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Turn-based Strategy Games PC & TBS Amiga


Turn-based Strategy Computer Games



This is an index to cRPG Blog commentary on turn-based strategy games and wargames on IBM PC MS-DOS, Windows and microcomputer platforms. The TBS games covered are historically significant computer games whose influence on gaming has been incalculable.

Indeed, the TBS genre is not only the high-point of 1990s Computer Game History, it is the high-point of computer-game history as a whole: the GOAT genre that can never be beaten.

In Liluran commentary TBS games occupy seven positions in the top 10 segment of my ranking (see sidebar).


Note that I am primarily concerned with PC TBS games and Amiga TBS games.

TBS games almost always feature avatar-anchorless screen-scrolling via clicking tiles or moving the cursor to the edge of the screen.

Turn-based System



As with cRPGs, the ultimate strategy computer games are turn-based in nature. That is, actions by both players and AIs are taken in discrete turns each of which can correspond to between two minutes or two decades, depending on the game (and sometimes also depending on the current game state).

As a rule, the player makes a series of moves, hits End Turn and then waits while the other player/s or AI makes their/its moves. [1]

Moves in TBS games include actions such as building, battling, exploring, researching and trading.

During an opponent's turn players may not intervene until their next turn. Indeed, in most TBS games players lose control of the game completely during an opponent's turn (they are locked out of the game). Only when it is the players turn again is control returned.

Unlike RTS games turn-based strategy games are meditative computer games that do not rely on quick reflexes. If one were to say "They play like Chess", that would be enough of an entry-level comparison.

[1] In Chess, releasing the hand from a Chesspiece is confirmation of End Turn. The player then waits while the opponent makes their turn.

Terraforming Turn-based Strategy Games


In turn-based strategy games terrain and its resources should be first and foremost in the mind. Terrain is the backbone of civilizations. Especially rivers. Civilizations were built around river drainage basins: The Cradle of Civilization (Euphrates, Tigris: Sumer of Mesopotamia).


Terraforming is the engineered modification of terrain, which can impact topography, weather and ecology.


The precursor to SMAC terraforming was Civ2's terrain transformation via Engineers, which are the god-unit of Civ games. In Civ2 the nature of some terrain squares aka tiles can be transformed from (for example) Mountains to Plains. That's right, in Civ2 one can literally level entire mountain ranges.

The chief object of terrain modification is to make a square suitable for mining or irrigation; to build a mine or a farm on the square in order to increase a settlement's production or harvest, thereby increasing wealth, military power and population.


Empire Wargame: Turn-based Strategy Game Origin


Computerized turn-based strategy games have their origins in traditional wargames and boardgames such as Risk. First conceived in 1971, the seminal Empire would influence Sid Meier's Civilization 1.


Empire Deluxe (1993) features massive maps and campaigns that can go on for thousands of turns. Empire Deluxe advanced features include built-in help, auto-scrolling, slidebar-scrolling and zoomable maps.

Empire Deluxe displays in square-pixel VESA SVGA 640x480.

Truth be told Empire Deluxe plays better than most modern strategy games, yet runs on toasters.


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