What are all the RTS games worth playing?

[mayro]

Im makeing a list as i dont know any good RTS sites and i really enjoy these types of games. Im trying to find stuff to keep my attention from you know what .

As far as i know i have/play:

all command and conquers
all warcraft and starcraft games
Rise of nations and exp
Dungen keeper 2
age of ... to many to list in that one

I cant think of any more off the top of my head, but if you can think of some good ones to hold the attention span of someone let me know please

 

[dawdler]

Codename Panzers is apparently very good as an RTS...

But still, one of the best remains the Total War series. They just pwn the competition. C&C, WC, Rise of Nations of DK2 and AoE... They are all based on brute force, sure its realtime, but its little "strategy". In Medieval you can go up against a 2000 man army with 200 elite troops of combined units and actually win the battle.

 

[NeptuneUK]

mayro, all the ones u mentioned are great - get them already!

 

[mayro]

I have and have played them all to death thats the problem... untill the 22nd i dont have a new one to play... waiting on rome... ive played the demo about 20 times now with differnt mods lol.

 

[NeptuneUK]

try the total war selection, ive never played them, but ive only heard very good stuff about them.
my fave RTS games, personally.
are: starcraft, and RA2: yuris revenge

 

[dawdler]

try the total war selection, ive never played them, but ive only heard very good stuff about them.

Well if you havent played them, you havent played military RTS. Seriously. They arent as unique now (since there are three of them and many other games are starting to rival them in terms of formations and amount of men, heh), but they are still just... perfect. Two 1000+ men armies clashing is an amazing sight. Lining up in formation with archers in front and cavalry on the sides... Watch your archers fall back while the spearmen makes ready to face the incoming enemies. Personally what I like the most is taking my cavalry and brutally cut down the survivors when they retreat after combat

 

[DarkStar]

Homeworld.....play Homeworld and Homeworld 2 if you have any interest in RTS whatsoever.

 

[kungfucheez]

The greatest RTS I would say is the Total War series. Atleast its my favorite series

 

[dawdler]

Sadly homeworld is the same, a brute force "rts". They are very cinematic though, great games.

 

[NeptuneUK]

Well if you havent played them, you havent played military RTS. Seriously. They arent as unique now (since there are three of them and many other games are starting to rival them in terms of formations and amount of men, heh), but they are still just... perfect. Two 1000+ men armies clashing is an amazing sight. Lining up in formation with archers in front and cavalry on the sides... Watch your archers fall back while the spearmen makes ready to face the incoming enemies. Personally what I like the most is taking my cavalry and brutally cut down the survivors when they retreat after combat

sounds cool, id really like to see a more modern or possibly WW1 or 2 approach to another total war too!

 

[dawdler]

Err...

WW1: Run to your death across a 100m field.
WW2: Work in small mobile units across large areas

I dont think it will work with Total War, lol

Btw:

"sounds cool" is NOT a term you use with Total War!!!!!!!!!! Rome is gonna own...

 

[kungfucheez]

Yeah, The reason Ive always loved the total war games is because the amount of realism and strategy involved is juts amazing, and the fact that you can have thousands apon thousands of troops on the screen at once

 

[ShadowFox]

Total Annihilation and Warzone 2100 are must plays.

 

[NeptuneUK]

that would KILL my PC.....
*reduces to a blubbering mass like state*

 

[dawdler]

Total Annihilation and Warzone 2100 are must plays.

Once again... Well I dont think I need to say it anymore

 

[HunterSeeker]

Warhammer: Dark Omen is the best RTS I have ever played, it is probubly abandonware now.

War of the Ring (Better then WC:3 in my opinion).

Empire Earth is a lot of fun. But playing a game where you reach the top of the tech tree might take 8 hours, I am not exagerating.

 

[Tinneth]

Get Dungeon Keeper (#1) + Deeper Dungeons expansion pack...they are much better than Dungeon Keeper 2 in my opinion.

 

[Cole]

I have Warzone 2100, it cannot be found in stores anymore (just to tell you all that).
It's pretty nice. Has a very unique way of creating new units and researching.
Sc is a must play.

If you never played Starcraft, well then... you gotta.
I WILL GO DODGE THE RAPISTS NOW!

