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OS X Any good strategy games for Mac?
- Thread starter Elektrikz
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Well the new Starcraft came out today so there's that. XCom is coming out some time in the near future.
Obvious ones that come to mind & highly recommended:
AoE 3 + The War Chiefs & Asian Dynasties expansions.
Rome: Total War
Empire: Total War
Napoleon: Total War (announced for circa spring release).
Kindly note, older classic strategy games like AoE 2 & Rise of Nations only work on OS X going up to 10.6 Snow Leopard, due to needing Rosetta.
They won't work on Lion or ML, which no longer have Rosetta support. Sadly, many older Mac-native games have suffered a similar fate.
AoE 3 + The War Chiefs & Asian Dynasties expansions.
Rome: Total War
Empire: Total War
Napoleon: Total War (announced for circa spring release).
Kindly note, older classic strategy games like AoE 2 & Rise of Nations only work on OS X going up to 10.6 Snow Leopard, due to needing Rosetta.
They won't work on Lion or ML, which no longer have Rosetta support. Sadly, many older Mac-native games have suffered a similar fate.
I still like AoE 3 and play it once in a while. I've not seen Starcraft, but will go look it up. Maybe I will get a new game to play! 
I know it's not for Mac (and I wish it was), but Age of Empires II has a new fan made expansion called forgotten empires (http://www.forgottenempires.net)
- 5 new civs
- new units
- harder AI
- 1000 pop limit
- widescreen
- better with Win7
- free download (follow instructions)
From memory. Believe me, the AI will kick your butt. Works on Gameranger too. Would highly recommend if you have Windows laying around.
- 5 new civs
- new units
- harder AI
- 1000 pop limit
- widescreen
- better with Win7
- free download (follow instructions)
From memory. Believe me, the AI will kick your butt. Works on Gameranger too. Would highly recommend if you have Windows laying around.
Try browsing through the strategy categories on sites like macgames.co.uk or macgamestore.com. Pretty much every game that works on Macs are on one of the two sites.
It's the ultimate iRony.
On a current Mac, it's easier to play games written for Windows, DOS, C-64, NES, SNES, GameBoy, GameBoy Advance, GameCube, Wii, Genesis, SMS, Amiga, Amstrad, Atari 2600, Lynx, and arcade machines than it is to play a game written for pre-intel Macs.
An "iRony" not lost on me, not least as I'd built a decent Mac-native games collection at some cost, including a good number of titles that relied on Rosetta support.
Having been left with hundreds of pounds worth of Mac-native games that no longer worked on my new Lion Mac, I decided I'd had enough of Apple in this one respect. So I started looking at a gaming PC. I already had a cheap PC laptop & found Windows 7 to be not bad at all.
Now I find that Windows 8 is at least on a par with Windows 7 for backward-compatibility with gaming, if not even better!
Kindly note, IMO, no good guys or bad guys here, only business. Microsoft rely heavily on generating maximum sales of new editions of Windows, so really can't afford to pi** off too many of their users with hastened obsolescence. That includes gamers. Apple can do, so simply don't care. Neither do I anymore.
I'll always be a Mac guy, but my Mac is now used mostly for serious work & only a few Mac-native games thanks to companies like Feral. But most of my future gaming will be done on PC.
gangsters oh my.
http://www.joystiq.com/2013/01/09/omerta-taking-out-mac-finds-latest-release-dates-in-sights/
this looks promising.
http://www.joystiq.com/2013/01/09/omerta-taking-out-mac-finds-latest-release-dates-in-sights/
this looks promising.
That's where I've gone too, in a way. I'm a Mac nut for life, love OSX for all my computing needs, and I'm an iOS dev to boot.
But gaming? I really dig my XBox, and one of these days, I'll buy Windows 7 or 8 and do some bootcampage.
