What city building/exploration would you recommend?

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SirFelixCat

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Nov 24, 2005
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So I've finally come to the conclusion that I really really enjoy building cities and exploring the unknown (ie. early game in CIV), but the combat I'm kinda 'meh' on. I couldn't ever figure out why I just could not get into the Civ series as much as I thought I should...but I finally figured it out.


So with that said, what game(s) would y'all recommend in this genre?

TIA and Happy New Year!
 
paperfist

paperfist

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The no brainer would be Sim City IV. The mod community for it is gigantic, the graphics are still very good and game play is no walk in the park so there's a bit of a challenge there. As far as the exploration part there's not much to it.

Not nearly as epic for city building but having the exploration element is Dawn of Discovery. There's also The Settlers 7, but both have military elements.
 
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SirFelixCat

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Nov 24, 2005
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Sim City IV or the Cities XL 2011?

And the thing that triggered my "A-ha" moment was seeing Dawn of Discovery on the Steam sale today. Multiplayer doesn't interest me much, so the lack of it there doesn't bother me.

I'll definitely investigate more before the sale ends and see what I think of those. Thanks and I hope I keep getting more suggestions! :thumbup:
 
AyashiKaibutsu

AyashiKaibutsu

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Jan 24, 2004
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If the combat in Civ games isn't satisfying him, I can't imagine the combat in sim city will... Rome: Total war has worse building, but much better combat.
 
pontifex

pontifex

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Dec 5, 2000
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AyashiKaibutsu said:
If the combat in Civ games isn't satisfying him, I can't imagine the combat in sim city will... Rome: Total war has worse building, but much better combat.
Click to expand...

there is NO combat in sim city...


I liked Settlers 6 for building. There is combat though. I can't remember 100% but I think you could do like a skirmish game without an enemy and just build.
 
paperfist

paperfist

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AyashiKaibutsu said:
If the combat in Civ games isn't satisfying him, I can't imagine the combat in sim city will... Rome: Total war has worse building, but much better combat.
Click to expand...

I took that to mean he wasn't interested in combat...

If not then SimCity IV knocks the snot out of any Cities XL xxx games even with it being older. SC has ploppable, growable plots of zones & land, is very nonrestrictive in layout & design and has a huge community http://www.simtropolis.com. Cities XL you just plop down premade buildings and manage 'wealth' types of people. They (last I looked) locked down modding of the game which is sucky considering the possibilities that could be opened up for that game.
 
Chriscross3234

Chriscross3234

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Jun 4, 2006
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My city building game of choice has to be the Anno series, ie Dawn of Discovery. Not nearly on the scale or difficulty as SimCity 4, but it's still challenging and relaxing to play at the same time.
 
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SirFelixCat

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Nov 24, 2005
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Soooo irritated now that I missed SC4 when it was on sale. I think I'd like to experiment with both it and Dawn of Discovery.

Obviously, this decision comes after DoD is not on sale :/
 
paperfist

paperfist

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If you don't mind retail and paying slightly more ($19) you can pickup the boxed version of SimCity IV which also included the Cities XL like Sim City Societies + expansion and Snap City another Sim City derivative which is a little kiddy like.

BTW, SC4 is still $9 on Steam, not sure what the sale price was.
 
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Coldkilla

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Oct 7, 2004
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Sim City 4 may be 8 years old, but it still rocks in every way. Cities XL doesn't do any justice to city building. Anno 1404/Dawn of Discovery may have a military element, but it is hardly the central aspect of it. I really like Anno for its complexity as a sort of "city building game". I also heard that "Children of the Nile" was pretty good in terms of city management but this also had a military aspect.
 
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Acanthus

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Aug 28, 2001
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Coldkilla said:
Sim City 4 may be 8 years old, but it still rocks in every way. Cities XL doesn't do any justice to city building. Anno 1404/Dawn of Discovery may have a military element, but it is hardly the central aspect of it. I really like Anno for its complexity as a sort of "city building game". I also heard that "Children of the Nile" was pretty good in terms of city management but this also had a military aspect.
Click to expand...

Simcity 4 has some issues that were never fixed. Namely large buildings (international airport) have permanent red crime no matter what you do. The traffic flow runs like shit too.
 
paperfist

paperfist

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Acanthus said:
Simcity 4 has some issues that were never fixed. Namely large buildings (international airport) have permanent red crime no matter what you do. The traffic flow runs like shit too.
Click to expand...

Dunno about the airport problem, but traffic has been greatly improved through unofficial patches and the NAM (Network Add-On Mod).
 
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SirFelixCat

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Nov 24, 2005
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I've decided that I'm going to pick up at least SC4 and DoD. The other one I'm curious about now is Settlers 7.

Keep in mind that I don't mind military, I just want that to be a side thing, not the driving part of the game (Empire: TW etc).

Thanks for all the input, fellas! :thumbup:
 
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crownjules

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Jul 7, 2005
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It's Ubisoft, so in order to play Settlers 7 you have to sumbit to their DRM (always online).
 
paperfist

paperfist

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SirFelixCat said:
I've decided that I'm going to pick up at least SC4 and DoD. The other one I'm curious about now is Settlers 7.

Keep in mind that I don't mind military, I just want that to be a side thing, not the driving part of the game (Empire: TW etc).

Thanks for all the input, fellas! :thumbup:
Click to expand...

I'm curious about Settlers 7 as well, it looks awesome but some of the reviews point out supply chain issues. I've experienced those in previous Settler games. They seem like grand city builders, but always seem to fall short in one aspect or another. I guess I'll try the demo again and hope it goes on sale today if I like it.

One other city builder with a minor military element is Tropico 3. It's got the cool dictatorial spin to it, but you're bound to a single island to build on. It's good city building fun with a twist just don't expect to log the type of hours you'd get with Simcity.
 
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SirFelixCat

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Nov 24, 2005
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paperfist said:
I'm curious about Settlers 7 as well, it looks awesome but some of the reviews point out supply chain issues. I've experienced those in previous Settler games. They seem like grand city builders, but always seem to fall short in one aspect or another. I guess I'll try the demo again and hope it goes on sale today if I like it.

One other city builder with a minor military element is Tropico 3. It's got the cool dictatorial spin to it, but you're bound to a single island to build on. It's good city building fun with a twist just don't expect to log the type of hours you'd get with Simcity.
Click to expand...

Thanks. I put them on my wish list (all mentioned) and will watch for sales. :thumbup:
 
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The Green Bean

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Jul 27, 2003
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I was a fan of the Simcity series and I bought cities XL 2011 from the steam sale. I have only played about 3 hours but I feel the game lacks depth and isn't really that much fun. You don't really see the city develop and prosper and it seems like you just keep zoning and zoning a lifeless city.
 
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FlasHBurN

Golden Member
Oct 12, 1999
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Yeah, I agree about Cities XL 2011, it's decent, but it lacks the development you get with Sim City. I miss seeing zones grow and change.

I bought Dawn of Discovery yesterday (bah, didn't notice it when it was on sale). Having a really good time with it so far. I like how they lead you along with quests, it gives me something to focus on while playing. Although I dislike how things build instantly when you place them.
 
JoshGuru7

JoshGuru7

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Aug 18, 2001
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All four of the games discussed here are fun, I would rank them like so:

Anno 1404/Dawn of Discovery ($$, 4/5)
Settlers 7 ($$$, 4/5)
Sim City 4 ($, 3/5)
Tropico 3 ($, 3/5)
 
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