The game you've always wanted to play that doesn't exist

[hellfish6]

I was looking at the screens for Grand Tactician: The Civil War (1861-1865) and found myself getting excited about it. Not because I'm interested in the Civil War - actually, I'm not interested in it at all - but I like the way they are combining the strategic (army building, sourcing, sustaining) with the operational (maneuvering forces) and the tactical (fighting the battles). Recognizing that is what I was most interested in, it dawned on me that no other games I can think of allow that.

I'd love to play a Rule The Waves-type game for the Army. Or joint services. A game where you set your military's doctrine (air, sea, land, joint?), maybe design and order/produce your equipment, organize and manage your forces, and respond to contingencies and crises and possibly war. Maybe decisions could help you foster your culture - like your star battalion commander got drunk and killed someone - you're offered a choice to prosecute, cover it up, or crack down on alcohol consumption in your army. Each decision would have an effect on morale, readiness, cohesion, etc. Maybe also manage the careers of officers once they become company commanders. Captain X got high marks as a rifle company commander - do you next assign him to be a general's aide-de-camp, where he might gain prestige and political connections, or assign him to be a foreign observer in Europe to gain experience or maybe assign him to an independent command in the boonies to develop his leadership skills?

You can set the game in the past or present, in a fictional world or the real world. Maybe some armies will have a primary mission of regime protection, some others are little more than militias, and some might be world-class military powers. Each would have unique considerations - do you develop your military to suppress rebels in the mountains of Oman or have them be shiny toy soldiers for the sultan's palace guard? Do you develop a corps of marines for expeditionary operations  - and the ships and doctrine for them - or prepare fixed coastal defenses? Adopt the tank or keep the horse? Independent air force or subordinate it to the Army and/or Navy? Will the well-educated officer corps you've fostered crack in combat because you've coddled them too much?

What are the games you wish existed?

[Jarhead0331]

A would say a 4x that combines the breadth and complexity of Aurora, with AAA graphics and both tactical space fleet and planetary combat along the lines of the Emperor of the Fading Suns.

[Con]

An unholy child of scourge of war with total war and man of war set in the civil war.

[ArizonaTank]

My ideal game almost exists....or more accurately was tried sort of and didn't quite make it.

My ideal is a campaign game with the detail and historical accuracy of Grigsby's War in the Pacific combined with a simulator. Something that allows you to run the campaign, but then jump into any ship or aircraft to fight tactical battles.

The two "Pacific Storm" games by Buka started down that road, but were ultimately badly marred by bugs and particularly as in the case of the first game...very stupid AI.

[Rayfer]

Like hellfish6 mentions in his initial post, I'm hopeful Grand Tactician: The Civil War (1861-1865) is the game I've always wanted.

[Gusington]

I've always wanted to play an RPG set in 19th century New York City.

[Sir Slash]

A Med Campaign 1940-43 with Strategic/Operational/Tactical level play Air/Sea/Land from both sides that doesn't require a PhD in anything to play. And NO Sea Monsters.  >:(

[Yskonyn]

A truely combined arms high fidelity sim where the infantry of ArmA, the mechanized combat of Steel Beasts, the air warfare of DCS, the strategic layer of Command Modern Ops and the dynamic campaign of Falcon 4 was the inspiration to create one sim to rule them all.

Jarheads option comes close 2nd.

[Father Ted]

A battle royale in a movie Western setting

[MengJiao]

A Med Campaign 1940-43 with Strategic/Operational/Tactical level play Air/Sea/Land from both sides that doesn't require a PhD in anything to play. And NO Sea Monsters.  >:(

  I'm for that.  I have however simulated some dragons in CMANO long ago.  They were unbelievably effective since they had to be based on Vulcan bombers with the Red Beard and Yellow Sun RAF nukes.

[MengJiao]

A battle royale in a movie Western setting

  Okay.  That sounds great too.

[al_infierno]

I've always wanted a Rockstar open-world game like RDR or GTA set in Nazi-occupied Europe, which places you in the shoes of a partisan fighter.

[Jarhead0331]

I've always wanted a Rockstar open-world game like RDR or GTA set in Nazi-occupied Europe, which places you in the shoes of a partisan fighter.

Never played Saboteur?

[SirAndrewD]

Age of Rifles II.

[al_infierno]

I've always wanted a Rockstar open-world game like RDR or GTA set in Nazi-occupied Europe, which places you in the shoes of a partisan fighter.

Never played Saboteur?

I mean a game actually *by* Rockstar  :D

Also, Eastern Europe would be my ideal setting.  Saboteur is set in France, right?  Still does look like a cool game, maybe I should pick it up.