Classic (really old) computer strategy games

[billmpak]

Hello everyone.

back in 2000+ i think, (i was , like , 10-11 at the time) there was a RTS-civilization game on my computer probably installed by my gamer uncle
He won't remember what it was now.
It seemed a lot like AOE.
In my memories it is green-oriented, and there are ofcourse houses and some units.
The map is spherical, and if you go out on the one side you appear on the other.
A little hint that i have is that there were some training buildings, and in order to train a unit you had to send another one in (so e.g. if you wanted a warrior, you send a villager in and he came out later as warrior)
i also might remember a clock in the top of the building that was counting down the process of the training.im not sure about this one .
Finally, i remember the units were not humans.So, not historical/earth game?
That is pretty much everything.
now Im obviously 24 and i have played (and still been playing) other, newer, and probably better games, but this one has stuck in my mind. These are all the clues that i remember, please held me because im getting all OCD with this thing

Thanks!!

 

[Harv]

I used to play a game called Empire on the Atari ST. It was a turn based strategy game, where you had cities, could designate them to build various units, and then use those units to conquer more cities. I remember this being a lot of fun and probably the first strategy game I ever played.

I remember playing the ASCII version of this!

No screenshots, but has anybody here played Starflight and Starflight 2?

 

[TheGryphonPrince]

Damn it, you guys are pretty old. From my childhood I remember games like Red Alert II (RAIII was released when I was 9-10), Warcraft III, Age of Mythology, etc.

About (actually) old games: Warcraft II and I are my favourites.

Seven Kingdoms: Ancient Adversaries is also pretty good, although I only began playing it 2 years ago and now I abandoned it. My brother had SimEarth on his computer until 2010 and that was the only old game I really got addicted with.

 

[Naokaukodem]

Oh and for the same reason I liked Dune 1

Oh, oh. For a licenced game, it was really neat !

Remember the (original !) musics !


Link to video.

 

[Harv]

Damn it, you guys are pretty old.

back in 2000+

This statement makes me feel

 

[Kyriakos]

Seven Kingdoms 1/2 were great games indeed

 

[civvver]

Gold rush. Forgot about gold rush. Old serria adventure titles are the best.

 

[Kabal82]

Nice to see so many people here had an Amiga

I was very surprised when I learned that the Amiga was never all that popular in the US. To us German kids in the early 90s, the Amiga 500 was what the NES seemed to be to most Americans.

Civilization I was also a very notable game for the Amiga. (the following pic is of a mod, since no earth map existed in CivI for the Amiga)

My version of Civ I on the Amiga 500 definitely had an Earth map
The AI was really bad though, compared to the PC version. Maybe that had to do with the fact that it had to fit on one (?) DD disc.

There was another version for Amigas with AGA chipset (1200 / 4000), but I never played that one.

I used to play a game called Empire on the Atari ST. It was a turn based strategy game, where you had cities, could designate them to build various units, and then use those units to conquer more cities. I remember this being a lot of fun and probably the first strategy game I ever played.

I loved that game! It even had a hotseat mode, so it was the closest I could get to playing a Civ-like multiplayer game against my brother


Two less well-known strategy games I liked to play as a kid on my brother's Atari ST:

- Firezone:
A hex-based tactical combat game with editor and hotseat mode:
http://www.mobygames.com/game/atari-st/firezone/screenshots

- Kaiser:
A German strategy game set in the Holy Roman Empire. Its main focus is on economy rather than combat. Also had a hotseat mode. Came in a giant leather-bound box which included a boardgame-like map, hundreds of wooden tokens and a manual with over 100 pages.

 

[CivCube]

On my old Mac Performa, I played dis:

The king of Bretagne is dead! Get your score up high enough, get blessed by the Pope, and unite the land! This was a real-time game where you had to scout your territories to see who owned it, lest you ended up marching your armies into Vatican lands. Seems similar enough to other games at the time except (oooooh) you could design and build castles:

And then defend them from invaders! Once I bought this again from GOG, I found out that defending armies were always at half-strength, so I just retreated whenever I was attacked and counter-invaded at full strength. Sure was fun taking over Bretagne again...

 

[bhavv]

Warlords 3 Darklords Rising was amazing.

 

[scheva007]

I remember Seven Kingdoms. And the 300page manual that came with it.

