Saint C Saint C

RTS recommendations needed

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RTS recommendations needed

from Stardock Forums

I'm having a hard time getting my fix until some new rts titles come out and am hoping someone out there has some ideas.

First, I need it to have somewhat up to date graphics.  Second, even though it should be obvious by the mention of rts, no turn based games.  Third, just a brief list of recent favorites to use as a template and in no particular order.

Supreme Commander-  Unique looking factions, excellent graphics, previously unmatched scale, and an excellent variety of units.

SOSE and Entrenchment-  Same reasons as SupCom.  Also the tech trees are well thought out and diverse, and upgrades for the starbases and caps really give you the ability to capitalize on certain chokepoints and fleets.

Command and Conquer 3 Tiberium Wars and the expansion, Kane's Wrath-  Graphics, single player campaign was a lot of fun, and the two factions handled very differently.  Also far less corny than the recent Red Alert releases.

Dawn of War Soulstorm-  I know I said no turn based games but this gets an honorable mention simply for the fact that that it looked pretty decent and I thought that the over the top violence, I'm ashamed to say, was a draw for me.  It made the battles seem all the more immersive.  All the different factions had different strengths and weaknesses to exploit.  The drawback to this game was the fact that there were like 5 different battlegrounds that were pretty much recycled throughout the game.  Also the Idea of a customizable commander was interesting before they ruined it with DOW2 which handled too much like an rpg for my tastes.

Anyways thanks in advance for any advice and if you don't own any of these I highly recommend them.

124,362 views 47 replies
Reply #26 from Elemental Forums Top

Rise of Nations and Homeworld Series! A must... you will enjoy them.

Reply #27 from Elemental Forums Top

Quoting DraekAlmasy, reply 21
I'll second the recommendations for the Total War series: they're turn-based strategy, but with a *very* deep real-time tactical model at least in the first two games (Shogun and Medieval).

 

but from Rome onwards they're not worth playing.

End of DraekAlmasy's quote

There.  Fixed it for you.  ;)  

 

 

 

 

 

SoundPackager - Customize the Windows sound scheme
Reply #28 from Sins Forums Top

As far as recent titles go, Sins of a Solar Empire wins hands down.  Really a solid, streamlined title that I'd recommend to any RTS fans.  For classics, my all-time favourite remains Warcraft III.  Absolutely a phenomenal title.

I liked Supreme Commander, but personally I found you spent way too much of your time juggling build orders and micromanaging workers.  As far as command and conquer goes... the series ended at RA2 and I refuse to recognize the trash they've been churning out since.  I haven't played DoW so I can't speak on that.

Reply #29 from Stardock Forums Top

Thanks again for all the help guys.  Ordered Empire Total War, Homeworld 2, and Universe at War this morning;  though I fully intend to check out many of the others.  Gotta start somewhere right?

I liked Supreme Commander, but personally I found you spent way too much of your time juggling build orders and micromanaging workers. As far as command and conquer goes... the series ended at RA2 and I refuse to recognize the trash they've been churning out since. I haven't played DoW so I can't speak on that.
End of quote

Granted playing SupCom is definitely an investment as far as time goes the ability to win on your own terms was the main draw to me.  Whether that be naval bombardment, sending waves of land units, or air superiority (and I don't mean victory conditions ie GalCiv which is one of the best of it's kind but outside my comfort zone). 

And I've heard similar reactions where the C&C series was concerned and am just curious what ruined it for you?

As far as DoW all I can say is personally I don't like the sequel.  It looks amazing but the change in play styles was a huge mistake imo.  At least in the campaign.  Multiplayer from what I understand is pretty decent but as I've said in some of my other posts, games with a firmly entrenched fan base would just own me.  Especially this franchise which had what, like 6 or 7 expansions?  But I did pick up the last expansion of the original and it was interesting, with a fair amount of replayability simply from all the different factions.

Reply #30 from Sins Forums Top

Be careful with Empire total war, I still haven't gotten it to work well on my PC, worst $50 I ever spent (and I absolutely loved Rome total war too). I wish I had spent all of the hours of fustration playing Sins of a Solar Empire even more...

 

Also I actually liked the Original LOTR battle for middle earth more than the sequal, but they are both pretty good. Rise of Nations is a must play for RTS fans. C&C Generals is still my favorite from that series for some reason. I'm probably just echoing other people but you get the idea.

