The best strategies for PC. The best strategies for pc Strategies in which you need to develop

Paradox Interactive continues to create complex worlds of grand strategy and global strategy. Created by these developers, Europa Universalis and Crusader Kings have amazed audiences and gained a large following worldwide. Applying all their experience, the developers went to the stars, along with their next project - Stellaris, inviting players with them to a more grandiose gaming theater than before.

Stellaris is a highly customizable hybrid of real-time strategy and global strategy. From the very beginning of the game, you can customize your interstellar people, ranging from their appearance and flag, to philosophy and demeanor. Some form of customization is present in many aspects of the game. The manner in which you explore nearby planets and star systems, study sciences, expand the realm of your race, and interact with other races. Gradually, Stellaris accelerates from a somewhat slow start to a large and all-encompassing race for control of the universe.

The game does not forget its roots. Stellaris borrows socio-political and economic systems from other Paradox games, forcing players to balance between internal strife and external influence and pressure. Stellaris is great to play alone, but multiplayer is where the game starts to shine even brighter. Playing online, against friends and enemies, is a great pastime that stretches out into many hours of fun.

Battlefleet Gothic: Armada is one of the modern offerings in the Warhammer 40K universe, a tactical RTS with spaceships. Moving away from the ground battles of previous games in the Warhammer 40K universe, Battlefleet Gothic turns its attention to the stars to fight in a desperate war against galactic enemies.

Acting by the standards of the lore of the Warhammer 40K universe, on a journey through the story, the player takes control of a fleet of imperial warships, the plot pushes you head-on against the usual opponents: Chaos Indivisible, Orcs and Eldar. Survival in battle depends on the timely use of tactics, relying on the slowing mechanic known as Tactical Cogitator (Russian, at the time of this writing, is not supported by the game). Meanwhile, your task is to competently spend all resources on armament and customization of your ships in order to get maximum performance in your chosen tactics.

In addition to the single player game, the multiplayer mode will allow you to use many ships of different factions and participate in multiplayer battles. With every victory and defeat in single and multiplayer games, you earn "Fame", which you can spend on upgrades and improvements, and defeats in the campaign affect your progress in the story campaign. Battlefleet Gothic: Armada is a bit tricky to learn, but you can get the most interesting and comprehensive Warhammer 40K experience from this game, not to mention that the game as a whole is an outstanding tactical RTS about spaceships.

Best strategy where Montezuma (Emperor of the Aztecs) can fight Gandhi (philosopher of India)

Civilization is a turn-based strategy game about human history: you guide a race of people from the Stone Age to modern times and beyond. This is a global strategy (capture, explore, use and destroy) and the best thing is that you start from scratch and grow to a global power. Or die trying to do it.

The decisions that you have to face in the game: political, economic, military and even social. You can become a friendly neighbor or invader. A center for trade and tourism, or an industry-oriented state. Freedom of choice is the best asset of the game - where will you go? What are you going to do? Which path will you choose to win? There are now over 20 factions in the game, and each has a specific play style, but you will always have freedom of action.

Civilzation is a well-tuned series of games. The game has a strong set of tutorials and tooltips to help you make decisions. Combat is better than ever, thanks to Civilzation V's rethinking of the grid system. Having Steam Workshop support means you have an endless stream of mods and maps.

This is a series of games that coined the term "one more move and sleep" - this strategy is addictive, it is addictive and addicting game.

Best Total War Strategy

Total War is a game about managing an entire empire, in between armed clashes on the way to domination. Now you are busy with taxes and the construction of baths, and in the next moment you shoot from cannons and rush headlong at the enemy.

The game takes place in two different modes: empire management in turn-based strategy mode, and tactical battles in real-time strategy mode. The key to victory is the interaction between the two modes, for example: launching a cavalry attack against the enemy army, knowing that it is commanded by the opponent's king and killing him will cause the collapse of the empire.

Whenever two armies meet, the game goes into tactical combat mode. You play as a general, a hero - you control your units, draw up battle formations and strategy, and fight your enemy to the last man. Choosing the right terrain and the right tactics is not always the best option, a slight superiority in strength can withstand almost any difficulty, and the most powerful army can be defeated with a good ambush.

Total War: Shogun 2 is still the best game in the series. If the period covered (16th century feudal Japan) is not to your taste, try Napoleon: Total War - a game focused on the campaign of the famous general. Total War is deep, tactical and thoughtful: it can take you a week or so to complete a campaign in Total War.

Buyer's Guide: Sega often gives discounts on Total War, and you can purchase Shogun 2 and its add-ons on Steam for less.

Almost a decade and a half after the game's release, the original Stronghold is still the best game in Firefly's lockdown series. Combining RTS with creative, strategic building, missions and battles has sometimes been a distraction from the game's trump card - a simple yet effective medieval building set.

The campaign isn't particularly memorable, and the battles are slow and confusing, but playing in free-building mode is very addictive, like playing Lego or sculpting in the sandboxes of childhood. Of course, the tide always destroys the fruits of hard work, but watching everything fall apart is part of the fun.

Buyer's Guide:Stronghold HD is available in Steam

Best strategy to kill your spouse

Crusader Kings 2 is a bloodthirsty bastard of Global Strategies. You play as a medieval lord trying to gain more power, influence and territories in historically accurate medieval Europe. The game offers complex game mechanics instead of a pretty picture. You control the economy, army and people.

The personality element makes Crusader Kings 2 a very compelling game. You are part of a family dynasty, not an abstract nation. You can marry and have children, when you die, your heir will take over and everything will start again. In between, you can use intrigue or brute force to increase your possessions, but the key is that you develop a real personal connection with your characters, your avatar. You will mourn his death, you will applaud his every triumph.

As a count or duke, you can stage a coup and rebel against your Master to increase your power. As a king, it is quite easy to lose a Kingdom to an invasion or rebellion. But as long as a member of your dynasty is still alive, you will always have a chance to play it all back. Do not be intimidated by the seeming complexity, the more you play, the more you will learn.

Buyer's Guide: Choose to buy a bundle with most add-on packs, including the latest (Old Gods).

The best strategy for e-sports enthusiasts

Starcraft II is a sci-fi strategy game about armored cowboys fighting against xenomorphic aliens and space elves. This is a classic real-time strategy game where you collect resources, build an army and kill enemies before they kill you, you need to make quick decisions and quickly click the mouse.

Multiplayer is a huge part of Starcraft II. People will become your enemies; they will be able to click on the keyboard faster than you and give orders faster than you. You will probably lose a lot of nerve cells, but you will get the best gaming entertainment, and there you will be good enough to be able to compete with the players at the esports level.

The single player campaign is also quite interesting - Blizzard has combined insane action with RPG elements, and the history of the exploits of the mercenary Jim Raynor. You will fight in a series of missions, many of them will have unique goals - for example, try to collect resources on a map filled with lava periodically, defend against waves of zerg within a given period of time. In between missions, you explore a semblance of an RPG hub where you can talk to people, research new technologies, and decide which mission to visit next. It is very difficult to implement an interesting storyline in the real-time strategy genre, and many are limited to cutscenes and dialogues in missions, but SCII, forcing you to interact with the world in non-battlefields, actually makes the game story interactive.

Buyer's Guide: Blizzard is one of the few companies that doesn't actually "make" DLC. Starcraft II has one expansion at the time of this writing - Heart of the Swarm, the second expansion (Legacy of the Void) should be released at some point in the future. The expansion as a whole introduces a few new units and multiplayer tweaks, but mostly promotes the single player story. In the original game, you played as a Terran. In Hearts of the Swarm, you play as a zerg. In Legacy of the Void, you'll play as a protoss.

The best strategy to play dress up with your dolls

XCOM was an unexpected hit. turn-based strategy, in it you will be required to reflect an alien invasion in a dynamic single-player campaign. This is a remake of the classic X-Com, and as a remake, it is an ode to the best.

You send groups of up to six soldiers into battle against small gray aliens, robots, insects, and more .. Tactically intense firefights on city maps, countryside, aboard alien ships, all based on easy strategy. The player base is presented as an ant farm, where you will research new technologies, perform autopsies, and ask for funding from a shadow government agency.

In short, it's fantastic.

Character customization is really catchy. You can give your wars names and faces as you play the campaign they grow in your mind, they get backstory and fake accents. It depends on you whether these soldiers live or die, and you feel their every step, you feel every plasma bolt that hits them, you feel their pain as your own. When they drop dead, grieve, and a new guy is sent as a replacement ... well, he (or she) will not get a name until he shows himself.

Tactical combat is the essence of the game, and if you've never put your commander skills to the test against real people, XCOM offers you to try them out in multiplayer.

This World War II real-time strategy game throws you right into the midst of the battle taking place during the Allied invasion of Northern France. Starting on D-Day, you will work your way through several maps divided into tactical zones. You must establish a base of operations, protect resources, and fight for a just cause.

It's tricky - you have to make sure all corners are covered and that your front line is safe, because if there are gaps, nothing will stop the enemy from wreaking havoc in your rear. Infantry can build defenses and / or garrison buildings, and engineers can set traps or lay obstacles. Tanks and other vehicles will provide you with brute power, but they are quite expensive to build in droves. As a commander, you have support abilities that give you an added advantage.

