What's the best RTS you've ever played?

[Holford]

I'm boring and never knew there was a mod community for it until this thread lol. 

 

Checkout the Moddb site, or search for Sins of a Solar Empire Moddb for the best ones

[Real_PhillBert]

Checkout the Moddb site, or search for Sins of a Solar Empire Moddb for the best ones

 

I'll have to do that, thanks. 

[Mattrixx]

That is so much my thing it's unreal - I've got to get my hands on this!!

 

Thank you so much mate, this is a killer recommendation

Awesome, you almost certainly won't regret it!

 

There's almost no learning curve if you've played AoE too. Good luck man! It's really an amazing game IMO.

[sgtcool]

Men Of War!

[Player0N3]

How has Starcraft II and Starcraft Brood War not been mentioned?!  :huh:

[SolarNova]

Depends on what u classify as RTS. If u mean StarCraft 2 style (fast passed with high micro) then ..none. Because I don't consider that RTS, though I have ofc played StarCraft 2's campaigns.

 

If u mean classic RTS then:

C&C Red Alert

C&C Red Alert 2

C&C Tiberian Sun/Kanes Wrath

StarCraft (1)

Dark Colony

Total Annihilation / Core Contingency

Age of Empires 2

 

The best though ..hmm, I guess I'd have to say Total Annihilation, I played that ALOT, and even remember playing LAN games with my old man..fun times. Sometimes play it even today.

 

EDIT: Forgot Earth 2150 and 2160.

[VulsaviiK]

I quite like Dawn of War II, I felt it was a much stronger entry for the franchise, and 40k is something people for the most part know and love (to some extent)

 

Before someone dives in here with "It didn't have buildings like the first one"... Trust me, I know guys, I know...

 

The reason I prefer the second game over Dark Crusade... I'm not counting Soulstorm, Sisters of Battle were too copy/paste of Space Marines, which is NOT what they are supposed to be, and Dark Eldar were stuck on a 3rd Ed codex when the game dropped so their units had zero variety and they were otherwise a shitty mess of a race in tabletop. This translated perfectly into Soulstorm, and that's the problem.

 

Ok, the lack of buildings. The way DoW manages resources, it's about moving across the map and capturing points. Capture too many points without the army or having units in the right position, you lose your points. You lose points, you don't get resources. Having bases like that just delays getting to the part of the game that matters. It doesn't add much, workers serve zero purpose once you have the buildings you need, and it otherwise just distracts the player from combat. You want to do that kind of stuff, Starcraft is a much better game for it (Even Warcraft is, I'll get to that).

 

In Dawn of War 2, not having the buildings means you get units quicker, meaning you can start taking points, massing upgrades, and more importantly, you start fighting the other guy from the start. The heroes are much better in DoW2, as is the unit control, the options for wargear, units have more abilities which are more useful (A well timed morale boost or supression-guard can literally turn the game around), and for the mechanically solid, the base hotkey layout is much easier to learn, since it basically uses a grid layout anyway. Plus, having a retreat option makes it easier to save units, especially the ones which are supressed/pinned (A mechanic which wasn't present in the first game), along with a much better cover mechanic, this overall I feel makes the combat far superior. Essentially they stripped the bits that weren't working very well for them and polished the bits that did work to a mirror shine. Unfortunately not many people see that, instead sticking with the "It doesn't have buildings" argument. Plenty of good RTS games don't have buildings

 

It's a bit easier to pick up DoW2 with less experience and play well, and it's nothing to do with the game being easier or more accessible

 

 

Now, I mentioned Warcraft, specifically Warcraft 3. In my opinion, that IS the single greatest RTS game ever made. I still play it quite often with friends. Little bit more accessible than Starcraft, one of the greatest single player RTS games of all time, and if you get bored, there's always custom maps. It's well-balanced, and offers a lot for the mechanically solid, still one of my favourite games to date

[Archimonday]

I'm a huge fan of the Anno series, and still play Anno 1602 A.D. to this day.

 

I love it because the whole point is to eliminate your opponents, but, to do so you have to have a very efficient economy, and large civilian population.

[Holford]

I'm a huge fan of the Anno series, and still play Anno 1602 A.D. to this day.

 

I love it because the whole point is to eliminate your opponents, but, to do so you have to have a very efficient economy, and large civilian population.

 

That's one of things I always try to communicate to others who aren't into RTS, and think it's just 'Sim City with more options'.

 

If you like that, you might really like Sins of a Solar Empire, as it allows for diplomatic, economic, planetary supremacy, and elimination wins!

[blackadder]

supreme commander fa or red alert 2. or course i love the c&c games, the story and acting was great fun.

