Grand Strategy Games?

[OyoJan]

Does anyone play grand strategy games in the likes of Europa Universalis IV, Victoria II, Crusader Kings III, etc.? I happen to play these types of games all the time.

 

[RepresentingEnvy]

Hmm, does Civilization count as a Grand Strategy Game?

 

[OyoJan]

Hmm, does Civilization count as a Grand Strategy Game?

Oh yeah, I forgot! Yes, that too. Well, technically, I guess. lol

 

[J_Chemist]

I do. They keep the mind sharp and pass the time quite well. Though, my conjurations of "strategy" are generally straight forward and very bullish. I'm not a Grandmaster at chess, I'll put it that way.

 

[Seaspecter]

I do, not as much as I used to though I don't have as much spare time as of late.

My favorite in the genre is Stellaris.

 

[RepresentingEnvy]

I played Civilization and some Total War games. A few old strategy games too, like some of the Command and Conquers as well as Halo Wars. I think there are more, but those are the ones I remember the most.

 

[OyoJan]

I do. They keep the mind sharp and pass the time quite well. Though, my conjurations of "strategy" are generally straight forward and very bullish. I'm not a Grandmaster at chess, I'll put it that way.

I agree. I don't really play chess, but I can see why that's the case. It's really good for the mind, that's for sure.

I played Civilization and some Total War games. A few old strategy games too, like some of the Command and Conquers as well as Halo Wars. I think there are more, but those are the ones I remember the most.

Man, I used to play some Total War games back in the day. In fact, I remember that they used to be free for a limited time on Steam. I might get back into playing them when I get a chance. But for now, I don't know.

I do, not as much as I used to though I don't have as much spare time as of late.

My favorite in the genre is Stellaris.

Oh yeah, I used to play Stellaris on my Xbox, but not in a way that I would be mostly invested in it. Speaking of my Xbox, it no longer works because the power brick thing burned out for some reason. I still don't know why to this day. lol

 

[Comiak]

My main strategy game is Stellaris, got about 1.5k hours in it.

 

[OyoJan]

My main strategy game is Stellaris, got about 1.5k hours in it.

Cool, I used to play it a long time ago.

 

[Sagacious_Punk]

Haven't tried grand strategies, specifically. My forte/interest are 4x games, which are kinda in the same vein, but they have some subtle differences. (Alpha Centauri, Master of Orion, Master of Magic, Endless Legend, etc.)

My experience with the genre consist of a short attempt to play Hearts of Iron IV and a couple of aborted runs of Stellaris. (Although Stellaris is some weird hybrid between a grand strategy and a classic 4x game.)

 

[HungrySheep]

Yeah, I've played most of them. The Endless series is pretty decent, but I feel like economic victories need to be disabled particularly in Endless Space due to how easy it is to achieve a victory that way.

 

[Aslan659]

Hmm, does Civilization count as a Grand Strategy Game?

It is not.

 

[Sagacious_Punk]

Yeah, I've played most of them. The Endless series is pretty decent, but I feel like economic victories need to be disabled particularly in Endless Space due to how easy it is to achieve a victory that way.

I usually disable any economic/point-based victories in the games I play. In Endless Legend I always disable all victories except Conquest, Quest (getting the starship off-world), and Technological (activating the dormant device(s?) of the Concrete Endless).

 

[OyoJan]

Haven't tried grand strategies, specifically. My forte/interest are 4x games, which are kinda in the same vein, but they have some subtle differences. (Alpha Centauri, Master of Orion, Master of Magic, Endless Legend, etc.)

My experience with the genre consist of a short attempt to play Hearts of Iron IV and a couple of aborted runs of Stellaris. (Although Stellaris is some weird hybrid between a grand strategy and a classic 4x game.)

Hearts of Iron IV is insanely hard! I tried playing as Saudi Arabia the other day, and it already got too complicated for me, even though I was playing on the easy difficulty. If I had to choose the hardest Paradox game I have ever played, then it would be HOI4. As for Stellaris, I used to play it on my Xbox a long time ago and to be honest, it was quite boring as I didn't play as often as I used to but at least it was a little fun.

Yeah, I've played most of them. The Endless series is pretty decent, but I feel like economic victories need to be disabled particularly in Endless Space due to how easy it is to achieve a victory that way.

I see. How often do you play EU4?

 

[Lloyd]

I don't play them as much as I used to, just because they take too much time. I perfer the faster RTS games, and used to be a diamond zerg in starcraft 2, but lately I haven't played much. They haven't made good RTS games in a long time :(

 

[Sagacious_Punk]

Hearts of Iron IV is insanely hard! I tried playing as Saudi Arabia the other day, and it already got too complicated for me, even though I was playing on the easy difficulty. If I had to choose the hardest Paradox game I have ever played, then it would be HOI4. As for Stellaris, I used to play it on my Xbox a long time ago and to be honest, it was quite boring as I didn't play as often as I used to but at least it was a little fun.

HOI4 is... to paraphrase Ross Scott, one of those games that's so hard, that I start to wonder if I shouldn't be learning some actual skill, instead of investing an inordinate amount of time mastering just one game.

Stellaris mainly disappointed me with its empire/species builder, which was pretty limited imo from a sociological/philosophical perspective. I've spent a lot of time studying the way societies and civilizations function, and for a game that offers so much apparent freedom, Stellaris is quite narrow-minded. Oh, well.

 

[SirDogeTheFirst]

I play hoi4, eu4, and Stellaris, though I haven't touched them in a while. I am thinking about trying the new hoi DLC though.

 

[OyoJan]

HOI4 is... to paraphrase Ross Scott, one of those games that's so hard, that I start to wonder if I shouldn't be learning some actual skill, instead of investing an inordinate amount of time mastering just one game.

Stellaris mainly disappointed me with its empire/species builder, which was pretty limited imo from a sociological/philosophical perspective. I've spent a lot of time studying the way societies and civilizations function, and for a game that offers so much apparent freedom, Stellaris is quite narrow-minded. Oh, well.

I see. You're definitely on to something about Stellaris having a disappointing "empire/species builder" gameplay mechanic of it because I was thinking the same thing. The gameplay felt so minimalistic for some reason, and it wasn't that immersive to begin with. I don't know, that's just what I thought. It was such a disappointing game, really.

I play hoi4, eu4, and Stellaris, though I haven't touched them in a while. I am thinking about trying the new hoi DLC though.

Cool. I barely play HOI4 just because of how insanely difficult it is. It's quite different from the other Paradox games that I usually play, such as EU4 and CK3.

 

[SirDogeTheFirst]

Cool. I barely play HOI4 just because of how insanely difficult it is. It's quite different from the other Paradox games that I usually play, such as EU4 and CK3.

Weirdly enough, I think Hoi is the easiest to learn amongst paradox games unless you want to go full no-life and min-max your units and tactics into unhealthy levels.

 

[HungrySheep]

I see. How often do you play EU4?

Not very. I can't play multiplayer as my copy lacks the function thanks to its creative method of purchase and it gets pretty boring alone.