 

[ShadowFox]

Once again... Well I dont think I need to say it anymore

I can't tell if you are agreeing or diagreeing with me. :O

 

[Quixoticism]

StarCraft The best RTS of all time imo(go buy the Battle Chest right now all you heathens who don't have it!)
Warzone 2100 was a really cool game...at least what I got to play with in the demo
I have yet to try out the Rome:Total War demo that's sitting in my downloads folder, but I'm highly inclined to now.
Warcraft 3:TFT has some of the best custom maps ever, but the regular melee sucks like a mofo.
Total Annihalation is a really good game.
Kind of funny how most of these good RTSs are old and abandonware now.
And let us not forget Savage. Yes, yes I know that it is mostly a FPS, even then there are strategic elements even for those playing as the units.

 

[<RJMC>]

I sinceresly get bored of the RTS games

the only ones I want to play are
Starcraft and Alien vs Predator extinction(console only)

 

[Cole]

Boltress i can give u the Warzone 2100, the developer shut down and therefor it cannot be found in any stores. (Since i first got the demo ive been waiting for it ship to me for like... 3 or 4 years..)
lol
Hell even http://www.strategyplanet.com/warzone2100/ has a link to dl it. so if you want it just go there. Since it can't be found anywhere else by my standards (Look under the news section and scroll down), i mean no stores no nothing. So i really dont think this can be considered as a warez..

 

[Geno]

Command and Conquer Generals (plus the Zero Hour expansion).

wow, that has got to be the most balanced command and conquer i've ever played.... and i love it. CHINA PWNS YOU FOR FREE!!!!

 

[dawdler]

I can't tell if you are agreeing or diagreeing with me. :O

My point is that there are two kinds of RTS genres (or more, some are hybrids... But lets just say its two distinct):

Brute force RTS
Complex RTS

Examples of brute force are WC3, Starcraft, C&C, Total A, just about every game mentioned here. There is little *true* "strategy", since it mostly ends up in who brings the most units there first. Units basicly have hitpoints and damage, some goes as far as having bonuses against certain units (Age of Empires) or "heroes" that improve units around them. Homeworld included ammo into the mix, I believe. The story is often the best part here, while strategy suffers.

For complex RTS, Total War stands out like a sore thumb. Each unit has like 10-20 different variables, from being good against cavalry to weak defence or irresistable charge and ignore routers. Formations play a big role. Then comes ammunition for ranged units. Then the fact they will flee due to casualties or if they are flanked. Then you have morale, armor upgrades, experience, weapon upgrades and on top of that the experience of the commander leading the army. And so on and so forth.
And this is completely ignoring the fact you have to build, support and transport the army into battle.

There are also some undefined hybrids (Cossacks come to mind), but none are really good, in this case I prefer the brute force games.

None are bad... I love Warcraft 3 as much as I love Medival Total War. But it is quite important to see the difference.

 

[CyberSh33p]

homeworld/homeworld 2 are great space RTS, but pretty gawddamn hard. the battles look so sweet, I forget all about building stuff...

 

[dawdler]

homeworld/homeworld 2 are great space RTS, but pretty gawddamn hard. the battles look so sweet, I forget all about building stuff...

Homeworld and Cataclysm was great, I think Homeworld 2 sucked... It wasnt any strategy at all, it was trial and error. The fact you keep your units across missions is incredibly stupid. I had to replay a map like 2-3 times, before I realized that it wasnt anything wrong with my tactics, it was because the map before was played wrong, I didnt have the right units transferred

On one mission I had this huge battle between dozens of capital ships and tons of fighters, and I walked out with a smile on my face and 1 surviving fighter squadron... Only to enter the next mission against impossible odds from the start. Thus one have to replay the previous mission until one get enough units to survive the next mission.

Not any strategy at all, just chance :x

 

[dawdler]

Hey, I forgot another game one can add: SM Gettysburg (and I think it had an Antietam sequel). Its the closest thing to Total War you can get, without the world part... Just pure combat between manouvering armies in pseudo 3D. The good thing about this is the massive amount of units deployed, which means you can fight for a looong time, much longer than TW... Actually you can fight for hours if one choose to play a full day.

But of course, TW is prettier and much more diverse, plus the world makes it much more immersive.

 

[HunterSeeker]

I would put Command and Conquer: Generals as a hybrid between Brute Force and complex.

I mean I once haad 20 rangers stand and shoot for 3 minutes at a scorpion tank, it did not blow up. Take a missile defender and it is gone in 15 seconds.

 

[Raxxman]

See I think Starcraft isn't brute force. It has choke points and cloaking units, resource points to defend/attack.

If you're outbuilt but can sneak a single dropship into his major resource point you can amost immediatly shut him down.

The use of highground has allowed me to slaughter enemy forces by pinning them with zelots, pounding them with (mind blank but the toss tank) and psi storms. setting an ambush with 24 zerglings buried in the ground waiting for troops to pass them and seige tanks to set up before backdooring them.

