-up. I think minotaurs and medusas are my favorite. In term of heroes I don't have yet favorite, but I like the dragon guy from Dungeon and the black armored guy from Necropolis.

Troubleshooter: Abandoned Children: General Guide Mastery Set Effects, Mastery Drop List etc: https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1349483727 Finding Masteries, Modules, and Troublemakers: https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1971619284 Mastery/Module Descriptions: https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2037290423 Taming and Beasts Guide: https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2020436206 Farming Guide: https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2025825529 Machine Guide: https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2025828272 Troubleshooter Encyclopedia: https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2064539292 Bonds Guide: https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2217708612 Equipment/Affix Guide https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2247536935: Legendary Items and where to find them: https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2578537876 100% Achievements Guide: https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3013345823 Banished Children news updates status: https://steamcommunity.com/games/470310/announcements/detail/654835706915456842?snr=2___

Starsector: POST SHIPS edition

Paradox can't help themselves. eu5 is done.

TNO: Proper baker edition https://gofile.io/d/zAJ2RV - Full DV leak repository. Proposal, charts, maps. https://www.youtube.com/@ThomasLands - Leaked build footage. Nearly finished and scrapped Italy, very unfinished Germany/US reworks and more. https://space.bilibili.com/385529615/upload/opus - BiliBili leak video repository. https://files.catbox.moe/80z6tb.png - Bormann TNO2 flowchart (never releasing). https://files.catbox.moe/cdag1w.pdf - Vote Pig, the US rework proposal. Read all about this hot new TCT mod. https://files.catbox.moe/j8tp21.pdf - December roundtable notes. Germany never. https://files.catbox.moe/9320n5.pdf - Japan rework. Now with a full proposal leak. https://files.catbox.moe/xlhrjj.pdf - Sweden proposal. Dev still lurking, will respond to all bait. https://files.catbox.moe/ycctp0.png - Sweden flowchart. We lost Pakt Sweden for this OTL-fest. https://files.catbox.moe/l70qhw.pdf - Burgundian Eulogy: Burgundy 2 was real but got scrapped like everything else. https://files.catbox.moe/zff5y4.pdf - Serov "facelift" document. The first leg in the now confirmed Komi rework. https://files.catbox.moe/ymgaur.pdf - Amur rework doc. Over two years in dev hell, still no release date. https://files.catbox.moe/iwmxg6.pdf - Manchuria doc #1. https://files.catbox.moe/cgaqrz.pdf - Manchuria doc #2. https://files.catbox.moe/y2hc34.pdf - Manchuria doc #3. https://files.catbox.moe/96kjev.pdf - Manchuria doc #5. https://files.catbox.moe/vdpi8k.pdf - Red Italy proposal. https://files.catbox.moe/3n9lq9.pdf - New Granada walltext. https://files.catbox.moe/r86sw7.pdf - 200p walltext about Colombian soccer mechanics. https://files.catbox.moe/izg02l.png - 6th (?) space race mech rework mockup. https://files.catbox.moe/o2pmmv.pdf - Old burgundy proposal, lost to history https://files.catbox.moe/chzsvc.pdf New Japan doc

RTS unit quotes: One shot, one kill

/dfg/ - Dwarf Fortress General: Siege Edition Previous: >>2173236 Avaliable for free at https://www.bay12games.com/dwarves/ or as a paid premium version on Steam or Itch.io >What is the difference? Both are the same game on the same version (53.xx). The free version uses ASCII as a tileset (but you can mod other usermade tilesets and graphic packs) With the premium version you pay for a premium tileset + premium OST + access to beta branches and steam integration (if on steam). >!!NEWS!! 11/03/25 - The first part of the Siege Update was released as version 53.xx, giving besiegers (goblins and humans) the ability to dig/destroy walls, build paths, more awareness of traps and killzones, and more. >What is next? Bugfixing/maintaince cycle and later Siege Update Part II, which aims bring some magic into fort mode by adding spellcasters and warlocks into the besiegers ranks, and have them set your dorfs pants on fire. Also some form of magical defence for your dorfs. >What has changed since I last stopped playing X years ago? Check the version history on the wiki: https://dwarffortresswiki.org/index.php/Version_history Dwarf Fortress has an extensive wiki which can help you with your question about DF, as well as providing info about modding and 3rd party tools: https://dwarffortresswiki.org/Main_Page https://dwarffortresswiki.org/Utilities >Utilities that (you) should know about: DFHack: https://dwarffortresswiki.org/Utility:DFHack Dwarf Therapist: https://dwarffortresswiki.org/Utility:Dwarf_therapist Legends Viewer: https://dwarffortresswiki.org/Utility:Legends_viewer >Tutorials: Quickstart Fortress Mode: https://dwarffortresswiki.org/index.php/Quickstart_guide Quickstart Adventure Mode: https://dwarffortresswiki.org/index.php/Adventure_mode_quick_start Other tutorials: https://dwarffortresswiki.org/index.php/Tutorials >A bunch of guides to various parts of fort-based living: http://imgur.com/a/nGyRF Strike the earth!

/ckg/ - Crusader Kings General: Cheers modders edition Prev >>2198233

/aoeg/ - Age of Empires General: No more (infantry) brother wars edition prev >>2206994

EU4 Last Thread: How did I do?

Hearts of Iron IV / HOI4 Modding: Hearts of Iron IV / HOI4 Modding Come and post your runs and talk about upcoming mods! The Suspicious Looking Frenchman

YEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAW

How do you respond to an alliance like this?

