Ok you called me out. Now I?m calling you out. Name me some RTS.

[IceStar100]

I said in another thread that I played Halo wars and found the RTS thing boring. Well I?ve been called out so much because of it. I'll give it another crack even gods can be wrong. All I ask is to be kind to my wallet and PC. It still runs on coal.

Tell me as much as you can. Why is it great? You know why do you love it? Feel free to leave as much detail as you please. I will read all of it.

 

[curlycrouton]

Warcraft III. It's just superb, and it's relatively low-spec so you shouldn't have trouble running it.

 

[Legion]

'Command and Conquer Red Alert'. With the 'Aftermath' Expansion Pack.

One of the first modern RTS's, the units are simple but good, the missions are inventive, the economy system is simple and works well. It's a classic to be blunt.

'Command and Conquer Red Alert 2'. With the 'Yuris Revenge' Expansion Pack.

A more cartoony style but the same style of game play. The units are less believable but the missions are just as good.

'Command and Conquer Generals'. With the 'Zero Hour' Expansion Pack.

Completely different to all other C+C games, the building structure is new for the series in that you have builder units and buildings can go anywhere. Resources are gathered from set locations rather than fields of money, basic units can capture almost any building, it is a lot more 3D than other RTS's and more tactical than most of the other C+C series.

 

[Blights]

Starcraft, Diablo (If you can count it as an RTS?)

Warcraft... Stuff like that?

P.S Edited because I was an Idiot.

 

[MetallicaRulez0]

The RTS genre begins and ends with Blizzard games.

Starcraft (+ Brood War)
Warcraft III (+ TFT)

/thread

 

[Fat Hippo]

Warcraft III would be a good start, since the campaign starts out quite easy and the game is in general favorable towards beginners. It's much more forgiving than SC or the old CnCs, where reacting a few seconds late could mean you lose your whole army. Of course, those games kick ass, but I'm reminded of some levels in the first CnC and in Red Alert which could really drive you up the wall.

Edit: I just remembered. This is very nice: http://www.gamershell.com/news_41337.html
It's the first Cnc for free, completely legal, not piracy. I think Red Alert is available for free, as well.
You'll need a programm to mount them though. Use Alcohol 52, it's freeware:http://www.free-downloads.net/programs/Alcohol_52__Free_Edition

 

[Nouw]

YAY! A RTS dedicated thread!
Warhammer40,000 Dawn Of War Dark Crusade usually called DC. But it should be called DLC for its thousands of mods. Awesome mods to be precise
Star Craft I hate to admit.
Lego Battles
Age Of Empires
All of the above I chose because of the gameplay. Strategize to victory sirs

 

[BirdBornAsBee]

Z was great...

 

[The_State]

The RTS genre begins and ends with Blizzard games.

Starcraft (+ Brood War)
Warcraft III (+ TFT)

/thread

nononono... nono... no..


no.

The -craft games are good, I'll grant you, and immensely popular, but they are far from the alpha and omega of the RTS genre. The games are all macro-management; knowing how to farm crystals/gold/whatever better than the enemy, with little emphasis on actual tactical combat beyond the rock, paper, scissors armor/attack strengths.

Here are a couple games I would recommend outside of the -craft series.

Company of Heroes - The emphasis on unit placement and squad interplay to create an actual strategic flow to gameplay. Resources come passively by taking territories, so you aren't focusing so much on managing your peons, and more on setting up gun emplacements, moving grenadiers into position to root out the entrenched enemies, and finding the best place to drop in back-lines troops. The combat is exciting, but doesn't move so fast that a micro-second misclick will ruin everything. Co-op multiplayer really makes the game shine, with each player taking a certain role in the combat through specialization and really maximizing the possibilities in teamwork and coordination.

Supreme Commander - While not as good, in my opinion, as its predecessor (Total Annihilation), the game is still quite solid, and really creates some epic conflicts. The first modern RTS to really bring emphasis to multi theatre (land, sea, air) combat and the importance of each in relation to the others, Supreme Commander pretty much requires you to be able to see a bigger picture on combat than just the skirmish-style engagements you're usually put into in the RTS scene. The drawback to this is that by the end of the game, you're spending more time in your global view and unable to see the combat unfold, which is really quite beautiful. I still have to recommend Total Annihilation higher, however. While the combat isn't as large as it is in Supreme Commander, the gameplay itself is more solid. And for a title of its time, it was utterly mind blowing. It's just a shame that Starcraft became more popular.

 

[Jandau]

Company of Heroes, Supreme Commander, Warcraft 3, Starcraft, C&C Tiberium Wars (and all the expansion packs for these) are some of the good examples of the genre.

 

[randommaster]

The RTS genre begins and ends with Blizzard games.

Starcraft (+ Brood War)
Warcraft III (+ TFT)

/thread

nononono... nono... no..


no.

The -craft games are good, I'll grant you, and immensely popular, but they are far from the alpha and omega of the RTS genre. The games are all macro-management; knowing how to farm crystals/gold/whatever better than the enemy, with little emphasis on actual tactical combat beyond the rock, paper, scissors armor/attack strengths.

I must disagree with this, especially in the case of Starcraft. Micro-management is esential in Starcraft and good use of it will win you more games than simply trying to out-economy the other side. Also, the game gets better when you are playing against actual people. Additionally, the RPS elements are needed to stop the games from being entirely about macro.

 

[Snor]

go play Rome Total war (yes yes its not a complete RTS but the battles are)

-Company of Heroes
-C&C Generals Zero Hour
-Starcraft
-Warcraft

And many new fancy RTS which your pc doesn't(nor mine) run.

Halo wars sucks bigtime btw

 

[w-Jinksy]

if your new to rts get one of the bfme games simple solutions to them spam troops till you win, if your looking for strategy dawn of war games are generally good for it but whatever you do dont buy that shambles of a game red alert 3.

 

[AMCization]

Warcraft 3, you'll never look back, you'll never look forwards. You shall stay there forever >=]

Yay!

 

[veloper]

So the TS PC is ancient.

then Starcraft will be his best bet for a good RTS that will also run on his PC.

 

[Rassan]

The Total War series are a fun group of games. My favorite is Medieval II Total War. I just find it fun to make a strategy and outwit my opponent in games like this, especially when you're on the edge of defeat. Then again I think like a defeatist...

 

[Lukeje]

Defcon? That's only requires fairly low specs and is pretty fun. And depressing...

 

[More Fun To Compute]

Homeworld. I actually find most RTS boring in terms of single player game but Homeworld isn't. It's getting on a bit now so should run on most PCs but it looks and plays well if you can learn the controls. Half the fun is getting your head around controlling your units in 3 dimensions of space with no ground. The other half is the spaceship fleet battles. This is seen as one of the harder RTS but if you found Halo wars as boring as me then you might as well go straight to the best, skipping the training wheels.