See starcraft has a lot of individual unit tactics, while games like Total war rely more on the big picture. Nothing wrong with either, Total war is the best, but I don't liken it to Starcraft at all. Its like a direct comparison of Quake 3 vs Unreal 2. They're both fps, but one is single player only (till XMP arrived), while the other has nearly zero sp at all.

 

[dawdler]

I would put Command and Conquer: Generals as a hybrid between Brute Force and complex.

I mean I once haad 20 rangers stand and shoot for 3 minutes at a scorpion tank, it did not blow up. Take a missile defender and it is gone in 15 seconds.

Naw, that is still brute force with a slight twist. Age Of Empires use the same system with its anti-infantry/anti-cavalry/anti-building units, as do WC3 with its heroes... Its a way of giving the illusion of being complex, while its still the same brute force but now in varying units that apply.

TW is different in that the experience and various upgrades and the men around it that matters whether they will have the courage to see through the fight, not just their weapons bashing against armor.

I wonder how BFME will be though.

 

[Dux]

Get Dungeon Keeper (#1) + Deeper Dungeons expansion pack...they are much better than Dungeon Keeper 2 in my opinion.

This man speaks the thruth. No disrespect to the sequel, it did have possibly the best mission cutscenes ever, specially the one with the Bile Demon, Imp and Mistress. Haha, get's me everytime. But Dk 1 was just much better.

 

[Quixoticism]

Thanks for that link Minerel. The Underdogs is an awesome site. It's too bad the the developers are still trying to get as much money from you as possible as half the games there can still be purchase online.

See I think Starcraft isn't brute force. It has choke points and cloaking units, resource points to defend/attack.

If you're outbuilt but can sneak a single dropship into his major resource point you can amost immediatly shut him down.

The use of highground has allowed me to slaughter enemy forces by pinning them with zelots, pounding them with (mind blank but the toss tank) and psi storms. setting an ambush with 24 zerglings buried in the ground waiting for troops to pass them and seige tanks to set up before backdooring them.

See starcraft has a lot of individual unit tactics, while games like Total war rely more on the big picture.

That's what I love about Starcraft. There are so many awesome strategies available. One time when I was playing the zerg, I was attacking a few Seige tanks with some lings, and the guy irradiated his tanks, killing my lings. I really wish that Blizz would revitalize Starcraft with a new engine and have subgroups like WC3 has, but leave the current gameplay the same.

 

[Andy]

Three words:

UFO: Enemy Unknown

Edit: One more word:

Ascendancy

 

[The Terminator]

Casesar III !!!! Get it, its so much fun and prolly liek 5-10 bucks now.

 

[dawdler]

Three words:

UFO: Enemy Unknown

Edit: One more word:

Ascendancy

UFO?

Well I have a problem matching Real Time Strategy with a turn based game

(yeah I know what you will say... UFO is realtime in the world (where there is no real strategy) and turn based in combat, whereas TW is realtime in combat (where there is only strategy) and turn based in the world)

 

[Raxxman]

XCom apoc then

but that wasn't as good as UFO IMHO

 

[StardogChampion]

Casesar III !!!! Get it, its so much fun and prolly liek 5-10 bucks now.

Hell yeah. You could get Pharoah or Emperor: Rise of the Middle Kingdom aswell, since they are made by the same people and are practically exactly the same game, they just look different. The game mechanics are 90% the same.

You could also try Ground Control 2 (amazing mortar weapons in this game ), or Civilization 3.

 

[Kazuki_Fuse]

Ground Control 2 is wicked IMO.

 

[Farrowlesparrow]

Dawdler we get the point...you like the Total War games :x



Othe games aren't just about brute force though. There is a lot of strategy involved if you are willing.

 

[CyberSh33p]

Homeworld and Cataclysm was great, I think Homeworld 2 sucked... It wasnt any strategy at all, it was trial and error. The fact you keep your units across missions is incredibly stupid. I had to replay a map like 2-3 times, before I realized that it wasnt anything wrong with my tactics, it was because the map before was played wrong, I didnt have the right units transferred

On one mission I had this huge battle between dozens of capital ships and tons of fighters, and I walked out with a smile on my face and 1 surviving fighter squadron... Only to enter the next mission against impossible odds from the start. Thus one have to replay the previous mission until one get enough units to survive the next mission.

Not any strategy at all, just chance :x

I'll agree with you there, the second mission in homeworld 2 was just garbage cause you basically have to do the last one right and know whats going to happen in the current one. but multiplayer its still fun and the battles are still gorgeous...