Games you strategize about while away from the PC

[Vinda-Lou]

Are there any games that you enjoy playing that you think about during the day at work/class? I've been looking for a deep yet easy to handle strategy game that is deep enough that I would think about it away from the PC. For example, maybe playing something like Rome TW or RoN and later that day or the next day thinking about what I could have done better, or why a certain strategy did or did not work. I find that most the the strategy/tactical games I've played I only think about the story line or a cool action from the game. Like StarCraft: I would, back when I played it, think about the cool twists in the story line, but I never thought about strategy. In fact, in most RTS I never use strategy, I mass units and throw them at the enemy until they or I win. I'm wondering what good strategy games there are that possibly require thinking while not playing. I played Rome TW only a bit, because I played the tutorial campaign for a while, but the world map always bogged me down.





PS - Off topic slightly: There have been adventure games I've thought about at work/school due to frustrating puzzles, but never strategy games.

[Jeff V]

Last game I recall doing this with was Panzer General. Back in college, I used to plot strategy for board games a lot.

I don't really have the time nor the inclination to burn brain cycles thinking about games when I don't have to these days.

[raydude]

Currently the strategy game I think about while away is "Gary Grigsby's World at War". I think its mostly because I'm in a PBEM game with 4 other OO'ers. Also, I think the fact that I'm playing other humans encourages this kind of "away from the computer" decision making more so than if I was playing single player.

Part of it is because the computer doesn't miss much. You can't bluff the AI or hope that it doesn't notice a big gaping hole in its defense. Nor can you try to "anger" it and cause it to focus all its resources on something that doesn't help it win the game.

On the other side of the coin, you can't exploit "human" bugs repeatedly. And things that an AI might ignore would be noticed by a human who thinks several moves ahead.

Finally, it helps that my current game has 5 players and that I have a teammate. Its more fun to strategize with another person and try to coordinate offensives, not to mention having someone else point out the holes in your plan.

Sounds like you are looking for RTS suggestions though. The closest I've come to thinking about strategies for that genre is Kohan, multiplayer co-op vs. the AI.

[warning]

Not a PC game but I'm obsessed with getting through Fire Emblem on the GBA without losing a character. 15 levels in and so far so good. I think about it often which doesn't happen much...

[Grifman]

Currently the strategy game I think about while away is "Gary Grigsby's World at War".

Bingo, this one too for me.

[Kelric]

Shogun/Medieval/Rome: Total War have all gotten me thinking about my strategeries away from the games. The Out Of The Park Baseball series does that as well for both my solo leagues and my online league(s). I'm pretty sure Civ 2 did back in the day as well.

[Samurai]

War in the Pacific

[Peacedog]

I thought about Stars! alot when not playing it. I thought about Civ and Smac some. Also Fantasy General.

[Archangel]

I have done this alot in especially Rouge Spear, Raven Shield, Battlefield Vietnam and Operation Flashpoint.

[SpaceLord]

Minesweeper.

[Sepiche]

I plot and plan about Dominions 2 a lot. My friend and I get together to play that on the weekends when we can, and I'm always thinking strategy for that.

The game that really truely grabbed me once wasn't even a computer game. Online Diplomacy. It's rediculous how into that game I got and I even dragged my coworkers in with me. When I started playing I showed a few of my coworkers the game and explained the strategy and they liked talking about it so much that once a week before I turned in my orders we'd go out and eat for lunch and pour over the game board maps. We'd plot all the moves I needed to make, who I needed to make peace offers to, who I needed to stab, and man was that a lot of fun. It was like having my own personal war council.

s

[The Meal]

Are there any games that you enjoy playing that you think about during the day at work/class?

Only about all of them.

Any games against human opponents instantly qualifies. That'd be Stars!, especially OOTP (a baseball simulation), Laser Squad Nemesis, etc.

Then there are strategy games that are in-progress. Currently that means HoMM III, but any of the 4X games would qualify (the Civ family, SMAC, Dominions 2, MoO/MoM, etc.). Any strategy title that doesn't get finished up in a single evening generally means I'll be thinking about strategy when I'm not playing. Some titles (the MoO family, for instance) really lend themselves to being thought about "off-line" and when I sit back down to play, I'll radically change whatever my current line of progress was. I think there are some strategy titles that lend themselves to blindly pushing the "next turn" button, which is what causes this phenomenon.

PBEM games do not lend themselves to this -- you're *forced* to take time away from the game after every turn. Being forced to step back from the game (and consequently, being a bit disoriented each time you get a new turn, and having to rethink how you got to where you are and where you're trying to go with things), lends itself to a bit of off-line obsessions/strategizing.

