What's that one game you always go back to?

[JasonPratt]

Booted up Empire Earth 1 (with the Age of Conquest expansion) again today. Made my eyes cross, lol! Still a great game.

(Note that if you get the GoG version, I've heard it's better NOT to install it with GoG Galaxy. But if you do, like me, be sure to set both the main EEGold and EEAoC executables to Windows 7 compatibility. And don't worry if the game boots up in 480. What matters is that the game can play in 1080, once it gets going; the menus are lower res.)

[Gusington]

I hated EE with the fire of 1000 suns.

[GJK]

Booted up Empire Earth 1 (with the Age of Conquest expansion) again today. Made my eyes cross, lol! Still a great game.

(Note that if you get the GoG version, I've heard it's better NOT to install it with GoG Galaxy. But if you do, like me, be sure to set both the main EEGold and EEAoC executables to Windows 7 compatibility. And don't worry if the game boots up in 480. What matters is that the game can play in 1080, once it gets going; the menus are lower res.)

Loved Empire Earth I - that was the go to LAN game between me and my son.

[GJK]

1. Duke Nukem 3D (with Hi-Rez Pack)
2. Played some HPS Sims' "Midway" today
3. CMx1 (Combat Mission original editions)
4. A variety of games via VASSAL

[Martok]

Stellaris (v2.13) has had me in its iron grip for a long time now.  It's not the game's "best" version (that will always be 1.9), but it is the one that I've consistently played the most. 


I also feel compelled to include the following games as honorable mentions... 

Fallen Enchantress: Legendary Heroes
Distant Worlds: Universe
Rome II: Total War
Thrones of Britannia: Total War

[Anguille]

Stellaris (v2.13) has had me in its iron grip for a long time now.  It's not the game's "best" version (that will always be 1.9), but it is the one that I've consistently played the most. 


I also feel compelled to include the following games as honorable mentions... 

Fallen Enchantress: Legendary Heroes
Distant Worlds: Universe
Rome II: Total War
Thrones of Britannia: Total War

Wait....where is Birth of the Federation?

[Martok]

Wait....where is Birth of the Federation?

I still return to that one as well, but admittedly not as much as I used to, and definitely less than the other games I listed.  I still fire up BOTF from time to time, and I can enjoy for it a while, but I inevitably feel like it's missing something.  :-\ 

The game will always remain on my hard drive, but I confess it's finally lost some of its luster in my eyes.  In terms of mechanics, features, and AI, I realized the majority of newer 4x/grand-strategy titles are simply better products -- not all of them, of course, but enough to keep me satisfied...and to be worthy of occupying (even my) limited gaming time. 


That being said, if Birth of the Federation 2 is ever developed/released, I'll be happier than a clam in mud.  ;) 

[Anguille]

Wait....where is Birth of the Federation?

I still return to that one as well, but admittedly not as much as I used to, and definitely less than the other games I listed.  I still fire up BOTF from time to time, and I can enjoy for it a while, but I inevitably feel like it's missing something.  :-\ 

The game will always remain on my hard drive, but I confess it's finally lost some of its luster in my eyes.  In terms of mechanics, features, and AI, I realized the majority of newer 4x/grand-strategy titles are simply better products -- not all of them, of course, but enough to keep me satisfied...and to be worthy of occupying (even my) limited gaming time. 


That being said, if Birth of the Federation 2 is ever developed/released, I'll be happier than a clam in mud.  ;)

I must admit, i haven't played it for some time either. Still waiting for a worthy successor though. Many good games but none that gives me the chills i had with BotF.  A Birth of the Federation 2 would be the best.

[Barthheart]

The Star Trek mod for Stellaris is a pretty close game to BotF. It really is worth a look if you haven't tried it.

[Anguille]

The Star Trek mod for Stellaris is a pretty close game to BotF. It really is worth a look if you haven't tried it.

It's on my list of things to try. Unfortunately, i think Stellaris isn't a good game and i have to force myself to play it.

[Martok]

The Star Trek mod for Stellaris is a pretty close game to BotF. It really is worth a look if you haven't tried it.

I actually do have the New Horizons mod installed (happily there's still a 2.13-compatible version), and have begun a United Earth campaign.  I just haven't gotten very far into it yet. 

Unfortunately, i think Stellaris isn't a good game and i have to force myself to play it.

I'll always wonder if you'd have enjoyed Stellaris pre-2.xx.  Probably not still, but I at least think the odds would have been better. 


It's a pity Martin replaced Henrik as game director, as I think the latter would've taken Stellaris in a different, better direction.  (No forced star lanes, for one thing!) 

[JasonPratt]

I worked back up to attempting the current version (recently updated and sub-patched) of Ultimate Apocalypse for Dawn of War: Soulstorm, and the past two nights I've been trying to figure out how to survive my first chosen match: I'm playing Tau (and trying to avoid using walls and turrets since they aren't supposed to have turrets), on a 3v3 deep rectangle map, right hand side. To my left are AI allies Space Marines (middle) and Necrons (left). Against us left to right are Chaos SM, Chaos Daemons, and Dark Eldar (across from me directly).

I have spent two nights now trying to figure out a build order that would let me win, or even come close to winning. My two AI mates do not seem to be pulling their weight that much; the Chaos teams swarm us down one lane or the other, then down all the lanes, and it's over. So I can't just blame it on the AI, because the other side is doing great. Also, the other side clearly varies its strategies from round to round. Moreover, far from getting confused and going into a deadloop where nothing happens, I've had the Marines send a whole swarm of builders over to help me out on more than one occasion! (I've got the extra AI processing loops turned on.)

Last night after a good three hours of bashing my head against the wall, and wondering if I had set the parameters too weirdly, I suddenly remembered: the mod's main designer has long said to be careful about playing the game on "normal" because for this mod "normal" = "hard", and "easy" = "normal", just in how things are balanced out. The mod started out defaulting to "easy", but I set it to "normal" because I forgot this warning.

Hopefully my administrative pushups will result in a better match tonight, when I set it back to "easy = normal".  ^-^ (In short, only a skilled human team should be trying to fight the AI on "normal", or possibly a 1v1 match.)

[Ian C]

Sid Meier's Pirates!

[Gusington]

^For the dancing minigame?

[bbmike]

The Star Trek mod for Stellaris is a pretty close game to BotF. It really is worth a look if you haven't tried it.

It's not turn-based.  L:-)