What good RTSs are there?

[thesilentman]

Just the title. I'd like some RTSs, but the thing is, I've never actually played one. What are some good titles for beginners? Here's what I have that other people recommended to me:

-Civilization series
-Alpha Centuri
-Total War series
-Starcraft

Any other suggestions?

 

[Generalissimo]

command and conquer: generals and the zero hour expansion, they're good for newbies like yourself, simple enough to master and a good starting point for greater things.

 

[shrimpcel]

Well Civilization games are turn-based, not RTS.

Apart from what you've said, maybe add Company of Heroes and Homeworld (for some originality).

 

[TheRightToArmBears]

I loved Red Alert 2, I never played RA3 but a lot of people seemed to complain. RA2 is brilliant, and also ridiculously silly. One of the Soviet units are giant squid that attack ships, how awesome is that? It's also gloriously un-PC; being made before 9/11 one of the missions involves attacking the World Trade Centre, and the Libyan and Cuban special units are suicide bombers. Lots and lots of fun though.

 

[Gizmo1990]

I have had a lot of fun with Sins of a Solar Empire: Rebellion recently. I have yet to try a Diplomatic win but who the hell would want to when you can build ships the size of the moon with guns that would make God think twice.

 

[Soviet Heavy]

Dawn of War 1 or 2 are both excellent if you want a more combat and tactics focused RTS than a build order RTS like Starcraft 2.

If you get DOW 2, go with Retribution, and download the Elite Mod for a great rebalance.

 

[Tallim]

Warzone 2100 <- This is free now and much improved by fans due to released source code.
Ai War plays like an RTS but isn't technically :/ Good game though.

 

[skywolfblue]

- Starcraft Series (Starcraft 2 has a lot more newbie-friendly options to ease new players in, but you may want to start with Starcraft 1 + Brood War just to experience the story)

- Warcraft 3 + Frozen Throne (Very newbie friendly)

- Homeworld Series (well, not really newbie friendly, but being one of the best space RTS's of all time makes it mandatory playing for any RTS fan)

My tip would be to hold off on any multiplayer plans you may have until you get a bit of a grasp for the mechanics. RTS multiplayer can be kinda unforgiving.

 

[ffs-dontcare]

I really liked Homeworld 2 (and yeah, Homeworld in general).

Command & Conquer 3 with the Tiberium Essence mod is very worthwhile! Much better than the vanilla version. I find it a lot of fun.

As another poster said, Red Alert 2 is good fun as well.

 

[sextus the crazy]

Company of Heroes. Holy shit. Just Company of Heroes.

Already 6-7 years old and it still holds up extremely well in every aspect.
Also one of the few good RTS games to truly innovate, with it's use of cover-based combat, destructible environments, and directional armoring on vehicles.

 

[Nouw]

For a beginner, Dawn of War: Dark Crusade is a great game to start with. It has the basic base-building, resource-gathering and combat aspects of RTS. Resource-gathering, however, is based on capturing points which deteriorate, lose their value, at a much slower rate than say Starcraft. Therefore, it has a bigger focus than the battles which can be for some, more fun. It's fairly straight-forward so you'll be kicking ass on a planetary scale quickly. When you feel more familiar with the Relic feel of strategy games, that is capturing points, try Company of Heroes which takes combat to a whole new level with destructible environments, buildings and cover. Your units can enter buildings and use hedges, walls for cover but at the same time, the enemy can destroy said cover.

 

[Lucyfer86]

Since Starcraft has been said several times, i say C&C: Tiberium Wars, best rts ever imo.

 

[Wadders]

Just to re-iterate what has already been said, you can do no wrong with Dawn of War. The original and it's expansions are pretty easy to get to grips with, with a few differences from traditional RTS games, especially regarding resources.

Plenty of different races with a huge variety of units, and im pretty sure the visuals have held up fairly well for an old-ish game. DoW2 is also well worth a look.

Company of Heroes is also a must buy, as has been mentioned.

From a personal point of view (and this may just be nostalgia talking) I'd suggest you have a go at the Age of Empires series, especially AoE 2 and Age of Mythology. So many good memories of those games, but I'm not sure if they have passed the test of time or not. AoM had a pretty cool singleplayer storyline / campaign too!

 

[Joccaren]

Ahh, Civilization and I believe Alpha Centuri aren't RTS - RTS is REAL TIME Strategy, whilst Civ and Alpha are turned based 4X strategy. I'd almost say the Total War series fits this category, just with real time tactical battles, though its an odd case so I'm not really sure.

