Jon Shafer

A New Strategy Game for You - What is it?

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Now that I've seen what's possible, I've figured out what my perfect, just-for-Michael game is: All the best parts of The Operational Art of War and Unity of Command.

Having played from tactical/skirmish up to strategy/grand strategy, I have the most fun at the operational level. If I could get the depth, scenario flexibility, and gameplay of TOAW and mix that with the brilliant interface of UoC I would be a happy camper.

TOAW had a great update in 2011 that refreshed it and added some modern niceties but I've never been crazy about the interface. UoC has one the best interfaces I've ever seen, but as it's still relatively new it has scenarios that are limited to one front of one war and no scenario editor. (I'm sure more will come with time.)

Maybe UoC will eventually become that game, or maybe TOAW 4 will happen someday. Maybe someone else entirely will create a new game and we'll get to TOAW what Panzer Corps was to Panzer General. In the meantime, I'm perfectly happy to play both.

edit: Oh yeah, and since I can be picky there should be an option for either the snappy UoC unit graphics and NATO symbols.

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I would like a turn based strategy game that is similar in mechanics to the Civilization series (tiles of some shape, tiles give certain amount of different resources) but is different in that its ultimately more like the board game Agricola where you are against others but the real fun is in building the farm and so even if losing on a score chart its still enjoyable.

I have ideas on how to implement this and they are:

1) Retain a game much like Civ except war can't just be declared willy-nilly. There is a mechanic where a state of war consumes a resource (not cash/gold but something abstract) and thus can only occur for a finite length of turns before automatic peace occurs. But even then a rival make have invested in a mechanic that makes wars against them impossible/unprofitable (eg cities taken in a war can be immediately returned to the original ower if they invested in a mechanic). Drastically increase the number of buildings that a city can build such that no one city could ever dream of building them all, thus really improving the city specialisation side of the game. Expand of the Civ V idea of tech tree vs civic "tree", have different resources giving points in different tech trees and have each tech tree balanced with the others. Basically a game the compared with Civ de-emphasises land ownership and emphasises city building.

2) Retain the Civ style map but make it so the player represents a corporation (or ruling family in a nation because corporations are yucky) and every player can invest in the same tiles but the return from tiles reduces the more players are invested in a tile. These must be a mechanic where tile investment can not occur anywhere on the map, perhaps only spreading outwards from an expensive investment in a tile anywhere on the map. Thus the game of minimising expensive investment anywhere vs cheap investment on tile already boardering an owned tile, to overall maximise investment all over the map in the things you need. Diplomacy is key, mutually agreeing to not invest in each others tiles or agreeing to invest in a third party's tiles to reduce tile yield. Diplomacy is encouraged and more advantageous for players persuring different victories. Due to the current limitations of AI diplomacy with humans (ie the "feel" of it) this style of game would be better as a multiplayer experience.

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I'd like to see a 4X or grand strategy type game where government was more than just a particular set of bonuses. Where the type of government you had would have an impact on the type of actions you could take, or create different procedures affecting how you play the game. It's a tall order because if you created too much detail I think it would make the game really dull, but it would be nice to see a game that illuminates how different types of public institutions result in different policy outcomes.

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To add to my idea...

A 4x TBS thats is designed to be co-op vs AI and the rules are asymetrical, thus the AI plays a game its good at under rules different to the humans. Like "AI War"

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I'd like to see a Napoleonic wargame done from an overview planning map where troop placement and movement was affected by timing and logistics. So I guess you could even call it a mash up between casual time management game, and a troop manoeuvre game. The ground would affect movement speeds, and supply rates. Basically two functions would affect the outcome of the battle, position and timing. It could be done in slow time or even be simultaneous turn. Essentially, I think I'm looking for something like the Panthergames titles, but in the Napoleonic era, with supply heavily involved, rather than adbstracted.

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I'd probably stick to my hobbyhorse. I'd like a strategy game that recreates the collapse of the Roman Empire and the rise of the post-Roman kingdoms, culminating in Carolingian dominance.

Being a historian and not a game designer, I couldn't speak to the mechanics, but I think there are some very interesting tensions there that would play quite well. The integrity of the frontier must be maintained, though too strict would isolate Rome and too lax would leave nothing to defend. This decision could be nuanced by orders from the emperor and requests from Germanic chieftains, often with the intent of presenting a no-win situation, forcing a general to either rebel for his own good or accept a fail state.

Likewise, if we move into the fifth century, the currency becomes continuity with Rome. For a newly minted king, to consolidate power is to distance himself from the Roman government he replaced, often with disastrous results. The challenge would be to derive enough legitimacy from diplomatic contacts, military victories, and cultural fusion to transform a society from toady for Byzantium or the Huns to world power, probably much in the vein of current Total War games, but with medievalization instead of modernization.

Whenever new scholarship comes out about the Lombard Wars or something like that, all I can think of is how many permutations of strategy game would serve this period in history so well, from King of Dragon Pass to Europa Universalis III. Just the rise of Christianity and the fluidity of ethnicities alone are entire game mechanics in themselves, but as a misunderstood and unglamorous period in history, it's just about as likely as a game about African tribal politics.

Actually, reading over this thread, Jaraknarn's game would work just fine in my case too.

Alright, so I realise that I'm responding to a rather old post, but you might want to check out a game called Great Invasions. It was designed by Philippe Thibaut, who later went on to found Ageod Games. The game has a lot of interesting concepts, that I haven't really seen anywhere else. You don't play one nation, but a group of nations. As time progresses, a nation that starts as a barbarian tribe can evolve into a kingdom, then into an empire. Each state has pros and cons, but as a nation ages, it will become more and more difficult to manage, untill it's eventually overrun by barbarians, who then go on to found a new kingdom.

Sadly, the game is quite flawed, and never quite received the support it deserved, but it's playable, and quite enjoyable. I'm still hoping that there will be a sequel someday, but I'm not sure how likely that is. Here's a link to an AAR, in case anyone's interested. The game itself can be picked up rather cheaply, in either the Matrix or Ageod store, but it should also be possible to find a physical copy. Be aware that the latest patch is not compatible with the physical copies, but if you PM Philippe at the Ageod forums, and politely ask for help, he can probably help you out with that.

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