Civilization-building games.

[Four-eyed Vulpine]

These are probably my favorite kind of games to play.

There is nothing more satisfying than running your own empire.

Games in this genre include Sim City, Rise of Nations, Age of Empires, Civilization, etc.

Feel free to discuss your favorites here.

[Sol-Ratcht Saporro]

Hmmmm....Animal Crossing counts right? I think of it as a dumbed down version of Sim City.You do build a civilization for yourself. Nothing like living another life in a game. I find them so relaxing. Animal Crossing Wild World FTW.

[Four-eyed Vulpine]

I've never played Animal Crossing, actually.  I must be missing out on something. 

[sniper]

ah yeah! some of my favorite games!  haven't played civilization in a while, but I used to like it a lot.  my other favorites are age of empires 1 and 2, lord of the rings battle for middle earth (epic game, but get LOTRBFME 1 and not #2), midieval total war, lord of the rings total war.  (I could go on and on)

I could probably say that age of empires 2 and lord of the rings BFME are my absolute favorite.

[Four-eyed Vulpine]

I used to play Spore a whole lot, but I kind of got busy with other things.

Once you reach the space stage and realize that all that's left to do is expand your empire infinitely across more systems that you can possibly visit, it seemed kind of pointless at that point.

[Vy'drach]

Only one I really played and enjoyed was Zeus, Master of Olympus.

[Sol-Ratcht Saporro]

I've never played Animal Crossing, actually. I must be missing out on something.

It's one of those titles that you won't miss much but once you get into it you don't want to put it down for days. If you do pick it up, I would suggest Wild World, it's a GC port with some extra tracks and its handheld awesomeness.

Ooh! I think Little Big Planet would fall in this category. It received some pretty rave reviews. I can't play it though since its PS3 exclusive. But, I don't think I'd want to either.

[Asper Sarnoff]

Tried them on a couple of occasions, but abandoned them quickly. It's not that I don't like them, but such games take to long, and as little time as I have allready to spend on gaming, I've lately been drawn more to games which I can jump in, play 15 minutes or so, and then get back to what I really should be doing without any delay.

[Sabre]

None have delivered what I wanted. Sins of a Solar Empire came close, but that still fell short.

[Four-eyed Vulpine]

Tried them on a couple of occasions, but abandoned them quickly. It's not that I don't like them, but such games take to long, and as little time as I have allready to spend on gaming, I've lately been drawn more to games which I can jump in, play 15 minutes or so, and then get back to what I really should be doing without any delay.

Yeah, I usually end up playing the same saved game for months as my civilization develops.

Ah well, I'm more of a long-term kind of guy, anyway.

[Guest DRL]

I have the Civilization 3 CD, but is it just not any fun.

Basically the AI's WOULD ALLWAYS team up with each other,

and declare war on you EVEN when you are superior.

And when they team up with you, they will leave you when

you need them.

I tried FreeCiv. It is far more fun, althrough sure the

graphics are not as good, it has a lot more customization

options.

[Four-eyed Vulpine]

I can't wait for Sid Meier's Civilization V to come out.

From everything I've heard about it so far,

it's going to be incredible.

I have the Civilization 3 CD, but is it just not any fun.

Basically the AI's WOULD ALLWAYS team up with each other,

and declare war on you EVEN when you are superior.

In the next edition, this problem is supposed to be addressed.

The warmongering leaders will have been replaced with more diplomatic substitutes,

and other nations will be programmed more toward peaceful interaction,

rather than declaring war at the drop of a hat for no apparent reason and

putting ALL of their resources into military units.

To make warmongering even more difficult,

only one unit will be able to occupy a space at a time.

No more endless stacks of units to fight with or move.

[Guest DRL]

In the next edition, this problem is supposed to be addressed.

The warmongering leaders will have been replaced with more diplomatic substitutes,

and other nations will be programmed more toward peaceful interaction,

rather than declaring war at the drop of a hat for no apparent reason and

putting ALL of their resources into military units.

To make warmongering even more difficult,

only one unit will be able to occupy a space at a time.

No more endless stacks of units to fight with or move.

That seems like a good solution.

However back when I was 12 I was WTH??!, these

dummies ALL declare war on me??!, why?!

Two hours of gaming later, I had overcome the

entire 'alliance' of theirs, hereby winning by military/conquest

victory.

[Guest Julius Quasar]

Populous was....okay...

[ThePointingMan]

Sim city plus streets of sim city, it'd probably be really sucky if I ever played it again, but twas fun while it lasted.

[Four-eyed Vulpine]

Sim City is probably my least favorite series in this genre.

Why?  Because it involves a lot of waiting and doing nothing.

And usually my city hits some kind of cap and won't grow anymore, no matter what I try to do with it.

I have more fun destroying existing cities with disasters.