Good intro RTS for someone who has NEVER played an RTS

[OCNewbie]

To my knowledge, I've never played any RTS category game. I've never played Starcraft, Warcraft, AoE, C&C?, or any of the other countless numbers of RTS games that have been released over the years. I don't even know the gist of what you do in an RTS game.

I've bought into the hype, and feel it's high time that I learn what the genre is all about. I've played RPGs, FPSs, MMOs, Diablo 1/2, and just about every other genre of game out there, at least that I'm aware of. I'm not opposed to doing a lot of research into a new game I get into, if it's worth the time investment. I like games with intricacies and feel I will definitely like the strategy portion of RTS games.

So... old or new, what is a good RTS game that will help me break into the genre. Should I start with Starcraft? Is it likely I'll be turned off by the incredibly dated graphics? Is the game so amazing that the dated graphics will be easily offset by the gameplay? Oh, and I'm by no means stuck on Starcraft, I just know it's likely the most popular RTS ever.

Thanks in advance!

Edit: Forgot to mention... as I'm a RTS newb, I think it'd be best to start with a game that has a great single-player campaign, as I don't think cutting my teeth in an RTS game against people who have played them for years and years (in a multiplayer setting) is a good idea. Thanks QuantumPion for reminding me =)

 

[QuantumPion]

Don't get starcraft 1, it has a very bad interface that is noob unfriendly.

I would say start with Warcraft 3. It has a cool RPG element to it, all the basic RTS elements, and easy to understand unit counter mechanics. And a great single player campaign that walks you through the basics.

 

[RavenSEAL]

Age of empires 3...pretty simple really.

Gather Materials, build your town, gather more materials, build an army, kick the living hell out of your enemy's ass

Too bad MS killed it at its prime...they are coming out with some F2P version, but i just don't think that model will ever work fairly as far as RTS. Anyways, you can download the demo off their community site(just google age of empires) then if you like it, you can purchase the whole game+2 expansions for 20 bucks. If you got a nice vid card, you should be able to run it @ 1080p no probs.

 

[lopri]

Hmm.. wouldn't all the spells and special abilities, let alone items, be confusing for a new RTS player? Especially Frozen Throne's counter system is quite complicated compared to the original (Reign of Chaos)

I've learned RTS with Age of Empires series long time ago but that franchise is dead today. I think StarCraft 2 is friendly enough for beginners. I haven't played the original and the Brood War, but learning SC2 seems OK so far. What helps greatly is that there are huge community with lots of places to download replays. Watching some of the top players games would help a lot to get used to ins and outs of the game.

 

[Malak]

Command and Conquer: Generals, especially with Zero Hour. 3 unique sides in every way. Very basic resource gathering, which is good. The focus is on strategy and how to use your strengths to overcome the enemy weakness. Zero Hour adds specialty generals that really refines it quite a bit. It can be very challenging on harder difficulties.

There is a huge variety of RTS's though, some very different than others. Warlords Battlecry has RPG elements, for instance. Sins of a Solar Empire is pretty different too.

 

[zerocool84]

Company of Heroes or Dawn of War

 

[heat901]

Command and conquer: Red Alert.... start with the old stuff... or Total annihilation... basically build stuff to build other stuff.

 

[Daverino]

Dawn of War II
It's really really crystallized down to the basic elements, AND it's a hella lotta fun.

 

[Wardawg1001]

I haven't been new to the RTS genre for about 13 years so its hard to judge what might be newbie friendliest. I do think WC3 might be a good place to start though. The campaign is pretty good and will teach you all about the different units, upgrade paths, base building basics, etc. I was never big on the multiplayer (except the custom maps), but I did go through a stint where I played about 50 games through the automated match making and even as a newbie (though I had read up on some strategy and watched some pro videos first) I did pretty well.

Unlike some other RTS's though, all 4 races in WC3 have a completely different set of units and technologies, and slightly different worker/building mechanics. It will add some extra time to the learning curve but otherwise it shouldn't be a problem.

 

[shortylickens]

Act Of War and play easy mode.
They have a buttload of in-between missions that let you learn the new units.

Ditto Total Anihilation: Kingdoms. 48 missions and some of them are automatic wins.

 

[OCNewbie]

Should I maybe play some Turn-based Strategy games first? I'm reading the wiki article about RTS games now, and it's making me think about different things. Any good TBS's? (if that's the appropriate acronym)

 

[DominionSeraph]

Should I maybe play some Turn-based Strategy games first?

Turn-based is often less forgiving than real-time. A wrong move tends to snowball.

For RTS I'd suggest the original Command & Conquer, then Starcraft, then for a treat you'll never forget, Homeworld.

Total Annihilation has been mentioned, and while it is a great game, it's more of a sandbox than what came after. (Everything since has been a C&C clone.)
It's the original Tower Defense game, though.

