PC Game Suggestions, Need new RTS games!

[Buizel91]

So i recently got a gaming PC, i have the likes of the Dawn of war 40k Games, all the Battle for Middle Earth games, Age of Empires 2 HD Edition, Skyrim, Dragon Age Origins, League of Legends and a bunch of others, some old, that i used to play a long time ago and some new.

However it seems the only RTS games i have are the games i listed above, I am currently trying to find cheap versions of Impossible Creatures and Jurassic Park Operation Genesis to...i just hope they work on windows 8.1 :')

Can any of you suggest good RTS games? I particularly enjoy Base Building games but since playing Dawn of war 2, i also enjoy them type as well. Thanks Guys!

 

[MirenBainesUSMC]

Oh man --- if you like Sci Fi war ship stuff:

Sins of a Solar Empire
Sins of a Solar empire: Rebellion
Star Craft
Star Craft II: Wings of Liberty, Heart of the Swarm

If you like semi-Sci-Esque stuff:

Command and Conquer Red Alert 1-2-and 3
Command and Conquer III

Swords and ect:

Age of Empires Siries
Age of Empire: Total War ( and the sub games therin that is the Total War series).


You sir are going to be busy.

 

[IBlackKiteI]

The original Age of Empires plus expansions are still cool and definitely worth checking out if your into the second game.

Probably the biggest recommendation I can make is Age of Mythology plus the Titans expansion. Fun campaigns with a lot of variety, an easy to use map editor if you're into that sort of thing, four distinct armies and loads of crazy god powers and myth units. There's a lot to like here, however if your not keen on overspending I'd recommend seeing if you can find a copy in a bargain bin somewhere as the only version you can get on Steam is the remastered edition which costs more than it should and doesn't really add much worthwhile beyond Steam multiplayer.
You may want to check out Supreme Commander, a large scale mech RTS with loads of ground, air and naval units and Total Annihilation, the older game its more or less based off which you can get on GoG .com.
The original Company of Heroes and expansions are definitely worth picking up if you haven't tried them yet, they're more like Dawn of War 2 with more of a focus on the action and not a whole lot of base building but with all the expansions you get a lot of game for not a whole lot of cost.
World in Conflict with the Soviet Assault expansion is one of the most unique and fun RTS's I've played with great singleplayer and multiplayer modes. There are no bases, you can usually only control around a dozen units or so in a large battlefield and you need to split your attention between ordering your units around and using your own commander abilities, which include airstrikes, air-dropped tanks and infantry and even nukes.

Aside from that GoG is FULL of great older RTS games which run on just about anything. Total Biscuit has a big huge list of various awesome strategy games, including stuff like Sacrifice, a kind of third-person RTS where you play a wizard summoning and leading hordes of monsters, Ground Control 2, kind of an earlier World in Conflict style large-scale sci-fi RTS with no base building, big battles and a lot of varied units and Dungeon Keeper, where you act as a kind of evil overlord controlling minions and excavating and expanding your dungeon realm while fighting enemy heroes and adventurers.

 

[votemarvel]

If you can find it then Star Trek: Armada would be a very good buy.

 

[Buizel91]

The original Age of Empires plus expansions are still cool and definitely worth checking out if your into the second game.

Probably the biggest recommendation I can make is Age of Mythology plus the Titans expansion. Fun campaigns with a lot of variety, an easy to use map editor if you're into that sort of thing, four distinct armies and loads of crazy god powers and myth units. There's a lot to like here, however if your not keen on overspending I'd recommend seeing if you can find a copy in a bargain bin somewhere as the only version you can get on Steam is the remastered edition which costs more than it should and doesn't really add much worthwhile beyond Steam multiplayer.
You may want to check out Supreme Commander, a large scale mech RTS with loads of ground, air and naval units and Total Annihilation, the older game its more or less based off which you can get on GoG .com.
The original Company of Heroes and expansions are definitely worth picking up if you haven't tried them yet, they're more like Dawn of War 2 with more of a focus on the action and not a whole lot of base building but with all the expansions you get a lot of game for not a whole lot of cost.
World in Conflict with the Soviet Assault expansion is one of the most unique and fun RTS's I've played with great singleplayer and multiplayer modes. There are no bases, you can usually only control around a dozen units or so in a large battlefield and you need to split your attention between ordering your units around and using your own commander abilities, which include airstrikes, air-dropped tanks and infantry and even nukes.

