ITT: Strategy games that no one besides (you) have played. Recommend rarities and discuss games that you vaguely remember playing as a kid or seeing in a magazine that one time.
Continued from: >>1919459

I'll start: Conflict Zone.
Early 00's strategy game that I haven't seen anyone mention in my entire adult life. I remember it being unique because you public opinion was a key currency. As totally-not-NATO that involved airlifting civilians out of conflict zones, and as the bad guys it involved sending TV crews to film you blowing up enemy troops and enemy atrocities. The better your rep, the more advanced units you could bring in. Actually pretty surprised few games tried to make public opinion part of gameplay. Not a great game, but certainly a mechanically unique one.

Your turn, anon!

Does everything need to be a general now?

>>2091218
Look at it this way: having a thread for games that would at best only get 10-20 replies keeps the catalog clean.

>>2091229
The catalog doesn't need to be clean. That kind of thought is a general thread inhabitant brain problem. Just say you want a hangout with your friends.

>>2091218
Yes since jannies on /vg/ actually delete low effort braindead garbage like this. We're the same cesspool containment board for them as they used to be for /v/.

>Anon wants to talk about old games
>The world's sourest cunts ride in to whine
This is why we get almost nothing but Paraslop and Total War rehashes here.

>>2091209 (OP)
https://store.steampowered.com/app/674190/Conquest_of_the_New_World/

I remember playing this as shareware back in the 90s. You could play most of the game, just couldn't upgrade beyond tier 3 buildings I think. Honestly pretty amazingly deep colonization game for its time, graphics and UI aren't even bad.

>>2091266
Same, I also I remember playing a demo version of that when I was a kid. I even bought it on GoG, but didn't end up playing it much.

I'm not sure how popular Act of War was, I never hear anyone talk about it though, but it was a C&C like RTS from 2005, complete with live-action cutscenes. Good game, had a good expansion pack without the live-action, and it had a spiritual sequel called Act of Aggression that was complete garbage.

https://store.steampowered.com/app/2710/Act_of_War_Direct_Action/

>>2091252
Yeah, a /wsr/ thread is so much better.

Does anyone remember the name of a 90s Windows shareware game that was like a cross between turn-based strategy gaming and the board game Go? The playing field was a rectangular grid, each cell was either painted one of the player colors, neutral, contained a city, or you could put a soldier silhouette on it. Each turn you got a number of soldiers and you could use them to take over a bit of the enemy territory. It used Windows UI elements and very simple graphics.

>>2091209 (OP)
Conflict Zone has a DC version? Is it any good?

Direct Hit Missle War.
Shame the game wasn't finished. The premise of the game sounds interesting, researching and designing your own missile and base components ( engines, stealth, ecm, missile defense ) then flinging them to the enemy's base in order to destroy his infrastructure while enemy does the same to you. Other than missle war part, you had your standard base building and power/resources/research management.

The other game is Frontile Attack: War Over Europe. Very dated now but I remember having a blast playing it as a kid.

>>2091285
>Act of War had a spiritual sequel
Huh, I never knew that. This actually looks like what I'd expect a Generals 2 to look like, and it's probably about as good as Generals 2 was likely to be based on what you're saying.
Going to look it up though out of morbid curiosity because the first game was interesting though.

>>2091584
Doubt it. Why would you play it on anything but the PC if you had a choice?

>>2091209 (OP)
Warrior of Rome 2 was a RTS for Sega Genesis. It was the first RTS I had ever played. It had a fun campaign and you could play with a friend on a split screen, but this would slow the game down drastically.

>>2091209 (OP)
i forgot the name of the Flash game.
you choose between red, blue ,green or yellow balls.

all the units and commanders are balls, balls with arms and legs. basic units are swordsman, spearmen and archers? commanders can also be mages or artillery. maps used hex tiles. very basic plot. and chance to unlock non-campaign maps with some daily missions and achievements.

>>2091209 (OP)
>Strategy games that no one besides (you) have played
Populous 3?
I never see it mentioned in RTS discussion despite being both really fucking good AND really fucking unique.
Is it just because it's too old, or too weird?

>>2092663
I haven't really seen that mentioned since the PC Gamer review for it when it dropped.
>y no1 mentions it
It's just in a weird spot. It's not the original genre definer, it's from a period that's harder to get working than the DOS titles and you just have a higher barrier of entry. Just a rough time for PC games.

I have the PS1 version of it, it has great soundtracks. Here my fav.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SW9GqsZdt9U

>>2091209 (OP)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BVeOp7GNI5k

>>2091285
>>2091599
Are Generals 2 trannies still assmad that Act of Aggression has incomprehensible 3 types of resources in an RTS game, how hard and impossible to understand, or that AoA wasn't a replacement and copy of the F2P abomination that Gen 2 were as every game juorno and forum admin shitter went to scream about at every corner the moment EA canceled Gen 2 and AoA appeared on the horizon

>>2093694
No I was just a fan of 1, sad we didn't get a proper sequel but honestly doubt EA would've made a good one given the state of the company at the time.
I actually liked AoW, didn't even know AoA was a thing until this thread. No idea what you're talking about.

>>2091209 (OP)
It must have been played by somebody since the Mid-east Crisis2 mod team ripped this game's main unique mechanic for their IDF faction.
Here's something that nobody outside of my shithole never played.

>>2093733
>I actually liked AoW, didn't even know AoA was a thing until this thread. No idea what you're talking about.
Act of Agression was its own game that got review-bombed for not being Generals 2 and the devs in turn completely remade the game to be more C&C-ish. Once it was done, the C&C fanbase fucked off.
Locusts are less destructive than those fucks.

