The best strategy games to play as a pacifist

Key points

• 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 provides a space strategy game with various gameplay styles, including a pacifist approach.

As challenging as the genre can be, strategy games can also be cathartic. Seeing a plan take shape as more territory is gained, resources are gained, and enemies are left scattered across the battlefield can be very satisfying. But for some, the joy of achievement is quite fleeting. Pooling resources to have the best and most reliable weapons? It's a pretty predictable strategy.

What if they want to outdo their opponents in other ways? Outsmart them without needing 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 by adopting these or other pacifist approaches, they can try these strategy games.

1 Civilization 6

Govern the earth by peaceful means

The classic historical strategy series Civilization has always allowed players to achieve non-violent victories. From Civilization 6players could win by having the most widespread religion, the best scientific technology (e.g. landing a man on the moon or launching a satellite), producing the most inspiring culture through their art and wonders, or the most diplomatic points, as well as dominate the earth. through pure strength. However, it is usually not very easy to do all this without having a strong army.

There will always be a more aggressive civilization on the player's doorstep, and pleasing them could get them into trouble later. That's without getting into the complex nature of balancing enough policies to help promote enough wonders and geniuses ahead of their rivals for that victory. Pacifists will still have to invest in their military, as no one will listen to them unless they carry this proverbial big stick with them.

2 Year 1800

Take advantage of the peace

On the contrary, Year 1800 and his predecessors focused more on building cities, growing economies, and creating businesses and trade routes. It is possible to go to war and fight on land and sea to establish new colonies. But, with smart play, players can progress through the series without firing a single shot. Through careful diplomacy, trade, and investment, players can expand their influence.

For example, instead of taking over an island, they could become its majority shareholder, gradually taking it over and becoming the engine of its economy. So if this exasperates rivals, players can find a way to ease things with a little sweetening the deal. It is both a sneaky form of capitalism and a peaceful approach to becoming an economic powerhouse.

3 Stellaris

Spread peace throughout space by any means necessary

Stellaris takes the action into space, where the player's civilization can use faster-than-light (FTL) technology to find habitable planets to colonize and expand their influence. All while being sure not to anger rivals through mutually beneficial agreements and careful agreements. Or through real aggressions and conquests. Players can shape their civilizations in all sorts of ways: spiritual or materialistic, authoritarian or egalitarian, xenophobic or xenophilic, militaristic or pacifist.

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

4 Infinite space 2

The cosmos is large enough for everyone to live in

Once upon a time, the universe was ruled by an advanced race called the Eternals. Their scientific knowledge was so vast that they managed to achieve immortality by uploading their minds to machines. But this has caused a schism between those who have embraced this new technology and those who have not. It sparked a war that ultimately decimated both sides, leaving some Endless survivors to appreciate the irony of their fate.

Tens of thousands of years later Infinite space 2It is up to the player to choose one of twelve factions and establish their own galactic empire. They can learn from the Eternals' mistakes by making peace with their rivals and avoiding confrontations. There are also achievements in the game for winning a session without engaging in combat or winning a battle. As complicated as it may seem, it can be done with the help of the Umbral Choir's cloaking technology, enough resources to make deals, and knowing where and where not to walk.

5 The fate of the world

Save the environment through politics and diplomacy

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

Things can still go wrong Stellaris, YearAND Infinite space 2, and lead to a situation where a pacifist must take up arms to defend himself. 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 placing the player in charge of a fictional international organization based in the modern era.

Through them, they can shape social, technological and economic policies to avoid climate change (based on real data from Oxford University), improve poor areas and more. But it's not as easy as it seems, because they have to keep opinion polls high in all twelve regions. If players aren't careful, these polls can drop low enough to get them banned from an area for the rest of the game. People won't give up gas-powered cars or fund social programs without the player thinking about the future.

6 Reus

Use giants to build society or watch it fall apart

The god game genre has been somewhat quiet since the days of Black and white 2. The debacle of God that probably didn't help either. Fortunately, Reus gives fans of those old games something to sink their teeth into. This time they lead four elemental giants into a 2D world where they can secure resources for lowly humans. It's not like that Civilization OR The fate of the worldso where is the strategy?

This lies in the way they organize giants and their bounties. They cannot directly control humans and can act in many different ways. Without enough minerals, plants and animals will die. Give them too many resources and they may become greedy and wage war over them. It offers an intriguing challenge for a pacifist, as they must find the right balance between helping everyone thrive equally without forcing them to fight.

7 Bandit

Help a group of people survive without raising their arms

Bandit offers another out-of-the-box option as it offers city building and resource management Civilization without rival civilizations. It's about building homes from scratch in an isolated community and making sure they survive. To do this, they must manage the economy, assign jobs to citizens to help them provide the people with what they need, and grow the city in both land and population as generations pass.

It's an intriguing idea, and one Bandit he's mostly right. However, once players got comfortable with it, they found that it became less of a survival game and more like it City Simcomplete with risks such as natural disasters and economic depression. However, I like it Reusoffers pacifist players a completely non-violent alternative to the likes of Civilizationwhere the goal is to keep your people happy and your hometown prosper, not to wage wars and recruit soldiers.