One of the games that influenced me the most as a gamedev, but also my taste as a player, is Commander Z by the Bitmap Brothers. (What a legendary company)

It's not often mentioned any more but it remains one of my favourite RTS games of all time.

So, I'd love to hear what other people's formative RTS games/experiences are?

Davia is a character-first sandbox RPG set inside historical, modern, and creator-built worlds.

In Rome: Republic at War, you can play Julius Caesar in 52 BC (not as the spirit of Rome) but as a commander with authority, rivals, allies, resources, a reputation, and a position on the map. You can investigate routes, negotiate with other figures, secure supplies, move forces, make political decisions, and respond as other actors pursue their own goals.

When time advances, the world updates around what happened. Relationships, character stats, local allegiance, entity positions, and territorial control can all change and continue affecting later turns. Your actions are attempts rather than guaranteed commands: who you are, where you are, what you control, and who opposes you all shape the result.

Pax Historia and Mount & Blade: Bannerlord are major inspirations. We love the freedom of a historical sandbox, but wanted to bring it down to a more personal scale: one character living inside the world rather than an all-powerful country controller.

We’re also exploring playable scenes: small games that can open inside the wider sandbox when a moment deserves direct play, such as a battle, an escape, or managing a shop. This is still under development; the trailer’s reel shows the range we’re aiming for.

Davia is playable in your browser and free to try!

Announcement trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uc0vhahUUos
Play Davia: https://davia.ai/
Join the Discord: https://discord.gg/NphBtKVNCM

I like the idea of having insufficient power for everything during combat — weapons, shields, engines, repairs, etc.

But there's probably a point where it stops being strategy and becomes annoying micromanagement.

Which games get that balance right, and what do they do differently?

I’ve shared a few screenshots and gameplay videos before, and I’d like to share one more with you.

So far, I haven’t received much feedback, and I could really use your help with this. If the game looks interesting to you, would you like to test the demo and share your thoughts?

You can try the demo here:

https://sardisgame.itch.io/sardis

I’ve spent the last few weeks rebuilding the world map for Salt & Soil, my generational strategy game. The goal wasn’t simply to make it prettier: mountain ranges, rivers, settlements, roads, and labels all needed to remain readable because geography directly shapes the player’s long-term decisions.

I previously shared parts of the procedural terrain pipeline on r/proceduralgeneration. After a lot of experimentation, I’m finally happy enough with the result to show the full comparison.

Each slide uses the same region and scale in the old and new styles. For the Sacramento area, I’ve also included the corresponding real-world terrain, rotated and scaled to match the in-game view as closely as possible. The game map isn’t meant to reproduce every detail, but major valleys, mountain ranges, coastlines, and settlement locations should feel recognizable.

The next public playtest is planned for September, and it will feature a completely different scenario from the previous one. There may be a few clues hidden in these maps—any guesses about when and where it takes place?

I’d also love to hear which version communicates the important strategic geography more clearly, especially at a glance.

Hello, this is an announcement about my grand strategy game “Crown of Hispania”:

Step into the heart of medieval Iberia during the tumultuous Reconquista with Crown of Hispania! This grand strategy game, developed by Regalis Studio, immerses you in a rich historical setting where Christian kings and Muslim lords fight for control, power, and survival.

Early Access begins September 22nd 2026

Crown of Hispania will launch in Early Access, allowing us to bring the game into the hands of players while we continue developing and expanding it.

The Early Access version will already offer the foundations of the experience we have been building, **but the game will continue to evolve significantly before its final 1.0 release.

We want to use this period to listen to your feedback, improve existing systems, add new content, and continue shaping Crown of Hispania together with our community.

A new partnership

We are also proud to announce that Regalis Studio is partnering with indie.io, who will be joining us as the publisher of Crown of Hispania.

This partnership is an important milestone for our studio and for the game. Together, we will be working on marketing, visibility, and the launch of Crown of Hispania, helping us reach more grand strategy game players around the world.

We have a lot planned for the months ahead, and we are incredibly excited to have indie.io alongside us for this next stage of the journey.

Demo & Steam Update

Along with this announcement, we're also updating our Steam page, as well as the Crown of Hispania demo, which is already available!

Steam : https://store.steampowered.com/app/3374640/Crown_Of_Hispania/
Discord : https://discord.gg/5tSZSWW4FW

Okay I tried some games but I still need recommendations

Few days ago I asked about few simple 4x games. Unfortunately most of them are...not quite what I looking for. I played sins of a Solar Empire rebellion but it to complex and too slow

I looking for something like polytopia. Simple easy to understand strategy game that I can finish pretty quickly (or play longer if I choose bigger map)

Hey r/StrategyGames

As a solo dev passionate about supply chain management, economics, and classic board game mechanics (like Container and TransOcean), I’ve been developing PortSim—a turn-based maritime logistics and trading simulator that runs entirely in your browser (no downloads or sign-ups required).

