Help a noob play a RTS game

[eyn093]

Hi guys,

I'm kinda bored playing FPS shooters the last cpl of years ,and since the GRAW fiasco and GB is not for tomorrow i was looking for something else....you've guessed it ,a RTS game.

Now ,i dont have a lots of experience in this type of game. The last RTS games i've played was on PS1 : Megalomania and i think the other was Warcraft. In those days i was much younger and i didnt like the no-action, no shooting type of games ; if you know what i mean .

Now being older and bored with FPS-shooters i was thinking of starting to play those kind of games, but i dont know where to start

I've DL the COH-demo , It was kinda fun ,but didnt have the WAW factor (like you have when playing the GR-series )

So what i'm looking for is a RTS game that's : Fun to play ,easy to learn the basics , and would be great if you can play it at your own pace. My own pace = slow 'n' low if i like, or Rambo style when in the mood. . Like playing GR , its all about the mood you're in

I'm not looking for the latest RTS game, just 1 or 2 that sticks out in the bunch. Like you would tell your friends to buy GR when they ask you : whats the best game (in this genre ) out these days.

PS : WW2 ,WW1 ,Rome or Napoleon or whateverkindofwar i dont care,just want a fun playing game

PS2 : Is THe SIMS an obtion ??

[WytchDokta]

PS2 : Is THe SIMS an obtion ??

The Sims - an RTS? Did I miss something?

[Rocky]

CoH is worth percevering with, awesome game

[Hockeystick]

CoH is worth percevering with, awesome game

I second that.

[eyn093]

PS2 : Is THe SIMS an obtion ??

The Sims - an RTS? Did I miss something?

Nah, i was just joking

CoH is worth percevering with, awesome game

I second that.

So i guess i'll sink my teeth in COH then

But i was just wondering, are those Rome / Ceasar games more building and expanding your territory kind of games?

Like something you can do at your own pace ?

You know ,you start of with 1 small house and build and build a huge city untill you dont have anough room left and you attack you neighbour

Anyways ,i think i'll give COH another go.

Cheers.

[mark2000]

I also suggest CoH since it's pretty easy to learn and the usual rigmarole present in other RTS games (i.e. resource hogging and structure building) are very simplified. There's so much more focus on micro-managing your units that it feels like playing point-click MMOs but with more guys under your control. Imagine "Full Spectrum Warrior" but in an even bigger scale.

If you want to know how much focus this game has in micro more than anything else, let me just say that in most cases while fighting against AI, simply 1 or 2 tanks plus 5 or more squads of well upgraded and well micro-managed riflemen can easily win you the battle.

oh and just a friendly thought, never expect to get in RTS games the same adrenaline rush you find in FPS games. no matter how exciting an RTS game like CoH can be, it's still a tactician's game, which means more braincells working and less blood pumping.

Edited March 1, 2008 by mark2000

[krise madsen]

Considering that I suck at RTS's and play them very little (and I really do suck at them, it's not just false modesty), I believe I'm qualified to offer some noob advice:

The first Lord of The Rings: Battle for Middle Earth is a very simple and straightforward RTS that is quite easy to learn. Having done that, you can move on to BFME2 which is somewhat more sophisticated and closer to other modern RTS' in complexity (but you have the benefit of having played BFME1 and thus understanding the basics).

That should give you a resonable skill platform for moving on in the RTS genre.

Happy gaming

Respectfully

krise madsen

[Hockeystick]

If it's tactics you want, then Medieval II Total War could be something. No resource gathering (on the battlefield) only war between armies of about 2500 men each.

The AI is quite bad however, so even if you play at the higher dificulty level you can win pretty easily. But if your new to RTS games then maybe that doesn't bother you

[eyn093]

Hey guys ,thanks for the advice so far

I think i'll give the LOTR game a try (kinda liked the movies) and play another cpl of rounds of the COH-demo.

So many games ,so......

Cheers.

[WytchDokta]

Each to his own - for me the only RTS is W40k Dawn of War, and it's three (rumours going around of the development a fourth with the Tyranid race) expansion packs. After all, without this game CoH would not have been possible - CoH uses the same (somewhat updated) engine as DoW. It's also developed by the same company that published DoW. Also, the devs gave us full mod support & mod tools with DoW, yet we're still waiting for some of the CoH mod tools (like the Attribute Editor, I know the map editor is available already). I've moved on from GR modding to DoW modding and three mods in the works for it - various things: a map pack, a badges/banners pack, etc etc)

Six days until the latest DoW expansion, 'Soulstorm', is out! Sal00t the !

Disclaimer: An early start at work this morning meant I forgot to take my medication that calms my DoW syndrome.

Edited March 1, 2008 by WytchDokta

[eyn093]

Each to his own - for me the only RTS is W40k Dawn of War, and it's three (rumours going around of the development a fourth with the Tyranid race) expansion packs. After all, without this game CoH would not have been possible - CoH uses the same (somewhat updated) engine as DoW. It's also developed by the same company that published DoW. Also, the devs gave us full mod support & mod tools with DoW, yet we're still waiting for some of the CoH mod tools (like the Attribute Editor, I know the map editor is available already). I've moved on from GR modding to DoW modding and three mods in the works for it - various things: a map pack, a badges/banners pack, etc etc)

Six days until the latest DoW expansion, 'Soulstorm', is out! Sal00t the !

Disclaimer: An early start at work this morning meant I forgot to take my medication that calms my DoW syndrome.

