Games like Social Wars: base-building strategy games compared by type

What should you compare when looking for games like Social Wars?

Social Wars gives you a few handles to compare. It has a large catalog: the Codex lists 166 buildings and 303 units, although only 128 of those units can be trained in a building. It has player-versus-player attacks from level 8. And it has alliances of up to 50 members.

So ask yourself what you want most: a big base to design, armies to command, rivals to attack or a team to play with. Each game below covers some of those and skips others.

Which games like Social Wars can you play on FB Games?

Social Empires, also from Social Point, lets you build your village, train troops and defend it from trolls; unlike Social Wars, it is not in beta. Empires & Allies, from Zynga, is empire strategy where you build a base, produce resources and recruit troops and vehicles; it is in beta.

The Last Stand: Dead Zone, from Con Artist Games, is about building a shelter, recruiting survivors and raiding an invaded city. Zombie Lane, from Digital Chocolate, is farming and survival against zombies. CityVille, from Zynga, is a city builder with houses, businesses, plots and rents. Bubble Island, from Wooga, is bubble shooting; Bola Social Soccer, from Three Melons, is football club management; and Wild Ones Rebirth, from Playdom, is turn-based shooting on destructible maps. All of these are in beta.

Which Facebook-era base-attack games came from other studios?

Army Attack, from Digital Chocolate (a studio from Helsinki), arrived in May 2011 on Facebook as a multiplayer strategy game. Backyard Monsters, from Casual Collective (later Kixeye), dates from 2010, also on Facebook, as real-time strategy. Battle Pirates, from Kixeye, came out in May 2011 on Facebook, also as real-time strategy.

We list these only by studio, year and platform. We cannot tell you whether they still run today, so check before you go looking.

Which kingdom and civilization games are similar?

Kingdoms of Camelot, by Kabam, came out in November 2009 on Facebook as a real-time strategy game. Global Warfare, also by Kabam, appeared in May 2011 on Facebook and Google+ as a social strategy game. Civilization World, developed by Firaxis Games and published by 2K, is a massively multiplayer strategy game on Facebook from 2011.

They share the strategy label and the Facebook era with Social Wars, but we have not compared their mechanics here, and we cannot say whether they work today.

Is there anything from the same studio?

Yes. Social Point also made Social Empires (January 2011), which you can play on FB Games, and Dragon City, a 2012 game released for Facebook and mobile. We list Dragon City only by studio and year.

If you want a game from the same studio that you can open in the browser today, Social Empires is the one on FB Games, and it is the one that is not in beta.

Which game suits PvP, building or missions?

For attacking other players, Social Wars allows it from level 8, with 3 attacks every 6 hours. Among the other games above, Army Attack, Backyard Monsters and Battle Pirates carry multiplayer or real-time strategy labels.

For building and managing, Social Wars has a resource market in three tiers, and CityVille on FB Games is about building a city.

For missions, Social Wars has 22 world missions plus a weekly one, each repeating every 4 hours at three difficulty levels. The Last Stand: Dead Zone is organized around raiding an invaded city.

What makes Social Wars different?

Some specifics: levels go up to 99, with 1 cash for each level from 5; an Auction House opens at level 8, where you bid for units with gold and 2 cash per bid; and a 5-day daily bonus ends with a hero chosen from three.

And an honest note: this is a beta from an independent project with its own rules, in English and Spanish only, free to play, with an account of your own. It is not the official game and it does not import Facebook progress. Judge it by whether the mix of building, training, missions and attacks is what you want.