I started playing at 15 years old. I am now 18. There are much more young people than I thought, that's cool 
Age range of Hearts of Iron 4 Players
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49.
Played the first HOI back 2002/3 ( as far as I can remember ). Still think HOI2 was the best of the lot.
Remember playing Civilization on an Amiga 500. It was just... amazing. All my dreams come true. I remember being in awe seeing it on a 386 PC and the coastlines had animated waves. My jaw dropped.
Haha.. gamers don't know they're born these days !
Now heavily into board games ( Civ, Powergrid, TI, TM, Food chain, Nations, blah blah ). Lucky to have a good crew of gamers. Dune the board game is coming next week and I still get excited. At least it shows I'm still alive after all that brain drain. Very much looking forward to the EU board game next september.
Played the first HOI back 2002/3 ( as far as I can remember ). Still think HOI2 was the best of the lot.
Remember playing Civilization on an Amiga 500. It was just... amazing. All my dreams come true. I remember being in awe seeing it on a 386 PC and the coastlines had animated waves. My jaw dropped.
Haha.. gamers don't know they're born these days !
Now heavily into board games ( Civ, Powergrid, TI, TM, Food chain, Nations, blah blah ). Lucky to have a good crew of gamers. Dune the board game is coming next week and I still get excited. At least it shows I'm still alive after all that brain drain. Very much looking forward to the EU board game next september.
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I played everyone one of those games! I loved them all. I also played just about everything SSI put out.
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It is important to remember that Civilization was in the era that, if you didn't give the information the player in the box in some form (be it manual or in-game help), the chances were they were stumped. For a relative complex game such as Civ (especially back in '91) that meant a lot of thought about player education. Fast forward a decade though ... and that absolute imperative no longer exists. Factor in Paradox being a much smaller entity than Microprose - relying on the Paradox Forums to help educate the playerbase may well have been unintentional, but it was an option Sid Meier way back never had.
I'm Only 14 and I started this game only 2 months ago but what I've learned is how important proper division setups are depending on the country you play and the political advisors you use also planes you want to use fighter planes as smaller country just so that you don't have to deal with bombers. I'm not sure if you have played or not but one of my friends taught me how to make division based by terrain. Also when attacking certain countries have certain people who become used to hotter climates so if using middle eastern divisions in winter your going to get high attrition and that will cause you divisions to fight poorly. and if you try to use motorized divisions or cavalry in a jungle setting they will move slower and be less effective.
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30 years old, started playing Age of Empires and Heavy Gear at about age 7 or 8. All of my friends that play Paradox games are in the same rough age range as me, none of the younger people I know gaming play anything more complex than Civ5 or 6.
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I'm 32,almost 33. Have been playing Paradox games since EU1, I was around 13 at the time. Always loved history.
53 Years old. It is awesome your son has shown interest. I only have nephews to corrupt into playing games with me.
I want to thank the OP and all of those who replied. Even though it went a little off topic, reading this thread has been a wonderful trip down memory lane for me. I am going to name drop a ton of games for your enjoyment... I hope it brings back some pleasant or not so pleasant memories.
I think I can speak for most of us in saying our first war game was playing with army men. No judging! It was a war game in my mind. I graduated to Risk around the age of ten since it was a war game my family would play with me. By the time I was 13 they didn't want to play with me any more. LOL!
Risk earned me respect with my HS friends. Diplomacy challenged the strength of those friendships. At 18, I got the first edition of Axis and Allies and a Commodore 64. Remember Strategic Simulations Inc? Colonial Conquest (loved this in a group of players), Battle of the Bulge, Panzer Grenadier, and later Panzer Leader. SSI was prolific in churning out new strategy games back then.
In college I made friends who were into war gaming as much as I was and things escalated quickly. In my freshman year, after trying to make a more complex version of Axis and Allies (it wasn't complex enough) we moved on to Avalon Hill board games. Panzer Leader, The longest Day, Hitler's War, etc. These games, while complex, didn't offer a full strategic simulation of WWII at all. We wanted either a strictly tactical game or strategy on a grand scale. That is when we discovered the best of both worlds. Advanced Squad Leader (by Avalon Hill) and World In Flames (by Australian Design Group). For the next two years, college was secondary, and playing these games around the clock was our primary focus. ASL is still the most complicated game I have ever played. Lucky thing with all of that gaming I still made it into veterinary school (and a year early at that). These two years may have been the most enjoyable gaming experience I ever had. There is no substitute for finding like minded war gaming opponents.
Four years of Vet school. Continued playing ASL and WIF just on weekends with undergraduate friends. It is the early 90s and this is when some good computer war games were being released, Civilization, Populous, Battle Isle... Then my first experience with a real time strategy game and strangely enough on the Sega Genesis... Herzog Zwei. Masters and Monsters was a good turn based strategy game on console as well.
After college I had to steer towards real time games. My new adult friends and nephews didn't have the time/patience to play turn based games with me. Mid 90's and was playing The Settlers, more Civ games (solo), Kohan Ahriman's Gift (most underrated game I ever owned and I still play it), Total Annihilation, Masters of Orion, Knights and Merchants, Age of Empires, Command and Conquer, MOO 2, Starcraft and Warcraft.
In the early 2000's I picked up Hearts of Iron and have never stopped playing some version of it. This scratches my WWII strategy itch.
Notable strategy games in the last 15 years. More Civ and Settlers, Age of Wonders, Sins of a Solar Empire, Banished, Stellaris, Supreme Commander, Dominions, Factorio, Total War Rome and Warhammer, EU, Endless Space, Anno series...
53 and going strong with HOI in its 4th iteration.
