I need a new RTS

[Dirty Apple]

I'd highly suggest the aforementioned Total Annihilation. It's graphics won't wow you, but the gameplay is solid. And since a saw a few Sins of a Solar Empire recommendations, I humbly put forward Galactic Civilizations 2. Before anyone says anything, I know its more in the realm of 4X turn based empire managers, but its still a heck of a game. Also I'd venture that I have somewhere well above 100 hours sunk into the first Dawn of War. The second one is magnificent, but in a very different way.

 

[rabidmidget]

Warcraft 3 battlechest

You get Warcraft 3 and its expansion as well as access to the hundreds of mods available (like DOTA which is a genre defining game in itself)

 

[Jewrean]

You could always obtain your games through....unconventional means. Wink wink. A fantastic RTS that I've been playing a lot recently is Warhammer 40k Dawn of War. The first one.

Hell yes. This with all included expansion packs is one of my favourite RTS of all time in terms of gameplay mechanics.

Starcraft 1 would have to be my favourite in terms of custom maps and campaign design though.

Oh and I didn't like DOW2.

 

[Weaver]

Have you played Company of Heroes?

 

[Parshooter]

If you want the style of combat like Age of Empires go with Rise of Nations

If you want the time period go with Empire: Total War or some of the million European ones

 

[YepGeddon]

RUSE, allows you to zoom in really far, and out! Its cool man, so cool. Yeah and its also a very fun RTS if you enjoy thinking a fair bit. DOW2 is my most played RTS at the moment (not chaos rising, I'll just have the free units thank you ) Also the old C&C games, tiberian sun with firestorm preferably, Red Alert is a bit difficult to work with, Red Alert 2 is a gem, the rest of the C&C universe I cant say I'm too fond of.. Never played Starcraft or Warcraft, mainly because I hadn't heard of them until this whole Starcraft 2 bonanza, they're probably good, word of mouth is in favour of them. Total war games, Rome, medieval and shogun really worth looking into. I've heard good things about Civ games as well. But yeah, anyway conclusion, play RUSE, its free until wednesday. Then buy all of the Warhammer 40k games. And spend the change on Sins of a solar empire, because it'll steal your time.

 

[TheBaron87]

Never played Starcraft or Warcraft, mainly because I hadn't heard of them until this whole Starcraft 2 bonanza, they're probably good, word of mouth is in favour of them.

It always boggles my mind when self-proclaimed gamers haven't heard of Starcraft, especially since it's South Korea's national sport and all.

http://www.gomtv.net/classics2/vod/572

Have you seen any other RTS, let alone any other game, get this kind of treatment?

It also doesn't hurt that Starcraft is one of the founding games of the World Cyber Games.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B-4DN8RKNDc
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tGGkvbQHXWc
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RHwzj-5cvtY

 

[Withall]

You could try Rise of Nations or Rise of Legends.

Or definitely Dawn of War, Dawn of War 2 Is just as good but just slightly different.

I also recommend any Command and Conquer game.

Rise of nations definetly. If not starcraft.

I concur. Rise of Nations is a VERY nice strategy game. Very different from the usual crowd.

 

[Bat Vader]

If you have not played any of the Total War games yet than I would suggest getting one of those. Rome: Total War is a fun and excellent RTS but Medieval II: Total War is another excellent RTS in the Total War franchise.

They are about three or four years old and the graphics will seem dated but they are fun and the re-playability factor is very high.

 

[PurpleSky]

After finally getting bored of Age of Empires 3, I decided it's time to look for other RTS games.

I don't have any money to buy any games yet, so does anyone care to recommend me some good RTS demos?

I've owned Age of Empires 3 and Company of Heroes, so those two are out.

Edit: M birthday is coming up soon, so recommend me some titles to beg/command ask my friends to get me.

Battleforge is free.

 

[TheBaron87]

snip

Battleforge is free.

It's also terrible.

 

[PurpleSky]

snip

Battleforge is free.

It's also terrible.

I didn't say it was good .

 

[ilikepie59]

Supreme Commander (and also Forged Alliance)

Fantastic.

