is RTS gaming dead?

[Agent11]

I still play AOE3 online, very challenging to do well playing as some civilizations (like the brits) against an opponent who plays a rush civ(like the turks).

 

[shortylickens]

He stopped lurking just to harass some fool?

WELL PLAYED, SIR!

 

[Pr0d1gy]

Age of Mythology is still one of my favorite games I ever played, too. One of the major problems for me now is that my PC is hooked up to my TV so I have to use my m+k/b on my couch, which makes it a bitch to really game well.

 

[EDUSAN]

its not a normal RTS, but im playing ANNO 2070, and even though its kinda hard im liking it so far

 

[clok1966]

LOL...ever hear of a little game called Halo? Or rather...the Halo Universe. (no doubt you have)

Bungie is really good at making a game world come alive. Each game they made had it's own history, mythology, and background. So many details there for the imagination.

or maybe they just read the book "ringworld" .. giant ring planet of metal? Bungie's claim to fame is the First Console shooter that worked well with a controler, subpar compared to PC shooters.. but .. for some that's all they have played..

Marthon was a great MAC shooter (but just an average one as shooters go).. ONI was actually a pretty good beatum up action game that got no love.. Myth was good, to great (agree!)..

or so I THINK (opinion only)..

as for RTS.. have to agree Company Of Hero's, the DOW (warhammer ones).. Codenameanzers is pretty good but considers a RT Tactical (not strategy).
DEAD, no ... sleeping from over use, yes.. something plain old FPS need to do.

 

[shortylickens]

Age of Mythology is still one of my favorite games I ever played, too. One of the major problems for me now is that my PC is hooked up to my TV so I have to use my m+k/b on my couch, which makes it a bitch to really game well.

I still play at least one round every day.

Overall fave is Thor. You've got the usual awesomeness of warrior/builders, plus faster farming dwarves, plus the ability to make fire giants and cause Ragnarok.
Ragnarok is the best ability ever. Max out on population, then convert everyone to super heroes. I love it. Oh, and you get one higher level of arms than everyone else.

 

[JoetheLion]

LOL...ever hear of a little game called Halo? Or rather...the Halo Universe. (no doubt you have)

Bungie is really good at making a game world come alive. Each game they made had it's own history, mythology, and background. So many details there for the imagination.

This sarcasm frightens me, because there are actually people out there, who would mean it. Zombies, zombies, poor headless zombies.

 

[Rhezuss]

Dawn of War series is one of the best for me.
- DoW1 was a bit different than the classic RTS. You have to control nods to get ressources instead of harvesting materials. Some liked it and some didn't but overall the story, gameplay, WH40K theme was well worth it.
- DoW2 striped some strategy elements (base building) for a more action/rpg/loot style which I really liked. Sure it's not your typical RTS but again, it has flava!

The other one I had the patience to finish and thought was really fun is Starcraft 2. I've yet to start HotS but will soon.

I too am looking for another great RTS. I'm not particularly into these games, mostly because I suck royal arses at them, but i'm starting to grow on the style. I uniquely play singleplayer so it's a non issue if I suck since "Normal" difficulties are somewhat easy on you.

 

[WhipperSnapper]

Sins of a Solar Empire is a great game for online multiplayer RTS, but it has low online player counts, probably because it's too cerebral for most of the rapid-clicking RTS crowd.

 

[Zenoth]

I only play a few nowadays even though I own way more RTS games than I actually play.

The ones I have installed and occasionally play for short sessions are:

º Dawn of War 1 + all expansions (exclusively play offline with A.I. mods)
º Dawn of War 2 + expansions (mostly play The Last Stand, rarely play skirmishes)
º Rise of Nations + Thrones & Patriots expansion (only play it offline)
º Star Wars: Galactic Battlegrounds + Clone Campaigns (only play offline with some mods)
º Star Wars: Empire at War + Forces of Corruption expansion (only play with mods)
º Command & Conquer 2 (Tiberian Sun + Firestorm), saved game in progress with NOD campaign
º Warzone 2100 (free open source version from wz2100.net, only installed recently, still good today)
º Total Annihilation Commander Pack (GoG.com, includes both expansions), saved game in progress in that one, haven't touched it in a long time though
º Supreme Commander + expansion (play at least a full big map 8 players skirmish once a week or so)

I own many other RTS'es but they aren't installed for now. I don't see the RTS genre as being "dead", it's very much there and still alive, just need to pick up the one(s) you like out of the hundreds that exist and you're set. I don't need a yearly RTS release to make the genre itself "alive". I would still consider it alive in 20 years if I can still play Rise of Nations then. As for actual new RTS releases... I don't mind. I mean either they're good or bad, time will tell, I already own many which I love so I don't care really. If the "next big" RTS releases happen to suck I'll just keep playing my beloved DoW, RoN and EaW and I'll call it a night.

 

[TheSlamma]

I still play at least one round every day.

Overall fave is Thor. You've got the usual awesomeness of warrior/builders, plus faster farming dwarves, plus the ability to make fire giants and cause Ragnarok.
Ragnarok is the best ability ever. Max out on population, then convert everyone to super heroes. I love it. Oh, and you get one higher level of arms than everyone else.

I did that back in the day to a few of my friends, I just built up my vills as fast as I could to age 4 and then used that god power and stormed em, called it my "RagnaRush"

 

[Chaotic42]

I'm about to play some Forged Alliance. For some reason TA and SupCom are the only RTSes I like. I'd like to see them come out with a new SupCom, but after Square bought the franchise and ran it into the ground, I have no hope.

 

[dud]

I am bored of rinse and repeat shooters and sports sims, don't have the patience to play an RPG. What I used to like was skirmishes on Warcraft 3 and C&C. I know HOTS is out but I didn't really enjoy SC2, so gave it a skip. Is there anything else coming soon.