Stupid, sexy muton edition. >OXCE? OpenXcom is a free open-source game engine for the original 1994 X-Com: UFO Defense (aka UFO: Enemy Unknown) and 1996 X-Com: Terror from the Deep games. OXCE extends OXC modding capabilities and is home to megamods like X-Piratez, X-Com Files, 40k ROSIGMA and more. >Game https://www.gog.com/en/game/xcom_ufo_defense https://openxcom.org/downloads-milestones/ >Mods https://mod.io/g/openxcom https://www.moddb.com/mods/x-piratez/downloads (XPZ) https://mod.io/g/openxcom/m/the-x-com-files (XCF) >Resources https://openxcom.org/forum/ https://www.ufopaedia.org/ https://xpedia.netlify.app/ (XPZ) https://xcf.trigramreactor.net/master (XCF) https://www.ufopaedia.org/Hidden_Features_(OpenXcom) https://www.ufopaedia.org/Ruleset_Reference_Nightly_(OpenXcom) Previous thread: >>2167459

CK2 thread: Is after the end worth playing? If so which version? Also CK2 thread

Mobile /vst/: Is polytopia the only halfway decent mobile strategy game? I know the entire mobile market is cancer but there's gotta be something else I can play on my phone during breaks or when I'm taking a shit at work

Which HoMM game have you sunk the most hours into and why?

/bbg/ - Battle Brothers general: Tabletop edition How are your dudes faring?

Civilization 3: Thanks to the C3X mod, it's now possible to build districts in Civ 3 as well. Check instafluff’s post for the recommended settings: https://forums.civfanatics.com/threads/c3x-exe-mod-including-bug-fixes-stack-bombard-and-much-more.666881/page-159#post-16889104

/asd/ - Amateur Strategy Development thread: An awful thread for devs and no-devs to post their awful ideas for strategy games that will never see the light of day, etc. previous thread: >>1909726 I don't know why or how, but last thread bump limit, so here is the sequel.

Lines of Battle - FoW update: How does this shit board not have a thread for the only good multiplayer strategy in existence Fog of war and all napoleonic unit types now added. Looking pretty complete now. Its free and its good, go play so I can farm elo

Paradox Cold War Game: Is it just me or would anyone else really like to see Paradox release a cold war/recent history/near future game to bridge the chronological gap between HOI4 and (at least partway towards) Stellaris? I'm thinking 1946 to 2046, focusing on postwar economic reorganization, decolonization, the Cold war, nuclear proliferation, the rise of the Asian economies, the GWOT, and potential future conflicts. I feel like it would be extremely fertile ground for the paradox formula, taking pieces from their previous games, reworking them for the time period, and adding new systems and mechanics to handle stuff like nuclear brinkmanship and non state actors. Not sure what the point of this thread is, just wanted to discuss and maybe theorycraft a bit.

Sins of a Solar Empire: These games are great. Kind of underrated. I wish it had more people playing.

>the cancer that killed total war

Does anyone know any espionage strategy games? Where you run spy networks or something? Idc if it's retro.

This game has spoiled me as far as QoL in gaming goes I don't care if you like it or not, if you're a SucKom moldy sandwich hugger or campaignlet or whatever, what I'm saying is that the QoL that this game has introduced is by far the best experience in controlling anything in an RTS and makes me uncomfortable to play anything else now. I want this level of easiness to play to another game like Age of Empires or even Starcraft clones. Runs on any potato seamlessly with 8v8 people as well, looks incredible, is a proper sandbox and supports modding as well on top of being free. But I don't want more BAR. I want others to realize how much they have been sucking lately and how mogged can they be. I want more RTS with different flavors and rules in my life, not only more TAs, but with this level of quality.

Thoughts?: UI and controls for it are a little obtrusive, but the idea and execution are really neat, and the depth is really nice too. Demo has enough to let me know I'll likely be hooked.

*Ahem*: FUCK MIRIAM FUCK SANTIAGO AND FUCK MIND WORMS THAT SPECIES SHALL BE EXTERMINATED, I TELL YOU! EXTERMINATED!

The Fallen Lords' Bread: >be maybe 12 >see this game in a magazine hyped as 3D RTS >screens look ugly so ignore >mom and dad buy PC for Christmas >no games, so buy magazine with demo disk >Myth is there >decide to check it out >Bagrada! >holy fucking kino! I'm now an old fuck and jaded about games, nothing catches my attention and everything seems shit. I have these initially sad moments when I launch modded Myth 2 just to kill some time and it's always a breathtaking experience. The narrative, the missions, the gore, the battles, the feeling of hopelessness... Yet you still micro, you still fight, you eventually win and then you see this screen with stats, see your heroes and casualties and it hits hard. No game has ever had this long-lasting impression on me, I don't think it's nostalgia, I just think it's THAT GOOD. Lets talk about it, shall we? Any anons on here been myffin lately?

FIRE EMBLEM THREAD: Talk about Fire Emblem Anyone hoping for a new game in the next direct? Really hoping we dont get a remake.

CK3 Hate Thread: Fuck this piece of shit "grand strategy" game. I know there's at least one ck3 dev that comes here and I know you're reading this. Fuck you for making the most retarded strategy game in history.

Jagged Alliance: I started Jagged Alliance 2 at least 12 to 20 times at various points in my lifetime. I never got past the first four towns or so. I only finished the game once when I snuck into the final time and solo killed Deidranna. Are there any good tips & tricks to keep in mind for tactically challenged players? Is it possible to finish the game while letting the auto-battle resolve all the militia fights? I hated the militia fights.

