Civilization III

After spending pretty much all summer in failure, I finally managed to win a game of Civilization III on the normal difficulty level, and in the process wreaked bloody vengeance on the evil Incans who had stymied me at every turn in the past. Warfare seems more important in III than in its predecessors, but there are still multiple ways to win: diplomacy (being elected Secretary General of the UN), conquest, cultural dominance, being the first to launch a colony ship into outer space, etc. At easier difficulty levels, the player begins with a mechanical advantage over the AI civilizations, while at higher difficulty levels, the AI civs get the advantages. On the normal ("Regent") difficulty level, players and AI are treated equally so I can be proud to say my organic brain outwitted their electronic ones.

I may come back to Civ III someday, but for now I think I'll try my hand at Star Craft, a space war game I've always heard great things about.