Hey! Help me find a good PC/Mac TBS game..

[Jain Zar]

That's not Civ 4 which doesn't work right anyhow!

Not worried about console TB games since I have lots of them in the queue, mostly portables.  (Just finished the half baked but could have been rad D&D Tactics on the PSP, and have started back up my old Field Commander game which crashed right around the time I won it.  Other games on tap: Jeanne D Arc, Metal Gear Acid 2 (PSP), Suikoden Tactics, Disgaea 2, Dynasty Tactics, Arc the Lad 2,3 & Twilight, Future Tactics (PS2/1), Dai Senryaku (Xbox) and probably Front Mission on the DS should I be able to pick it up this week.  Might get the Wii Fire Emblem as IT FINALLY HAS HARD SAVES IN MISSION THANK YOU SWEET JESUS FREE AT LAST!)

But that's mostly SRPG weeaboo stuff.  It scratches my turn based strategy itch, but in a way that isn't totally satisfying and mixed with the usual creepy that modern Japanese videogames and anime seem so good at producing these days. 

Now that I have a lovely dual boot 2.8 ghz iMac of awesome, I want to get back into some crunchy games of quality strategy.

My general desires, since itll help:
No 4X stuff.  Unless someone has finally gotten Moo2 working under XP.  Which wasn't the case as of last week.  Galciv 2 doesn't allow me the MAIN POINT of 4x which is violent ship to ship combat.  Its my reward for menu hopping and learning tech trees! 
I generally prefer Regiment or smaller scaled games, especially the TBS ones based mostly around killing.
I don't give 2 shits about World War 2.  Unless its really fucking awesome don't recommend me any games taking place during it.  I have Squad Leader, and all 3 Advanced Squad Leader Starter Kits plus I plan on ordering Panzerblitz 2 once it comes out.  (Real Life hex n chit games.)  I don't really care about any other WW2 game.  We need more WW2 games like I need a hole in my head.
I would prefer a decent level of graphics polish.  Gimme at least early Playstation 2/late Dreamcast quality.  Tiny boxes with rectangles in em don't cut it.  Seriously.  Squad Leader put little pictures on counters back in the late 70s. 
No Starforce or buggy POS former Warsaw Pact crap.   Usually they seem to go hand in hand, even on games that coulda been great like Silent Storm.  I will happily play a game (sans Copy Protection from hell anyhow!) from that area, but would like it not to be all screwy.
Preferrably digital download with boxed copy sent to my house, no extra charge.
I want more of a wargame and less diplomacy/building stuff.  Unless its really good.

Right now some potential candidates I have found:

http://www.lonelytroops.com/wof/index.htm

This one seems to be a relatively well put together beer n pretzels (decaf coffee and sugarfree gum for my sorry ass anyhow) game.  The demo played well, the graphics are decent enough, and it was happy in 1920 x 1200 widescreen.  The few reviews I saw weren't too impressed with it though.  Only 20 bucks but digital download only. 

http://www.matrixgames.com/games/game.asp?gid=339

Its less a wargame and more a grand strategy kinda title, but it seems to have decent reviews, looks decent, and covers a sorely neglected bit of history.  French Indian Wars and Revolutionary War.  It could rock.  Sadly, can't find a demo unless I am just blind.  33 bucks isn't a bad price either.

http://www.matrixgames.com/games/game.asp?gid=300

Graphics are kinda meh, but it looks to have ground and space combat in one title which could be cool.  Again, no demo I can easily find.   35 bucks aint bad, but like the above, I want to try before I buy.

http://www.galacticassault.com/

This one had a solid demo.  So did its' spiritual prequel, Massive Assault.  And Massive Assault had serious gameplay killing bugs in the campaign game.  Ones that ARE STILL THERE.  While it seems to be better in every way than Massive Assault, (random damage! Close Combat!  Entrenched infantry! RANDOM DAMAGE!) I am still worried about getting "Game Broken" error messages like Massive Assault gives.

Feel free to confirm or deny the above games being any good or to recommend some other TBS games yall know are good.

[Yegolev]

I found Europa Universalis III at Target for $9.95 a few weeks ago, but I haven't had two hours to rub together to get past the tutorial.  From what I can see, however, it's solid.  Might not line up with what you are looking for, not sure.

[stray]

Your post is too long for me to sift through! 


Not exactly TBS, but have you played any of the Freedom Force games? Or HMM5?

[edit] There's a native os x build of might and magic btw...

