- Best Turn-Based Strategy Games | (PC) -

[Mr. Peabody]

At present I'm looking for a good turn-based strategy game that I can progress through in my spare time. I've always enjoyed strategy games, especially those involving military campaigns. My problem is that I am entirely new to this type of pc game and there is a plethora of available options. In the opinion of this forum's users, what is the best turn-based strategy game to start with? Merci en avance.

~ The Dunatian

[Vanamonde]

Any preferences? New? Old? Genre? 

[Elthy]

Well, the Civilization series should be the right thing for you. The newest one is Civilization 6, but Civ 5 is still a good game and is available quite cheap with all addons.

[Nikolai]

If you don't mind learning-by-death, I can't recommend Invisible, Inc. enough.  The strategy is so polished you can see your face in it.  And the game's complex relationship to failure is nothing short of astounding.  Things can always get worse, and you can almost always take a situation that looks unwinnable at first glance and turn it into a narrow escape; the ways you can use old strategies to accomplish new things always makes me feel like the cleverest person alive.  ("Hold up.  I can hack the security drone, then use it to block the door so that the guard can't get there just long enough for me to run through the room and escape to the elevator on the other side.  I might actually be able to pull this off.")

[adsii1970]

Civilization V is much better than VI, although I do like the challenges in VI.

Galactic Civilizations II or III are good, too.

 

 

 

[XB-70A]

BattleTech (2015) could be interesting, and it's now pretty stable. It's turn-based, but do not expect too many units to manage.

 

Good to Sarna fans, but not so much to "others" (I'm looking at you MWO).

[Waxing_Kibbous]

If you don't mind a bit of RNG Battle for Wesnoth is free and has a bunch of user made content + you can play people online. It will drive you insane though. Less open field strat and more close in is Darkest Dungeon if you want more masochistic fun.

[Harry Rhodan]

I can't decide if Civ 5 is better than 6. Both are different in some places but too similar in most of the core mechanics.

You could also try the Endless games, Endless Legend and Endless Space 2 in particular. Havent played Space but Legend has a really nice art design and a great UI that is much better than anything I've ever seen in Civ before.

If you're thinking about smaller scale tactical games then Battletech is definitely nice. It is a bit clunky and slow at times but I still liked it a lot. The XCOM series was always praised for being incredibly good and incredibly hard. On an even smaller scale you could try Into the Breach, where you only ever command three units in small scale battles in a roguelite system.

[radonek]

I can't say that Civ VI. is any worse then V., but it's not any better either. I do not like cartoony visuals though. 

As for X-Com, new series is kinda fun but I prefer original shape. In that regard, Xenonauts are a better successor – true to form and with more mature atmosphere. 

[Terwin]

Came here to recommend the original x-com games.  

The three newer ones(Unclassified and the two newest ones) seem decent, but the older ones (enemy unknown/ufo defense, Terror from the deep, Apocalypse, and Interceptor) have a lot of replay value.(Although Terror from the deep is similar enough to the first one that it may not be worth getting both).  Interceptor is not really turn based however.(And I generally play Apocalypse in real-time mode instead of turn-based mode)

[THierose]

Hi, I personally think these are the best Turn-Based Strategy games on PC:

1. BattleTech  2. Phantom Doctrine  3. XCOM 2: War of the Chosen  4. Corruption 2029  5. Broken Lines

[JanusKane]

For Mobile, my favorite is the Age of Strategy series, there is also a Fantasy and Galaxy edition with different themes and units etc...

It's a free turn based tactical game with persistent rewards and new units and cosmetics to earn through in-game activities. The Multi-player is a little rough wound the edges, but its highly customizable and has years of community  behind it.

There are enough unlockable units that your army is likely different from another players, like a skill tree style progression. I really love it, thought id share the name since I never see it mentioned on forums. I prefer supporting smaller development teams, and this developer has updated through the years faithfully

 

Hope this helps, 

   a fellow kerbal-fan

[JanusKane]

On 10/17/2019 at 4:32 PM, Terwin said:

Came here to recommend the original x-com games.  

The three newer ones(Unclassified and the two newest ones) seem decent, but the older ones (enemy unknown/ufo defense, Terror from the deep, Apocalypse, and Interceptor) have a lot of replay value.(Although Terror from the deep is similar enough to the first one that it may not be worth getting both).  Interceptor is not really turn based however.(And I generally play Apocalypse in real-time mode instead of turn-based mode)

If you haven't played Xcom... oh man, there's a World of Frustrating Joy there to be had

[Nuke]

On 10/11/2019 at 2:24 PM, XB-70A said:

BattleTech (2015) could be interesting, and it's now pretty stable. It's turn-based, but do not expect too many units to manage.

 

Good to Sarna fans, but not so much to "others" (I'm looking at you MWO).

mwo isnt that bad, they just put out a new map a few days ago, and its pretty good. balance is getting really good, some mechs that have long since been power creeped over have become good again. im now up to 380 mechs. there has also been a vr mod for mw5, and thats been really fun. 

been thinking about getting battletech even though i generally dont like turn based games. i wish game stores would take crypto. 

Edited December 18, 2021 by Nuke