Must-play RTS games

ic1male · 3 May 2018 at 18:30

So now I have a new PC, I'm able to play real-time strategy games again. The last ones I played before I went console only were Age of Mythology and Rise of Nations, so we're talking about 15 years here.

What are the best RTS games that I've missed in this time and should go and play right away?

Devrij · 3 May 2018 at 19:21

The total war: warhammer games are pretty fantastic (I only have the 1st and loved it). You could look at older total war games like shogun 2 as well if you want a cheaper game

Getting really old school, supreme commander forged alliance was an incredible RTS.

Dawn of War 2 is great, although a bit dated.

Grey goo is a great little game and can be had cheaply.

Random Guy Esq. · 3 May 2018 at 19:25

Maybe check out They Are Billions, if early access doesn't put you off.

Edit: Sorry, didn't read your OP properly. There have been better RTS games in the past 15 years then TAB!

wnb · 3 May 2018 at 19:25

Supreme Commander if you don't have it already.

https://store.steampowered.com/app/9420/Supreme_Commander_Forged_Alliance/

Malevolence · 3 May 2018 at 19:26

Devrij said:
Grey goo is a great little game and can be had cheaply.

I picked that up back in November for a fiver, still haven't got around to playing it yet.

Puppetmaster · 3 May 2018 at 19:31

Company of Heroes 1 & 2

Kainz · 3 May 2018 at 20:07

wnb said:
Supreme Commander if you don't have it already.

https://store.steampowered.com/app/9420/Supreme_Commander_Forged_Alliance/

Possibly the greatest RTS I've ever come across tbh. I still play it regularly even though it is stale when it comes to mod support. Prior to this it was AoE 2: Conquerors that was my best RTS. Forged alliance's resource management and unit queuing/building is simply superb.

Panos · 3 May 2018 at 20:37

ic1male said:
So now I have a new PC, I'm able to play real-time strategy games again. The last ones I played before I went console only were Age of Mythology and Rise of Nations, so we're talking about 15 years here.

What are the best RTS games that I've missed in this time and should go and play right away?

Grey Goo & Supreme Commander Forged Alliance are pure RTS games.

Zbornak · 3 May 2018 at 22:06

World In Conflict.

ic1male · 3 May 2018 at 22:29

Well it looks like Supreme Commander is an obvious choice. Thanks for the suggestions so far.

Devrij · 3 May 2018 at 22:41

SupCom is a bit dated, but the multi monitor support is better than any RTS I've played since.

wnb · 3 May 2018 at 22:44

Devrij said:
SupCom is a bit dated, but the multi monitor support is better than any RTS I've played since.

Your right but it beats everything else hands down.

Kainz · 4 May 2018 at 08:40

Whatever you do, don't play SupCom 2. It was built for the console generation and as a result the ingame models lack a ton of detail that the previous games had. Gameplay is even lacking.

.:MBK:. · 4 May 2018 at 08:50

No where near the scale of games like SupCom but Starcraft 2 is still going strong, and F2P for enough to determine whether you enjoy it or not, including:

First campaign
3 co-op commanders to max level, rest to level 5
Ranked and unranked MP
Arcade (not sure about new premium arcade, but probably)

Glanza · 4 May 2018 at 09:02

Old now but you can't go wrong with Company of Heroes

linktoinsanity · 4 May 2018 at 09:07

I have a few suggestions for you:

-Company of Heroes 1 & 2
-Supreme Commander: Forged Alliance (Though I feel Supcom2 is a good entry game to help get into the original and the AI is more customizable)
-Command & Conquer: Red Alert (RTS thread, cannot not suggest it despite its age. The CNCNet version is truer to the original than OpenRA, though in its own way the latter is a good game too).
-Age of Empires: Definitive Edition
-Age of Empires II - HD
-Warhammer Dawn of War
-Starcraft 2
-8-bit Armies (Made by some of the developers of C&C)

Some older and some newer ones in there. I have Grey Goo, but did not like it as much, feel free to add that to the list to try though.

ic1male · 4 May 2018 at 09:31

Is the Star Wars Empire at War any good? That’s RTS isn’t it?

Samueltastic · 4 May 2018 at 10:20

Command and conquer generals
Company of heroes
Homeworld 2

suenstar · 4 May 2018 at 10:39

I quite like Sins of a Solar Empire for a sci-fi RTS, I've also lost far too much time to AI War.
If you feel like branching out into Grand Strategy titles, Europa Universalis IV is one that could keep you busy for a lifetime.

Relentless81 · 4 May 2018 at 10:40

Company of Heroes and World in Conflict

I quite liked Homeworld Deserts of Kharak, I didnt like the space ones for some reason