>>2091218
>Does a non-specific game collection thread need a generalized general?
yes. Yes it does. You know what needs another general here?
HoI4 mods. There are currently 692 active HoI4 mod threads on /vst/ and no one is doing anything about it. These obnoxious NIGGERS deserve to get IP range banned, but they aren't And they won't ever do the sensible thing which is to make a general and stay in their containment thread.

>>2093762
That's insane. Had no idea there was so much drama surrounding that game.

>>2093754
That game looks so freaking janky. That's some of the most mid-90s, CD-ROM ass jank I've seen in a while. It's like if you asked an AI to make an image of a broken ass game from that era.

>>2092663
Have we had another RTS with that level of terrain altering since?

>>2093921
From Dust comes to mind but that's more physic-based puzzle game despite appearing as god game at first glance.
Iirc leveling up terrain is an important part of Perimeter's gameplay but I haven't played it.

>>2093879
Its not really that much fugly compared to an average mod for the freeware Stratagus engine tho.
Although IIRC even back in the day this game was considered as just a wannabe discount Earth2140, but with a bit of Dark Colony added for extra flavor.

>>2094205
Thought the same thing. It really does look like 2140. Being the bargain bin version of that game is pretty bleak sounding.

>>2092663
Played this a lot on pax. It took whole mem card to save. This and civ 2 was my fav strategy game on psx

>>2092663
>>2092671
i only remember some old game stores played it in the retro years, console version. but i knew no one who played it IRL or talked about it.

imo Black n White modernised the game. made it less clunky for sure.

>>2094804
Black&White has jackshit to do with Populous in term of gameplay or ambiance tho.
It's like saying LoL modernized WCIII.

>>2094804
>B&W modernized Populous
Other than being sorta in the same genre those games are nothing alike, what are you even talking about?

This game, hard as balls I have no idea how I managed to beat it as a kid. I think I had pretty much collected all wizards by the time I finished it.

>>2093921
Zero-K randomly has the option of terraforming ground so you can technically block radar or put turrets higher or make ramps. No idea if people use that feature often, instead of just using their APM for something more beneficial.

>>2094914
>Look it up
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Warlocked
>Neat graphics
>Stellar reviews all around
>Gameplay seems neat
I missed out.

>>2093921
I went mad trying to remember this and wasn't sure if it was a false memory but turns the Earth 2150 games and at least some derivatives let you. I had to look up a guide to make sure I wasn't just misremembering because no one bothered to do documentation on the civilian units in that game (I mean why would they).

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/pc/913679-earth-2150/faqs/13424
>Gruz - This is a heavy costruction vehicle equipped with front mounted excavation
buckets. It is used for constructing building, digging ditches and tunnels, and
levelling ground.

So not on that scale and level but these games do let you manipulate terrain, which can affect things like line of sight, ease of terrain crossing, etc.

I don't know if it's good. I was too young to figure the game out.

Has anyone played Force 21? It's essentially like EndWar, but without infantry. The gameplay is quite similar, focusing on a conflict between the US and China. If you can get it working it's worth a try.
The game was even published by Ubisoft

Added a link to the game because I can't upload a picture.

https://www.myabandonware.com/game/force-21-diw

>>2093762
>>2093694
what is this meme? act of aggression was OBVIOUSLY meant to be a spiritual successor to act of war. who the hell thought it was supposed to be generals 2?

>>2097406
Never played it. Looks like something I would've liked. Here, let me upload a picture for you from the site you linked. Fucking webp sucks.

>>2097413
>who the hell thought it was supposed to be generals 2?
Insane people, apparently.

>>2097531
I tried uploading pictures from the website I linked to, and it keeps saying upload failed. Thanks for getting picture up.

Yeah, I had the game working on windows 11 fine. You should try it, not many games about US and China going to war.

Plus if you like EndWar you will like it.

>>2091209 (OP)
i played this, it was on one of those game cd collections, i kinda likes it because im a sucker for modern warfare rts games,

i remember that bazooka infantry was basically just a straight upgrade to normal infantry and that there was a bug where vehicle wrecks would spin at 10000 kmh when they were destroyed

I've never seen anyone discuss this one
https://store.steampowered.com/app/1500970/BlackChain/
Which is pretty excelent, everything feels meaty and the campaign is hilarious.

>>2098187
I am one of the few people that played this game, and I am not sure if I would call it "excellent" OK or good, maybe, but not excellent.

>>2095140
I found this helpful on a certain campaign mission

>>2097362
I have this and it's fucking awesome actually

>>2097406
No to shit on the game itself but this has to be one of the most hilariously bad covers I've seen.

>>2098499
I think it loops back to being charming in a way. But yes, not the finest of the era.

Since the thread is about all kind of strategy games and not just rts games. Tycoon is a genre filled with shovelware but Hotel Giant I have nostalgia for. I remember it being decent but then again I don't know if I knew better back there. Btw I always assumed it's a German or at least European game but to my surprise it was actually made by studio set in Hong Kong.

>>2099778
Pretty sure Traffic Giant is another of theirs. Just wholesome, early 00s Germanic autism no one cares about any more. A simpler time, a better time.

Was too young to appreciate this at the time. I though it would be another RTS like C&C.

>>2100085
It was released by the same publisher, JoWood, but it was made by a different, in-house Austrian studio. It's a fine game. The most annoying part being how you couldn't had bus tracks layer on while you're in building stops mode so you had to remember where you set routes or flip between menus. Apparently it's also quite buggy. Never used trains because I always found making train rails clunky on the usual crowded maps but I've read they tend to make game crash out for some reason.

>>2092663
I can still hear that game in my head I don't think I've ever seen anyone on /v/ boards talks about terminator dark fate defiance I'm really digging the ammo and fuel system.