VIDEO Any good RTS games out there?

Hey guys so I've been wanting to play a good RTS game. Are there any good ones out there besides like Civilization series?

 

Civ is turn based, actually.

What exactly are you looking for from an RTS? The more "traditional" end of the genre (Command & Conquer, [insert noun]craft) is a bit dead, StarCraft II and Homeworld excepted, as the twitchy strategic elements people liked have sort of been subsumed by MOBAs. Consequently, for those you're looking at an old games dive. Not that an excuse to go back and check out Total Annihilation is necessarily a bad thing, mind you.

The non-traditional end (deeply strategic games that happen to be real time, often with pause) is doing a bit better, with Paradox's big four titles leading the way (Crusader Kings II, Europa Universalis IV, Victoria II, Hearts of Iron IV), but I'd assume if you're looking in that direction you'd be more open to Civ in the first place. Maybe I'm totally off, though, in which case CK2 or EU4 is where you'd want to go for an introduction (CK2 in particular is considered relatively - stress on relatively - newbie friendly).

 

Well, the kind that I'm looking for are either ones like Star Wars: Empire at War and Empire Earth. I used to play both games a lot when I was younger and still do every now and then. Am just wondering if there are any more games like that these days?

 

Nothing new has really filled that niche, I'm afraid, although if you never played Age of Empires II back in the day the HD remaster is quite nice.

 

So all the RTS-type games are turn based now?

 

Not completely (I listed a few examples that aren't turn based in my first reply), but there's a noticeable dearth of realtime offerings whereas turn based is still pretty healthy, and absolutely nothing (IMO) these days really strikes the blend of mid-level complexity and realtime pacing that Age of Empires derivatives used to.

 

civ 6 coming out in October!!!!!!!

 

Still turn based.

 

I like turn based personally

 

So do I, but that's rather different from an RTS, y'know?

 

SC2 is probably in the best state it's ever been. Unfortunately it's at a time where the playerbase is at its lowest, though it's far from a dead game. You can always try out the free Starter Edition if you're interested.

 

yeah I guess . its not real time, true.​

 

Does the OP know that too though? I came in here to recommend one set of games only for it to seem like the OP has a broader/different idea to what I have.

This thread confounds me!

Oh well. If in doubt there's always the Total War franchise. Haven't played it myself, however I heard Warhammer TW is a solid leaping on point to the franchise. Its signature mix of turn based and real time strategy should scratch whatever itch OP has!

 

Total War is great. TW Shogun 2 is the most well-regarded of the more recent titles but Rome II since all the patches is good too (especially the Imperator Augustus campaign). Apparently the new Homeworld (Deserts of Kharak) is very good too but the playerbase is on life support. Company of Heroes 2 is also decent from what I've heard.

 

For RTS, I highly recommend Sins of a Solar Empire. The base game is pretty great, but there's also a Star Wars mod that's really good as well (Star Wars Interregnum). I think this is much better game engine than EAW, with a focus just in space. The mod happens to take a lot of the audio from EAW too.

Men of War Assault Squad 2 is also brilliant if you like your WW2 and is also arguably the better engine than Company of Heroes 2, though similar.

Both are easy to find on Steam and pretty cheap these days too!

 

Thanks I'll check them both out! Sins looks pretty cool. Is the Star Wars mod really any different than say Empire at War?

 

They're similar in look and general play, as in you're looking at a galaxy map and developing the planets, and building and moving ships around for defense and attack. The key differences are that Sins is only space combat with no ground game at all and then that Sins is all in real-time, you can play out a battle in one system while also playing out a battle at the same time in another, this allows you also to reinforce losing battles by moving ships to that battle. You zoom in yourself to go to the battles. Capital ships don't have hardpoints but have abilities that are unlocked with each rank and so have XP based on kills. There are currently 3 playable factions in the mod last I played it, rebels, imperials and then imperial warlords (and there are also pirates). There are 3 resources to collect, crystals and metal come from mining buildings and money comes from taxes on the planets. There's a big technology tree, divided into political, economic and military sections.

I think there are a couple of Let's Play videos on youtube, so it may be worth checking out there. Personally, I like all the differences in favour of Sins/Star Wars Interegnum, but then I've never thought EAW was ever that good.

 

Total war series some of the best being Rome 2 (my personal favourite) and Shogun 2, Attila is also good but a bit difficult at times.

 

redxavier I bought it last night and installed the mod and only played it briefly. From first take, it looks almost exactly like EAW

 

redxavier I bought it last night and installed the mod and only played it briefly. From first take, it looks almost exactly like EAW

 

Nice! I hope you enjoy playing it. I tend to pop on a Star Wars audiobook or podcast and play for hours.

There's a developer (there's actually only 1 guy I think) forum somewhere with details about some of the game mechanics that aren't immediately obvious. Make sure that you have the other mods that work with it installed as well (sorry, I cannot remember which these are but you can likely find these in the Read Me).

I would strongly recommend turning off the superweapons in the game settings, the galaxy gun I think it's called, as they can be an utter pain in the derriere.

 

loved Rome total war, have not played any recent ones.

 

Halo Wars 2 is coming out. The first one was incredibly enjoyable with friends online.

 

What about Men of War: Assault Squad 2? I've read pretty good reviews about that game on Steam. Plus, I mainly want it for the Star Wars Galaxy at War mod. That one looks pretty well done