Strategic non-war games (village sims)
Simon Slavin
village, or other population centre. Most such games have an eventual
goal which involves killing the enemy and the game finishes when the
enemy is dead. I'm not looking for that sort of thing. I want one
where the emphasis is on making your occupants happy, and the mayor
adrenaline-rush comes when you've discovered a new tech or built a new
building. I don't mind alittle conflict, but it shouldn't be the
whole point of the game.
Examples of the type of thing I've talking about are
the _Virtual Villagers_ series (right idea, but too simple)
the _SimCity_ series
Settlers II / Widelands
Darwinia (you take over buildings rather, not build them, but still
..)Endgame Singularity (CPUs rather than villagers, but still ...)
I might even include the _Black & White_ series, since the emphasis of
the games is more about discovery and development than killing the
enemy.And the graphics and gameplay are so good.
I have some problems, though. None of the SimCity games run on an
up-to-date Mac. The sequels to _Settlers II_ have good graphics but
the gameplay sucks (making shoes ? need 4 items to equip a soldier
?). So I guess I have criteria I haven't really thought out.
--
I'm trying a new usenet client for Mac, Nemo OS X.
You can download it at http://www.malcom-mac.com/nemo
Joseph Nebus
>I'm looking for games where your basic job is to build a hamlet,
>village, or other population centre. Most such games have an eventual
>goal which involves killing the enemy and the game finishes when the
>enemy is dead. I'm not looking for that sort of thing. I want one
>where the emphasis is on making your occupants happy, and the mayor
>adrenaline-rush comes when you've discovered a new tech or built a new
>building. I don't mind alittle conflict, but it shouldn't be the
>whole point of the game.
Hm. It gets a bit afield, but would you consider the Roller
Coaster Tycoon, or Zoo Tycoon, sort of game to fit? It's no village,
of course, but you are building a reasonably stable recreational center,
and both lines of games involve setting up a place with diverse
attractions --- including food, drink, restrooms, and even medical care
as needed --- and success or failure does relate to how happy the people
are kept.
Railroad Tycoon also offers something with a bit of the
village-building aspect, since in the building and running of railroads
you affect how the towns and cities develop, but it's very abstracted
from any relationship with the people, and there's little to be done on
one's own to direct building exactly.
--
Joseph Nebus
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Simon Slavin
nebusj-@-rpi-.edu(Joseph Nebus) wrote:
> Hm. It gets a bit afield, but would you consider the Roller
> Coaster Tycoon, or Zoo Tycoon, sort of game to fit?
Great idea. Thanks, Joseph. I'll take a fresh look at all Tycoon
gamesfor the Mac.
Actually, having thought longer about my original post, I realised I
really want to build something. So I'm going to go out and buy a
construction toy.
Michael Emrys
> ...I realised I really want to build something. So I'm going to go out
> and buy a
> construction toy.
Do they still make Erector Sets? I'd heard that they didn't because of
the liability of kids getting cut on the sharp edges. Too bad if that
so; next to my toy guns, I think I played with mine more than almost
anything during childhood and it was just a basic set without the
motors and stuff.
Then there were the model kits that filled up my young years...
Michael
Simon Slavin
Emrys<em...@olypen.com> wrote:
> On 2009-01-19 14:19:26 -0800, Simon Slavin
> <sla...@hearsay.demon.co.uk> said:
>> ...I realised I really want to build something. So I'm going to
>> go out and buy a
>> construction toy.
> Do they still make Erector Sets? I'd heard that they didn't because
> of the liability of kids getting cut on the sharp edges.
Not to mention the fact that the name is no longer PC.
There are lots of things suitable for an adult. Meccano are still in
business but their site doesn't show any big intricate models.
Instead themarket has moved to 'marble run' toys. I already have this
<http://www.amazon.com/Quercetti-Medium-Skyrail-Suspension-Elevator/dp/
B0007OBF8U>
<http://www.brainwavestoys.com/sky-rail-suspension-w-motorized-elevator
-pr-1027.html>
Which was great fun to get working, but has limited replay value.
Thereare smaller more varied things like
<http://www.fatbraintoys.com/toy_companies/the_learning_journey/techno_
gears_marble_mania_mega.cfm>
and I once found a collection of interacting vehicles that collect and
sort little balls that looked like great fun. Unfortunately buying
enough vehicles, tracks, and other pieces to do something interesting
looked like it would costs more than a couple of hundred pounds.
Ideleted the URL and can't remember the brand name.
Ah, here they are:
something like this:
<http://www.rokenbok.com/RO_Products/ROKJr/SS_07100.asp>
Simon.
Michael Emrys
> Not to mention the fact that the name is no longer PC.
Now *that's* slicing the salami awfully thin!
Michael
Lady Nightingale 7
it which is Age of Empires: The Rise of Rome, Age of Empires II: The
Age of Kings, Age of Empires II: The Conquerors, Age of Empires III,
Age of Empires III: The WarChiefs, and Age of Empires III: The Asian
Dynasties.
Player selects a civilization and plays on a randomly created map,
most of which are based, at least loosely, on a real-world geographic
area.You can create villagers at the population centre, sorting them
to do farming,lumbering, mining,buil buildings then you also need to
protect your village by create soldiers and so on...it's great!
Currently I play Space Federation which consist Unification Wars &
Galactic Conquest.These two I love the most. Latest, 3700AD....quite
fun!All you need to do is find money, doing researches or sell goods,
manage your planet and protect it from being attack by other
players.Of course,there's more of it!
Lady Nightingale
This is definitely a new experience to play turn based strategy games,
it makes me thinking...that's for sure,lol; http://www.gamestotal.com,
http://uc.gamestotal.com, http://gc.gamestotal.com, http://3700ad.gamestotal.com,
http://manga.gamestotal.com
Joseph Nebus
>Currently I play Space Federation which consist Unification Wars &
>Galactic Conquest.These two I love the most. Latest, 3700AD....quite
>fun!All you need to do is find money, doing researches or sell goods,
>manage your planet and protect it from being attack by other
>players.Of course,there's more of it!
Hm. When's the last time a Capitalism-style build-your-
financial-empire sort of game came out? It'd be kind of nice to honor
the memory of an economy with a really good game.
--
Joseph Nebus
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Lady Nightingale 7
Jamie Kahn Genet
> I'm looking for games where your basic job is to build a hamlet,
> village, or other population centre. Most such games have an eventual
> goal which involves killing the enemy and the game finishes when the
> enemy is dead. I'm not looking for that sort of thing. I want one
> where the emphasis is on making your occupants happy, and the mayor
> adrenaline-rush comes when you've discovered a new tech or built a new
> building. I don't mind alittle conflict, but it shouldn't be the
> whole point of the game.
Almost all the old DOS-based games in this genre run great under DOSbox
(free and open source). I play SimCity 2000, Civ 1 and MOO2 this way and
they're still excellent fun :-)
--
If you're not part of the solution, you're part of the precipitate.