So DOW is that good ?

Ok back to Ebay

[WytchDokta]

Each to his own - for me the only RTS is W40k Dawn of War, and it's three (rumours going around of the development a fourth with the Tyranid race) expansion packs. After all, without this game CoH would not have been possible - CoH uses the same (somewhat updated) engine as DoW. It's also developed by the same company that published DoW. Also, the devs gave us full mod support & mod tools with DoW, yet we're still waiting for some of the CoH mod tools (like the Attribute Editor, I know the map editor is available already). I've moved on from GR modding to DoW modding and three mods in the works for it - various things: a map pack, a badges/banners pack, etc etc)

Six days until the latest DoW expansion, 'Soulstorm', is out! Sal00t the !

Disclaimer: An early start at work this morning meant I forgot to take my medication that calms my DoW syndrome.

So DOW is that good ?

Ok back to Ebay

Like I said, each to his own. I answer 'yes' to your question but I'm sure others will beg to differ. Now to find out if the devs will be releasing the mod tools for SS, or whether mods for the previous expansion can be used in the new one - this new expansion is developed by a new developer, who may decide to not make the mod tools public.

[mark2000]

Like I said, each to his own. I answer 'yes' to your question but I'm sure others will beg to differ.

yeah. It mostly depends on what kind of RTS game the person prefers. Personally, I suck at being a tactician so games like CoH where there's more focus on personally controlling units instead of finding out the best way to manage resources and build the right structures at the right time is a Godsend to me.

[WhiteKnight77]

There are several types of RTS. Ubi has the Silent Hunter WWII submarine RTS/Naval Sim type game where you play a submarine caption and torpedo ships.

There is a free RTS called Ground Control available at FilePlanet that is futuristic and features different types of units. It even plays on Vista and it is not new.

[Hockeystick]

There is a free RTS called Ground Control available at FilePlanet that is futuristic and features different types of units. It even plays on Vista and it is not new.

Developed by Massive Entertainment, the creators of World in Conflict, which is also a quite neat RTS (not as good as CoH though imo). You could also try Civilization IV which is a turned based strategy game. Download the demo and try it!

Or, you could try Evil Genius, were you build a secret evil lair and protect it from the agents of justice while you try to compleate missions to take over the world.

[WytchDokta]

Like I said, each to his own. I answer 'yes' to your question but I'm sure others will beg to differ.

yeah. It mostly depends on what kind of RTS game the person prefers. Personally, I suck at being a tactician so games like CoH where there's more focus on personally controlling units instead of finding out the best way to manage resources and build the right structures at the right time is a Godsend to me.

As CoH uses the same engine as DoW, the same principles you listed above apply: DoW uses power & requisition resources (although this varies between races - some races don't use requisition, they use other resources which are unique to that race (the other races can't use those unique resources)), and you acquire these resource via means of capturing points on the map and bilding up power stations (although there is power resources you can capture then build a super powerstation on top of it). Only certain units can capture these points, some units can only uncapture these points off the enemy, while a few units can do both. it's the same kind thing in CoH, 'cept you have fuel, ammo & power resources, and they are acquired though capturing the respective points on the map. And now with the CoH expansion pack you can only play as one of four sides - in DoW you can play as any of seven sides (races) and this will soon increase to nine as the new expansion pack coming out in four days adds two more races.

Edited March 3, 2008 by WytchDokta

[mark2000]

yeah. DoW also caught my attention some time last year when I learned that it was very similar to CoH. The only thing that kept me from playing it though was the fact that I've somehow already grew tired of the setting the game used(most probably because of all the countless games of starcraft I've played until I eventually lost my interest).

[WytchDokta]

The only thing that kept me from playing it though was the fact that I've somehow already grew tired of the setting the game used

Although there is enough to differentiate it from other titles with the same setting - for example, in most of them with the same setting, you buy one single infantry unit at a time, and you cann upgrade weapons on a vehicle/in a squad on the fly. DoW is, as far as I am aware of, the first game to pioneer: squads that load out with a default of say four men, and they can be 'reinforced' to up to 10 men (you can add 6 more men to the squad on the fly); squad weapons can be upgraded on the fly, not necessarily by means of global research, you can't give each squad different assault weapons; near enough each vehicle of a certain type can swap out it's main weapons on the fly, again this isn't through global research, it's done though the initali vehciel itself so you can have different weapon load outs for all vehicles of the same type, but all they all start with the same default load out (same system as CoH basically). Other RTS games may have done such things prior to DoW, but I'm not aware of it.

[mark2000]

sorry for not being clear about that.

I was actually talking about the setting, as in, the environment and world that the game's events take place. I've already had my fill of that sci-fi style universe with humans in bulky biosuits fighting against various types of alien races.

[WytchDokta]

I was actually talking about the setting, as in, the environment and world that the game's events take place. I've already had my fill of that sci-fi style universe with humans in bulky biosuits fighting against various types of alien races.

DoW is based off no ordinary 'sci-fi style universe with humans in bulky biosuits fighting against various types of alien races', rather it's based off the W40k universe. PC game developers may have based their units off W40k units and characters, changing bits & pieces accordingly. So that means other developers in effect 'copied'/'borrowed ideas from' the originator - the W40k tabletop game - not the other way around. Hell, even the Unreal devs may have got the bulky battle suits idea(s) from W40k Space Marines, who knows?

Edited March 4, 2008 by WytchDokta