Always played the Normans.

 

[Kabal82]

About (actually) old games: Warcraft II and I are my favourites.

When I hear the word "Warcraft", the first thing I think of is an RTS and not an MMORPG.

It seems like yesterday to me that the RTS community was divided into Warcraft II and C&C fans. I like both, but the first C&C ist my favorite RTS ever.

It really makes use of the rock-paper-scissors principle, unlike other mid- to late-90s RTS games where you'd usually just built 30 units of the same type and use them to crush your enemy.

I even prefer the first C&C over Red Alert.

I don't consider any of themse games "really old", though

 

[Nexlev]

The first game to really get me hooked on strategy was Romance of the Three Kingdoms II on the SNES. Shortly thereafter I discovered CIV I which didn't have as much of an effect on me at the time.

In retrospect ROTK II was not that great of a game but some things keep me coming back, and I still play it from time to time. I love the empire building aspect and the recruitment of generals... the warfare was very basic but functional

 

[Ellestar]

My first strategy games were Nether Earth and Zulu Wars on Sinclair ZX Spectrum 48k.

Nether Earth was an RTS with a custom unit design, capture of bases and factories, and an ability to either directly control one robot or change orders for bases/robots (that were running under AI and following previous orders when not directly controlled).

Zulu Wars was a very basic wargame.

 

[Kyriakos]

+1 for reviving the thread

I feel like every time one of these threads comes up I'm the first to mention Lords of the Realm II. One of the earliest memories of my childhood is watching my dad play this game. I played it too, but I was never any good at it until later on when I rediscovered it and learned just how ridiculously easy it was:

Iirc i only played this game a few years ago (a decade maybe) as 'abandonware'. Love the graphics' style, though.

 

[FriendlyFire]

Now I feel like replaying advanced wars

 

[civvver]

Lords of the realm 2 is easier found at gog and is on sale all the time if you're interested. Amazing game I agree.

I forgot was total annihilation mentioned? It's unreal how well that game holds up, and while it's not like pre 1990 like some games here, it's still almost 20 years old now. Holds up really well though cus of the realistic physics and complex economy.

I would kill to get my hands on the original Civ or Civ 2 again as well. Freeciv just doesn't quite do it for me. Alas all my old cds have disappeared and I'm not sure they'd run on win7 now anyway.

 

[Hail]

I forgot was total annihilation mentioned?

yes, it was.

I would kill to get my hands on the original Civ or Civ 2 again as well. Freeciv just doesn't quite do it for me. Alas all my old cds have disappeared and I'm not sure they'd run on win7 now anyway.

civ1 runs fine in DosBox.
civ2 will run on Win7 x64 with the x64 patch that enables the player to build cities

Freeciv is meh. I try it out once in a while, when a new version is out. still meh

since "very old" ill-defined, here I go:
Colonization:

Spoiler :

Pirates!:

Spoiler :

Legions (10mb in size. was sold on 4 floppies):

Spoiler :

Conquest of the New World (Deluxe):
strategic (colony) map:

Spoiler :

tactical battle map:

Spoiler :

gameplay:

Spoiler :

Link to video.

Civilizaton: Call to Power
strategic map:

Spoiler :

with underwater cities, maglevs, and undersea tunnels (the health bars are modded):

Spoiler :

city management screen (yields tab; what city builds is in the Production tab; happiness, crime, trade is in the City tab):

Spoiler :

gameplay:

Spoiler :

Link to video.

Advanced Civilization (a copy of the same name board game):

Spoiler :

Ascendancy (awesome soundtrack! ):
planet screen:

Spoiler :

ship design screen:

Spoiler :

soundtrack:

Spoiler :

Link to video.

 

[civvver]

Pirates was an awesome game but I find the remake is just as good for me so I don't really miss it. Conquest of the new world is also very fun, get it off gog.

I found civ2 for about $10 used off amazon and civ1 for about the same. Maybe I'll have to order them. Ebay wasn't any cheaper. I'm still shocked these haven't been ported to digital yet. Apparently sid meier never got the rights back to 1 and 2. I'm not sure who owns them, might still be microprose which has reemerged under new ownership or something.

 

[a space oddity]

In the light of this weeks closure of Maxis, I present SimAnt. Strategy in an unusual form...


Link to video.