作者：Konstantinos Dimopoulos

无论是对玩家还是对开发者而言，策略游戏虽然是要求最高的一类游戏，但也是独立开发领域最擅长、玩家最喜爱的类型之一。另外，2012年确实是让策略游戏玩家欢天喜地的一年，因为涌现了10款令人印象深刻的策略游戏。

以下是我们精挑细选的2012年度策略游戏十佳，涵盖了从RTS到回合制再到塔防等亚类型，有些甚至是免费的。

1、《FTL: Faster Than Light》（Subset Games）[Windows、Mac和Linux，付费]

ftl(from indiegames)

《FTL: Faster Than Light》是一款自上而下、即时策略游戏。在游戏中，玩家要操控一只太空飞船的工作人员，使飞船顺利摆脱敌人的追赶。这款硬核游戏对玩家的策略和技巧有很高要求。在游戏中，玩家会看到太空海盗、银河大战、超新星、迷幻的星云……让人目不暇接。

这款游戏难度极高，对某些玩家来说甚至玩不下去。但它确实具有一些最优秀的战斗机制和最引人入胜的太空模拟体验。

2、《Defender’s Quest》（Level Up Labs）[Windows、Mac和Linux，付费]

defenders quest(from indiegames)

《Defender’s Quest》显然是一款复古的塔防、RPG、冒险元素混搭的游戏。用心的开发者不断在这款已经相当优秀的游戏中添加内容。更令人吃惊的是，《Defender’s Quest》不仅革新了塔防游戏，还充分融合了RPG的精华，更结合了精彩的剧情。

3、《Awesomenauts》（Ronimo Games）[Windows、Mac、Xbox Live Arcade和PSN，付费]

Awesomenauts(from indiegames)

《英雄联盟》和《DOTA》始终是比较复杂的游戏，但如果你仍然希望体验一下多人竞技游戏的精粹，《Awesomenauts》绝对是你的不二选择。这款2D卷轴MOBA（多人竞技游戏）给玩家带来新鲜又刺激的体验，即使缺乏单人游戏元素，《Awesomenauts》的多人模式也不亚于其他独立即时策略游戏。

4、《War of the Human Tanks》（Fruitbat Factory）[Windows，付费]

war of the human tanks(from indiegames)

《War of the Human Tanks》绝对应该在我们的游戏命名排行榜上占据头名，但可惜我们没有这种排行榜。尽管如此，我们仍建议读者不要错过这款策略/视觉小说的混合版游戏，领略一下它的类人武器风采和简单但耐玩的RTS机制。这款游戏包含30张以上的策略挑战地图，并且允许玩家使用从战斗中得到的资源来购买新的技能和升级道具。

5、《Reprisal》（reprisaluniverse）[Windows、Mac和Linux，付费]

reprisal(from indiegames)

《Reprisal》是以《Populous》为蓝本的游戏；《Populous》的各方面都相当出色，而《Reprisal》可以说是进一步改良后的《Populous》，可爱的画面，悦耳的音乐，时尚的界面和各种小玩意，使这个虚拟世界充满乐趣。玩家在游戏中扮演着上帝似的角色，施展神力移山倒海或翻云覆雨，带领部落的子民走向繁荣，并且消灭所有反对神的敌人。

《Reprisal》有网页免费版，但商业桌面版提供更多音乐、地图，并且不带广告。

6、《Towns》（SMP） [Windows和Mac，付费]

Towns(from indiegames)

《Towns》可以称得上是一款以城市建设/管理为主、以RPG的部分精华元素为辅的游戏。作为小镇的管理和建设者，你必须从事种植、采集、挖矿、建房等。尽管上述功能还没完全实现，游戏也还没成熟，但前途是光明的，你不必花数个月的时间研究教程就可以得到相当于《Dwarf Fortress》的游戏体验。

此外，游戏的手艺功能很不错，工具和任务种类都非常丰富。游戏的经济系统也值得称赞，有望成为真正的独立游戏中的经典设计。

7、《Linux Tycoon》（Bryan Lunduke）[Windows、Mac和Linux，免费]

linux tycoon(from indiegames)

迄今为止，《Linux Tycoon》是第一款公认的模拟创建Linux发行版的游戏，所以当然应该出现在我们的榜单上。另外，它确实是一款优秀又清新的小说游戏，甚至明智地选择了免费模式。即使你不明白自己在做什么，你也可以感受到将Linux系统推广与游戏相结合的乐趣。在游戏中，玩家要做的就是分析和挑选软件包、修复漏洞（不是你的电脑上的漏洞）、管理职员、控制发行版本的总大小等。

