Your three favorite Real-Time Strategy games

DrMckay · Post by **DrMckay** » 2006-09-01 06:51pm

basically, what the subject says, over the years, what have been your three personal favorite strategy games, and a reason/reasons why you liked them.

I'll start:
1:Command and Conquer Generals (so deliciously politically incorrect)
2:Homeworld (Realistic 3-d space combat)
3: American Conquest (old, not well known, shite graphics, but that allows for thousands of units at a time. The mechanics are very good also, eg: Your cannons can shoot either Grape or round shot depending on what you think the situation calls for, cavalry will break and frighten infantry formations not in square, etc, leading to great gameplay!)

Post by **Darth Wong** » 2006-09-01 06:54pm

Rome: Total War: thousands of units onscreen at once, unit morale is factored in, flanking actually makes a difference, etc.

Command and Conquer Generals: Zero Hour: tactically rather simplistic, but it's still great fun and it's a good example of the RTS genre

Master of Orion 2: my favourite 100% turn-based game.

White Haven · Post by **White Haven** » 2006-09-01 06:56pm

Moo2...real...time? *shakes head*

For me, I'd have to say Homeworld...some more Homeworld...and some Homeworld on the side. Blows everything else out of the water.

Acidburns · Post by **Acidburns** » 2006-09-01 07:07pm

1) Company Of Heroes (This will be on everyones list after release)
2) Rome Total War
3) Homeworld

Stark · Post by **Stark** » 2006-09-01 07:20pm

I guess when you're asked for the three highest results and you just read the first one three times you must have something broken in your brain.

For 'traditional' RTSes (which disqualifies R:TW) I'll go with Warzone2100 and Kohan Ahriman's Gift. Warzone had oldschool customisation, none of this 'finite resources' rubbish, a massive techtree and hovertanks. Kohan introduced a proper economy - where you had to support your army and not just build it, customisable squads (yes, better than DoW, because holy shit you could customise the whole company before build and wait for the upgrades to go through later), integrated heroes, and a functional mob ecology, where if you ignored an area of the map for too long it quickly became overrun with various nasty animals.

Look, I failed to answer the OPs question, I'm as funny as White Haven!

Acidburns · Post by **Acidburns** » 2006-09-01 07:26pm

Well, if we were to disqualify R:TW, I'd have to replace it's spot with Ground Control. It also had the "no resource" model, and units carried over from mission to mission and gained experience. Vehicles had less armour in the sides and rear. This really brought out the tactical aspect of the game. Bringing in your troops via dropship was fun too.

Stark · Post by **Stark** » 2006-09-01 07:31pm

Oh WZ2100 had resourcing, the map resources just never ran out like in Starcraft. You didn't have to 'do' anything either, just slap an oil derrick on a convienient oil spout thing and you get x dollars per turn until someone blows it up.

WZ and Kohan aren't the greatest games ever, and they're really old, but I've probably played either more than all other RTSes combined. Sad, really.

Darth Servo · Post by **Darth Servo** » 2006-09-01 08:01pm

<hangs head in shame>

I haven't even purchased RTW yet much less played it. I have almost zero time for games.

Shinova · Post by **Shinova** » 2006-09-01 08:07pm

Total Annihilation
Dawn of War

I can't say I have a third. It could be anything from Starcraft, CnC Generals, etc.

Darth Garden Gnome · Post by **Darth Garden Gnome** » 2006-09-01 08:12pm

Command and Conquer Red Alert 2: Yuri's Revenge.

Ground Control

Starcraft Brood War

I've been playing these for years, as my shitty comp would never run any of the new-fangled gadgets. However, I love each like a precious kitten (especially GC but especially RA2).

Rin · Post by **Rin** » 2006-09-01 08:17pm

I have not played half of the games mentioned...

Total Annihilation: Core Contingency -Good music, large explosions, lots of units to choose from and infinite resources. (Also first game that I ever bought so bonus points for that. And still playing.)

C&C Generals: Zero Hour -"China will grow larger" Fresh compared to previous C&C games.

Earth 2140 -Great music, happy memories finally killing Tiger Hellmaker with infantry. (Can't recall any other reason why I rank this high, might have something to do being unplayable on my current system and not remembering flaws.)

--Rin

Chris OFarrell · Post by **Chris OFarrell** » 2006-09-01 08:23pm

Dune 2.
Command and Conquer: Tiberium Dawn.
Total Annihilation.

The first because it was the first RTS I played and it was just so kickass. The MIDI music was excellent, the plot was simple but effective, Westwood introduced so many core concepts in this game which in some form or another have survived till today.

The second because it was the first on steriods with great improvements, a very kickass storyline, inteligent use of FMV (the first PC experiments with FMV were completly useless) with great characters, a kickass soundtrack and a great new mix of units.

TA then took a sharp left turn away from the hoard of C&C clones that came onto the market, God I got amazing amounts of use out of that game, it was just so different but so kickass.

Those three simply hold a place in my heart. Even if I play many other newer games these days which in their own right are exceptional (RTW, Homeworld Series e.t.c.)...I still hold those as the three pillars of my RTS world.

Stark · Post by **Stark** » 2006-09-01 08:23pm

Earth 2140? Was that before Earth 2150?