Rise of Legends: >Its been 19-20 years since it released >TWO DECADES >Yet game is still not for sale in Steam or GOG. WHY? I want to buy it again, and the possibility of a remaster, even if small. And I want to state this FACT: Rise of Legends is superior to its predecessor. There, I said it.

Rare /vst/ games thread #2: ITT: Strategy games that no one besides (you) have played. Recommend rarities and discuss games that you vaguely remember playing as a kid or seeing in a magazine that one time. Continued from: >>1919459 I'll start: Conflict Zone. Early 00's strategy game that I haven't seen anyone mention in my entire adult life. I remember it being unique because you public opinion was a key currency. As totally-not-NATO that involved airlifting civilians out of conflict zones, and as the bad guys it involved sending TV crews to film you blowing up enemy troops and enemy atrocities. The better your rep, the more advanced units you could bring in. Actually pretty surprised few games tried to make public opinion part of gameplay. Not a great game, but certainly a mechanically unique one. Your turn, anon!

Backpedal, FAST!

Story of Seasons / Stardew Valley / Rune Factory / Harvest Moon / Farming & Life Sims: Why did Marvelous abandon the Trio of Towns formula? >multiple towns with different aesthetics and strong identities >food effects encourage cooking variety >crops have 4 different qualities, plus giant and golden crops >animals have 4 qualities as well >festivals below the highest difficulty only judge a selection of qualities, necessitating different fertilisers/treats than your default >father has a rad nickname in the festivals that aged wonderfully It's hard to play other farming sims after that. Throwing fertiliser at crops and getting a "chance" that they'll get a star next to their name. But only that one time, next sowing season you start from 0 again, whether you make seeds from good crops or not. Gay ass waifus. Half-baked combat thrown into every game. Why not make farming good and cut the rest? Trio of Towns will have its 10th anniversary next year and in my mind it hasn't been surpassed since. You know the staples. What would you change to improve the genre?

Workers & Resources: Soviet Republic: W&R:SR thread Discuss the engoodening of Early Start, get mad about feature creep and post your decrepit commieblocks.

Join our Risk Match: Click here to join our game and play Risk online: https://www.majorcommand.com/beta/84853

What can we done to convince the stunnborn people that still plays CK2 in the year 2025 CE that CK3 nowadays is better in almost all ways?

Starcraft Brood War - Soulkey Avenged Edition: In less than 24 hours, Park Sang Hyun, also known as Soma, will defeat Bisu, qualifying for the ASL 20 final, wherein he will defeat Snow, thereby avenging Soulkey's aberrant defeat and keeping the title in Zerg hands for the fifth ASL in a row. Thank you for your attention to this matter.

AOE2/WC3 Hybrid: I am currently in the early stages of developing a real-time strategy game that aims to combine elements from Age of Empires II and Warcraft III. Both of these titles have had a major influence on me as a player and as a designer. Age of Empires II is remarkable for its strategic depth, focus on economic management, and large-scale battles, although I have always felt it is somewhat limited in a few key areas, such as unique unit mechanics and hero-focused gameplay. Warcraft III, on the other hand, introduced those very features through its heroes, abilities, and more character-driven armies, yet it lost some of the depth found in other systems, particularly in the balance of ranged units, counter mechanics, and naval warfare. My goal is to create a game that brings together the strongest qualities of both styles. I want to capture the grand scale and tactical complexity of Age of Empires II while incorporating the individuality, progression, and fantasy-driven personality of Warcraft III. The idea is to give players the satisfaction of building a thriving civilization and commanding large armies, while also offering memorable units, meaningful choices, and greater variety in strategy. I would love to hear from the /vst/ community about what you would like to see in a project that blends these two approaches. Which mechanics or ideas from either Age of Empires II or Warcraft III do you think are essential to preserve, improve, or completely rework? I am also open to suggestions for other RTS games that might serve as good sources of inspiration. Whether they are classic titles or more recent releases, I would really appreciate your thoughts on what makes those games stand out and what lessons they might offer for this project. Thank you in advance for your insights. I am looking forward to hearing your ideas and discussing what could make an RTS like this both exciting and rewarding to play.

Best looking units: Post only the most kino looking strategy units (bonus point if they are OP)

Any good terraforming-themed city-builder/factory games out there? I'm only aware of - Surviving Mars (yawn) - Per Aspera (shittiest pathfinding known to man) - Infraspace (fine, bit ugly) - Plan B: Terraform (least bad option) - Terraforming Mars (port of a board game) Am I missing anything?

Cyber Knights: Flashpoint just got out of the EA. It's an xcom-like cyberpunk turn-based tactics. Thoughs?

>playing AoE4 with a friend that just makes mass elephants and literally nothing else >refuses to learn the game or try different strategies holy fuck. How do I reach him? He just sits in his and spams traders on 1 TC and after 30 minutes he finally starts making those elephants. Too bad that 90% of the time it's too late and if our team gets some early gains we lose all momentum since it's essentially 3v4. If we are on the backfoot he can't contribute since he has no/weak army. How do I teach him to play RTS?

Civilization thread: I know I'm late, but I finally tried Civ VI with all its DLCs, holy moly the downgrade. Civ V(anilla) still invictus. Not only it's more tedious, but the DLCs don't add anything fun, immersive (they just unnecessarily overcomplicate things for the sake of it, to make you waste more time while trying to trick into thinking the game is more deep when it's not) and the artstyle is kinda shit. At some moment it becomes good, fun or I need overhaul mods? Is Civ VII worth it? PD: when the gameplay (specially the combat) is going to be like in the cinematic trailers (massive cities, massive armies, massive world to 4X'd)?