[Sky]

I love TBS but I don't know what the hell to recommend after that mess of a post 

I'm enjoying FFvTR right now, which is real-time, but you can pause and issue orders, which is fine by me. There's an OSX version of Colonization (freecol) if you want retro, though it's not combat-centric per se.

[naum]

Dominions 3

[Jain Zar]

Your post is too long for me to sift through! 

Clearly.  People keep suggesting RTS titles.  Paused RTS is still RTS and thus worthless butt.

Not exactly TBS, but have you played any of the Freedom Force games? Or HMM5?

[edit] There's a native os x build of might and magic btw...

Beat the original.  Wasn't satisfying because REAL TIME SUCKS.  Would have been way better turn based. 
Didnt get far at all in the sequel.  My tolerance for RTS just gets lower and lower.

Ive thought about HOMM5, but ive heard its pretty buggy, and the Mac port is even worse in this regard.  (And it doesn't have the reduced price and expansions out like the PC version does.)

And isnt Europa Universalis and its sister games real time? 

[Johny Cee]

I love TBS but I don't know what the hell to recommend after that mess of a post 

I'm enjoying FFvTR right now, which is real-time, but you can pause and issue orders, which is fine by me. There's an OSX version of Colonization (freecol) if you want retro, though it's not combat-centric per se.

Is there a good downloadable version of Colonization for Windows?  I love that game,  and have been dying to play it again for years.

[Yegolev]

And isnt Europa Universalis and its sister games real time? 

If I can get through the tutorial, I'll let you know, but I had thought it was turn-based.  /sadf

[Sky]

You can run freecol on your toaster. http://www.freecol.org/

I guess if you don't like pausable real-time games, I don't have any suggestions for you, since I haven't seen a whole lot of good TBS in the last few years besides the FfH2 mod for Civ4 (I don't care for vanilla civ4). For me, being able to pause and issue orders at any time is as good as turn-based. And I DESPISE RTS if you /can't/ pause and issue orders.

I guess it's back to tokyo crap for you.

[Rasix]

Fallout Tactics: Brotherhood of Steel

Pros:
Great combat model (Fallout with all characters being usable)
R. Lee Ermey voice acting
Decent Fallout story
great setting
Pausable realtime or completely turn based
vehicles


Cons:
End game requires you to switch tactics some to energy weapons (not nearly as jarring as Silent Storm's switch to exoskeleton mecha)
Buggy (might be a deal breaker for you, it can get crashy, save a lot)
Older, might be hard to obtain.
Some maps are really lengthy to clear.
None of the modern dohickeys like destroyable terrain and such.

I liked this game a lot, but for many it just wasn't "Fallout-y" enough. The crash bugs could get annoying.

[WayAbvPar]

EUIII moves so slow it might as well be turn-based.

[Sky]

Some maps are really lengthy to clear.

That was my main complaint. I play pretty methodically and it took foreeeever on some maps, I've never gone back to finish. Actually, I keep getting bored in one of the vehicle maps where there's a long and windy road (iirc) through a town.

[Jain Zar]

I bought a cheap little Gettysburg game for 10 bucks at Target and its not too shabby.  Nothing great, but itll scratch the itch for a couple days.  I also grabbed Space Rangers 2, but a check on Wikipedia reminded me its a Starforce protected game so I might return it to Target since its still sealed.

I would have bought Galactic Assault today, but it was at one of the 3 EBStops in the mall, yet the tiniest one had Front Mission, Castlevania, AND Fatal Fury Collection so I bought those instead.  I feel as if I have betrayed Grognards everywhere.  But some tabletop Ogre stuff came in the mail so that restores my "Stuck in the games and gameplay of the 80s" cred.  And my Warhammer 40K Tau beat the everloving SNOT out a Black Templars force.  I kicked too much ass and it really wasn't even a fun battle.  I lost 2 guys and some gun drones that popped off my Pirahna speeders. 

The other one had Defender of the Crown, the 3rd version of the game.  (I had the C64 version as a lad.  Got the GBA version when it came out.  Got the Robin Hood version for the PS2 on clearance.)

As I am lazy and cheap, DotC and Galactic Assault were waited on for another time.

The Colonization recommends are ignored as I really don't like Civ games.  I mostly just want combat.  Civ and Galciv series don't have satisfying combat. 

And I bought Fallout Tactics on release, making it quite far.  Its not bad.  I liked it well enough.  And don't worry if the Fallout community didn't like it.  They are a bunch of tools who don't like any game but Fallout 1, and to a lesser degree Wasteland. 

I know I am a stuck in the mud refuse to accept the way modern gaming sucks giant donkey wang type of gamer, but those NMA fucks make me look like a yearly EA Sports buyer!