I've had some fun with it playing with a friend who's less into that kind of game. It's much more casual than the Civilization games. That's probably why it's not getting much attention in this thread: most of the people bothering to respond are likely to be more dedicated to the genre, and so find it less interesting.

The thing with the Civilization games, unlike RPGs like The Witcher, is that it's inherent in their nature that each of them is almost infinitely replayable, if you enjoy it. I tend to find that a game of that genre grows on me over my first few games, as I learn how it functions and how to play it well. Thus, I'm not sure there's a great need to play all the games in turn at all. Of course, the issue is working out which game(s) you think will most appeal to you. A personal choice in the end, but you can find some lps of the games on Youtube which should give you the information you need to decide :)

Ohh, I see. Thanks for that! Too bad, I have a copy to give away *whistle* EDIT: Taken

Many interesting posts thanks all!

I have seen Alpha Centauri mentioned which would be number one on my list if i had included it. But i hate Alpha Centauri as well, because it set such a high standard that even until this day nothing measures up.

Also i am a very big fan of Galactic Civilizations and Dreadlords

1) Alpha Centauri
2) Civ2
3) Galactic Civilisations
4) Civilization call to power 2
5) Civ3
6) Civilization call to power 1
7) Civ4
8) Civ5

I note most do not put Civ3 very high on the list. I suppose for me, Civ3 is very close to the Call To Power side, and because i loved those games, i was more inclined to enjoy Civ3, especially because the AI was much better than in Call to power.

I was just thinking about the sound effects during the AI turn in call to power, all the different noises and this one - "negative, please wait until the next turn blah blah" hahaha, or if someone died - Arrrrrgggh, you don't know who or where, but you hear it and its pretty funny! Oh and the sound effect for the slaver, funny.

If they ever made a Call to Power3 and kept all the good bits from the old game i cannot imagine that game not going right to the top of my list, even topping Alpha Centauri!

Yeah... That's something I REALLY don't like about it, but still, it's a good game! I gave out my extra copy about an hour ago -- hopefully they'll enjoy it :)

Ha! You just reminded me of a game I had. Usually I rarely had big naval battles - more just patrolling around to make sure nobody is sneaking up on me - that sort of thing ... but your post reminded of one.

I was winning the game pretty well I thought. I felt like I was in good shape and on my way, but war broke out with Queen Elizabeth - not sure how. But anyhow her navy came around the bottom of the continent - and it just kept coming - and coming. I was like there's no way she has that much navy. It was the most massive naval battle I'd ever fought in Civ, and I was calling in my fleet fleet from all corners of the globe (teach me to spread myself too thin). For the fleet that I had remaining to protect this area (the others couldn't get there in time) I was down to my last torpedo on my last sub, and sank her last ship. Stuff like that can make the game great.

I just wanted to mention that since you like space themes, Masters of Orion was a fun game in the same vein that I played maybe 20 years ago. It's an oldie, but I've heard MOO2 is many peoples' favorite. I have, but have not played, Galactic Civ yet. I think there's a newer one called Endless Space that many like alot too.

Well Civ4 is the most likely for that fleet battle because magical Alien brainwave manipulation causes all land based artillery units to suffer mass delusion and cannot fire their weapons at enemy ships offshore (civ2 as well). In civ3 or civ5 and in reality, Navy are vulnerable to land based artillery.

I have heard allot about Masters of Orion but i have never played it. I have the game and did have a quick look but it did not or i was not in the mood to invest the effort of learning the game at that time.

As for Galactic Civilizations and Dreadlords, there are a number of expansions around and Dreadlords 3 will be coming out soon of which i am greatly looking forward to. I never played Endless Space, and i don't remember if there is any reason why? Usually if i have not played a version/game among a series of games i like, it will be because i have read about the game on the forum and there was something i did not like the sound of.

Masters of Orion 2 is a pretty easy game to pick up waaaay easier then Galatic Civilizations 2. And its pretty fun.. I started playing it about a year ago I highly recommend it. Played games and games and games and games it has a nice feel to it. Aged very well..

Easier than Galciv? Hmmm, but as an experienced player of the Civ series, Galciv is hugely easy to play using the same basic strategies. Can you use Civ strategies in Masters of Orion?

Yea once you understand the basic mechanics of the game. Research, combat, exploration took some getting use too. playing a race with the "creative" attribute helps with getting with the research tree.

Oooh, that must be why i never got into it. I think i expended all my lurning curve energy on X2 and X3 some years ago and never recovered yet!

Beh. Half-price securom.

Woah, FE:LH looks awesome, but some reviews say that it's really buggy and AI is bad, is it? Also, WMoA is alright, it's what I'd call casual, fun strategy.

Speaking of Civ-like games, anyone have experience with Pandora: First Contact? More specifically, how does it compare to Alpha Centauri?

FE:LH has gotten quite a few updates since release; it may have been very buggy when first released (and/or it partly inherited the bad reputation of its Elemental series predecessors... the first one had an especially disastrous launch), but at least in my experience, it's stable now. There's also at least another two major updates slated for 2014, so any quirks that might remain will hopefully be dealt with then. I remember the (built-in) modding workshop crashing once or twice, and having to quit to desktop and restart game to get rid of a graphical glitch, but that's about it.

The AI has seemed competent in my games, knows how to expand, do quests, use defensive and offensive magic etc; I've definitely seen much, much worse strategy game AI's over the years. Overall, IMHO it's an enjoyable, addictive and very customizable fantasy blend of 4x and RPG elements. I'd say definitely worth giving it a chance if seen at a deep discount (and provided that Steam isn't a personal "dealbreaker", of course).