Recommend me a good RTS.

[sinterklaas]

Starcraft 2 if you're more into the RTS part of RTS and less in the building part.

I have a 1 year old computer and on the lowest graphics its pretty chuggy, people told me to get a new graphics card, but I'm not that willing to spend 200 EURO for a single game.

You're crazy. I played SC2 on low settings on 60 fps with a freaking ATI Mobility Radeon 3270 with 128MB VRAM. SC2 is incredibly well optimized. It can run on almost anything. I now play it on ultra with 60 fps on a 150 euro graphics card.

 

[jthwilliams]

Any recomendation for a funny RTS? One of the things I liked about blizzard was they had their serious hardcore RTS (StarCraft) and then they had WarCraft where if you kept click on the gaurd he would eventually start making sarcastic remarks about joining the army.


Oh and Settlers can be a good RTS at least versions 3-5 were good. 6, and 7 have issues. Well maybe issues is too hard. It is sad when a game that has a long history of a very unique gameplay style decides it wants to try to go mainstream and removes most of what makes it unique.

 

[thereverend7]

For PC, the one that got me hooked was Red Alert 2. Very very fun, pretty easy build up in the first missions, but gets very challenging near the end. Play Yuri's Revenge (the expansion) if you happen to like RA2, but its much, much harder. Starcraft as well. I haven't played 2 or even one that much for that matter, but my short time spent with the game was very enjoyable indeed.

If you have a game boy advance or emulator, Advance Wars and Advance Wars 2: Black Hole Rising are fantastic, once again, slow build up with easy missions and then insanely hard near the end. If you have a DS Dual Strike and Days of Ruin are also very good, but probably a bit more challenging as they go in assuming you've played the first 2.

Of course, in any of these games i posted (with maybe the exception of starcraft, i honestly can't remember) there are "Skirmish" modes where you can just vs the computer on random maps and set the difficulty to whatever you like. and then buy 300 tanks and cover the map with an army of steel death. and slaughter the like, 10 infantry the computer has guarding the base.

My point is even if the missions are too hard, you can still have a blast in the random battle mode (or online if thats your thing) and it can be as easy or as difficult as you want it to be.

 

[LeQuack_Is_Back]

If you're willing to go slightly away from RTS into Action RTS, I'd suggest giving the Battlezone games a try. I prefer them to standard RTS because you have base-building alongside personally kicking the enemies ass with your own unit. And there's nothing like leading the end-game "I have a metric ton of units that I'm going to steamroll you with" charge from the front. They're rather old at this point though.

 

[shabobble]

If you can find and run Rise of Nations (Gold Edition, because it comes with more and better races) buy it and play it now. Putting aside Starcraft, since I can't argue against such a juggernaut as that series, at its prime it was easily the best out of any of the other games listed on this thread.

Not sure what shape the online community is in anymore, though - haven't played it in six years.

 

[Imperial Dane]

Cant go past company of heros. It is about $20 and has a good following. Requires a bit of practice though.

CoH died when they released ToV

Plus playing it online means you are no longer playing a World War 2 game. You are playing Starcraft: Human Looking Stuff edition.

I love CoH, I love it to death, I love the modding scene and I must have beaten the campaign about 6 times now. I am waiting with baited breath for the next major release for the Eastern Front Mod (Another German faction? Yes please. A potential Eastern Front Campaign? OH HELL YES) That said playing it online (And not with IRL friends) is one of the most boring and unrewarding events of my life. "Oh, you did not buy ToV? Well, that sucks because it gives you stupidly overpowered units that are to balance what a helicopter is to a knife fight"

Do I sound like a butthurt fanboy? Perhaps. But online play is boring to say the least.

I will never forget the 4 hour game against bots I had with my friends in which we were cornered and almost annihilated (I insisted we push on and we did) it was one of the most epic (And destructive) experiences of my life.

But my experience playing with real players can be summarized as this.

"Yeah, With tales of valour you get the kangaroo carrier, did you not know that? Basically fast armoured rocket-launcher infused death stupidly early"
"Oh, Did I not tell you about the American Light Tank covered in Rockets that the Germans can make? On the Italien front about 15 were used during the entire war so we allowed the Germans to make entire battalions of them. Goodbye Defence, goodbye player that likes to Turtle"

Good RTS games?
Rise of Nations: Gold Edition
CoH + CoH Opposing Fronts (Single Player)
WC3.
Dawn of War + Expansions and Dawn of War 2 (I cannot vouch for DoW2 expansions)

Those are my alltime favourites.

Sounds more like you got caught wrongfooted and then proceeded to make a bother of it and didn't bother to trying to actually deal with it. And the fact that apparently you're complaining ever so deeply about the Hotchkiss tank rather makes me say you might be a bit on the green side in the CoH online scene. Most people still prefer the Panzer IV honestly And the Kangaroo got nerfed so it's much more managable now.

