Best RTS Out There

[Pyotr Romanov]

I absolutely love Supreme Commander, which is the reason I absolutely loathe SupCom2. I would go on another rant, but I've done so many-a-times already and I'm sick of it.
So let's just keep it at that, SupCom, favorite RTS. Probably would've been Total Annihilation if I had ever played it.

 

[RobThePrezodent]

the original red alert, that's the only RTS I've ever liked. Well, settlers was pretty cool, in fact forget that idea, age of empires was brilliant, I loved that game. Yeah, I'll go with that

 

[Sebenko]

I absolutely love Supreme Commander, which is the reason I absolutely loathe SupCom2. I would go on another rant, but I've done so many-a-times already and I'm sick of it.
So let's just keep it at that, SupCom, favorite RTS. Probably would've been Total Annihilation if I had ever played it.

I feel your pain.

SupCom was great. It's one of the few RTSes I periodically play.

 

[AcrylicHero]

For me, CoH and starcraft 2.

 

[direkiller]

my top 3
1. Homeworld 2
2. Stronghold Crusader
3. Company of Heroes

RUSE is an upcomeing one id give a try

 

[Sojoez]

NO! Don't ask me which is best! I can't answer it!!!

Starcraft has an awesome story.
C&C had the awesome "Build-loads-of-units-and-steamroll!"
Dawn of War had the great dark feeling the WH40K should have. (made me a fan and I'm reading books now.)
Supreme Commander was just insane when it came to the experimentals!
Age of Empires had the great age advance system.

I also liked Universe at War. Although it was buggy and not all to good it stays in my heart. Great concept and of course Frank Klepacki!

I never really liked the Medieval or anything before the gunpowder age for that matter. So no Total War for me.
But if some one where to make the feeling of Total War but with the Imperial Guardsmen.... *drools*

 

[Dango]

Men of War = (Company of Heroes' awesomeness ^ holey shit) - (Relic's budget + Bad Voice Acting) + Insane Level of Detail = Best RTS Made Yet.

This is my second choice.

My first choice however is (how has this not been mentioned yet?) Rome: Total War, it can be either incredibly deep or incredibly simple, but no matter what it's always one of the most addicting games ever made.

 

[Jacob.pederson]

Company of Heroes.

There is no question or hesitation when I say the following: Company of Heroes is the best RTS game on the market to date. It has so much strategy it makes other games look like economy simulators. It focuses almost entirely on the fun part of playing RTS games: the tactical strategy. There are very few games that do this quite as well as Company of Heroes does, the only other that comes close being Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War. And, look at that, it's made by the same developer.

Relic has the right idea. Squad-based unit management, tactical strategy with cover and destructible environments, and so forth are what RTS games should be trying to emulate and use as a basis for success. By contrast, Starcraft II, while fun, is the same game that was released in 1997, only with better graphics. And, I'm sorry, but that just doesn't cut it anymore. It's strategic to a point, but after a bit, Starcraft just becomes an exercise in who can build the most units the fastest. And, really, that isn't what RTSes should be about. You should have to be tactical and strategic in the placement and use of your assets, not just churn out as many as possible and throw them into the grinder.

So yeah. Company of Heroes all the way.

Huge Company or Heroes fan also, that said, if you think there are no unit tactics in Starcraft, then you haven't played it COH certainly has an emphasis on unit tactics/territory that is extremely fun, but this doesn't make Starcraft's equal micro/macro focuses any less fun.

Another of my all-time favorite RTS games is Homeworld 2. No one has come close to its 3d space navy combat, except perhaps Stardock's Sins of a Solar Empire.

Those are the three games on my list for best RTS.

 

[Liberaliter]

Cossacks. The original. After playing that nothing else can compare.

 

[The Amazing Tea Alligator]

I'll probably get laughed at for this answer. However, I've had more fun with Age of Mythology and it's expansion than any other RTS.

The origonal AoM is a lot of fun. It had it's problems and I wouldn't say that it's better than AoE2 (though it certainly could have been), but it was still a fun experience. That being said, FUCK the expansion. Game enders belong in SupCom (also good) and CnC, not AoX.

 

[RuberGruber]

Company of Heroes.

There is no question or hesitation when I say the following: Company of Heroes is the best RTS game on the market to date. It has so much strategy it makes other games look like economy simulators. It focuses almost entirely on the fun part of playing RTS games: the tactical strategy. There are very few games that do this quite as well as Company of Heroes does, the only other that comes close being Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War. And, look at that, it's made by the same developer.

Relic has the right idea. Squad-based unit management, tactical strategy with cover and destructible environments, and so forth are what RTS games should be trying to emulate and use as a basis for success. By contrast, Starcraft II, while fun, is the same game that was released in 1997, only with better graphics. And, I'm sorry, but that just doesn't cut it anymore. It's strategic to a point, but after a bit, Starcraft just becomes an exercise in who can build the most units the fastest. And, really, that isn't what RTSes should be about. You should have to be tactical and strategic in the placement and use of your assets, not just churn out as many as possible and throw them into the grinder.