This game is the highest-ranked strategy game of all time - the single-player campaign reminiscent of the movie Brothers in Arms makes the story campaign more than just an online training, and the Internet community itself is well developed. The two factions (or four if you have extras) are well balanced so that you need more than normal maneuvering or simple ranged combat with the enemy. In the nine years since the first release, the modding community has flourished, which means that you can get even more interesting gameplay.

Buyer's Guide: Company of Heroes has two add-ons - Opposing Fronts and Tales of Valor. Opposing Fronts is the only one really worth buying. At the moment, a sequel has already been released, covering the Russian and Eastern Front.

The best strategy where elephants and sports cars can collide in battle

Age of Empires is a classic RTS series that is easy to learn, charming and can challenge the player if so desired. You choose your civilization, create your city and your army, and fight other civilizations on the map. You advance through various "ages" or tech levels to upgrade your troops and buildings.

This game is half resource management, half tactical combat, like Warcraft or Starcraft. You always start the game with your city center and a small number of civilians, but by the end of the match you can grow into a metropolis, with walls, fire towers, and a large army. Age of empires was published before the beginning of the era multiplayer games on the Internet, so the main components of these games are single-player campaigns and battle with artificial intelligence. These are a series of specially created maps (with customizable goals), with a famous person or a group of people from history. These missions don't have to be historically accurate, but they involve you in the story, and each battle provides a unique scenario of the confrontation.

Age of Empires 2 spans an abstract period of time that begins in the Middle Ages and goes all the way to the early Renaissance. How do you like: the Duke's Celtic raiders with his Persian elephants and medieval pikemen near Japanese fortresses? And those who know cheats can always play with sports cars with installed machine guns.

Buyer's Guide: In January 2013, Microsoft released the "HD" version of Age of Empires 2 , which includes the main game and the expansion.

Best hybrid of Wargame and RTS

A game in the genre of wargame. It will relieve you of unnecessary worries associated with building bases and will allow you to focus exclusively on battles. You command your own custom army of tanks, infantry, artillery, and even helicopter gunships and planes. The battles take place in highly detailed parts of the European countryside, which can reach up to 150Km2.

Attention to detail is what drives WarGames and is what makes WarGame: AirLand Battle a brilliant game. Your tanks can march along the highway or trample various crops in the fields, your infantry can crawl through forests or hold an important intersection ... but tanks need fuel, and weapons need bullets. If you don't support your troops with supplies through the logistics system, your battle group will literally get stuck.

For a high-level strategy game, there is surprisingly much atmosphere. If you bring the camera closer to “ground level”, the camera will shake from artillery shells hitting the ground. Forests will burn around you, and if things are going really badly with you, retreating, the skeletons of fallen tanks and infantry fighting vehicles are left behind to burn out.

Wargame offers a brilliant dynamic single player campaign. You can play as NATO or the Warsaw Pact countries, and you will have to fight for control of Scandinavia, using existing combat units, off-map support ... even randomized political events. If you prefer playing with real people, there is a great online community. Wargame also has a lot of multiplayer maps in stock, and there is support for battles in 10v10 matches.

Buyer's Guide: At the time of this writing, the Wargame series consists of three games, the latest Wargame: Red dragon, with an alternate story about the conflict in Asia

The best strategy for an ambitious Caribbean dictator

Tropico is essentially a city planner, but what makes it cool is its charm. You play as a Caribbean-themed banana republic dictator and your task is to guide your island from humble beginnings to greatness.

How you do this is up to you. You can exploit the natural resources of your island and turn it into an industrial center, or you can use the beauty of the island's nature and try to become a holiday destination for ignorant white tourists. Or both. At Tropico, there are many options for where to place a residential complex or factory, whether to award pensions or be drafted into military service. You attract immigrants to the island, and they all need housing and jobs, and you will have to create your economy and services. Throughout the game, your actions are wonderfully told on the talk show of the radio station Tropico, the presenter is trying to give even the most fig your actions a positive color.

As your island grows, you will be able to start doing business with - America, Russia, or even China and Europe, everyone will want to influence you. They will offer you money and wealth if you only let them build a military base on the island, or let them export their waste to you. If you are not careful, you will have to deal with a rebellion or invasion. In any case, your regime will be overthrown.

Tropico is just a fun game: it's a city planner with a healthy dose of economics, commerce and politics.

Best Space RTS

Sins of a Solar Empire - this global real-time strategy game focuses on building a large space empire. You have planets to colonize and develop industry and trade on them, but when things get bad, there are always groups of ships throwing bullets, lasers and missiles at each other in an endless struggle for dominance.

The game has a lot of things typical of the Sins series: your scouts will rush from planet to planet in search of new worlds to conquer. Your merchant fleets will move goods from place to place, moving the wheels of the economy, and your mighty war fleets will rush from one crisis to another, because if pirates are not knocking at your door, then some other faction has come to claim the rights to your property.

There is no single player campaign: you simply play endless skirmishes against the AI ​​using a wide variety of cards from the set, each with its own quirks and strategies. You can also create your own map using the editor and of course you can start the game online and play against real people.

Buyer's Guide: Sins of a Solar Empire has three expansion packs. Last but not least, Rebellion is a standalone extension that includes all previous updates and features. There is also a DLC for the game called "Forbidden Worlds", it adds new types of planets, new vehicles and a few heroes.

Best Atomic Weapon Strategy Game

DEFCON is a game about a war that cannot be won - about a nuclear war. You are represented on a simple vector map of the world (in the style of the WarGames movie and other classic films), you are given a bunch of military equipment, and the world begins to slowly count down to Armageddon. You must make the best use of whatever you have to come out on top in the soon-to-be-formed desert world.

Defcon's simplicity and abstractness is its greatest asset. You cannot stop all missiles, and you cannot win every conflict. Regions will be destroyed, entire fleets will be lost, but ... all you see are statistics on the screen. You get points for killing more people at a time, you lose points for every percentage of your original population. The player with the most points at the end will receive a "win". Congratulations.

Defcon is an interesting game, but what makes it so addictive ?! This is that the game is actually a battle of wits, akin to chess. The match will always start at DEFCON 5, and will count down the threat level at the allotted time. The closer you get to DEFCON 1, the more you are allowed to do, but it basically comes down to placing your assets - your fleet and submarines, bombers and fighters, missile silos, radars. You and your enemies (up to 6 players or AIs can play in the same match) will do the same actions, so you need a sense of anticipation and the ability to guess the next move of the enemy.

The default game lasts no more than 45 minutes, although you can adjust this setting. The game is great fun for the pure strategist and loads quickly and easily. We strongly recommend playing against other players.

Buyer's Guide: There are no add-ons or DLCs and the game itself is very cheap.

This space global strategy will dump on you: space bugs, slaver raids, asteroids, even alien probes ... and now, you accidentally meet with another space empire. This is a dangerous universe and Sword of the Stars reflects this wonderfully, and also presents the player with an addictive and challenging game.

This living universe really works wonders in the early stages of the game, where traditionally almost nothing happens in global strategies before you face other factions. In addition, Sword of the Stars does something that is not often found in the strategy of this genre, does not make all the game factions equal. Of course, it all starts with the same resources and planets, but each race behaves in a unique way - they have their own unique methods of traveling through space. It also binds the technology system to the factions: the game technology tree is randomized for each new match, and each race has a preference for certain technologies.

Ship customization is a large part of the game, and you will spend some of your time just customizing various ship designs. As with the Total War series, this game goes into real-time strategy mode when the shooting starts. You can issue orders to your fleet, set battle formations, and watch as two groups of ships erase each other into cosmic dust. Nice.

The Soviet Union is invading America, and your task is to push them back. Gone are the days when it was required to build a base and manage resources, you have command points and goals. If your units are destroyed, you can use your command points and call in reinforcements, and you must use your unit's strengths wisely, along with an impressive array of off-map abilities.

The single-player campaign is very cinematic and really captivates you with the storytelling. I almost wanted to join the Red Army after seeing the result of the Soviets storming West Berlin, and there is one scene in the middle of the game ... well, I'll leave it up to you to figure it out for yourself. You mainly play as a US Army officer helping repel an invasion, but Soviet Assault adds missions from a Russian perspective, and this is critical to the backstory.

The game presents a great example of tactical combat, taking advantage of the terrain to your advantage, micro-commanding troops, and it gets even better when you go online to play. Players can fight in matches with up to 16 players, and unlike a solo campaign, you must choose one of four roles for yourself, this will affect the units and auxiliary abilities available to you. Certain roles are likely to be weaker against certain tactics, so you should make sure to work alongside your teammates.

Nevertheless, there is still no such problem that would not be solved by carpet bombing.

Buyer's Guide: The game World in Conflict there was only one expansion - Soviet Assault. The add-on adds new missions to the storyline campaign for the USSR.

Best Scale RTS

Supreme Commander was the game that broke the PC because the processor requirements were so high. This game, about the war of the future, is a robotic real-time strategy game that simplifies resource management and focuses more on building a great war machine. You start with one irreplaceable device - a command machine, from which you build factories that produce units, they are necessary in order to wage a war with your enemies.

