Your three favorite Real-Time Strategy games

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Balrog
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Post by Balrog »

C&C Red Alert
Starcraft
Homeworld

My first RTS games, they'll always hold a special place in my heart. Not to mention they each kicked serious ass in their own way :D
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Karza
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Post by Karza »

1) Total Annihilation (+ Core Contingency) - The only RTS you play just to enjoy the slugfest. First RTS where you had a full complement of land, air and sea units (instead of the half-assed 10-unit ground army, 3-ship navy and 2-craft airforce).

2) Warzone 2100 - Even if the time limits get on your nerves, it's still a good, different RTS. By the way, how do you get it to work on XP? The only solution I found on the net involved mucking something with Service Pack 1, which seemed a bit out of my league.

3) Dawn of War - Commanding infantry squads instead of single soldiers, and having some concept of cover and morale make a fairly traditional RTS seem fresh. And of course there's the close combat animation where an assault marine impales the foe with his chainsword.

Medieval (particularly Viking Invasion) and Rome: Total War are both lovely, but I don't really consider them RTS games, they're too much of "real" strategy games to get lumped in the RTS genre :P .
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Post by DrMckay »

Red Alert was good. All of the nice elements came together to create a nice game, without being overwhelming, ie: the soviets had good land power, the Allies had good sea power, etc. The mission intro movies were great, too.
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Post by Vanas »

Homeworld: My love for it knows no bounds, as some may have noted. Shame the sequel's so full of plotholes you could fly the Mothership through it.

Total Annihilation: PC Gamer magazine summed it up best last month. It's like playing an alien artifact that fell to the earth aeons ago, packed with advances modern science couldn't dream of. Your starting unit can build anything, go anywhere and smite your foes with the Hand of God. If he's killed though, you're boned. He's you.

Warzone 2100: It is finally time for me to dig out the discs again and (re) begin the Project.
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Post by JLTucker »

Starcraft and Age of Empires III. Those are the only RTS games that I have played.
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Post by Glimmervoid »

For the purpose of this list add on’s and original games are counted together

1) Warcraft 3. I spent hours playing through its story campaign and was totally engrossed and the custom maps games made it my favorite game of all time. It was the only game were I would sit down when I got in from school and get up when it was time for bed.

2) Age of Empires 2, this is probably my all time best single player game and I loved the computer v player historical maps (I always built a wall across Japan).

3)Dawn of war/ Rome total war : they were both fun cant decide Red Alert 2 might be in for a chance at number 3 slot as well.
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Post by Lazarus »

C&C Red Alert: Probably the first computer game I really got into after messing around on Lemmings etc for a while. Started it in 1996, kept going back year after year, am currently trying to finish what I started ten years ago and finish both campaigns (just one Allied mission to go!).

C&C: Red Alert 2: Along with flight simulator games like Crimson Skies and X-Wing Alliance, I really only played RTS's until about 2002 when JK2 introduced me to the FPS genre. RA2 and Yuri's Revenge took up quite a lot of my gaming hours back in those days, along with some less notable titles like SW: Force Commander and Galactic Battlegrounds.

Emperor-Battle for Dune: Despite numerous attempts, I remain unable to complete this game, but it nevertheless remains a firm favourite for me. Certainly, its not perfect, but it does have a strong storyline, FMV's, and megalomaniacal gameplay (strategy map is an especially nice touch that I feel modern RTS's lack), which combine to give it very high marks in my book.
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Post by Trogdor »

Tiberian Sun. It was the first RTS I ever played and I've still got a soft spot for it. I loved the cutscenes (Kane lives in death!), and loved being sneaky with the Brotherhood.

Red Alert 2. Cheesy cutscences and pseduo-science ahoy! :D

Red Alert. More realistic than its sequel (though I suppose that's not saying too much) but just as much fun.

Yes, I'll admit it, I'm a C&C fanboy. I have been trying to branch out a bit, lately. I keep meaning to pick up R:TW. I also played Starcraft recently, but I didn't enjoy it.
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Post by Rekkon »

1. Company of Heroes. Too much awesome to mention. The game just feels more like a real war than a war game. Destruction, suppression, and infantry that feel like infantry by diving for cover, cursing, etc. More than once in the heat of combat an MG team has fallen to enemy fire, and some other nearby guy mans the gun to continue firing.

2. Rome Total War. Need I elaborate? Thought not.
For fun, set up a skirmish where a bunch of AI hoplites (or some other dense infantry formation) have to cross a bridge to assault you. Then fill every slot on your army with Onagers, set to fire at will with flame ammo, and zoom in to watch the carnage at the bridge. BEST part is after you give the orders and unpause for the first time. Get a view on the ground on the enemy side to see 20 flaming balls of doom launch all at once.

3. Frak, only three slots, cannot decide... Have to mention C&C Generals Zero Hour and Hearts of Iron 2...

I also liked Homeworld, Star Wars Rebellion and Axis and Allies RTS. I liked that Axis and Axis had groups of units, morale was included, as were some logistical considerations. It also required a LOT less micromanagment than many RTSs, leaving you free to worry about overall tactics for the most part. And no stupid mining.
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Post by LeftWingExtremist »

1: rome total war, no contest this game has revolutionised RTS for me.

2: dawn of war.

2:hmmm...im not sure, why does there have to be only three? I spose red alert 2 or something.
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Post by Spyder »

Oh Starcraft...
*swoon*
:D
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