Recommend me an RTS game

[Grufflenark]

For real RTSs, look into the original Dawn of Wars series (but leave out Soulstorm, it's not really worth anyone's time if you aren't super-interested in the Dark Eldar).
For something more oldschool I always advocate Earth 2150. It's a really nifty game of the Clone&Conquer era by a Polish developer, but changes things up a little bit with a unit builder. So, if you want to use a Soviet style super-tank with four big ass canons on it on the moon, look into that, though it may be hard to find because of its age.
And finally, if you are interested in Dawn of War 2 (which really is a good game, with an interesting single player campaign and a solid multiplayer), then also look into World in Conflict. It's not really an RTS game though, but the same applies to DoW2. Gameplaywise (at least in multiplayer) they are surprisingly similar (no base building, no resource gathering), but I'd say that WiC does most of it better. The only problem is, that while it was a very multiplayer focused game, the community slowly died out. I'm sure one can still find a server, but I can't gurantee for your experience there.

Soulstorm isn't worth it even when your interested in Dark Eldar.

It is terribly unbalanced, has bugs, and is basically the same as Dark Crusade, just much worse.

 

[Above]

Warcraft 3
Dawn of Warark Crusade,Soulstorm or Dawn of war 2 (Retribution? Maybe)

 

[Grufflenark]

Warcraft 3
Dawn of Warark Crusade,Soulstorm or Dawn of war 2 (Retribution? Maybe)

You chose Soulstorm and Dark Crusade over Winter Assault?

What?

 

[Aeshi]

Any of the Warcraft or Starcraft games (barring WoW obviously)

Homeworld 2

The first Dawn of War & Expansions

Myth II: Soulblighter

C&C3 & Kane's Wrath

C&C Generals & Zero Hour

Star Empire may also be worth a look at if you want something more complex.

EDIT: How in the hell did I forget Multiwinia and Darwinia?

 

[Above]

Warcraft 3
Dawn of Warark Crusade,Soulstorm or Dawn of war 2 (Retribution? Maybe)

You chose Soulstorm and Dark Crusade over Winter Assault?

What?

Yahh,dunno why I just didn't like Winter assault much ,But im guessing since you would prefer it over soulstorm and Dark crusade,it would be a good purchase.

 

[Pat8u]

Warcraft 3 old but still good

 

[Grufflenark]

Any of the Warcraft or Starcraft games (barring WoW obviously)

Homeworld 2

The first Dawn of War & Expansions

Myth II: Soulblighter

C&C3 & Kane's Wrath

C&C Generals & Zero Hour

Star Empire may also be worth a look at if you want something more complex.

Red Alert wasn't so bad either.

All Command and Conquer games are awesome.. Except for C&C 4 and RA 3.

 

[Zantos]

I really liked Empire Earth. Never played the second one but I heard that was pretty good too.

 

[TiefBlau]

Starcraft 2
Warcraft 3
Red Alert 2

All three of them are excellent introductions into this genre.

 

[franconbean]

Company of Heroes, Dawn of War (first series), Dawn of War 2 (2nd series duh). All three made by Relic.

yeah, Relic do good ones
And you can get company of heroes for free with "Company of Heroes online", which is basically the same but with microtransactions (don't worry; they aren't game breaking).
Company of Heroes is still one of my all time favorite RTS games because it was done right.

 

[Lexodus]

Rise of Nations and Rise of Legends.

 

[Continuity]

As long as I've been PC gaming, I've played nothing but FPS's, RPG's and MMOG's with the only exception being Anomaly: Warzone Earth, and that's a strategy game, but more of a reverse tower defense thing. I've been interested in RTS games for a bit, and have been reading up about them/watched LP's, and the two that have my attention right now are Dawn of War 2: Retribution and Shogun 2, primarily because the Let's Plays of those two sparked my interest the most. That, and they're the newest major RTS's on the block, so they have my attention by proxy.

What would you recommend? And please, no Europa Universalis, as that is far too hardcore, even for a hardcore gamer such as myself.

First, forget DoW 2, they really arsed it up and you'd be much better off playing the first game or dark crusade. However, the one obvious choice that really stands out for me is Company of heros, probably the best RTS ever. NO really much I can add to that as a recommendation so just get CoH.

FOr perspective I, like you, am primarily an FPS and RPG gamer, I do dip into other genre occasionally though and given i've been gaming for 15 odd years that means i've accumulated some experience in maybe 20 or so RTS titles, though I'm hardly an RTS fan and only allocate a fairly small amount of play time to RTS.

