Real-Time Strategy Games With Economic Mechanics

Real-time strategy games often revolve around mastering several elements at once, juggling a lot of balls in the air to keep up maximum efficiency. Especially among more difficult titles in this genre, the goal seems to be juggling more complex tasks all at once. A real-time strategy game that's about combat and technology trees might penalize the player with sub-optimal units if they don't keep up their tech development, for example.

But what could be more complex than the economy? From supply lines to the cost of living and gradually forming mercantile empires, there's a lot of variety in real-time strategy titles that focus on economic mechanics, but here are a few of the highlights to keep an eye on.

4 Anno 1800

An Intricate City Builder With Compelling Economics

The long line of Anno games has an incredible amount of variety between them, but the booming industrial era captured by Anno 1800 stands alone as a testament to the colossal economic shift and influx that dominated the world at the turn of the 19th Century. There is a lot to love with the depth of gameplay, detailed graphics, and dedication to authenticity here that real-time strategy fans will love. Of course, bonus points for these fans who also want to maintain bustling trade empires, as this is a large part of what Anno 1800 is about.

The efficacy of production chains, the volume of a source on any particular market, and relations with AI empires will all determine the cost of goods in Anno 1800 and at a rate that constantly fluctuates. Taming the economy in this title is a little bit like taming a bucking horse - in that it's dangerous and also that people have died, but the rewards for doing so are watching a flourishing nation-state thrive from the end of the Age of Discovery well into the Victorian Era.

3 Stellaris

Galactic Politics Can Reshape The Economy

Stellaris has real-time action unfolding on a cosmic scale. At any given time, a myriad of spacefaring empires will be exploring, harvesting, and settling entire swathes of the galaxy for their own benefit. Where does this take them, after a while? To the formation of an expansive Galactic Community, where empires can come together to enact changes and propose laws that will forever shift the face of the known universe. It's not easy playing the political game in Stellaris, but winners and losers both will have to keep an eye on how the Galactic Community changes up the economy.

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Energy credits, the currency in Stellaris, will be increased in their base production if laws that increase worker output are put into effect. A surplus of exotic materials like rare crystals can similarly be put out into the market for credits, but if enough empires get this idea, the market will tank quickly, and those resources will be worthless. Similarly, sanctions, moving into positions of power, or being declared head of the galactic market can also skew an empire's influence in the price of goods, further skewed if they have an origin that pushes a more resource-heavy playthrough.

2 Offworld Trading Company

Make Money, Not War In This Galactic Mercantile Simulation

Offworld Trading Company is one of the most innovative games on the shelves today, boasting an incredibly intricate but easy-to-grasp system for juggling and maintaining vast economic trends as players select the CEO of their choice to guide a fledgling business on Mars. This title is set in an early space age of sorts where, as the resources from Earth begin to dwindle and life begins to crumble, ambitious explorers and venture capitalists like the player have set out to make a new source of income and resources on Mars. The player has the ultimate role in deciding what the fate of this distant Mars colony will be.

Like some of the best RTS games of all time, Offworld Trading Company begins with a small gameplay loop that slowly broadens and broadens as the player learns to pick up on new concepts and mechanics. Those mechanics, mainly revolve around being as shifty and cutthroat a CEO as possible. Hoarding resources until demand increases, dealing with the black market, underpricing to put competitors out of business are all mechanics that can be used to control the market and the chain of supply and demand that has been very realistically articulated in this expansive economic RTS title.

1 Victoria 3

An Immensely Detailed Economic Simulation

Paradox's latest installment in the incredibly detailed Victoria series comes with a slew of new developments to create a frighteningly in-depth and well-realized simulacrum of Victorian-Era society. There is so, so much that goes into a flourishing economy in this game. The economy is a system in its own right, but it's also a microcosm comprised of the intricate cultural, political, and external developments that go into defining the player's country. Industrializing through production, dealing with political uproar, and producing goods at a rate that can serve countries with high demand are all a few of the ways to develop an economy in this tile.

The complexity of Victoria 3 is streamlined thanks to a much-needed change to how the UI functions from older titles, and while dealing with the economic spheres of influence might still be difficult, for players looking for good real-time economic mechanics, this game is hard to pass up.

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