Aside from that GoG is FULL of great older RTS games which run on just about anything. Total Biscuit has a big huge list of various awesome strategy games, including stuff like Sacrifice, a kind of third-person RTS where you play a wizard summoning and leading hordes of monsters, Ground Control 2, kind of an earlier World in Conflict style large-scale sci-fi RTS with no base building, big battles and a lot of varied units and Dungeon Keeper, where you act as a kind of evil overlord controlling minions and excavating and expanding your dungeon realm while fighting enemy heroes and adventurers.

Ahhhhh yes, i planned on picking up Age of Mythology, forgot to mention that. Another old gem i used to play ^_^ Not payed much interest in the Supreme Commander series, tried one of them once and didn't reall care for it, however that was on the 360 and not the PC :') (Console gamer here who in the last few months has only just gotten an amazing Gaming pc xD)

Company of hero's peeked my interest when i found out Relic made it, love Relic with what they have done to the Dawn of War games. (reactivating the Multiplayer through Steam) I shall have a check of GoG also thanks!

 

[Buizel91]

Oh man --- if you like Sci Fi war ship stuff:

Sins of a Solar Empire
Sins of a Solar empire: Rebellion
Star Craft
Star Craft II: Wings of Liberty, Heart of the Swarm

If you like semi-Sci-Esque stuff:

Command and Conquer Red Alert 1-2-and 3
Command and Conquer III

Swords and ect:

Age of Empires Siries
Age of Empire: Total War ( and the sub games therin that is the Total War series).


You sir are going to be busy.

I assume you mean Empire: Total War, which i will almost certainly end up getting.

Isn't starcraft 2 online only? :\ Sins of Solar Empire doesn't really interest me tbh same with the command and conquer series, tried them on an older computer and didn't care for it.

 

[Muspelheim]

While there isn't any base building, I dearly recommend giving the Men of War series a look.

It's similar to Company of Heroes (being set in WW2), but much less arcade-esque. They've leant more towards realism in those games, and have many neat little details you don't see anywhere else. Such as unit inventories, fleshed-out armour penetration mechanics and direct control.

Direct control in particular is the crowning feature. With it, you can take direct control of a unit and steer and aim with your mouse and keypad. It's one of those things I really wish I had when I play other games. Makes dumb AI pathing much easier to deal with.

Those games are rather complicated, and it'll take a while to get the hang of it (and longer still to git gud), but they're very well worth looking up. If nothing else, in what other game can you re-equip your men with helmets looted from corpses? And indeed, in what other game would it make a difference?

And if that doesn't sway you; flamethrowers.

 

[Ihateregistering1]

Universe at War: Earth Assault
One of the most underrated RTS games ever made for PC (in my opinion), features 3 factions that are so distinct and interesting that they make the Zerg, Protoss, and Terrans seem like cookie-cutter clones of one another. The Heirarchy Walkers are worth the price of admission alone.

The Krush, Kill, and Destroy games (1+2)
These games lack a lot of the improved controls and refinements of later RTS games, but they are still fun. Basically Command and Conquer meets Mad Max meets Fallout, with a lot of humor thrown into the mix.

Second both Age of Mythology and Supreme Commander. I'd recommend giving Supreme Commander another shot. I'll admit, the first time I played it I couldn't really get behind it, but when I went back and put some more time into it I really started to like it a lot.

I probably don't need to mention them, but Warcraft 3 and StarCraft 2. And no, StarCraft 2 has arguably the best single-player campaign of any RTS game ever. It also has an excellent skirmish mode, not to mention TONS of mods that allow you to play fun variations and arcade style versions of the game.

I can't recommend Homeworld and Homeworld: Cataclysm enough. They aren't really "base-building" RTSes, but they are so phenomenally good I can't recommend them enough. I personally thought Cataclysm was a little better, but they are both good.

 

[Morgoth780]

Oh man --- if you like Sci Fi war ship stuff:

Sins of a Solar Empire
Sins of a Solar empire: Rebellion
Star Craft
Star Craft II: Wings of Liberty, Heart of the Swarm

If you like semi-Sci-Esque stuff:

Command and Conquer Red Alert 1-2-and 3
Command and Conquer III

Swords and ect:

Age of Empires Siries
Age of Empire: Total War ( and the sub games therin that is the Total War series).


You sir are going to be busy.

I assume you mean Empire: Total War, which i will almost certainly end up getting.

