A newer version of Evil Genius, preferably something where you can make a 3-D Volcano Base/Lair.
A Space Colonization game where you colonize a whole Solar System of planets and space stations, then create an economy around it. At the same time maybe have a quest-like story line running through the game.
Any kind of large scale sci-fi military RTS that has smarter AI. One reason I hated older RTS was because AI would get shot at several times before responding, also all tactics usually devolved into X Rush.
War Groove looks to be the answer your looking for. Itās more sword and arrow units as opposed to guns and tanks but if the footage out is anything to go off of it looks almost exactly the same.
Why have I never heard of Evil Genius until your post??!!! That game looks/sounds awesome! I love the idea of building a 3-D volcano base and trying to do evil things. I canāt believe Iāve never heard of this before! I remember back when I was in elementary/middle school, I used to doodle secret bases and lairs all the time and they ALL had secret entrances in volcanoes.
As to your space colonization game, Endless Space 2 seems closest to what youāre looking for, but obviously isnāt an exact match. I think weāve discussed the various merits of Endless Space and Stellaris before. I like both games, but they scratch different itches for me.
I donāt think Iāve played a straight up āclassicā RTS since Starcraft 2, so I have no idea the state of enemy AI in those types of games, but a game with some actually devious and good AI is always welcome.
Squeals required - Dungeon Keeper would be lovely but perhaps with some innovation allowing multilevel lairs.
There is a spiritual squeal made called War for the Overworld, which is basically dungeon keeper updated with modern graphics and a few iterative and qol upgrades.
Unfortunately thatās not what I wanted in the game. I wanted the interface and graphics of Dungeon Keeper with the depth and complexity of Dwarf Fortress. Or ya know, as close as is reasonable.
So, itās kinda like the one wish situation for me. I got exactly what I asked for, but it wasnāt exactly what I wanted.
In my professional opinion theyāre all far short of even the early AW games.
Not even close. Fire Emblem has stateful leveling, permanent unit death, zero area/zone control, minimal tactics, simplistic strategy, etcā¦ Theyāre not even superficially similar in terms of gameplay. I wouldnāt even put FE and AW in the same genre.
The real deal with Advance Wars, and the reason there is no credible successor, is the sheer scale of the labor necessary to make the campaign as tight as it is in each game. I read some interviews where it was implied that the team spent more time designing individual maps than they did on all core development combined.
On the subject of advance wars being a fine tuned machine, Battletech could really use that. One of the most distinct things from Mechwarrior 2 and on was interesting missions that let different strategies shine. This games really lacking that.
Also Iāve been dicking around with Roguetech and I meanā¦ I do want a sandbox and more toys to play with, but this feels like a totally raw untested kitchen sink approach that isnāt really properly āmore fun.ā Itās extending the game a little bit for me, but not a lot.
More variety in missions would be cool for sure. The campaign has some interesting things (though it certainly has problems) that I would love to see be standard.
Adding vehicles and elementals to lance options, or increasing the scale to allow multiple lances, would increase strategic depth for sure.
Iām on the last handful of campaign missions, and Iāve noticed that thereās a breaking point at which strategy stops mattering. My standard deployment now is 3 Orions and the Highlander, and I pretty much just roll shit. Strategy consists of reserving until theyāre closeish, Precision Strike the center torso, and rolling through like a 'mech every round.
The progression built into the campaign shows the strategic limits of Battletech - itās really at its best when you have to make harder choices with less outrageous firepower. Once youāre at a 310+ ton lance, you can sort of just brute force everything out of existence.
Iād like to see the game have you stay in your starting medium lance, but have to conquer different challenges.
Iām literally astounded every time someone brings up crystal chronicles as a game they like. I remember that game not being well received and the one time I remember playing it I donāt remember it being that great.