The Campaign Builder's Guild

The game is Civ 4.  You spend decades at peace with the Zulu, only to be randomly betrayed.

He sends his finest ships, veteran naval units that have served in many sea combats.  They escort deadly troop transports, bearing the best trained if slightly out dated infantry he has to offer.

In a stunning victory, you repulse these ships at your shores, barely saving yourself from invasion.  You spend some time mopping up escaping ships.

You begin to build up your counter assault.  The Zulu nation is much larger than you, but not well liked in the international community.  You call in the worlds most powerful people, all your friends, to assist in this war.  You ready your nuclear weapons, the single most powerful edge your side has in this war.  You stock your ships with guided missiles and your carriers with your finest fighters.  You train an entire generation for the sole purpose of war, breeding in an intense program of hate and destruction.  You carry these units through precarious waters, fighting several deadly duels at sea before even spotting enemy shores.

But then you get a fateful message; the United Nations has decided the war must come to an end as abruptly and senselessly as it began.  Your allies cease their conflicts (though not without spoils as they were much closer to you), while you and your fleet sit high and dry at the fork in the road -- the path to peace, or the path to war?

Fucking UN.

M.

It's unfortunate that the game tends to go that way... there's always someone randomly declaring war on you. More often than not for me, when I'm playing randomized maps I end up having to declare war on someone else because they won't give me the resources I want. It's best to overwhelm the most violent ones first (Catherine, Genghis Khan, Kublai Khan, Montezuma in that order are usually the worst for me) and work your way down... with a strong advanced tech baseline to fight with.

Kill them all.

So why not do what everyone does in the real world, ignore the UN's impotent rantings and start a war anyway?

Quote from: sparkletwistSo why not do what everyone does in the real world, ignore the UN's impotent rantings and start a war anyway?

Amen.

Plus you have justification, they hit you first. It was not a preemptive war, its a war of retribution. To war I say, to WAR!

Play Alpha Centauri.

It's Civ 3 with aliens and no UN.

That's not quite true; the UN is a weak, ineffective faction that emulates real life perfectly if the UN had to get up and actually run a country.

Quote from: limetomPlay Alpha Centauri.

It's Civ 3 with aliens and no UN.

Technically there is a UN... But whose counting that useless coalition? :)

I always play Chang or Zarkov, love me some dictatorships focusing on science and defense. :D

Quote from: limetomPlay Alpha Centauri.

It's Civ 3 with aliens and no UN.

While I like AC's unit customization bit (a lot), it's not one of my favorites.

M.

Quote from: Cheomesh

Quote from: limetomPlay Alpha Centauri.

It's Civ 3 with aliens and no UN.

While I like AC's unit customization bit (a lot), it's not one of my favorites.

M.

Really? I've played a ton of 4X turn-based strategy games and none hold a candle to Alpha Centauri. :)

AC has a very...unsettling atmosphere I find it hard to get along with.  It also takes a very anti-human stance, I feel.

M.

Only if you play the Gaians (PC hippie BS) or the Hive (evil dictatorship). The others, like the Peacekeepers are very pro-humans. Hell even the Miriam's religious Zealotry is pro-human (or at least pro-Christian humans).

I'd love to see the unit customization thing crop up in Civ5.  

M.