RTS games for a begineer...

DominicStar said:
Used to happen to me on AOE 2, then I realised whilst I was making military units, my opponents were gathering resources that would allowed very swift army creation later.
Click to expand...

Yup. Expansion to gather outlying resources and bolstering your economy is vital in most modern RTS games as well (with the possible exception of the C&C series post-Generals).
 
what i like about COH, is that your not bogged down in keyboard commands and "moves" or actions that are vital. Personally i started off using the mouse and only the mouse for everything in COH. Very simple but also very stratigic/tactical.
 
Blackhawk47 said:
what i like about COH, is that your not bogged down in keyboard commands and "moves" or actions that are vital. Personally i started off using the mouse and only the mouse for everything in COH. Very simple but also very stratigic/tactical.
Click to expand...

It requires excessive micromanagement of some units if you don't want them overwhelmed though. Feels more like platoon commander than a strategic op. I laughed at the final German mission in OF, multiple divisions? The Brits were history after sending maybe 20 tanks on Normal difficulty.
 
Got all of the DoW games during the Xmas Steam sale... loving every minute of them, working my way through the Winter Assault campaign at the moment. Brilliant games, you'd be silly to skip them because you think it's too "geeky"
 
OK OK Ill have a look at DoW then, I actually ended up getting SupCom in the shops today for what I thought was a bargain - it sounds like its a complicated game and probably the last one I should play.

Ill start with say CnC Decades (though it doesnt support Vista it seems), then DoW and then CoH/Total War...

Ill probably give MP a go, but just want something to enjoy in my own time and skill - the reason I enjoyed Red Alert was the differences in missions and the few cool ones (with Sonya or the Spy for example) - I really hope these types of distractions happen in these games...

P.S. I rather get the CoH Gold Pack and then pick up DoW on Steam - seems the cheapest way to do it...

ps3ud0 :cool:
 
Blackhawk47 said:
what i like about COH, is that your not bogged down in keyboard commands and "moves" or actions that are vital. Personally i started off using the mouse and only the mouse for everything in COH. Very simple but also very stratigic/tactical.
Click to expand...

One of the reasons why I love CoH is that it doesn't have any annoying "features" that almost every RTS has (eg, in Dark Crusade, spam of flayed Ones could beat everything)
 
Low Spec
Warcraft 2
Low end, but has many unique features and TONS of custom units
Total Annihilation
Still has units being made for it and an active community, if you cant run SupCom then it is well worth a bash (and it is FREE)
Red Alert 2
One of the all time classics and is pretty much what all the later C&C games have been selling off of the back of (C&C at its finest here!)
Homeworld 2
A beautiful game that lacks many of the gameplay factors of other RTS games, but makes up for it in shear splendor of space battles and multiaxis attacks of space. Very atmospheric.

Medium Spec
Total War
Excellent use of strategy and unit formations, nothing does it quite the same. This is probably the ONLY RTS where you can actually plan an attack and follow it through to its completion.
Dawn of War + Expansions
For a beginner I would recommend this over all the others due to the variety of gameplay it provides. It is both humorous, fast and has the wow factor from some of its units. Although the game lacks the strategy of many others in favour of the 'RUSH' distinct with earlier RTS games, this will keep an RTS newbie entertained for hours.

High Spec
CoH
Company of Heroes has an excellent single player campaign and such a unique and intelligent design that you will be hard pushed to find anything superior
SupCom (FA)
SupCom because even though its single player campaign is short and pretty weak, it has a lot more variation in its AI and any half competent player will soon learn to exploit AI weaknesses. Make sure you get Forged Alliance (the expansion).



All of these games have skirmish mode for long lasting play, but some have an excellent single player campaign too.

Although I am a massive SupCom fan, if you can run it then get Company of Heroes because nothing offers more.
  • Perfect Singleplayer campaign
  • You can employ some amazing tactics and strategy
  • Excellent units with a large amount of variety of customisation
  • Cover system (Yes an RTS too!!!)
  • Great looking and support for DX10 effects
  • A free expansion
The only downside is the HUGE downloads required to patch it from scratch!
 
One that I've not noticed anyone mention is the Stronghold games.
I picked up a copy of Stronghold 2 Deluxe at Christmas for 4quid, the one thing that this has over all the other RTS games I've played is a fairly complex system of resource management.
Having farms to grow wheat and then windmills to make the flour and then the bakers to make the bread and getting the numbers of buildings balanced right makes you think a lot harder, especially when you need to share the limited space with other industries such as your blacksmiths or fletchers.
Too many RTS games have been dumbed down so you only have 1 or 2 resources.
I do enjoy DOW (playing campaigns again at the moment) but it's just to simple and the original campaign only had about 13 levels compared to over 20 with AOM.
 
tim_enchanter said:
One that I've not noticed anyone mention is the Stronghold games.
I picked up a copy of Stronghold 2 Deluxe at Christmas for 4quid, the one thing that this has over all the other RTS games I've played is a fairly complex system of resource management.
Having farms to grow wheat and then windmills to make the flour and then the bakers to make the bread and getting the numbers of buildings balanced right makes you think a lot harder, especially when you need to share the limited space with other industries such as your blacksmiths or fletchers.
Click to expand...

Settlers was just as complex ;)
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom