Print

Please login or register.
1 Hour 1 Day 1 Week 1 Month Forever
Login with username, password and session length

[Frumple]

Might check out Urtuk, I think. It's closest to battle brothers in that list, but there's definitely a higher level of individual badassery. It's also fairly lenient with deaths... characters don't necessarily die when they're killed, but instead take wounds, which can be healed with a specific resource. Dying while wounded is permadeath, and wounds will get worse if untreated, but it's a relatively gentle system.

Combat wise there mostly isn't RNG. Stuff tends to either work or not work depending on clearly designated triggers, with about the only exceptions being crits (sorta', there's lots of stuff that interact there), cover, or some support mechanics.

[Dostoevsky]

What's up peeps, thanks to everyone who gave me some reccs on my last request! Today I'm looking for mercenary management games or something nearby,

. . .

Battle Brothers--I've actually grown to like TBS games, but Battle Brothers is an absolute nightmare... there's never really a point where difficulty and level-of-badassery intersect, and every time you lose a brother it takes a long time to recover, frankly it's just too brutal for me.

I'd suggest modding here, namely Nexus mods that make the economy a little easier (e.g. increase sell price of your loot) and maybe also reduce the scaling a bit (this one requires downloading one of the 'X bro' mods and tinkering a bit, so is a tad more involved). I had the same problem you did, but ultimately found that modding it to be a bit easier allowed me to ease into the game a heck of a lot better and get over the difficulty hump.

Darkest Dungeon* -- I have it, but I haven't played it yet so... idk anyone recommend it?

Based on your issues with Battle Brothers, I'd give this one a hard pass. Been a while since I've played, admittedly, but losses in Darkest Dungeon are both really brutal and sometimes just plain bad luck (moreso than Battle Brothers). Lots of grind.

BATTLETECH* -- uh... I don't really know where to start with this one. I have it, and I've tried to get into the setting at large before (Mechwarrior, et al.) but it's pretty impenetrable to me. I might give it another go, but it hasn't kept my attention.

Modding makes it more interesting, but also makes it much more impenetrable. Not sure I have a good suggestion here.

I'm really just looking for something that lets you build a very customizable core party/team/warband and adventure around a rather fleshed out world with fights. Or at least something where, if it's a more controlled setting, that isn't dominated by RNG and garbage rolls, etc.

If you're fine with post-Soviet jank, there's Freeman: Guerilla Warfare. It's basically modern Mount & Blade in the balkans. Passable bullet physics and other mechanics, though field battles can get a little samey.

I kind of want to suggest Blasted Road Terror for giving the feeling of a mercenary management game a bit, but really it's too far off mechanically to do so. Still, it's a neat little game. Mad Max world where you're a small group doing random missions (that play out like a better version of Convoy). Minimal world building and progression only for your mothercar and equipment, though.

Low Magic Age could be a good D&D-styled contender, but it's too early in development still.

Sands of Salzaar was mentioned above, but be aware that the actual combat can feel pretty darn janky.

Reassembly is... probably not close enough, as you're a faction instead of just mercenaries, but combat is akin to Starsector while floating about as a flagship, making bases and fleets while conquering known space. Different factions have different block-types, and ships are made out of the various block-types.

I think someone already mention Space Pirates and Zombies 1 or 2. Also topdown spacefighting; both have certain pressure mechanics that somewhat drive the plot, though. I prefer the first game to the second, personally. More about upgrading equipment/resources than managing individuals, though.

And that is all I have, I think. It's also a genre I'm fond of and wish there were more proper entrants in. For more fantasy there are plenty of SRPGs that give a bit of feeling of that thematically but mechanically are less freeform (outside of just grinding random battles).

Edit: Actually why not, let me do a quick plug for Horizon's Gate as well. Third in a series of SRPG games from a lone dev -- the first, Voidspire Tactics, is basically a giant handcrafted dungeon with a party. The second, Alvora Tactics, is RNG dungeons with a party. The third, Horizon's Gate, is more of an age of sail game. A fair number of smaller dungeons for land combat a-la FFT, and an open world with trading and ship combat (which is also FFT-ish, though less customizable than the land combat). Plot is relatively light. Being an SRPG there is RNG, but I haven't found it that harsh and there's a good array of difficulty options.

[Urist McScoopbeard]

Thanks both!

Will check out Urtuk, Sands of Salzaar, and Low Magic Age (which coincidentally I just saw on Steam).

