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help needed ... historical buildy-sim recommendations?

interpolator
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danr interpolator
help needed for someone entirely out of the loop on niche PC games, i know sod all except the widely advertised ones

with action games now confined to the comfy sofa and big telly downstairs, my PC in the attic has become almost purely a sink for countless hours of various Total Wars and Age of Empires and Civ4. What i've been finding is that the real time-sapping enjoyment in these comes from building and running settlements, usually peacefully ... so i'm looking for something with more of a focus on this

SimCity is fun, but a period setting is what i'm really after ... ideally something like Stronghold 2, but not broken and infuriating and with less bollocks combat. Pretty now-gen visuals aren't really important, but decent production values are - i can't stand cheap UIs and common unchecked bugs, they make me grind my teeth.

i assume not everyone on this board is obsessed with assault rifles or clouds of purple magic lightning, so any recommendations in this genre?

ta

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  • teaandcigarettes
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    teaandcigarettes polycounter lvl 12
    Ceasar 3/Pharaoh - quite old, but as good as ever. Keep in mind that they can be incredibly hard at times and Pharaoh takes AGES to finish.

    If you want something more recent, then try Ceasar 4 instead. It is a bit buggy and much easier to play than its predecessors, but quite fun anyway.


    If you want to play them then keep one thing in mind; the bigger your city gets, the easier it is to screw it up. Unlike most strategy games, these can get harder as you play them.
  • SyaPed
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    SyaPed polycounter lvl 18
    Dawn of Discovery looks pretty
    952498_20090715_screen003.jpg
  • Bal
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    Bal polycounter lvl 17
    I really enjoyed Anno 1404 (dawn of discovery in the US). It has a bit of fighting in it, but it's mostly city building, trading, etc, depending on the missions.
  • danr
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    danr interpolator
    yeah Anno 1404 looks right up my alley, i was just about to grab it off steam but noticed the £35 price tag ... considering it's a year old and goes for half of that on Amazon and Game, that's mental! Guess i may have to walk into town, and actually use money to acquire it from one of these old "shoppe" things (still, i guess a printed manual might be useful)

    hows the new Settlers going down? I played the original to death and this looks like a return to those roots, but the Ubisoft DRM is a massive turn off for me (probably literally, my wireless connection is flaky)
  • Marine
  • ElysiumGX
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    ElysiumGX polycounter lvl 18
    Dawn of Discovery is very pretty.

    I played the Settlers 6 for a while. The recently installment looks like an big improvement. The DRM doesn't sound terrible, but I can see it being a hassle for some. Sucks they left it in on Steam.
  • Disco Stu
    Anno is the best :D
    But be warned its in no way casual!
    In the beginning its pretty easy but it gets more and more and more demanding with time.
    My games usually end with me destroying myself through fires or a diseases or an economy that goes down the shitter.
    Very good game nonetheless.
  • Adam L. Gray
    Anno really kicked ass. I thought it'd be a bit more war stuff in it, but really, killing off an opponent in a scenario etc. takes forever, you just build up until you know you'll be able to win, attack someone and then one day later, ah fuck it, I would win eventually but can't go on capping warehouses :p

    Anyway, it still is an awesome game.. A tad dangerously addictive though.
  • r_fletch_r
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    r_fletch_r polycounter lvl 9
    Anno is jaw dropping, the level of detail is astounding. zoom in on the farms and you see people carrying water from the nearby watering hole. herding cattle, crushing the apples for cider. The people in the streets get hassled by beggars, get into fights. its nuts.

    Its quite funny the first time the computer tells you you've been playing for hours nd why not get a cup of coffee or take a walk :)
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