I've said it before and I will say it again. I don't like any of the many RTS games that I have tried except SupCom.

Lots of differences from many other RTSs.

I'm pretty sure SupCom 2 is heaps different though, so I can't really speak for it.

 

[YepGeddon]

Never played Starcraft or Warcraft, mainly because I hadn't heard of them until this whole Starcraft 2 bonanza, they're probably good, word of mouth is in favour of them.

It always boggles my mind when self-proclaimed gamers haven't heard of Starcraft, especially since it's South Korea's national sport and all.

http://www.gomtv.net/classics2/vod/572

Have you seen any other RTS, let alone any other game, get this kind of treatment?

It also doesn't hurt that Starcraft is one of the founding games of the World Cyber Games.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B-4DN8RKNDc
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tGGkvbQHXWc
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RHwzj-5cvtY

Cant honestly say that I'm a self proclaimed gamer, but yeah, not many other games get this kind of treatment other than the thousands of final fantasy games out there I guess. Maybe I should just stop living under a rock haha.

 

[The Amazing Tea Alligator]

quote]
I was talking about Starcraft 1, not 2. And no, I don't think older games are better either. Better games are better, regardless of age. I think CoD6 is much better than Goldeneye 007. Portal is one of the best games ever made, even though I'm of the NES generation. I enjoy games like Dirt 2 and Grid much better than Pole Position or Top Gear. Street Fighter 4 is better than Street Fighter 2. Older isn't better either. Better is better.

Innovation, however you want to define it, doesn't guarantee quality. Games that legitimately innovate usually DON'T succeed. Most innovative games you can think of are really just more polished versions of ideas that were first tried years before. Ever heard of Winback? That was the original Third Person Shooter with a cover system, waaaaay back before Gears of War.

Anyway, I can't judge Men of War and I never attacked it, I'm just defending the fact that Starcraft is still an amazing game, in my experience better than any other RTS I've played, including:

- Total Annihilation
- Homeworld 1+2+Cataclysm
- Populous:TB, Earth 2150
- Dawn of War 1+2
- Company of Heroes
- Sins of a Solar Empire
- Age of Empires 1-3
- C&C 1+2, RA 1+3, Generals
- Supreme Commander 1+2
- Battle for Middle Earth 2
- etc. etc. etc.

Since you like to attack it for not having all the new features of modern RTS.

Anyway, I'm not going to buy a game I'm iffy about. If I enjoyed Game A, and I'm told Game A2 is more of the same, then of COURSE I'm going to buy Game A2, since I already know it has what I like. I don't understand what's with people who always need something different to the point they'll buy a game just because it's hat everyone else is playing or it has an interesting commercial, then bash sequels as "rehashes" even if they admit to enjoying the game before it. I wish more sequels WOULD be the same so I could finally have another decent Starfox or Final Fantasy game. I've been waiting since 64 and 6, respectively. At least Dragon Quest will never change too radically.

I agree with you on many thiings. Better is certainly better, and there are examples of both older games being better than newer games (Morrowind > Oblivion) and newer games being better than older games (Age of Mythology > Age of Empires). Starcraft is a fairly good game, though I would still prefer Age of Empires 2, for it's civilization and diplomatic aspect (Starcraft can't hold itself up on fun localized action, and doesn't have a civilization thing to it), but I can appreciate Starcraft's polish.

Innovation certainly doesn't guarentee quality, that's for sure. Often the makers will solely focus on that one innovative feature to the exclusion and therefore detriment of the game. However, in comparison to traditional RTS games, Men of War does SO MANY THINGS differently that the innovation doesn't ruin the game, but rather compliments it.

I'm not attacking Starcraft for having the 'new' (???) features of a modern RTS (what are these? No LAN? Better graphics? You've lost me.). I applaud it for it's campaign, but the gameplay is still in 1998. Play the Men of War demo. Imagine that kind of gameplay, but with the Starcraft universe. Add in base-building. That's what I wish Starcraft 2 has the ambition to be.

I'd agree that if game A2 is like game A, and you liked game A, you assured to enjoy it. However, I should hpe that game A2 changes things up even slightly, otherwise it's just an expansion pack (what ever happened to those?), not a game.

