robertmac43
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Best RTS games:
- Thread starter robertmac43
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Do Make Say Think
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If you really like the first two Age of Empires games, you might care to check out Stronghold HD. It looks and plays a lot like AoE II, but the emphasis is on attacking and defending castles, with each scenario having you do one or the other. For example, if defending, you would put up towers and walls (or, if they're provided, fortify them) and then station your archers in and along them, and maybe surround the walls with pitch that you light on fire when the enemies walk in it. If attacking, you might approach and try to scale the enemy's walls with ladders or build siege engines and try to bust a hole in an weak point so that you can send your soldiers flooding in. The original Stronghold is from 2001 (i.e. AoE II era), but Stronghold HD is a version updated in 2012 for higher resolutions and modern Windows (i.e. basically just like AoE II HD). I missed the original game in the 2000s and didn't play it until the HD version in 2015 and loved it, so it still holds up. There are a bunch of sequels, but the original is the best, especially if you love the early AoE games.
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Hivemind
We're Touched
Ducks in a row
Go Ducks Quack Quack
Second Rise of Nations, one of my favourite games of all time and the best RTS. Still play it from time to time.
I tried Rise of Nations blind about a year and a half ago and couldn't get into it. It tried to one up AoE on the strategy aspects (and did) but in doing so went too far away from the RTS formulae and was convoluted as hell. It certainly had potential, if they had a shot at a proper sequel they might have been able to fully refine it.
People tend to overlook how good Starcraft's single player was in favor of talking about MP, I wouldn't sleep on it.
The C&C games aren't strictly speaking, good RTSs, but they are very enjoyable single player campaign experiences if you can get past some genre growing pains. You might start at RA2, it's the most refined without some of the dumb stuff that came later. Perhaps Generals.
Act of War and Sun Age are mid 2000's "classic style" RTSs that are pretty decent.
Dawn of War always looked okay but I never really played it much. (2 was when everyone stopped actually making RTS games and called RTT games RTS games, I'd avoid it)
One of the most criminally forgotten RTSs ever (because they are a bitch to download/find probably) Is Battle for Middle Earth 1 & 2. I like 1 better than 2, it was punchy and lended itself to quick games. 2 is also good but I felt the gameplay was bloated.
If you like Populous you might like other similarish but not really actually RTS games like King of Dragon Pass or Tropico.
And there's always Paradox Grand Strategy.
Stuff that's not really RTS but I find for myself they mostly all scratch the same itch. Where the gameplay is mostly processing constant streams of information and making decisions.
People tend to overlook how good Starcraft's single player was in favor of talking about MP, I wouldn't sleep on it.
The C&C games aren't strictly speaking, good RTSs, but they are very enjoyable single player campaign experiences if you can get past some genre growing pains. You might start at RA2, it's the most refined without some of the dumb stuff that came later. Perhaps Generals.
Act of War and Sun Age are mid 2000's "classic style" RTSs that are pretty decent.
Dawn of War always looked okay but I never really played it much. (2 was when everyone stopped actually making RTS games and called RTT games RTS games, I'd avoid it)
One of the most criminally forgotten RTSs ever (because they are a bitch to download/find probably) Is Battle for Middle Earth 1 & 2. I like 1 better than 2, it was punchy and lended itself to quick games. 2 is also good but I felt the gameplay was bloated.
If you like Populous you might like other similarish but not really actually RTS games like King of Dragon Pass or Tropico.
And there's always Paradox Grand Strategy.
Stuff that's not really RTS but I find for myself they mostly all scratch the same itch. Where the gameplay is mostly processing constant streams of information and making decisions.
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The expansion (Thrones and Patriots) added a ton of content and there's no doubt it would definitely feel convoluted going straight into it. It was pretty much a perfect expansion at the time if you were familiar with the base game, and playing online forced you to learn the new stuff pretty quick. I don't think there's an easy way to play without the expansion on the Steam version, though, which would be the ideal way to go into it blind.