The Player's Army can potentially reach 1000 units, on land, at sea and in the air. You must carefully organize the ballet of production, movement and attack, grinding your opponent, while your command unit, as well as your factories and power systems, must be safe so that they can create more death machines. This is a brilliant and mind-boggling game, and not for casual gamers.

Oddly enough, it was one of the few games to officially support dual monitors, which means you could have a scalable map on the second screen. This is a godsend that allows you to keep your eyes on the "big picture" of the fight, and is recommended if you are going to play seriously. There are few games that allow you to play on the same scale as Supreme Commander, and when you go to war on the Internet, that's when the real difficulties begin for you. Games like Starcraft require quick thinking and reaction speed, but they only allow you to control a couple of dozen units at most. Supreme Commander requires you to deal with a thousand units. Think about it.

Buyer's Guide: There is no DLC for this game, just a standalone Forged Alliance DLC pack. Better to get Forged Alliance, it fixes a lot of the main game issues and also introduces an additional faction.

Best License Strategy

If you are a Star Wars fan, then this game is for you. Empire at War lets you take charge of the Galactic Empire or the Rebel Alliance and fight for galactic dominance. You take command of a mighty fleet and army; even send notable heroes into battle, such as Luke Skywalker or Darth Vader. You can also build a Death Star.

By far the best element of the game is tactical space battles. Up to four players can fight on one map (the map can have hazards such as asteroids or gas clouds), each player with their own space station, and the goal of the game is to simply knock out your opponent by destroying his bases . Large ships, unlike small ones, have the ability to target designation, and can shoot down our weapons or shields, and many ships (and heroes) have special skills that can help turn the tide.

In addition to space battles, you can participate in battles on land, lead a squadron of soaring tanks or AT-AT walkers. This game is mechanically similar to Total War in the sense that there is a separate campaign interface where you control the empire and your forces, and then load separately into the battles screen. The only difference is that everything happens in real time and there are no queues.

This is a pretty big game that will be even better for you if you are a fan of the Star Wars universe.

Buyer's Guide: There is no DLC, and only one addition, called Forged Alliance, adds a third faction, completely different from the two already existing, and also adds new units, abilities, etc.

A long time ago, when Westwood Studios was masterful at creating real-time strategy games, they wondered, "What if there was no Nazi Germany?" They designed the script for the original game. Red alert, in which the Soviet Union becomes omnipotent and conquers all of Europe without hindrance. The original game sets the bar high, featuring two surprisingly diverse sides to the conflict, a dangerous arsenal of weapons, and a heavy techno / metal soundtrack and storytelling via live video between missions. The second game in the series has reached an even higher quality bar, possibly climbing higher than almost any other Westwood Studios game.

Red alert 2 followed the idea that the Allies defeated Stalin and his troops, after which they established their puppet government in the USSR. Unfortunately for the Allies, the Soviets did not take their humiliation well. They recovered their strength and attacked the Americans on all fronts. The game's plot is a bit flimsy, but it paints the backdrop for an incredible series of in-game campaigns for the Soviets and Allies, complete with a lot of impressive technology for both sides.

If that's not enough, you can go online and invite up to 7 of your buddies to battle. The game allows each player to choose a nation, with their own special units that add an extra dimension of strategy to each skirmish. Command & Conquer: Red Alert 2 didn't become Westwood Studios' swan song, but the game may have been their main job. After Red Alert 2, they will have other good games, but nothing really captures the Westwood spirit as their second RTS Soviet / Allied installment.

Best Grand Strategy

A mighty flagship from Paradox Development Studio. The Europa Universalis series has always been strong, impressive, confusing and with a sandbox strategy approach. But with this confusion came a lot of problems. Bugs, dumb interfaces, and poorly explained mechanics can alienate players before they annex their first nation.

Europa Universalis IV changed all that. The game is still a tough nut to crack and will require a lot of effort on the part of the players, but it is by far the most user-friendly game in the series. And while his countless systems are still bewildering, it's entirely possible to just jump in and carve a niche in history.

This is a “what if?” Game. What if Italy swept through the Ottoman Empire with a huge mercenary army? What if England and France became best friends and divided Europe rather than fighting each other? What if Scotland ruled the world? What to do, if.

Buyer's Guide: Europa Universalis 4 has a lot of DLCs, and unfortunately they are not all in one package yet. You can buy them piece by piece on Steam, however. Packages and other ancillaries can be ignored if you wish, but it is still worth grabbing Wealth of Nations and Conquest of Paradise.

Best 4X (Global) Strategy

Best game for 4X lovers with goblins fanatics and halfling wizards

It is a desire to resurrect and give the classic series a new life. This is a fantasy global strategy game.

There are several scripted campaigns to play, but all the meat is in randomly generated maps and custom factions. Fundamentalist goblins can fight - with the help of holy war engines - industrial elves, while armies of dire penguins march through the frozen wastelands. This is all delightfully stupid.

The game does some pretty damn big fights. Multiple units can be linked together to create gigantic armies. Reminiscent of Total War sieges in terms of scale, but with sophisticated turn-based combat and magic.

While diplomacy and city management are the weaknesses of the game, Age of Wonders shines during the battles. An abundance of magic and special abilities, a varied roster of units and battlefields dotted with obstacles make each battle a great puzzle.

Buyer's Guide: You can buy Age of Wonders 3 on Steam, GOG, etc., there is a DLC that expands the building mechanics and introduces the Hobite race.

Best Warhammer 40k Strategy

Dawn Of War is mesmerizing. In many ways, it feels like a very traditional real-time strategy game, with a lot of building, strategy and resource management. But looking at its predecessors, the game is similar to Company Of Heroes. We see Relic starting to experiment with morale, cover, squads and radically different factions.

Tension is at the heart of the entire game. The whole game is about advancing, capturing and holding territory. And all the time, resources are running out faster and faster and generators are declining. But the war machine needs to be fed constantly.

The add-ons expand the game by introducing more factions with their own unique mechanics. There are vile Eldars, bloodthirsty Orcs, numerous Imperial guardsmen - each faction offers different ways to play the same game. A total of nine factions have been added.

Dawn Of War 2 has received a lot of changes, with fewer battles and a focus on tactics over strategy. It's still a great game, but moving away from the tradition of the genre, Dawn Of War has lost some of its magic.

Buyer's Guide: The base game and all the add-ons have been collected in the Warhammer 40K: Dawn Of War Master Collection.

Best Sci-Fi Economic Strategy

Anno 2070 has said goodbye to the historical setting and Ubisoft's voluptuous economic strategy series is embarking on a post-environmental disaster of the future. The game is still about making money and expanding your influence on the islands, but instead of a medieval or colonial power, the game is floundering with the eco-faction and polluting industrialists.

An unpleasant sense of despair permeates throughout the game. The world is fighting to survive and in the hope of making a profit, decisions made can put the world in an even worse position. And social and environmental concerns add a new dimension of complexity.

Technology has a huge impact. The factions are not limited to their island homes, and can build underwater as well, creating algae farms or muddy oil rigs.

Strategy is a vital part of PC culture. Whether you love fast-paced real-time combat or clever turn-based simulations, great strategy games immerse you in unique, massive scenarios that give you the power to rule empires, control races exploring space, and command a cavalry charge against enemy armies.

We present to you our selection of the best strategies for PC. Regardless of whether you like real-time battles or turn-based battles, strategies allow you to take part in large-scale events, rule empires, control powerful races and fearlessly fight against armies of many thousands. For this we love them. But we love some more than others.

As is the case with a selection of the best first-person shooters, we tried to make the list as diverse as possible and collect the most worthy representatives of the genre, who can still take your breath away today. The article will definitely be updated as new great strategies are released.

Do you agree with our choice? Do you want to add to this list? Share your suggestions in the comments.

Dropouts from the main list

The game exploits the lack of opportunity very cleverly, often presenting the player with difficult choices. You can only scan six points at a time, while the game regularly throws up opportunities for battle. You need to look for new recruits; engineers must build new communication centers to establish contacts with new territories; resources are needed to improve weapons and armor. You can't get everything at once. You may have to be content with one of this list. Back in 1989, Sid Meier described the game as "a series of interesting decisions," and XCOM 2 is by far the most accurate embodiment of those words ever released by Firaxis.

Red Alert is arguably the least strategy-related on our list. To win absolutely any battle, it is enough to be the first to build a technical center and send 25 mammoths to the enemy base, or simply send a chinook, packed to overflowing with simple girls Tanyusha, directly to the rear of the enemy. In a sense, the lack of balance was one of the reasons for the huge popularity of this title. Even now, the chaos that is happening in the battles there on land, sea and in the air remains attractive. In addition, the game was made free.

By simplifying the XCOM formula, Firaxis took a shorter route to things that have always been the essence of the series. It's basically squad action, a game in which you take care of your favorite and unique squad with all your might. Whether you're putting your fighters in bulky combat vehicles, or giving them your friends' names (or both), Enemy Within surpasses other strategies by taking your decisions very seriously.

For this iteration of Sid Meier's game of global supremacy, Firaxis built a new engine from scratch. It was the first game in the series to use 3D effects and shine with the inimitable voice of the legend Leonard Nimoy. In a wide range of innovations and improvements, a smarter, more aggressive AI was on a separate line. It is worth noting that it was from this part that the modding of the game became easier, which resulted in the emergence of several excellent add-ons created by the players. Civilization fans can argue for hours about which part is the best in the series, but my favorite is the four.

