Where have all the RTS games gone?

[Valiance]

Hell no, console strategy games is a no-no. I played Halo wars and to my immense satisfaction i hated every minute of it. Consoles will NEVER be able to play RTS games like PC's do unless you stick a USB mouse in (why hasn't this been thought of?)

Dow WAS amazing, the expansion packs got progressively worse until Soulstorm when it just went to hell. That's why Relic and THQ made in an RPG instead of continuing.

http://www.racketboy.com/retro/2007/03/dreamcast-keyboard-mouse-be-prepared.html
<img src="http://i26.tinypic.com/95pf1t.jpg" /img>

Yes, I know, the Dreamcast was way ahead of its time, yes, I know, there weren't many RTS games on the system, (honestly, only "Conflict Zone" and "Hundred Swords" come to mind, unless "Army Men RTS" came out on DC as well, which I am not sure of...)

But the idea has been thought of, implemented, and sold.

And as for the OP, I feel sorry for you that like 8 people all said Starcraft II.
Why not just play AoE 3? Was playing the asian dynasties expansion today, and it was pretty fun. It's semi-new.

Why not try R.U.S.E. ? It was running a free weekend on steam, and it seems the kind of thing you might like. It's more strategic than most games, with the game being all about fooling your opponent. I think a SoaSE expansion came out earlier this year. The Diplomacy pack? I think you can get the Trinity off Impulse for like 20 bucks now. And if you haven't PLAYED Sins of a Solar Empire, well, give it a shot. Cross Supreme Commander and Master of Orion for a slower-paced strategic RTS, and that's it in a nutshell, but the game has more depth to it than can be expressed with such a simple comparison.

Have you played Company of Heroes? That recently got an expansion. They're making a free online version of that soon, too. Hell, the original is just as beautiful as ever. DoW II used its engine, you know. Might wanna give that a shot.

If you're looking towards the future, well, wait for Elemental: War of Magic. it's due out in August, and if you ever played Master of Magic or Heroes of Might and Magic, and it's HALF as good as those, it'll be incredible. It's made by Stardock, ie: those who brought you the gem SoaSE, so hang in there. The best is yet to come.

