Which is better?

Total War prefer Rome and Rome 2, just.
Age of Empires
Civilisation

Well it's not total war obviously. Who wants that?

The age of the Empire is well and truly over, and although it was very beneficial for England and adjoining states once upon a time, we are paying heavily for it now.

The answer is civilisation.

Europa Universalis.

Depends on which version of each you are looking at.

Civilization (sorry for the american spelling but that's what the game is called) reached its peak with Civ 4 and the various amazing community mods (Caveman2Cosmos is an absolute beast and the Lord of the Rings ones is epic). Whilst Civ 5 and 6 are visually pleasing, the actual gameplay is considerably weaker.

Total War is a similar story. Medieval 2, Empire and the Shogun Total War series have some excellent mods that really elevate the original game (Stainless Steel for Med2, and the Darthmods for Empire and Shogun). Rome 2, Attila and the Warhammer series have much better graphics but the campaign gameplay is a confused mess at times and the mid-late game can get repetitive.

Both Civ and Total War have gone down the paid DLC route which annoys the hell out of me and in the Warhammer series is particularly galling as it unlocks parts of the game that should quite frankly have been in on initial release.

Age of Empires hasn't really updated from its original gameplay and isn't really in depth but can be fun and the campaigns really explore the engine quite well.

In terms of grand strategy I would recommend the Paradox Interactive series of Crusader Kings 2 or Europa Universalis IV although be warned that the paid DLC puts all the others to shame. All the DLC for Europa Universalis costs over £180. A steam sale is your best friend.

Overall, I'd go with:
1) Civ 4 and get into the mods.
2) Crusader Kings 2 with mods
3) Empire: Total War with mods.

Total War Medieval 2 stainless steel with the Bryg Mod is possibly the best game i've ever played tbf

The age of the Empire is well and truly over, and although it was very beneficial for England and adjoining states once upon a time, we are paying heavily for it now.

We wern't the only ones to have had an Empire but the British Empire seems to be more of a stigma than others.

Btw,what did the Romans ever do for us?

I'm still on civ 5 after 7 years or so.


Got 6 and barely played it.

The others are realtime though aren't they so not really comparable?

For me MTW2 was my no.1 go to game for years. And a fan of the TW series. As claretabroad said there's some great mods, SS2 for MTV but also for all the others, the LOTR mods are like who new games in themselves.

Civ, I fell out of love with years ago, so don't have xp playing the latest version, look fun though.

AoE, hav, never played.

But... I'm going for my "secret" fourth choice, others have mentioned Paradox "grand strategy" games,
Crusader King 2, EU4 and Hearts of Iron 4. All bring something different and a crazy depth u like anything seen in TW and even Civ,

CK2 - a game of interigue, murder and wars set in medevil period,
HoI4 - WW2 sim, more like a soup'd up version of a Risk,
EU - a halfway house.

Paradox games are stunning in their depth. CK2 is easily my No.1 game now, you end up saying things like "I need to murder my wife" and "yes... someone's plotting to kill me inbred first born" plus, the mods are just as good for CK2 as TW, the GoT mod is again anotherr game all in its self.

TL/dr if you're new to start games, TW, but if you're a vet an looking for next level, Paradox games.

You want depth?

Try "Gary Grigsby War in the Pacific - Admirals Edition"

Full game can take up to four years to play

I haven't played any of these games properly for about 10 years, but i particularly loved the Civ games.

Civ 5, provided you have all the expansions.

Another vote for Civ 4, a game that I'm always coming back to. You can pick it up for a few quid when it's on Steam sale. The series started going downhill after Civ 4, although Civ 6 certainly seems better than Civ 5.

Civ III is £3 on steam. Buy it. It's barely a pint.
When you've devoured that, buy Civ IV. At the moment it's £15 including expansions. Not even a night out.
Then buy Civ V, which is I don't know how much because it's in my library, but it's probably the cost of a good night out with a kebab at the end. Cheap.