Help me conquer the world and still get a good nights sleep

August 22, 2019 6:04 PM

I love strategy games like Civ, but the downside is that they take a lot of time to play, and all the "just one more turn"s add up quickly. Does anyone know of any fun similar games that can be played in a single sitting?
posted by nalyd to Sports, Hobbies, & Recreation (14 answers total)

Old-school Age of Empires fits the bill, if you are okay with a very primitive game experience. Dune 2000 is similar.
posted by juniperesque at 6:07 PM on August 22, 2019

I really like Islanders for this.
posted by theodolite at 6:10 PM on August 22, 2019

Civ Revolution for the DS was a pretty quick game.
posted by any portmanteau in a storm at 6:32 PM on August 22, 2019

The Battle of Polytopia! On android or iOS, coming soon to Steam.
posted by medusa at 6:39 PM on August 22, 2019 [10 favorites]

Came here to suggest Polytopia as well.
posted by lhauser at 6:48 PM on August 22, 2019 [2 favorites]

These aren't turn-based strategy games like Civ but they might scratch a strategic itch in less time. Town of Salem is a Mafia type game where players have hidden roles and you need to guess who is who. There are a LOT of potential roles, each with different objectives, so it becomes complicated fast.
Pandemic is my favorite board game ever, and there is a lovely single-player app version of it that I've wasted a lot of time on.
posted by selfmedicating at 7:29 PM on August 22, 2019 [1 favorite]

Blood Bowl!

Play it on campaign mode, or online with your mates! It cured me of my Civ addiction as surely as a good hafling apothecary cures a nasty case of nurgle rot! HAHAHAHA!
posted by vrakatar at 9:04 PM on August 22, 2019

They are Billions. A bit more RTS than turn-based, but the ability to pause it can make it more turn-based-ish when necessary. And it's one of the best games I've played in years.

Ignore the campaign and just play the 'Survival' game.
posted by Hatashran at 9:45 PM on August 22, 2019

You can customise the game options in Civ to allow for accelerated history and smaller maps, which means much shorter games.
posted by parm at 4:16 AM on August 23, 2019

Rise of Nations isn't turn based but was designed by the original designer of Civ II and Alpha Centauri. There's a fairly recent remaster on Steam.
posted by octothorpe at 4:34 AM on August 23, 2019 [1 favorite]

Into the Breach, is a bit different but will scratch the itch in bite sized chunks.
posted by so fucking future at 7:25 AM on August 23, 2019 [1 favorite]

I've been playing Wargroove. which is broken into shorter levels, so is easy to put down at various points.
posted by Ragged Richard at 7:53 AM on August 23, 2019

Seconding Pandemic.
posted by metasarah at 8:33 AM on August 23, 2019

Response by poster: Thanks Everyone! Pandemic is great, and I look forward to trying the others!
posted by nalyd at 4:52 PM on August 23, 2019