RockPaperShotgun: Strategy games are no longer limited by the “stigma” of being “Smart Man’s Games”, says Ara developer

By | November 16, 2023
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RockPaperShotgun has released a new article called “Strategy games are no longer limited by the “stigma” of being “Smart Man’s Games”, says Ara developer.” In this news article the author talked to the devs of Ara: History Untold about the history of 4X. They comment that in the earlier 2000s the strategy genre was more of a niche and nerd genre, with not many big titles being released. Afterwards they talk about how the situation is currently very different, with many new strategy games with many different flavours being released, and that the pandemic together with board games might have had an impact on this (among other things).
For the full article please check here, and discuss it with us here.

Play the new Civ5 “Game Of The Month” #233

By | November 15, 2023
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And the new round for the mid-month GOTM for Civ5 is starting now! You play as Ramkhamhaeng of Siam on a large continents map on King level, and you must win via a domination victory. You have until December 15 to get through this challenging start! For all the details please check this thread.

Civ6 monthly challenges now on Steam

By | November 14, 2023
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Due to the popularity of our monthly “Game Of The Month” and our Hall Of Fame, it seems that Firaxis has decided to copy the concept and will provide a monthly challenge for a while now also on Steam (our monthly game is also available for Epic store customers though), where you can earn Hall of Fame badges. The first challenge is called “The Age of Abundance” and you play on a standard size continents map as Pericles on Prince level. You start with 2 cities and 1000 gold, and you get abundant resources. The deadline is 1 month away, December 12.

Discuss with us here.

ZEPHON (Civ like 4X TBS game from WH40K Gladius creators)

By | November 12, 2023
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The game ZEPHON looks like another rather interesting scifi ‘Civ like’ 4X turn based strategy game on the way due to for release in 2024. It’s being created by Proxy Studios who made the popular ‘Civ like’ Warhammer 40K: Gladius and Pandora: First Contact games and similar to those games you start out on different alien planets giving it a bit of a cool Sid Meier’s Alpha Centauri & Civilization Beyond Earth feel, and perhaps a bit of a Age of Wonders Planetfall feel too. These worlds are apparently filled with “eldritch horrors and cyberpunk monstrosities” which sounds fun, and there’s already a playable demo out too.

Links & more info: https://forums.civfanatics.com/threads/686436/

GamerZakh: An Amazing Year For 4X – NEW Turn-Based Grand Strategy Games 2024

By | November 11, 2023
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The strategy streamer GamerZakh has made a new video, about all the amazing new 4X games which have been released this year.
The video covers many games of interest for us, e.g. Songs Of Conquest, a HoMM like game, Revival: Recolonization, a post-apocalyptic Civ game, Yield, a cute-looking post-Roman-Era 4X, Ara, Millennia, and many others. He also speculates about Civ7.
Do you agree with Zakh, that one of them could be the new king of 4X? Let us know!

A mysterious hidden video

By | November 9, 2023
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Our moderator Eagle Pursuit has dug up another curiosity: The Civilization Youtube account lists a “video is hidden” among its trailers (see here, on top). What does this mean? New content for Civ6? An announcement trailer for Civ7? We don’t know! Come speculate with us here.

Ara: History Untold: Dev Diary, Ep. 10 – AI system

By | November 7, 2023
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And we are now at the 10th dev diary for Ara: History Untold.
In this episode the devs talk about the AI behind Ara, and they talk about software engineering, that the AI in 4X games is among the hardest, how randomization, e.g. the availability of resources play into how the AI behaves, and way more details.
Check it out, and discuss it with us here.

Play the new Civ6 “Game Of The Month” #170

By | November 6, 2023
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For this month’s GOTM we strive for great things: You play as Rameses II on a standard size inland sea map on Prince level. Your goal is to win via a culture or diplomatic victory, but you need to avoid the biblical plagues (disaster level of 1). You have until December 2 to build the pyramids and all other wonders!

For more info please check this thread.