As far as Battle Bros mods, I'll try the smaller ones with economy and other QoL improvements--formerly I had played legends a bit when I had played ALOT (to try and git gud)

Freeman is pretty lit, I may go back to it. I had some deadly hombres at one point.

Reassembly is a very good game--spaceship builders are always fun, I started with Battleship Forever back in the day, and in some ways Reassembly (and another one) is ultimate modern expression of the genre. That said, I've also played it to death lol.

but speaking of SRPGs, I'll check out Horizon's Gate as well--I am very much okay with games adjacent to the genre because, like you said, it's not super fleshed out yet--there's a fair bit of games but they most fall into two camps (TBS hardcore managers, or M&B-likes) or don't do too much to innovate.

[Dostoevsky]

Oh, actually... Mechwarrior 5, the most recent one, is a relatively freeform mercenary game. Gameplay being first-person stompy robot shooting. In that sense it's less impenetrable than BATTLETECH. But... you'll need to download several mods to get core elements like enemy AI to work better, as the devs are a little notorious for half-baking things. There is a meagre plot, but thankfully it plays a pretty minor role compared to the larger mercenary life.

Edit: This one probably isn't worth current full price. Wait for a sale, and it might still be epic-only if that's a dealbreaker for you.

[JoshuaFH]

I thought of a simple, topical game idea:

You're the overseer of a bunch of circles and one or more are chosen to be infected. Once infected, they only have a certain amount of time before they die. If they come into contact with other circles, they get infected too. Your job as the overseer is to use your mouse to draw lines, which are barriers, between them, in order to quarantine them as fast as possible and save as many circles as possible.

The rub being that the circles have malicious AI, and will intentionally try to escape and evade the quarantines you make, and try to come into contact with as many other circles as possible.

You win when all the infected circles have been successfully contained long enough to all die, leaving only healthy circles.

[Frumple]

Sounds pretty close to those old jezz ball/Qix type games, tbh, if you were looking for similar gameplay. It's been a while since I've seen one of those made, but I wouldn't be surprised at all if they're still being produced occasionally.

[Sirus]

For something in a similar vein, consider Atom Zombie Smasher. It has many of the things you mentioned (infections spreading by contact, placing barriers, AI that does breathtakingly stupid things sometimes) and a few that you didn't (squares instead of circles, artillery).

[Mephisto]

I'm looking to lose myself in another tactical strategy game and have narrowed it to Battletech or Troubleshooter. Yeah, I know. Massively different ends of the spectrum.

Anyone have experience with either (or preferably both)?

[MCreeper]

I'm looking to lose myself in another tactical strategy game and have narrowed it to Battletech or Troubleshooter. Yeah, I know. Massively different ends of the spectrum.

Anyone have experience with either (or preferably both)?

Played troubleshooter for a bit. Starts slow as newcom (battle lenght wise), ends slow as torturtle hell with 2-2.5 hours long (without reloads, that is) missions. Otherwise pretty great and even haves decent plot. But i know that from some other guy that played it on other forum, only thing i know for myself is that mission length starts to get on nerves rather close to beginning. And almost no one in party actually shoots baddies. 

[Urist McSpike]

What's up peeps, thanks to everyone who gave me some reccs on my last request! Today I'm looking for mercenary management games or something nearby,

Here's what I've played so far:

Darkest Dungeon* -- I have it, but I haven't played it yet so... idk anyone recommend it?

BATTLETECH* -- uh... I don't really know where to start with this one. I have it, and I've tried to get into the setting at large before (Mechwarrior, et al.) but it's pretty impenetrable to me. I might give it another go, but it hasn't kept my attention.

I'm really just looking for something that lets you build a very customizable core party/team/warband and adventure around a rather fleshed out world with fights. Or at least something where, if it's a more controlled setting, that isn't dominated by RNG and garbage rolls, etc.

Darkest Dungeon is pretty much a must-play just for the narration. :p  No, it's really a decent game, but I read some comment somewhere that you should approach it differently from other games - don't get attached to your party.  You (the player) are controlling the town, not the party - they're just the hirelings that will die or go insane doing your bidding.  Don't think of it as building up the party, but building up the town.  It's a good game, although there is some RNG madness at times.  I usually play it in small doses.

