Perfect game for an RTS newbie?

[snow]

But before I forget, I want to point out that you should not fear getting horribly crushed by your opponent in starcraft 2 online. The matchmaking system is set up so that way you only play with people around your skill level, so you won't be facing hardcore professionals unless you work your way up to the higher tiers of the game.

Blizzard has done this so that way newcomers can come to the game and still be able to enjoy themselves without having to worry about going up against some one who will easily take them out within the first couple of minutes in the game.

They have even come up with a Practice League where players can go in and play the game at a slower pace than what they would play normally. The entrances to both players bases are sealed off with boulders that can be destroyed, so that way any early in-game rush would mute.

This way players can take the time to build up their base and army before having to deal with any urgent matters till later on in the round that they should be prepared for by that point.

Not to mention that there is a 30+ single player campaign. The only draw back to that is that it will focus on the Terran race of the game. I have reason to believe that they will have missions where you are allowed to control 2 or possibly 3 races at once since Blizzard has done this in the past with Starcraft, Brood Wars, and Warcraft 3.

If that doesn't satisfy you, or if you're looking to learn a different race but don't wish to play against another player while doing so, they give you the option to play against a computer with the race of your choice.

 

[Tekkawarrior]

stay away from Starcraft.

Why? I've heard from many of my friends that Starcraft is amazing, and not that hard to get into.

Starcraft is great I'll give it that, but you don't want to tackle it right from the start, the graphics and mechanics are not the most pleasing out there, also, it is actually quite hard to get into if it's your first RTS.

You can try it if you like of course, but I can almost assure you that you will not pick it up easy.

 

[Withall]

I'd say Starcraft is a good pick. AS LONG AS YOU STAY AWAY FROM THE MULTIPLAY. Don't go in there unless you have someone who knows how to play with ya until you are self-sufficient.

 

[SlyderEST]

I've managed to get myself quite a list again... Alot of these are about Starcraft so yeah...

One of the most balanced rts games of all time is still the original starcraft - although pretty much everything about it has become dated, the mechanics and strategy part of the game still feels very up to date.

start off with the C&C series but play them on the PC then the original Starcraft and Warcrafts
that should get you started off.

But do me one favour don't buy SC2 yet wait till Blizzard release the other 2 expansions for it.

On the PC you got Company of Heroes, Warhammer 40000 Dawn of War, the Age of Empires (and Mythology) games (2 being my favourite). If you're concerned about being new you could give the Total War games a try, gives you the RTS battles with turn-based pace. And of course there's the original Starcraft.

And your post says 8:22. Confuse much?

Ontopic, of course, Starcraft. Sins of a Solar Empire is similar, but there's less stuff to do, it's a bit more complicated and it plays out alot slower.

stay away from Starcraft.

Why? I've heard from many of my friends that Starcraft is amazing, and not that hard to get into.

The thing is that Starcraft is pretty much the most balanced and hardest RTS I know. It needs micromanagement, you have to know when to expand and that's really difficult. I mean, I can only beat normal (or easy, I don't remember) AI with zerg rushing, and I'm not exactly new to RTS's. Starcraft 2 has 3 different games, not one game and 2 expansions.

And Warcraft (I'm talking about Warcraft 3) is hard as well. Might not be as balanced but it sure is hard. But Warcraft's custom maps can be really entertaining in multiplayer, even if your not the best in strategy games.

Total War is probably a good choice but it might be boring. I found Empire: Total War to be uninteresting for some reason. Maybe it was too complicated or I've played too much of Total War.

Sins of a Solar Empire is really slow. I don't really know to advise anything good but I have played one game and I liked it.

 

[PurpleSky]

Wait,let me check if the game I'm thinking of is free.


*EDIT* yes it's free, Battleforge



You have no base,you conquer the resource buildings,and you summon your army with cards. It's pretty easy to get into right away.


You also have an area just for training,where you summon whatever units you want,so you can learn to play right there.


It's free,so why not give it a shot? (for a beginner anyway,rare cards need to be bought)

You guys should think of a game that's easy to get into,not just your favorite RTS,battleforge isn't mine

 

[rabidmidget]

Warcraft 3 is fun, cheap and has tonnes of mods.

 

[SlyderEST]

I forgot to say a game that I would recommend... I guess it would be Age of Empires or maybe Age of Mythology. Battleforge might also be a good idea as mentioned recently.

 

[tetron]

So with the upcoming release of Starcraft 2, and such unbelievably good things being said about the genre, I've become interested in Real-Time Strategy games. The only thing is, I've never actually played a real one.

The only one I tried was Command & Conquer 3 for the Xbox 360, which I couldn't stand. The controls just weren't fast enough, and it just didn't end up being fun in the least.

Anyway. I want to ask y'all on The Escapist, what RTS game would you recommend to a complete newbie to the series?

EDIT: I mean on PC. Definitely not on consoles, I found out firsthand that they just don't work.

Well starcraft was the first RTS I ever played, and I still have a blast playing it with my friends to this day. So I would recommend that, if I could clear the campaign at age 10 I don't think you should find it insurmountable.

Warcraft 3: The Frozen Throne is also really fun and is another RTS me and my friends still play.

 

[PurpleSky]

stay away from Starcraft.

Why? I've heard from many of my friends that Starcraft is amazing, and not that hard to get into.

If you're like me and you hate loosing a single unit,then it's hard to adjust,starcraft 2 will have you loosing armies in a few seconds,and you constantly need to focus.

 

[Leviathan_]

There is only one answer to this question: Empire Earth

Great deal of diversity, similar to Age of Empires, great game overall.

 

[Esspytood]

stay away from Starcraft.

Why? I've heard from many of my friends that Starcraft is amazing, and not that hard to get into.

