Top 5 Strategy Games
Written by Andrew Min
Freecol
Homepage: http://freecol.org/
FreeCol is a terrific open-source clone of Sid Meier's turn-based strategy hit, Colonization (heavily based on Civilization). You start in 1492 as the Dutch, the British, the French, or the Spanish, and build up your colony by trading with natives, capturing enemy towns and settlements, and recruiting skilled (and unskilled) laborers. It even includes multiplayer for LAN or TCP/IP games.
You can install FreeCol one of two ways. You could use the official platform independent installer, and run java -jar freecol-0.7.0-installer.jar. Or, you could get the unofficial GetDeb.net Ubuntu package.
FreeCiv
Homepage: http://freeciv.org/
If the one thing you miss about Windows is the lack of Sid Meier's Civilization, FreeCiv is for you. It can be considered an exact clone of both Civilization I and Civilization II (you can even use the exact rules of either). You start in the stone ages as a tribal leader, and build up your empire through diplomacy, wonders, science, and of course warriors. To win, you must either create a space colony or be the last man standing. It includes AI and server-based multiplayer.
To get FreeCiv, install the freeciv-client-gtk package in the universe repositories.
Glest
Homepage: http://www.glest.org/
If turn-based strategy games are too slow for you, give Glest a try. It's a real-time strategy game. And it has the most beautiful graphics I've ever seen (the graphics are better than a lot of commercial games out there). It's based in a fantastical era with battles between humans and mages. On the downside, there are only two civilizations (users can create new ones, but I haven't seen any) and the game doesn't offer the ability to save. Despite these shortcomings, Glest is one of the best RTS games available for Ubuntu.
Glest doesn't officially make Ubuntu packages, but there is an unofficial package at GetDeb.net.
Bos Wars
Homepage: http://www.boswars.org/
Another great RTS, Bos Wars (formerly Battle of Survival) is set sometime in the future and based on the Strategus engine powering Battle for Mandicor, Astroseries, and Warcraft II: Tide of Darkness port Wargus. The story goes that the free world has been almost completely wiped out. In its place is the Elite Empire. You'll need to build laser cannons, tanks, robotic soldiers, and towers and mine magma and power to defeat the Imperial General Szarin. Besides the campaign, it has LAN and direct IP play.
Bos Wars doesn't offer an Ubuntu package. Luckily, GetDeb.net has a Bos Wars package available for download.
Lincity-NG
Homepage: http://lincity-ng.berlios.de/wiki/
Tired of fighting? Greg Sharp was when he created Lincity, a free 2D clone of SimCity. You must manage a city until it reaches sustainable development or is evacuated via spaceship. There is also a scenario, where you take over a city with all sorts of disasters. Unfortunately, the graphics in 1999 (the last major update) aren't the same graphics we're used to in 2007. Therefore, several developers started a fork called Lincity-NG with a new GUI, a 3D engine, and much more.
To install Lincity-NG, just grab the lincity-ng package in the universe repository.
