My first RTS

[Dr.Sean]

I would recommend Age of Empires, Starcraft or Rise of nations.

Personally, I like the Age of Empires series better than Rise of Nations. I haven't played the first AoE, but the second is my favorite. It was my first RTS, so I've stuck with it. It has an extremely helpful tutorial the explains everything you'll need to play the game.

Protip: If you like the convert millions of followers for you to use to clusterfuck the enemy, go with AoE2. If you want to RUSH the enemy into a pile of gore and metal, Starcraft is for you. If you want a slightly more realistic representation of managing an entire nation, play rise of nations.

 

[Lvl 64 Klutz]

As someone who is terrible at RTS games, and would consider Starcraft and Warcraft 3 in the category of hard, I'd recommend Command & Conquer Generals... both were really, really easy, and made me fall in love with the genre all over again.

 

[teutonicman]

I started with the origional Age of Empires, then kept going till AoE 3. Then I jumped to Rome Total War and am currently going srong on Medieval 2 Total War.

 

[Darkblaven]

I guess you could try Civilization: Revolution or any of those, but heres a warning: ITS EDUCATIONAL! YOU'LL ACTUALLY LEARN THINGS!!!

 

[balimuzz]

Halo Wars is a good bet on console. As for PC, I would go with Age of Mythology or Age of Empires. They're both really easy to get the hang of.

 

[Valiance]

Snip

This post pretty much covers it for me.

Warcraft II's campaign is a good start until level 6ish is where it gets difficult (Orc AND Human).
Command and Conquer is a good start until level 7 GDI (commando only) and level 5 NOD was where things get interesting to the point where you need to have actually formed strategies.
Age of Empires has a good skirmish mode, as does Total Annihilation - very nice to sandbox with computer players and such.

However, most recently, Dawn of War II had an incredible campaign. It felt more like a tactical RPG with a different control scheme. It's a good way to get used to the unit selection/hotkeys/movement of a traditional RTS without any of the macro-economics to deal with (Are my buildings producing units? How is my base income? Where is the next set of resources I'm going to take? Are all of my expansions getting income at optimal efficiency?).

Highly recommended.

As previously mentioned, Starcraft and Warcraft III give you more of a story-based progression based dramatic campaign, which makes for a more interesting game that keeps you wanting to progress to find out what happens to the characters and such.

And once you start to get the idea, you might like something like the Total War games or Stronghold Crusader which are somewhat more complex, but they end up being more satisfying later on.

 

[GodsOneMistake]

Halo Wars? I don't play many RTS's but Halo Wars is about as simple as they get

/runs to the nearest landfill, and fills it with vomit

Halo Wars is shit

the only answer to this question is StarCraft. you can pick it up for $20 as a battle chest, giving you the single greatest gaming experience up until you play Unreal Tournament 2004. Starcraft is also the only RTS other then C&C going to be named on this list, the others fall into the other strategy catagories

Lol i never said it was good, just simple

 

[Theo Samaritan]

Ive been wanting to get into RTS games but theyre rather intimidating. All the top titles seem to be too "hardcore." Can you guys recommend a good game with a relatively gentle learning curve?

Homeworld.

Space RTS released in 1999, it really was, and still is, the pinnacle of the genre. Easy to pick up, excellent storyline, awesome soundtrack, and graphics that, while dated today, were some of the best of the time. Homeworld was to RTS what Half Life was to FPS.

Then you have Homeworld 2, and the non-canon Homeworld Cataclysm. All great games, but the first one really is a godlike example of the genre.

Why people here haven't already mentioned it is beyond me. No sci-fi fans?

 

[Signa]

Warcraft II would be a great start, followed by Total Annihilation.

WC2 has only a few units to learn, and the game is pretty easy all around.

TA steps it up quite a bit by adding a lot of units, but the enemy AI is pretty poor, so you can just lay back and learn the game.

 

[bitzi61]

Go Back to STARCRAFT!

I did just for kicks... LOVIN IT! XD

 

[quack35]

Age of Mythology is the best RTS ever. So go with that.

 

[ExaltedK9]

Halo Wars? I don't play many RTS's but Halo Wars is about as simple as they get

Seconded. Yahtzee said it best when he called it, "baby's first RTS". I don't like real-time strategies but Halo Wars is very approachable and has sold me on the genre.

 

[rockingnic]

Starcraft is one of the best, hell a whole country (Korea, forgot which one) has a tournament for it and almost everyone there watches it I heard. Command and Conquer is also another. Stick to the PC versions of any RTS except for Halo Wars, which is good but only on 360. But if you have a PC, just stick to any C&C and Starcraft.

 

[Vrex360]

Alien Vs. Prededator extinction.... the only RTS I can really think of.
It was a console exclusive (back in Xbox 1's glory days) and it worked pretty well. Though admittedly I still sucked at it.

I suppose Halo Wars would be a logical start for RTS's.

 

[chromewarriorXIII]

I would definitely give Age of Empires 2 a try. It's easy enough to welcome newcomers (I know someone who had never played an RTS before but he picked it up easily) and hard enough to challenge those who know what they are doing.

 

[toapat]

Halo Wars? I don't play many RTS's but Halo Wars is about as simple as they get

/runs to the nearest landfill, and fills it with vomit

Halo Wars is shit

the only answer to this question is StarCraft. you can pick it up for $20 as a battle chest, giving you the single greatest gaming experience up until you play Unreal Tournament 2004. Starcraft is also the only RTS other then C&C going to be named on this list, the others fall into the other strategy catagories

Lol i never said it was good, just simple

if you could extract the liquid blow from a halo wars disc, it would flood the planet in the shit that would pour out of it. few games work as an RTS when based off of a FPS (excluding military games where you play RL armies). halo gets an extra strenght smear of shit every time it is remade. a game that the first sequel feels like the 400th remake should not be continued. Halo was dead at the end of the first game. 2 sucks, and 3 is just shoveling as much shit it can down its throat. Halo Wars does not make a good RTT because the entire game is centered around a platform of control that has been shown to hump the entire strategy category. last good attempt at a console RTS was SC64, which belly flopped spectacularly compared to its computer brother

 

[Aid n]

dune, the origanal.

 

[phar]

I wouldnt suggest AoE2, too big of a learning curve.

Starcraft is probably the easiest if you go through the missions in order and learn what they are capable of. Warcraft 2 and 3 are just as easy to learn.