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A group of us have completed an unofficial poll that ran for 2-1/2 years and closed December 2023, there were over 35,000 unique votes, which is a significant number. The poll asked gamers, what is the greatest grand strategy game they'd ever played. They were given multiple choices:
These titles are not in any particular order.
Sid Meier's Civilization (any)
Star Ruler 2
Galactic Civilization (any)
Age of Wonders: Planetfall
Master of Orion 2
Total War (any)
Hearts of Iron (any)
Dominions 5
Europa Universalis (any)
Stellaris
The game titles were submitted by gamers and then 10 of those game titles were selected by vote to be listed. An attempt was made to be as broad as possible in the represented genres categories. Unfortunately, not every game title made the list. We did not include the option for "Undecided", if a vote was being cast a game title had to be chosen.
What game do you think came in first? How about last?
I have been asked to clarify how the poll was conducted, and I would like to emphasize that my involvement was primarily at the conceptual stage. I did not participate in the management or result tabulation of the poll. However, I will do my best to explain the process.
The concept of the poll was developed by a five-person committee, which initially sought input from members of a Signal group to gather suggestions for game titles. Due to an initially low response, the query was extended to additional social media groups, broadening the reach. This strategy proved effective, and we eventually collected between 40 and 50 game titles, although the initial aim was to gather at least 10. Consequently, a vote was organized to select the top 10 titles from the expanded list. This phase took approximately eight months from the original concept to implementation.
The poll itself was set up on platforms where the game titles had been collected, with prior authorization from each group’s administrators—authorization was kindly given without any difficulties. Several social media groups and some gaming organizations participated in this process. By this stage, my direct involvement had diminished, so I am not privy to all the locations where the poll was posted. The poll, which began in July 2021, did not have a predetermined end date and was active until December 2023. If we include the eight months of preliminary activities prior to the actual posting of the poll, the entire process spanned a total of 37 months. This equates to three years and one month from inception to the conclusion of the polling period.
I had lost track of the poll until March 2024, when a member of the original poll committee reminded me of it. Unfortunately, by then, one of the original committee members had passed away, and another was unaccounted for. The remaining committee members decided to compile the votes from the various platforms and conclude the polling process, either by taking down the poll or locking it. The results have not yet been released, but I will share them as soon as they are available.
That is the story behind the poll. Thank you for your interest.
Here’s our roundup of the most popular strategic games, ranked from good to better to best. This list might contain some surprises!
Please note that this is not an official ranking; it was compiled for $hits and Grins (SAG) to gauge popular opinion about video games. The feedback exceeded our expectations. While we didn't restrict voting to specific titles within a series, many participants specified their favorite entries in the comments.
#10 - Age of Wonders: Planetfall
#9 - Star Ruler 2
#8 - Master of Orion 2
#7 - Europa Universalis 2
#6 - Galactic Civilizations: Twilight of the Arnor
#5 - Dominions 5
#4 - Total War: Warhammer 2
#3 - Hearts of Iron 3
#2 - Sid Meier's Civilization 5
#1 - Stellaris