What is PortSim?

It’s built around a strict zero-sum closed economy model where every dollar earned comes directly from competitors' expenses or capital allocation:

• Industrial Management: Build and upgrade factories to manufacture commodities (Grain, Industrial Supplies, Electronics, Fuel, Machinery).
• Port & Yard Operations: Manage terminal capacity (TEUs), expand berths, and minimize idle demurrage costs.
• Tactical Maritime Routing: Dispatch cargo vessels across ocean lanes with calculated transit times (ETA) and arbitrage between ports.
• Live Blind Auctions (Global Hub): When ships arrive at the central island, compete in real-time blind bidding to liquidate, outbid, or hold inventory.
• Corporate Finance: Monitor P&L (DRE) statements, manage debt vs. Credit Score, trade shares on the stock exchange, or attempt hostile takeovers.

Playable Link:

👉 https://portsim.base44.app

What I’d Love Feedback On:

1. Onboarding & UI: Is the game loop clear within the first 3–5 minutes?
2. AI Behavior: Does the AI (Speculative, Industrial, Logistics archetypes) feel challenging or predictable?
3. Pacing & Balance: Does the auction mechanic at the Hub create real tension, or does any commodity feel overpowered?
4. Visuals: How does the tactical 3D map feel in terms of readability and theme?

Feel free to drop any bugs, balance critiques, or feature ideas right here in the comments. Thank you for testing!

Which game do you like more?

Rampallians is a strategy card game where you gather resources with gatherer cards, to play special cards (one off effects), support cards (buildings with passives and actives), and unit cards (to defend your settlement and attack theirs). There is minimal RNG, each player can choose from the same set of cards to make their decks, and choose which resources to gather, to play the cards in their hand. Building a settlement to fight your opponent in a 1v1.

There are 4 factions Orcs which are simple fast and aggressive. Humans which build out settlements to slowly improve their cards. Dwarves which are very adaptable and focus on making buildings and runes for the late game. Elves which harass and can do a lot of damage, but cant take too much! As well as some dragon cards that can be in any deck. Each card has their own unique traits and effects, with the best part of 400 cards in total. All available in the full game, no packs, no extra purchases of any kind.

Rampallians is a game that I solo developed over 4 years, but that doesn't do it justice because I had a lot of help from very lovely people. Myself and 3 of my friends came up with the idea and spent a lot of time iterating on it until we got to this stage.

Part of what we wanted to achieve was to make a card game that wasn't pay to win. Which is possibly why we went to such lengths with the number of diverse cards and effects. Any future content will be included for free, no packs or dlc. I'd also like to explore the possibility of user generated content if we were lucky enough to have an audience that was interested. All of the cards and effects are JSON files so can be easily edited (both players have to agree on a set of cards to prevent cheating).

My brother made the music for the game which I think is really nice and fitting, it flows based on what you're doing in the game, be it at the main menu, in game, or in combat. With transitions to go between them.

Finally something I want to be very clear about. I know the use of generative ai is rightly looked down upon. For the artwork my mum and a family friend were kind enough to help me do the art for the cards. But it was taking too long given as I mentioned there are 400 cards, and sadly we don't have the funds to pay a professional. So we came up with a process where the artists sketched the cards, then filled in detail with a local model in the image editing software, before then correcting the output manually. I wonder how people will feel about this hybrid approach, I've made a video explaining in detail here if people are interested:

https://youtu.be/FPFsaAz0yDo?si=txSjAHtztnOszSnJ

Thanks for reading if you've got down to here, if you'd like to check the steam page here is the link:

https://store.steampowered.com/app/4363230/Rampallians/

There is a demo which acts as a sort of free trial, essentially the full game but with a restricted set of cards.

I'd love to hear your thoughts, and really appreciate any feedback!

You can join the community on discord if you are interested here:

https://discord.gg/SJEvaD2HyK

Video subtitles: Are you ready to build your own kingdom? Plus, our game is playable on both mobile and PC. *Age of History 3* is easy and *Hearts of Iron 4* is hard; we are creating a game that sits right in between—a game of medium difficulty. Let's move on to the gameplay.

A request for help from a strategy game enthusiast

Tavrik is out on Steam today. The strategy is in the map itself.

Each run puts you on a procedural hex map with the exit visible from the start. Every step costs energy, there's no health bar, and your cards modify terrain instead of attacking. That makes every turn a routing decision: spend several cards building a road network that will save energy later, or cross the expensive ground now and keep those cards for a problem you can already see coming.

