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[Sowelu]

Okay, so SimCity is good.  DF is good.  Civ is good.  But...I have a history of sinking all my time into them, and coming up for breath after a full week and wondering wtf just happened.

Could you, dear readers, recommend a game that gives that level of control and power and satisfaction, but in a scale that you can play for an hour or two at a time and be comfortably finished with a single game's project after four hours?

(Sandbox games are preferred.  Unfortunately, scenario-based games like Settlers or Caesar don't hold any interest for me.)

[Viken]

Tropico 3 and its expansion.

[Sowelu]

Tropico 3 and its expansion.

Ooh, that's actually a good one, and I have that.  I tend to play fairly long sandbox games, but I can pare them down and play 20, 30 year games.  I should get the expansion so my garages aren't huge monolithic structures.

[Virex]

(Sandbox games are preferred.  Unfortunately, scenario-based games like Settlers or Caesar don't hold any interest for me.)

There are a few free play options in the newer descendants of the Caesar linage, most notably Pharao, which also has plenty of community made maps available here

[hemmingjay]

I'll throw The guild 2 renaissance.

[Sowelu]

(Sandbox games are preferred.  Unfortunately, scenario-based games like Settlers or Caesar don't hold any interest for me.)

There are a few free play options in the newer descendants of the Caesar linage, most notably Pharao, which also has plenty of community made maps available here

Pharaoh was actually my least favorite game of the series.  Personal preference, yeah, but the walker system of the whole series got on my nerves, it was too easy to build perfectly-functional blocks (but you had to make them in a specific way with no real customization), and...well, I spent more time than I should have on a game I didn't really care for.  Oops.

I'll throw The guild 2 renaissance.

Haven't played.  I'll have to look into that!

[MasterFancyPants]

I've been watching a Let's Play of X Com by Alehkhs:
http://www.youtube.com/user/Alehkhs#p/c/FCA949F561D713CB/0/jtl-DMHjC6s
It looks to be a pretty good anti-alien sim, but I'm not sure if that's your looking for or not.

[Akura]

(Sandbox games are preferred.  Unfortunately, scenario-based games like Settlers or Caesar don't hold any interest for me.)

There are a few free play options in the newer descendants of the Caesar linage, most notably Pharao, which also has plenty of community made maps available here

Funny, I've actually been playing Emperor recently.

[Sowelu]

I've been watching a Let's Play of X Com by Alehkhs:
http://www.youtube.com/user/Alehkhs#p/c/FCA949F561D713CB/0/jtl-DMHjC6s
It looks to be a pretty good anti-alien sim, but I'm not sure if that's your looking for or not.

Oh dear god.  Well, it's true that any given tactical mission can be finished in a couple hours, but the game as a whole is HUGE.  I'm looking for something where a single game, from start to finish, can be accomplished in a single night.

[MasterFancyPants]

Oh, I thought you wanted games where you would reach a stopping place in a short time.

[olemars]

If you don't mind dosbox and ancient games from long, long ago you could look for Utopia or one of its sequels.

[Sowelu]

Oh, I thought you wanted games where you would reach a stopping place in a short time.

Nah, for me it's kind of like getting ice cream.  If I buy a pint of Ben & Jerry's, I just accept that it will be gone by the end of the night, because otherwise I'd be leaving something unfinished and I can't do that!  If I've got a game in progress, it distracts me and I keep going back to it.  Not so good for me.

If you don't mind dosbox and ancient games from long, long ago you could look for Utopia or one of its sequels.

I'll check that out.  I love dosbox and stuff.

[olemars]

I just noticed there are multiple games with that name, some more ancient than others. So for accuracy's sake, I meant this. Although the intellivision game from 1981 actually seems kind of cool too.

[Thexor]

Just to sidetrack: I vaguely remember that Intellivision game. Fairly simple by today's standards, of course - but given the console it was on, it was amazingly complex. I'm trying to remember the details (and I really, really don't want to dig the instruction manual out of the garage). Oh, hello Wikipedia...


And as for the main topic: Yeah, Tropico would be great. You can easily finish a shorter game in a night. Those 50-year maps might take 2 days if you don't spend too many hours per day and/or don't run at ultra-fast speed.

[EuchreJack]

Small galaxies on Master of Orion 2 can be finished in a night, generally.