I am hoping I do not have to wait much longer to play a strategy game against the WOPR. For you youngsters, that is the computer in the movie Wargames. That movie came out in 1983. That is 36 years ago... And that fact makes me feel old.
I want to thank the OP and all of those who replied. Even though it went a little off topic, reading this thread has been a wonderful trip down memory lane for me. I am going to name drop a ton of games for your enjoyment... I hope it brings back some pleasant or not so pleasant memories.
I think I can speak for most of us in saying our first war game was playing with army men. No judging! It was a war game in my mind. I graduated to Risk around the age of ten since it was a war game my family would play with me. By the time I was 13 they didn't want to play with me any more. LOL!
Risk earned me respect with my HS friends. Diplomacy challenged the strength of those friendships. At 18, I got the first edition of Axis and Allies and a Commodore 64. Remember Strategic Simulations Inc? Colonial Conquest (loved this in a group of players), Battle of the Bulge, Panzer Grenadier, and later Panzer Leader. SSI was prolific in churning out new strategy games back then.
In college I made friends who were into war gaming as much as I was and things escalated quickly. In my freshman year, after trying to make a more complex version of Axis and Allies (it wasn't complex enough) we moved on to Avalon Hill board games. Panzer Leader, The longest Day, Hitler's War, etc. These games, while complex, didn't offer a full strategic simulation of WWII at all. We wanted either a strictly tactical game or strategy on a grand scale. That is when we discovered the best of both worlds. Advanced Squad Leader (by Avalon Hill) and World In Flames (by Australian Design Group). For the next two years, college was secondary, and playing these games around the clock was our primary focus. ASL is still the most complicated game I have ever played. Lucky thing with all of that gaming I still made it into veterinary school (and a year early at that). These two years may have been the most enjoyable gaming experience I ever had. There is no substitute for finding like minded war gaming opponents.
Four years of Vet school. Continued playing ASL and WIF just on weekends with undergraduate friends. It is the early 90s and this is when some good computer war games were being released, Civilization, Populous, Battle Isle... Then my first experience with a real time strategy game and strangely enough on the Sega Genesis... Herzog Zwei. Masters and Monsters was a good turn based strategy game on console as well.
After college I had to steer towards real time games. My new adult friends and nephews didn't have the time/patience to play turn based games with me. Mid 90's and was playing The Settlers, more Civ games (solo), Kohan Ahriman's Gift (most underrated game I ever owned and I still play it), Total Annihilation, Masters of Orion, Knights and Merchants, Age of Empires, Command and Conquer, MOO 2, Starcraft and Warcraft.
In the early 2000's I picked up Hearts of Iron and have never stopped playing some version of it. This scratches my WWII strategy itch.
Notable strategy games in the last 15 years. More Civ and Settlers, Age of Wonders, Sins of a Solar Empire, Banished, Stellaris, Supreme Commander, Dominions, Factorio, Total War Rome and Warhammer, EU, Endless Space, Anno series...
53 and going strong with HOI in its 4th iteration.
I am hoping I do not have to wait much longer to play a strategy game against the WOPR. For you youngsters, that is the computer in the movie Wargames. That movie came out in 1983. That is 36 years ago... And that fact makes me feel old.
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I'm also mainly a board gamer. Not much into video games really but always loved grand strategy and 4x4 strategy, mostly single player as i reserve my gaming time with friends for board games (and sports of course).
I'd like to see a breakdown of sex and race also, not just age.
I'm 42, white-asian mixed, male.
I'd like to see a breakdown of sex and race also, not just age.
I'm 42, white-asian mixed, male.
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Almost the same for me except I tried AH's Blitzkrieg between Tactics II and Third Reich. Just turned 56.
Yeah!!!
Same here
SSI did a great job in strategy games...
Love also the "Anno"-games (building-games), Silent-Hunter-series and "The Elder Scrolls" from Morrowind to Skyrim
61 years old.
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Yeah!!!
Same here
SSI did a great job in strategy games...
Love also the "Anno"-games (building-games), Silent-Hunter-series and "The Elder Scrolls" from Morrowind to Skyrim
61 years old.
I miss SSI. They were so good at packing fun in such a small amount of code.
I have played Silent Hunter, Morrowind to Skyrim, and just tried my hand at one of the Anno games recently. It was on a super sale at GOG games.
Have you ever played M.U.L.E? It was a gem of a game that you could play with another at the same computer. It was one of the few games that my wife would play with me. She still asks about it from time to time.
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Sure!
Funny and very fine game!
I suggest to try Anno 1404 with the DLC "Venice" (Venedig); in my opinion the very best of the Anno-series. Many choices to create your "starting" - world.
( Feature: If you count the "title-numbers" of each Anno ( 1602, 1503,1702, 1404, 2070 or 1800)
you always get the sum of 9 )
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I'm 50, but my son has 2000+ hours in HOI4, and a bunch in EU4, and he's 16. Started with HOI4 at 15. He loves the history, and the complexity. He's not generally a twitch game player. He will play some, but they're not his bread and butter. Paradox games, and/or games that he has to think a bit and plan are his favorites.
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Sure!
Funny and very fine game!
I suggest to try Anno 1404 with the DLC "Venice" (Venedig); in my opinion the very best of the Anno-series. Many choices to create your "starting" - world.
( Feature: If you count the "title-numbers" of each Anno ( 1602, 1503,1702, 1404, 2070 or 1800)
you always get the sum of 9 )
Thanks for the tip. I was playing Anno 1602. I just downloaded the Anno 1404 with Venice DLC and it seems like a major leap above. I am looking forward to playing it.