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[Reyn]

Is there an ultra-lethal tactics game that's ideal to play in short sessions? XCOM missions are kind of a slog and I don't own any Fire Emblem games, besides I'm not really looking for a campaign experience. Just something possibly slightly unfair, that's good to play one or two quick missions in.

Incognita Invisible Inc. fills some of those requirements. No mission is too long, it's a turn based strategy(so you can make it too long, if you so wish), every move is important, if you rush into a room you're probably toast, your guys go down the moment they're shot. Your team is also small, so every guy in the team is vital.

[Parsely]

Can anyone recommend strategy games where I can tab out without pausing and let my stuff turn over for an hour without being significantly punished? I want to still be making progress while I'm idle, but I don't want to be playing something as brain dead simple as a browser-based incremental game either.

[Urist McScoopbeard]

Can anyone recommend strategy games where I can tab out without pausing and let my stuff turn over for an hour without being significantly punished? I want to still be making progress while I'm idle, but I don't want to be playing something as brain dead simple as a browser-based incremental game either.

Lands of Lords I guess. Kind of a tall order actually. Maybe CKII or Vicky II. Prison Architect and Rimworld?

[Criptfeind]

Echoing the recommendation for CKII for sure, just make sure all the important announcements pause the game. I do that and play on max speed and it practically becomes a turn based game.

[Parsely]

Lands of Lords I guess. Kind of a tall order actually. Maybe CKII or Vicky II. Prison Architect and Rimworld?

Yeahhh I know... There are a lot of games that come close without providing the challenge, or things fall apart when you're not watching. Makes me want to write a design document that fits the requirements...

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

[Zireael]

Echoing the recommendation for CKII for sure, just make sure all the important announcements pause the game. I do that and play on max speed and it practically becomes a turn based game.

Me too. Put CKII on, alt-tab out to do other stuff, alt-tab in periodically to see if anything needs my attention...

[Arx]

Can anyone recommend strategy games where I can tab out without pausing and let my stuff turn over for an hour without being significantly punished? I want to still be making progress while I'm idle, but I don't want to be playing something as brain dead simple as a browser-based incremental game either.

That's how I play DF, usually. Get a big batch of stuff set up to do, tab in briefly every ten-twenty minutes to check the recent announcements.

[Parsely]

I played through the Stronghold HD economy campaign that way.

[TheBiggerFish]

Lands of Lords I guess. Kind of a tall order actually. Maybe CKII or Vicky II. Prison Architect and Rimworld?

Yeahhh I know... There are a lot of games that come close without providing the challenge, or things fall apart when you're not watching. Makes me want to write a design document that fits the requirements...

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

To be continued where?

[Parsely]

I'd make a thread but I don't think anyone would be interested in reading a bunch of posts about me documenting my game design process. People want to see designs being implemented (dev diaries), and I don't know if I would be able to do that.

[TheBiggerFish]

I'd make a thread but I don't think anyone would be interested in reading a bunch of posts about me documenting my game design process. People want to see designs being implemented (dev diaries), and I don't know if I would be able to do that.

Well, if you'd like a dev, I'm studying that right now, so I could probably take a crack at it?

[Chiefwaffles]

Can anyone recommend strategy games where I can tab out without pausing and let my stuff turn over for an hour without being significantly punished? I want to still be making progress while I'm idle, but I don't want to be playing something as brain dead simple as a browser-based incremental game either.

Also any of the Anno games. Probably the latest one (2205 I think?) since combat takes place in instances separate from the main game that can be started at the player's behest. Otherwise in regular games there may be chances of occasional raids.
But yeah. You can build new stuff and enact new plans while actively playing then the game run while tabbed without any notable consequences unless you deleted all the farms before tabbing out.

Though the progression while tabbed is mostly in the form of resources building up, but it does feel rewarding I feel.

[EnigmaticHat]

Can anyone recommend strategy games where I can tab out without pausing and let my stuff turn over for an hour without being significantly punished? I want to still be making progress while I'm idle, but I don't want to be playing something as brain dead simple as a browser-based incremental game either.

Cities: Skylines.  As long as your city is set up with positive income and enough utilities, there's not much the game will do to punish you leaving it running.  The game tends to follow a flow of designating zones and building structures, then waiting for the zones to be privately developed and your income to build up so you can expand further.  Should be pretty friendly to idling.

Be warned tho, most of the depth to the game is how you build up road networks and public transportation.  Its very good at that, but the other aspects of city building are just good, not amazing.

[Retropunch]

Can anyone recommend strategy games where I can tab out without pausing and let my stuff turn over for an hour without being significantly punished? I want to still be making progress while I'm idle, but I don't want to be playing something as brain dead simple as a browser-based incremental game either.

I made a thread here: http://www.bay12forums.com/smf/index.php?topic=162936.0 about this a few weeks ago. It's tricky, because I don't think any game has actually managed to balance this correctly although the thread does have some interesting suggestions.

I've tried DF in a Calm/Serene biome and it works ok, but sometimes you can tab back in and a pausing alert has come up literally a second after you tabbed off the first time. CKII is ok, but I found that I couldn't really get into the groove with it on tab - I always felt I was missing something.

Let us know if you find anything, it's definitely a niche that should get filled.

Is there an ultra-lethal tactics game that's ideal to play in short sessions? XCOM missions are kind of a slog and I don't own any Fire Emblem games, besides I'm not really looking for a campaign experience. Just something possibly slightly unfair, that's good to play one or two quick missions in.

Frozen Synapse is a good one for this.

[George_Chickens]

I just played Covert Action, and it has got me hungry for a game that has factions colluding and planning behind the scenes to do not-nice stuff, and the ability to interfere with these factions and stop (or aid, if the game allows it) these plans.

I've heard Cyberjudas and XCOM: Apocalypse could fill this niche, but the former won't run, and the latter I'm still trying to learn. There is, to a lesser degree and in a different way, also SS13, but that is extremely dependent on which server you go to, and I've been struggling to find one that I enjoy.