Look, I get you. The quarantine has been too long or boring you out of your mind. You don't have any new games to play or you might not want to play the games you play because you are getting burnt out of it. Well, why not try something new and different? Today we will be discussing something a little bit up my alley which, who knows?
Might be yours as well after this article. Well, let's deep dive into Grand Strategy Games!
GSGs in a Nutshell
What are Grand Strategy Games, you ask? Well, Grand Strategy games are ofcourse, Strategy games, but what makes it grand is that it uses a lot of military tactics and usually involving other things such as politics, economics and diplomacy to handle things between you and fellow players.
A few popular creators of Grand Strategy Games are Paradox Interactive, Koei and Firaxis.
Risking it all with Risk
There are a lot of GSGs out there, one of the most popular ones is Risk. In Risk, you control a piece of continent in Earth which gives you new soldiers each start of the turn, but with 3-4 more players representing other continents, your goal is to totally dominate the world by being the last player alive, capturing the rest of the continents by your sheer military.
Usually, it takes a lot of turns and you must employ proper strategy and tactics to defeat the enemies as too much brute force can lead you to be tag teamed by your enemies before you can even stop your blitz. Having proper chokepoints and negotiations with other players to avoid being steamrolled can be enforced if you know each other or you are planning the game for a longcon.
Still, as basic as it is, it's one of the oldest Grand Strategies out there.
Starting out in Civilization
Honestly, Civilization fans and players alike have always been in each others throats as to consider, Civilization as either just a 4X, strategy or grand strategy game. Some people have said that since it does not have the complexity of a Paradox Interactive game that it is not GS at all.
But people forget that there's a lot of things to maneuver in Civilization than what is usually expected. Managing Tech priorities, diplomacy with other Civs, putting people to work in specific tileset, specific city specialization and proper army composition to bring in preparation of a war. There's a lot of things to consider in terms of strategy to this game. Not to mention, specific luxury and strategic resources for the happiness of your people and the units available to you respectively.
In my opinion, I'd tout it as a GS game, but again not as intrinsic as the next ones.
Totally Entering GS with Total War
The Creative Assembly really is creative in making a game for those who are interesting in waging big wars and expansion like no other. The Total War series has been one of the popular bunch in the games that we will be mentioning, I mean why not?
Who doesn't want a huge scale invasion against enemies in the map, alongside managing cities and making sure that they are settled properly without the threat of enemies close to it?
Overall, Total War has been one of the well-known games, with mods readily available to expand your playing pleasure. If you are interested in massive scale wars, then Total War is for you.
Paradoxically King of GSGs, Paradox Interactive Games
Time to bring out the big guns. Paradox Interactive is at the apex of Grand Strategy games and for good measure. From playing as a monarch in the early dark ages to the start of Feudalism in Crusader Kings 2 (which is free in Steam btw), to ruling the Age of Exploration until the start of the Revolutions in Europa Universalis IV, continue on playing in the Victorian times until the end of World War 1 in Victoria 2, wrest control of the world as World War 2 rages in Hearts of Iron IV until finally, be the one to conquer and explore the vast unknowns of space with Stellaris.
Their games can over a long millenium of playing and you can technically do an entire megacampaign if you so desire with converters of the game from CK2 to HOI4. Making a lot of specific games for Grand Strategy.
For those who have an interest in GSGs, there's no one better at the craft than Paradox Interactive, that is, if you can survive the horde, horde of DLCs that you need to buy!
Writer's Choice
If you ask me what to suggest to you people, well it depends on your taste. As a sci-fi aficionado myself, I have dumped a THOUSANDS of hours in Stellaris (check the image bellow), honestly, it's that addicting.
I bought it in 2018 and in my spare time where I will not be disturbed for a long time, I can play for days with sleep and eating breaks ofcourse to play it. But if you want to change history a bit.
Try EU4 and Vic2. EU4 has a lot of things going on which can spark interest since it contains a lot of bits of historically accurate ideas which strengthen each nation and Victoria 2 contains a lot of socio-economic challenges that you need to keep in mind with social reforms that makes your country the best among the rest and economic policies that handle your industry and keep your economy the top class among the rest.
But for those who want to take it easy, just play Civilization for now. Civ VI has done a great job to interest a lot of beginners in the strategy and grand strategy genre of the game, whilst I still prefer Civ V, there's no contest with a lot of depth Civ had.
I am not much of a Total War player honestly, but I only hear good if not excellent reception from its players, so if you want a grand spectacle of warfare, that is the game for you.
Conclusion
We can't control when the quarantines and lockdowns would end, the pandemic we are facing right now does not seem to have a deadline on when it is done and it is better to be safe than sorry. With companies offering up a lot of games for free so you can stay at home and with these new additions that would definitely pique some people's interest.
