The best for that era is still Total War: Rome. Even on Very Hard/Expert AI modes I generally turned battles on automatic, and could win on strategy alone without having to fight battles in detail, as long as I picked them smart.
It isn't a 4X game but if you like Roman history and city builders check out CivCity: Rome. I won't tell you it is perfect 10/10, but it is really fun if you enjoyed much older games like Pharaoh and Zeus.
It looks fun but Steam delisted it in favor of the more expensive Remastered Edition, and it's not on GOG. Boo. Hiss.
Yep, gonna have to look for physical copies instead.
And? How much does it cost, dumbass? It's not there, it's been removed, just like how GTA III has a page, but can you buy it anymore?yagoiRome: Total War™ - Collection on Steam
Control and conquer the greatest empire ever known to man.store.steampowered.com
I've put more hours into this game more consistently than any other. The 1oom remake fixes a great many rough edges. https://gitlab.com/Tapani_/1oom
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If you're coming in from Civ V/VI, then you'll definitely need to readjust your game. This is much more macro focused compared to V/VI.
Nominated for first prize in "Quotes without context" contest.
Been flipping between IV and VI recently, just to experience the differences. IV definitely emphasises not settling the entire map due to the lack of food on a lot of tiles, VI tries with fresh water but there are far too many ways to produce it in spots without (eg: aqueducts). Citizens are far more important in IV to develop properly, VI relies more on finding one or two really good tiles which will tide you over until you reach 5 citizens. Both are fun, but definitely games of their times.
You need to go deeper. Play Civ 1 (city spam) or Alpha Centauri (supply crawlers.)
Yes and no, the AI has never been great in any 4X game outside of maybe GalCiv. You cannot program a strategical process for it, only immediate reactionary options. It just comes out more in VI because of things like 1UPT. The AI in IV can seem very cunning at times but it helps that they can doomstack and don't have fifty units backed up halfway across the map because of mountains and choke-points. Speaking of GalCiv, each race there has an ideology (benevolent, pragmatic, malevolent) to influence diplomacy and opinion but also takes into account the balance of power and history. A benevolent race will not sit idly as the malevolents gobble up the galaxy and will backstab their greatest ally to create a more powerful position (like a "good" version of Radovid V). Pragmatists are the most dangerous if only because they are the hardest to crack diplomacy wise- they might notice you spawned near precursor relics (which are required for tech victories) and openly be friendly and give you good deals while secretly sending all the military tech you trade to your malevolent neighbours. The malevolents themselves generally ignore talking and trade but are not stupid and respect big stick diplomacy, you can easily form a Tripartite Pakt equivalent if you're strong enough and have common enemies or non-competing interests. It still sucks at the tactical level though, there's just a lot more going on in the game on the strategic level. It's sort of like the F.E.A.R. AI, not amazing but it miraculously uses the tools it has well.
I've played Alpha Centauri and I always turn it off after five minutes. Just can't stand the UI and the graphics make me feel like I need glasses. I missed it when I was a kid, if I played it then like I did Lemmings or Age of Empires I'd probably still play it too.
