Some mention "grand strategy", maybe it is that then? I mean games like the Civilization series (at least the early ones I've tried), Master of Orion, Master of Magic etc. Or are they called 4x strategy games or what? I feel there is are great games there, but something just prevents me from getting it.
Yet at the same time, I love base building RTS games (Starcraft, C&C, KKND2, Warcraft etc.).
Maybe the main problem at least with those I've tried is that they feel more like skirmish games to me. There is no proper campaign, you just select the size of the world, number of enemies and the skill level of your enemies. A more structured game where each mission slowly introduces you to the game bit by bit works better for me, like those RTS games.
I don't play the skirmish mode in those RTS games either, or multiplayer for that matter. I just play single-player campaigns. I once tried playing skirmish mode in Starcraft, but it felt pointless to me in a similar way like playing Team Fortress (2) against computer AI bots.
Emachine9643: Really? Why?
Not sure about TinyE, but for me problems with TBS (turn-based strategy, I presume) is that:
- They quite often have quite a lot of micromanagement compared to RTS games, ie. you are supposed to move each of your units one by one. In RTS games you normally move groups of units (even just one huge group). So whenever someone complains about micromanagement in RTS games, I presume they hate TBS games even more, as they tend to have more of that.
- Too often the game becomes a contest of counting your steps (action points), ie. you try to move your units just enough so that they still have action points to shoot back, if and when the enemy units come to range on their own turn. That somehow feels... "game-y" to me, artificial. RTS games don't contain similar counting of steps, the game flows better.
That said, I occasionally like some TBS games. Gorky 17 was pretty good and micromanagement wasn't a problem as you had only few units anyway (3-4 or something like that). M.A.X. on the other hand has those problems I mentioned. Also, in RPGs I don't mind turn-based combat but usually even prefer it, but then there you also have only few units to control.
I became frustrated already in games like UFO: Enemy Unknown land battles where it seemed to take ages to just move my landing party out of the landing craft.