RTS is only dead if you let it be personally. I prefer a good RTS as I do a fine wine. When I get the time to play these are the (classics) that I spend time with:

1) Homeworld
2) Rise of Nations
3) The Empire Earth series
4) The AOE series

You ask if RTS is dead ... I would be more concerned with FPSs. How many different ways can you kill a virtual "person"? I see no innovation in FPSs ... so I run back to what works for me.

 

[Smoblikat]

Hopefully

 

[WhipperSnapper]

RTS is only dead if you let it be personally.

It's possible that when some people refer to RTS as being alive or dead, they are referring to online multiplayer against human opponents. (If there's no one left to play against online, the game is "dead".)

You ask if RTS is dead ... I would be more concerned with FPSs. How many different ways can you kill a virtual "person"? I see no innovation in FPSs ... so I run back to what works for me.

You could say the same thing about real-world football or basketball or tennis or golf, but people still play and enjoy them. A good FPS is less of a disposable console kiddies game and more like an athletic cybersport. If you ever played a 5-on-5 clan or organized pick-up-game match in Unreal Tournament (UT99) you'd know what I mean about the game feeling like more of a competitive sport than silly disposable console game.

 

[shortylickens]

FPS innovation to me is making more RPG's.
Even though they didnt follow the original genre, Fallout 3 and New Vegas were a crapload of fun. Much more than any Elder Scrolls game.

 

[Fenixgoon]

Sins of a Solar Empire is a great game for online multiplayer RTS, but it has low online player counts, probably because it's too cerebral for most of the rapid-clicking RTS crowd.

the shortest game i ever had, even vs. a normal (or maybe it was easy) AI was 4 hours.

i really don't understand how Sins is supposed to move fast. and I was colonizing as much as I could (this was on a small map)

Maybe if you play on uber sized maps where everyone spends 10min colonizing, 10 mins building an army, and then someone wins. i guess that could work.

 

[Red Storm]

I'm about to play some Forged Alliance. For some reason TA and SupCom are the only RTSes I like. I'd like to see them come out with a new SupCom, but after Square bought the franchise and ran it into the ground, I have no hope.

Planetary Annihilation is the closest we're gonna get to it.

 

[shortylickens]

I'm about to play some Forged Alliance. For some reason TA and SupCom are the only RTSes I like. I'd like to see them come out with a new SupCom, but after Square bought the franchise and ran it into the ground, I have no hope.

I like they focus more on combat and less on base building. As someone once pointed out many games calling themselves RTS's are really just exercises in city management or resource management.
Star Craft 1 and 2 are prime examples. If you dont figure out the absolute best most efficient way of managing your fledgling war factory then you are screwed in the end game cuz there isnt much in the way of real tactics.

World In Conflict goes to the extreme cuz there is no city management. You get forces and you have to accomplish objectives. Thats it.

 

[WhipperSnapper]

the shortest game i ever had, even vs. a normal (or maybe it was easy) AI was 4 hours.

i really don't understand how Sins is supposed to move fast. and I was colonizing as much as I could (this was on a small map)

I'm really not kidding. Your average 5-on-5 PvP Sins game only takes about 1.5-2 hours to play on the huge random single star map. Speed settings are all set to Fastest. In a 5-on-5 team game, you match up 1-to-1 against the other players, so you don't have to take down 9 other players like you would in a 10 player free-for-all. So, it's not going to take as long to finish. Also, the players on the losing team will call it "gg" and quit once it's obvious they have lost (so that a new competitive game can be formed). It's my favorite game right now.

 

[Red Storm]

I'm really not kidding. Your average 5-on-5 PvP Sins game only takes about 1.5-2 hours to play on the huge random single star map. Speed settings are all set to Fastest. In a 5-on-5 team game, you match up 1-to-1 against the other players, so you don't have to take down 9 other players like you would in a 10 player free-for-all. So, it's not going to take as long to finish. Also, the players on the losing team will call it "gg" and quit once it's obvious they have lost (so that a new competitive game can be formed). It's my favorite game right now.

I enjoy Sins, but it needs a campaign for single player, and also there needs to be a little more diversity with the non capital units. As far as I can tell they are identical in stats and roles, just different looks and names.

 

[clamum]

Company of motherfucking Heroes 2! Although it is more of a Real-Time Tactics game I guess. Of course check out its predecessor, Company of Heroes.

 

[_Rick_]

World In Conflict goes to the extreme cuz there is no city management. You get forces and you have to accomplish objectives. Thats it.

Yeah, it's kind of a squad moba, a concept I found difficult to grasp at first, but which really works well in MP, if you have a team that works together.

Which is also the reason I don't play it much, but maybe I can convince some buddies to pick it up for a tenner, so we can alternate between that and DotA.

Are there still public servers running?

 

[Rezist]

I like they focus more on combat and less on base building. As someone once pointed out many games calling themselves RTS's are really just exercises in city management or resource management.
Star Craft 1 and 2 are prime examples. If you dont figure out the absolute best most efficient way of managing your fledgling war factory then you are screwed in the end game cuz there isnt much in the way of real tactics.

World In Conflict goes to the extreme cuz there is no city management. You get forces and you have to accomplish objectives. Thats it.

SC2 is basically a build order and combat micro game. Sure you need to macro to make sure your not letting your resources build too high and reinforce your armies but that's the smaller part of the game army micro/base denying is the name of the game.

 

[Apathetic]

Planetary Annihilation is coming out in the next year or so I think and that looks fun.

I'm waiting for that game too. I'm just hoping it's like the original Total Annihilation and not the wretched piece of crap known as Supreme Commander.

Dave