not strategic command 3 ww2 world at war for sure
the ai is cheating so heavily ruining many strategies

try gary grigsbys world at war , it is pretty good , the only problem is the meh research is so click intensive

Interstellar space Genesis.

But only if you like Master of Orion. Try the free game first and if you like it even a little Interstellar gives you much more.

I just bought Blood & Gold. That seems pretty strategic. But all the Mount & Blade style games are decent. IF you buy Warband, you can go over to ModDB and download Between Empires mod. Its a full game with half the planet around the 1800's for the player to conquer. No, I mean town by town. You will be VERY busy in strategy with this. You get more than one game. Buy it on sale! =D

I'll assume we're just talking GoG

First off!!!

Warcraft 1/2. It still stands up wonderfully well, filled with character. A lovely memory of pre-corrupted Blizz

Heroes of Might and Magic 3 - if you don't list this, the slavs will get you

World in Conflict: Complete Edition
Iron Harvest
STAR WARS Galactic Battlegrounds Saga
Army Men
XCOM...like, all of them
Desperados 3
Crusader Kings
Soldiers: Heroes of World War II
Sudden Strike
Men of War: Assault Squad
Door Kickers
Jagged Alliance


Solid list to start you off!

Ahahahah, I got u, thx!

Any preferences on sub-genre?

Some top picks that came to mind:
Stars in Shadow (4x)
Fell Seal (SRPG)
RimWorld (Builder/Simulation/Strategy)
FTL and/or Into the Breach ("roguelite" strategy)
Monster Train and/or Slay the Spire (also "roguelike" strategy, but deckbuilding)
Defender's Quest (tower defense)

Echoing mqstout. Need to know sub-genres. Too broad.

I like Sid Meier's Alpha Centauri, Space Empires IV, Sword of the Stars, Distant Worlds Universe, Imperium Galactica 2, Impossible Creatures, Conquest Frontier Wars, Dungeon Keeper 2, Space Rangers HD a War Apart, Corsairs Gold, Startopia, Pharaoh.

As far as RTS games go:

Age of Empires (any game really)
Age of Mythology
Star Wars Galactic Battlegrounds (basically an Age of Empires 2 mod)
Command & Conquer up till Red Alert 3: Uprising
Ancestors Legacy
Warhammer 40K: Dawn of War (especially the 1st game but the 2nd one is good too)
Warcraft 2 and 3
Dark Colony
Armies of Exigo
Battle for Middle Earth 1 and 2
Warlords Battlecry
KKnD 1 and 2

It's really quite sad that most of these are not on GOG.

You need to share more of your likes.

There is build, combat, skill increase strategy in RPGs like Obliviion and Betrayal at Krondor.

There is world map strategy in games like Master of Orion, Civilization, Pacific General;

I agree with Jorev, but I couldn't look at this thread and not recommend one of the all time greats when I have a unit from it as my forum avatar:
-Total Annihilation. There are only two resources, Metal, and Energy, which to me is an improvement on just about any other RTS. Battles can and do involve hundreds of units(and without crashing if you have an OK PC.) The biggest knock on it is that the story is onion-paper thin, and while that is true, the gameplay in my opinion more than makes up for it. This is coming from a guy who loves games that are "story rich," and gets bored easily in most games that don't have one you can dive deep into, so take that for what it's worth.

Heroes of Might & Magic 3

Heroes of Might & Magic V

Divinity: Original Sin 1 (however, part 2 is horrible despite it being more popular, because it vastly dumbed-down and hence ruined all of its TBS mechanics)

Iratus: Lord of the Dead

XCOM 2: War of the Chosen (be sure to play the version that has that expansion pack included with it)

Since we're talking "dive in", I'm assuming you'd like something moderately accessible, so here are my two cents. Well, three. Four. Five, ish.

Warcraft III. I will admit right off the bat that the Warcraft thing is not for me; I don't understand what tone the universe is trying to strike. But having said that, WC3 is a stupidly peerless real-time strategy game that's easy to pick up without taking you for a dimwit. SpellForce 2 is a decent alternative - it's not as good, but the self-conscious camp tone was easier for me to swallow.

(SpellForce 1 is a very different game, steer away from that)

XCOM: Enemy Unknown. Start off on Easy if you're new to strategy games. XCOM has its flaws, but it puts you on the strategy seat on so many levels that it's the most fun turn-based strategy I've had since

Advance Wars. The GameBoy Advance turn-based hero of a thing. OK, so the story isn't much to write home about, but the gameplay makes up for that in spades. Of course, playing AW would require you to get a handheld system or suffer the moral greyness that is emulation. If you want most of the gameplay and more than a dozen characters, there's

the Fire Emblem series, which, again, require a Nintendo system or emulation. At least the GameBoy Advance ones are good, as is Path of Radiance for the GameCube. There's a mobile game called Fire Emblem Heroes, but it's so goddamn convoluted these days, with conditional rules upon conditional rules and sort of a multiplayer element built in, that it's impossible for me to recommend.

Total War Warhammer series.

Galactic Assault: Prisoner of Power
Robo Rumble
Gorky 17
Army Men RTS

all 4 take some fiddling to get to work and all go on sale down to lower than 2$

Civilization IV

The most elegant design in a strategy game I have ever seen. The different systems are deep and present meaningful choices, with synergies that become apparent as you grow familiar with the game. The learning curve is gentle: you can start playing at the lowest difficulty levels, ignore/automate the most complex elements, just build and do whatever seems right or you find coolest while slowly getting used to it all, and still have a chance to win... and then proceed to master the game step by step as you climb the difficulty levels.

Plus there are a myriad of mods that basically give you new games for free.