Introduction to strategy games

Do you know of any good strategy games for people who were never really into the genre at all? I tried to play the original Command and Conquer, as well as Warzone 2100, Caesar 3, and a few others. But i either find myself overwhelmed with so many things to worry about and/or having my troops get easily slaughtered by certain enemy units. (like the Nod flamethrower troops against the regular and rocket GDI grunts, for example)

What i'm looking after is basically:
- Both RTS and turn-based
- From any year.

- Most importantly; easily accessible.
- No city-building or 4X games (for now).

This isn't the simplest to get into but its easy skirmish mode can give you plenty of opportunity to practice and learn without much stress.

Warhammer Dawn of War (1). It's my favourite non grand strategy rts. Again, not simple as it does have various unique upgrades, every faction can play quite differently, there is cover and morale systems and even a rock vs paper vs scissors thing for heavy units vs light etc

However the resource collection is quite simple and fun.

**Edit** I recall Dune 2000 to be pretty easy to get into although I don't know if it's easy to acquire today.

I recall Settlers of Catan was fun and a good entry point for the genre:

One of my favorites by far.

I can argue Dungeon Keeper is a city builder. Even if it's a dungeon. I find Dungeon Keeper 1 far too archaic, while Dungeon Keeper 2 is awesome.

Advance Wars. Turn based with no city building. It clearly looks like its for kids, but it's a lot of fun. Advance Wars 2 tops it in every way, but the original was so fun and had so much to it, that I'd rather go back to that than the sequel.

33 minutes ago, geo said:

I can argue Dungeon Keeper is a city builder. Even if it's a dungeon. I find Dungeon Keeper 1 far too archaic, while Dungeon Keeper 2 is awesome.

 

Advance Wars. Turn based with no city building.

Have you played KeeperFX? I couldn't get into the original Dungeon Keeper, and found it to be horribly buggy and outdated, but KeeperFX makes the game a thousand times better. 

Slay is a very simple, but enjoyable, turn-based strategy game.

Warcraft (1 & 2) is a good entry-level RTS, if you're trying to get your feet wet without being turned off by absurdly methodical 4X games.

Total Annihilation was the pinnacle RTS for me (I still play modded games), spent a lot of time with Heroes of Might & Magic  3 and Master of Orion 2 for turn based. All still play great and run on potatoes.

The original Command & Conquer is pretty simple as far as strategy games go. Almost anything else, unless it's specifically streamlined, will be more complex. 

(Hint regarding those flame troopers: dont attack them with infantry. Humvees make very short work of them).

One option: the XCom reboot. I never really enjoyed turn based games outside of like Civilization, but I loved the new XCom. There's a version called Enemy Within which is the original game but expanded, and it's usually available quite cheap. Perhaps give that a shot.

Try Command & Conquer 3 preferably with Kane's Wrath if you really want the game to have combat with tanks and aircrafts. The game is nice to relax on easy and when you get better you'd be surprised by how much strategy gets involved on higher difficulties\vs players. 

No one mentioned Age of Empire 2? Game is very forgiving on easy and has a really good HD edition. Be careful if you want to play online since people have been playing +20 years and there are countless strategies and rush options, getting into multiplayer too early might put you off the game. Warcraft 3 is also a cornerstone in RTS history because of the designs and stories. Starcraft 2 on campaign mode might be equally good for you since the AI won't play dirty on easy\moderate.

If you'd prefer turn-based games instead try Age of Wonders 2 : Shadow Magic or Heroes of Might and Magic V : Tribes of the East (This one is a standalone expansion). Fire emblem games are also good but they have permanent death and you only get so many units so it might be harder than the other games (Although you can cheat in the old games and the new games provide a mode where saving manually is allowed).

About flamethrower soldiers : I assume it was the original game? That game has many balance problems and you might want to never use infantry (Tanks are better than infantry 99% of the time in C&C games, aside from C&C3 where most infantry have good abilities and a unit in Red Alert 2 called the Desolator which gave everyone who played online nightmares. AI is pretty dumb vs defense turrets and you can place them right over enemy troops when they enter your base. This won't work forever once siege weapons appear and make it nearly impossible to play defensively.