8、《Fieldrunners 2》（Subatomic Studios）[iOS，付费]

fieldrunners 2(from indiegames)

《Fieldrunners 2》显然是2012年最佳塔防iOS游戏，一定会吸引你不断返回游戏。除了可爱的画面和许多精巧的设计，游戏还有25道关卡，大量有趣的武器供选择、不同类型的敌人和独具巧思的设计概念如益智题、突然死亡和多层地图等。但最吸引人的是逼真的敌人行为。

9、《Gratuitous Tank Battles》（Positech Games）[Windows, 付费]

Gratuitous Tank Battles(from indiegames)

这款游戏被称作Positech的代表作《Gratuitous Space Battles》的“不完全的续作”，确实采用了更加有效的战斗概念，将策略、模拟和塔防类型的元素融为一体。玩家可以选择扮演防守者也可以充当进攻者。游戏中包含内置型地图编辑器和在线地图共享的挑战系统。

这款游戏开创了一个特别有趣的功能，即互换角色：玩家可以在关卡内保存和记录他们的进攻策略的录像，然后将录像中的自己作为地图的防守者，与之对抗。这为玩家提供了意想不到的挑战，你难道不想挑战一下除了（已经很了不起的）游戏AI之外的对手吗？

10、《This Precious Land》（Ishisoft） [Windows，免费]

this precious land(from indiegames)

Ishisoft的《This Precious Land》确实是一匹黑马，尽管面临Ludum Dare比赛（游戏邦注：这是一个促进独立游戏开发的比赛，参赛者必须在48小时内完成一款游戏）的限制，仍然成功闯进我们的排行榜。很大程度上是因为它的玩法太吸引人了，画面太漂亮了（如果你是象素风爱好者，那就对了）。这款游戏其实是一个沙盒结构的玩具，显然深受《Triple Town》和《Settlers》等游戏的启发。虽然一开始玩家会感到稍许困惑，但当你理解游戏的规则后，你就会在游戏世界中感受到它的神奇和创意。（本文为游戏邦/gamerboom.com编译，拒绝任何不保留版权的转载，如需转载请联系：游戏邦）

Top 10 Indie Strategy Games of 2012

by Konstantinos Dimopoulos

Strategy gaming, despite being one of the most demanding genres for players and developers alike, is also one of the areas indie devs seem to excel at and gamers seem to love. What’s more, 2012 was an excellent year for the tactically thinking masses indeed, what with its impressive selection of strategy offerings appearing on most platforms.

What follows are our picks of the very best strategy games of 2012 and, as you will soon discover, it’s a list covering everything from RTS and turn-based games to tower-defense and rogue-like variants. It even sports some excellent freebies!

10. This Precious Land (Ishisoft) [Windows, free]

Ishisoft’s This Precious Land, is a truly unique beast, as it is one of those precious few games that despite being created under the limitations of a Ludum Dare competition managed to make it into one of our top ten lists. Most probably due to it being incredibly addictive and downright beautiful (if you love your games pixelated, that is). This Precious Land, essentially a sandbox construction toy, was apparently partially inspired by games like Triple Town and Settlers. Though it can be slightly confusing in the beginning, as you come to terms with the game’s rules, it will become a wonderful and most creative experience.

9. Gratuitous Tank Battles (Positech Games) [Windows, paid]

Described as “not-exactly-a-sequel” to Positech’s previous masterpiece Gratuitous Space Battles, Gratuitous Tank Battles takes a more active approach to combat, blending elements from the strategy, simulation, and tower defense genres. Players can choose to play the role of defender or attacker on any map, and the game includes a built-in map editor and an online map-sharing challenge system.

One particularly interesting feature is that players can save and record replays of their attack strategies within a level, and then play against the recording as the map’s defender. This should make for a most unexpected challenge, should you want to compete with something other than the game’s already great AI.

8.Fieldrunners 2 (Subatomic Studios) [iOS, paid]

Fieldrunners 2 is easily the best tower defense game of 2012 for iOS and one of those games you will most probably be returning to for quite some time. Cute graphics and tons of polish aside, the game also sports 25 levels, an impressive selection of weapons to choose, dozens of different enemy types and some pretty innovative design choices such as puzzle, sudden death and multi-storied maps. What really impresses though is the excellently and rather realistically modeled swarm behaviour of the baddies.