The trick of FS is that both opposing sides make their moves at the same time. You have to not only plan the movement of your squad of cyber soldiers, but also anticipate the actions of the enemy. Before confirming the move, the game allows you to look at the actions being taken so that the player can avoid the very obvious ones. In one of my best games, I deliberately sent a soldier into enemy fire in order to distract the enemy while the rest of my fighters came in from the flank. Study the previews of the move to act with flawless accuracy, avoiding losses.

BattleTech, which can be described as a mixture of a board game with XCOM design, is a deep and thoughtful turn-based strategy game with an impressive campaign system. You control a group of mercenaries, wisely distributing available funds and updating your collection of battle suits and robots.

In battles, it is necessary to aim at specific parts of the enemy robots, taking into account the strength of their armor, the rate of fire, the angle at which the fire is fired, and the features of the environment. At first, all this is difficult to understand, since the game is not particularly friendly to beginners, but if you like rich in details strategies or are already familiar with this universe, then BattleTech will definitely suit your taste.

Northgard's real-time strategy, set in the Viking Age, borrows a lot from projects such as Settlers and Age of Empires, and also invites us to immerse ourselves in a unique expansion system that allows us to gradually increase the area of ​​the controlled territories.

The weather also plays an important role in the gameplay. It is necessary to prepare especially carefully for winter, however, if you choose the appropriate branch in the technology development tree, then the winter on your lands will be warmer than on enemy territories, which will give you a strategic advantage. The frankly boring story is compensated by the excellent design of the story missions and the incredibly addicting battles in the battle mode.

A near perfect tactical action game with robots and a chic design from the creators of FTL. In Into the Breach, you have to fight off waves of Vek monsters on maps divided into 64 sectors, where various fortresses and important objects are located. Of course, the easiest way to get rid of the Vek monsters is to wipe them off the face of the earth with the help of your robots and air attacks, but for this you have to think strategically and keep enemies away from your buildings.

Civilian buildings provide you with electricity, which serves as a kind of health bar here. Whenever the enemy attacks such a building, you get one step closer to defeat. As soon as you run out of electricity, your team will travel back in time and try to save the world again. It's a pretty challenging, compact and dynamic adventure. As you unlock new types of robots and upgrades for them, you will gradually learn new ways to fight the merciless enemy.

The first Total War: Warhammer showed that the fantasy universe of Games Workshop is perfect for large-scale battles and amazing detail of the battlefield - this is what Creative Assembly is known for. In the second part, many improvements awaited us - in the interface, appearance and skills of heroes, as well as armies of various factions.

The four represented factions (Skaven, High Elves, Dark Elves and Lizardmen) are strikingly different from each other, and when they were created, the authors thoroughly studied the prehistory of the rich Warhammer universe. If you have long wanted to get acquainted with the world of Warhammer, but did not know where to start, then this game is perfect for you. And if you already have a beautiful original, then you will find one large-scale campaign, the action of which unfolds on a single giant map.

The War of the Chosen add-on brings a number of minor tweaks to the game, as well as some pretty interesting elements like colorful chatty enemies that appear randomly as you progress through the main campaign, each of which has strengths and weaknesses. You will also find new types of enemy soldiers, thousands of cosmetic changes, zombie-like enemies inhabiting abandoned cities, the ability to create propaganda posters, and much more.

As a result, every campaign in War of the Chosen is a little oversaturated, but the changes are so well done that no XCOM 2 fan should pass by.

At first glance, the name of the game sounds just blasphemous. More than ten years after the release of the last Homeworld, they decided to turn the game, which they remembered for its spaceships and movement in 3D space, into another ground-based tank strategy? Is it a prequel too? Nevertheless, despite all the concerns that arose, Desert of Kharak turned out to be successful in all respects.

This is not only an amazing RTS that sets itself apart from the rest of the contemporaries of the genre, but also a great representative of Homeworld, who reimagined the series and clearly captured its magic.

The best game in the series so far, with so many different details that it seems like it came out right away with a couple of expansions. The area system allows you to build huge cities and motivates you to think through your actions a few steps forward. Separate praise deserves the amazing design of the game - yes, you don't get used to the local cartoon style right away, but over time it becomes clear that this decision has benefited the project.

It is very interesting to see what new additions will bring to this already rich game, which is the undisputed peak of the entire legendary series.

"Hopefully future patches and additions will fill in the gaps," wrote one of the journalists in his own on the day of its release. And while Paradox's sci-fi project still has room to grow, the high level of updates and their regular release are definitely good for the game.

For example, with the addition of Utopia, the internal political system of the game underwent significant changes (not to mention a hundred other minor innovations), which gave us another hundred hours of gameplay. In addition, here you can now build Dyson spheres around the stars in order to pump out energy from them, dooming nearby planets to icing. A cruel but mesmerizing sight.

Endless Legend was one of the unexpected breakthroughs last year. Following on from Amplitude's Endless Space, EL's 4X fantasy strategy game was very good, but still not fully realized the developers' potential. Its release went unnoticed thanks to the entry into the market of the high-budget Civilization: but EL is rightfully the best game in the genre since the fourth Civilization.

It is deeper and more diverse, it has amazing asymmetric factions, subraces, heroes, quests, and so on and so forth. And she looks, moreover, just great.

As a social experiment as it is a strategy game, Neptune's Pride pits humans against each other in the battle for the star system. The rules are simple: develop your systems, build ships and send them to conquer new systems. The war unfolds slowly, for a week or so, and requires attention, which can slightly spoil your real life.

Simple yet elegant mechanics condone forging and breaking alliances, which can result in an insidious attack by yesterday's friends on your systems. Naturally, at three o'clock in the morning, while you watch the second dream. An affordable game that produces a ton of amazing drama.

I still love the first two Red Alerts, because there are practically no bad titles in the Westwood C&C series, but everything is perfect in this part: the most interesting campaigns, the best units, beautiful maps and, of course, gorgeous videos.

The factions differ from each other in all respects and have much more uniqueness than it was in the original game - take at least the Soviet octopuses and dolphins on the side of the allies. Here the authors found the perfect balance between self-irony and sincerity in the cutscenes, and therefore the game was both captivating and brought a smile at the right moments.

What, alas, cannot be said about the natural disaster in the face of EA's Red Alert 3.

If you've ever dreamed of conquering space at the head of an armada of customizable colossus starships, this strategy is for you. It has smart, creative AI, and one complete game can take weeks.

You will have to monitor the economy, technology, diplomacy, culture, build up military power, forge alliances, fight wars and dominate the rest of the peoples of the galaxy. It resembles the games of the Civilization series, but only on a larger scale and, in places, much deeper.

In terms of its mechanics, Homeworld is a phenomenal strategy game with a fully three-dimensional game space. She was among the first representatives of the hot, tore him from one single plane.

What's more, the game boasts a chic ambience and sound design, from Adagio for strings in the opening missions to heartbeat drum rolls in multiplayer battles. If you like the rebooted Battlestar Galactica, be sure to play Howmeworld.

With the scale of battles in Supreme Commander, only Total War can compete. Here you give an order to a specific engineer, then turn the mouse wheel - and you observe the battlefield from a bird's eye view. A couple of seconds later, you are already looking at the face of another soldier, a few kilometers from the first. Even my head is spinning.

The clash of armies of slender columns of hundreds of robots rewards the player with the most delightful gunplay the processor can handle. SupCom is one of the very few RTSs that combine naval, ground and air vehicles in one battle. And even more - with artillery, tactical nuclear weapons and experimental robots of titanic proportions.

In addition to being the successor to the best competitive strategy game of the past decade, SC2 deserves credit for rethinking the structure of the traditional RTS campaign. Heart of the Swarm is a good example of this, but it was the "human" Wings of Liberty that started: an intricate adventure that brings a mixture of working formulas to the table with each new mission.

From a scenario of defending against a zombie invasion to a planet flooded with lava every few minutes, SC2 forces the player to re-learn all of its basic elements.

Not the most obvious contender for getting on this list, Tooth and Tail drew us in with its simple look at RTS (and the game was clearly created for controllers), in which all the components of an excellent strategy were preserved. The game is even closer in spirit to Pikmin than Halo Wars - the units here gather around your character and follow the simplest orders, and the creation of units occurs automatically, relying on the population limit and available resources.

The battles last no more than 10 minutes, and the action takes place against the backdrop of a well-written political conflict between the factions of anthropomorphic animals.

The game that is remembered today as the ancestor of Warcraft III is primarily an inventive and ambitious strategy game that introduced many gamers to cinematic fantasy.

Here, for the first time, RPG elements were introduced in the form of heroes and neutral units, which had not been seen in any strategy before, and a large-scale campaign told an amazing story that completely captured the player thanks to its impeccable execution. As a bonus, funny phrases from units reacting to invocation were attached.

The series' transition to full 3D marked the crossing of a milestone, beyond which gradually accumulating problems led to instability with the Empire release and long-term AI issues that plagued players in the later games of the series.