5 hours ago, Ajora said:

 

Have you played KeeperFX? I couldn't get into the original Dungeon Keeper, and found it to be horribly buggy and outdated, but KeeperFX makes the game a thousand times better. 

Never heard of it. Looking at Youtube videos, it looks too similar to what the game already is, even if it fixes bugs. I think in addition to the original not playing well, it's the graphics too. They were always ugly. I still remember when Dungeon Keeper 2 came out people were so offended that it was so close to the original... yet it felt so much better of a game.

Original Starcraft and this expansion Brood War was release for free since Starcraft Remastered came out, It is available on  https://eu.shop.battle.net/en-us/product/starcraft

The terran campaign from the base game is a good tutorial, Brood War caimpaigns are really hard so I don't recommend for casual runs.

Warcraft II is a pretty easy RTS to get into. You only have a few units between Humans and Orcs. Peasants/Peons build, gather gold, oil and lumber for your army. From there on, you can build footmen/grunts and archers/axethrowers. After a few upgrades by building a stable, blacksmith, and/or a mage tower, you can expand and make knights/ogres and paladins/ogre-mages that can use some magic, ballistas/catapults to take down buildings faster, and mages/death knights that can cast magic and seriously decimate large groups of buildings or troops. There's only two air units each side can make: Gryphon/Dragon riders for attacking and Flying Machines\Zeppelins for scouting.

The campaign is pretty decent too. If you like War2, you should definitely play Starcraft. The campaign is long and challenging but full of good plot with good voice acting and good characters.

Don't forget about the original Syndicate. I have it in my backlog and plan on playing it soon enough.

I think warcraft 2 might overwhelm OP because it has no difficulty settings and the AI attacks nonstop from the moment it trains a couple grunts. This isn't a problem in early campaign maps but gets really annoying at times -and OP said they'd prefer a game without that- especially in custom maps. It also does some micro shaningans with paladins and Ogre Magis that would completely ruin the game if they reach late game (At least for a newbie; since they'll get pushed back economically by attacks while AI rushes the game finishers). 

Warcraft 3 is a much smoother introduction to the series going by those points. Although it barely plays at all like warcraft 2\1, which honestly might be a good thing.

I've always liked Supreme Commander for its easier controls and simple resource system (you collect mass and energy, that's it). The AI is as easy as you want it to be and there's still a pretty large community surrounding the game over at Forged Alliance Forever.

Sins of a Solar Empire has been my favorite rts so far. In general it favors the defender, which is the opposite of most rts' which reward the aggressor, so you can be a complete bitch and turtle your territory very effectively. Although granted it's not the most efficient way to play, but it's still fun as hell

In that regard I second Warhammer 40K: Dawn of War, mentioned earlier. You can play very defensively in singleplayer, though the game incentives aggressive behavior with the simple resource system (it's just that the campaign AI is very static). You can then work your way up to a more efficient play using skirmishes and the extensions. If I remember correctly the last one was pretty much all skirmishes but with a RISK turn based map to progress in the campaign.

Only strategy game I really got into years ago was Battlezone. Haven't played in years.

16 hours ago, Mister Xiado said:

Warcraft (1 & 2) is a good entry-level RTS, if you're trying to get your feet wet without being turned off by absurdly methodical 4X games.

Slightly off-topic: (sorry in advance)

wow! are you the guy from the Oldternet website? i really love your icon sets. (as well as your site; nice welcome change from the minimalist design dictatorship.) just out of curiosity; do you take icon requests?

The Nectaris / Military Madness series might be worth looking into for something with a bit less complexity.

X-Com Enemy Unknown remake and it's add-on pack is good stuff. Also, Darkest Dungeon.

Empire Earth 1, wich is basically Age of Empires with the time scale of Sid Meyer's Civilization.

I also like tactical RPG, they have a chess-like character and can be quite addictive. I played many of them, especially on older game consoles. 

Shining Force 

Vandal Hearts

Final Fantasy Tactics

Fire Emblem

Metal Marines

Mystaria

Dynasty Warriors Tactics

Fallout Tactics

Front Mission

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and lots more....

My first ever RTS game was Halo Wars. I was a fan of Halo and I never played RTS before so it seemed like a good intro. It was pretty easy to play and all the concepts are really basic. It's a good starter RTS in my opinion.