Computerized--not table-top. It can take place in something that simulates the realworld, or in any other world, for that matter. Only one, and it must be turn-based.
Over to you.
Still Master of Magic despite the VGA graphics and 30mhz AI. --- FE is getting there (maybe with LH).
Honorable mentions to Alpha Centauri & GalCiv 2.
Civilization II - the best game I've ever played, period. I logged more hours in that game than most others combined I think.
Sid Meier's Alpha Centauri
At the time, the game had incredible gameplay and offered the player a lot of options. It also was easy to mod many of the game's elements. Most importantly, the game had a lot of depth to it...the game was based around ideology, mixing in philosophy and symbolism (something very few games seem to do).
That it also had lore and books to go with it made it only more special.
By today's standards the gameplay, UI, and graphics are awful...but it will always have a special place in my heart.
Steel Panthers......or......no....that's it....just Steel Panthers.
EDIT:
Damn.....I had to edit. I just cannot decide between the V for Victory series or Steel Panthers. Well.......either way I loved em both equally so you pick one.......hehe
Alpha Centauri easily.
Honorable mentions to:
Romance of the Three Kingdoms
Genghis Khan 2
Brigandine
GalCiv 2
Civilizations 2, 4BtS
I could probably go on and on really...
You are a man of taste.
I'd add Bandit Kings of Ancient China and King of Dragon Pass to the honorable mentions category. And Master of Mana, the successor to Fall From Heaven II, with far improved AI.
Does the Total War series count in this? If they do i would say Rome: Total War ranks up at the top for me.
Well, the strategic part on the overmap is turn-based, if I recall correctly. So it does.
MoM / Warlords 3 (darklords rising) / F E
For me its a tie between Master of Magic and X-Com.
Then its GC(all of them)
Romance of the Three Kingdoms(many of them)
Gemfire(way old game from back in the day)
Civ series
FE
Master of Orion. The first one.
Age of Wonders (1 & Shadow Magic) for me, I think. The magic part is cool and the races diverse. Also I really like fantasy settings. The combats where exciting too. The best turn based combat to be precise (for me).
I have tried MoM when it was abandonware, but I didn't like it. The races looked really shallow, and city building was a lame rip of from civillization. It's a shame, because the magic part looked more diverse than AoW: SM.
I also really liked playing Elemental: "Frogboy patch" (Part of the WoM series, it made the monsters insane!). I really liked the setting of WoM, survival against the harsh world (Insane monster settings), the wandering bands of monsters, returning the world back to life. Fallen enchantress was also nice, but I stopped playing after Beta 3 because I played the #@$% out of it during the Beta. Waiting for LH now and hoping that the wildlands organize raids now.
1. CIV IV
2. Master of Orion II
Alpha Centauri, of course. Beautiful, thematic lore built into a great game.
If i have to choose....HoMM 3.
Xcom (original game, haven't tried the new one yet)
Master of Magic
Elemental Fallen Enchantress
Panzer General
Master of Orion 2
I suspect Legendary Heroes might even top MOM for me. Nothing could top Xcom though. What a fun experience! I still remember the first time I played it on my brother's computer.
Cheers,
Sword
I forgot to mention Civ 4 - fantastic TBS game! Though I also remember the first time playing Civ1, what a ground breaking game that was!
And to top it off, Civ 4 with Fall From Heaven mod was even better! It's so hard to choose a best one from this fine stable of stallions.
It's kind of hard to pick just one as TBS by genre has had some real stand outs
Empire (Dos); All those Civ-Type games you came to love started from here
SSI D&D Gold Box series; I still love me some turn-based RPG
Original X-Com [Biggest influence on all TBS games released in the future]
Warlords; First fantasy army TBS I can recall
Master of Magic; Simply amazing, but so damn buggy, even after the patches
Final Fantasy Tactics; The most complex and satisfying TBS RPG I've ever played
Freedom Force; Customized Superheros, destructible environment, ragdoll physics, voice acting, and more!
Silent Storm; X-Com meets WWII. I loved it. Some of the scenarios are ridiculous hard
Personal Note: I initially enjoyed the Civ game series, but found the end game to be so absurd contextually (Race to the stars before the planet is blown up or conquered) that no amount of mechanics, graphic updates, or skill tree expansions could make it fun to play.
Heroes and Might and Magic II
and
Ascendancy
For its time, probably Civ II. But in terms of an overall gameplay experience, including immersion and feeling like I was really running an empire and competing/communicating with other real empires, GalCiv2 takes the cake easily. By far the most immersive, engrossing 4x game I've ever played to date.
Alpha Centauri is up there for its time, as well.
I'm preparing for flames but...
Jagged Alliance 2
If you're gonna get flamed for it, so will I. Jagged Alliance 2 was an awesome game for its time imo.
It was good. I missed the weirder merc quirks that were in the original title (like one merc who was a sharpshooter and wouldn't stop trying on the same target, if he missed), but the scenarios were cleverly laid out, and the whole thing was well-balanced.
Jagged Alliance 2? Are you fucking kidding me? That's the most...wait, I never played it, is it good? I've thought about picking it up from GoG.com.
Toss up between Alpha Centauri, MOO2, and Civ4BtS. If forced to pick I'd probably say Civ4BtS most often, but would likely give a different answer depending on when I was asked.
Honorable mention to Warlords 2, which my buddy and I fired up on his HTPC a few weeks back and played on a big screen. Good times.
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