Episode 380: The Best Strategy Games of 2016

[Rob Zacny]

Three Moves Ahead 380:

The Best Strategy Games of 2016
Hey there, friend. How's it going? Have a seat here next to your Uncle Rob. You can have a sip of my brandy old fashioned if you don't tell your mom. Why the long face, ace? 2016 got you down? Yeah, it's been kind of a shit year. But that's okay, I've got good news: regardless of what's happened in the rest of the world, 2016 was one of the best years ever for strategy games. The number of quality releases is enough to keep anyone busy for the next decade. But Uncle Rob, Cousin Fraser, and Wacky Neighbor Rowan are here to guide you through the best games of the year and give their definitive, not hesitant at all lock-in picks for Strategy Game of the Year. 

Hearts of Iron IV, Total Warhammer: Warhammer of War (tm), Civilization VI, Darkest Dungeon, Homeworld: Deserts of Kharak, Banner Saga 2, XCOM 2, Shadow Tactics: Blades of the Shogun, Fire Emblem Fates, Ashes of the Singularity, Civilization VI, Europa Universalis IV, Stellaris, Rimworld, Ultimate General: Civil War, Offworld Trading Company, Atlas Reactor

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[PatientPylon]

Great podcast guys! I always enjoy 3MA, but I feel like you really knocked it out of the park this time. Very witty and funny and insightful. 

 

 

[Barmecide]

Hey, just wanted to start off by saying that 3MA is my go-to for critical discussions about strategy games. Here's to hopefully another great year.

 

That being said, I went back to some of the old episodes - specifically the time you reviewed/discussed Europa Universalis IV way back in 2013 - and downloaded it, only to find it wasn't about EUIV; instead, it covered rebel and dissent mechanics in other games compared to the implementation in EUIV. Downloaded the Rebels, Dissent & Treason episode to check, and it's about Neuroshima Hex.

 

So it seems that at some point in the archives the labeling went awry and the episode contents are one ahead of the actual episode number. It might be something weird on my side (but if it is heaven knows what it is). I don't use iTunes so that might be the cause. Could someone confirm by downloading from the episode page or RSS feed?

[Michael]

16 minutes ago, Almost A Hero said:

So it seems that at some point in the archives the labeling went awry and the episode contents are one ahead of the actual episode number. 

 

Yes, this is unfortunately the case. Shortly after coming under the Idle Thumbs umbrella we switched from hosting our shows on Libsyn to Soundcloud. As it turns out, there was a range of about 75-100 shows that got shifted by one episode number relative to their actual spot during the transition. We thought one or two got borked but we're learning over time that it was a big range. 

 

We received another note about it last week and I've been looking into it (that was when I realized just how many were off). I've got a spreasheet to track which shows I've fixed, but given my slow upload speeds I can only do them a handful at a time when I have the chance. But we're working on it. If find a show that you want to hear and it turns out you get the wrong audio, head to the previously numbered episode and it should be there. Eventually they will all be fixed!

[ilitarist]

I'm really glad you all liked Total Warhammer that much. Because this is a series I'd love to love and half of my posts here are about all of them being a disapointment. Maybe not Shogun 2 because I couldn't get into it because of a seemingly boring premise. 

 

But I love Attila. Just bought it on this steam sale. Unlike every previous Total War game that had no real explanation as to why everything goes to hell (except maybe Napoleon) this one has a strong and understandable narrative. In Rome 2 even when I was a british tribe conquering Britain I was still asked to go conquer half of the world because that's what the game is about. Attila asks me to survive first and foremost. It gives me a crumbling empire and makes me wonder if it's weak enough at the moment so I can strike. Even when playing as side show patched in Garamantes (North African berbers) I seemy local flavor and state of the world affecting me. And the other eternal problem of Total War is solved: it tries to tell me that this is the battle as it has happened but I know that all of those great battles where ten times bigger. Now as it's a late antiquity and everything is crumbling it makes sense that armies are small and skirmishes decide fates of nations.

 

...And EU4 is still the game of the year. Still waiting for Stellaris which is supposed to come out soon. It's supposed to be like a Victoria 2 in space. It will be great!

[murdocj]

I'm still in the middle of listening to this episode but just wanted to comment a little on the discussion on Banner Saga 2.  I seem to be the only person on the planet who preferred Saga 1 over 2.   Rob gave a good analysis as to why he thought 2 was the better game, which kind of makes me feel like I missed a lot as I was playing.  It took me a long time to finish it off, and with gaps in my playtime I think I lost the thread of the story. 

 

The main reason I had such gaps is that I just didn't connect with the characters the way I did in Banner Saga 1.  I really cared about the story with Rook and Alette and Hakon and Iver and Ubin in Saga 1.  In Saga 2 I just didn't care so much about their story, and about  people like Bolverk.  And some of the story felt like very artificial twists: "hah, you thought Eyvind was good, guess what, he's evil!  You thought the dredge were evil, guess what, they're just poor refugees!"  Somehow the story just felt like plot twists for the sake of plot twists in a way that didn't engage me.

 

Anyway, I'm just tossing this out there... just curious if anyone else had the same reaction.  I absolutely loved Saga 1 and felt rather disappointed by Saga 2.  At some point I think I'll go back and make an effort to play Saga 2, or at least a chunk of it, at a steadier pace to see if I get into it more. 

 

 

 

 

[Adam Beckett]

Picking up on something hinted in the show, something that always gets dismissed in these "Best of ... " end of the year discussions - yet is on everyone's mind - are the PATCHES/DLC of already existing games?