The original Rome presented us with the unpretentious yet gripping face of an ancient war, and it did it in a masterpiece. A magnificent excursion into one of the most curious eras of military history, interesting to this day.

It was a great temptation to put the first part of "Dawn of War" on this list, but it was decided to stop at its experimental sequel, which replaced large units with a handful of the coolest space thugs with sets of murderous abilities.

To deal with the Orc hordes, you have to manage these genetically modified Special Forces, coordinating their actions with the raids of the Stormtroopers, the aimed fire of the Scouts and the cover of the detachments of heavy weapons. And the co-op Last Stand is also great.

SSE uses some 4X strategy tricks, but makes them work in an RTS wrapper. This is a game about star empires that grow, prosper and die in the distant space of the distant future. Well, and about how the huge starships of these empires emerge from hyperspace to the blazing worlds.

Diplomacy is also available, but these are huge starships! Play the Rebellion expansion and see how these very ships grow to truly incredible sizes.

CKII is a political strategy. It is not only about how the player leads his troops into battle, but also about the wedding of his imbecile niece. Each character matters, each has its own goals and desires. Yes, it's difficult (blame the feudal system for this), but you can get your own personal drama, right here and now.

The situation often drives the player into a corner, into desperate situations, forcing him to do terrible things for the sake of power. Once I had to execute a newborn baby so that his older and smarter sister could rule. The Middle Ages were still a time.

DEFCON's ominous blue world map is the perfect stage for a macabre story about the start of a nuclear war. First, you prepare for Armageddon by stocking up warehouses with supplies, placing silos, nuclear submarines, and setting up missile defenses. This organizational stage of the game itself is interesting for its strategic component, but the real cool DEFCON gets when the rockets are sent into the sky.

Blasting spots of explosions, counting casualties as city after city turns to radioactive ashes. When the dust settles, no one will care about the formal victory. The multiplayer, where a sheer nightmare is happening, is simply amazing.

Some games try to distance themselves from the emotional side of the war that just ended. But not Company of Heroes. She is tense, difficult and brutal.

Of course, the game uses purely Hollywood tricks (the mud sultans of artillery fire migrated here straight from Saving Private Ryan), but the result is the most intense strategy in the world, perfectly capturing the tactical imbalance of World War II.

A deep strategic component and transparent turn-based combat system made Xenonauts a model among game reboots. If you are an old fan of the X-COM series, forget about your ancient discs and fossil graphics from twenty years ago. The best way to remember those glorious days is to turn on the Xenonauts. If you are not familiar with X-COM, this game will give you the chance to enjoy the origins of the series with refined mechanics and details.

After Rome, the series quickly went to a dead end, dragging on itself a heap of problems. But Shogun 2 still managed to become the game that fans wanted to see Total War again. A chic setting, polished mechanics and the honor of your leader balancing between Buddhism and Christianity. The real difference between the clans (Ch Тsokabe archers are the best!), And some particularly fun special units like the Kish ninja bombers.

Shogun 2 also offered something as cool as a co-op campaign for two players - a great (albeit slow) way to conquer a continent. The follow-up to TWS2, Rome 2 became extremely ambitious, but failed to achieve the fine balance and mechanics that Creative Assembly succeeded in Shogun 2. In the second expansion, Fall of the Samurai, players were offered a fantastic campaign already in the era of gunpowder, in the very the middle of the 19th century. Guns, swords, ninjas - there is everything your heart desires.

In 2012, strategy expert Tim Stone described the game as a "fresh and friendly" wargame, praising the impressive AI. To defeat computer generals, you will have to use the advantages of the battlefield to the fullest and diversify tactics.

A simple and accessible interface lowers the entry threshold, which is usually high in wargames. And by exploring the intricacies of the system, you will discover incredible depths of mechanics.

Age of Empires gave us the opportunity to live centuries of progress in half-hour sessions, but RoN went further, smartly introducing elements of turn-based strategy like Civilization. Instead of directly leading your troops into battle, you expand the state by rebuilding new cities.

When countries' borders collide, a technological race ensues between nations, a war of influence interspersed with missile strikes and spear throws. Can you ever get bored with the process of crushing archers and knights with tanks and stealth bombers?

The list could not do without this game, even taking into account the fact that Rise of Nations developed all the ideas laid down here to the maximum. Age of Empires II still looks very decent on PC thanks to the HD re-release, for which add-ons are still being released. The latest was Rise of the Rajas, released at the end of 2016. Not bad at all for a game that is almost 20 years old.

Build huge armies, upgrade them, collect resources and enjoy exciting campaigns in this RTS. And if you get tired of the proposed campaigns, then you can always download amateur add-ons or even create your own scripts. We are looking forward to the release of the fourth part of the game.

It's no surprise that strategy games are so popular. After all, only this type of gaming entertainment allows you to control entire universes. Among these games there are real game masterpieces, which are outstanding game series. Our story will be about them today.

And below are the ten best, TOP favorites, the most beautiful and multifaceted strategy games on the PC. It is difficult to single out the best game within the series itself, so we will focus on the series in general and individual games in particular.

10. Total War

The most powerful, beautiful, thoughtful, starting with a masterpiece dedicated to Rome, and ending with modern counterparts of the medieval and imperial persuasion.

The brainchild of a British company Creative assembly... Traditionally, the games of the series combine the genres of turn-based and global strategy and tactical battles in real time.

The whole world is at your feet in all its temporary splendor. Famous events, colossal battles, and you as the commander and the eagle over the battlefield. And most importantly - masterpiece fashions from the Lord of the Rings universe and countless historical eras of our time. The game really teaches history.

9. Star Craft

Brainchild Blizzard Entertainment- a series of real-time strategy games that tells the story of the war between protoss, zerg and humans. Since its inception in the world, more than 11 million copies of the game have been sold.

Star Craft is also a sports discipline and an amazing reaction trainer. An interesting story and a whole universe of hurricane events that immerse you in the thick of bloody alien battles on either side.

The second part of the legendary masterpiece has been called by many critics of the ideal real-time strategy, which is the standard of the genre.

8. Warcraft

Warcraft - you are always in our hearts!

Certainly not the one that World, and the third part of this legendary strategy with RPG elements. The series is one of the oldest in the strategy genre - formerly Warcraft appeared, perhaps Dune... This legendary strategy from the company Blizzard determined the development of the genre for many years to come.

A unique fantasy game with its own unique approach to the distribution of powers, dozens of types of troops, hundreds of spells, thousands of combat tactics, an abundance of network modes provide a wide scope for virtual commanders

7. Civilization

Sid Meier's civilization is a turn-based strategy that covers the entire path of humanity from primitive times to the near and not very future.

In the legendary Civilizations you can try yourself in the role of almost any outstanding personality and rule numerous states, leading them through the centuries to economic and military victory. The time span of the game is truly centuries of development and continuous wars, from the Stone Age to the history of the not so distant

Millions of copies, nationwide recognition, and most importantly - gorgeous gameplay. All this - Civilization

6. Age of Empires

The age of empires or the age of technology does not matter. A renowned strategy franchise that is stunningly engaging in its bouncy gameplay.

Age of empires became famous, first of all, for its magnificent graphics and balance. The eras in the game are real and mythical, but all are epic and vivid. Every step is on your conscience, if, of course, you want to win. Otherwise - a shameful defeat.

The game is a classic real-time strategy, which means that success here depends on your ingenuity and quick reaction.

5. Command & Conquer

A very ramified project from Westwood Studios... Either Red Alert or the tiberium canon, everything is threateningly teeming with technologically advanced and globally dangerous weapons.

Command & Conquer- these are frightening robots, battle octopuses, huge double-barreled tanks, crazy soldiers and other funny evil spirits. And also - memorable characters, cool maps and speed - not a second of downtime, otherwise the nuclear mushroom will destroy your empire. Minimum economy, maximum military affairs.

And of course, this is a pseudo-Soviet cranberry that has reached the edge of the possible, in which all the craziest stereotypes about Russia are mixed.

4. Warhammer

"Warhammer 40,000" is a strategic universe developed on the basis of the desktop wargame "Warhammer 40,000" studio Games Warshop.

According to the plot, the main enemy of the player is initially the orcs. Afterwards, it becomes clear that the Chaos Space Marines are to blame for everything. Well, after that, things started to happen and the hell out of it.

The distant imperial religious future is so cruel that it beckons and repels at the same time. There is everything here - fantasy and science fiction, and historically designed mixes. In general, the idea of ​​the developers was to combine everything that is possible with everything that is possible, having received a sort of hodgepodge for all time.

True, the game is fully revealed only in multiplayer.

3. Heroes of Might and Magic

All the laurels of this outstanding series, perhaps, go to the third part. The project allows you to play alone against artificial intelligence, or against other people on the same computer. The player controls the Hero, leading the army of mythical creatures into battle.

IN Heroes of might and magic two parts are combined: strategic (the Hero travels around the game map, exploring territories and capturing all sorts of objects) and tactical (Heroes fight enemy troops on a separate map). If you have never played this masterpiece, then you have lost a lot. After all Heroes is practically a milestone in turn-based strategies.

2. Cossacks

Perhaps the most outstanding classic strategy with city building, economic development, resource extraction and warfare on land and sea. In a word, there is everything that should be in a normal strategy.

