The best strategy games to play as a pacifist

Key things

• Civilization 6 offers pacifist victories by focusing on culture, religion, and diplomacy.
• Anno 1800 allows players to expand peacefully through diplomacy and economic influence.
• Stellaris offers a space strategy game with a variety of play styles, including a pacifist approach.

As demanding as the genre can be, strategy games can also be cathartic. Seeing the plan come together as more territory is gained, resources are acquired and enemies are left scattered across the battlefield can be very satisfying. But for some, the joy of conquest is rather fleeting. Pool resources and have the best and most reliable weapons? It's a fairly predictable strategy.

What if they want to overcome their opponents in a different way? You outsmart them without having to send troops, convince them to work together for a common cause, or simply focus on your own survival and progress. If players want to test their wits with these or other pacifist approaches, they can try these strategy games.

1 Civilization 6

Rule the country by peaceful means

A classic historical strategy series Civilization always allowed players to achieve non-violent victories. According to Civilization 6players could win by having the most widespread religion, the best scientific technology (i.e. landing a man on the moon or launching a satellite), producing the most inspiring culture through their art and miracles, or the most diplomatic points along with land control. by sheer force. However, all this is usually not easy to do without a strong army.

There will always be a more aggressive civilization at the player's doorstep, and appeasing them could get them into more trouble. And that's without even getting into the complex nature of balancing enough policies to help breed enough prodigies and geniuses over their opponents to win. Pacifists will still need to invest in their military because no one will listen to them unless they carry that proverbial big stick.

2 Year 1800

Profit from peace

on the contrary Year 1800 and his predecessors focused more on building cities, increasing the economy, and establishing businesses and trade routes. It is possible to go to war and fight on land and sea and establish new colonies. But with smart play, people can get ahead in a streak without firing a single shot. Through careful diplomacy, trading, and investing, players can expand their influence.

For example, instead of taking over the island, they could become its majority shareholder, gradually taking it for themselves by being the driving force of its economy. Then, if it aggravates any opponents, players can figure out a way to lighten their mood by sweetening the deal somehow. It is both a sneaky kind of capitalism and a peaceful approach to becoming an economic powerhouse.

3 Stellaris

Spread peace throughout the universe by any means necessary

Stellaris takes the action into space, where the player's civilization can use its faster-than-light (FTL) technology to find habitable planets to colonize and expand its influence. All this while being sure not to anger their rivals with win-win deals and careful agreements. Or through aggression and conquest. Players can shape their civilizations in a variety of ways: spiritual or materialistic, authoritarian or egalitarian, xenophobic or xenophilic, militaristic or pacifist.

They can be mildly one or the other, or fanatical about them, with each path offering different pros and cons. Pacifist civilizations offer more stability, but cannot engage in any aggressive approach. Their military power can only be used for defensive purposes. No indiscriminate orbital bombardment and no aggressive first contact protocols, which when paired with other parameters can lead to interesting results. Players can be the ultimate space hippies or something more sinister.

4 Infinite space 2

The cosmos is big enough for everyone to live in

Once upon a time, the universe was ruled by an advanced race called the Endless. Their scientific knowledge was so extensive that they managed to achieve immortality by uploading their minds into machines. However, this caused a split between those who embraced this new technology and those who did not. It unleashed a war that decimated both sides in the end, leaving the few surviving Endless to appreciate the irony of their fate.

Tens of thousands of years later in Infinite space 2it is up to the player to choose one of the twelve factions and establish his galactic empire. They can learn from Endless' mistakes by making peace with their rivals and avoiding confrontations. There are even achievements in the game for winning a session without engaging in fights or winning a battle. As difficult as it sounds, it can be done with the help of the Umbral Choir cloaking technology, enough resources to make deals, and knowing where and where not to step.

5 Fate of the World

Save the environment through politics and diplomacy

• Developer: Red Redemption Ltd
• Platforms: PC, macOS
• Release: February 2011 (PC), September 2011 (Mac)

Things can still go wrong Stellaris, Annaand Infinite space 2, and lead to a situation where the pacifist has to take up arms to defend himself. So, what if there was a strategy game that didn't involve combat at all? The fate of the world focuses on making the planet more sustainable by putting the player in charge of a fictional international organization set in modern times.

Through them, they can shape social, technological and economic policies to reverse climate change (based on real data from the University of Oxford), improve poor areas and more. But it is not as simple as it seems, because in all twelve regions he has to keep his public opinion polls high. If players aren't careful, these surveys can drop so low that they are banned from the area for the rest of the game. People aren't going to give up gas cars or fund social programs without the player thinking ahead.

6 Reus

Use giants to build society or watch it tear apart

The god game genre has been a bit quiet since ages Black and white 2. The debacle Godus probably didn't help either. Fortunately, Reus gives fans of these old games something to dig into. This time they will guide the four elemental giants around a 2D world where they can provide resources to the humble people. It's not like Civilization or The fate of the worldso where is the strategy?

This lies in how they arrange the giants and their rewards. They cannot directly control people and can act in a variety of ways. Without enough minerals, plants and animals die out. Give them too many resources and they may become greedy and wage war over them. It presents an interesting challenge for the pacifist, as he must strike the right balance between helping everyone prosper equally without forcing them to fight.

7 Expulsion

Help a group of people survive without raising their arms

Expulsion it offers another extraordinary option as it offers city building and resource management Civilization without competing civilizations. It's about building houses from scratch in an isolated community and making sure they survive. To achieve this, they must manage the economy, assign jobs to the citizens to help provide the people with what they need, and expand the city in both territory and population with each passing generation.

It's an interesting idea and one Expulsion usually it goes right. However, once players got to grips with it, they found it became less survival and more like it Sim Cityincluding hazards such as natural disasters and economic depression. However, as Reusgiving pacifist players a completely non-violent alternative to the likes Civilizationwhere keeping your people happy and their hometown prosperous is the name of the game, not waging war and raising soldiers.