Post by **Gandalf** » 2006-09-01 08:26pm

Stark wrote:Oh WZ2100 had resourcing, the map resources just never ran out like in Starcraft. You didn't have to 'do' anything either, just slap an oil derrick on a convienient oil spout thing and you get x dollars per turn until someone blows it up.

I had that game back on my PSX. Damn was it ever fun, difficult, but fun.

My three are:

Warzone 2100: Fun fun fun.

Command & Conquer: Red Alert 2: It's fun, and cheesy enough to make me giggle.

Hearts of Iron 2: Why the fuck not? The HSR mod makes it interesting. Right now I'm playing a Germany where Roehm is the head of government. No Goebbels or Himmler to be seen.

Rin · Post by **Rin** » 2006-09-01 08:40pm

Good thing music is on normal cd tracks.

War on 2140 was the reason why everyone wants to escape Earth on 2150. Lunar Corp. wasn't around and there was still infantry to be used. (ED basic gunners had even grenades that they used against vehicles and buildings.)

--Rin

Post by **Darth Wong** » 2006-09-01 10:25pm

To be honest, I'm not a huge fan of the traditional RTS even though I did play a lot of C&C back in the day. Rather than challenge your strategic thinking, they tend to be a clickfest in which victory is a simple matter of knowing how to work the interface to churn out units faster than the enemy.

jegs2 · Post by **jegs2** » 2006-09-01 10:50pm

Homeworld 2

Empire Earth

... really, that's all.

dworkin · Post by **dworkin** » 2006-09-01 10:56pm

Dune 2: Ye olde fun in the sandpit
Starcraft : It's fun, simple and works on anything
Medieval TW: Strategy and clickfests in one happy package.

Stofsk · Post by **Stofsk** » 2006-09-01 11:02pm

Total Annihilation, which I still play to this day. Once SupCom gets released, I suspect TA will get the dignified funeral it deserves.

Age of Mythology. I play it mostly for the mythology units. I just like the idea of having a squad of medusas or centaurs or minotaurs in my army (or sphinxes, or valkyrie etc).

I'd like to put Homeworld/2 in here, but I never played them all the way through.

Honourable mention: like Chris, I think Dune 2 should earn a spot here by being one of the first RTS games made.

Dishonourable mention: StarCraft. I recently played this game again after a long time away from it and was initially overjoyed... but it really is ClickCraft. Unlike other games I play, there is no way to adjust the difficulty level. And after awhile it just gets boring.

phongn · Post by **phongn** » 2006-09-01 11:08pm

TA, HW1 ... not really any others.

Darth Garden Gnome · Post by **Darth Garden Gnome** » 2006-09-01 11:11pm

Stofsk wrote:Dishonourable mention: StarCraft. I recently played this game again after a long time away from it and was initially overjoyed... but it really is ClickCraft. Unlike other games I play, there is no way to adjust the difficulty level. And after awhile it just gets boring.

That's why you've got to set up a LAN and show your pals what total and complete intergalactic subjagation looks like. That's pretty neato even today.

Noble Ire · Post by **Noble Ire** » 2006-09-01 11:18pm

Stofsk wrote:Age of Mythology. I play it mostly for the mythology units. I just like the idea of having a squad of medusas or centaurs or minotaurs in my army (or sphinxes, or valkyrie etc).

That game had one of the best story campaigns of any RTS I've ever played, and the graphics and gameplay were very nicely done. However, its mutliplayer and instant action modes were extremely disappointing.

My favorites:

Tiberian Sun: Firestorm- The expansion took a eminently playable and highly enjoyable game and tacked on a story that actually made small a moderate amount of sense, with more live-action cutscenes and a rampant AI to boot. Whats not to like?

Starcraft- Admittedly, it is a rather simple game, but its still extremely fun, and the widely varied factions make experimenting with different strategies very easy.

Star Trek: Armada 2- Essentially its predecessor with prettier graphics and more ships, this game was still extremely fun. Of course, my experience with RTS in general is not very varied, so the variety afforded by the gameplay and setting was a welcome change.

Stofsk · Post by **Stofsk** » 2006-09-01 11:29pm

Noble Ire wrote:That game had one of the best story campaigns of any RTS I've ever played, and the graphics and gameplay were very nicely done. However, its mutliplayer and instant action modes were extremely disappointing.

It's one of the only games I play for the campaign. The characters weren't stupid, and they had personality - which goes above and beyond the likes of TA (which actually had no characters) and StarCraft. (for example, play Broodwars campaign and try to not groan with despair as heroes like Zeratul actually trust Kerrigan, or Admiral DuGalle decides to listen to a Confederate conscript over his trusted long time friend... who he then kills - they're complete and total morons, playing them was like an insult to me)

Post by **weemadando** » 2006-09-01 11:45pm

Rome: TW

Act of War

Soldiers: Heroes of WW2 (may soon be replaced by CoH).

ArmorPierce · Post by **ArmorPierce** » 2006-09-01 11:55pm

Stark wrote:I guess when you're asked for the three highest results and you just read the first one three times you must have something broken in your brain.

For 'traditional' RTSes (which disqualifies R:TW) I'll go with Warzone2100 and Kohan Ahriman's Gift. Warzone had oldschool customisation, none of this 'finite resources' rubbish, a massive techtree and hovertanks.

warzone2100 was hot, my father stills play it online though barely anyone else does anymore or really ever did that much. The online support wasn't the best with the person with the faster computer making more resources and building quicker than someone with a slower computer.