Reply #31 from Stardock Forums Top

Be careful with Empire total war, I still haven't gotten it to work well on my PC, worst $50 I ever spent (and I absolutely loved Rome total war too). I wish I had spent all of the hours of fustration playing Sins of a Solar Empire even more...
End of quote

I'm hoping I don't have any problems.  I've got a higher end rig I'm told, but I couldn't tell you anything about it.  Honestly I'm pretty computer illiterate. 

I did like LOTR Battle for Middle Earth II but I've got it for Xbox360 and I'm not sure I wanna invest in another copy.  Honestly with the exception of the original C&C on consoles (NES?) and a game I rented once called Utopia; I think that format for an rts is a waste of time.

Reply #32 from Elemental Forums Top

I have a Q6600, GTX 285 (Before that a GTX8800) and 3.2 gigs of ram on XP Pro, works fine. 

Reply #33 from Sins Forums Top

- Company of Heroes is a great RTS, but after a few plays I grew tired of the World War 2 setting and feeling like I have to watch everything all the time. The flag capturing just gets annoying. Still fun to screw around with, though.
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That can be true, it really depends on which maps you play some maps that use destructable bridges become all about the bridges and the capture points are almost incidental. Where CoH is particularly clever is giving players the ability to change the map during play with things like mines, wire, sandbags and tank blockades along with the usual defensive structures you get in all RTS games.

Reply #34 from Sins Forums Top

when u play homeworld2 there are some things to remember to get the most out of it./

 

H: sends your resource collectors to mine the closest asteroids

f: focus on a particular ship so you can zoom right in

ctrl F: select a fighter thats part of a squadron and zoom right in on it. nice to go in with attack waves. just like watching star wars as they duck and weave among the big ships.

Target subsystems on big ships. u can disable indivdual turrets, engines, construction modulkes etc

Do yourself a favour and install the SVN mod to upgrade the dx9 effectgs before playing te campaign.

edit the config file to 1680x1050 and above and play with the grapics settings. its worth it. And the game really does look 20 times better than sins still.

if u build a hyperspace module on the mothership, carrier or anything else, ships near it can hyperspace. But they cannot get back. if the hyperspace vessel jumps with your fleet, obviously it can jump back if u have enough resources.

Make sure u dock fighters before the jump or they will get left behind

battlecruisers with hyperspace modules are nigh unstoppable with the proper fleet support.

 

modidng community still very strong, and hw3 is rumoured to be in dev.... well as much as mechwarrior 2009 is

Reply #35 from Stardock Forums Top

I'm surprised that nobody has mentioned World in Conflict.

This is easily my favorite (and most beautiful) RTS I have ever played. Some people call it a Real-Time Tactical game because there are no economics or base-building. Since Massive Entertainment, along with the WiC IP was bought up by Ubisoft, all the SecuRom has been removed and there isn't even a disk-check anymore.

If you get the game (available on Steam), be sure to get the "Soviet Assault" version, so you get the extra missions they added to the single-player campaign.

 

 

 

Reply #36 from Elemental Forums Top

In mount and blade you can sort of command your troops...especially with some mods.

Reply #37 from Demigod Forums Top

I'm surprised that nobody has mentioned World in Conflict.
End of quote

It got labelled as a RTT (real time tactics) and not a RTS due to its game mechanics. Perhaps like counter-strike with a few units instead of one.

Reply #38 from Stardock Forums Top

I've got the original World in Conflict and I think I mentioned it earlier.  I didn't pick up the expansion cause I thought I read somewhere that it was all the original missions just reversed so you were playing the Soviet side.  Plus I live in the Pacific NW and it's a little disconcerting assaulting somewhere that you lived.  But agreed the game does look phenomenal.

Also, I don't have a link but somewhere on gamespot I saw some screenshots of a game called Order of War that looked impressive.  Although it's another WWII era strategy it looks pretty polished.  My only problem with what I read is some of the commands sound like they may have been simplified compared to other similar titles.  In one of the previews I read it sounded like the scale of the battles may even be on par with SupCom.  Whether that will in fact be the case remains to be seen. 

At the very least it might give us some inkling as to what square enix can do with an rts.  I'm afraid they're gonna change what for me was a winning formula with something that looks great but without the substance.  I remain concerned. 

