I'm looking for a specific RTS game

[XavierMace]

Example #3: Sins of a Solar Empire
Example #4: Star Trek: Armada I and II

 

[thehotsung8701A]

No, not all RTSes have "infantry".

Example #1: Total Annihilation
Example #2: Supreme Commander

It the same with Warhammer 2. It had no base building and is not a proper RTS game.

 

[dud]

No, not all RTSes have "infantry".

Example #1: Total Annihilation
Example #2: Supreme Commander

Example#3:The Homeworld Series

 

[XavierMace]

It the same with Warhammer 2. It had no base building and is not a proper RTS game.

Go back to YouTube comments.

 

[potzocalli]

Empire Earth was a great game. The 2 sequels not so much. As mentioned before, the AI cheats like crazy but you can easily defend understanding some basic rules. Always leave a hole in your walls and the AI will almost always use it. Just defend this hole with a lot of towers and army and you will be safe.
AI will advance an age only when it expands so try to cut off their expansion and do not destroy towns unless you can safely dfend the sites or you give the AI the opportunity to expand and advance an age.
Have fun!

 

[Stg-Flame]

It the same with Warhammer 2. It had no base building and is not a proper RTS game.

So you're admitting that the games they listed are actually RTS games or are you just deflecting again?

Back on topic, I was searching my first gaming rig's HDDs and found an old FAQ I wrote for Earth 2160. That's another good RTS that's been long forgotten.

Can anyone recommend a decent gameplay video of Rise of Nations? The ones I found were rather disappointing as they featured the same things over and over again. I rarely use Youtube and the Steam store page previews are (hopefully) trash.

 

[Zenoth]

Honestly you don't need previews of Rise of Nations, it's an excellent game. If you liked Age of Empires II you would love RoN, it's in the same vein.

But here's a gameplay video I found on YouTube just now. Just keep in mind that there's so many pre-match options to choose from for a custom skirmish that probably all the videos you'll see will all be different.

 

[Stg-Flame]

Honestly you don't need previews of Rise of Nations, it's an excellent game. If you liked Age of Empires II you would love RoN, it's in the same vein.

But here's a I found on YouTube just now. Just keep in mind that there's so many pre-match options to choose from for a custom skirmish that probably all the videos you'll see will all be different.

I really appreciate the video. That does the game much more justice than the Steam store page. Looks like this is another game on my wishlist that will be purchased soon.

As for Homeworld, it reminds me a lot of Sins of a Solar Empire which I really enjoyed. I'll have to give that a try as well. Thanks a lot for all the suggestions.

 

[Vivendi]

I really appreciate the video. That does the game much more justice than the Steam store page. Looks like this is another game on my wishlist that will be purchased soon.

As for Homeworld, it reminds me a lot of Sins of a Solar Empire which I really enjoyed. I'll have to give that a try as well. Thanks a lot for all the suggestions.

Man this thread kinda makes me sad, there used to be so many good RTS games out every year early 2000's. There really was no shortage of choice of good RTS games back then.

Btw, the Warhammer dawn of war games are 75% off on Steam right now, if anyone is interested as they were mentioned earlier in this thread.

 

[Stg-Flame]

What's everyone's view on Age of Empires 3? I played it a bit but because my PC wasn't really capable of handling the game, I didn't get into it that much.

 

[Vivendi]

What's everyone's view on Age of Empires 3? I played it a bit but because my PC wasn't really capable of handling the game, I didn't get into it that much.

It was pretty meh, especially compared to it's predecessors. I didn't end up getting the expansions. As a fan of AoE 2, I was pretty disappointed with this game.

 

[TidusZ]

I still play EE with friends now and then (had Lan last month and played a big game vs ai). My favorite RTS is Supreme Commander and its standalone expansion Forged Alliance. I wish a new RTS would come out that pushes the genre forward like these games did (and as Total Annihilation did back in 1997). The genre feels incredibly stale when the most popular RTS, Starcraft 2, feels like a game made in the 90s. Certainly it has that 640x480 charm even at 1600p. I had high hopes for Planetary Annihilation but that was a big disappointment. On the bright side we are getting a decent amount of good 4x strategy games, but RTS was always my bread and butter.