 

[Floppertje]

Age of Empires 2
Age of Empires 3 (though 2 is better)
Command & Conquer Red Alert 2, Generals, Tiberium wars & Kane's wrath and Red alert 3 was alright too.
Company of Heroes if you're into the whole WW2 thing, I really like the physics. you can just blow a hole in the middle of a road and use it for cover. awesome. stuff blows up pretty good too.
If you like starwars, you're missing out if you don't try Empire at War, especially the space combat gives you the satisfying feeling of blowing up a star destroyer with just a few bombers, or of wrecking shit up with that star destroyer if you're playing empire. I love it. the galactic strategy part works pretty well too.

 

[Dyme]

Starcraft 2.
Starcraft gets better the more you play it, and the community is really awesome.

Warcraft 3 is good, Command and Conquers Generals was great.

 

[Knusper]

Personally, I love the Total War series, but it is an acquired taste. You can't really go wrong with Dawn of War II, but I didn't really like the multiplayer battles.

I recommend the underrated Men of War games. They are set in WWII and the voice acting is pretty poor but there is an innovative game mechanic when you can directly control your unit's fire (I make it sound mundane, I know) and allows multiple inventive ways to complete levels.

It is a bit hard, though...

 

[mb16]

List of RTS i have played and enjoyed:
SUPCOM-FA
Age of empires 3 (or age of mythology)
World in conflict loved this one
rise of legends
Dawn of war dark crusades
Homeworld 2
RED Alert 2
Total war games
SINS of a solar empire

Personally i didn't enjoy star craft 2 that much, as there is too much rushing in it.

 

[somonels]

One of Relic's games (Homeworlds, Dawns of Wars, Companies of Heroes, Impossible Creatures)

 

[Avayu]

First, forget DoW 2, they really arsed it up and you'd be much better off playing the first game or dark crusade.

I'm curious. Why do you think they "arsed up" DoW2? Sure, it had nearly nothing in common with the first DoW, but I liked that they tried something new instead of just using a new graphic engine to reproduce the first one with only a few new gameplay elements thrown in. That's why I still like to play both games. DoW when I want a really good, traditional RTS and 2 when I want something a little bit more RPG-like (singleplayer) or a fast, tactical game (multi).

 

[Continuity]

First, forget DoW 2, they really arsed it up and you'd be much better off playing the first game or dark crusade.

I'm curious. Why do you think they "arsed up" DoW2? Sure, it had nearly nothing in common with the first DoW, but I liked that they tried something new instead of just using a new graphic engine to reproduce the first one with only a few new gameplay elements thrown in. That's why I still like to play both games. DoW when I want a really good, traditional RTS and 2 when I want something a little bit more RPG-like (singleplayer) or a fast, tactical game (multi).

They arsed it up as an RTS, it may still be a playable game but it just doesn't work well, they've tried to shoehorn CoH mechanics into it and it just doesn't work. There are things in the game which are clearly things that should not of made it past alpha testing from a design point of view, e.g. the silly break and run mechanic.

Besides, DoW was a great game, maybe one of the top 5 greatest RTS of all time... Why oh why mess with such a successful game design?
Someone at relic actually sat down and thought to themselves "HMmm, we've made a great game in DoW and now its time to make DoW 2... I know! lets completely throw away everything from the first games, ignore everything we've learned and go in a completely different direction with the IP!".

That someone needs to be beaten with sticks. A complete overhaul is what you do when a game didn't work, not when it was a massive success.

 

[Avayu]

-snip-

They arsed it up as an RTS, it may still be a playable game but it just doesn't work well, they've tried to shoehorn CoH mechanics into it and it just doesn't work. There are things in the game which are clearly things that should not of made it past alpha testing from a design point of view, e.g. the silly break and run mechanic.

Besides, DoW was a great game, maybe one of the top 5 greatest RTS of all time... Why oh why mess with such a successful game design?
Someone at relic actually sat down and thought to themselves "HMmm, we've made a great game in DoW and now its time to make DoW 2... I know! lets completely throw away everything from the first games, ignore everything we've learned and go in a completely different direction with the IP!".

That someone needs to be beaten with sticks. A complete overhaul is what you do when a game didn't work, not when it was a massive success.

Well,yeah, I see what you mean. One probably can't call it a great RTS objectively (if one can call it a RTS at all, that is). Nevertheless, I'd say it is a really good and fun game, but that's just a subjective opinion. And yes, that retreat mechanic seemed rather silly, but it made sense in the way that the game gave much more value to every single unit/squad under your command.
I respectfully disagree with the last part of your statement, though. I always like it when developers have the balls to try something new, even in already successful series. Of course the end result may not always be perfect, but it at least allows for attempts in innovation instead of pumping out sequel after sequel with little to no changes at all. Other than that, as you said, DoW already was damn good. I can't really think of a different way they could have made a second one without making it little more than just another expansion pack. And we know how well that turned out in Soulstorm. But of course, I'm no game designer, so I haven't spend much time thinking about that stuff.