Now, thanks to you not distinguishing between the two I will give recommendations for both

RTS:
-Age of Mythology. Is a must, especially with the Titans expansion. Yeah, its old now, but its still fun, and forming a Titan slaughtering wall is waaay too much fun.
-Warcraft 3. You've played Starcraft, Warcraft is Blizzard's other RTS. Slower paced, more emphasis on micromanaging the units as opposed to the primarily macro focused Starcraft, and with a ton of custom maps that allow it to transform into a million games for you to try. Also, make sure you get it with The Frozen Throne expansion. Its not quite the same without it.
-Rise of Legends. Fun and entertaining, though starting to show its age. Campaign that switches between RTS battles and turn based research and movement throughout 3 stages. 3 unique races with many different special units and spells, and all round an interesting and fun RTS to play.
-Rise of Nations + Thrones and Patriots. Really starting to show its age now, but a very fun RTS spanning from the stone age through to the present. Has a grand campaign similar to Rise of Legends, but played on a map of Earth trying to conquer the world.

4X:
-Galactic Civilizations 2. One of the great 4X games, alongside the Civilization series, and very fun to play once you get all its expansions. Campaign starts off easy but quickly becomes brutal, but the normal matches are still fun and scale well. You are able to design your own custom ships using parts that you can then deploy in game, which can lead to many fun moments involving your fleet of Imperial Star Destroyers attacking an enemies fleet of Battleships, even though the game has nothing to do with Star Wars. A bit dated, but still fun.
-Fall From Heaven 2. If you've played Civilization 4 with the "Beyond the Sword" expansion [Which you should if you haven't, it adds a lot to vanilla Civ IV], then you may remember the Fall From Heaven: Age of Ice mod that came with it. Now, take that, and turn it into an entire 4X game on the level of Civ IV. That is FFH2, with a lot of new races, units and tactics that you'll have to utilise to win. Random events are fun and sometimes challenging, and there are a lot of ways to win, some dependent on your race. The armageddon counter is interesting and something you have to keep in mind whilst playing the game, and there are a lot of things you can do in it. It is basically a whole new game, but a free mod if you have BTS.

 

[The_Lost_King]

Just the title. I'd like some RTSs, but the thing is, I've never actually played one. What are some good titles for beginners? Here's what I have that other people recommended to me:

-Civilization series
-Alpha Centuri
-Total War series
-Starcraft

Any other suggestions?

none of those other than starcraft is an rts. Total war has rts elements though. The first RTS I ever played was Warcraft 3( well actually it was 2 but I prefer 3) and I have to have at least put 1000 hours into it. It is a really fun game and the custom map feature is amazing. League of Legends exists because of WC3, it spawned MOBAs. People were so creative with WC3 it is just amazing. Great story too.

- Warcraft 3 + Frozen Throne (Very newbie friendly)

damn it, ninja'd

 

[Yokillernick]

No matter what anyone says, avoid Company of Heroes at all costs, unless you want to play it singleplayer. The reason behind this is that the game is often imbalanced with one side getting tanks and inf that will rape you if they get it first and since most of the other people online have already played that game for eons you will lose. You will lose a lot. Also people will also take advantage of the fact that you are new just so that they can rack up a few easy wins. You have been warned.

OT: Empire Earth. This is the BEST RTS game ever made. Sprawling around 30 or so Eras, from Stone to Future Age, with upgradable units and hundred of them, this game has everything. Plus is on GOG.com, DRM Free for a very good price. Oh and I would also try Age of Empires 2 with expansions if I were you. Fantastic games both of them.

 

[Redlin5_v1legacy]

Blitzkrieg 2 gets my vote. I keep coming back to it whenever I feel like playing an RTS. It is awesome. ^.^

 

[klasbo]

Adding another vote for Command & Conquer 3. The campaign is a great introduction to most of the essential mechanics, and some of the mater missions let you do more or less whatever you want. However, C&C has a very different style of base management than most other RTS games.

Another - so far unmentioned - game is World in Conflict. This is actually a real-time tactics game, since there is no base building at all. This means you can focus fully on your small number of units. It really requires that you think carefully about unit positioning and unit interactions. It's also essentially a free game (if you only want to play the campaign), as you do not need a CD key unless you want to touch the multiplayer component.

 

[Darknacht]

If you like the Civilization series and the Total War series try Paradox's grand strategy games, Crusader Kings 2, Europa Universalis 3, Victoria 2, ect. They are like the Total War games but with more detail. Unless you a a preferred time period I would suggest starting with Europa Universalis 3(w/ all the expansions, they add a lot). These games are also great if you like modding/playing mods.

 

[RustlessPotato]

No Lord of the Rings: Battle of Middle- Earth 2 mentioned ? . I had TONS of fun with that game.

You might want to try Total Annihilation and it spiritual successor, Supreme Commander, a game where you can zoom so far out, your screen becomes the minimap. You can also use a secondary screen as a minimap. I mention that to give you a feel of the scale on some of the maps.