Reply #39 from Elemental Forums Top

Plus I live in the Pacific NW and it's a little disconcerting assaulting somewhere that you lived.
End of quote
:-D

Reply #40 from Stardock Forums Top

Quoting Saint, reply 38
Plus I live in the Pacific NW and it's a little disconcerting assaulting somewhere that you lived.
End of Saint's quote

That's funny...the reverse is true for me. I grew up in Ohio, and I enjoy destroying the farmland maps more than any other ones....There's just something about dropping tactical nuclear weapons on red barns, tractors, and grain elevators that is deeply satisfying to me.

 

Reply #41 from Elemental Forums Top

That's funny...the reverse is true for me. I grew up in Ohio, and I enjoy destroying the farmland maps more than any other ones....There's just something about dropping tactical nuclear weapons on red barns, tractors, and grain elevators that is deeply satisfying to me.
End of quote

I feel the same way. I loved the Seattle mission in Red Alert 2 -- seeing the Space Needle and liberating the "Massivesoft Corporation" campus.

Reply #42 from Elemental Forums Top

Earth 2160 - Is good usually overlooked 4 playable different tactics to playing them all, not just carbon copys. It was decent I still have it installed.

Reply #43 from Stardock Forums Top

Do yourself a favour and install the SVN mod to upgrade the dx9 effectgs before playing te campaign.

edit the config file to 1680x1050 and above and play with the grapics settings. its worth it. And the game really does look 20 times better than sins still.
End of quote

Just installed this game but I wanted to do this before I get too involved.  Unfortunately I've never used any mods and don't know how to do any of what you suggest.  Help?

Also kudos on Universe at War and Empire Total War.  Pretty much just gotten in a couple games of each and so far I'm impressed.

Reply #44 from Sins Forums Top

All these postings are great suggestions. My favorite RTS of all time was Empire Earth 1 and 2. It was a great sandbox RTS with a massive tech tree. I am not sure how active the mutilplayer is after they shut down the original servers but the single player campaigns were pretty good. I remember one where you had to secretly build an army while the warlords in the area kept extrorting money. They would patrol your area and if they spotted any military units they declared war and wiped you out.

Keep away from Empire Earth III. It destroyed the franchise.

Check out the open sourced Spring Engine RTS, its free and has several different mods.

 

Reply #45 from Stardock Forums Top

Quoting WannabeRockstar, reply 9
I enjoyed warlords battlecry games.  ( Just don't buy the game from stardock. It's broken. )
End of WannabeRockstar's quote

I just downloaded this and it is indeed broken.  All hero spells fail every time they are cast.  Any idea how to fix this?

Reply #46 from Sins Forums Top

I'd avoid Company of Heroes at the moment.  Relic royally screwed up on the latest expansion; balance is FUBAR and the game is really stale at all levels of play due to certain units/strategies dominating.  If you do get it, don't get Tales of Valor, get the Gold Pack instead.  While standalone and offering full multiplayer access, Tales of Valor doesn't have a real campaign.  The original and first expansion did, and are actually pretty well done as campaigns go.

Rise of Nations is a classic.

Dawn of War: Dark Crusade was vastly better than Suckstorm, and has some strong mod support.  Despite the two new factions, I'd actually uninstall Soulstorm and play this over it.  Look for the DC Pro Mod, which adds some spiffy new features and units, much better AI, and dramatically better balance.

Command and Conquer Generals: Can be had cheap with the First Decade pack, and is good mindless fun.  Balance is nonexistant in the expansion, but that doesn't mean it can't be fun single player.  The GLA missions were fun, and the Generals Challenge was good for one or two playthroughs.

 

Reply #47 from Stardock Forums Top

Just bought Order of War.  It's not bad but I really hope this isn't the way the new Supreme Commander will play out. 

The commands are pretty easy to issue, especially with the ability to issue multiple troop transports to different locations pretty much instantly.  This comes in handy since many of the battlegrounds can be pretty large, utilizing the whole map to complete objectives.  However the pathing for group orders through chokepoints binds up your armor to more than a crawl as each tank hits the gas and runs into the tank in front of it, stopping as if puzzled that anybody else could possibly want to cross said bridge.  Other than that the troops do seem to act somewhat intelligently in engaging certain targets inside their vicinity.  The graphics are decent and the battlecam is a nice touch. 

I just don't want to see SupCom's base building get over simplified as I've heard implied on some other posts.

For anyone wondering what the two have to do with one another, they're both now being released by square enix.