I found this browser-based building strategy game developed by InnoGames yesterday, it's been around since 2012 so some of you may already know it, it's called Forge of Empires and I'm having fun with it atm. You can play solo or make a guild with friends, it's free but, if you wanted to, you can purchase certain things (units, buildings) to speed up production but it's not necessary.
You start off with mud huts ...
And advance up to the modern era conquering other provinces as you go ...
Edit;
So ... a couple of days in and I've slightly changed my perspective, whilst I enjoy the game-play, mechanics, graphics, etc you are consistently bombarded with offers to purchase time-limited special buildings, mystery gifts and 'diamonds' - which are obtainable in the game but are extremely rare. You can ofc just simply ignore these offers, they are stored for their time-limits on the side of your screen, but as you progress it becomes more and more tempting not to! Progression is very slow without them, not to mention all the 'exciting and cute looking one-off buildings' and 'money saving' special offers ... lol, but, it's actually not funny, I feel like if you have kids don't let them anywhere near it! Today there was this gorgeous little cottage with snow on the roof and Santa and his sleigh, a bargain at only 1660 diamonds - I dread to think how much that would cost in rm!
Anyway, so yeah it's fun but the pressure to spend out on it is pretty relentless.