Crassmaster: Hmmm...kind of tough for me to recommend anything without knowing a bit more about where your interests lie. What scale of strategy do you like, are you a fan of/not a fan of micromanagement, any particular historical periods you have more interest in, real time vs. turn based and so on? Help me narrow this down a bit.
I generally have no problem recommending the AGEOD titles (Birth of America & the sequel, AGEOD"s American Civil War, World War One Gold) to people. The Close Combat remakes hold up pretty well (aside for graphics). Between the simpler Armada 2526 and the more in depth Distant Worlds, I suspect anyone who is a fan of Space 4X games can find something they like.
Al1: Again, my apologies for such a general question in the first place. I enjoy the Paradox grand strategy games (Europa Universalis, Crusader Kings etc), I am more of a fan of turn based games, although I consider the above Paradox games as turn based in so far as they allow me to pause to think about my next move. Having said that, I am also a die hard fan of the original atomic close combat games, and I had no idea that there were new ones. You say remakes, are they just the same game rereleased? I have no real preference for time period. 4x games are a minor passion of mine.
Sorry, reading that back has made me think that this probably will not be all that helpful.
No, that helps. :)
The Close Combat re-releases are the same basic game, but with some additions. The newer ones have night turns with limited visibility and flares as another support items that can be called in like arty or air support. They have updated OOB's and a bunch of changes under the hood as well. The best part is that they each also include the original game they're based off of, so you can still play all of the mods out there for the originals. Cross of Iron is CC3, Wacht am Rhein is CC4 and The Longest Day is CC5.
If you like space games, Distant Worlds might be right up your alley. Plenty of depth, but with a design that has the AI take as much (or as little) as you want it to.
Forge of Freedom sounds like a game you might enjoy (I'm looking at picking it up this year). It's a Civil War title with as much or as little complexity as you want.
I've also read that Empires in Arms is quite a detailed title, so you might want to check that out.
Definitely check out Crown of Glory : Emperor's Edition. Fantastic game. Again, the complexity can be set to your liking, and the turn based naval battles are a lot of fun.
The Operational Art of War III covers every conflict from Napoleon to the near future. There are a ton of user campaigns and scenarios that go a lot further than that. Tons of content.
If you really want to jump in to the ridiculously detailed deep end of the pool, check out War in the Pacific : Admiral's Edition. I've said it before and I'll say it again : that game scares me.
