Sophisticated RTS

[Sethzard]

any command and conquer but renegade and generals, dawn of war, or for a change mark of chaos

 

[Credge]

Maybe that's because it's more than just a sim game. Ever played Civ IV? Maybe you should check it out.

P.S. You didn't sound like an ass until the "capital fu@king letters" part.

I think it has more to do with what the definition of a Real Time Strategy game actually is.

You see, Civ, despite being a great series, isn't real time at all. It's a TBS, more commonly known as a 4X game.

Anyway, I'm currently in the same boat as the topic starter. I'm really just wanting a Rise of Nations 2, but that won't happen.

 

[GenHellspawn]

Another more different yes, with more pyramid.
The only problem with either is the aids infested relic online multiplayer (and the expansions DRM is irritating because it doesn't like my dvd drive ><)

Just get the Gold Edition on Steam. Both games for about $10 less than normal, and no DRM.

Also:

Command and Conquer 3 is great too. Paticularly the Campaign.

...What?

 

[Stormcloud23]

Hehe if you want sophisticated, go with sins of a solar empire.... it seems exactly what you looking for. other than that i can recommend Dawn of War and Supreme Commander, however the later requires massive graphics capability. it works fine on my blackbird but i don't know what computer you have

 

[Phoenix Arrow]

but something a bit more complex like RoN.

Err... did I misread this or are you actually saying RoN is complex? Good lord. The campaing can be competed in a short afternoon.
Anyway, logical place to start would be C&C seeing as how that's the biggest francise. Generals and C&C3 are my personal favourites. If not, try the Rome Total War series. You can by the complete set of the C&C games for about £35 and the full Rome Total War games for £25 in GAME.

 

[BaronAsh]

RoN is more complex then lets say AoE2 and Strong Hold.

Its got like 20 civilizations each with their own strengths and balances plus special units, for its time that was complex. Campaign?

 

[Credge]

RoN is more complex then lets say AoE2 and Strong Hold.

Its got like 20 civilizations each with their own strengths and balances plus special units, for its time that was complex. Campaign?

Yeah, I'm not quite following the campaign bit.

RoN is still one of the more complex RTS out there. The different tech paths are a great way to add a ton of depth and strategy. Having tons of different civs all with different pluses and minuses simply mean that the amount of strategies are... astounding.

Despite the combat being not very standard, even for its time, the teching was what made it superb. Really, I'm looking for something a bit more than that. Something that has the depth of technology that Civ 4 has but with the sophisticated combat that Company of Heroes has. Really, I'm just wanting a Real Time Civilization.

 

[Novajam]

Command and Conquer 3 is great too. Paticularly the Campaign.

...What?

Well I liked it. The game looks great, even if I can't run it on full settings with my computer, the campaign is full of those cheesy cutscenes, gameplay is fun. It's good for a laugh.

 

[COR 2000]

Command and Conquer 3 is great too. Paticularly the Campaign.

That what I was going to say.

 

[zSgt PePPeR]

If your looking for something a bit epic i would have to recommand Sins of a solar empire.

 

[hippo24]

I would recommend Dawn of war, the emphasis on the details of a squad and terrain make huge difference in the way the game plays out. And DOW has also done away with the abuse of the "use this unit to counter this unit" bullshit. while certain units are better than others at say destroying a base, its more HOW you use them then just plain using them. A great example is the space marines. The team called " The Space Marines" have this giant metal mech-like creature called a dreadnought which is supposed to be excellent at taking out buildings, while hit for hit the dreadnought may do more damage using a squad of space marines infantry strategically placed may be more effective. another aspect that i like about DOW is its emphasis on placement and the minute details of your army, The game rewards you for controlling you units directly rather than just pointing and clicking on your map, Because a unit that is told precisely what it should do is worth 2 squads without direct orders. The game is also relatively faced paced and while there are 9 races in total many of them lack turrets or permanent defenses. This causes the game to be much faster paced because of the little benefit for building up a huge defense grid. The game however does not punish you for defending if you select an appropriate race and select a strategy that has an emphasis on defense.

 

[Theo Samaritan]

If your looking for something a bit epic i would have to recommand Sins of a solar empire.

I also say Homeworld. Sins of a Solar Empire is more like a cross between Homeworld and Masters of Orion than anything else you will ever get.

It is also produced by stardock and as such it is subject to stardocks own end-user-friendsly policies with their games. Big patch comming soon bringing in a nice gaggle of GFX updates.

 

[BaronAsh]

Well since the demo installer for SSE took a shit and I I don't like command and Conquer games, I guess I'm going to get Medieval Total War as It was fucking Awsome in the demo.

My final question being, is the expansion worth the extra money?

 

[EvilEngineNumberNine]

I would suggest Company of Heroes. To me, a sophisticated RTS is anything that focuses on making the micromanagement part the more prominant of unit management. So I would also recommend the Total War series on that note.

By the by, what's Alpha Centurai like? My friends were talking about it a while back and said they enjoyed that a lot.

Alpha Centauri is a turn based stratagy game by Sid Mier that is basically like CIV in space with some VERY interesting diplomatic strategies and terraforming.

 

[KSarty]

Sins of a Solar Empire is my recommendation. The Total War series is really good too, although its a mix of TBS and RTS.

 

[GenHellspawn]

Command and Conquer 3 is great too. Paticularly the Campaign.

...What?

Well I liked it. The game looks great, even if I can't run it on full settings with my computer, the campaign is full of those cheesy cutscenes, gameplay is fun. It's good for a laugh.

I understand, it's just to me, every single C&C game I've played not made by Westwood is terrible. I mean, I got so addicted to Red Alert 2 I could play it for days. But after playing Red Alert 3 (beta) a couple times, I seriously considered uninstalling the game.

 

[Dictaternutz]

I'm not sure if you would consider these "sophisticated" RTS's but I enjoyed the hell out of Total Annihilation and Total Annihilation Kingdoms.

Then there's Supreme Commander I didn't really like it, but some people have.

 

[Limos]

I think what you're looking for is an oxymoron. You can't have a complex rts. If it's in real time then it can't be too much micromanaging or complexity. Otherwise you'd be buried under details and the com would slaughter you. Complex strategy games tend to be turn based.

 

[Phoenix Arrow]

RoN is more complex then lets say AoE2 and Strong Hold.

Its got like 20 civilizations each with their own strengths and balances plus special units, for its time that was complex. Campaign?

Yes, but once you go to the Gunpowder age, all of that went away. Everyone had the same units basically, it was just a matter of building the Terracotta Army so you got free units. I'll admitt it was a good up until that point, but the difficulty settings made it either way too easy or way too hard.
And Conquer the World campaign.

 

[dekkarax]

And DoW 2 has tyranids... finally... now i can stroke my 3 RL hive tyrants as a make a digital one eat the face of a space marine.

I was Wrong
http://www.escapistmagazine.com/forums/read/326.66335?page=2#573039

I'd recommend the original Red Alert, it's low tech, but it was recently released for free