RTS (Real-time Strategy) General - Gookclick anon can't find us here.

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Beyond All Reason got graphics update.
Made the mistake of installing this garbage yesterday. I have a deep-seated hatred for this stupid resource flux system from TA & SC. I do not understand how absolutely fucked in the head someone has to be, to actually micromanage a resource system that is actively trying to kill you, while also fighting an endless spam of enemy units that are either dots on a map or indistinguishable blobs on a barren wasteland. And then they also have a rating system that, like in Forged Alliance Forever, only serves as a punishment / humiliation ritual system, where you'll be excommunicated for daring to participate in team games and not winning them. The players were also completely insufferable.
 
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Some time back I suggested that someone could make bank making a version of Total War that totally stripped out the graphics in exchange for just map and counter-style representations of warfare. It could be 100% focused on gameplay and, without all the busyness of 3D models, would be extremely easy to develop content for (like having everything from Cannae to Chancellorsville under one roof).

It turned out that some people already made a fast-casual version of this. It plays super fast (it's not balanced for realism) and it, accordingly, doesn't have mechanics like stamina, bayonet charges (unless I'm just mistaken), variety or, seemingly, the adjacency effects of morale, but it exists and is playable with a fairly serious competitive multiplayer scene and is a proof of concept for the idea.



*What makes morale interesting is the way it ebbs and flows during battles and can magnify actions far out of proportion. In some games, and this is what I've seen in this one, morale is nothing but a second health bar that runs out before the main one and so acts to break up combat; you may also say that it is a health bar whose diminishment doesn't reduce the damage put you out.

It's totally different in a game like Total War. There, the idea that a unit can rally itself, be shored up by the presence of an inspiring general or a timed battle cry, that panic is contagious, all of these things make it so that morale isn't just a second health bar but a very active thing that gives life to the battle..
 
i never played RTS games that much, but i personally like Company of Heroes 2. Do you guys like COH2 or dislike it?
I played the first CoH for a while. It's ok. I have only heard negative things about CoH 2. I find that I prefer games like Steel Division 1 and 2 over CoH though. They tend to be more realistic in their representation. If the RTS game is set in WW2 all it has to have a German campaign for me to play it.
You guys need to play World in Conflict, it has a great narrative.
Crazy how C&C series perfected the simple RTS game, killed itself, and nobody since has been able to replicate it since.
I did and it was pretty good. I didn't like it at first. Mostly because of the screwed up controls on PC. But after I while I got into it. I have to go back and start over again because it's been a while since I played it.
Where do I start as a complete noob to this genre? I've got zero interest in PvP and just want a good single player campaign. My gut instinct is to try the first Starcraft, but if that's a terrible idea, please let me know. Any advice is appreciated.
Like someone else suggested try World in Conflict.

You can get World in Conflict for free without needing to pirate it. Just Google it.

Also

Wargame European Escalation it will get you into a more realistic RTS game.
Company of Heroes 1
Rush for Berlin
Codename Panzers phase 1 and 2
The Dawn of War games they are based on the Warhammer 40K stuff
 
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I've got zero interest in PvP and just want a good single player campaign.
Are you me?

I never had much interest in RTS focused on the multiplayer, so when I do play games in the genre, I play ones with a fun singleplayer campaign.

Also, a question, are you interested in real-time tactics game? Basically, the distinction between RTT and RTS, in a broad sense, is that in the former you don't build a base or units - what you have is what you got, though you can purchase more units or upgrade existing ones inbetween missions.

An obvious place to start would be Homeworld 1, 2 and Cataclysm. Nothing quite like those games, and the results in one mission carry over into another - meaning all your research, resources and ships. HW1 and Cataclysm are much better than HW2, but all are good fun.

Homeworld: Deserts of Kharak is basically a scaled down prequel to the games above, taking place on the planetary surface, but still retains many of the aspects of previous Homeworld games, as well as campaign continuity.

Another game with a fun campaign is Dawn of War: Dark Crusade - the singleplayer campaign has a turn-based, strategic layer, and when you attack a province you switch to traditional RTS gameplay, though DoW is an RTS that encourages the player to be aggressive. There's not much carry over from one mission to the next, though you do get to deck your commanding officer in cool gear and can unlock bodyguard units that always spawn at the start of every mission.

Dawn of War: Soulstorm has a campaign very similar to that of Dark Crusade, but the balance is all over the place and the writing is not as good as the previous game.

There's also Winter Assault, where you have two campaigns - Order and Chaos, with different races. There's not much that is unique about the singleplayer in this one.

Original War is a very unique RTS - every unit you control is a unique individual, with different skills and stats, and if they die, they're dead and lost forever. The game also features cRPG-esque choices and consequences that do impact the plot, so it would be more correct to call Original War an RTS/RPG hybrid.

If you're looking for classic Blizzard stuff, since you're mentioning Starcraft - that's a good place to start, though the campaigns do not really offer anything unique beyond the narrative. Warcraft 3 is also a fun one to play in singleplayer.

World in Conflict is great - very well-written campaign for an RTS, and it's focused all on the action, there's zero base building.

