For RTS I hear sins of a solar empire is good. I couldn't get into it but others say it's badass. If you want something a bit more serious than Civ try Europa Universalis III. Grand strategy at it's finest.

definitely not shooters on the computer. much better on a console. probably the strategy games like the ones i listed. i was also just curious if anyone here has played starcraft 2 and would recommend it

Out of curiousity, why not shooters on PC? I find aiming on consoles is really frustrating. The mouse gives much better control.

I'm not an RTS fan. And also prefer shooters on the console. But if you like horror and are willing to try a unique game I highly recommend Amnesia: Dark Descent. Can probably pick it up for $5 or less during the Thanksgiving or Holiday Steam sales.

I also own Civ IV which I think is really good. Have played Civ V and really enjoyed it though I have less experience with it.

Sorry I misread, yeah, Civilization is a great series... 5 I've heard is a bit watered down compared to the previous ones, but still fun. Can't vouch for SC2, I don't do RTS.

Even though the question wasn't directed at me, I like shooters on the console better because I prefer the analog sticks more than keys and mouse. Just seems more natural to me. Though it is obvious that mouse give better control. Better control doesn't mean a better experience for everyone.

I enjoyed Civ V immensely - more than Civ IV actually. The graphics are a lot better (especially the hex tiles), and thank god they got rid of the stack of doom =P

Same for Sins of a Solar Empire. It's a lot deeper than it looks, though the diplomacy is weak. There's a diplomacy expansion that I haven't looked at, though.

Haven't tried SC2.

i suggest getting civ 5. the warfare is great without all the stupid stacks of civ 4. the multi for all civ games is slow and shitty but its definitely worth it.

Supreme Commander, Sins of a Solar Empire, and Starcraft II are all excellent RTS.

League of Legends is a fun game, and is free, which is always a plus.

I haven't play Amnesia, but I did really enjoy Penumbra, which was made by the same people.

I know you said you don't like PC FPS, but I'd recommend Killing Floor, which is very fun and not available on console.

Tropico is fun if you're trying to avoid killing people. Aside from political dissidents, anyway...

I always got annoyed with Tropico... I put nice buildings for no rent and idiots still wanted to live in hovels... PoS game XD

lol redownloading it again now...

Were the nice no-rent buildings near your citizens' places of work?

Have you played Portal?

lol tolstoy I don't remember... no farther than the hovels were I'd imagine :P

If you like turn-based games, Galactic Civilizations 2 is pretty deep, especially with the expansion Twilight of the Arnor. I think it's made by the same people who made Sins of a Solar Empire.

The Dawn of War games make for pretty good RTS, and you can probably pick up the 1st one for pretty cheap these days.

Portal is good.

But if you want RTS, I 2nd Yellowjacket. Europe Universalis III is by far the best I've ever played. Highly reccommended

well the reason for no shooters is that I can get my fix with console and i enjoy sitting playing with friends for that. I guess Goldeneyeand then Halo spoiled me and I feel comfortable using a controller. also, my comp has never really been that great so I couldnt run the latest games. but as far as genre goes, I always enjoyed playing Age of Empires 2 and games of that nature.

I love Civ IV, own Civ V but haven't tried it yet. I enjoyed Age of Empires 3 but did not find it as appealing to play over and over again.

If you haven't played Portal, its a must buy. I'm sure you can get it extremely cheap.

Civ V is absolutely awesome. the patches have fixed up issues with increased corruption with big empires. I think they have made major upgrades from civ 4 including great people, policies, city expansion, and most importantly on warfare... very good strat game.

another series I've grown to love is the Total War Series of games. even though Total War Shogun 2 just came out with great graphics my favorite is Total War: Empire which is set in the 1700s and includes a detailed map of Europe as well as the Americas and India... absolutely an awesome game with both a macro level strategic component and a micro level battlefield component for two very different strategy experiences. Highly recommend this series to anyone who likes strategy games.

I agree with most of the above. I am going to assume from your statement about not having a great computer that you are not planning on doing a lot of multiplay so I will focus on single play.

Starcraft 2: Excellent game, but the campaign is not as replayable as I would like. I played it a lot for about a month and then was kinda done with it. The multiplay is great though.

Civ IV: Awesome. Like nearly all Civ games, infinitely replayable. Also, all the mods out there make for great, FREE, additional content. There is also a pretty good stand alone remake of Colonization that uses the Civ IV engine. I don't know if its nostalgia, the bug that let's me avoid the consequences of boycotting, or the great midi music, but I still think I prefer the 1995 super pixelated version of the game though.

Civ V: Haven't played it, but have heard great things post-patches.

Total War: This is really a great series, especially if you want to delve into a game for the next two months. I have only played the Rome titles though. There is a really good mod for it that makes the game WAY more historically accurate and strategically interesting (modified unit stats, cities maintain production of their cultural units, a larger map).

Hegemony Gold: This is an independent game I recently picked up and have really fallen in love with. It has several campaigns, the primary one being the conquests of Philip of Macedon. The engine is cool because you are playing a tactical game and a strategic game at the same time. Supply lines are super important, multiple battles can be going on at the same time, units are dependent on home cities to fill their ranks, battles incorporate morale and several tactics (flanking, charges), formations are very flexible but still simple (more so than Total war), the diplomacy system is simplified but surprisingly good, and food matters....A LOT. When I play Hegemony, it feels like a real military campaign because I think about things like, "How am I going to hold that city when it is so far away from my major food suppliers? The troops will starve and the city will rebel." and "I'll send my cavalry to take out that city's food supply so that I can starve out the garrison." Plus, I got it for $20. You should at least try out the trial version.

Okay well I think I will end up getting Starcraft 2 since I enjoyed Age of Empires and Warcraft 3 and it is a good game to play with a bunch of friends. However, I still might get a newer Civilization game down the road. So my question is which game is better? Civ 4 of Civ 5? and what are the pluses and minuses of each? I dont have much experience with the series, but like Zarathustra mentioned above, I have heard that the replayability is amazing.

For Star Wars fans, I was a Beta tester for SWTOR this past weekend. I'm intrigued...

My daughter (13) who has always been a Star Wars fan, has requested her copy for Christmas after playing a Jedi up to about level 8.

Agent, I think both Civ IV and V are awesome. if you are a big strategy gamer, then I'd say get Civ IV. you'll love it, get 2-3 months of solid play out of it... THEN you'll want to get Civ V and you will fall in love a 2nd time. going backwards almost always has a negative effect.

The other thing about the Civ series is that once you get good and play on emperor and above, its a VERY difficult game if you don't cheat (re-start saves etc) you will have a very fun time with the series as a whole.

as fore differences, I'll let you search online, they both are amazing in my mind.

I'm at 277 hours on Civ V (on steam) and that does not include another 50+ hours on my laptop before I installed steam.

the above stat is over 12 or 14 months.