Establishing Battlefield Control... Standby

[TY]

Real-Time Strategy games are everywhere, like StarCraft, Age of Empires and Rise of Nations. Usually you build a base and an army from resources you gather to defeat your opponents, but there are many other ways you can play a RTS. What are your favorite RTS games and why?

I really adore RTS games, they are my favorite genre obviously. I play a ton of them and mostly on PC where you can exploit hotkeys the most. My favorite RTS games are Rise of Nations, StarCraft II, C&C Tiberian Sun and Red Alert 2 and I am a sucker for building bases.

 

[Ephemeral Euphoria]

Mine would have to be Warcraft 3 since it was one of the first RTS games that I picked up when I was younger, my usual approach was have my main base defend from enemy attacks while I sent out some builders amidst the confusion of the fight at hand to make a second base far off in case my main base ended up getting trashed at some point and if my main base survived the first few waves of baddies I proceeded to further beef up my defenses while amassing up a strong enough force to dent the enemy's stronghold enough for my secondary base to create another wave to attack their defenses right after basically leading up to a lot of offensive and defensive presence being built up, granted it was time consuming but the main battle that followed my efforts was worth the resources more often than not.

So yeah even to this day I'm a Warcraft nut.

 

[Rogue planet]

Empire Earth is up there simply because you can span prehistoric - future ages, but unlike other games like Civ V there's so much more freedom, you literally build factories and spam the hell out of units. There's a mode to create your own skirmish maps also. Highly recommended.

I always loved Empire at War, not just because it's Star Wars, but because it combines RTS with grand strategy, letting you move your armies across different planets and engaging in RTS skirmishes for each planet. You'd probably need to enjoy SW, but you don't need to be a massive fan to enjoy this game.

The best way to enjoy them is always online, either proper online or VPN (virtual lan, emulates a lan over the internet) like Hamachi so you can play with a group of friends. Amazing fun. Dawn of War and C&C (all of them) are the best for this.

 

[Legobricks]

I always loved Empire at War, not just because it's Star Wars, but because it combines RTS with grand strategy, letting you move your armies across different planets and engaging in RTS skirmishes for each planet. You'd probably need to enjoy SW, but you don't need to be a massive fan to enjoy this game.

Ever heard of Total War? Just avoid Rome II. Warhammer: Mark of Chaos and King Arthur may also be very similar, but I haven't seen much gameplay to say certainly.

The best way to enjoy them is always online, either proper online or VPN (virtual lan, emulates a lan over the internet) like Hamachi so you can play with a group of friends. Amazing fun. Dawn of War and C&C (all of them) are the best for this.

DoW still works over VPN? Soulstorm stopped working between me and a friend and we couldn't work out why.

 

[TY]

Empire Earth is up there simply because you can span prehistoric - future ages, but unlike other games like Civ V there's so much more freedom, you literally build factories and spam the hell out of units. There's a mode to create your own skirmish maps also. Highly recommended.

I always loved Empire at War, not just because it's Star Wars, but because it combines RTS with grand strategy, letting you move your armies across different planets and engaging in RTS skirmishes for each planet. You'd probably need to enjoy SW, but you don't need to be a massive fan to enjoy this game.

The best way to enjoy them is always online, either proper online or VPN (virtual lan, emulates a lan over the internet) like Hamachi so you can play with a group of friends. Amazing fun. Dawn of War and C&C (all of them) are the best for this.

EE is also a wonderful RTS, but nowadays every game has the ability to create your own maps, though I also recommend EE, aswell as any other RTS I have ever played.

And there is a easier way to connect with C&C games. It's called CnC Net which only supports Tiberian Dawn, Red Alert 1 and Tiberian Sun atm + a few mods (Mental Omega for instance). I prefer CnC Net over Hamachi, but for every other game Hamachi seems to do the trick properly.

 

[Rogue planet]

Ever heard of Total War? Just avoid Rome II. Warhammer: Mark of Chaos and King Arthur may also be very similar, but I haven't seen much gameplay to say certainly.

I've played total war a number of times but can just never get into it. It's got a bit too much structure for me personally, I'm more into the fast paced chaos side of rts.

DoW still works over VPN? Soulstorm stopped working between me and a friend and we couldn't work out why.

Yep, played Soulstorm just the other day with a fresh install of it. I did have a few issues getting it patched correctly so our build numbers matched. Maybe you experienced a similar issue?


CnC Net, I'd check it out, if I hadn't already spent many painstaking hours configuring hamachi to work for everything. Thanks for the heads up though, I'll surely try it someday once I lose all my data and hate for Hamachi overcomes me.

 

[Arma]

I'm not much interested in sci-fi games, that's why I never really liked Starcraft or the C&C series. I should probably start running for my life now I do like Anno 2070 though, especially because it isn't combat oriented like the majority of RTS games. Ooh, I also loved Lego Rock Raiders too, when I was younger. It's such a shame that the missions almost always had pretty much the same objectives...

When it comes down to the more historical RTS games, I've played Age of Empires (all three parts) quite a lot, but my favorite has to Knights of Honor. Trying to conquer all of Europe, with a maximum of 9 armies really is quite a challenge, making the game far more strategic than getting the most clicks per second.

 

[Nillemi]

Starcraft, Is literally my first game ever.

Back when I was five years old I would watch my dad play it all the time while in his lap. I would study what he was doing and try to figure it out on my own. One day he let me give it a shot, likely figuring I would have no Idea what I was doing. I had trouble controlling the camera at first but I was able to build several marines and send them to their deaths. Needless to say, He was rather surprised.

And despite it being 16 years after that, I still play starcraft to this day every once in awhile. Maybe not as regularly as when I was a kid but it's still my favorite game ever.

 

[Judge Mandolore Shepard]

When it comes to Real Time Strategy games, my favorite is Star Wars Empire at War. One reason I like it is because it is a Star Wars game. This game takes place between Revenge of the Sith and A New Hope. I like playing the Empire Campaign. When I get my tech tree high enough, I like to build lots of AT-AT walkers and deploy them on Rebel planets. This game got an expansion pack, Forces of Corruption, where the player can play as a third faction, the Zann Consortium. The expansion pack takes place between A New Hope and after Return of the Jedi.

 

[Kyrul]

Red Alert 2. I love this game. It's the second game I ever played (Pokemon was the first).
Been playing it ever since 2001. My family never owned a computer until I was 14, so the only time I would be able to play it is when I went over to my cousin, Jered's house. I remember refusing to use tanks, when we would play online matches against each other, I only liked to use the Airborne Paratroopers as my main units. Now, 13 years later, I still play it with Jered from time to time, still using the almighty airborne infantry.

 

[Lord Scalgon]

Guess I'll have to stick with Warcraft 3 and StarCraft II...

Played Warcraft 3 from the dawn to the point when StarCraft II was first released, then I stuck with it since then. What's eccentric was, I had to face a lot of notables...which even included hackers (or better yet, sore losers) like Deezer.

After transitioning to SC2, it took me a good year to achieve masters, and seeing the fact that most people I knew in person would stop competing after they achieved it, I just kept on going and achieve a milestone, which I did. Since then, I haven't done much activity competitive-wise...

As of now, lately I've been playing World at Arms (mobile)...it's a great RTS game...problem is, hackers are not uncommon and the staff doesn't give a you-know-what about it. If anyone were to play this, stay out of factions if you oppose hackers.

 

[Goo]

I prefer tactically focused instead of resource management focused RTS games. I think the RTT RTS Myth from 1997 or so was a brilliant example of this sort of game. You were given units and you had to move them and use them to your advantage using formations ect.

 

[Princess Sandshrew]

My all time favourite RTS is AoE2, I spent so much time on that game. I'd build a huge impregnable base and steam roll the enemy when I got bored.
Close second is split between Total War Shogun 2 and Dawn of War. Fun gameplay and I love the history and lore of each respectively.

 

[happynewyear001]

My favourite would have to be Rome: Total War, from when Creative Assembly knew how to make games :(

 

[TY]

Seeing a lot of great RTS games out there :3

To add a little thing to the thread topic: What are your favorite units in RTS games and why do you like them so much?

 

[Legobricks]

I've played total war a number of times but can just never get into it. It's got a bit too much structure for me personally, I'm more into the fast paced chaos side of rts.

Ah, oh well. I can't really get into strategy games that are fully realtime, myself — I'm too slow.

Yep, played Soulstorm just the other day with a fresh install of it. I did have a few issues getting it patched correctly so our build numbers matched. Maybe you experienced a similar issue?

Unfortunately, no. Fairly sure we had the exact same build. It may even be due changes I made to a config file, but they should only affect my client. Never did try reinstalling though, since it's something of a hassle for me with my retail copies with the number of CD keys that need entering.

 

[Nillemi]

Seeing a lot of great RTS games out there :3

To add a little thing to the thread topic: What are your favorite units in RTS games and why do you like them so much?

Definitely gryphon riders in WC3. One of the most versatile units on the game. One one hand They're amazing at harassment, If you get 5 or 6 of them you can start bullying your opponent's troops when they're anti flyers are away or In the back of the pack. If you have any trouble, Retreat to the Moonwells.

Then, once you engage, If your opponent has any flying units, Drop off the archers and have the Hyppogryphs maul whatever poor soul is trying to take air superiority away from you.

 

[Judge Mandolore Shepard]

When it comes to favorite units in RTS games, I would have to say AT-AT walkers in Star Wars Empire at War. They are very useful. You use them to deploy more troops, plus they have a lot of power that can be used to destroy enemy structures. Just make sure the enemy does not use snowspeeders.

 

[Elaitenstile]

I would say AoE II because I really had fun times figuring out strategy and how quickly and not-too-quickly you have to build around the place and growing through the difficulty levels. Sadly, I never got the chance to play with a friend, so I'll never feel how it is to really compete against others. As of now I really like exploiting loopholes in computer AI. I really liked the Archers in that game, because you can like barge in early in the game and leave after giving the enemy a major dent, and later on the more expensive and useful Cavalry Archers can take their place.

 

[TY]

My favorite unit would be the Prism Tank from Red Alert 2. It's design and role are just fit into one building murdering machine with light armor (obv since it is an Artillery unit). They are also good against infantry and in a group they can also murder tanks. So a great multi-role support artillery unit.