7.Linux Tycoon (Bryan Lunduke) [Windows, Mac and Linux, free]

With Linux Tycoon being the premier and admittedly only Linux Distro Building Simulator game in the known world, it simply had to appear in our top 10. Then again it really is an excellent and most refreshingly novel game, and it’s been even made available for the incredibly sensible price of nothing. So, get it and experience all the fun parts of putting a Linux distribution together without having to fully understand what you are doing. You’ll be analyzing and selecting software packages, fixing bugs (no, not really), managing staff and even hunting for volunteers in no time.

6.Towns (SMP) [Windows and Mac, paid]

Towns is a rather aptly named city-builder/manager with a healthy dose of RPG features including, well, dungeons and demanding that your town does well enough to provide with fresh, healthy and strong enough crops of heroes to conquer said underground adobes. Though said features haven’t been fully implemented yet and the game hasn’t completely matured, it is full of promise, it does look good and it will be the closest you’ll get to experiencing something like Dwarf Fortress without spending months of studying tutorials.

Oh, and the well fleshed out crafting features work brilliantly, with a pretty wide variety of tasks and tools for your poor townspeople to use. The way the economy works is also pretty impressive and chances are this will end up being one true indie classic.

5.Reprisal (reprisaluniverse) [Windows, Mac and Linux, paid]

Reprisal is Populous in almost every way and Populous is brilliant in absolutely every way. As an added bonus Reprisal is Populous tweaked for the better, sporting lovely graphics, an excellent soundtrack, a modern interface and all sorts of small additions and changes, making manipulating its big virtual world with those tiny god-fearing citizens a joy. Players are put in the role of a godlike figure in the sky and use their awe-inspiring powers to raise land from the sea, flatten mountains and perform the occasional miracle, while helping their tribe prosper and crush everyone else.

Reprisal is also available as a free browser game, but its commercial desktop version provides with some greatly enhanced music, extra maps and none of the flash version’s ads.

4.War of the Human Tanks (Fruitbat Factory) [Windows, paid]

War of the Human Tanks would definitely head our top named games list of 2012, but, alas, we have prepared no such thing for you dear readers. We will though suggest you give this strategy/visual novel hybrid a go and see what you can do with its cast of armored humanoid weapons and simple yet deep RTS mechanics. The game includes over 30 maps of tactical challenges and even allows players to use resources earned from combat to purchase new abilities and upgrades between battles in what can only be described as its strategy mode.

3.Awesomenauts (Ronimo Games) [Windows, Mac, Xbox Live Arcade and PSN, paid]

League of Legends and Defense of the Ancients are as impenetrably complex as ever, but if you want the MOBA genre boiled down in an easy-to-grasp summary, Awesomenauts is definitely the game for you’d been waiting for and it will hook you in minutes. The skillful side-scrolling presentation keeps the experience fresh and frantic throughout each match and, even though the single-player element is somewhat lacking, the multiplayer mode of Awesomenauts is second to no other indie real-time strategy game.

2.Defender’s Quest (Level Up Labs) [Windows, Mac and Linux, paid]

Defender’s Quest is a decidedly retro-looking tower defense/RPG hybrid with obvious adventure inspirations that will, honestly and in a most humbling manner, go out of its way to make you happy. Everything can be tweaked, everything has been thought of and everything keeps getting bigger and better as the developers keep adding content and love to an already excellent game. Shockingly, not only does Defender’s Quest do tower defense better than anyone else, not only do its RPG elements wonderfully blend in, but it actually manages to sport a proper story that is properly interesting and, gasp, well written.

1.FTL: Faster Than Light (Subset Games) [Windows, Mac and Linux, paid]

A top-down mix of almost all the things that make a hardcore experience so worthwhile and, uhm, hardcore, FTL, Faster Than Light to call it by its full name, is a terrific rogue-like-like that demands some serious strategic and tactical skills and can easily consume ones life. FTL is a space-faring simulation that has players dealings with the trials and tribulations of space-travel. You know, space pirates, a galactic war, super novas, tough to navigate nebulas… that sort of thing.

Intensely difficult, almost to the point of being insurmountable for some, FTL is a deeply absorbing experience offering some of the best combat mechanics ever and the best rogue-starship-commander-captain-sim experience ever.(source:indiegames)