No Good Modern Global Strategy Games?

Ian C · February 28, 2014, 12:50:38 PM

I'm wondering why there are no good modern Global Strategic / Geopolitical games out there. Balance of Power and Shadow President were great games. The Third World War boardgame series from GDW were great. Why hasn't anything new been done? Surely there must be a gap in the niche market for this kind of game/simulation?

I've seen Rulers of Nations (buggy, poor support and no wargame features ), and the others and they really don't do it for me. Or am I missing some I'm not aware of?

Something Like Jane's Fleet Command with a geopolitics side would be incredible.

tgb · February 28, 2014, 01:14:10 PM

There are the Supreme Ruler games if you don't mind a lot of fiddly micromanagement and a very steep learning curve. Paradox announced East vs. West, a Balance of Power successor using the HoI III engine, but with no word in a while and HoI IV now in the pipeline, who knows if it's still on track?

GMT announced a PC version of Twilight Struggle a few years ago. Last official word from GMT was that it would "definitely" be released by the end of 2012. The last update on the website of the development house working on it was that it was going into beta testing soon. That was posted almost a year ago, in March 2013. Since then the only thing I've seen about it is irate posts from people who preordered, but those eventually get deleted from the GMT forums. Make of that what you will.

Ian C · February 28, 2014, 02:09:50 PM

Quote from: tgb on February 28, 2014, 01:14:10 PM
There are the Supreme Ruler games if you don't mind a lot of fiddly micromanagement and a very steep learning curve.

Unfortunately this is one of 'the others' I mentioned. I would have stayed with this game and given it some attention but there is no way to create military groups (divisions, brigades etc.). The units are individually 'on the map' and that won't do at all.

QuoteGMT announced a PC version of Twilight Struggle a few years ago. Last official word from GMT was that it would "definitely" be released by the end of 2012. The last update on the website of the development house working on it was that it was going into beta testing soon. That was posted almost a year ago, in March 2013. Since then the only thing I've seen about it is irate posts from people who preordered, but those eventually get deleted from the GMT forums. Make of that what you will.

I just checked this out. It does look a bit suspect, sure. However, the boardgame looks very interesting indeed...

Ian C · February 28, 2014, 02:27:29 PM

Found this:

http://www.usandthemcoldwar.com/

tgb · February 28, 2014, 02:31:22 PM

Quote from: IanC on February 28, 2014, 02:27:29 PM
Found this:

http://www.usandthemcoldwar.com/

I forgot about this one. I checked out some videos when it was first released, and it just didn't grab me.

bobarossa · February 28, 2014, 02:43:25 PM

Quote from: IanC on February 28, 2014, 02:27:29 PM
Found this:

http://www.usandthemcoldwar.com/

Wow, that had to be the worst game video/trailer ever. Not a single image or word about the game in 2:35 long video.

Silent Disapproval Robot · February 28, 2014, 02:50:43 PM

I played the demo. I thought it was fairly interesting and easier to grasp than Supreme Ruler: Cold War (yet another game on my never play but want to learn pile.

bayonetbrant · February 28, 2014, 03:39:10 PM

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1743441977/supremacy-2020-superpower-game-of-nuclear-brinskma

Nefaro · February 28, 2014, 04:47:33 PM

Quote from: Silent Disapproval Robot on February 28, 2014, 02:50:43 PM
I played the demo. I thought it was fairly interesting and easier to grasp than Supreme Ruler: Cold War (yet another game on my never play but want to learn pile.

I played the demo for Us And Them shortly after it came out. While the screenshots looked like it would be an okay 'lite' geopoli Cold War game, I found the interface to be terrible and some of the mechanics rather odd in my short play session. Never started it again. I checked the dev forums for scuttlebutt on the thing but the few people who had picked it up seemed rather disappointed with it, and especially with the lack of any response or updates there.

There may be a good game in it, once you get a ways into a campaign, but my initial impressions weren't very good so I didn't make it that far.

I later purchased it in an indie bundle for dirt cheap, but haven't given it a full go. I often forget I have it. I'll probably give it another shot sometime.

EDIT: I remember one UI issue I had with the game. It's locked at 1024x768 screen resolution. That, mixed with rather small icons you had to click on the map, made it difficult to do so on my larger res desktop monitor. I may load this up again on my notebook and check it out. After browsing through the manual I am reminded about it having more of a historically inspired Spy theme than Political and not necessarily in a simulation kind of way.

ArizonaTank · February 28, 2014, 06:56:28 PM

Quote from: tgb on February 28, 2014, 01:14:10 PM
There are the Supreme Ruler games if you don't mind a lot of fiddly micromanagement and a very steep learning curve. Paradox announced East vs. West, a Balance of Power successor using the HoI III engine, but with no word in a while and HoI IV now in the pipeline, who knows if it's still on track?

I think Supreme Ruler Cold War would come close. I like it...but yes it is fiddly. An older game, you could probably get it for a song.

tgb · February 28, 2014, 08:57:28 PM

This thread actually inspired me to head over to the Paradox forums and see what the status of East vs. West is. In a word, not good.

It appears that Paradox is abandoning it (as of March 1, I think), much like they did Magna Mundi last year. Only this time they say that the developers will give a free copy of the game to anyone who wants it. It's still considered a beta, but the developers are encouraging donations (entirely voluntary - you can still get a copy for free) and if enough cash comes in they may keep working on it and may actually finish it one day. but Paradox will no longer be footing the bill.

Disappointing, to say the least, but I may check it out for free just to see how bad a train wreck it actually is.

Grim.Reaper · February 28, 2014, 09:35:32 PM

Very strange indeed....

Nefaro · March 01, 2014, 03:34:53 PM

Quote from: tgb on February 28, 2014, 08:57:28 PM
This thread actually inspired me to head over to the Paradox forums and see what the status of East vs. West is. In a word, not good.

It appears that Paradox is abandoning it (as of March 1, I think), much like they did Magna Mundi last year. Only this time they say that the developers will give a free copy of the game to anyone who wants it. It's still considered a beta, but the developers are encouraging donations (entirely voluntary - you can still get a copy for free) and if enough cash comes in they may keep working on it and may actually finish it one day. but Paradox will no longer be footing the bill.

Disappointing, to say the least, but I may check it out for free just to see how bad a train wreck it actually is.

awww. :-[

Staggerwing · March 01, 2014, 04:19:12 PM

Could it be that Paradox now has plans for the upcoming HOI4 to get an official cold war expansion and don't want to get bogged down with mods for HOI3?

Nefaro · March 01, 2014, 04:20:58 PM

Quote from: Staggerwing on March 01, 2014, 04:19:12 PM
Could it be that Paradox now has plans for the upcoming HOI4 to get an official cold war expansion and don't want to get bogged down with mods for HOI3?

I seriously doubt it. They don't really mod their own games into other eras. It would have to be another 3rd party team doing it and that method doesn't seem to be going well lately.