But hey, don't let me get in the way of your defeatism

 

[WOPR]

I second the recommendations for the Dawn of War series. Warhammer 40k is not everybody's cup of tea, of course, but the games are excellent in and of themselves anyway.

If you're looking for classic RTS with base-building, upgrade research, amassing armies etc, you're best off with "Dawn of War" and the expansions "Winter Assault" and "Dark Crusade"; disregard "Soulstorm", it's a disgrace.
If you're willing to try something of the RTT (Real Time Tactics) variety, "Dawn of War 2" is your game, along with the expansions "Chaos Rising" and "Retribution". (It's worth noting that "Retribution" concludes the story arc begun in the very first "Dawn of War".)

Why does everyone hate soulstorm?
if I may ask
I really like playing the dark eldar in it, but never really got too deep into the balance in it, is that the problem?

either way, I myself like DoW2 better, I have Chaos Rising, but no retribution yet (waiting for late december)

also I want to note, so what if 40k isn't everyones cup of tea, DoW is still a great series and a FUN RTS/RTT game(s)

...better then Starcraft in my opinion (for normal games, starcraft still stomps in terms of having unlimited custom maps/modes)

 

[MPerce]

Here's one no one ever talks about: Homeworld
Wonderful game from 1997 that pioneered storytelling and three dimensional movement in RTS's. I haven't played the sequel, but I've heard it's also really good.

 

[SidheKnight]

Since the RTS genre is so vast, I'll list some good noob-friendly games by category:

Historical: Rise of Nations, Age of Empires 3, Age of Mythology (also counts as fantasy)
Fantasy: Warcraft 3, Age of Mythology (also counts as history I think)
Sci-Fi: Starcraft 2 (the first SC is too hard for me, and too ugly graphics).

These are the games I know, if I left some awesome RTS out it's probably because I haven't played it.


But I strongly recommend Warcraft 3 + The Frozen Throne xpac and Starcraft 2.

Those games are excellent.

 

[Riddle78]

The entire Supreme Commander franchise. It has solid gameplay and a reasonable difficulty curve,and if you end up losing,the mistake is more often than not quite evident. Supreme Commander 2 is great for new comers (Even SMALLER learning curve) and can be easily seen as a training ground for SupCom 1 and Forged Alliance. They both focus on large scale battles on large maps (Smallest SupCom 1 map? 5000 meters by 5000 meters),and utilize "Strategic Zoom" to view the entire battlefield with Strategic Markers designating units and structurtes.

 

[Varanfan9]

Dawn of War Dark Crusade. Its in a great setting and has squad based spawning rather than spawning one soldier at a time.

 

[Frankster]

Ok I got a game right up your alley since you mentionning Age of empires means you ain't fussed if it's an older game:

Stronghold and its expansion pack Stronghold Crusader are both out on gog on the cheap.

Game concept is this: you build up your castle economy and build an awesome castle, then enemies come and try to invade it. Also missions where you invade enemy castles or missions where both you and your enemy have a castle and are trying to kill each other a la classic deathmatch.

Simple concept, flawless execution and very satisfying strategical game play with the castle building allowing for all sorts of tricks and creativity.
You cannot go wrong with this game if you like strategy and want something different then the average rts game.

Other main reason i recommend it is because the first missions do a great job of easing you into the game, you'll be starting with wooden walls and archers, and then gradually get more exciting tools to play with until you're building a monstrous castle with multi layered defences and an advanved castle economy in yer sleep.

 

[Daffy F]

I have been itching to play an RTS for a while, and I recently found an old Age of Empires game, the Age of Kings. After going through hours of building up my civilization and making a huge hord of soldiers, I got screwed when my entire battle force were converted by monks and sent to attack my own keep.

Could someone recommend a fun, challenging RTS thats easy on noobs? Preferably without a standard unit for everyone that can turn 40 men against me?

It would probably be a good idea if you keep looking out for monks.
OT: My two favourite RTSes of all time are Age of empire II - The Conquerors (make sure you get the balancing patches first), and Command & Conquer: Red alert 3.
Either of those will come with a high recommendation from me, but I don't know if that helps.

 

[latiasracer]

Homeworld (SPACESHIPZ)
Homeworld:Cataclysm (SPACESHIPZ THAT EAT OTHER SPACESHUPZ)
Homeworld 2 (HD SPACESHIPS, With really cool explosions)
World In Conflict (Really Really Really Awesome)

 

[Signa]

Seconding Supreme Commander/Supcom:Forged Alliance. It's the best RTS I've played.

 

[Psycho78]

Another vote for World in Conflict. Artillery and airstrikes FTW!