Thread: Looking For Some Help

Im looking to get a good replayable RTS but Im not sure what I should get... I like RTS games that kind of evolve into different "times" if you will (if that makes sense). I used to play these a lot like 10 years ago. My favorites were Age of Empires II and Total Annihilation.

What would you suggest I look into?

An oldie but along the same lines as Age of Empire is Empire Earth.

Depends on whether you want something that's strictly RTS like AoE and TA. If you do, the sequel to TA (Supreme Commander) was pretty good, though the replayability just seemed lower.

If you like a bit of strategy to go with the RTS portion, I would recommend most of the Total War series. They have what they call the "Grand Campaign", where you build up your armies, build shit in the provinces you already own, then send your armies after provinces you don't own yet, and when you run into another army you have the option to either sim the fight (which I do if it's something not worth my time, like I greatly outnumber or outclass them) or to fight it out yourself (which I choose if it's a more even battle. I like the challenge and I almost always do better than the AI).

There are also several different options as far as periods go. You could play some of the older ones like Medieval and Medieval II if you prefer a game without things like gunpowder, or Rome: Total War in an even earlier period, which I think is probably a better game overall. There's also the most recent version, Shogun 2, set in medieval Japan where gunpowder is rare and usually not used in even small amounts until towards the end. If you're not a purist and don't mind the gunpowder units being prevalent though, I would recommend Empire: Total War. It's about the 3rd most recent TW game (Shogun 2 and Napoleon are more recent) but has more replayability than both of those. It doesn't have the new reinforcement rules, which are nice, but it has a good unit variety (which Shogun 2 lacks) as well as numerous choices to play as in the Grand Campaign (where Napoleon is a bit limited).

Aside from the TW series, there are a couple of other good RTS games to play. Company of Heroes is a relatively old one, but one I still play a lot. It's much closer to the traditional RTS because it doesn't include the big strategy picture, but it arranges units into squads and resources are based off of tactical points held, rather than requiring micromanagement and constant resource management, and lets you focus much more on the action. It's got 3 main campaigns spread across the game and it's expansions which were all pretty fun to do, as well as a short campaign or two kind of tossed in there. There's also several different multiplayer modes aside from the traditional battles, like a version called Stonewall where you and up to 3 teammates have to hold out against increasingly numerous waves of AI attackers (and some of those waves have a LOT of people in them).

Those are my recommendations.

The Rise of Nations series was an oldie but a goodie if you liked the classic basebuilding and expanding sort of RTS that Ago of Empires had. If you're open to a more strategic/technical type of game(moving units on a strategic rather than tactical scale) then try some of the paradox titles, e.g. Victoria II(early 1800's through post WWI era) or Europa Universalis series.

Supreme Commander is great. Command and conquer is okay but not the best.

Originally Posted by Webs

Supreme Commander is great. Command and conquer is okay but not the best.

What the fuck are you smoking? C&C a meh? Thats why they made 11 additions to the franchise.

Originally Posted by SovietDooM

What the fuck are you smoking? C&C a meh? Thats why they made 11 additions to the franchise.

The recent additions haven't been the best with #4 but 3 is okay

While it doesn't evolve into different time periods, I would highly recommend Starcraft 2. I don't care for the competitive scene (I haven't even played my placement matches and I got the game release day), but I have sunk hours in the amazing campaign, custom games and CO-OP vs CPU matches.

Originally Posted by Webs

The recent additions haven't been the best with #4 but 3 is okay

Agreed. I have every other CnC game and love them... except CnC 4. I played the beta and didn't like where they were going with it.

I can't really add much to this but I'll put in a list of games I think are great. I used to play RTS games exclusively for a few years.

*goes and looks in his drawer*

Games which have civilization-age/major tech changes:
Rise of Nations
Any Total War game
Europa Universalis Series (I have EU3)

Others I like:
Command & Conquer (just about any except 4 is enjoyable... "The First Decade" is a good buy)
Supreme Commander
Starcraft 1 & 2
Company of Heroes
Star Wars: Empire at War

-Zero-k
-Achron


Zero-k runs on the spring engine, and thus is free. It is an evolution of the complete annihilation mod.

Achron is the time travel RTS.



I do highly suggest the spring engine. It is free with lots of great games/mods on it.