And there's always a Tropico 3 expansion if you're into that kind of "RTS" ...

~~~~~~~~~~

Edit: This is just a list of the newish games that I personally know don't suck. If you're looking for a different good RTS, I would go back in time, to where I could whip off probably 50 titles off the top of my head if you want.

 

[Christopher Dudgeon]

If your looking for a great RTS game you should try Sins of a solar empire from Ironclad.

Brilliant RTS strong AI and it doesn't suffer from rush tactics.

 

[ploppytheman]

Is the OP serious or super trolling? Starcraft 2 is coming out in a week which is the biggest and probably best RTS since Broodwar. C&C went down the tubes (thx EA), most other RTS have ok single player, if you think beating a computer is fun (it is but thats not the heart of RTS).

Obama even sent a CARRIER to protect South Korea because in a week the country will be defenseless b/c they will all be playing SC2.

CARRIER HAS ARRIVED!

SC2 might be able to live up to broodwar, I sure hope it does. I was in the Beta and its an awesome game, with years of multi, an awesome singleplayer, but will it have the decade of dominance like its predecessor? All I know is I won't be touching another game besides SC2 for a very very long time and if I do its because SC2 is down or my brain catches fire from the intensity of SC2 multi. Oh man I can't wait... SC2 is gonna be sooooo awesome... in fact I know it is b/c of Beta.

Also any dev won't release games near SC2's launch. SC2 is going to overshadow EVERYTHING on its release esp other RTS so it would be stupid from a business standpoint.

 

[Therumancer]

I have a cupboard in my study; it is full of years of amazing RTS games that my dad has accumulated over the years.

Stuff like Age of Empires, Age of Mythology, Empire Earth, Supreme Commander, Command & Conquer 3, Dawn of War, Rise and Fall, Battle for Middle Earth 1/2/ROTWK

Where is the new stuff?

Supreme commander went down the pan with its sequel which to me looks shoddy. Age of empires and Empire Earth both tried to fix what wasn't broken and made some horrific sequels. Tha market for RTS is essentially dead with Microsoft prostituting the PC games market to hawk Xbox 360 games to a different user base.

Does anyone else find this distressing/fine/doesn't care?

I'd imaging the problem is in the difficulty of producing games of this sort, especially seeing as there are a handfull of titles like "Starcraft" that set an extremely high bar. For a producer they are going to have to invest more money in a project like this than a shooter, with a higher degree of failure. What's more if they succeed chances are they will make less money due to the cost of development. With players being increasingly picky due to the high bar set by some titles, the chances of failure are reasonably high. Very similar to the problem I see with RPGs, though perhaps worse nowadays. If you think about it there have been a LOT of failed RTS games out there over a fairly short period of time.

The reason why it's difficult is pretty easy, you need to come up with good game balance and a system where people are going to be challenged but not frustrated. With a lot of RTS games you have people complaining that it's too easy because you can do things like set up invincible defenses and then "tank rush" on every mission, or a situation where psychic AI rips people apart. When it comes to multiplayer not only are these games competing with the huge established fanbases of the Blizzard games despite their age, but without what amounts to perfect game balance while maintaining a distinct identity for each faction, the multiplayer goes down as well.

I think for a while there was a lot of "we can do that too" sentiment from developers and publishers, but the consumers got increasingly picky. I think the relative failure of titles like "Universe At War: Earth Assault" which seemed to come with the expectation of them being massive hits, a lot of people moved away from the genere. "Supreme Commander" is another one which while good, was not quite what the developers and producers were hoping for success wise.

Consider that the people spending the money don't just look at whether a product made money, but also (in many cases quite ridiculously) at what they think they could have made had they been investing their money elsewhere.

Just my opinions/observations.

I will point out though that while it sppears we see less of them, they are still out there. I mean we did see "Demigod" released not too long ago despite the whole piracy issue attached to it, and of course "Sins Of A Solar Empire" which was received fairly well. Then of course we have "Starcraft 2" being release shortly, which will probably be quite good given that it's Blizzrd.

The genere isn't dead, it's just not produced as heavily as it once was. Sort of like RPGs (which I'm a huge fan of) they are still made, but not quite the staple they once were.

 

[UtopiaV1]

RTS's are still being made quietly in the background. Just so long as we get a Company of Heroes 2 and more Total War games, i'll be happy. It is a shame it isn't a more popular genre, but then thats the great thing about being elitist, knowing that you play games few others do.

An interesting correlation for you though, rise in popularity for consoles = fall in manufacturing of RTS's. I'm not going to say any more about this, you draw your own conclusions.

 

[Withall]

Seems like they have. Hmh. Look for the game online? It looked VERY promising.

 

[Klepa]

Yes i will admit that most RTS games are decided by who has the biggest army or the most resources.

May I suggest my personal favorite, Company of Heroes? Resources will always play a part, but I think their part is smalled in CoH, and even smaller in DoW2, although you mentioned that you don't like that game.

There was a new one coming out, called R.U.S.E I think. It had a free weekend on steam a few days back, I didn't play it, but from what I could tell, it was an RTS with a lot of mechanics based on deception, and feeding false intelligence to your enemy.
