My Current Top 5 RTS's

baldgye

Join Date 04/2009

My Current Top 5 RTS's

Ok, well over the last year or so I've been all about RTS's. Gaming seems to go with one genre for a few years, for the longest time I can remember PC gaming was all about FPS's with Quake, Doom, Unreal Tournament and Call of Duty, but recentally its been all about RTS's. So here's my list of most played and most loved RTS games.

5. Starcraft

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Now this dosn't go very high on my list for a number of reasons. Back in the day when this launched, and even with the launch of Brood War I never played SC. I'd heard of it but was too busy in FPS's and any RTS game I played was one of the many C&C games from Westwood. But with the recent anoucement of SC2, and the hype arround it I deceded to download SC and Brood War from the Blizzard store and have been playing through the single player. This was where I discovered that I'm really not about the single player RTS experiance anymore. While the single player missions where pretty good, pretty hard and long with the story being told with cut scenes and ingame voice over aswell as the breifing room I really just didn't care all that much and just wanted to see what crazy shit I could build. I tried the skirmish to try and check out the tech tree of each race, and it just was impossible for a n00b SC player to get anywhere as the AI will apprentally only attack you, and rush you at the soonest possible moment, which ends up being a very frustrating experiance. I've not played it online becasue without any friends that play it, I cant imagin I will do much better.

4. Command & Conqure 2: Tiberan Sun

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This is again a pretty old game, but is one of the best RTS's out there, this shows off what Westwood could really do. Not only did they build on C&C1 they added countless new units and structures and the graphial jump was huge (although granted it was relised along time after C&C1). Its maps where huge and had bigger battles that alot of current RTS's have. Its one of the best looking 2D RTS's to date.

3. Dawn of War

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Ok, I'm not a fan of DoW2 but DoW is one of the most fun RTS's out there. Its mechianic of capturing nodes was pretty fun and can be very fast paced. It also had a very low camera which meant it was very easy to micro manage huge forces in intence battles. Its also one of the best games to use races from Games Workshop which when I was a lad was all I cared about (sisters of battle hell yeah!). It even had an army painter which allowed you to make your side have the most repulsive battle colours, which was really... very cool.

2. Demigod

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This game rocks. It would be number one if it had more support. Yeah I know thats a little unfair as its a brand new IP from a company with a small gaming history but thats just how it is. This took the idea of DoTA and made it AWSOME. Every game is like an entire game of Diablo, but with co-op. AWSOME! I also love the fact that the game comes DRM free, and then when I got the Retail and download version of the game I got 2 serial keys so I can give it to a friend if I wanted! And I've not even mentioned the best bit... you can play as a massive upgradable castle with legs that can absorb buildings and thats armed with a massive hammer of dsetruction, a catapult, a light tower and a shoulder full of archers!..... AWSOME!

1. Red Alert 3

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At first, I didn't like RA3 at all, infact I hated it and I hated EA for killing Westwood studios. But, the more and more I played it online co-op or 'deathmatches' the more I loved it. You really have to let it grown on you before you'll get it, and even more so if you liked RA2 (which I did, alot). EA and whats left of Westwood really have taken Red Alert where it needed to go, and instead of it being a C&C3 clone with diffrent units its a totally diffrent game thats heavily focused on the micro and small scale battles. But, if your handly with your reasouse managment you can still achive massive armies. Not only this but EA actually seem to give a shit about support, which from what I can tell, is a 1st! Who knows what the future brings for RA3, all I know is they keep making it more and more ballanced and keep on updating the C&C site, which is all good as far as I'm consered.

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SoaSE might have made my list had it fulfilled my hopes of giving me a new Pax Imperia; plus, like Pax Imperia, I consider SoaSE more of a hybrid between RTS and 4x.

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I can't really have an order since I can't decide which one is best, so assemble them how you like.

Total Annihilation. From Kbots to submarines to massive artillery platforms that can fire halfway across the map and blow up fusion power plants in two shots to Flash/Peewee spam, this game is just so over the top with its gameplay you can't beat it for awesome. Supreme Commander and Forged Alliance were massive steps backwards from what TA offered in terms of unit variety.

WarCraft 2. I had this massive WarCraft addiction the moment I played this game. It lasted until WoW came out.

Homeworld. 3d combat, awesome story and awesome units, plus the sense of atmosphere this game had was breathtaking. Cataclysm only improved it. HW2 was a step back in terms of both story and atmosphere. It just never felt as desperate as HW or HW:C.

Starcraft. I played it a lot when I was a kid. Some of the novels are actually fairly decent, and there hasn't been a crappy MMO made of it. I'm looking forwards to SC2, and I really hope Blizzard does not make a World of Starcraft.

