Games like xcom but without the fighting

February 19, 2015 4:10 PM

I love playing xcom (both the original and new version), but mainly enjoy the strategy while at the base and globe, and not the fighting. I'm looking for games which have a similar feel without the combat.

Im not opposed to having some sort of combat system, I'd just rather it be a small part of the game, not the main part. I love the research, planning bases, trying to deal with panic and funding, having soldiers to level up, and pretty much everything else other than the battle, which just drags on too long for me. Something that works on Android would be ideal, but I also have access to a Windows laptop. I'm looking forward to hearing your suggestions!

posted by markblasco to Computers & Internet (9 answers total)

I'm not sure if they'd scratch your itch, but I'd check out Rollercoaster Tycoon and/or the Tropico series.
posted by contrarian at 5:39 PM on February 19, 2015

Evil Genius is a bit like that. You send troops off on fully-automated missions. But depending on how you build your base, the fighting can end up coming to you more often than you would like.
posted by Phssthpok at 5:57 PM on February 19, 2015

Anno 2070 (or its earlier version Anno 1404 / Dawn of Discovery) is what I'd call a real-time supply-chain simulator. It's got the logistics-and-optimization aspect down, and the combat is entirely optional. Has a bit of a learning curve, but I've found it worth the effort.
posted by Wulfhere at 6:24 PM on February 19, 2015

It's not yet released, but it sounds like Offworld Trading Company might be up your alley.
posted by wollaston at 7:28 PM on February 19, 2015 [1 favorite]

Yep, came here to recommend Offworld Trading Company!
posted by Drexen at 3:55 AM on February 20, 2015

You might enjoy Civilization: Beyond Earth. Depending on your style of play you can often complete a whole game with a minimum of combat, and you can also choose to automate more or less things as suits you. Same with original flavor Civ, of course, but as someone who always aims for minimal combat in Civ games I found it more rewarding to be non-combat in Beyond Earth than all but the easiest level Civ games. It's also space themed, of course, but there are more differences than that. It's a tighter, more edited game, with some small changes that have large impact to how to most enjoyably play it. There's an interesting "tech web" to research and your soldiers change and level depending on a three-pronged alignment scheme. There's plenty of writing to dig into if you want and strategy to learn in terms of placement and growth in addition to military force. A lot of people disliked it because it wasn't a direct sequel to Alpha Centauri, or because it didn't fix all the problems of Civ V, but treated as its own entity I loved it for a while and see myself occasionally playing a game of it for years.
posted by Mizu at 4:51 AM on February 20, 2015

Also came to recommend Offworld Trading Company - there's a gameplay video here.
posted by EndsOfInvention at 6:45 AM on February 20, 2015

Since you mentioned android, maybe Rebuild? I've only played the flash version, but I seem to remember it had a lot of what you looking for.
posted by aspo at 11:53 PM on February 21, 2015

Rebuild 3 will be out for PC later this month. I backed the KS and the beta version is lots of fun. There's plenty of fighting, but clearing a block of zombies is no different, as Rebuild sees out, from building a farm on that block.
posted by Pope Guilty at 8:06 AM on May 5, 2015