I'll be locked in a compound just outside of Kabul for the next little while, so I'd like to pick up some games.

Problem: my laptop is old -- it's a five year old machine running Windows 7. 4 Gigs of RAM, does not have a specialized graphics card. So, I'm not going to be running Civilization 6 or, really, anything too complex or with advanced graphics. So -- I'm looking for games that fit the following:

-- strategy or indy
-- less than $15 (I don't want to spend forty bucks on a game and then find I just don't like it)
-- will run on my antiquated laptop, and
-- compelling, addictive gameplay.

Many thanks in advance!

Any games you've played and enjoyed previously?

Stay safe in Kabul

Strategy or indy? If you expand to include a top-down sims as well then how about:

OpenXCom
- The definitive way to play the original Xcom.
openttd
- Extremely addictive management sim
openrct2 with a gog copy of rct2
- Ditto
HoMM3
- swallows entire days at a time
Disciples 2
- somewhat similar to HoMM3, but with a richer, darker atmosphere and incredibly badass units.
Pharaoh
- or any of the other Sierra city builder titles on gog. Be sure to grab the widescreen .exe
World of Goo
- indy royalty
FTL
- indy royalty

More strategies. These are some of my favourite games:

Settlers 2 - one of my favourite strategy games ever. Can play for hours.
[url=https://www.gog.com/game/jagged_alliance ]Jagged Alliance [/url]- my favourite tactical game of all time; excellent voice acting.
Lords of the Realm - I loved both 1 and 2
Imperialism - an underrated gem.
Alpha Centauri - my favourite 4x game.
Master of Magic - another 4x strategy; really enjoyed it.

Civ 2, Civ 4, Tropico, Master of Orion 2, the Kingdom Rush series. (And others, but those were ones I particularly liked.)

Stardew Valley or Terraria should run reasonably well Which can also make use of all of RCT1's scenarios now. ;) Both games are on sale right now.

Huh? We share similar tastes except i also like RPGs and a few RTSes

How about Civ in Space? Try Sid Meier's Alpha Centauri https://www.gog.com/game/sid_meiers_alpha_centauri Some of his other works are https://www.gog.com/mix/sid_meiers_greatest_hits

Another MoO2 fan eh? Try Stars in Shadow https://www.gog.com/game/stars_in_shadow or Haegemonia if you're into space RTS https://www.gog.com/game/haegemonia_gold_edition or maybe Galactic Civilization 2 https://www.gog.com/game/galactic_civilizations_ii_ultimate_edition Maybe try Gal Civ 1 which is less than $15 though https://www.gog.com/game/galactic_civilizations_i_ultimate_edition

Kingdom Rush too? Wowza! Try Defender's Quest, a fun spin on the "tower defence using troops" genre. https://www.gog.com/game/defenders_quest

I haven't played Tropico, but you can take a look at the Anno series https://www.gog.com/games?sort=popularity&search=anno&page=1

i particularly like Anno 1503 https://www.gog.com/game/anno_1503_ad

Theme Hospital
Possibly the most fun and accessible business sim I've ever played. Highly addictive, quite diverse and funny at that.

Jagged Alliance 2
Pretty much the ultimate squad based tactical game. It's HUGE and will keep you busy for a long time with a long campaign and RPG elements. And it has aged a lot better than the first game that ZFR suggested (I loved that one back in the day but it really hasn't aged well unlike JA2).

I also second OpenTTD. I find it a bit hard to get into but once you've gotten the basics it's an insanely satisfying and addictive game. I'm not much of a business sim fan but this one's pretty much for everyone. And it's free.

Incubation
This is my other favourite squad based tactical game and comes with all other Battle Isle games developed by Blue Byte which are themselves pretty decent sci-fi war games. Anyway, Incubation has a pretty cool story and setting, awesome atmosphere, highly challenging but insanely satisfying gameplay that sometimes borders on a puzzle game and very fun squad customization with tons of unique equipment. And the 3D graphics, while so primitive that they could be rendered by a potato, are still easy on the eyes.

Heroes of Might & Magic III
The best entry in the HoMM series and according to many people the best game ever made. Very accessible and insanely addictive. If you haven't played it yet I very much urge you to give this one a shot.

Yup, I remember reading about them working on that, but even after they said they added compatibility I wasn't sure how to add them until I randomly stumbled across it in the options menu not long ago.

And no one asks why he will be locked in a crate outside Kabul?

You likely won't have time or the proper environment for playing games. I've been deployed multiple times overseas and brought gaming laptops with tons of games. Too busy at work...12-14hr days with 1 day off a week and when I was off it was usually 12 or so to a tent and no one wants to see a flashing screen when they want to sleep. Unless you're lucky enough to be in an established base (you said afghanistan so if not an FOB then likely) in a job with plenty of down time then mabye.

Whatever you do don't be the guy playing games at work unless you're locked in a scif or something. heh.

Don't jump to conclusions. He could just as well be a captured terrorist who's being sent back to Afghanistan for execution.