Looking for a financial empire-builder recommendation

[Duckman]

I am jonesing for some old-school financial empire-building. I'm thinking of something like Sid Meier's Railroad Tycoon.  And I don't mean the shiny, new one with the fancy graphics that made it impossible to build out of San Diego without running into Los Angeles.

 

That's not to say that I am totally down on combat or anything but I have plenty of good 4X games where combat is the focus of interaction and I am interested in something where I am developing something besides my military industrial complex.

 

Anyone got any good recommendations from, say, the last 3 years?

[Guest]

Have you tried crusader kings 2? Not quite the same thing, but I think it fits the bill quite well. I find it frustrates me in the same way that those other titles you mentioned frustrated me...

[Duckman]

Good call, Pax.  That fits what I described perfectly because of a slight oversight on my part.  I'm also looking for something that can be finished in 6-8 hours and I find that CK II takes *much* longer than that :)

[dvang]

How 'financial' is financial that you are looking for?  

 

My wife and I have a lot of fun with the various Tropico series of games. Fun island-builder. There is some economics/financial building, although it isn't hugely realistic.  We haven't picked up 5 yet (which just came out) but it looks pretty good, as do the earlier ones.  It can also play pretty quickly, and comes with a variety of challenging scenarios or you can play sandbox.

[Frostitute]

Europa Universalis III or IV. It is what your looking for. One problem it will never take 6-8 hours. 100+ hours

 

Game Dev Tycoon. That might be more your interest
 

[Guest]

Good call, Pax.  That fits what I described perfectly because of a slight oversight on my part.  I'm also looking for something that can be finished in 6-8 hours and I find that CK II takes *much* longer than that :)

Have you considered getting CK2 and just setting a timer? Most games like your talking about either require the time, or are watered down so much that they barely fit your intellectual requirements.

[Duckman]

It's not so much about setting a timer and more about pacing.  I have a copy of CK II and what I find (although this may be as much about my playstyle as about the game itself) is that I get through 2-3 generations in an evening of play.  Sometimes as much as 100 years if I am lucky.  Assuming that you are not derailed by an ambitious daughter who (in spite of only have 6 Intrigue) manages to kill off all your male heirs so she can inherit (and then die in childbirth while you're trying to get a valid heir of your dynasty...  No, no bitterness there at all...) that's only about 25% of a game.

 

As I said above, it's an excellent example of what I asked for and I *do* play it when I expect to have multiple nights (or a weekend) to throw at it to complete a game.  I was just thinking of something smaller (maybe lighter and faster is a better description) that I could play when I have less free time for a given week or two (happening all too often these days).

 

In answer to dvang, I have a copy of Tropico 3 (used to have a physical copy and recently picked it up free on Steam from a Humble Bundle) and I quickly recalled why I found it frustrating.  The negative feedback loop of unhappy populous is so strong and so demanding that there is very little time spent exploring different means of investment and income generation and a lot of time spent building the same schools, clinics, housing and other infrastructure to keep the populous at bay.  More whack-a-mole than building (although I will admit that I love the flavor text and the local radio newscaster and stuff).

 

I have a copy of EU III as well.  Didn't really connect with it and so I didn't pick up EU IV.  I find that CK II fills that particular niche in a way I am just much happier with.  I'm not sure I can put a finger on why I feel so differently about them given that they are all built on the same game engine (Clausewitz).

 

I've taken a look at Game Dev Tycoon and it may actually be more like what I am looking for to fill slack time these days.