 

I like to mention Starcraft II in 2016. It was the most balanced of the Starcraft 2 years. And don't take my word for it, but Artosis and Tasteless, the legendary English language commentators of the Korean Starcraft scene, said themselves, they had never seen better Starcraft 2 play than this year, culminating in the GSL Code A Season 2 and the BlizzCon Grand Finals. And yet, Korea dissolved two of the three Starcraft leagues, leaving only GSL for 2017 and it might be the last year of professional StarCraft in South Korea!

Another well known game, which had a miraculous year is DOTA 2 in 2016 (before the 7.00 patch). The game reached a pinnacle in 2016, with the tournaments in Manila (Manila Major), StarLadder 5 all the way to TI 6 and the Boston Major. Tournaments in which the teams chose between 100 different heroes(!) out of 111 available strategizing and counter-picking, trying to win those millions of Dollars prize money. The game was in such a sweet spot, that I - as a viewer, not a player - would understand coherently the three different stages of the early, mid- and late-game play, as the chess-like opening strategies, or the minute-by-minute individual gameplay, culminating in team vs team back and forth battles. If Starcraft is the mechanically most demanding game, Dota 2 - in 2016 - was the highlight of what a RTS game can become.

The game showed me this year especially, how it is (speed) chess-like in one way and so much more beyond it. It was a beauty to watch ... until Valve decided, towards the end of the year, with their 7.00 patch, to throw it all out and reboot the game. 

A third game that comes to my mind is Crusader Kings II in 2016. Everytime I read about new DLC, it sounds like this game NEEDED this addition. It made sense to add CONCLAVE or THE REAPER'S DUE to the base game (just like the upcoming "Monks & Mystics" DLC). Ever widening an incredible game.

 

I am sure, all of you Gents, have your own games, that come to mind?

 

In addition, I discovered for myself lately more and more mobile games, offering some form of Strategy/Tactical game elements and mechanics. From "Birth of the Empire" (Android) which is a formidable 4x clone of MoO2 and Star Trek: Birth of the Federation, to   "Clash Royale" which was mentioned by Gamasutra as not just one of the best-selling games of 2016, but also something game developers should take a look at, to Creative Assembly's Total War Battles KINGDOM (also on Steam/PC), to "Conquest 3 Kingdoms" - a new mobile Android version of "Romance of the Three Kingdoms", to many more. Even if the "strategy" part might look shallow, I find many of these games appealing. (Honorable mention "Moveless Chess", which is more of a puzzle game, but the idea is brilliant!)

[LHunt5]

I just want to say how awesome this podcast is, and thank you all for sharing your opinions and expertise on the genre. I just found the podcast today on iTunes during a long road trip when I searched for 'Europa Universalis'. I picked up EU4 and HoI4 during the most recent Steam sale and have been thoroughly enjoying EU4. Haven't delved into HoI4 yet because there's just so much to EU4, but I can't wait to learn more and sink in hundreds of more hours into these Paradox games.

 

Thanks again folks and can't wait to follow yall on a more regular basis!

[ilitarist]

13 hours ago, Adam Beckett said:

A third game that comes to my mind is Crusader Kings II in 2016. Everytime I read about new DLC, it sounds like this game NEEDED this addition. It made sense to add CONCLAVE or THE REAPER'S DUE to the base game (just like the upcoming "Monks & Mystics" DLC). Ever widening an incredible game.

 

It must be a taste thing like a Pepsi/Coke or something with Europa Universalis 4 and Crusader Kings 2. I like the idea of Crusader Kings 2 but don't understand how can it be played once the novelty wears off and you see most of the events. All of the characters are so similar and it never matters  who does what, and the game is still constructed like a strategy game so you're playing RPG in a strategy shell and neither works good. You get a simple strategy with a war suddenly ending cause someone died because of random event and then you get event chains that are only slightly dependent in an obscure way on character traits but usually are just random templates grabbing random characters and creating narrative from there.

 

But Europa Universalis 4... That's the game. I haven't gotten to HoI4 yet only cause it won't be as good as EU4. Trying to trick myself into getting into HoI4 by converting grand campaign from EU4 to Vic2 and HoI4.

[Salacious Snake]

I've never played Darkest Dungeon, but hearing it discussed, it made me think of Dan Verssen's Leader series of board games. Verssen makes interesting choices about what to abstract or automate versus what elements should involve more granular interaction. Specifically, you spend more thought on preparing your sortie by assigning pilots and aircraft and munitions than you do on moment-to-moment tactical considerations once the shit hits the fan. (Which makes a certain kind of sense, since you wouldn't really have that much time to react to things once action breaks out.) And when the dust settles, you need to manage pilot stress levels (or straight up insanity if you're using the Cthulhu Conflict expansion for Hornet Leader).

 

I don't really have a point to make, but I thought the parallel was neat. It got me wondering what a Dungeoneer Leader might look like.

 

Also, I should probably play Darkest Dungeon!

 

[General Crespin]

On 1/4/2017 at 9:01 PM, LHunt5 said:

I just want to say how awesome this podcast is, and thank you all for sharing your opinions and expertise on the genre. I just found the podcast today on iTunes during a long road trip when I searched for 'Europa Universalis'.

 

The backlog is totally worth working through if you have time!

[Kordanor]

A little bit late to the party, but another game from 2016 which is totally worth being checked is Tahira. Somewhat similar style and combat to Banner Saga, but without any character progression or RPG aspects.

Mostly pure tactic, but extremely good one. And with ~30h of total game play also doesn't eat much time of bigger projects.

[04048]

On 1/9/2017 at 9:48 AM, Salacious Snake said:

I've never played Darkest Dungeon...Also, I should probably play Darkest Dungeon!

 

Yes. Yes you should. It's like E.A. Poe + H.P. Lovecraft + tactical rpg + heroin. 

I'm 50 hours in, getting adventurers sent through the meat grinder, and I couldn't be happier.