Shadow Empire: Can anyone tell me why my guys are starving despite available logistic points being like 7 times higher than consumed ones? Are they just too fucking lazy to pick up their stuff or what? Logistics man, how the fuck do they work?

tell me if i should get anno 117 or eu5 first, i cant decide its driving me crazy

Is stelaris worth playing: I can get the game with 3 DLCs for super cheap on steam. Is the game worth buying and learning? How long does it take to learn?

The Campaign Trail: Talk about new mods, mods you're hyped for, etc. CTS: campaigntrailshowcase.com/campaign-trail/index.html NCT: newcampaigntrail.com/campaign-trail/index.html

Empire at War: are Sith not that good?: All guides i find online write that Darth Vader is one man army super unit that can take planets in ground battle at his lonesome, but i found him to be too underwhelming. what he is great blaster magnet and that's it. Emperor is kinda weak as well. Jedi hero on other hand are all fucking OP as hell. Kenobi can auto heal, is tanky as hell, way more tankier than vader anyway, Luke is very fast and you can turn invisible and run away if he's low on HP, and yoda IIRC can auto heal as well. General Veers is Empire's MVP of ground combat. he can spam units and his range is almost like artillery unit. and how you use Boba Fett in ground combat? his jetpack is good if you need to run away, but other than his flamethrower, he's just bit tankier stormtrooper (against anything other than infantry, he's useless)

Aside from Rome Total War, what's the best strategy game for feel like this?

Master of Command: So what's the verdict so far on Master of Command? Been playing the demo and it's a good game so far, but the controls seem kinda janky.

Stronghold Crusader: Definitive Edition: It's up

Warhammer 40k Total War: >Supposedly under development >Type of warfare that hasn`t been tried in TW format. >Ranged and melee still suck and are broken >Units get stuck on everything and charges break down. >Dumbed down campaings compared to historical total war which is already dumbed compared to any 4x >Battles are dumbed down with SE stacking >Will have to compete with DOW IV >Last DLC for their cash cow was a 12 months ago Does CA want SEGA to boot them out?

/vst/ on suicide watch: >check singleplayer game like picrel >physical copy >1 to 3 discs (why 3?) >sike loser, you must have Steam to play them >discs are actually useless >"Time to retire, close Steam" - Gabe >"""your""" games, your memories lose forever >imagine the aftermath >HOLY CHAOTIC KEK Gabe if you read this, JUST DO IT!

Tropico 7: So apparently this is coming in 2026. Fears? Expectations?

Warlords Battlecry: What happened with the latest Protectors update? Is it so bad that the thread had to die here as well?

Do I spend $90 on EU5 now or wait a week to spend it on Anno 117?

Exploitable games: Suggest me janky unbalanced strategy gems where the fun relies in exploiting the systems and fucking everything up. The jankier the better

I know videogame music is a little passe, but do some STRATEGY game tracks really hit you? The music in these games is often focused on the grand endeavours of nations juxtaposed with the quiet, tragic fate of individuals ground up in brutal war. I think that's really evocative. I've cried to some of this music. Bird of Time from Shogun 2 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gcdy-lxqi50 Forever from RTW https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UApsdueSYQ0 A Cruce Victoria from EU3 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5cCB7nrhaKE Maybe most of all: Sogno di Volare from Civ 6 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WQYN2P3E06s

>starting a new country from nothing is fun >exploring the map is fun >claiming valuable land and resources is fun >developing your economy and infrastructure is fun >defending your borders from barbarians is fun >fun stops when you get to war because while you were busy building a nice country another player was just spamming troops and rushing military technologies so you just get stomped with doomstacks for merely existing I genuinely wish there was a game that was based ONLY around this early phase of every civ game where you explore the map, expand your borders and grow your economy without the part where some agressive player rapes you. Preferably with more detailed economy.

Hearts of Iron IV: Ok, I've seen enough. I've had my fill, I've played my money's worth. When did you realize you were done with your favorite strategy game, and that it was time to move on?

>Play Vic II >Play as Austria >Refuse to savescum >Want to expand through Balkans and don't want to create Germany >After 20 years realize Prussia is weaker than me >Maybe I will just create South German Federation since Baden is attacking northern OPMs and Prussia anyways >Forgot this won't include Austria >Now I have a big puppet and two bordergore provinces >Released an OPM but still have one (1) bordergore >Fuck it, now I have to create Germany or I will be stuck with bordergore untill the end of the game >Push through necessary wars >Have to fight at least four wars (one of which was a Great War) to demote Prussia to secondary power >mfw Britain steals my Suez canal since Spain conquered Sinai because Egypt was allied with Yemen which was conquered by aforementioned Spain and had "Liberate" casus belli which meant I couldn't intervene and in spite of having 6% nitroglicerine RNG just wouldnt let me have it >Waste 10 bad goy points on taking it back >France keeps attacking for Alsace every 5 years like clockwork >Can't just sphere Prussia since we have a truce and couldn't just add casus belli since I had too much infamy. >Try "add to sphere" to save time and having to deal with other Great Powers >Fuck too much bad goy points >Russia, Netherlands, USA and France with its allies attack me in a span of couple of months >Meanwhile Boxers fail to interest anyone >too much bad goy points so German and Italian allies refuse to help me >in a war so no way to drop infamy >fuck will have to reload >wait for the magic number to drop so I can have the same war over the same reason >Finally create German Empire >Get like 10 decisions, half of which are dedicated to Prussia (which is weird, since in this timeline Prussia is the one to fail the test of time) >pic related >Schleswig is NOT annexed for some reason >no will to continue the campaign Do (You) sometimes feel like the mechanics of Paradox games limit the player in a way that feels artificial?