Personally I feel more in control when playing FPS games when I am using a mouse to guide my sights. Also some other benefits of gaming on PC's is that there are strategy games, and that if you get the higher end setups, they are more powerful than today's gaming consoles. I will stick to my iMac for doing business related tasks, but I would go for a PC for almost any gamer.
Starcraft is the way to go.
I don't play many games and not for much time either but Starcraft is just fantastic.
I've played it constantly since mid 2011 and still not bored. Expansion came out last week and is fantastic.
So balanced, the game is a feat of engineering in it's own right
There is also a very active PRO scene and casters etc and even watching pro games is great fun!
I don't play many games and not for much time either but Starcraft is just fantastic.
I've played it constantly since mid 2011 and still not bored. Expansion came out last week and is fantastic.
So balanced, the game is a feat of engineering in it's own right
There is also a very active PRO scene and casters etc and even watching pro games is great fun!
UPDATE: Run games that are not graphics intensive, 3D, or processor intensive will run in Snow Leopard Server installed into Parallels 8 in Lion or ML:
Snow Leopard Server now reduced 95% at the Apple Store for $19.99 + sales tax & shipping: 1.800.MYAPPLE (1.800.692.7753) - Apple Part Number: MC588Z/A (telephone orders only)
Parallels 8 now reduced 40% in the March 2013 MacUpdate 10 App Bundle still available for 2 days.
[click on image to enlarge]
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Thanks Michael! As you say, it looks a viable solution for some less graphics-intensive PPC games. FWIW, I'd previously caught your more detailed, excellent installation advice about this process in another thread, which I'm linking below. Hopefully, it'll help others who are interested in taking this path:
https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/1365439/
Kindly note, as my Mac came with Lion pre-installed & with some of my PPC games being quite graphically demanding, I was already leaning towards Windows for gaming. In my case, getting a PC (if not using Boot Camp) & rebuying various games in Windows versions was definitely the best solution. But thanks again!
NB: see Michael Lax's clarification below re link: intended for "SL client" not "SL Server".
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Actually the thread you link was my method to install Snow Leopard client into Parallels. Why Snow Leopard client instead of Snow Leopard Server?
Because "in those days" Apple sold Snow Leopard client for $19.99, while Snow Leopard Server was $499+!
Why? Because Parallels comes with instructions to easily install Snow Leopard Server, whereas you will see from my old thread, I have to use a shoehorn (Terminal) to get Parallels to accept Snow Leopard client.
There was a common Urban Myth that the Snow Leopard EULA prohibited the virtualization of Snow Leopard client in Lion or Mt. Lion on a Mac. Apple sat by quietly (and perhaps even with a smile on their face) as its shills propogated that myth, which of course resulted in the increase of sales of Snow Leopard Server.
The thread you link was adopted by others to formulate instructions to install Snow Leopard client into VMWare Fusion (and perhaps VirtualBox, as well). Faced with the fact that there was an ever increasing amount of users that would access Rosetta in Snow Leopard client (consistent with its EULA), Apple finally threw in the towel and dropped the price of Snow Leopard Server by 95%; to the same price as Snow Leopard client - $19.99 + sales tax & shipping.
Now that Apple has decided to help those who need access to Rosetta in Lion or Mt. Lion, by dropping the price of Snow Leopard Server to the same price as client, the easiest approach is to just purchase Snow Leopard Server and install it as per the instructions provided by the virutalization companies, in my case Parallels.
Of course, if there is a Windows version of a game available and easily accessible, another approach is yours: simply obtain a Windows copy of the game and run it in Bootcamp or virtualization, such as Parallels. This would be another approach, and for graphics intensive games, the Windows version in Bootcamp may be the only choice.
Because "in those days" Apple sold Snow Leopard client for $19.99, while Snow Leopard Server was $499+!
Why? Because Parallels comes with instructions to easily install Snow Leopard Server, whereas you will see from my old thread, I have to use a shoehorn (Terminal) to get Parallels to accept Snow Leopard client.