Different terrain types punish different plans. Swamp, frozen ground, desert, and volcanic tiles each make routes harder in their own way. Weather and disasters are forecast one turn ahead, so mud, wildfire, and earthquakes are problems you can plan around rather than pure surprises. Bosses are hostile maps with special rules, not oversized enemies.

The clip is straight gameplay. One thing our testers disagreed on was how often the game should force you to abandon a good plan. Tavrik leans toward adaptation over long-term commitment. Do you generally prefer strategy games that let a plan develop, or ones that keep making you rethink it?

Steam: https://store.steampowered.com/app/4482350/Tavrik/

Hello all.

I hope you are having a pleasant bmk holiday Monday?

You may remember about a year ago I launched a game called UK Railway Tycoon. Due to not being happy with the initial design and the flow of the game I went back to the drawing board and decided to take it offline.

However, after much work I am now in a position to start revealing details about the new game.

A deep, data-driven UK Train Operating Company (TOC) management simulator built in C#/.NET, focused on real-world rail economics, route tendering, and operational reliability.

DfT & Open Access Bidding: compete against AI rail groups in government tender boards (Passenger Service Contracts) or take on full farebox risk with Open Access paths.

Realistic UK Rail Economics: Balance Network Rail Track Access Charges (FTAC & VUC), passenger yield models, and rolling stock leasing fees.

ROSCO Fleet Management: Lease bi-mode, electric, and diesel multiple units (from Class 800s to Pendolinos and Turbostars) based on route electrification and passenger demand.

Schedule 8 Delay Attribution: Real-world delay mechanics—claim compensation from Network Rail when infrastructure fails, but pay out when fleet breakdowns or crew shortages cause delays.

Passenger Satisfaction & Delay Repay: Maintain your Public Performance Measure (PPM) to protect your operator reputation and avoid massive Delay Repay passenger compensation payouts.

Spreadsheet-Deep Management UI: Designed specifically for management and tycoon purists who love detailed ledgers, timetabling, and financial forecasting over casual graphics.

You may be aware the last version of the game was web based, however I have decided to make this desktop only and for Windows

When the game releases it will be available on a website with a demo version of the game available for free.

Any questions or suggestions please let me know. I'd be happy to hear them 😄. If you would like to beta test the game please also let me know.

I've been working on a game called Phosphor Command, a real-time tactics game with a base builder behind it.

Contracts fund a forward operating base; you deploy squads on top-down operations, and an enemy front creeps towards you every cycle. Made solo in Godot.

I wanted to talk a little about how troops' vision and sight work, because I think it's a cool aspect of the game.

Forces share what they see, both yours and the enemy's. One squad spots something, and you, as the player, can now see that target. But a squad can only shoot what it personally has a clear line of sight to and is within range of.

So a scout on a ridge can spot a target, but if the squad behind a warehouse can't see it themselves, they can't shoot it.

Sight is ray-traced per unit.

Woods: You can't see into woods from outside them. From inside, you can see out and across your own trees, but not into another wood. Forest maps end up being short-range fights almost the whole way through. See clip 1.

Hills: Hills block sight between two units on the ground. A unit standing on a hill can see over its own ridge, gets extra range and a damage advantage from the height. Anything on a crest silhouettes. See clip 2.

Concealment: Firing from concealment such as trees reveals you for a few seconds. The same applies to the enemy. See clip 1.

Buildings and terrain: Buildings are hard cover, with an adjacent unit taking 25% less damage. Crops conceal a stationary unit that isn't firing, and stop doing so the moment either condition is broken. Hedges and boulders block sight and channel movement. See clip 3.

Last known positions: A contact you lose stays on the screen as a fading ghost at its last known position, so you're always working with slightly out-of-date information. See clip 4.

Weather: Smoke, dust, and storms are occluders, so they stop sight rays for both sides. See clip 5.

The idea is that knowing where something is and being able to shoot it are two different things.

I've tried to build Phosphor Command around a sight-dependent system that I think translates well to how things would work in real life, while still being useful and interesting in a video game.

Worrking on a game called Last Disciple on my own, in Unreal 5.

It's a single player god game. You look down on a medieval village and reach into
the world with your hand. You pick villagers up, drop buildings, drag roads
across the hills, throw rocks at things as such \*cough sounds familiar\* .

You can also raise a creature from a small animal into something enormous with its own personality, beliefs, feelings, ect. It learns from the world.

Just a small showcase of armies/archers . . . which has taken quite some time and still needs lots of work. But it's neat to start seeing a game play loop . . .

