The best strategy games without micromanagement

Key insights

• Some strategy games focus more on macro-level decisions, eliminating the need for micromanagement.
• Titles like Mechabellum prioritize adaptive strategy over unit fine-tuning, making gameplay more engaging.
• Games like Kingdoms and Castles offer a simple but deep experience by focusing on managing a single settlement.

Strategy games cover some of the broadest areas of the gaming industry – titles in this area are popular with tactical purists who want to optimize colossal armies and narrative lovers who want emergent storytelling and drama among rulers. Whether you're a big strategy fan or someone who's much more focused on the details of combat, there's sure to be – beyond a single strategy game – an entire genre dedicated to this type of game.

But many strategy games can feel taxing at times. You have to comb through an army after an unsuccessful battle to see who doesn't have the optimized equipment, or you have to look at the entire GDP of your kingdom or nation over the last decade and consult an accountant to find out why the luck is so B. a certain settlement keeps crashing, or whatever the gimmick of a strategy game may be, sometimes players want to focus on the macro, the big picture. These strategy titles are not particularly concerned with managing individual units, but rather focus on the broader army and building composition.

8 Commander-in-Chief: Alliance Forged

The units are ready for immediate use

An absolute classic among tactical RTS games, Commander-in-Chief: Alliance Forged is a great game for people who still want an engaging strategy game with, well, strategy – but still don't want micromanagement.

There isn't much in the way of unit upgrades. Each unit is as effective as it will be right from the start, and it depends more on how players implement their units in blocks and how effectively they use them around enemies, which will determine who wins and who loses each battle .

7 Mechabellum

Counter armies with powerful robots

This online mech RTS has recently taken gaming communities by storm. It's an easy-to-learn but difficult-to-master title that buffs units across the board to reduce the need for micromanagement, and is actually more about adaptive strategy than fine-tuning an army.

Units are all powerful in their own right, but more than just micromanagement, a successful battle comes down to who can counter the enemy's units first. Understanding unit properties is far more important than trying to optimize those unit properties.

6 Ashes of the Singularity

Large-scale campaigns

With two different factions, Ashes of the Singularity breaks some basic RTS tenets in all the right ways with its human versus robot war. Battlefields are vast and units are managed almost exclusively at the macro level, deploying them in clusters.

The Substrate, a rogue AI bent on the extinction of humanity, focuses on cheap, expendable swarm units and shock troops that can be deployed in satisfying hordes. The Post-Human Coalition combats this with a quality over quantity approach, and with units that dwarf all others in size and strength.

5 Nordgard

Forge a Viking settlement

With a simple and attractive mechanic, Nordgard is the perfect entry point for anyone looking to get into RTS titles that feature both army and civilization management. Building a Viking settlement is full of dangers and opportunities.

Players really just need to make sure morale is high and the walls are up so they can at least continue until the mid-game. Hunt often, party often, raid for riches, and your Viking settlement will prosper.

4 Driftland

An incredible procedurally generated strategy title

This title seems to go undiscovered by many players, which is a shame considering it offers pretty much everything an RTS fan could want. Huge fantasy units, Might and Magic-style hero management rather than army management, and procedural generation – a huge boon for fans of emerging storytelling.

One reason this game requires so little micromanagement is that players are actually controlling a mage, rather than the mage's armies and civilization. They can issue orders, but the AI ​​units are the ones carrying out those orders on their own terms.

3 Crusader Kings 3

Managing nations and armies is satisfying and easy

Whether you're building big and managing a small duchy or aiming to rebuild Rome, Crusader Kings 3 has something to offer for every strategy gamer who likes to make up their own story.

There is hardly any micromanagement here. Big numbers are the key to victory in this game. Raise armies larger than the enemy, through combat power, mercenaries, or alliances, and try to appease the Pope without getting caught up in the AI's ninth disastrous attempt to retake Jerusalem, and you're sure to have a successful run without having to change much in the composition of the army or the settlement modifiers.

2 Kingdoms and castles

Managing a single area is simple but profound

Part of what makes up Kingdoms and castles The feeling of being so light without feeling insubstantial comes from players focusing on a single settlement most of the time. The transformation of this settlement from a small hamlet into a sprawling kingdom is an accessible but profound affair.

People can't move in because there are no houses? Build more. Can't you build anymore? Collect wood. Taking things step by step in this relatively quiet title is the main way to stay successful without having to really worry about perfecting city planning or optimizing the performance of each individual building.

1 Age of Wonders 4

A strategy game focused on heroes and conquest

With the publication of the most recent Ways of war With the DLC there is more content than ever before in this game that is as much adventure and treasure as strategy based. Players can focus on roleplaying decisions and personal goals rather than min-maxing or micromanagement.

Age of Wonders 4 is one of the best strategy titles for anyone wanting to experience emergent storytelling or just regular storytelling, with some truly fascinating campaigns and an absolutely fantastic procedurally generated world system.