Dawn of War, specifically the mod DoW40: Firestorm over Kronus (a.k.a. FoK). DoW was a nice game that got me into the WH40K universe, but as I got deeper into the universe, I realized that Relic's interpretation of things sucked. Marines weren't that good, lascannons sucked due to its hard-counter system, and it just never felt epic, most especially due to the crappy camera and low squad sizes. Then I found FoK, which totally changed DoW for the better. Its a closer-to-codex mod, which means it modifies the units to be closer to their codex stats. So Marines got awesome, lascannons raped anything they touched, and fighting Orks becomes hard when they have 30 expendable boyz per mob to your squads of 10 expensive Marines. Plus FoK raised the camera up by a lot, making it a hell of a lot easier to see the battlefield. Not to mention the various resource-eating graphical updates like specular maps and higher-res textures and higher-poly models that put the Relic ones to shame. If you have Dark Crusade, grab FoK. If you have Soulstorm, wait a few months while the team ports over from DC.

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1) Dune II (Since then I've been addicted to RTSs)

2) C&C

3) Warcraft 2

4) Company of Heroes Opposing Fronts

5) Dawn of War/ Sins of a solar empire

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5.Command & Conquer 3 (up until the 1.07 patch)

It was actually a pretty good game upon release, then EA over patched it to crap. The Nod were given the be-all end-all unit (Avatar walker), the GDI were reduced to early-game hit-and-runners, and the Scrin were just made waaaay to OP. But before that, it was actually all right.

4.StarCraft

Given. Fun gameplay, and a bunch of my friends played it too, which made it that much better.

3.SoaSE

Lots of really cool stuff was put into this game. I like the empire-building aspect, something that wasn't present in other games I've played. If more of my friends start playing this, I'll probably boost this to the #2 slot.

2.RA2

Another fun game I played with a bunch of my friends. It was loads of fun.

1. Homeworld

Probably my favorite game of all time. Stunning visuals, especially for its time, great soundtrack, online community was really fun to be a part of, and the storyline was sooo good. I cried manly tears when Kharak burned (Agnus Dei playing in my head...).

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LOL the chance of me seeing someone refer to Agnus Dei here had to be smaller than winning the lotery twice in a row. I would have preferred the lotery though

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@soasertsus

You can get a jewel case version online quite easily (and quite cheaply) but I'll warn you, it hasn't aged well.

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LOL the chance of me seeing someone refer to Agnus Dei here had to be smaller than winning the lotery twice in a row. I would have preferred the lotery though

If you knew me you'd realize that Agnus Dei is perhaps my favorite part of HW. I dl'ed the RelicNews community soundtrack for both HW and HW2. It's really good stuff.

@Vinraith: I think the HW games have aged rather well, myself. Sure, there aren't as many bells and whistles as are present in modern games, but the general visual aesthetic is still very successful.

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1. Sins of a Solar Empire + Entrenchment (first one I ever got myself fully into. This RTS purely rocks.)

2. WH40K DoW: Dark Crusade (faction variety plus demigods!)

3. WH40K DoW II + Chaos Rising (while limited in factions, the gameplay is AWESOME! More expansions please, Relic!)

4. Rise of Nations + Thrones and Patriots (more faction variety, but "realism" sucked.)

5. Act of War - Direct Action (Generals on STEROIDS)

Honorable mention: C+C Red Alert 3 and Uprising (fun game, though I felt it wasn't satisfying enough as an RTS), MechCommanders 1 and 2 (these were the games that got me involved in the RTS genre, although both are actually more like tactical games than anything)...

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Quoting the_Monk,

reply 22

God cant believe how many of you havent included company of heroes. /shocked

@ Deepjay,

That's because to some of us, un-limited ammo and fuel (etc.) are bullshit tactics, and something like Men of War with inventories for each and every single battlefield unit is a much more fulfilling experience!

Men of War? Gee, buggy and with a tough control system.
Soldiers: Heroes of World War 2 - now we're talking! (Except the voice acting, that's rubbish...)

And my list:

1. Command & Conquer (Tiberian Dawn, for those that will) - the game that got me into RTS, humor, great music, great action and one of the first real RTS' games ever.

2. Homeworld / Cataclysm - Epic, there isn't much more to say. The campaign, the music... the atmosphere (no pun intended) is just breath-taking. (I still get shivers down my spine when I think of Kharak burning... And the soundtrack... The Yes song is pretty darn good to be honest, 29.AIF in the game's music BIG file.)

3. Company of Heroes - one of the best modern RTS's, nuffsaid. Awesome music, graphics and feeling. No it's not a Men of War - but hell, Supreme Commander... Tiberian Sun...? I think those lack more realism than CoH does. The expansions and patches have kinda changed the game (back to CoH) in a way I don't appreciate to 100% though. 1.71 was a gem.

4. Warcraft II - Blizzard. Do I have to say more? Ok then, in one word; "hilarious". Awesome and really huge game. (If you haven't played it, you should. Especially if you've been playing WoW - I've heard there are people that actually do that - you'll learn a lot about the Warcraft lore. (Which is really interesting.))

5. Dune II - Almost the first real RTS, and I remember playing this on my good ol' Amiga. There's some things that really, REALLY stand out in this game; the music (almost nothing gets your blood pumping as Frank Klepacki's masterpieces), the Dune universe and the very well balanced missions. (Not too easy, but not too hard.