Isn't starcraft 2 online only? :\ Sins of Solar Empire doesn't really interest me tbh same with the command and conquer series, tried them on an older computer and didn't care for it.

Starcraft 2 isn't online only. There's a single player campaign (WoL is about 30 missions, HotS about 25, as I recall) and then you can always play offline games against AI.

 

[Bombiz]

I'd say go for the total war games. Especially medevial 2 since it has a lot of overhaul mods for it including but not limited to multiple lord of the rings mods, 2 warhammer mods, multiple game of throne mods, one legend of Zelda mod, and many others that transform the game into different periods in time. Deffinetly a must for any RTS fan who also likes other geek type stuff.
Also Rome Total war. Get that too.

 

[The Madman]

Starcraft 2 is pretty much the biggest game in the rts genre right now and is definitely worth looking into. Even if you're not interested in the competitive online play the amount of singleplayer content is pretty massive as well and totally worth the asking price if rts is a genre you enjoy.

But for a suggestion that a bit less obvious, how about Divinity: Dragon Commander?

It's a weird sort of rts meets rpg game where the action sequences play out in small fast paced rts matches and there's a larger world-map ala Total War series where you command your grand forces. However when you're neither fighting in rts mode or overseeing things on the world map, you'll be talking with companions and making diplomatic decisions aboard your flying sky command ship.

Also you totally play as a dragon with a jet-pack, that's kinda awesome.

 

[TheArcaneThinker]

Rome total war is the Best RTS I have ever played (it also has 2 great expansions). Its epic , grand , lively , fast paced , great in every field.

Company of heroes <----- fast paced , lively .

Medieval 2 total war <----- its looks better than rome but its slow and boring , even though its better than rome on paper.

Age of mythology and its expansion <----- Great game as its fun , better than age of empires.

Age of Empires 3 <----- Its a good RTS game .

Sins of a solar empire <---- think of a grand RTS in space. Its mostly about making the right choices at the right time rather than strategy .

Thats all

My recommendation :

Get Rome : total war (original) .

Base game is fucking great masterpiece.

It has 2 great expansions , best is barbarian invasion , alexander also great but hard .

There are many great graphic mods , if you are the kind of idiot who thinks graphics are important.

Its better than medieval 2 total war or any other total war game out there.

 

[Loonyyy]

There have been a ton of awesome games already recommended, so I'll mention a less popular one with a ton of mods - Star Wars: Empire at War. While vanilla version is servicable enough, an enjoyable, if somewhat easily exploited, timekiller that underwhelms but never does anything wrong, there's just an obscene amount of mods out there, that include overhauls for different time periods in Star Wars canon, as well as other sci-fi series such as Stargate. This, for the most part, stems from the fact that there's two different forms of combat - land and space combat, as well as general overworld resources and unit management. There's also many mods out there to vastly improve the overworld AI.

Sounds like you've played a few of the mods, any recommendations for them? A Stargate RTS sure would be a fun way to waste summer break.

 

[Bart XB]

I wish they'd make a game like C&C with persistent bases.

 

[PizzaDJCat]

Try King Arthur (the first). I think it's an exhilarating RTS and it's story is nice as well. I worked on the support of that game, I can help if you might need it.
And whatever you will play, have fun!

 

[vledleR]

Origin offers all 17 C&C games for $20. Not really new, but yo can't really go wrong with a deal like that.

Almost all of them use the old school base building.

 

[Signa]

Supreme Commander is my favorite RTS ever, so of course I'm going to suggest that.

I know you said you played and didn't care for Sins of a Solar Empire, but I'm wondering which version of the game you played. Rebellion is the best by far, so I'd reserve judgment until you've played that with all the DLC. It probably has doubled it features since the original release by that point with the new units, planets, solar events, tech tress, and sub-factions.

 

[MasterOfHisOwnDomain]

One of my favourite genres, so hopefully I can recommend a few:

Stronghold
& Stronghold Crusader -- can also be called a 'castle simulator', but basically what you'd expect from a medieval RTS

Star Wars Galactic Battlegrounds
& SWGBG The Clone Campaigns(?) -- uses the AoE II engine but adapts it to the Star Wars universe. Still highly playable.

Perimeter -- highly interesting, futuristic RTS involving bases that move, subterranean weaponry and power etc.

Knights of Honor -- reminds me most of the EU series. Slow-paced, deep game set across Europe.