Need low-micromanagement game

Mr. President · October 22, 2002, 03:49

I'm bored with both Civilization and Alpha Centauri at the moment, since the last time I played either I almost choked under the minutiae involved. I found the games degenerating into arrow key-tapping festivals to move my units into adjacent squares, punctuated with letter keys for commands. I just don't find placing workers as exciting as I used to.

I love strategy games in general, but I want to actually lead and not move six hundred units one space each turn. What game would you recommend to someone who is almost comatose from micromanaging?

DrSpike · October 22, 2002, 05:02

Sounds like you need a RTS to play along with your proper strategy games. I'd recommend Warcraft 3, which has a decent SP game and huge MP following.

Lemmy · October 22, 2002, 06:01

CtP2 is low micromanagement for a civ-game:
* No workers (terraforming) to move around, public works pool instead
* No city workers to place
* Armies are easily created
* Carefull city placement really pays off, so you'll usually end up with less cities to manage then with other games

FrustratedPoet · October 22, 2002, 06:28

Don't listen to Lemmy! It's a trick!

He's right, though, CtP2 does seem like it has far less micro-management than either SMAC or Civ. It should be very very cheap to buy these days so it couldn't hurt for you to give it a try.

DrSpike · October 22, 2002, 06:36

I think playing CtP2 would be a step in the wrong direction.

Maquiladora · October 22, 2002, 08:02

Depends where he wants to go, and less micromanagement is certainly where CtP2 is. (see endless threads about stacked combat and public works)

Shogun Total War, you get to move five thousand units at once instead, but infinately more important than cleaning up that 243rd polluted tile, takes quite a while to get into though.

Or you could always play the original Themepark on sandbox mode. Alleviates stress i find...

DrSpike · October 22, 2002, 08:18

Well medieval total war is out now.......and I would have suggested it as it is a great game. However the micro in the turn based portion is quite heavy. The real time battles are good though.

Lemmy · October 22, 2002, 09:15

Seriously, i don't understand how the game (CtP2) could have gotten such a bad reputation, i understand that Activision isn't popular after abandoning it, but i played it for 2 weeks now, with the Apolyton Pack, and liked it, and i didn't notice any bugs either, no crashes etc..

loinburger · October 22, 2002, 10:33

Lords of the Realm II. You've only got a coupla armies and a coupla provinces, and for the most part your provinces will run themselves once you figure out the game's economic system. This is my favorite TBS game.

Heirs to the Throne is even simpler, almost completely taking the economics out of the game. I don't particularly like this one -- it's too simple.

Dauphin · October 22, 2002, 10:51

CtP2 is alright. I play it more than Civ3, but then that isn't saying much.

Grumbold · October 22, 2002, 11:50

Quote:

Originally posted by Lemmy
Seriously, i don't understand how the game (CtP2) could have gotten such a bad reputation, i understand that Activision isn't popular after abandoning it, but i played it for 2 weeks now, with the Apolyton Pack, and liked it, and i didn't notice any bugs either, no crashes etc..

The bad reputation comes largely from people who bought it on release and hated Activision for abandoning support within a month after issuing a single quick patch that failed to address many issues. After a lot of work by fans the modded game is really pretty good. Of course some people will always dislike some of its design decisions in the same way that Civ III has its fans and detractors. I think everyone should at least try it. For me the army combat wins out over Civ's endless single unit scraps every time.

Apocalypse · October 22, 2002, 15:53

The ba reputation came largely because they tried to pass the game off as the true successor to Sid Meier's franchise and many people (mainly the Nimaders) were really disgusted by this.

Mr. President · October 22, 2002, 21:10

Thanks for the suggestions, everyone.

Thrawn05 · October 22, 2002, 23:28

Force Commander has no micromanagement.

Total Annihilation has little micromanagement.

Rebellion is nothing BUT micromanagement.

Civ3 is all about micromanagement.

Don't even consider Close Combat.

Urban Ranger · October 22, 2002, 23:36

Master of Orion (the original one) - very simple and elegant.

Warlords III - all the micromanagement you have to do is to figure out how to make stacks and what to make in cities

Ages of Wonder - only a small number of armies and no need to mess with peasants/formers.

Grumbold · October 23, 2002, 05:01

Quote:

Originally posted by Thrawn05 Don't even consider Close Combat.

What do you have against Close Combat? I'd not call the ones I've played (III,V) micromanaging.

DeathByTheSword · October 23, 2002, 14:56

i love close combat.......it is very importent how you place your troops so that might be called micromanaging but it is not like moving every thing one tile ahead!

Thrawn05 · October 23, 2002, 22:16

Quote:

Originally posted by Grumbold

What do you have against Close Combat? I'd not call the ones I've played (III,V) micromanaging.

It was a little too much for me. Even if I cheated, those damn germans kicked my rare. Trying to manage each group of men is a lot for me. Kudos for those who can get into it and play it.

loinburger · October 23, 2002, 22:19

I only played CC for a bit, but there was way too much management involved. X-Com was far better, it gave you a smaller, more manageable group.

DrSpike · October 24, 2002, 08:09

Ah X-Com.......now there was game. 1 and 3 were great..........base invasions, flying saucers, going to their planet and committing genocide.........those were the days.

alva · October 24, 2002, 08:22

When I'm (temporarely

) bored of civ, I usually go for something completely different and easy.

Say, The need for speed or something like that

some plain and simple action

Thrawn05 · October 24, 2002, 15:57

I tend to on game rotation through the year. Here are a list of games I play... when I start, I don't stop for a few months.

Civ3
AvPGE
The Dig
Quake 3
Rebellion
Morrowind
Sam N Max
Alice
Dark Forces
Force Commander
IJ: Fate of Atlantis
Total Annihilation: CC
Grim Fandango
MM2: Day of the Tenticle
Outlaws

Not to mention my SNES games.

As you can see, I'm a fan of old skool LucasArts.