[Holford]

I quite like Dawn of War II, I felt it was a much stronger entry for the franchise, and 40k is something people for the most part know and love (to some extent)

 

Before someone dives in here with "It didn't have buildings like the first one"... Trust me, I know guys, I know...

 

The reason I prefer the second game over Dark Crusade... I'm not counting Soulstorm, Sisters of Battle were too copy/paste of Space Marines, which is NOT what they are supposed to be, and Dark Eldar were stuck on a 3rd Ed codex when the game dropped so their units had zero variety and they were otherwise a shitty mess of a race in tabletop. This translated perfectly into Soulstorm, and that's the problem.

 

Ok, the lack of buildings. The way DoW manages resources, it's about moving across the map and capturing points. Capture too many points without the army or having units in the right position, you lose your points. You lose points, you don't get resources. Having bases like that just delays getting to the part of the game that matters. It doesn't add much, workers serve zero purpose once you have the buildings you need, and it otherwise just distracts the player from combat. You want to do that kind of stuff, Starcraft is a much better game for it (Even Warcraft is, I'll get to that).

 

In Dawn of War 2, not having the buildings means you get units quicker, meaning you can start taking points, massing upgrades, and more importantly, you start fighting the other guy from the start. The heroes are much better in DoW2, as is the unit control, the options for wargear, units have more abilities which are more useful (A well timed morale boost or supression-guard can literally turn the game around), and for the mechanically solid, the base hotkey layout is much easier to learn, since it basically uses a grid layout anyway. Plus, having a retreat option makes it easier to save units, especially the ones which are supressed/pinned (A mechanic which wasn't present in the first game), along with a much better cover mechanic, this overall I feel makes the combat far superior. Essentially they stripped the bits that weren't working very well for them and polished the bits that did work to a mirror shine. Unfortunately not many people see that, instead sticking with the "It doesn't have buildings" argument. Plenty of good RTS games don't have buildings

 

It's a bit easier to pick up DoW2 with less experience and play well, and it's nothing to do with the game being easier or more accessible

 

 

Now, I mentioned Warcraft, specifically Warcraft 3. In my opinion, that IS the single greatest RTS game ever made. I still play it quite often with friends. Little bit more accessible than Starcraft, one of the greatest single player RTS games of all time, and if you get bored, there's always custom maps. It's well-balanced, and offers a lot for the mechanically solid, still one of my favourite games to date

 

Huh... That's a seriously interesting analysis. I've got to admit, I've never picked it up because I thought (perceptually) it was more limiting that others were - but I've put it on my list of RTS games to pick-up from this thread

[Holford]

supreme commander fa or red alert 2. or course i love the c&c games, the story and acting was great fun.

 

I love Supreme Commander - it was the first RTS I can think of that actually made use of dual monitors - it sounds weird, but having a screen with a live satellite map of all troops movements, facilities, and any incoming artillery fire or ICBMs, was seriously an addictive factor for me replaying that game as much as I did.

[Holford]

How has Starcraft II and Starcraft Brood War not been mentioned?!  :huh:

 

Haha. I have to admit, I was too!

[techswede]

In order from top to bottom

Ground Control II. (The artillery in this game <3)

Dune 2

Red alert 2

Age of empires 2 (I think)

Warcraft III

Empire Total war

Example of GC2 artillery

[blackadder]

I love Supreme Commander - it was the first RTS I can think of that actually made use of dual monitors - it sounds weird, but having a screen with a live satellite map of all troops movements, facilities, and any incoming artillery fire or ICBMs, was seriously an addictive factor for me replaying that game as much as I did.

http://www.faforever.com/

700 people playing now! come join me. 

[VulsaviiK]

How has Starcraft II and Starcraft Brood War not been mentioned?!  :huh:

 

Too obvious? I love Starcraft, is it my favourite? Not quite

 

 

Dune 2

 

Now we're talking, one of the first video games I remember playing. Loved the book series as a kid too, hopefully re-reading it soon

 

 

Depends on what u classify as RTS. If u mean StarCraft 2 style (fast passed with high micro) then ..none. Because I don't consider that RTS, though I have ofc played StarCraft 2's campaigns

 

Might I ask why you don't consider it an RTS, and what you would classify it as? Because the multiplayer runs on exactly the same engine, just with a slightly faster game speed. If the complaint is micro an position, those are basic RTS mechanics. Being good at Warcraft III required still required 150-200APM

 

Only reason I ask is because the only times I've heard that kind of line used before, it was from people that just didn't enjoy it, or simply couldn't wrap their head around how to play. Plus then you've listen Starcraft 1, which arguably had more micro. Legacy of the Void is supposed to make SC2 more like SC1, which was already a much harder game to play

 

RTS - Real Time Strategy. Basically any strategy game that plays out in real time, as opposed to a turn-based game.