EDIT: It seems that I have been ninja'd, when it comes to R.U.S.E.

 

[alinos]

I beg to differ; how can you say that Supreme Commander is a rush game? The only problem with that game is that its TOO good. Hard economy management and proper tactics have to be employed to survive a game, its only problem is that its too long. Far superior to total war.

Total war is trash on the highest scale and I resent it beyond belief. I have tried so very hard to like it: buying Total War medieval and borrowing Total War Rome to play.

Couldn't do it. I loathe it.

So your real issue here is not where have all the RTS game gone

but why dont i like the new ones

 

[Borntolose]

R.U.S.E. is coming put soon. I thought it was a pretty god game.

 

[alinos]

RTS's are still being made quietly in the background. Just so long as we get a Company of Heroes 2

i believe there making a company of heroes MMO

 

[CounterAttack]

If you want to play a good RTS, I myself would recommend Rise of Nations. While all the playable nations go through pretty much the exact same build-up and advancement system, the gameplay is captivating enough to draw you in for a good hour or so at a time. Rush tactics can't be done, because by the time you've built up enough of a force to rush your opponent, they've built a decent force to counter yours, even on the easiest difficulties. I have yet to play the campaigns, so that's an unknown to me.

On the other hand, if you're looking to the future, check out Achron. It's an RTS based around time-travel, back into the past, altering the present and future... you can literally go back to previous time you spent in the game and alter what you did. Check it out: http://achrongame.com/site/ While it's scheduled to be released in 2011, it's well worth investigating for yourself.

As an aside, I myself am not interested in StarCraft 2. The game simply does not appeal to me, like many other games of recent years. Modern Warfare 2 and the like spring to mind when I say this, but I digress.

 

[Lordpils]

Starcraft 2 is coming out soon, and Dawn of War 2 just came out with an expansion, so they are still out there you just have to look a bit harder.

Don't forget Shogun 2. It's kind of silly to think that RTS are going anywhere.

 

[LOOY]

RUSE is the best RTS I have ever played and its coming out this September. I don't think RTS's are lacking innovation, its just that the Starcraft and CnC players that make up 90% of RTS gamers won't play anything where micromanagement won't win every battle for them.

 

[GotMalkAvian]

Now, I won't be one of the people to claim that PC gaming is dead, since I've heard that particular song before. However, it does seem to be going through a slump right now, with MMOs and casual online games making up a good chunk of the current market.
Unfortunately, RTS games are still a niche market on consoles. I feel that this is due to two factors. First of all, I feel that there just isn't a large enough mainstream market for RTS games on consoles, judging by relatively low sales numbers of most of the RTS games released on the current gen systems. Secondly, I think one of the problems lies in the fact that RTS games are too clunky to control properly with a gamepad. Hopefully, with some better mouse support, a few genres that shine on the PC will be represented in greater numbers on consoles.

 

[Byr0m]

If you want to play a good RTS, I myself would recommend Rise of Nations. While all the playable nations go through pretty much the exact same build-up and advancement system, the gameplay is captivating enough to draw you in for a good hour or so at a time. Rush tactics can't be done, because by the time you've built up enough of a force to rush your opponent, they've built a decent force to counter yours, even on the easiest difficulties. I have yet to play the campaigns, so that's an unknown to me.

Yep, I have Rise of Nations and it is a good RTS which you can't rush on really because of what CounterAttack has already said and the campaigns are kind of like RISK, a world map with armies and stuff but then you go into game mode for each 'battle'. If you have the Gold Edition, it has some conflicts like The Cold War and through Napolean's career and stuff.

Also, if you like RoN, Rise of Legends is very similar but its kind of fantasy based and it has a unique twist to it which is kind of cool but keeps some of the stuff that made RoN good.

Finally, if you don't mind oldish games, Imperium Galactica 2 by Digital Reality (possibly the first one as well, but I haven't played it) is really good IMO, it's an RTS with RTT (real-time tactics) elements. It's a bit like Sins of a Solar Empire but it has lots of micro-management in it, as well as an emphasis on both ground and space battles, with lots of possibilities for each. I first played it in about 2002 and I'm still playing it now occasionally. I don't think it has internet multiplayer though, only LAN I think but the single player is good

 

[More Fun To Compute]

The market just isn't booming any more but plenty are coming out. Don't see why that is a bad thing myself as the RTS market was full of derivative crap when it was growing. I think that it still gets too much development time and attention compared to superior turn based games due to a residual buzz from people who remember when it was new and exciting oh so long ago now.

 

[Dannie]

RUSE is coming out soon, don't know if it is good though.

 

[Sephychu]

Plenty of new RTS games, just none of them are old ones.

Play your old ones if you just keep shooting down all the suggestions of new ones. They'll be pretty good regardless of graphical quality.

Furthermore, if you're a person who's picky about graphics, you picked the wrong genre.

 

[Leviathan_]

I miss the good ol' RTS games like Age of Empires II, Age of mythology and Empire Earth I


R.U.S.E. seems very interesting though, and so does CiV V.