The game Cossacks was so successful that it later allowed the GSC game world to create a Stalker with the money raised from it!

A breakthrough strategy for its time about European wars gives the opportunity for sophisticated gamers to take part in the gameplay of historical battles played out in real scale, taking into account the peculiarities of the tactics and strategies of each of the warring parties. There is also a developed system of economy here, and, well, which has become the hallmark of the game - the gorgeous smoke from gun shots.

1. Stronghold

It's hard to single out the best game in the series as they are all great! Be it cult Stronghold crusader 2, powerful Stronghold 3 revenge or amazing Stronghold kingdoms, which for the first time allowed thousands of players from all over the world to clash in mortal combat with each other via online means!

The game is now completely free! Unlike the previous parts, you will not fight against the computer, but against real players. Capture, rob, build, defend and attack - all this and much more awaits you in this game.

Courtesy of the magazine gambling addiction

Igor Savenkov

The basics

The Lost World, like the Settlers, is an economic and strategic toy with a clear emphasis on economic activity. That is, before it comes to waving swords and fists, you have to go a rather long way of economic development and rebuild a decent city with 2-3 dozen buildings. However, unlike Settlers, you are given full control over your own units: you can "grab any of them by the scruff of the neck" and "poke your nose" at what he needs to do if he is not smart enough himself. (Actually, on this topic, we have a good article in our issue by Malleus, who is Magician in Rift Territory - approx. ed.)

Money mechanism

The main resource in the game is coins... Money is spent on permanent content buildings, and are also required for scientific research, training citizens in crafts and training warriors. In addition, some of the money can be used to raise motivation their subjects (then they work faster). The main source of income is taxes from citizens (each citizen brings 7 coins a month). You can also make money by trading with friendly races.

Motivation

Your subjects do not work out of pure love for their benefactor and, naturally, demand the satisfaction of their natural and completely natural needs. Always give them food, and as the city develops, they begin to demand more: a newsstand, a circus, a temple - see the section "USELESS BUILDINGS" for details. If the subjects lack something, they begin to fall motivation... The above means, first of all, the absence of residents in newly built houses. Also, citizens are starting to work slower and careless about their duties. As a result, production and construction slows down, and buildings begin to gradually collapse (lose "hit points"). In addition, crime begins to grow, as a result of which part of the inhabitants becomes bandits... The bandits do not pay taxes at all and interfere with the work of civilians, driving them out of their jobs and taking away food. To fight the bandits, it is enough to build police station and train police officer... The policeman will catch the bandit and "set" his brains, thanks to which the bandit will cease to be such and return to his former profession. (Usually one policeman is enough for an entire city, no matter how large it is, although residents with increasing population may require the construction of multiple police stations.)

To raise motivation, it is necessary, of course, to build what the residents demand (a newsstand, a temple, a circus). In addition, there is a lever on the resource panel, which is called so - motivation... By moving it to the right, you can increase the level of motivation, but at the same time spending part of your money. It is useful to move this lever even when there are no problems in your city - it is always nice to see that your subjects are spinning faster. However, this is real only at the final stage of the game, when all (or all the necessary) research has already been done and it is required to put together a decent army as soon as possible - then the money spent on science can be transferred to motivation.

Food

Food& mdash is, perhaps, the second most important resource (after coins), which is also usually lacking. After all, your subjects are not fools to eat, and to eat enough. Lack of food leads to a fall motivation.

The easiest way to get food is to collect berries from bushes... Do it porters... However, no porter will pick berries until you "poke his nose" into the bush. However, the porter has enough thought to start picking berries from a nearby bush after the first one runs out of berries. Each bush brings 5 ​​units of food. The berries slowly "regenerate" over time, so do not forget to periodically inspect the bushes that have already been picked (you do not have to click on the bush - the presence of berries is indicated by beads).

A miner's helmet paired with a mini bikini is a cool outfit from Versace.

In the business of picking berries, you have competitors - wild animals, ranging from rabbits to giraffes and lizards-hectors. All these creatures are completely harmless to your subjects, however, they also feed on berries. But this is not so bad, since these animals themselves can serve as food (each animal gives from 4 to 12 units of food). Animals can only be hammered hunters... But all hunters are quite "short-sighted" and begin to hunt down prey only when it sneaks under their very noses. Therefore, hunters usually have to target the game. Although here you can use one trick - to send hunters to the berry bushes as guards. It turns out as in the proverb - "the beast runs to the hunter," and then there is almost no need to aim the hunters "manually". Note also that hunters are the only civilians with weapons. And although they cannot be compared with the regular troops, they can well fight off the stray "guest performers" - hunters of hostile races, so it is recommended to have at least 3 hunters before you have professional warriors.

There is a third way of obtaining food, and it is good because it allows you not to depend on the mercies of Mother Nature. But for this you need to build special farms, which are called differently by different races. For example, elves can build mushroom farms and grow on them mushrooms(dryads - cocoa, anty - tobacco). These mushrooms can then be processed into food or schnapps(among the dryads, cocoa is processed into chocolate; Antov has tobacco - in cigars). Processing mushrooms for food is completely free and automatically - you just need to indicate the "percentage of processing" on the resource panel. (For example, 75% means that 3 out of 4 mushrooms go for food, and the fourth mushroom is "stored" for schnapps production.) To produce schnapps, you will have to build winery, in which 2 units. mushroom + 1 unit. forests are processed into 1 unit. schnapps. (A plundering "course" considering that 1 unit of mushroom yields 2 units of food.) In this case, schnapps is not formally considered “food”, but its presence is necessary to increase the motivation of residents.

City Hall - the heart of the city

In the literal sense of the word. Destruction city ​​hall or the death of the one sitting in it founder cities usually means automatic losing. The mayor's office also bears the function of a warehouse: it can store up to 25 units of each resource. (But you can also build ordinary warehouses, each of which increases the maximum storage limit of each resource by 25 units.)

In most cases, you are given the opportunity to study at the university founder cities. With its help, you can found a second city in any place you like. Do it as early as possible. You will feel the advantage of "splitting" immediately. It is even possible not to develop the second city properly, turning it into a "cash appendage". But you can also specialize cities: let, for example, one city is focused on the production of weapons (this is a long expensive chain), and the second will extract the necessary resources at this time. By the way, resources that enter one warehouse are automatically available from another distribution point in the same city, so it becomes very convenient to serve the needs of megacities.

Building

All construction leads architect, but help him porters by timely bringing the necessary materials - forest and a rock(some "cool" buildings also require iron or more rare resources like weapons). Porters are smart guys: if any of them was idle, then immediately after the call "Construction of the building has begun" he will immediately go to warehouse or in mayor's office for the necessary materials. At the same time, porters busy with picking mushrooms or berries will abandon what they think is a useless occupation. But if there were no "free hands" (for example, you gave all the porters the task to build another building), then you will have to "manually" point the big fellows to a higher priority task. You can have two or more architects, and then they will work faster on one building or conduct parallel construction. But, as experience shows, at first one architect is quite enough. Later, when you have to build several buildings at the same time, for example, for a production chain, two builders will be more than needed. Moreover, as soon as the porters carry everything they need to one construction site, they will start delivering materials for the next.

Buildings can only be built within the city limits, determined by the distance from city ​​hall(mines are an exception, they can be placed outside the city). The city border can be moved further and further with the help of outposts and fortresses.

The architect also repairs damaged buildings, and the same porters bring the materials. For the repair of buildings, there is a special button on their panel. Nearby is a button that allows you to demolish the building. (Sometimes this is useful: for example, to replace a building with a better one or to clear a place.) A pile of stones remains in the place of a demolished building, which is automatically taken away by porters. There are exactly as many stones as was spent on construction (the spent units of wood and iron simply disappear). Considering that stone is the only irreplaceable resource, in huge cities it is sometimes necessary to demolish a building for the sake of a more perfect construction.

Training

But it is not enough to build a building - it is still necessary to provide it with labor (otherwise the building will not function). For example, a tavern requires an innkeeper to operate, a priest is needed in a temple, etc. (Although some of the buildings do without labor: this is a university, a warehouse, an outpost, a fortress, a barracks, a fur farm and a magic tower.) All crafts are taught in university- you just need to enter the university and choose the appropriate specialty. After that, tuition fees are deducted from your treasury (usually in the range of 40-100 coins), and the nearest free porter will go as an apprentice. If there are no free porters, then you will have to send the apprentice "manually" (by the way, this does not have to be a porter; you can, for example, retrain a lumberjack into a stonemason). If suddenly the stone runs out and porters are not needed at all, you can drive them to the university, and later retrain into someone useful. The same applies to other buildings that require a free unit for production.

"Woman with a Basin" - a new composition.

Now the sacramental question - where do the porters come from? But here storks seem to have nothing to do with it: each new House gives three new carriers (depending on the motivation at the time of construction, one carrier is immediately populated, and after a while two more appear). BUT residential complex provides shelter for 9 porters at once. The construction of a residential complex is clearly more profitable than the construction of ordinary houses, since its maintenance costs 8 coins less than the maintenance of three houses, accommodating the same 9 residents (not to mention saving space). You just need to get to the opportunity to build a residential complex and get some iron, so the complexes are usually available only at the end of the mission.