[Holford]

http://www.faforever.com/

700 people playing now! come join me. 

 

No PC at the moment But once my new build's complete, and I've got it installed again, i'll check it out!

 

Thanks dude

[techswede]

 

Now we're talking, one of the first video games I remember playing. Loved the book series as a kid too, hopefully re-reading it soon

 

Dune 2000 was also pretty good now that i think about it

[VulsaviiK]

Dune 2000 was also pretty good now that i think about it

 

Everytime I played any of the C&C Tiberium games, it just makes me wish I was playing Dune

 

Anyone ever play Generals? Get the GLA and build a tonne of Angry Mobs.... GG

[VulsaviiK]

Huh... That's a seriously interesting analysis. I've got to admit, I've never picked it up because I thought (perceptually) it was more limiting that others were - but I've put it on my list of RTS games to pick-up from this thread

 

It's still considered a contrarian opinion, so, there's that... You do also get Last Stand, which make for some decent wave defence. Wave 16 still remains as brutal as ever

[blackadder]

Dune 2000 was also pretty good now that i think about it

loved the movie and could never get emperor battle for dune to install correctly, wish gog would sell it. 

 

Everytime I played any of the C&C Tiberium games, it just makes me wish I was playing Dune

 

Anyone ever play Generals? Get the GLA and build a tonne of Angry Mobs.... GG

hell yes i did. 

[SolarNova]

 

Might I ask why you don't consider it an RTS, and what you would classify it as? Because the multiplayer runs on exactly the same engine, just with a slightly faster game speed. If the complaint is micro an position, those are basic RTS mechanics. Being good at Warcraft III required still required 150-200APM

 

Only reason I ask is because the only times I've heard that kind of line used before, it was from people that just didn't enjoy it, or simply couldn't wrap their head around how to play. Plus then you've listen Starcraft 1, which arguably had more micro. Legacy of the Void is supposed to make SC2 more like SC1, which was already a much harder game to play

 

RTS - Real Time Strategy. Basically any strategy game that plays out in real time, as opposed to a turn-based game.

 

Don't get me wrong I still like StarCraft 1 and 2 (even Warcraft). I even like watching Lagtv casts of starcraft 2.

 

But, its not a pure classic RTS, strategy should matter more than micro, RTS = real time STRATEGY.  its why I prefer games like C&C and TA, unit commands have a slight delay, 'macro' as its called now, is the defining skill of old-school RTS, the ability to build your base and strategies on the larger slower scale.

 

Blizzards RTS's has always been about fast reaction units and building times for fast short battles/matches. Im not saying that's bad, its just not ur typical old school RTS. Starcaft style RTS reminds me more of twitch fighter/beat-em-up games in RTS form, than an actual RTS.

 

Compare Starcraft to say Earth 2150/2160 , they are polar opposites, yet the 'Earth' series is what I'd call a pure RTS. its real time, but strategy is absolute core of the gameplay, out playing ur opponents tech choices, army composition, and base defences, while defending own in a slower much longer evolving battle. While strarcraft has this, its condensed into a much much shorter period.

 

Anyway, just my opinion, its not one I expect die hard fans of SC2 to agree or like, its like telling a late 00's gamer that todays games are EZ mode compared to 80's 90's and early 00's games, they just wont hear it. (not saying ur ether btw )

[VulsaviiK]

*snip

 

And macro is still the defining skill of Starcraft II. You might micro better than your opponent, but he had the better strategy, as a result, by the time the fight comes around, you can micro your heart out and watch everything die, because you were straight up outplayed in areas outside of the battle.

 

Essentially in a game of Starcraft II, you need to be watching your opponents base, check to see if he expands, check to see if he doesn't expand. Kill his workers, defend your workers, expand when you can. You need to scout his tech path, come up with an appropriate strategy, or try and dupe him in to countering things you never planned to build to force him to send out units you're already prepared for.

 

The strategy aspect will get better with SC2 when LotV drops, more options in terms of tech, unit compositions, and the maps themselves often leave you needing to adapt. Micro exists only to stretch your units efficiency and make your strategies more . I've rolled friends before just because I knew how they played, and played against them accordingly, no micro needed

[ShadowCaptain]

Earth 2150

Age Of Empires 2

[Holford]

I'm going to throw another in here, as I'm kinda surprised it's not been mentioned before. Another Ensemble Studios legacy. Age of Mythology. 

 

It was an awesome upgrade to the actual gameplay, added some awesome extra classes of building, attack, and infantry, and was a good gradual upgrade in visuals for the time.