I have an itch to play a good sci-fi strategy game, but I'm picky. I am looking for a strategy game that includes resource management, scientific development, production, and combat. The first games that come to mind with the kind of qualities I'm looking for was the X-COM series. There were a few others too. It can be with starships and systems or units and terrain. I don't want fully skirmish based scenarios like Starcraft, Age of Empires, etc. I want to be able to research technology, amass wealth, build new bases or cities. I want what I work for to stay with me, not disappear every time a new scenario occurs. Like I said before, the X-COM games are a prime, if dated, example of what I'm looking for. Any ideas? I'm looking for an enthralling strategy campaign and I can't find one! :(

given moo3 any thought?

Has anyone heard anything positive of MOO3? MOO2 rules.

Don't waste your money on MOO3 you can get MOO2 for $10 and it is 100 times better.

MOO3? Space cows? ;)

No, really, what's it stand for?

try Galactic Civilization. gamespot says it's better than moo3.

from what i've heard moo3 was good but didn't live up to expectations

oh and moo3 means, Masters of orion 3, here's a gamespy review
http://www.gamespy.com/reviews/february03/moo3pc/

[ 04-14-2003, 08:37 PM: Message edited by: Angelousss ]

Sid meier's Alpha Centauri. Kinda confusing but i think it has what your looking for.

MOO is Master of Orion. MOO2 is very good. I also like Alpha Centaury.

Alpha Centauri owns them all because peace is actually a viable choice.

MOO3 doesn't seem to be higly rated, by anyone. I think I'll skip it. Lemme check out alpha-centauri.

I see that they are developing an X-com sequel. X-COM Alliance. It seems to be on hold right now and has been for a year. It may not get released at all eh? It looks pretty good though.

Alliance was canned. Genesis was canned. XCOM is basicaly dead to my knowledge, and thats a crime.

Only recent XCOM project was enforcer, and somehow some edjit managed to take the greatest tactical comabt license of all time and make a straight shooter out of it. And not even a particularly good shooter.

Still, the XCOM games have aged very well, and are still playable today. So not all is lost.

Good strategy games take too much work apparently. If I see one more real time strategy game based on the Age of Empires engine, I'm going to scream! FPS games are good, but they're getting a bit old. Why is it impossible to create a real time pauseable squad based game on the X-COM concept? Abomination came pretty close. With a little more work, that game would have been awesome! The resource management part just needed work. Hell, take that engine and spiff it up a bit and there you go! Apparently, only us old gamers appreciate strategy and story over mayhem and graphics.

Galactic civilizations is a very challenging game. Ive won about 5% of my games so far.

Alpha centauri is more specifically like civ 2.

Moo3 is worse than anyone says. Just plain unplayable non functioning game.

None of these games are very much like x com. They are science fiction though.

An arcady version of x com was freedom force. I think you might like that.

[ 04-17-2003, 03:37 AM: Message edited by: the mighty stamar ]

moo3 is bad because virtually the computer AI do everything for you. all you need to do is press end turn.

Well in all honesty. Masters of Orion II is older than III and much more fun! I recomend Masters of Orion II<Battle for Antares over most other games including Alpha Centauri! I do not like Alpha that much because it has too much of a Civ feel, i can just play Civ if I like a game like that. It is also monotoneous,

But feel fre to get Masters of Orion II Software stores still sell it for around 10 dollars and is quite worth it..! Youll play it for hours I promise!

You can also play it as a multiplayer game on one PC due to the turn based play. A great game when drinking due to the "sound advice" others give.

I was gonna say Starwars Galactic battlegrounds, but when i finished reading your post i realised that's not what you're looking for. The gameplay is an Age of empires clone. Still a pretty good RTS though, you might wanna give it a try.

Visit this site:

www.the-underdogs.org and spend a little time browsing. There are a great number of 4x games that are better than Moo3 and have never gotten much publicity. Notable among this is probably Space Empires IV, but there the Underdog site will direct you to many possibilities.

-- Mal