So yeah. Company of Heroes all the way.

This, I was a Warcraft and Starcraft RTS fanboy before Company of Heroes came along and changed my whole perspective about strategy and micromanagement. Company of Heroes introduced a number of interesting and strategically viable concepts then just a clickfest of unit production and base-expansion. Players could change the face of the map with artillery/heavy fighting, create chokepoints with barbed-wired/sandbags, set-up machine guns to suppress units and flank said machine guns with good maneuver. It's too bad that Relic has abandoned the original franchise in favor of COH: Online as the original game is left in a sorry state due to glaring bugs/imbalances that could be fixed in a simple hot-fix patch. Other then that, In terms of innovation Company of Heroes has raised the bar for the genre.

Rise of Nations deserves an honorable mention though, while a Age of Empires type game it did introduce a trove of new concepts too the genre. Capturing cities instead of destroying them (though you could raze them but it was just easier to assimilate them), , game-changing nation traits, territory, attrition, an endless resource supply, damn highly-detailed isometric graphics and some other things I may have overlooked.

 

[IamQ]

Starcraft 2, Company of Heroes and Age of Empires 3.

 

[MikailCaboose]

I'm personal towards Sins of a Solar Empire. I just never really get into RTSs very well, so I like the game's simple controls while I sit back and watch some very well designed ships blow each other up, while I don't have to worry about clicking on the wrong target in hurried accidents. Plus the music is absolutely fantastic.

Only complaint is the lack of singleplayer campaign, but ah well, I usually do skirmish matches anyways.

 

[Wolfram23]

Well, StarCraft 1 & 2 are great and have fairly compelling stories (well, SC1 had a wicked story and I'm still working on SC2 campaign. It's quite good but I haven't got to the meat of it yet.

However, I have Myth and Myth 2 Soulblighter and seriously those are great RTS games. There is no base building. It's entirely about squad tactics... giving your archers room to shoot, having them fall back in close combat and bringing out the knights... using Dwarven satchels + grenades for some last minute body bursting action before engaging in melee. For it's time it had sweet graphics and cool gore physics. You could also make your own completely custom maps and units... I had dwarves that could shoot about 500m, and caused and explosion that could take out 9x9 guys in formation and had a killer shockwave effect (ground ripple). That was fun. I'd really like to see a Myth 3 or at least another game of that type.

I also quite liked Homeworld but I found the actual combat to be a bit... hmm... tedious I guess. It was just a little beyond me at my young age to really kick ass at it. But boy did I think it was cool!

 

[Haunted Serenity]

Starwars Galactic Battle Grounds...

Enough said

Love you...Nah seriously great freakin choice though! First game I ever had too.

 

[SextusMaximus]

Rome: Total War and it's many, many mods!

 

[Hiphophippo]

This is a good thread. I've been interested in trying this genre again lately. The last time I really enjoyed a RTS game was probably circa Red Alert or Warcraft 2.

If I were to want to try a good, recent one, only for the story and campaign what would people recommend me?

 

[thahat]

Company of Heroes.

There is no question or hesitation when I say the following: Company of Heroes is the best RTS game on the market to date. It has so much strategy it makes other games look like economy simulators. It focuses almost entirely on the fun part of playing RTS games: the tactical strategy. There are very few games that do this quite as well as Company of Heroes does, the only other that comes close being Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War. And, look at that, it's made by the same developer.

Relic has the right idea. Squad-based unit management, tactical strategy with cover and destructible environments, and so forth are what RTS games should be trying to emulate and use as a basis for success. By contrast, Starcraft II, while fun, is the same game that was released in 1997, only with better graphics. And, I'm sorry, but that just doesn't cut it anymore. It's strategic to a point, but after a bit, Starcraft just becomes an exercise in who can build the most units the fastest. And, really, that isn't what RTSes should be about. You should have to be tactical and strategic in the placement and use of your assets, not just churn out as many as possible and throw them into the grinder.

So yeah. Company of Heroes all the way.

i tottally agree with you, but have found a new jewel as of late: sins of a solar empire, you should look into that, i think it might be for you if you like those 2, although it does require you not to dislike space games XD ( also, be mindfull of sins' little ways, play with anti alliassing OFF, or download THIS

Spoiler

http://forums.sinsofasolarempire.com/378149/page/2/#replies

mod ( elsewise sins reaches the 2 gyg dump cap, dont ask XD )

 

[MIIK900]

It would be Starcraft II for me but I only play single player on any game so I have 0 input on the online experience. The gameplay is just solid, fun and balanced. I'm just a little sad I had to wait 12 years for the thing.

(slight spoiler) Btw, anyone else think that Raynor is a tad quick to forget that Kerrigan killed his best friend Fenix? He sure seems a little too forgiving of her in the plot, especially with the death threat he leaves in Brood War. (sorry for the offtopic)

 

[Paddin]

Age of Empires 2, that is the pinnacle of RTSes, such a great game. I grew up on that game, I never even played the online, I just spammed custom games over and over.