There was a common Urban Myth that the Snow Leopard EULA prohibited the virtualization of Snow Leopard client in Lion or Mt. Lion on a Mac. Apple sat by quietly (and perhaps even with a smile on their face) as its shills propogated that myth, which of course resulted in the increase of sales of Snow Leopard Server.
The thread you link was adopted by others to formulate instructions to install Snow Leopard client into VMWare Fusion (and perhaps VirtualBox, as well). Faced with the fact that there was an ever increasing amount of users that would access Rosetta in Snow Leopard client (consistent with its EULA), Apple finally threw in the towel and dropped the price of Snow Leopard Server by 95%; to the same price as Snow Leopard client - $19.99 + sales tax & shipping.
Now that Apple has decided to help those who need access to Rosetta in Lion or Mt. Lion, by dropping the price of Snow Leopard Server to the same price as client, the easiest approach is to just purchase Snow Leopard Server and install it as per the instructions provided by the virutalization companies, in my case Parallels.
Of course, if there is a Windows version of a game available and easily accessible, another approach is yours: simply obtain a Windows copy of the game and run it in Bootcamp or virtualization, such as Parallels. This would be another approach, and for graphics intensive games, the Windows version in Bootcamp may be the only choice.
Thanks for the detailed clarification, Michael, & please accept my sincere apologies for any confusion caused to others by my linking your excellent SL client thread in my previous post. I should have paid more attention. Regards!
No problem: now that my work in gaining access to Rosetta in Lion/Mt. Lion through the installation of Snow Leopard client into Parallels is largely a footnote in history, it was nice to get a little recognition!
Actually it's MichaelLAX: no space and LAX in all caps.
Before spending an all-nighter of coding, I would go to Los Angeles International Airport (LAX) and park under the runway (55 seconds into this clip)
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Actually it's MichaelLAX: no space and LAX in all caps.
Before spending an all-nighter of coding, I would go to Los Angeles International Airport and park under the runway (55 seconds into this clip)
My apologies again & thanks for the link. Very funny clip! It's the sort of thing I might have done in my youth if in LA... assuming a certain altered state of mind.
Is AoE 3 any good? I used to be a big fan of the 2nd one when I was a kid. I've been out of the RTS game for a minute...
AoE 2 has more civilizations, more strategic leeway, is less linear, with greater historic accuracy & plays over a longer timeframe. Many gamers who've played both prefer AoE 2.
However, IMO, AoE 3 is also VG. I love the latter due to its historical context, which is really from the discovery of America (then, The New WorLd) & quite superb graphics for the time, holding their own to this day.
As stated earlier, the Mac-native version of AoE 2 (ditto Rise of Nations, et al) are incompatible with post-Snow Leopard Macs due to no more Rosetta support, starting with OS X Lion.
Lion updates for AoE 3 are available from Destineer here:
http://destineergames.com/support/?page_id=88
By the by, hard to say how long any of these MacSoft classics will be available to future versions of OS X as I've read that Destineer may be no more.
Rather sad considering that the OS X user base is increasing all the time.
Great Mac Native strategy game
If you liked Fantasy General, Battle Isle, or any of the Turn-based strategy (TBS) games from years gone by, here's a really cool looking update to this neglected genre.
It's a Kickstarter, but they've pretty much finished the game. Backing puts you into Beta testing, which starts in just a few months, game releases by December.
http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/kingartgames/battle-worlds-kronos-turn-based-strategy-revisited
EDIT: I made a new thread for this, but don't know how to delete this post. Sorry for the duplication.
If you liked Fantasy General, Battle Isle, or any of the Turn-based strategy (TBS) games from years gone by, here's a really cool looking update to this neglected genre.
It's a Kickstarter, but they've pretty much finished the game. Backing puts you into Beta testing, which starts in just a few months, game releases by December.
http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/kingartgames/battle-worlds-kronos-turn-based-strategy-revisited
EDIT: I made a new thread for this, but don't know how to delete this post. Sorry for the duplication.
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