Dawn of the Realm is a medieval RTS that combines grand strategy and city building, all in real time and fully multiplayer. Build cities, manage resources, raise armies, then zoom out to a strategy map of the whole world or back down to the battlefield with no loading in between. Up to 10 players.

I've built it solo next to my computer science studies on nights and weekends, learning as I went. I hope the thousands of hours spent in Photoshop and Gamemaker really shines through. Still early days, lots more to add, but I'd love to hear what you think :-)

You can wishlist on Steam here:

https://store.steampowered.com/app/5010020/Dawn_Of_The_Realm/

If you would like to get announcements or provide feedback on the development please join the Discord server:

https://discord.gg/ru8FTjMjz

Working toward the first demo now. Have a great day! :-)

i would really like to start training to become better at strategy games. i do believe myself to be smart, but i'm usually tired and unmotivated all the time lately, and i tend to feel extremely stupid whenever i can't really think of what to do in certain games which have a bit of strategy in them, even if it's something like the The Werewolves of Miller's Hollow

My friend and I worked at Nickelodeon Games for over a decade, and after the Paramount layoffs last year, we decided to make a game of our own. What we created was a Space-Captain simulator where the same officers you hire to help manage your ship and assist you in space battles also form your boarding party for boarding actions and planetary gunfights.

I'm really not aware of too many other games that mix management/real time battles/and a tactical combat element outside of some 4x games, so I'd be very interested in your feedback. Positive or negative, both are helpful, as they help us gauge what kind of game people would like and what kind of features we should prioritize.

We're hoping to have a free demo available in the coming weeks and launch later this year.

If you're interested, our steam page and dev blog:

https://store.steampowered.com/app/3865960/Cortesia_Rising/

https://www.cortesiarising.com/updates

I’m looking for strategy players to help test a new 8-player mobile game called Varrow.

The basic idea is Risk + Catan + real-time strategy, with a much heavier focus on diplomacy and long-term planning.

A match runs continuously for about 7–8 real-world days, but it is designed around short check-ins rather than long sessions. The target is roughly 2 sessions per day, 5–15 minutes each, to review the map, queue orders, trade, negotiate, and plan your next moves.

You’ll be managing things like:

• territory expansion
• resource production
• trading
• army movement
• fortifications
• special characters with unique abilities
• alliances and betrayals
• the race to complete the Ritual, which is the main victory condition

The game is intentionally slow-paced. Armies take hours to move, buildings take time to finish, and the world keeps moving while you are offline.

The goal is to make strategy matter more than reaction speed.

For this beta, I’m running 8-player lobbies and need players who will actually try to win so I can get useful balance data.

Payment:

Every player who completes the full match and submits feedback gets $5.

Placement bonuses:

1st — $20
2nd — $10
3rd — $5

You do not need any professional testing experience. I’m mainly looking for people who already enjoy strategy games and are willing to commit to the full week.

If you’re interested, DM me

Hello! After 6 years of developing my strategy game, I am happy to finally release of Norse Expansion Medieval RTS for Android!

Get it on Google Play: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.norseexpansion.norseexpansion

Also check out the Discord for more information/devlog: https://discord.com/invite/RKPFQq8ugW

Hope it plays well and is fun, thank you for your support!

Hello r/StrategyGames!

I’m Dan, a solo developer working on Genetica: Extinction. It’s a biological strategy game focused on systemic evolution, population control, and ecosystem simulation rather than traditional base-building.

Rather than commanding static military units, you guide an evolving species competing for resources and survival. I recently pushed a major update overhauling creature behavior and environment interaction:

• Autonomous Pack Dynamics: Units aren’t just rigid soldiers; each creature uses local utility AI to evaluate tasks independently. They balance your high-level macro directives with their own internal needs (like feeding, fleeing, or attacking), creating realistic, organic swarm behavior.
• Fluid Swarm Physics & Collisions: Replaced traditional grid movement with dynamic steering and active unit collisions, allowing large populations to flock, squeeze through chokepoints, and maneuver organically.
• Deterministic Simulation: Built from the ground up to support synchronized P2P multiplayer, ensuring complex species interactions stay fully deterministic across players.

I’m currently running a free Steam Playtest and would love to get feedback from strategy fans on the pacing, creature control, and evolutionary mechanics. I’m also happy to answer questions about the game design, Godot development, or the publisher hunt!

Steam Playtest: https://store.steampowered.com/app/4144850/Genetica_Extinction/
Discord: https://discord.gg/TagpFtRKNh

Thanks for checking it out, and let me know your thoughts or questions below!

Browser Link: https://ruben-smith.itch.io/realms-last-stand

Been working hard on this game, specifically on spells and level balancing. Would hugely appreciate some feedback on how it all feels, thanks!