 

[BSim500]

What's everyone's view on Age of Empires 3? I played it a bit but because my PC wasn't really capable of handling the game, I didn't get into it that much.

It was pretty meh, especially compared to it's predecessors. I didn't end up getting the expansions. As a fan of AoE 2, I was pretty disappointed with this game.

Agreed. I didn't like AoE3 for several reasons:-

1. Performance issues. And the new 3D look didn't seem to scroll as well as the old 2D one.

2. The UI was huge (took up twice the size of fairly minimalist AoE2 / RoN). Something like 1/3rd of the screen vs 1/6th. It was also too zoomed in.

3. Dumb AI even worse than older games. Eg, surround a villager with 8 sheep, set him to work gathering food from one and when he's finished he'll just stop instead of moving onto the other 7. See two enemies, click on one to attack, kill it and the AI will just stand there rather than attack the second. Drives micro-management through the roof, and it's amazing just how "backward" AoE3's AI is for its several year "new-ness", even compared to AoE1.

4. IIRC, random map variety was a lot worse than AoE2.

5. They took a load of stuff out (unit tactics / garrisoning) but the new stuff they brought in (trading cards, shipping, etc) were mostly distracting gimmicks.

You're not missing much, Stg-Flame. AoE2 and RoN were far better. Age of Mythology was pretty good too if you haven't tried that. Only 4 civs (Norse, Greek, Egyptian, Atlantean) but they actually felt and played really different and unique from each other beyond the usual simple stat changes and token unique unit. Let's put it this way, for me as of 2016, AoE2, AoM and RoN have clocked up 500-1000hrs gameplay each. AoE3 still stands at 7.5hrs and has long been uninstalled.

 

[Stg-Flame]

I've played All the AoE and AoM games and that's why I wanted something like EE or RoN. I've played those games so much I didn't want to load a random scenario and just crush the AI because I still remember easy tactics. There is a game I really enjoyed that I don't ever hear people talking about - Total Annihilation: Kingdoms. I really enjoyed the unit leveling up system they had.

I went ahead and bought Rise of Nations and I'm thinking about grabbing both Supreme Commanders. I already own Sup Com 1 but it's the retail version and my CD Key is packed away in storage. I hear a lot of people praise Sup Com 1/Forged Alliance, but I never hear anything about Sup Com 2.

 

[DigDog]

How so? Every RTS game to date has infantry.

you do understand that the graphics of the model do NOT make the gameplay.

also, there are at least 2 humans in each battle - the commanders. you would know this if you had bothered to watch the introduction. or read the instructions manual.

 

[KMFJD]

I still play the odd multi-player game of Age of Conquerors on steam, they have even released 2 expansions for it.

 

[StinkyPinky]

What ever happened to RTS? Back in circa 2000 it may have been the most popular genre, now hardly any games are released. Starcraft of course, but even Starcraft doesn't get the hype it would have ten years ago.

I never really liked EE, but enjoyed Rise of Nations a lot. Although AoE 1 and 2 were my favourite of the genre.

 

[Stg-Flame]

Blizzard changed the stakes. Some companies like Relic and Sega tried to take the reigns and keep pushing the genre forward but ultimately Relic died off from poor sales and Sega didn't make another Total War game for a long time. When Warcraft changed from Frozen Throne to World of..., the gaming scene changed from casual LAN parties to monthly fees.

Some games like Supreme Commander, Sins of a Solar Empire, and Company of Heroes pushed through and were able to thrive off the unique aspect they brought to the table. Sup Com had massive-scale battles and pushed the graphics to the point where early-day professional teams required multiple monitors to play the game due to the micro-management required. SoSE took the RTS genre to space and kept it there, and CoH took us back to WW2 for a third person perspective control point with fully destructible environments.