I feel like you've said this before and I've responded before, but, anyways, I could never get into Rise of Nations, either, and that includes trying it when it was first released and more recently. I remember being excited because the game was billed as a cross between Civilization and Age of Empires, but it didn't feel to me like either. Enough people love it that I may've just not given it enough time to grow on me.
tealhockey
@overtheboards
More for the pile:
Star Wars Empire at war is pretty good, I liked it better without the expansion. It's not a pure RTS base builder type game though it has a strategy layer.
Sins of a Solar Empire, again not strictly speaking a build base > kill other team proper RTS but similarish. I kinda lost touch with that one after the first expansion.
It's way overpriced I wouldn't buy it unless on sale.
Star Wars Galactic Battlegrounds (basically an AoE clone) is reasonably enjoyable.
Divinity: Dragon Commander, again a hybrid not a pure RTS. Not particularly good in terms of building, combat, and such but has a fun campaign to play through once.
I actually have disc copies
Maybe I'll give it another shot in 5 years.
Star Wars Empire at war is pretty good, I liked it better without the expansion. It's not a pure RTS base builder type game though it has a strategy layer.
Sins of a Solar Empire, again not strictly speaking a build base > kill other team proper RTS but similarish. I kinda lost touch with that one after the first expansion.
It's way overpriced I wouldn't buy it unless on sale.
Star Wars Galactic Battlegrounds (basically an AoE clone) is reasonably enjoyable.
Divinity: Dragon Commander, again a hybrid not a pure RTS. Not particularly good in terms of building, combat, and such but has a fun campaign to play through once.
I actually have disc copies
Maybe I'll give it another shot in 5 years.
robertmac43
Forever 43!
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The Crypto Guy
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robertmac43
Forever 43!
- Mar 31, 2015
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Thats not a terrible wait. Warcraft 3 was one I never really played in my younger days, will definitely check it out come release time.
Papa Francouz
Registered User
Might not matter, but on the Battle.net deskop app it says the game will come out sometime before 12/31/2019.
Desdichado93
Registered User
Anno 1800 and Anno 2070 are games that you might want to look into. From Paradox: Stellaris and Europa Universalis IV. The latter is extremely
expensive though (well over 200 USD) if you want all DLC/stuff packs/etc.
Foundation is also a nice little game, kinda similar to the Settlers if you have played those games.
Realgud
Jersey ads are a disgrace
JaegerDice
The mark of my dignity shall scar thy DNA
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robertmac43
Forever 43!
- Mar 31, 2015
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JaegerDice
The mark of my dignity shall scar thy DNA
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There is a story mode, but I spent 99% of my time in multiplayer.
I played the hell out of the first game and the expansions. I loved that in order to accrue resources, you had to capture points on the map. It basically destroyed turtling. You want an army? Get out there and fight and defend your points. It made every match feel fast-paced, back-and-forth and aggressive. Combined with the hilariously ‘metal’ warhammer 40k license and wonderful-for-the-time combat animations, it always felt great to play.
I played much less of the sequel, though I think the sequel may have been critically more well-regarded.
Hivemind
We're Touched
There are some people still playing DoW2 and DoW3, but they're relatively small communities. The DoW2 online play is somewhat fractured among the 40000 expansions for the game. I stopped playing DoW3 online quite some time ago, so it's possible that stuff has changed in terms of balance/map design/mechanics/etc (although I'm skeptical of that).
DoW3 multiplayer involves unlocks and load-outs, which is something I've never been particularly fond of in RTS games (or really any competitive multiplayer game). It also can make the rock-paper-scissors elements of any RTS game even more pronounced, as certain doctrines and hero/elite choices will fundamentally change how you approach a match-up.
The multi-player is also very micro focused, as your macro game depends on you holding down resource locations with units. This can be viewed as pro or a con, depending on your own preferences. However, this resource system can also make games snowball pretty hard, and early defeats can often spiral out of control quickly. There aren't a ton of comeback mechanics in the game.
That said, I do enjoy the campaigns in all 3 Dawn of War games, but I'm also a 40K nerd.
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