Just picked up Battletech and have been playing through the campaign (with lots of side missions to build up cash, gear & xp).  I like it, but it's also something I'll play in small doses - an hour or two and I'm ready for a break from it.

Have you checked out the original X-Com: UFO Defense?  It is sci-fi based, and you have to build up the organization & do research to get better equipment, but your soldiers also train up stats by fighting.  It is a pretty complex game, probably the gold standard for turn-based squad combat games.  It is dated - 1994 release, but you can sink a huge amount of time into it.  You can find it out on the various gaming sites for $5 or less, and there is at least one total conversion mod to change up gameplay.

[Aoi]

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

What's up peeps, thanks to everyone who gave me some reccs on my last request! Today I'm looking for mercenary management games or something nearby,

Here's what I've played so far:

Darkest Dungeon* -- I have it, but I haven't played it yet so... idk anyone recommend it?

BATTLETECH* -- uh... I don't really know where to start with this one. I have it, and I've tried to get into the setting at large before (Mechwarrior, et al.) but it's pretty impenetrable to me. I might give it another go, but it hasn't kept my attention.

I'm really just looking for something that lets you build a very customizable core party/team/warband and adventure around a rather fleshed out world with fights. Or at least something where, if it's a more controlled setting, that isn't dominated by RNG and garbage rolls, etc.

Darkest Dungeon is pretty much a must-play just for the narration. :p  No, it's really a decent game, but I read some comment somewhere that you should approach it differently from other games - don't get attached to your party.  You (the player) are controlling the town, not the party - they're just the hirelings that will die or go insane doing your bidding.  Don't think of it as building up the party, but building up the town.  It's a good game, although there is some RNG madness at times.  I usually play it in small doses.

Just picked up Battletech and have been playing through the campaign (with lots of side missions to build up cash, gear & xp).  I like it, but it's also something I'll play in small doses - an hour or two and I'm ready for a break from it.

Have you checked out the original X-Com: UFO Defense?  It is sci-fi based, and you have to build up the organization & do research to get better equipment, but your soldiers also train up stats by fighting.  It is a pretty complex game, probably the gold standard for turn-based squad combat games.  It is dated - 1994 release, but you can sink a huge amount of time into it.  You can find it out on the various gaming sites for $5 or less, and there is at least one total conversion mod to change up gameplay.

Make sure you at least pick up unofficial bugfix patches if you're playing one of the original versions of it-- I thought I was on one of the newer ones and absolutely crushing it on high difficulty since I'm used to X-Piratez-style play... turns out, I was playing on one of the bugged versions that resets the difficulty back to Beginner. Still crushed everything in sight, but now I had to work for it.

[Micro102]

I'm looking to lose myself in another tactical strategy game and have narrowed it to Battletech or Troubleshooter. Yeah, I know. Massively different ends of the spectrum.

Anyone have experience with either (or preferably both)?

I've played battletech so let me give you a little rundown of what it feels like. You pilot 4 mechs that are customizable in things like amount of armor, weapons, and utility items like jump jets and heat sinks. You run these mechs around the battlefield trying to get height, cover, and angle positions as it gives accuracy bonuses, defense bonuses, and different parts of the mechs have different health. Destroy both legs or the head, and you get more loot to choose from. Use enough kinetic weapons (or just punch them a lot)and they get knocked over, letting you target body parts. Use flamethrowers and they will have a hard time not overheating. Lots of little details in the battle.

The absolute worse thing in the game I've experienced is this mission where you have to kill this tiny mech. Apparently if a single bullet happens to hit it, an escape ship appears almost right next to it and it runs very quickly to it and then you lose, but if you tear apart it's many heavily armored bodyguards around it, and then surround it, it will just obliviously stand there, waiting for you to unload every shell and laser you have into it. So expect some bullshit like that to happen on certain missions. I've only encountered the one but I haven't played too much.

[Micro102]

I'm getting the urge for a multiplayer FPS where you and some other players end up having to hold a position against dozens if not hundreds of enemies.

I already know about 7 days to die fyi.

[MCreeper]

I'm getting the urge for a multiplayer FPS where you and some other players end up having to hold a position against dozens if not hundreds of enemies.

I already know about 7 days to die fyi.

And left 4 dead, surely? 

[Mephisto]

Thanks for the assistance regarding strategy games. I've been working my way through Troubleshooter for several days now. I really like hiring new people which is a bit of a mark against it but it'll suffice until whenever the next big game sale is.