Survival /Colony Management Games

[Melodic Death]

I find myself really engrossed with this game combination as of late. My favorite part in a 4x game has always been colony management aspect. Throwing in survival with it makes it so much better, especially if there is a REAL challenge and has permadeath options. I've been playing 'Don't Starve' and 'Rimworld' latley, which you actually construct and manage your base, and the survival aspects are a REAL challenge. They constantly throw enemies your way, plus trying to keep all your needs met can be a tough challenge. You could throw in Prison Architect too, but I never feel threatend by anything. I played the demo of 'Factorio' and it looks like it has all those elements except for personal needs.

Thea: The Awakening is a good 4x game that has these elements, but the "city building" aspect isn't there, but it has good colony management. 'Banished' is a great city builder with survival aspects, but there are no enemies to give it that extra challenge.

I'm curious to know how many of you guys like this combo, and what is your favorite game with these elements? I'm also looking for other game with those survival aspects as well, such as enemies and personal needs, plus a good city building/colony management element too.

[Drexciyian]

O and a friend of mine who played lots of RW plays a ton of Factorio now which i think is similar

[Mansen]

Първоначално публикувано от Drexciyian:

You should check out Evil Genius quite old now but still looks great due the the art style

Evil Genius had such a great atmosphere and theme. Just sad that several mechanics didn't really work properly. Traps while a novel idea were utterly useless, and downright counter productive. I strongly suggest looking into mods if you want this, as well as the bonus henchman patch.

Other worthy mentions include...

Startopia
You are the lucky newly appointed administrator of a decrepit space station in orbit of a black hole. Your task is to turn this orbiting piece of space junk into a productive and attractive space station, including basic "motel" services, casino and entertainment to even an industrial production. The campaign is a great experience if only for your sarcastic AI companion's dialogue.

Tropico
I doubt I need to explain Tropico in detail. You are El Presidente - The cartoon version of a Fidel Castro like character. Rule your Banana Republic island with a silk or iron fist - But beware of those pesky rebels, as well as interference from the major powers abroad. City builder meets management sim.

[Vuyek]

Evil Genius is one of the most horrible games I have played. Slow paced, horrible.
Of course just my opinion.
Tropico 1 is one of the best games I have ever played, any genre. Again, my opinion.

Edit: Wow, a Startopia refernce. A game made by geniuses FOR geniuses :D
Aruna here, have I got a deal for you, I am practically cutting me own throat with this price :D

[Wizzle]

I could never really get into the survival or management games. I don't think that just survival or management are enough to build an entire game around. That being said there have been that I've liked such as Don't Starve and Roller Coaster Tycoon and the upcoming Aven Colony and Oxygen Not Included look promising. Each of these games have had something extra that has kept them interesting. Don't Starve and Oxygen Not Included have tons of charm in their art styles and dialog. Roller Coaster Tycoon had the builder aspect with the roller coasters. Aven Colony has the interesting setting.

I feel it's better to have survival and management elements in other genres rather than building entire games around just those elements. The hardcore mode in Fallout New Vegas is a prefect example of using survival elements in a different genre. Or if you want a 4x example look at Thea or to a much lesser extent Sorcerer King.

[Shanni]

Did you ever try UFO: Afterlight? It has base building, a RPG Style Character level system, you do terraform the Mars.. heck you can even mod your weapons.

And they did an awesome job with the combat system. I really don't like real time combat but how they realized that in this game I can live with it, I even enjoy it! All they did they added a slow mo mode with auto pause on certain events you can configure by yourself and this just works perfectly.

There are even a few mods out there that enhance the gameplay.

The graphics looks still great when you apply the widescreen mod patch.

Give it a try! :)

[cadfan17]

For what it's worth, I don't really think of Rimworld as a survival game. I think of it as a very granular city builder under extremely adverse conditions. Maybe it could be called a village builder. On an alien hell scale.

[MizzouRah]

I watched Arumba's LP of Aven Colony and preordered it today.. looks fun!

I see DD has it already.. post some thoughts when you have time!

[Melodic Death]

Първоначално публикувано от MizzouRah:

I watched Arumba's LP of Aven Colony and preordered it today.. looks fun!

I see DD has it already.. post some thoughts when you have time!

I'll keep an eye on that, looks like a moden Space Colony. Looks good, thanks.

[Nasarog]

Have you been following our (made by Tragic) ongoing Anno 2205 series, or the recently ended Aven Colony one?

[marlowe221]

Northgard has some of this going on.

[Tragic]

Someone posted this in another thread.. it is exactly what you are looking for maybe.... It is a city builder that main focus is on servival. It is set after the world freezes and you need to expand your city while keeping everyone fed and warm with limited resources. Every single sim is represented with a named model. So if you have 100 population you have 100 nanmed sims... all with needs.. so kinda like Startopia or Tropico as well.

http://store.steampowered.com/app/323190/Frostpunk/

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OeIPD_81P00

Първоначално публикувано от marlowe221:

Northgard has some of this going on.

I have been looking at this one on and off and it looks much more like a Warcraft style RTS to me.. just one with more advanced buildings.. maybe Age of Empires.. but this is really a RTS game. Or so it seams.

[marlowe221]

Първоначално публикувано от Tragic:

I have been looking at this one on and off and it looks much more like a Warcraft style RTS to me.. just one with more advanced buildings.. maybe Age of Empires.. but this is really a RTS game. Or so it seams.

It's definitely more Age of Empires than Warcraft.

There are parts of it that remind me of the Settlers series too.

[Mansen]

Yeah I'd call it a mix of Settlers and Age of Empires.

[Nasarog]

Here's some Frostpunk action - ---WeX #189-----

https://explorminate.net/2018/06/18/monday-excursion-frostpunk/

[Vuyek]

Първоначално публикувано от Mansen:

Първоначално публикувано от Drexciyian:

Startopia
You are the lucky newly appointed administrator of a decrepit space station in orbit of a black hole. Your task is to turn this orbiting piece of space junk into a productive and attractive space station, including basic "motel" services, casino and entertainment to even an industrial production. The campaign is a great experience if only for your sarcastic AI companion's dialogue.

Tropico
I doubt I need to explain Tropico in detail. You are El Presidente - The cartoon version of a Fidel Castro like character. Rule your Banana Republic island with a silk or iron fist - But beware of those pesky rebels, as well as interference from the major powers abroad. City builder meets management sim.

Listen to this man, he is a genius (meaning I agree with what he writes).

Startopia is still VERY playable and fun (and inexpensive, and is on Steam).
Original Tropico is still the best, the later versions are waaay too easy.


PS
Evil genius sucked, that is also true.