Game suggestions

[Maryring]

I need a suggestion for a non-realtime non-luck-reliant game that plays well over the internet. It should not be a chess-type game (so no Go or other such similar perfect knowledge games), it should not be a Civ or Civ-like game either. And it should not be Pokemon.

And I'm well aware that at this point I've probably ruled out about 95% of all games that exist on the internet but... if anyone has any ideas for such a game that I can suggest to a friend so we can play together, I'd very much appreciate it.

[Togath]

Epic Battle Fantasy 4?
It's a jrpg, but with more focus on tactics than luck, and doesn't suffer form the "perfect knowledge" issue.
It's also not a pokemon style "collect-em-all", and there's a version available free(I can't remember from which site though. It has a little less content than the Steam version, but still has enough to be fun, if my memory is right).

[Knaight]

When you say not luck reliant, do you mean completely deterministic? That standard is a bit hard to meet, but there are plenty of games that have luck in a pretty small spot. Examples:
Age of Wonders 3 - It's a strategy game where a lot of things that are normally luck determined get made much more deterministic, and the scale of it helps minimize the effects of what little luck is left. It is a 4x, but I wouldn't call it particularly Civ-like. The older games in the series are cheaper, but they are also far more luck dependent.

Telepath Tactics - I have only played this briefly personally, and it's still a bit unfinished. It's also right up your alley, and not even slightly Civ-like. I'm also not 100% sure it has online multiplayer, though it does have multiplayer.

Worms - The Worms series pretty much speaks for itself here. Competitive turn based ballistics, with rather esoteric weaponry. The quality varies a bit, but there's good options.

Lightning's Shadow - This is only available if you have an older version of Macintosh, but on the off chance you do, it works perfectly for this. It's sort of like a pared down Worms, with wizards shooting stuff at each other.

With that said, it really is a pretty stringent set of requirements. It's easy enough to get almost all of them, but there's inevitably one thing missing.

[Lethologica]

How Civ-like is Civ-like? For example, is Diplomacy Civ-like?

Do you expect 2 players, or more?

[Mx.Silver]

I need a suggestion for a non-realtime non-luck-reliant game that plays well over the internet. It should not be a chess-type game (so no Go or other such similar perfect knowledge games)
The difficulty here is that when it comes to pretty much any game with multiplayer functions, your only options are luck-based, skill-based, or both. Games that primarily revolve around player interaction could possibly be classed as an alternative, but those typically require four or more players before that starts to become the driving element. If it's only the two of you, then you're stuck.


To piggyback off Knaight's suggestions (Worms is a solid pick, btw): if you're not in principle averse to Age of Wonders then the Heroes of Might and Magic and disciples games may also be worth a look, as they're in a similar genre although a bit less 4x-ish. Heroes of Might and Magic V also has a 'duel' mode, which negates the economic side of the game entirely.

The modern X-com games also have a multiplayer mode that seems to be reasonably well-developed from what I've seen.

It might also be worth looking into board games which have digital versions (Ticket To Ride has at least one such version, for example), although most of those tend to designed with more than two players in mind.

[Maryring]

When I say non-luck-based I mean "less luck-based than Blood Bowl." Luck factors that introduce random elements that need to be accounted for works. But if a string of bad rolls can end the game for you with no chance of recovery, it won't work.

And yeah, the requirement list is pretty stringent. I'm looking for a game that me and a friend of mine can play together. Which it turns out is surprisingly difficult.

[Knaight]

When I say non-luck-based I mean "less luck-based than Blood Bowl." Luck factors that introduce random elements that need to be accounted for works. But if a string of bad rolls can end the game for you with no chance of recovery, it won't work.

I'm not super familiar with Blood Bowl, but based on what little I know that reduces the sringency of that requirement significantly.

[Triaxx]

Fallout:Tactics has a multiplayer that's mostly numbers, rather than luck. Most of the luck comes from predicting the opponent.

[Knaight]

This just occurred to me, and it's perfect:

Frozen Synapse
It's a game where each person controls a small squad, and secretly gives them movement orders. Then, they both try to carry them out, and the way they interact is entirely deterministic. It's not even slightly Civ-like, favors reasonably short matches, and can be played either with perfect information for the current situation (orders given is always double blind) or where you don't even have that.

[Forbiddenwar]

Tabletop simulator is decent, as it gives you access to hundreds of board and card games, though you need a few more people for some of the really good games. Try Carcassonne, it's good with 2.
Also, Small worlds 2 might be good, but I never tried it online.

[CarpeGuitarrem]

Blast. I was gonna recommend Diplomacy (it's the epitome of played-over-the-internet games), but you're looking for 2-player games.

I'm definitely going to second Frozen Synapse.

Boardgame Arena (http://en.boardgamearena.com/) has free (legal) access to a ton of board games, and I'm specifically going to suggest Race For the Galaxy. It's a game that plays very well 2-player, and it requires you to simultaneously form strategies and adapt to what you've been given (you draw cards for different planets, and upgrades you can build).

I'd also suggest Yomi; it's a head-to-head card game inspired by fighting games, where both players pick actions at the same time and resolve them against one another. There's a Steam client that's actually very polished, and the game has a lot of learning you can do in tandem with a friend, since playing the game well relies on building up knowledge about gameplay, about characters, and about your opponent's playstyle and tendencies. (It's the sort of game that gets much better when you can regularly play against one person, because you start learning to adjust to that person, and vice versa.)

And, although I don't think it's as good a game as the ones I mentioned, there's always Hearthstone, which is Blizzard's free "this is our take on Magic: the Gathering". It comes with a built-in "play vs. friends" mode.

When you say "non-realtime", by the way, do you mean that you're looking for turn-based games, or that you're looking for asynchronous games (ones that you can submit your turn to, then let your opponent submit their turn to)? Because Race for the Galaxy is the only game I mentioned that's asynchronous.

[Spacewolf]

When you say plays well over the internet do you want to be able to play in realtime with the opponent if not then I'd say Solium Infernum there is a good writeup of a game some people had on Rock paper shotgun if you want to look more into it.

[factotum]

Divinity: Original Sin is an RPG that has a two-player co-op mode and turn-based combat, might be worth a look if neither of you have played it.

[TaRix]

There's a fairly simple artillery game on Steam called Shell Shock that's pretty good. If you know of the really old shareware Scorched Earth and put in more silly and scary things and built it in a solid multiplayer mode, then you have Shell Shock. Luck can be almost entirely removed; the only thing that's guaranteed random is whatever weapons you have.

[Lethologica]

Oh, that reminds me--I wonder if Gunbound is still around. It seems like a good game for the requirements.