Steel Empire / Cyber Empires
 

So, who remembers this little gem?

I didn't play it that often but I used to watch my older brother playing the campaign a lot. He often played with a friend and would spend hours battling each other and the computer opponents.

I think this game is really kind of underrated, as it was pretty unique and not many games feature that mix of grand strategy, economy, and action combat.

Some tidbits I found funny or just interesting about this game:

When a CPU opponent took it's turn, the status bar always said "General XYZ plans your destruction". Kind of funny that every one of those evil generals plans your destruction, way to overreact! :D

The German version had no Umlaut characters so General Würger (General Smotherer?) became General Wrger

Some robot designs were obviously inspired by BattleTech or even the original Mecha anime series, especially the Mars (Marauder/Battlepod), Hercules (Rifleman) and the one with the long range missile launchers (Catapult).

The Mars was the best robot even though it was only in the medium weight class and didn't cost that much. However, it was fast and had two autocannons and one heavy beam, and a skilled human player could outmaneuvre every CPU robot.

Some heavier robots had a lot of trouble with their heat management and on lava their were prone to overheat and self-destruct :)

The little Dragon robot was small enough to fit between the weapon arms of it's bigger cousins, evade fire and close range until he could use his dangerous flamer to quickly kill his enemy by overheating.

The big city in the middle was always besieged and saw the most battles. As a result, it was always in a state of being repaired. Of course, it gave the most resources to the owner (depending on damage).

Having CPU-controlled robots assault a heavy fortress with LRM robots often resulted in them standing at their starting positions and firing their missiles towards the fortress core until they ran out, only then did they close range. It was seldom enough to break the thick walls and took forever :D

Sometimes I'd like to recreate the game, I'd say it doesn't need much improvement in it's basic concept beside some updated robot combat mechanics. Are there any other games that feature the same kind of genre mixing?

I had copy of this game only to watch title screen - I thought it will be some kind of shooter, without strategy part. Arena from Bethesda have also misleading art.

I also like the mix of strategy and action genres. The direct successor to Steel Empire is the fantasy sequel Fantasy Empires. Next, I can list games that have either similar gameplay, or just some similarities in genres on PC:
Battlezone II
HELLFRONT
Dynasty Warriors 8 Empires
Fallen Lords - Condemnation
Kingdom Under Fire - The Crusaders
Kingdom Under Fire Heroes
Mount & Blade II Bannerlord
Mount & Blade Warband
Rise And Fall Civilizations At War
Sands of Salzaar
The Bluecoats
Wars and Warriors Joan of Arc
Hyper Knights
Reignfall
Savage XR
Archon Classic
Robin Hood: Defender of the Crown
Birthright The Gorgon's Alliance
Hero Fighter (Android or Flash version for PC)
and for other platforms
SoulCalibur III (PS2)
Future Cop L.A.P.D. (PS1)
The Unholly War (PS1)
Bahamut Senki (Sega Genesis)
Herzog Zwei (Sega Genesis, Nintendo Switch)
Star Control (Sega Genesis, DOS)
Wrath Unleashed (PS2, XBox)

The interest of the games may vary. As well as the difficulty in mastering. If you can add other interesting games - I'll be happy to get acquainted. All peaceful skies.

I remember it well. Great game! Just recently started playing it on my 486 to hear the MT-32 music!

Related thread with more info, a review, as well as fan-made voxel cybogs!

Steel Empire/Cyber Empires in depth video review