It's so OVER for you now

It seems that going "wide" always eclipses any sort of "tall" build and that no amount of upgrading will ever save small empires from wider ones. In oldschool RTS like C&C it's obvious because those games don't have upgrades, so all you can do is build more. That's why I'm wondering how a strategy game could make tall builds viable. Even games that do have global upgrades usually cap out at +2 or +3, like StarCraft. In Dawn of War, you can upgrade your Space Marine health and damage a little bit but never enough to make true super units. I understand why this is being done for balancing reasons and all that, but it seems there is no game that rewards a turtle player who successfully fights off rushes and then techs up. It technically works in StarCraft but not because of the teching, it's just because the rush player is too far behind after you counter him. Stronghold Crusader comes close because you can find ways to survive and defend even when your farms are being raided, but it has no teching. In the end, you won't be able to keep up with the attacker.

Its time to return to the gr3atest Europa Universalis game.: Paradox peaked with this game, they have never ever bettered it. Every single game they release, every patch or dlc they put out, is tempered by the thought that they have still not made anything better than EU3.

Spooky Stratagy Games: Since its October, I've been looking for some scary/horror-esq/spooky strategy games for the month. Is there any good game for Halloween?

What is a good city builder with military and multiplayer?

Remaster which blends the bestFallen Enchantress and Sorcerer King is about to get EA release: Stard*ck says they fixed a lot of issues and moved engine to 64bit with modern directX. Hopes, expectations, and fears?

Hearts of Iron 3: How do I get good at HoI3? I'm coming from Darkest Hour. I've never played HoI4 so I'm not used to the newer systems. I've got over 1000 hours in DH and I can see some things like the production system are very similar in HoI3, but the research system and especially the military organisation system are melting my brain.

Modern space 4x games: what are some of the best modern 4x space games? MoO2 is probably my all time favorite but that is an older one.

Hearts of Iron IV Thread: With No Compromise, No Surrender ( and the Czech Content Pack ) rolling out in the new future, what are your thoughts on it? And how do you feel about them adding in Seaplane Tenders as a Naval Unit? Old Thread >>2070984

Are some sudokus unsolvable ?: On: websudoku.com puzzle: https://www.websudoku.com/?level=4&set_id=4805184826 Or i'm just not smart enough to figure it out. Seems no logical solution. Constrains: I'm not using guessing, x has to be because y.

Evil Arthas: >You sit for the dark

underworld management: organized crime, spook agencies, cults, revolutionary corps, etc - any kind of shady organization that operates in an urban, semi-modern setting. Lots of potential, not very many games, and most of those few suck. Anything you'd recommend?

Tactics RPG's: Final Fantasy Tactics, Tactics Ogre, and any derivatives in this thread! The Final Fantasy Tactics remaster is out, as well as the Tactics Ogre remaster. Also shilling the excellent One Vision mod for the PSP version of Tactics Ogre, which rivals and even exceeds the Reborn remaster, depending on taste.

Europa UNIVERSALIS V: Hes right. Hopesissies claimed victory too soon. AI is too much passive. Expansion is slow and actually damage your stability. So AI rarely declare War's Control fucking sucks, casus bellis tooks too much time to be made. Why are we forced to make vassal to expand? Ottomans, Timur, Russia ecc. are multiple examples of historical quick blobing. So it should be viable in the game too Bring back both the mission tree and some lighter form of mana for quick expansion

Hearts of Iron IV: New to HOI4, any tips?

>want to play more >install >old save is still there >open it >8 contracts accepted >not really sure what these are >"Orbit Eve" >oh that should be easy >start designing satellite with the biggest relay dish research points could buy >remember building is fiddly >remember manoeuvre nodes are fiddly >remember I have to eyeball transfer windows >remember running out of dV I just want to enjoy space exploration

Civ Modding: What mods do you like? I know Civ4 has some really big ones like Caves2Cosmos and Rhye's. I usually like very minor mods that fine tune stuff. Like in civ5 I there's a Forge building, that gives +1 Production on Iron resources, and a Mint building that gives +2 Income on Gold and Silver resources, and I liked using a mod that also made the Forge give +1 prod on Copper resources and the Mint give +1 income on Copper resources. A slight boon to Copper and heighten immersion without going away too far from the core of the game. In civ6 I've mostly used mods for size and player caps, so my friends and I could play in teams against many other AIs that were also in big teams. Been looking into a mod that just removes the Governors though, anyone know if there is one? It's so clunky and really hurts the immersion with how micromanage intensive it is. I actually didn't buy Rise & Fall and only got Gathering Storm to avoid Governors, but turns out they added those into Gathering Storm as well.

Company of Heroes 3: Endure & Defy: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Ryr8UF4SX4 It's out (in 20 days). Thoughts? We now have italians on both sides.

Best city builder in your opinion? >Cities: Skylines Shitties of them all in my opinion. In this one you have shit like 16 people living in a skyscraper and you can't even build realistic sized cities. The traffic simulation is supposed to be good but its nonsensical (drivers are incapable of changing lanes, the game puts pedestrian crossings through roundabouts etc.). >Cities: Skylines 2 Not even top tier computers can run this past a certain city size. >Simcity 4 You can build massive cities in it. Its a shame that the game was designed to build american style cities though (no mixed zones, no public housing, etc.). Game runs like shit too because of its old engine. >Citystate 2 This is the best one in my opinion. Economics makes sense and you have neat details like poor people building slums if you can't fill their housing demand either through making enough housing zones or building public housing units. There is also an entire legislation system that allows you to make anything between a communist hellhole and an anarcho-capitalist dystopia. I wish the game was moddable though.