Men of War could certainly be better. That being said, there is a free demo on steam. I STRONGLY urge (you can tell because I used caps) you to try it. It is no cost to you, and it has a style of gameplay like no other that I've ever seen.

If you want to pick up a new game and be able to compete online right away, pick up Starcraft 2 when it comes out.

If you want a great game that you'll have to work on a bit to compete online, pick up Starcraft and the expansion.

They're both good games (I have played both) but Starcraft 2 is ridiculously easy in comparison to the first one, and everyone who was playing in the beta with the exception of the people who competed in the Teamliquid tournaments and such still suck.

Also to the one guy who was talking about Starcraft stagnating, wtf? Brood War has changed as recently as last week when the entire ZvZ matchup got flipped upside down and we have 40 minute games where there were previously 10 minute games. It's changing all the time. The interface is old but that just means you have to be better.

lol - that's not quite the change I mean...

 

[Singularly Datarific]

Starcraft II, less the 8 days and counting...!

This.
Sadly, I just got in the beta with only 8 days left...
Hollow victory, but at least I got a cool email from blizzard...

You best be playing the hell out of it for us regular people who missed out!! 8 days is better then nothing!

Even then, I only have access to a decent computer 2 of those days!
I'll do my best to get have fun with it!

 

[Locko96]

RISE OF NATIONS! Old game but really great. Also, Civ games are a nice change of pace.

 

[TheBaron87]

Cant honestly say that I'm a self proclaimed gamer, but yeah, not many other games get this kind of treatment other than the thousands of final fantasy games out there I guess. Maybe I should just stop living under a rock haha.

Quite true, quite true. I should stop making that assumption just because I'm posting on a gaming site.

I'm not attacking Starcraft for having the 'new' (???) features of a modern RTS (what are these? No LAN? Better graphics? You've lost me.). I applaud it for it's campaign, but the gameplay is still in 1998. Play the Men of War demo. Imagine that kind of gameplay, but with the Starcraft universe. Add in base-building. That's what I wish Starcraft 2 has the ambition to be.

Ok, here's where we're having a communication issue. If I don't put the 2 after Starcraft, I'm talking about the original game. I've been recommending the original game, and assuming you've been bashing it for NOT having the new features.

I'd agree that if game A2 is like game A, and you liked game A, you assured to enjoy it. However, I should hpe that game A2 changes things up even slightly, otherwise it's just an expansion pack (what ever happened to those?), not a game.

Well naturally you expect new content and a few new features each time, but I'm talking about the sort of drastic changes like Starfox coming out of the vehicles (and what little decent story and characters there were being replaced with Krystal and bug aliens killing everybody), or the fantasy-based Final Fantasy turning into a bad anime, or Sonic having a billion crappy characters, stages where you don't run, and piss easy boss fights. I prefer sequels to have small, incremental improvements over time that don't drastically alter the game but add onto it one layer at a time, like the first 4 Sonic games (4 being +Knuckles), or the original NES Mega Man series, or new series like MGS, DMC, and God of War.

And I said I would try Men of War and I will. In fact I'll download it now that my other downloads are finished.

 

[The Amazing Tea Alligator]

Ok, here's where we're having a communication issue. If I don't put the 2 after Starcraft, I'm talking about the original game. I've been recommending the original game, and assuming you've been bashing it for NOT having the new features.

I wasn't so much responing to you as going off on new tangents, but I see what you mean. No, I'm not bashing the origonal Starcraft for having new features, but I am bashing Starcraft 2 for not changing the formula to any real degree.

I agree that it is certainly safer to move in small steps, but it's taken like 12 years for Starcraft 2, so these aren't small steps - they're microscopic.

My conclusion:
- Starcraft was an exceptional game fo it's time, ans is nowadays still the best COMPETITIVE game out there.
- It DOES NOT come close to the best gameplay out there, but if e-sports are your thing, so be it.
- From what I've seen, Men of War has the best RTS gameplay out there.
- I really wish that Starcraft 2 used that gameplay, and combined it with it's polish and competitive aspect, but it didn't, and that irks me.