I hope I have given you some games that will let you endure the situation that we have right now for the better. So any games that you are playing in here or do you have a suggestion of a GSG that you are playing, tell us in the comments below! I'd gladly help out on your queries too!
Might be yours as well after this article. Well, let's deep dive into Grand Strategy Games!
GSGs in a Nutshell
What are Grand Strategy Games, you ask? Well, Grand Strategy games are ofcourse, Strategy games, but what makes it grand is that it uses a lot of military tactics and usually involving other things such as politics, economics and diplomacy to handle things between you and fellow players.
A few popular creators of Grand Strategy Games are Paradox Interactive, Koei and Firaxis.
Risking it all with Risk
There are a lot of GSGs out there, one of the most popular ones is Risk. In Risk, you control a piece of continent in Earth which gives you new soldiers each start of the turn, but with 3-4 more players representing other continents, your goal is to totally dominate the world by being the last player alive, capturing the rest of the continents by your sheer military.
Usually, it takes a lot of turns and you must employ proper strategy and tactics to defeat the enemies as too much brute force can lead you to be tag teamed by your enemies before you can even stop your blitz. Having proper chokepoints and negotiations with other players to avoid being steamrolled can be enforced if you know each other or you are planning the game for a longcon.
Still, as basic as it is, it's one of the oldest Grand Strategies out there.
Starting out in Civilization
Honestly, Civilization fans and players alike have always been in each others throats as to consider, Civilization as either just a 4X, strategy or grand strategy game. Some people have said that since it does not have the complexity of a Paradox Interactive game that it is not GS at all.
But people forget that there's a lot of things to maneuver in Civilization than what is usually expected. Managing Tech priorities, diplomacy with other Civs, putting people to work in specific tileset, specific city specialization and proper army composition to bring in preparation of a war. There's a lot of things to consider in terms of strategy to this game. Not to mention, specific luxury and strategic resources for the happiness of your people and the units available to you respectively.
In my opinion, I'd tout it as a GS game, but again not as intrinsic as the next ones.
Totally Entering GS with Total War
The Creative Assembly really is creative in making a game for those who are interesting in waging big wars and expansion like no other. The Total War series has been one of the popular bunch in the games that we will be mentioning, I mean why not?
Who doesn't want a huge scale invasion against enemies in the map, alongside managing cities and making sure that they are settled properly without the threat of enemies close to it?
Overall, Total War has been one of the well-known games, with mods readily available to expand your playing pleasure. If you are interested in massive scale wars, then Total War is for you.
Paradoxically King of GSGs, Paradox Interactive Games
Time to bring out the big guns. Paradox Interactive is at the apex of Grand Strategy games and for good measure. From playing as a monarch in the early dark ages to the start of Feudalism in Crusader Kings 2 (which is free in Steam btw), to ruling the Age of Exploration until the start of the Revolutions in Europa Universalis IV, continue on playing in the Victorian times until the end of World War 1 in Victoria 2, wrest control of the world as World War 2 rages in Hearts of Iron IV until finally, be the one to conquer and explore the vast unknowns of space with Stellaris.
Their games can over a long millenium of playing and you can technically do an entire megacampaign if you so desire with converters of the game from CK2 to HOI4. Making a lot of specific games for Grand Strategy.
For those who have an interest in GSGs, there's no one better at the craft than Paradox Interactive, that is, if you can survive the horde, horde of DLCs that you need to buy!
Writer's Choice
If you ask me what to suggest to you people, well it depends on your taste. As a sci-fi aficionado myself, I have dumped a THOUSANDS of hours in Stellaris (check the image bellow), honestly, it's that addicting.
I bought it in 2018 and in my spare time where I will not be disturbed for a long time, I can play for days with sleep and eating breaks ofcourse to play it. But if you want to change history a bit.
Try EU4 and Vic2. EU4 has a lot of things going on which can spark interest since it contains a lot of bits of historically accurate ideas which strengthen each nation and Victoria 2 contains a lot of socio-economic challenges that you need to keep in mind with social reforms that makes your country the best among the rest and economic policies that handle your industry and keep your economy the top class among the rest.
But for those who want to take it easy, just play Civilization for now. Civ VI has done a great job to interest a lot of beginners in the strategy and grand strategy genre of the game, whilst I still prefer Civ V, there's no contest with a lot of depth Civ had.
I am not much of a Total War player honestly, but I only hear good if not excellent reception from its players, so if you want a grand spectacle of warfare, that is the game for you.
Conclusion
We can't control when the quarantines and lockdowns would end, the pandemic we are facing right now does not seem to have a deadline on when it is done and it is better to be safe than sorry. With companies offering up a lot of games for free so you can stay at home and with these new additions that would definitely pique some people's interest.
I hope I have given you some games that will let you endure the situation that we have right now for the better. So any games that you are playing in here or do you have a suggestion of a GSG that you are playing, tell us in the comments below! I'd gladly help out on your queries too!