RNG in strategy games: How much randomness do you like in your strategy vidyas?

wargame/warno/steel division: SOUTHAG is out This div is super fun

Timberborn: redpill me, this game looks cute, but is it fun for at least 1 whole playthrough?

>"KNIGHTS!"

Thoughts on the Romance of the Three Kingdoms strategy games made by Koei?: I almost never hear any strategy game fans mention this series but apparently it is very good?

How do we feel about Falling Frontier?

Why did Microsoft fumble AoM so hard?

Stellaris Thread- Thoughts ? Concerns ? Shitposts ?: I noticed no Stellaris threads on the board. I know 4.0 was a huge fuckup but I at least expected some talk about the new Psionic Expansion. How you fellas feeling about it. ( If any of you guys are even bothering to still play it lol). Is the UI update doing it for ya ?

Retreat mission: Any rts with focus on retreating as the primary gameplay mode? Attack and defend are fairly common, stealth is stale, but very little fanfair for resisting enemies beyond ones ability to hold on yet there is hope given the area to retreat to and collapsed front regroups.

CK2 rant thread: >choose muslim Seljuk >begome zorroastrian >recreate the Persian Empire (i'm turkish) >can't join the Immortals for some reason (so no cool quest) >begome zorroastrian christ, aka 'Saoshyant' (no Holy Fury's reformation / God-king update. Paradox wtf?!) >nothing happens (all this madness and incest for nothing), just "+5 mazdan opinion" >dies because sad, LITERALLY NOTHING HAPPENS, the zorroastrian yisus dies and NOTHING HAPPENS >mfw i felt for another nothingburger despite religions being heavy in CRUSADER kings 2 >the high priest declares GREAT holy war for Egypt >can choose beneficiary, doesn't matters, Egypt belongs to the one that was chose by the high priest (WTF?!) >le hecking rebellion starts in Egypt during the crusade (zorroasade?) >win, only gets the non-rebelled part of Egypt, the rest will belong to Abyssinia once the rebellion dies >meanwhile trying to revive Zunism (\[T]/ ZVN INVICTVS \[T]/), secret sects work like shit >mfw Zunism's revival would be another waste of time because my entire family and besties are bunch of degenerate incestuous retards At this point I'm all for converting to Chuddhism (Chuddha was right all along) and start genociding zorroastrians. (I would like to begome Tengrist, but unreformed pagans are a pain in the ass when you play them. Not even Taoists can demand conversion. Paradox WTF?!) Because the best part is now the cuckholic pope wants a cucksade against me, and cuckholics have more man-power than zorroastrians despite they're are in constant civil wars and are poor.

/v3g/ - Victoria 3 General: /v3g/ is a thread for the discussion of the game Victoria 3 mainly, however discussion of other Victoria games like 1 and 2 as well as mods or even similar games is allowed. FAQ is discussion of other victorias welcome? Yes! Can I come here to complain if I never played the game? No Are the dlcs worth it? Some are, some aren't Like all paradox games it depends on what you want, ask around What do I do at the start of the game? Build up a supply of construction goods to reduce construction costs How do I reduce the price of a good? Subventions are the easiest way to do it, otherwise you have to produce the good yourself or get a deal with a power that produces said good Why are my states not buying anything from the market! States need trade centers to reach the global market, a trade center needs access to a port to function Meaning if you are landlocked you might have to go to war or sign a treaty I signed a transit treaty with a country and my trade centers still won't trade? That is because you need merchant marine to trade, which is produced by ports If you have no ports of your own you need to "buy" merchant marine by signing a goods transfer treaty with another power Why is russia being a dick? Because they can, what are you gonna do about it? is creamapi for this game safe and functioning? Yes and yes, provided you get it from cs rin ru Thread Template : https://rentry.co/v3gpasta

Sid Meier's Alpha Centauri: just finished a round of Alpha Centauri. seems as good an excuse as any to create a thread about it >It is every citizen's final duty to go into the tanks and become one with all the people! - Chairman Sheng-ji Yang

Lost technology: Has anyone tried this game? could a smooth brained person like me enjoy it? I found Dominions and Conquest of Elysium too much menuing and strategy for my taste

What causes this phenomenon?: Even in Nov of 2025.

Why are tier 1 skeleniggas so expensive to raise in this shit game

What's next?: So, given fairly successful release of EUV it is certain that no Paradox shutdown will be happening in foreseeable future. That begs the question - what's next? Both Stellaris and HoI4 will be decade old next year. And while HoI4 is still very popular, Stellaris is falling more and more behind while getting plagued with technical issues, bugs, shit performance and the botched 4.0 rework. Maybe We will see Stellaris 2 announced next year? Or will they just keep milking these games until last drop? Any other ideas?

/WC3/ - Warcraft 3 General: Warcraft 3 General - This entire thread needs to be purged.

I’m just gonna say it: XCOM fucking sucks actually Really don’t understand why this board jerks it off so much

EUV / EU5 / Europa Universalis 5: https://store.steampowered.com/app/3450310/Europa_Universalis_V/

Anno thread. Anno 117 gets a timed demo tomorrow. Expectations? Personally I hope they don't fuck it up, anno 1800 was great.

/aoeg/ - Age of Empires General: Cleitus edition Prev >>2187194

is it good?

