As the title says, looking for a good strategy game... was going to get Civ V since it was on sale but didn't get a steam card in time and I'd rather not spend 30 bucks on it, not saying it's not worth it but not at this time...

So what are some of your favorite strategy games? I like the Total War series, it's pretty fun, I've wanted to get Rome but I don't have a computer powerful enough for it... other than that I can't really think of any other than Gunpoint and Frozen Synapse but I love the Total War games or Civ games, their epic...

What about you, what would you recomend?

Eador Genesis.

Perimeter, simply because of how left of center it is
Dawn of War, the very first strategy game I've played. Is one of my 2 greatest games of all time
Supreme Commander + Forged Alliance
Rise of Nations + Thrones & Patriots
Rise of Legends, one of most visually unique RTS

Well you mention Civ V and Frozen Synapse. XCom Enemy Unknown instantly springs to mind, given it's tactical nature and the fact that Firaxis made it. Oh, and the fact that it's bloody good and in many ways the best XCOM yet.

I second Eador:Genesis.

It's six bucks here, so it's cheap from the get-go, offers great artwork and even better gameplay. I haven't played Masters of the Broken World yet but it's the exact same game with a graphical update from my understanding. Apparently they also made the interface worse while they were at it; stick with Genesis.

I third Genesis.
I first Expedition: Conquistador.
I second X-COM: EU.

Master of Orion II. I suck at it, but that hasn't curbed my enjoyment.

Sacrifice is still on sale...

I want to fourth Eador:Genesis because it's really, really good, but other that that you could always go back to the classics if you've never played them, like HoMM, Total Annihilation, Age of Wonder, The original X-COM games, and others and if you're not looking for a strictly strategy game (some of the are more strategy-RPG or 4X or Management games) you should play Alpha Centuri, Dungeon Keeper, Nexus: The Jupiter Incident, Master of Magic, and Master of Orion, among some others. As for newer stuff, well you have the new XCOM, Civ 4 and 5, King's Bounty, and I guess Eador and it's remake are pretty new too. I'm sure I've forgotten tons of things but those are the ones that come to mind. I've heard that Fallen Enchantress and Warlock - Master of the Arcane are alright, but not that great. Oh and by the way the XCOM complete pack, which include the new XCOM and all of the older ones, is on sale on amazon (with steam keys) right now (I don't think that it's on amazon.ca though)

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00ECHYTKY/ref=hy-deals-dvg-xcom?pf_rd_p=1629920722&pf_rd_s=merchandised-search-3&pf_rd_t=101&pf_rd_i=979455011&pf_rd_m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&pf_rd_r=179A7XMMEEDZPHRG7RSB

Ok obviously Eador is the best strategy game of all time now. Previous greats were Imperialism, Orion 2, Heroes 3.

Right now I am playing a bit of Warlock again, it is kind of fun, more lightweight and way too easy, but cool.

Also great are Fantasy Wars and Kings Bounty.

How about a quick look at what GOG has to offer?

If you're interested in something like Civ V, you might really want to check out Alpha Centauri, which I still think is the best Civ-but-not-actual-Civ game that exists.

Or if you don't mind a fantasy setting with real tactical battles rather than in the Civ-brand, Master of Magic might fit your bill as well.

You could even try to colonize the new world and try to claim your independence from your European overlords in Colonization. Though fair warning on this one, it can be a lot more in-depth and complex than the earlier mentioned titles, so it's not for the faint at heart.

Lastly, if you really have a hankering for a really close Civ-alike FreeCiv is also a good choice.

Other turn-based strategy games that might be worth checking out that aren't Civ-alike:
Master of Orion 1+2 (still the best 4x space games in my mind; yes, I'm biased =P)
Heroes of Might & Magic 3 (or V)
Eador: Genesis
Age of Wonders
Conquest of the New World
Lords of the Realm
Fantasy Wars
King's Bounty
Imperialism
Jagged Alliance 2

If you don't mind some real-time shenanigans these are also taking note of:
Stronghold
Original War
Dungeon Keeper
Populous: The Beginning
Total Annihilation
Empire Earth
Nexus

...probably some others I'm not thinking of right now

Of all of those mentioned I'd say Stronghold, Master of Orion, and Alpha Centauri are my top three here.

I've been looking at Stronghold... can't quite figure out what it is though, like what's the gameplay like, I can't watch videos for the next few days due to internet issues...

When you say Rome:Totalwar and Civ, if you don't mind some fantasy I think Kohan is a good choice. The series not belonging to the gog collection is pure sadness (Edit : it's an RTS but I don't think it needs the "bestest" config)

I like eador but I never recommend it because it eats Time like I eat pasta. A lot.

As said, it's an RTS but definitely not like any other. Best castle-building/sieging game (along with Crusader) that's been made thus far. It's fairly straightforward really. Make sure your people are fed and happy so you can build up your forces and making sure you keep farming the resources needed for that effort, while erecting better defenses and gaining more troops.

Nothing feels better than tearing down your opponent's castle and storming his walls or successfully denying his attacking hordes. Some missions require to do both. There are also plenty of single-side scenarios available as well just for sieges and castle defense. If you ever grow weary of the official content there's plenty more user maps to be had, which also provide a much greater wealth of the much less combat-heavy economic scenarios. The game is also plenty of fun in multiplayer, may that be via LAN or internet.

It's one of the few RTSs that just doesn't get old for me, and that's saying something as I'm pretty uninterested in most of the genre otherwise. It doesn't help that my reflexes aren't all that good when it comes to fast-paced games. Luckily that can be fixed by lowering the game's speed.

Typically I recommend the very first over Crusader for newcomers because it does a much better job at teaching one how to play, and it has a quite fun campaign - better than those stitched-together scenario packs in Crusader anyway. In Crusader one gets thrown to the wolves pretty early on, so it's really better suited for players who already know what they're doing.

Basically all that has been mentioned and more. What have not been mentioned are the Paradox games. Games like Europa Universalis, Crusader Kings, Hearts of Iron and Victoria. You might wanna start with EU since it's the easiest to learn, followed by CK. Hearts of Iron is probably the hardest to learn but suitable if you're a WWII nut. Most recent releases are the popular Crusader Kings 2 and Europa Universalis 4, all mighty good games. I've clocked 139 hours with EUIV on Steam and probably another 100+ hours playing it DRM-free.