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[xDarkz]

I've been looking for the ultimate strategy gaming experience but I can't seem to find it. I bought Starcraft 2 after all the hype about it and I just couldn't get into it. Too much of a click-fest and not enough strategy for my tastes. Company of Heroes was in my opinion, the closest thing I came to finding this "experience" but that too will probably crumble due to Relic's financial deficits.

What am I looking for? Something like this:

Do near-deaths count? Kind of like how the Darwin Awards includes honorable mentions for those that perform stupid acts but aren't removed from the gene pool?



You can trigger your own traps in Silent Storm. How did I find this out? There we are, silently 'nading a new backdoor into a German household. A HE grenade made a hole just big enough to crawl through. We take out some of the Nazis in front and I send my engineer/leader to the new backdoor to plant a mine. He needs more engineering experience and I need a bigger hole in the wall.

Did I check to see what the mine's explosion level was? No. Did I check to see how much damage it would do to the structure? No.

Next turn, Elf is upstairs using her knifelockpick to open a door. Apparently the mine took her attacking the door to mean "MUST GO BOOM NOW!" It proceeds to explode in my engineer's face, dropping him into the basement, conveniently in the very room my medic was going to shoot the door off of in order to access its sweet, sweet loot. Casualties: 0. Injuries: just the engineer that planted the mine.

Perhaps making my leader an engineer was a bad idea. If the leader dies, it's game over.

And we died. Surprisingly, it wasn't the leader's fault. Through some horrid moves on my part (namely, sending the sniper and medic along with the scout into a blind area) I lost three of my six members and lost the desire to continue the mission. I'll try again later.

Pure strategy goodness.

I wish I came upon Silent Storm when it flourished -- but now it seems as though it's dead, with the last update forum and otherwise on the official website dating back to 2005.

Do you guys know of any games fitting the description I'm trying to emphasize? I would prefer something current and still being regularly patched but it doesn't seem like this generation prefers the strategy and tactics genre.

I wish today's gaming industries didn't focus on the the run-and-gun / click-and-watch-it-explode type of games.

Thank you for all your help!

[Majestic7]

I love Silent Storm. Especially when you use a mod to remove those stupid power armor from the game. Just stay away from KGB, a game from the same dudes. It is horrible. If you are into tactical shooters, have you tried the old classic, Jagged Alliance 2? It lacks all the nice physics and terrain Silent Storm has to offer though. X-COM series is another classic in the genre. Altair's Ufo Afterlight isn't too bad either.

Current games... that is harder to find. There is new Ufo Extraterrestrials game coming out soon, the first was a...lackluster X-Com clone. Maybe the sequel is better, we will know in a month or so. Have you tried Total War series? Shogun 2 Total War came out recently and it is pretty good. Though in that serie, the games only really shine with big mods like Stainless Steel for MTW2. The vanilla games just don't manage to give everything they could.

If you are into 4X games, I can recommend Distant Worlds with the expension. Sword of the Stars is pretty good too with all the expansions, you can get a package deal for that nowadays. DW is recent, SotS is done for though there is SotS II at the works. My problem with SotS is the lack of diplomacy, but it is pretty good regardless.

If you are into multiplayer games, then... Dominions 3! Dominions 3! Dominions 3! It doesn't look like much, but underneath there is a heart of pure astral pearls. 

If you can narrow the requirements, I'm sure I can come up with more recommendations, being mainly a strategy/tactics player myself.

[Antioch]

The games of the close combat series  might interest you.

I find that dominions 3 really suffers because of its terrible UI. Turn time could be reduced by a factor 3, while giving the same orders if a better UI was present.

[sluissa]

I second Jagged Alliance 2, especially with the 1.13 mod. X-Com as well.

The official silent storm forums may be dead, but I've found that the site http://www.strategycore.co.uk/ Does a good job at handling these types of games as far as community is concerned. It might not be active constantly, but there are almost always people at least lurking. If you have a question that isn't already answered in there somewhere, or even one that is, there is almost certainly someone willing to help you. The site started out as a dedicated X-Com site with a couple of subforums for other tactical games, but a few years ago branched out into what it is today.

[Majestic7]

I find that dominions 3 really suffers because of its terrible UI. Turn time could be reduced by a factor 3, while giving the same orders if a better UI was present.

True and it could do with an actual diplmacy system with military access treaties and whatnot... but regardless, it really shines. I luvs it. The only game I've been playing for almost ten years now.

[hemmingjay]

I mourn Silent Storm a couple of times every year. It truly was one of my favorite gaming experiences in the last 25-30 years. Jagged Alliance just never captured this feeling for me and don't get me started on E5.

[yamo]

Combat Mission Shock Force.

http://www.battlefront.com/products/cmsf/videos.html

[Majestic7]

I mourn Silent Storm a couple of times every year. It truly was one of my favorite gaming experiences in the last 25-30 years. Jagged Alliance just never captured this feeling for me and don't get me started on E5.

I'm sad nobody ever made sequel to SS. Remake of first X-Com with Silent Storm engine had been awesome too. They could have kept all the WW2 stuff, just make it UFO Roswell, with the invasion hitting in late fourties.

Have you tried 7.62 High Calibre? Not as good as Silent Storm and suffers heavily from horrible translation... Some dialogues edge near surreal... but it had its moments. There is supposed to be a sequel on the way - possible already out in Russia - that is hopefully better.

edit - Yeah, 7.62 is sequel to E5, but I found very little similar between those games.

[Cheese]

Does it have to be RTS/twitch RTS?

[Ivefan]

Have you tried 7.62 High Calibre?

I think I did. Played half of the first map and then uninstalled it

[jester]

ummmm, isnt sentinels a sequel to silent storm?  I just got both in a pack from a bargain bin in a games shop.  So freaking happy I almost touched myself right there.  Jagged alliance 2 is great, and its worth playing wildfire and unfinished business even if you have played 2, that is if you can get a hold of em.  Fallout tactics is a dodgy version of the same sort of thing, its not great, but Ive played it through twice.  Acanum and Fallout 1 + 2 are great rpgs with turn based strategy combat, well worth checking out. 

  In terms of destructible terrain though, silent storm has everything beat

[Majestic7]

ummmm, isnt sentinels a sequel to silent storm?  I just got both in a pack from a bargain bin in a games shop. 

Sentinels is an expansion pack. It is much shorter than the original game and requires it, if I remember correctly. It has just a handful of missions, mostly against overwhelming numbers. I thought it was much worse than the original Silent Storm. KGB, the next game from the same bunch, unfortunately continues in the tradition of Sentinels instead of SS. I almost cried on the wasted potential of that game.

[Berekän]

Men of War is what you need.

[Mephisto]

Sweet, my post sparked a new thread.

Anyway, I sent a response to the PM asking for more games like this. I figure I should post them here, too. Pretty much any of Nival's other games will give a similar experience - Hammer & Sickle, Night Watch, and Silent Storm Sentinels all use the Silent Storm engine. I'm sure the exact same experience with a different layer of paint splashed on top would get old after a while, though.

[xDarkz]

Wow, thanks for all the suggestions! I saw your PM, thank you so much good sir. I'll download some demos from Steam and what-not for games available and I'll watch youtube video and read reviews for the others.

I really wished this genre didn't die out; or rather, wither tremendously.
It really is a great genre.
Thanks for the great set of games and keep them coming please! :]