Micro-or-Mini Management PC Strategy Game?

darth_MALL writes "I've been looking high and low for the ultimate (could even be free!) single-player PC strategy game that offers detailed troop/battle management. I've met a few contenders that fit the bill: Medieval: Total War is a primo candidate, but Europe just ain't enough! I hate to say, the magic is gone - what I really want is to conquer the known universe from top to bottom. I checked out Ferion, as per another /.'ers suggestion, but it wasn't quite the same thrill as M:TW. What is a bloodthirsty, single player tyrant to do?"

Micromanagement isn't always fun

[Tzarius]

When you don't have all day to play a game, titles like Total Annihilation are great fun. MM is great for the hardcore (or obsessive-compulsive :) crowd, but few titles have combined smart AI and playability with decent automanagement.
I'm looking forward to getting Ground Control 2, where I can appreciate all the little things that I am allowed to do in-game, but don't have to.
Seriously, based on the demo, it's sweeet. It's getting my cash money.

Re:MOO

[Tyreth]

MOO3 is hopeless. It's not even fun. It is unecessarily complex, and then tries to hide that complexity through AI - what's the point? I wish I'd returned it within the week that I could, rather than keeping it in the hopes that it would be fixed.

Re:MOO

[Sigma 7]

I don't know if this fits the bill but Master of Orion 3 has TONS of micromanagement you can do.

This is true, and I would agree fully with you.

However, there's a major implementation problem with Master of Orion 3. While allowing you to manage your empire completely is find, the interface was not designed for that in mind. As a result, I find myself checking every individual build queue to detemine if there is something else to produce, or if the planetary AI is not building correctly.

MOO 2 has a much better interface for micromanagement - the building Queues are much larger, and it is fairly easy to tell which ones need new production orders (mainly because it brings you to each planet that completed building.) In addition, unused production is immediatly applied to the next thing you want to build.

These features from Moo2 were not carried over to Moo3, resulting in very low ratings for the game. If only...