Battleplans: now this came out of the blue and it looks promising https://youtu.be/Vr4lLofANDQ >you command an entire divisions from headquarters down to rifle companies with a fully working chain of command

The Opaque Hand: Any games where you're in charge of a really detailed command economy, and can do ridiculous things like making regular milk cost ten times as much as chocolate milk despite having a shortage of chocolate? War can be abstracted away or non-existent, I just want to mess around with the economy. The game shouldn't be completely silly though, the "goal" should be to make all of your citizens fat and happy. Don't fight in the replies or I'll triple the price of keyboards

holy shit

New WW1 Grandstrat from the team that made the WW1 HOI mod https://youtu.be/85K1VyhlcyM

Why isn't there more hoard defense games

/gsg/ — Grand Strategy General: If you see a gibberish post, it was made by raiders, ignore it. No, Vic 3 is not good yet. In fact it never will be. Neither will EU5. How fares your empire, /gsg/? On this day in history, the 8th of November: 960 – Battle of Andrassos: Romans under Leo Phokas the Younger score a crushing victory over the Hamdanid Emir of Aleppo, Sayf al-Dawla 1519 – Hernán Cortés enters Tenochtitlán and Aztec ruler Moctezuma welcomes him with a great celebration 1861 – American Civil War: The "Trent Affair": The USS San Jacinto stops the British mail ship Trent and arrests two Confederate envoys, sparking a diplomatic crisis between the UK and U 1895 – While experimenting with electricity, Wilhelm Röntgen discovers the X-ray 1901 – Gospel riots: Bloody clashes take place in Athens following the translation of the Gospels into demotic Greek 1923 – Beer Hall Putsch: In Munich, Adolf Hitler leads the Nazis in an unsuccessful attempt to overthrow the German government 1940 – Greco-Italian War: The Italian invasion of Greece fails as outnumbered Greek units repulse the Italians in the Battle of Elaia–Kalamas 1942 – World War II: French Resistance coup in Algiers, in which 400 civilian French patriots neutralize Vichyist XIXth Army Corps after 15 hours of fighting, and arrest several Vichyist generals, allowing the immediate success of Operation Torch in Algiers 2016 – Donald Trump is elected the 45th President of the United States, defeating Hillary Clinton, the first woman ever to receive a major party's nomination Random Country Picker http://orph.link/random >Archive (mods only) https://mega.nz/#F!plMxFYTB!sn9MTrvJ0tYjWSHgM8CZow >Where to get these games https://web.archive.org/web/20190720131512/http://hastebin.com/raw/moqugasume >Mods >> READ THIS FIRST. https://web.archive.org/web/20200712212437/https://pastebin.com/33A7wXdB >>[V2] - Niggermod https://pastebin.com/Xgjd5LvG >>[V2] - Crimeamod https://www.moddb.com/mods/crimeamod Previous thread: >>2200579

Conquest of Elysium 5: I want to have a CoE 5 thread. Been playing it nonstop for the past 2 weeks and it's a lot of fun. Much simpler than the Dom series, but still has a lot of the variety and depth. What are you favourite classes? There are loads of great ones, so I can't decide which one I like the most. I ended up liking the Witch and Cloud Lord a bunch which I was surprised by.

Graviteam Tactics/Combat mission: Fuck that specific spot edition Thread to discuss Graviteam tactics and Combat mission games and others like them.

What's a good game where I can play as orcs?

Was his Spanish siesta good for him?

EUROPA UNIVERSALIS V: Well, he is right or wrong, /vst/?

Songs of Syx: Why the hell can't I get any more human immigrants in my city?

Cossacks: Got any tips for a newbie? I'm playing Back to War, btw.

>Grey Eminence dead >Songs of Eons dead, open source version hasn't been updated in like a year Why do all the interesting projects have to die?

/vst/ 4cc autumn build up: Hello /vst/, its been a while since this has been talked about hasn't it. Yeah, needless to say Spring went horribly, in fact I couldn't even post to tell you guys the cup was going on because the fucking site was down. Regardless, it didn't go well and as such /vst/ is playing this autumn. To sum up the last year of /vst/'s performance in the cup. Well, to put it bluntly /vst/'s currently more cooked than Sigurd was after the end of chapter 5 in FE4. However, there is light at the end of the tunnel, /vst/ has found a new manager and for the first time since Summer 2023 which if I can remind you all was the last time /vst/ made an elite final day. Finally, /vst/ has a triumvirate as a management group once again and I have full confidence in the other two co managers to steer this team in the right direction Anyways to anyone who doesn't know what the 4cc is >What is 4chan Cup? 4chan Cup is a virtual Association Football tournament, played with AI vs AI on Professional Evolution Soccer by Konami, featuring teams made up of various 4chan boards playing against each other. As I have already recapped the state of the team the link to the poll is here: https://forms.gle/rcq7j3QuX4fxoFbU7 If you got any questions about the team please go while and ask away in the thread

Rome 2 mods thread: Is it there any mod that gives you Bad North Jotunn-like (beautiful game that performs well) textures / graphics so my toaster can run it? (My toaster can run Wolfenstein 2014 in high graphics but can NOT Rome 2 in ultra-low ones. Fascinating.) PD: What happened with the mod that give Celtic / Germanic factions Roman-like warfare tech evolution / armors? I can't no longer find it in Steam Workshop.

Frostpunk 2 New DLC Revealed, "Fractured Utopias": https://store.steampowered.com/news/app/1601580/view/809085268448510868?l=english https://youtu.be/GJrPjBeeu74 >DLC's name is "Fractured Utopias" >Launches December 8th >8 New Skill Trees >8 Dedicated Faction Hubs >100 New Narrative Events >2 new Narrative Tales: Plague, and Doomsayers >Plague: A mysterious disease spreads rapidly. Act fast to discover the cure before your city turns into a frozen graveyard. >Doomsayers: A new faction emerges, spreading despair and declaring that all hope is lost. They will sabotage your city’s morale, forcing you to confront their growing influence. >1 New Map Closed Playtests: http://frostpunk2.firstlook.gg/

Worst looking units: Thread inspired by this >>2175383 thread. Post only the most cringe looking strategy units. Starting off with Praetorian from Homm6. Tier 1 unit btw.

