Suggestions for RTS games with easy learning curve

[frozentundra123456]

You could also try Rise of Nations (expansion: Thrones and Patriots), Age of Mythology (expansion: The Titans), Star Wars: Galactic Battlegrounds (expansion: Clone Campaigns), Star Wars: Empire at War (expansion: Forces of Corruption), as well as Universe at War: Earth Assault. And finally I'd also recommend Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War (there's three expansions, but just get Dark Crusade at this point, it's the best, in my opinion). There's also Dawn of War II but that one has a bit of a learning curve compared to the first, since DoW II focuses more on small squads and units coordination (in comparison to the original).

All of them are rather easy though, or at least "easy enough" in my opinion.

I would agree on most of those. Forgot about Rise of Nations. Galactic Battlegrounds was one of my favorite games ever. It had some really cool custom maps back when the MSN Gaming Zone was available. (Free online play from Microsoft that didnt suck and they actually made games for the PC---hard to believe. Those were the days.)

Also forgot about Universe at War: Earth Assault. Did not get the publicity AOE and some others got, but it was a very good game with really nice graphics for the time.

And yes, I agree they were all fairly easy against the AI in campaign and skirmish mode.

Edit: Since AOE is on Steam, I wish they would bring some of these game to Steam as well. Does anyone know what kind of online play is available for AOE on steam?

 

[Pia]

I never play multi in RTS games. I used to play Warcraft 2 mp (yes, long ago) and I was terrible. Actually, think I played CoH a game or two and got my ass handed to me. I stick with SP.

Starcraft 2 easy mode is not hard at all. Just like in Warcraft, the control scheme is such that you must use a few keys on the keyboard along with the mouse and put your production buildings in a hotkey or the game will feel bad. It's not designed to be played leaning back with a drink and clicking leisurely once in a while. If you are fine with that, you should play SC2.

I find Starcraft to be a much clearer game than WC3 or CoH. Units are unique and easy to distinguish from one another, and do not have experience points, levels, items in inventories etc.; what you see is what you get. This is one reason it has become such a successful spectator game. Compared to WC3, you don't have to do so much fiddly stuff with individual units and stress about keeping them alive. The troops are more disposable, and you often just accept they'll die and try to put them in a fight where you can do enough damage to make the loss worth it. A lot of focus is on your economy and when you are able to expand to another base. There are no economic penalties in place like in WC3 for having a lot of army, so having more army is always good.

Of course then there's all the custom games, both single and multiplayer, that play nothing like vanilla Starcraft. I haven't played much of those but there's a lot of variety, all the way up to block-matching puzzle games.