 

[Loop2kil]

Command and Conquer: Generals, especially with Zero Hour. 3 unique sides in every way. Very basic resource gathering, which is good. The focus is on strategy and how to use your strengths to overcome the enemy weakness. Zero Hour adds specialty generals that really refines it quite a bit. It can be very challenging on harder difficulties.

There is a huge variety of RTS's though, some very different than others. Warlords Battlecry has RPG elements, for instance. Sins of a Solar Empire is pretty different too.

I second Zero Hour...great game that I still fire up from time to time.

 

[OCNewbie]

Would Dune II, the "original" RTS be pretty pointless? I'm reading some similar threads to this one, found through Google, and some are recommending that to learn the core basics of a RTS game. I guess I could give it a shot and see how horribly dated it really is =)

 

[Daverino]

Would Dune II, the "original" RTS be pretty pointless? I'm reading some similar threads to this one, found through Google, and some are recommending that to learn the core basics of a RTS game. I guess I could give it a shot and see how horribly dated it really is =)

Dune II is still lots of fun, although the graphics are dated. I play it on my crappy laptop for fun and nostalgia. It's free as well, although you'll also need a copy of DOSBox to run it well.

 

[GullyFoyle]

The original Command & Conquer, and Command & Conquer Red Alert were released as free games!
Can you beat that?

 

[OCNewbie]

Can you beat that?

What if I said yes? Hmmmmm?

 

[The Green Bean]

Company of Heroes or Dawn of War

seconded.

 

[Arkaign]

Would Dune II, the "original" RTS be pretty pointless? I'm reading some similar threads to this one, found through Google, and some are recommending that to learn the core basics of a RTS game. I guess I could give it a shot and see how horribly dated it really is =)

Herzog Zwei predates it by a bit and is a better game to boot (custom programming for individual units + 'hero' character you directly control). Hard to find though.

I think something like Red Alert or Warcraft II would make more sense though, as they are really easy to learn and have most of the common elements that make up modern RTS.

 

[NoSoup4You]

Age of Empires 2, it's the pinnacle of the series and the sprite based graphics still look great even today. Age 3 brought smaller, more confined maps which placed a greater emphasis on fighting, if that appeals to you then go for it but I always liked the gi-normous maps of Age 2.

Age 3, however, has a substantially more fun single player campaign so that might sway you. There's an actual story to follow along with even if it's lame-brained...etc. Age 2's, if I recall, was more historically based but fun nonetheless. I played Age 2 online extensively, as well as Age 3 and Age of Mythology. They're all phenomenal multiplayer games.

I had some fun with AoM's single player as well...

 

[paperfist]

Should I maybe play some Turn-based Strategy games first? I'm reading the wiki article about RTS games now, and it's making me think about different things. Any good TBS's? (if that's the appropriate acronym)

RTS = Rise of Nations, it's based on real stuff so it's easy to comprehend your units and upgrades. Resource gathering is straightforward and commanding your units is simple. Another great franchise cut down at the knees by the developer.

TBS = Can indeed be more overwhelming then RTS as they can have a lot going on at once. True you can take forever to ponder your moves. I'd recommend Civilization 3 or 4 but they are pretty deep games.

 

[Arkaign]

Turn based Strategy : Heroes of Might and Magic 3 and/or 5. Skip 4, it was terrible, and 1 and 2 are just too old (HOMM3 does everything HOMM 1 and 2 did, but better). For some reason I prefer 3 to all of them, but 5 is actually pretty good and of course looks pretty good considering it's a few years on now.

 

[HomerX]

Why are there so many really OLD games?

I loved to play Dune2, C&C1, Warcraft1 etc but i dont think that they are so great that someone who wants to try some rts games should start with something THAT old...

Get Warcraft 3 or even better Starcraft 2! Both have a great single player campaign and are easy to learn...
You need nothing from the old games in order to understand the newer ones nor are they easier to learn/play etc...

DONT START WITH DUNE2! no unit groups, no "right click" move/attack commands are really out of date!

In starcraft2 you can switch the difficulty lvl between each mission, there is a good ingame help system, a LOT of tutorial stuff etc... and if he really likes the genre and wants so experience the multiplayer part -> SC2 is the way to go atm...

the only argument against SC2 is imho the price... if he is unsure if he likes the genre at all it might be too expensive. But then again there are a lot of guest passes etc...

 

[Firsttime]

To understand the genre today it helps to start with the classics.

Age of Empires 2 is just a must play. It is, in my opinion, what all RTS games should aspire to be. AoE2 and Starcraft Brood War represent the RTS genre at its peak in its purest form.

Red Alert 2 with no Yuri's is another great example of the genre, it's very fast paced and resource collecting is much less of an emphasis then in say AoE2.

The first Empire Earth game was also a lot of fun. Lets you use planes and stuff. The other games in the series are worthless.

 

[AyashiKaibutsu]

(HOMM3 does everything HOMM 1 and 2 did, but better).

HOMM3 does not do hamburgerliers and pink dragons.