In some ways I'm glad the RTS genre didn't thrive as others have because just look how much DLC crap comes with every new game. For a while, we were paying full price for 60% of the actual content and sold the remaining 40% as a season pass for another $25 or individually at $5.99 a piece. At least we will always have the classics.

 

[XavierMace]

In some ways I'm glad the RTS genre didn't thrive as others have because just look how much DLC crap comes with every new game. For a while, we were paying full price for 60% of the actual content and sold the remaining 40% as a season pass for another $25 or individually at $5.99 a piece. At least we will always have the classics.

That's not specific to RTS's and I don't see how RTS dying off is a good thing.

 

[thehotsung8701A]

you do understand that the graphics of the model do NOT make the gameplay.

also, there are at least 2 humans in each battle - the commanders. you would know this if you had bothered to watch the introduction. or read the instructions manual.

You never actually see their in game model just through their cam. That not the same, anyone can do that. I could make Cities Skyline and add in some lame population cap and pretend their are citizen when there isn't. For the record I know that game has people...I have it.

 

[DigDog]

honest to god, you don't make sense. i'm out.

superme commander is widely recognized as being the apex of the RTS genre, for whatever that's worth.

 

[thehotsung8701A]

honest to god, you don't make sense. i'm out.

superme commander is widely recognized as being the apex of the RTS genre, for whatever that's worth.

I do make sense just I don't write very well.

 

[WhipperSnapper]

I'm hoping that we'll get a Sins of a Solar Empire 2 one day, properly designed for online multiplayer team PvP. I think people like the model of a non-APM based RTS.

 

[Red Storm]

Agreed. I didn't like AoE3 for several reasons:-

1. Performance issues. And the new 3D look didn't seem to scroll as well as the old 2D one.

2. The UI was huge (took up twice the size of fairly minimalist AoE2 / RoN). Something like 1/3rd of the screen vs 1/6th. It was also too zoomed in.

3. Dumb AI even worse than older games. Eg, surround a villager with 8 sheep, set him to work gathering food from one and when he's finished he'll just stop instead of moving onto the other 7. See two enemies, click on one to attack, kill it and the AI will just stand there rather than attack the second. Drives micro-management through the roof, and it's amazing just how "backward" AoE3's AI is for its several year "new-ness", even compared to AoE1.

4. IIRC, random map variety was a lot worse than AoE2.

5. They took a load of stuff out (unit tactics / garrisoning) but the new stuff they brought in (trading cards, shipping, etc) were mostly distracting gimmicks.

You're not missing much, Stg-Flame. AoE2 and RoN were far better. Age of Mythology was pretty good too if you haven't tried that. Only 4 civs (Norse, Greek, Egyptian, Atlantean) but they actually felt and played really different and unique from each other beyond the usual simple stat changes and token unique unit. Let's put it this way, for me as of 2016, AoE2, AoM and RoN have clocked up 500-1000hrs gameplay each. AoE3 still stands at 7.5hrs and has long been uninstalled.

Couple of points:

I haven't noticed any performance issues in AoE3. Obviously it uses more resources than AoE2, but I haven't noticed any actual issues with performance.

Regarding dumb AI, that's seemingly how every game is on release. It usually takes a fan made AI to make something good. For your specific examples though, the sheep thing is probably because the sheep had not yet fully fattened up. I believe your villagers will not auto kill/gather from animals that have not fully fattened up (they gain more food value over time). Not sure about your attacking example either, I don't remember that being a problem.

The problem with AoE3 was that they tried to simplify things a little bit too much. However, it's still a fun game, and I felt that a lot of the new mechanics such as trade routes, sending in shipments from your homeland, and trading posts with native civilizations was cool stuff. Overall though the game just wasn't as long lasting as AoE2, but it's hard to top one of the best RTS games of all time.

Age of Mythology just received a new expansion by the way. They added in a Chinese civilization. Steam reviews don't look good. I'll probably get it when it's majorly discounted as I don't play AoM anymore.