~Neal

[raydude]

I plot and plan about Dominions 2 a lot. My friend and I get together to play that on the weekends when we can, and I'm always thinking strategy for that.
s

Not to derail the topic but I recall you wanted to get into a game of World at War. Well, you've got a PM waiting for you and a thread in "Multiplayer" forum to sign up .

[Sepiche]

I plot and plan about Dominions 2 a lot. My friend and I get together to play that on the weekends when we can, and I'm always thinking strategy for that.
s

Not to derail the topic but I recall you wanted to get into a game of World at War. Well, you've got a PM waiting for you and a thread in "Multiplayer" forum to sign up .

Um... actually I posted in that thread yesterday.

s

[Butterknife]

I think about all of my video games while I am away at work. Not the entire time of course, but during any downtimes or breaks it is not uncommon for me to plot out what kind of character I will create, strategize, read FAQs, post here ...

I suppose if I played FPS games I probably wouldn't think about them at work. But with RPGs I think about the storyline, characters, skills, spells, items, etc. and plan out what I want to do when next I play. With strategy games, as has been pointed out above, I will think about what I want to research, attack, diplomacy -- the normal stuff. Shucks, with Silent Hunter 3 I think about how cool it was to sink 4 ships in a convoy with 4 torpedoes, all in one salvo!

I suppose any game that I can finish an entire game in a night, such as a RTS game (Starcraft, RoN, Age of Empires, etc.) I will think about less during the day. However, I sometimes will still think about build orders, unit abilities and the like so that I can play better come night time.

[raydude]

Um... actually I posted in that thread yesterday.
s

Heh, so you did . My bad. Too much thinking about games offline at work!

[Padre]

I do this a lot, particularly for RPG character creation - sometimes I make spreadsheets, even.

[Caine]

currently doing this with my characters in guild wars because of the amount of skills available and creating different builds to match up in pve or pvp.

[Vinda-Lou]

How cool would it be if games like Combat Mission or Rome TW had an option for printing battlefield maps. Then, based on intelligence, you could plot the locations/sizes/make-ups of the (known) enemy forces, sketch out different starting scenarios for your army, and get a good overview away from the computer.

Once I am in game, I get a rushed feeling to get things moving - I don't sit back and study the maps too much. Granted, some games don't need this feature at all, but it would be nice to sit outside on your porch strategizing what you're going to try later and see if your plans really worked. This could even work to some extent with RTS. It would be like a general looking over a map and making plans.

[mori]

Check out the Paradox games: Europa Universalis, Victoria, Hearts of Iron. The learning curve is steap but I feel it is worth the effort.

[dbemont]

Out of the Park baseball constantly.

Sometimes Civ.

[Two Sheds]

Back when I had Rome: TW campaigns going I was thinking about the game constantly. I'd be in class drawing up formations for my armies and working out the logistics of moving them across territories.

My roommate and I used to have a Combat Mission PBEM game going and I remember sitting in class trying to plan out my next move and contingencies plans for what I thought his next moves might be.

[Lassr]

GG World at War for me too. Been thinking of how I can break the stale mate that's happening in France. Allies can't push out of France because Germany is concentrating all it's units on pushing me off the continent while Russia is slowly pushing it's way to Germany. Looks like my job will be to just hold ground and let Russia advance.

[Cesare]

I play Warcraft III so much I dream about it almost every night. When I'm not playing it or dreaming about it, I'm thinking about new strats and counters.

I'm a sad, sad human being.

[ioticus]

Dominions 2 has taken over my life.

[The Meal]

Dominions 2 has taken over my life.

Care to get involved with/HOST another game?

~Neal

[ioticus]

Dominions 2 has taken over my life.

Care to get involved with/HOST another game?

~Neal

Hot damn, that's just what the doctor ordered!

[martindemon]

X2 the Threat; I think about what I will buy with my millions, the millions that keep adding because when I play my game is on SETA mode most of the time at the beginning of the game and the money keeps comming

Morrowind: I keep reading the solution manual to try to find things I did not find yet. I think about where I'll go and what I'll try with my next character.

[hentzau]

City of Heroes. I'm constantly looking at builds in Hero Planner to figure out my next great character.

[Ummagumma]

When the original Civilization came out, I used to take the manual and the great Civ strat-guide "Rome on 640k a Day" with me to the various locations I was working at the time and pour over the text and makes notes in a notebook during my down time. One lady once asked me if I was studying for an exam!