Notable mentions: Age of Empires series (lacking in advanced strategies though, even in AoE III - as there's no cover, no defensive positions, no bonuses etc. etc.) - still good games.
Dawn of War series - really good games, not really standing out in any areas though, unfortunately.
C&C3 - surprisingly good, considering it's an EA piece.
SoaSE of course! - little too long games and no real missions. With the perfection of those two it'd climb the ratings really fast...
Soldiers: Heroes of World War 2 - one of the few really good RTMSS (Real Time Military Sim Strategy) games, realism to a relatively high degree and awesome graphics and physics at that time. Big minus for using Starforce though.
Act of War w. expansion High Treason - after beta testing those puppies for a loong time they finally hit the shelves, and they were really good! Also had the problem with not really standing out in any way though. Still good games.
Settlers II - Blue Byte's brainchild, small cute pixel built persons running along roads with materials, really good, and a true classic.

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I must be missing something, i bought Sins of a Solar Empire when it came out and i must of misssed something.The Game feels toooo slow, even though its a hybrid 4x and RTS game. I don't know if its the slow movment of space ships, the early resource limitation or the inability to skirmish effectively, i find myself "waiting" for mitnutes for something to happen or reaserch.

Now I enjoy strategy games likes Supremme Commander, HEarts of Iron and Turn based games like civ4.. But just something about Sins of a Solar Empire just doesn't fit right.

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1. Red Alert: Aftermath

Friggin' Telsa tanks!

2. Starcraft

Kekekekeke

3. Dawn of War

Blood for the blood god!

4. Sins of a Solar Empire

Phasssssseeeee Missles

5. Actually, I don't have another RTS that I would say was definitely 5th place....

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1. Rise of Nations with thrones and patriots

2. Rise of Legends

3. SOASE with entrenchment

4. Star Wars: Empire at War with Forces of Corruption

5. Halo Wars

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1. Homeworld

Probably my favorite game of all time. Stunning visuals, especially for its time, great soundtrack, online community was really fun to be a part of, and the storyline was sooo good. I cried manly tears when Kharak burned (Agnus Dei playing in my head...).

1. Homeworld All

1. Homeworld Series, especially the first one - best game ever (with Pro Evolution Soccer) for me

1. Homeworld series

1. Homeworld

1b. Homeworld 2 - these two were the first truly epic games that I've played, not only for the difficulty and amazing soundtrack, but the ambience that they inferred. Dude, if you look at some of the backgrounds for maps there are hunks of metal the size of freaking planets there! That alone is an instant win (you can see how skewed my priorities are when choosing good games :/)

1. Homeworld (All of them)

Holy crap, where can I get this game! Judging by the responses I need this game.

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Quoting Isiss,

comment 63

5. Halo Wars

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1: Mech Commander 2

2: Sins of a Solar Empire (with Entrenchment)

3: Emperor: Battle For Dune

4: World In Conflict

5: Command & Conquer: Generals (with Zero Hour)

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LOL the chance of me seeing someone refer to Agnus Dei here had to be smaller than winning the lotery twice in a row. I would have preferred the lotery though

I referred to all the Music in my post. Also i aggree. I wish for money too. Then i can make my own game.

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Holy crap, where can I get this game! Judging by the responses I need this game.

look for a torrent, or see of you can find a retail copy out there.

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Quoting Szadowsz,

reply 16

1: Mech Commander 2

Mechcommander 2 is more of a tactical game than an RTS. It's definitely up there, though: loved the game.

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I preferred MechCommander to MechCommander 2, personally. Though both were good. My list, in no particular order:

- MechCommander, my first real online RTS. Played the crap out of it while the MSN Zone was active.

- Warcraft 2 + expansion, spent hours and hours with my brother hacking it with a hex editor and it was just plain old fun.

- Sins of a Solar Empire + Entrenchment, 'nuff said. From beta to today, I still play it.

- Homeworld series, yeah yeah everyone mentions it, but for good reason. I need to play them again, but didn't take my discs when I moved

- Ground Control/Ground Control 2, the first game was a masterpiece of its time. The second looked better, but it didn't quite match GC's awesomeness. Was a great game in its own right, however.

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Hawawaa

Join Date 09/2006

+33

My Homeworld Cataclysm disk doesnt really work anymore... I mean I can do campaign for like 15mins and then I get the good old FU error... ahhh really want to play through campaign a few more times ya know...

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Quoting Mr_Blunt3d,

reply 18

Holy crap, where can I get this game! Judging by the responses I need this game.

look for a torrent, or see of you can find a retail copy out there.

How can I find a reliable, legal copy?

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I went to Amazon to look and I found this

http://www.amazon.com/Homeworld-Cataclysm-Pc/dp/B00004T77G/ref=sr_1_8?ie=UTF8&s=videogames&qid=1245774637&sr=8-8

Anyway, you can get the used ones.. they have some new copies but for mostly the full price, which is a bit silly.

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$122!?!?!? I cant afford that!

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Like I said, check the the new and used things. You can get HW1 for ~$18, HW2 for ~$14 I think, I don't remember Cataclysm. The sellers have like 97%+ ratings so it's a pretty safe bet.

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