Almost any building can be "turned off" for a while: all you need to do is to remove an employee from it (there is a special button on the building panel). This is useful when there is a shortage of funds. For example, if you have studied all the available technologies, then you can withdraw professors (by the way, saving on students - then you can transfer it to bank) from the laboratory and the library, thereby depriving them of the state budget and saving 15 + 50 = 65 coins.

Essential specialties required throughout the game are lumberjack and stonecutter supplying you with the necessary building materials. Only both are required to indicate their place of work.

Research

From the very beginning of the game, only 3-4 types of buildings are usually available to you. Everything else needs to be investigated. To do this, you need to build laboratory and send a professor to it. Then select the required science / technology, and on the resource panel, indicate the percentage of money spent on research (using the engine research right under the engine you already know motivation). The names of the technologies speak for themselves, moreover, the necessary explanation appears under them. For example, "embassy" allows you to build an embassy, ​​"temple" - a temple, etc. At the same time, the corresponding specialty required to work in the building automatically becomes available to you (in the embassy - a diplomat, in a temple - a priest).

Later it becomes available to you library, allowing you to significantly speed up the remaining research. Just keep in mind that the maintenance of the library costs a tidy sum: 50 coins, after all.

"Useless" buildings

As the city grows, the demands of its inhabitants begin to grow, so it is required to build more and more "useless" buildings. They are "useless" in the sense that they do not provide any new resources, technologies, opportunities or other "bonuses". These buildings are only needed to maintain motivation residents at the proper level.

The first such problem you will face is when the number of inhabitants reaches 15 individuals. Then you will be required to build tavern... Then you will soon need newsstand and police station... Then - the "signature dish" of the race. For example, elves will require schnapps. A little later - temple, and at the end - circus / theater / arena(for elves / dryads / antes). Although the temple is not a completely useless building, as priest can heal the wounded. It should be borne in mind that each building provides only a certain number of residents. Therefore, at about the same time as the temple, the subjects will demand a second tavern.

Diplomacy

Initially, all races are in a neutral relationship. If someone attacked someone, this means an automatic declaration of war. It is possible to stop hostile actions with the help of diplomatic relations by concluding truce or peace... To do this, you need to build embassy and educate diplomat. Then you need to call the panel of the embassy, ​​mark the necessary agreement and click on the button "conclude an agreement". After that, the diplomat will leave your embassy and head directly to the embassy of the desired race. There the fate of the proposal will be decided - they can either agree or refuse. However, if another race does not have its own embassy, ​​then it will not be possible to establish any relations with them, except for those that were by default.

Trade

Peaceful coexistence is also beneficial in that it allows for trade between races. At the same time, you have a great opportunity to "shove" competitors away what you already have heaps of (as a rule, this is a forest), and get paid for it. To trade, you need to build market square and train merchant. Then you need to open the market panel and indicate what you want to sell, as well as the minimum sale price and the minimum quantity of goods that must always remain in your warehouse (and the same applies to purchases if you want to purchase something). After that, you can send the merchant to the competitor's market, and the trade will end if you agree on the price (you can always see the competitor's prices if you have a peace - all you need to do is click on its market). To increase profit from trading, you can build bank, however, its maintenance costs 50 coins, so the bank pays for itself only with a decent trade turnover. On the other hand, the bank in any case brings money without trading - after its construction, you get a bonus to the total profit of 50 coins, plus taxes will increase depending on the residents.

Generally speaking, one should not rely on trade as a solid source of capital inflow, especially since diplomatic ties are a rather fragile thing. The only place trade is guaranteed to help is in race relations if you have multiple cities. Then, with the help of marketplaces, you can easily transfer resources to where they are lacking.

We extract ore

At the final stage of the game, you cannot do without gland... It is needed for the construction of a number of "cool" buildings: a temple, a bank, a residential complex, a fur farm and a fortress. In addition, iron is required to produce weapons, absolutely necessary for training at least the slightest bit decent warriors (without weapons all your army will consist only of archers and hunters).

First of all, you need to study metallurgy. This will make it possible to set up mines. Mines can only be built in the mountains - these are characteristic hills of gray-white color. In this case, the mine can be located outside the city (this is the only building that can be built outside the city limits). A stonecutter is required to operate the mine. The mine produces 1 unit. iron with 2 units. wood, which is automatically brought by free porters (in fact, it turns out that the mine is the place where 1 unit of iron is made from 2 units of wood). It is convenient to place the warehouse next to the mine - thus the turnover "wood to there, iron from there" will significantly increase.

Expanding ownership

From the very beginning, the games are available to you watchtowers... The towers do not have any weapons, and their only purpose is to provide a large viewing radius (which is useful at least for tracking wild animals). However, the towers themselves are "blind", and for them to "see", it is required scout. The Scout is also very useful in the "mobile state" for showdown, as it has the longest range of vision.

Descendants of the "Setlers"

The Settlers know everything. The first part of this toy appeared even before the boom in the RTS genre, which is usually associated with the release of Command & Conquer (the first Settlers were called SerfCity, and now you are unlikely to find the game in stores - approx. ed.). Settlers - a distinctive strategy that focuses on economic development; the second distinctive feature is that the units cannot be controlled directly, telling everyone what to do. However, in the third part, as well as the S4, which is being prepared for release this fall, direct control partially takes place. This second feature of the game annoyed many, and not so long ago there appeared a "modernized version" of Setlers called Knight & Merchants ("War and Peace" in the Russian localization of Snowball). In it, it was already possible to directly command the troops. Well, it would be logical to take the next step and give the player the ability to control all the units in general. And that was done in Die Volker ("Peoples") - a toy developed again by a German company (this time - NEO Software). The idea, like its implementation, turned out to be so successful that it was immediately translated into English and published under the name Alien Nations. And why are we worse? So Snowball made a Russian version of the game called "The Lost World". Correctly, in principle, I did it - the toy turned out to be quite good, by 8.6 on the rating of "Mania" ...

However, to push the city line aside (in the literal sense of the word - the line is indicated by such small "columns" of the color of your race) can only be done with the help of outposts and fortresses... In addition, two archers can sit in the outpost, and three archers in the fortress and pour fire on a nearby enemy. The enemy can get to the archers only after destroying the outpost / fortress itself, so that the actual "strength" of the entrenched archers is multiplied. Fortresses and outposts automatically move the city limits, regardless of whether there are archers in them or not. If you are faced with a severe shortage of money, you can, as a last resort, destroy the outpost / fortress and thereby "free" +20/30 coins that were previously used for their maintenance. At the same time, the city line will move to its previous place, but all buildings outside the city will still work.

Let's go to fight

From the very beginning of the game you have access to hunter, which at worst can pass for a warrior (all other civilians do not possess any weapons at all). But this is not serious. For more solid combat actions, at least barracks... The easiest warrior that can be trained there is archer(the ants call it pyrotechnician). Archers are also good in that they can be placed in an outpost or fortress, from where they will pour fire on the enemy, remaining under the protection of thick walls. This is already something, but still not very solid yet.

To fight to your heart's content, an additional resource is required - weapon, without which it is impossible to train solid warriors (for training archers, you only need a forest, not counting money, of course). So here you have to expand the production chain: first put a mine in order to mine iron, from which then to forges will be done weapon(note in parentheses that the dryads and ants call the forge arms factory). One cannot do without a solid economic base.

But back to our rams ... in the sense, to the soldiers. In addition to archers in the barracks, you can also train swordsmen, improved swordsmen ( hammer / swordmaster / berserker) and saboteurs (elf-007 / dryad-008 / ant-714). With swordsmen, as well as with their improved version, everything is clear: these guys are cool in close combat, but saboteurs can undermine enemy buildings (if, of course, they get there, because they themselves are very frail, they are shot by sharp-sighted archers at once). In addition, dryads can train in the barracks. crossbowmen - other races have no analogue of them (everything is in order with the balance, quality and quantity: all races, as will be seen from the following, have 9 types of warriors).

In addition to the barracks, there are two more buildings that produce warriors. The first of these is the "magic building" ( magic tower / alchemist's laboratory / altar). It produces "magicians", which are also called differently: sorcerer / alchemist / spellcaster, but the essence of the matter does not change from this. All of these "magicians" shoot something like "fireballs" and are very vulnerable in close combat. There is also an "improved version of magicians": great sorcerer / master of alchemy / praying mantis.

Racial differences are especially evident in the third building. Elves and antes have this fur farm(however, the ants call it farm morro), and for dryads - Armory... Elves and antes produce approximately equivalent beasts: 2 tough melee warriors each (elves - draboduk and crocodril, anty - shpitpack and guard) and on a kamikaze fuse ( explodus and garak-buduk, respectively), which, undermining itself, affects all units around it. Dryads instead of a fur farm have weapons workshop in which catapult and cannons(comments are superfluous). Thus, dryads are dangerous at a distance and lose their melee advantage. Only dryads still need to catch up - they are the fastest of all races.

Where to begin?

Typically, you start the game with one architect and two porters, with only a dozen pieces of wood and stone. And here you can specify the optimal starting path. We indicate it for the elf race (for other races, the plan is slightly modified, since dryads, for example, need more forest).

