An Epic to Boggle the Mind!

[Raman]

Guys, I need help. Tomorrow I'm going to shell out a heck of a lot of money to buy a computer game, and I need your advice.

I need something where you can really focus on building a city/nation. Where you can really micromanage your cities and do cool stuff like develop religions and stuff. Civ is good, but I'm a little bored of it right now, plus you don't really focus much on the cities. I love the concept of different nations fighting, honour, technology, science, etc. etc. Something like Civ except that you really feel connected to your cities and they are truly YOURS.

I hope you have a rough idea of what I mean. Any advice on a game?

 

[kcwong]

I haven't actually played it, but from the comments/web review/newsgroups/etc, it seems "Rise of Nations" meets your requirements.

And since it's released long ago, it won't cost you a heck of a lot of money too.

You should Google about it and see if it's what you want.

 

[sealboy6]

Rise of Nations is really good, but it's real time and not focused much on religion. You, at most, get 4 cities, and the games don't last long. It's mostly focused on combat, as you get three infantry for each one built. Epic battles are sweet.

Rome: Total War would probably be the best, as you focus on building an empire. It's best quality is the combat, as you can have battles with over 10000 units, but if you want to focus on the empire and cities more, then you can have the PC fight the battles for you. Hope this helps.

 

[Leonel]

You can try Superpowers 2. It's pretty crazy on how detailed it is. You can ban or enact things like abortion, homosexuality, etc etc and you can really micromanage economies and wage war against neighbors, although don't be surprised when the rest of the world turns red with international disapproval. You can even select what languages and religions you want to be official, legal or even illegal. Plus you can design your own units from pre-fabricated components and different stats. Although you can't do anything with cities nor can you 'develop' religions.