Starcraft is great I'll give it that, but you don't want to tackle it right from the start, the graphics and mechanics are not the most pleasing out there, also, it is actually quite hard to get into if it's your first RTS.

You can try it if you like of course, but I can almost assure you that you will not pick it up easy.

this.

in terms of the easiest RTS, you can't go wrong with dawn of war. just don't be looking to much into the sequel until you're a little adept.

honorable(so to speak) mention for supreme commander 2 which was dummed down so people like you could catch a break. but its a nice enough choice and has plenty of options to make it easy as possible while having plenty of other options to make it quite challenging when you're up to it.

then you can move up to Supreme commander 1... and even Total Annihilation.

 

[pejhmon]

starcraft is a good start, the campaigns for each race slowly build you up to their potential by limiting the buildings that you can make so that you learn what each one can do

all of the Age of Empires are also worth a shot (except 3) and Age of Mythology is great fun

all Command and Conquers, although since there are so many .... Zero Hour or one of the Red Alert's

Company of Heroes is good but a little too complex for a first time RTS gamer and has quite a high requirement graphically in case your computer is old

the Dawn of War games are awesome but very fast paced, I suggest playing this after some of the other ones

maybe even one of the Total War games, specifically Rome. different kind of strategy altogether but still fun

but dear god, never play strategy on a console (halo wars, i'm looking at you >.<)

 

[Kruxxor]

My first RTS was one called "Rise of Nations : Rise of Legends" which was quite fun and had RPG elements to it.

I'm not a fan of the Command and Conquer series, so I wouldn't recommend that. Age of Empires III is good (it's the only one i've played) but my favourite RTS's are Dawn of War I and DoW II.

Of course there's also Warcraft which is quite fun, but if you want to play something where you can have 2 HUEG armies battle it out, then Dawn of War I is your best bet.

 

[Cheesebob]

Dawn of War. Very simple RTS to play.

 

[Jekken6]

My first RTS is "World In Conflict"

It's very fun.

 

[kwagamon]

If you're planning on playing Starcraft II, then I would highly reccomend playing through Starcraft and the Brood War expansion pack campaigns. A couple reasons there. If you play through Starcraft and expansion before you pick up the sequel, there is very little to learn as far as controls for the next game (I've given the beta a whirl, if that wasn't clear). Also, if Starcraft II doesn't pick up where the original's/Brood War's story left off, I know I personally will punch babies. Starcraft and Brood War had easily my favorite campaign mode of any RTS I have ever played, because the story behind it was phenomenal and the player isn't just controlling an existing character. The player is for once THEIR OWN CHARACTER. For each race you're basically the same person with a slightly different flavor (a pseudo-lord of that race with a decent amount of sway under the command of a major protagonist/antagonist who quickly goes rogue for the good of their race), but at least you're not just either some nameless, faceless god-being or just the perspective of an existing character whose personal life impacts absolutely nothing in-game. On the subject of characters, the supporting cast (the people who aren't you) are absolutely fantastic. I first realized that the cast was wonderful in an early Terran (human) mission where an existing character as a unit meets a new character again as a unit for the first time ever. The new girl begins to say hi, then cuts herself off and yells "Oh you pig!" to which the first character replies "Oh yeah, I forgot they told me you were a telepath." Then later, I was nearly in tears (and I'm not normally moved by the plot of a game beyond an occasional "Oh that's kinda' sad.) at the several heartfelt goodbyes that were taking place both at the end of the Terran and Protoss campaigns. There's a lot of emotion going on between the characters and between the races that you really feel during each chapter. The Zerg didn't really do it for me, although they tend to be most people's favorite race to play. They were just a bit to jerky of a race and too sideways of a strategy for me to enjoy. The basic gist is that you sacrifice your guys to make more useful guys/buildings and it is genuinely good for rushing (hence the common RTS phrase "Zerg-rush") but not that fun for a more casual experience. The Protoss are mostly heavy-hitting, finesse oriented (I know it sounds dumb but it makes sense) units that fighting even one of can feel like a swarm. My personal favorite unit from them is the Carrier, which is an air unit that's attacks consist of releasing 1-8 smaller air units that do the fighting for it. The Terrans take a middle ground, which is why they are the basic race for the tutorial mission. They have a lot of units that require a lot of practice to use effectively, while their primary units are swarm-lite style infantry units. Also, Terrans can launch nukes if they develop the technology later in the game. No one else even has that capability. It also has one of the most logical nuke-launching mechanics in my opinion that has ever made it into an RTS. You have to paint a target using your a specific stealth unit, and the nuke will then laucnh. In other words, you have to do recon and genuinely assess the situation before just throwing a nuke somewhere.

So yeah, in short Starcraft and its only expansion are amazing, particularly the campaign mode.

I would also recommend Rise of Nations and its expansion pack as a great RTS, although I have much less to say about it's awesome campaign mode. RoN is the kind of RTS that gets its replay value from playing different scenario battles and then putting it away afterwards. Oh, and they have nukes, too. I guess that's pretty good for them.

Sorry for the long post.

 

[blankedboy]

I mean, I can only beat normal (or easy, I don't remember) AI

You can't set the difficulty of the skirmish AI, which is Starcraft's one flaw, in my eyes. Don't bother with the skirmish, just give copies to your friends and have Hamachi battles, and play the campaign while they're setting up

Although, I agree it might be hard to get into until you can fully get your head around all the units and buildings, and their advantages. I guess I'm a bit too used to it to make a good decision for a newbie

 

[PurpleSky]

My first RTS is "World In Conflict"

It's very fun.

Is that the one with 3 races,one of which is only giant robots?

 

[RIOgreatescapist]

For newbies I guess it's gonna be those slow rts like age of empires or rome total war.