First you need to build a dwelling house, which will immediately give you 1 more porter (the other two will arrive a little later). Then immediately build a university and train a stonecutter there. Send the stonecutter to the extraction of stone, since several units of this resource will not be enough for the construction of the laboratory. In the meantime, let all the porters be busy picking berries. As soon as there is enough stone, build a laboratory, immediately transferring almost all porters to the architect's assistants. Send one porter to the university and make him a professor. Send the professor to the lab and study forestry. (In the meantime, let all the free carriers gather berries.) Train the lumberjack and send him to the extraction of the forest. In the meantime, learn to hunt. Once there are enough resources, build a second residential building. Train the hunter and send him to hunt.

Further, not everything is so simple. Your immediate plans are to train two more hunters (necessary to protect the city from early attacks by enemy hunters) and one stonecutter (since the stone is usually required twice as much as the forest). Learn farming as quickly as possible to build a farm and stop depending on nature's favors for food. The further strategy is even more vague. Here you can advise to act like this. Focus on the construction of residential buildings, as this immediately and directly gives extra working hands and adds 3 * 7-5 = 16 coins of income at least. Do this until residents demand another "useless" building. Stop here and try to reach the required technologies as quickly as possible, while there is money, and build the required ones. Then go back to residential buildings, etc. Just do not forget to reveal the map with the help of scouts and adjust your plans according to the level of development and the intended intentions of the enemy.

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Table 1 Elven buildings

House 3 porters - 2 L, 5 to 5The university Training - 2 L, 4 to 5Laboratory Technology Professor 2 L, 6 to 15Watch tower Large viewing radius Scout 2 l, 5 to 10Embassy Diplomatic relations Diplomat 6 years, 8 to 15Warehouse+25 to the stock of each resource - 4 l, 8 to 5Mushroom farm Mushrooms planter 4 l, 10 to 15Tavern Boosts motivation Innkeeper 5 L, 8 to 20Market Square Ability to trade Merchant 3 L, 10 to 15Police station Pacifies bandits Policeman 5 L, 10 to 30Newsstand Increases motivation Correspondent 4 l, 10 to 30Barracks Voinov - 5 L, 10 to 5Winery 1 schnapps from 2 mushrooms + 1 forest Winemaker 8 l, 14 to 25TempleForge 1 weapon of 2 L + 1 W Weaponsmith 10 L, 18 to 15Mine 1 iron from 2 l Mason 10 l, 25 to 20Outpost Expands the boundaries of ownership - 8 l, 10 to 20BankResidential complex 9 porters - 4 L, 10 K, 3 W 7The circus Increases motivation Trainer 20 L, 25 to 50Fur farm Warriors-animals - 15 l, 20 k, 8 f 10Magic tower Charodeev - 10 l, 15 k, 25 f 10Library Speeds up research Professor 20L, 22 to 50Fortress Building What gives Who works Price Content

(l - wood, k - stone, w - iron)

table 2 Dryad buildings

House 3 porters - 2 k, 5 l 5The university Training - 2 k, 4 l 5Laboratory Technology Professor 2 k, 6 l 15Watch tower Large viewing radius Scout 2 k, 5 l 10Embassy Diplomatic relations Diplomat 6 k, 8 l 15Warehouse+25 to the stock of each resource - 4 k, 8 l 5Cocoa plantation Cocoa Gardener 4 k, 10 l 15Tavern Increases motivation Innkeeper 5 k, 8 l 20Market Square Ability to trade Merchant 3 k, 10 l 15Police station Pacifies bandits Policeman 5 k, 10 l 30Newsstand Increases motivation Correspondent 4 k, 10 l 30Barracks Voinov - 5 k, 10 l 5Confectionery 1 cake from 2 cocoa + 1 forest Baker 8 k, 14 l 25Temple Increases motivation Priestess 10 k, 15 l, 1 f 15Armory 1 weapon of 2 l + 1 w Weapon master 10 k, 18 l 15Mine 1 iron from 2 l Mason 10 k, 25 l 20Outpost Expands the boundaries of ownership - 8 k, 10 l 20Bank Increases profit from trade Professor 12 k, 16 l, 5 f 50Residential complex 9 porters - 4 k, 10 l, 3 w 7Theatre Increases motivation Actress 20 k, 25 l 50Weapons workshop Catapults and cannons - 15 k, 20 l, 8 w 10Alchemist's laboratory Alchemists - 10 k, 15 l, 25 w 10Library Speeds up research Professor 20 k, 22 l 50Fortress Expands the boundaries of ownership - 15 k, 20 l, 3 w 30 Building What gives Who works Price Content

Table 3 Ant buildings

House 3 porters - 3 L, 4 to 5The university Training - 3 L, 3 to 5Laboratory Technology Professor 3 L, 5 to 15Watch tower Large viewing radius Scout 3 l, 4 to 10Embassy Diplomatic relations Diplomat 7 y, 7 to 15Warehouse+25 to the stock of each resource - 6 l, 6 to 5Tobacco plantation Tobacco Planter 7 l, 7 to 15Sofa Increases motivation Steward 8 L, 5 to 20Market Square Ability to trade Merchant 5 L, 7 to 15Police station Pacifies Bandits Police Officer 8 L, 7 to 30Nora news Increases motivation Herald 6 L, 8 to 30Barracks Voinov - 7 L, 8 to 5Cigar 1 cake from 2 cocoa + 1 forest Tobacco master 10 l, 12 to 25Temple Increases motivation Priest 10 L, 15 K, 1 F 15Armory 1 weapon of 2 L + 1 W Blacksmith 15 L, 13 to 15Mine 1 iron from 2 liters Stone cutter 20 liters, 15 to 20Outpost Expands the boundaries of ownership - 9 liters, 9 to 20Bank Increases profit from trade Professor 12 l, 16 k, 5 f 50Residential complex 9 porters - 7 L, 7 K, 3 W 7Arena Increases motivation Gladiator 20 l, 25 to 50Farm Morro Warrior Beasts - 18 L, 17 K, 8 W 10Altar Spellcasters - 12 L, 13 K, 25 F 10Burrow of wisdom Speeds up research Professor 22L, 20 to 50Fortress Expands the boundaries of ownership - 15 l, 20 k, 3 w 30 Building What gives Who works Price Content

(k - stone, l - wood, w - iron)

A true classic - Blizzard's first 3D game and one of the best strategy games ever.

When it was released in 2002, Warcraft III had it all. Wonderful graphics that, thanks to a unique style, look good even now, addictive RPG gameplay that influenced the entire RTS genre, a gorgeous story set in a thoughtful universe and mod support.

If it weren't for Warcraft III, there would be no DotA or the MOBA genre as such.

2.XCOM: Enemy Unknown

A tactical PC strategy in which you need to defend the Earth from aliens.

The main thing in XCOM is the constant need to accept the difficult. Who should you send on a difficult mission: a veteran who will have a better chance of winning, or a newcomer who is not so sorry to lose? Which one should be given more powerful armor or a cannon? Order the fighters to attack the strongest alien or deal with small enemies first?

Every aspect of the game - managing the base, changing the outfit of the characters and the battles themselves - is incredibly addicting.

3. Company of Heroes

It looks like the most common strategy pro, but in fact Company of Heroes is one of the most humane war games. This is because a player rarely has more than a few units under his command (unlike a few dozen units in traditional RTS). You worry about the fighters as for yourself and build your tactics in such a way as to ensure their survival.

Thanks to the advanced graphics engine for its time and thoughtful missions, Company of Heroes shows the brutality of the war. No matter how hard you try, people still die - this is the price of victory.

4. StarCraft II

StarCraft II is the world's premier esports strategy game. Every millimeter of the map, every special ability of the character, every building available for construction - everything is mathematically verified to generate the most exciting matches. It is not without reason that tournaments for the game are held almost every couple of weeks, and the prize funds in them reach $ 700,000.

If micro-control and multitasking aren't your thing, StarCraft II also has a great single player campaign. It has an excellent storyline about the confrontation of three races and various types of missions. Plus, you don't have to click so much to complete it.

5. Homeworld: Deserts of Kharak

6. Supreme Commander

Spiritual successor to Total Annihilation, which enhances and expands on the ideas of the original. In fact, this is a game about leisurely huge battles on giant maps.

Supreme Commander matches rarely last less than an hour. This time is needed to build a base with a balanced economy and prepare enough combat units to destroy the enemy.

Supreme Commander is a large-scale strategy in every sense. The number of fighters on one side sometimes reaches a thousand, and you need to think over the actions at least 10 minutes in advance.

7. Total War: Shogun 2

It is difficult to choose the best among the games in the Total War series, but Lifehacker settled on Shogun 2. Of all the modern parts, it is perhaps the most integral, concentrated and understandable even for beginners.

In Total War: Shogun 2, the player takes on the role of head of a clan in medieval Japan. The goal is to take over the entire country. To do this, you can use diplomacy, economics and even intrigue - send assassins and spies.

But the main thing is, of course, epic battles, in which it is very important to correctly place your troops on the location.

8. Age of Empires II HD

In Age of Empires II, the player needs to lead a civilization through several eras: Dark Ages, feudalism, castle era, and so on. You can play as one of several factions such as Japan, Mongolia or the Celts.