I've watched some recent CK3 AARs and it seems like the bordergore is a lot less disgusting than it was on launch. Props to Paradox.

They're really just letting anyone open a bank nowadays aren't they.

>hexagon >can move unit vertically and diagonaly, but not horizontally >octagon >Can move unit vertically, diagonally and horizontally Why did hexagon fields become so popular in strategy games, instead of octagon ones?

Fields of History: The Great War: http://youtube.com/watch?v=85K1VyhlcyM Finally some movement on this. Made by the original guys behind the Great War mod in HoI4. Seems they're going with MicroProse as the publisher which is surprising as I thought they are the platonic ideal of a Hooded Horse game desu. Anyway death to all enemies of the House of Habsburg.

so I recently bought lords of waterdeep on steam and its been the most fun I've had playing a game in months. what are some more good games that are like this (light weight / worker placement / strategy / board game vibe)?

Unpopular opinion: Frost Giant are chads: They tried making something, they put themselves out there. They took a big leap and a risk. Considering how some of you have been behaving, I'm pretty sure future developers will think twice before even attempting to make an RTS. It honestly blows my mind how entitled some of you are, the worst types of consumers that I can only describe as bitter and hateful man-children. It's perfectly fine to feel disappointed by a product, being toxic, harassing developers and coming up with Alex Jones tier conspiracy theories isn't though. I have no idea what they did to warrant the amount of resentment besides daring to hope to be a spiritual successor to Starcraft. Was it the kickstarter stuff? That'll happen sometimes when you invest into something whether it's time or money. It isn't -always- going to go exactly how you want. Don't do it if you can't handle it maturely. The old RTS-games you enjoy are still there, they didn't ruin or break any of them. You can still play those. What's the problem exactly? Is the game not good enough? What's stopping you from being constructive rather than just hating on it? I have 0 affiliation with Frost Giant, I don't particularly like Stormgate either. I do respect them trying though, I respect anyone who actually tries to make something regardless if its successful or a failure. Chads.

how come there isn't a more competitive scene for this game/series? why isn't their a MOBA based off of it? warcraft and starcraft has auto hits with units but in command and conquer your units had some chance to miss. you never really hear about online multiplayer for this game. its laurels completley rest on its single player campaign . which i think was better designed than any blizzard rts single player campaign.

X4 foundations: Diplomacy update public beta out NOW

Free /vst/ vidya shill thread: shill free /vst/ games here! here's 40 from one of the e-celebs I follow https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7ppfzpC0RiE

I want an RTS that makes and tracks ammo: I think players need to get the idea of what its like running a logistics train to your units. You could have munitions plants, ammo trucks, airdrops and resupply drones, which would produce ammo then deliver it to resupply. Also, RTS should track morale. Its important for people to understand that people don't just fight to the death in all circumstances. Air Support should be handled off site, its not a ground commanders job to handle the air. other, gamier aspects of RTS are still fine, but I feel like without these three elements the realism just isn't there.

How woke is Victoria 3?: I'm thinking of trying it because it's on sale, I was a big fan of Victoria 2 but always hated how it encouraged you to become a socialist/liberal democracy at the end of the game to maximize pop growth and the economy. Looking over the artwork for Victoria 3 this game looks to be that but dialed up to 11. How bad is it? Is playing a reactionary absolute monarchy viable or are you bottlenecked until you enact the reforms the developers want you to take?

Menace: >demo so successful they drop even more unplanned content demo chads FEASTING >we get mechs welp time to wait for monday

Battlestar Galactica Deadlock and all of it's DLC'S are being delisted and unbuyable after November 15th https://steamcommunity.com/app/544610/eventcomments/670600125430862129?snr=1_5_9_ No you will not get freeware or even a discount, it'll just be gone. Sucks to be you if you liked the game.

what are the best vst plugins for synths?

Men of War Assault Squad 2 Thread: Looking for high testosterone intelligent men of war to hop on mowas2 and play Robz and sometimes other mods. Maybe even a little Gates of Hell Ostfront. We have around 8 active players currently and would like new people that hop on regularly. Discord Invite https://discord.gg/FBXSgyfvVu

Why is the game not doing any automated trades for me? Market automation doesn't want to make new trades. I tried turning automation on and off. Tried turning it off for a couple months before turning it back on. There are a bunch of profitable possible trades. I tried removing all manual trades and setting all trade capacity to automatic. None of these worked. What do I do? My save is being bricked by this shitty bug. Pic rel is my trade screen after months of waiting for the automation to start doing something.

Master of Orion: MoO1 vs 2 vs apparently we don't talk about 3 vs Conquer the Stars where apparently mods make it OK. Which Master of Orion do you prefer? I've only ever played 2 but love it dearly, minus some of the micromanagement with planets that tends to happen

WW2 Games: I've been wanting to play a turn-based WW2 game, something on a small scale like XCOM, is there a good game like that? Also, general WW2 strategy game thread I guess.

Why do nu paradox games all look soulless

FOOTBALL MANAGER: FM26 releases on November 4th

Age of Wonders 4: Year 3 season pass just revealed

how many playthroughs should i do before im ready to play Long war of the chosen mod?