Warzone 2100 - again, another RTS with campaign continuity. You have a main base that you build up throughout the campaign, units gain veterancy, you can design your own units based off technology you research. It's a bit dated graphically, but still a very fun game to play.

Impossible Creatures - cheesy plup fiction plot where you use the power of science to create horrors beyond human comprehension by combining various animals you encounter into units, each body part changing what your monsters can do.

Battlezone 1 and 2 are first-person RTSes, in the sense that you, the commander, are a unit on the map - you can enter into vehicles and fight the enemy directly or take a hands-off approach and control the battle via the tactical map. Very difficult games, but fun.

Hostile Waters - game has no multiplayer, so the singleplayer campaign is the sole focus. Plot written by Warren Ellis, back when he wasn't a total retard, you are in command of a ship with a nanite factory in it, the Athenaeus, which can build vehicles from metals you recycle. The neat part is that you can outfit each vehicle you make with additional components and different weapons, and then assign a digital copy of a solider that died in battle, or take control of the vehicle yourself.
 
Some time back I suggested that someone could make bank making a version of Total War that totally stripped out the graphics in exchange for just map and counter-style representations of warfare.
Check out Carthage: Bellum Punicum and General Staff which are still in development/dev limbo respectively. If you're ok going turn based Field Of Glory Empires and Medieval, which are turn based versions of TW Rome and TW Medieval where units realistically morale break long before they are completely destroyed.
 
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If we're talking good single player RTS games then Myth is mandatory.


I havent played the second one, but the first one was the apetemy of "how fast is your apm"
One bomber gnome could take out close to a hundred guys if micromanaged and basic infantry was so useless outside of being a buffer in case those fast fuckers could outflanck you and sneak out to your archers that is a dedicated kiting unit.
Love this game but i remember all the infuriating stuff about it.
 
I havent played the second one, but the first one was the apetemy of "how fast is your apm"
One bomber gnome could take out close to a hundred guys if micromanaged and basic infantry was so useless outside of being a buffer in case those fast fuckers could outflanck you and sneak out to your archers that is a dedicated kiting unit.
Love this game but i remember all the infuriating stuff about it.
Myth 2 is a direct upgrade in many ways, to a point that someone ported Myth 1 to it. I recommend watching both videos, besides gameplay they also heavily highlight the game's writing and narrative.
 
Relic announced Dawn of War - Definite edition.
Thats a nice bit of news
Sure its an old game, but one i don't mind revisiting
Hope they keep it mod friendly cause there some nice mods for the original
After what they did with DoW 3 and CoH 3? Nah, those pink-haired troon devs aren't getting my money.
I do hope they realise the amount of shit they will get if they change staff.
It is the game with the phrase "an open mind is like unguarded fortress"
Idk id like to be :optimistic:
 
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Thats a nice bit of news
Sure its an old game, but one i don't mind revisiting
Hope they keep it mod friendly cause there some nice mods for the original

I do hope they realise the amount of shit they will get if they change staff.
It is the game with the phrase "an open mind is like unguarded fortress"
Idk id like to be :optimistic:
The textures are probably terribly upscaled using AI like every other remaster, and besides, modders have already made way better ones.
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Dedicated 64 bit and the games all being in one package is nice though.
 
Hope they keep it mod friendly cause there some nice mods for the original
modders have already made way better
As much as I'd like a DoW definitive....
I get a feeling DoW:Unification won't work for it, and I'm concerned they're going to hook it up to some 'pre-curated' (maybe even fucking paid) mod platform like 'Thesda has for Fallout, Skyrim, and the Doom re-ports.
 
YT remembered that i like RTSs and suddenly gave me stromgate update
dare i say it it doesn't look retarded
honestly im surprised that they didn't abandoned the whole shit show cause holy fuck it is sad to look at
View attachment 7262756

I knew that Stormgate shit the bed, but I didn't know that it shit the bed THIS HARD. And how are they keeping this game afloat, with sales being absolutely dreadful?

Frost Giant's financial report from 2024 also shows how dire their financial state is.
 

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I knew that Stormgate shit the bed, but I didn't know that it shit the bed THIS HARD. And how are they keeping this game afloat, with sales being absolutely dreadful?
Really really badly.
They called it open beta when it was definitely an early alpha build with focus on skermish battles and completely half assed campaign. And when people started to flow in guess what new players tried to play first. A very shitty reskin of warcraft 3 campain that has very jarring, well everything.
First they show you a loading screen with the bodies being hanged to the city gate then the game starts and its toys r us version of medivac that looks like it would belong in paw patrol or something with snarky ai that is cracking bad jokes, and other moments like that.
And it clearly that they put some effort at the campaign to at least make the cutscenes and shit so people thought thats it,thats how it will look like.
In terms of skermish battles they advertised it being less apm intensive they even made the whole interface that lets you build shit without selecting workers and buildings. BUT they gave you a scout unit that is perfect for harasses and takes intence micromanagment. And it took legitemate week to do something about it and now they completely got rid of it.
The thing was a mess.
 
Really really badly.
They called it open beta when it was definitely an early alpha build with focus on skermish battles and completely half assed campaign. And when people started to flow in guess what new players tried to play first. A very shitty reskin of warcraft 3 campain that has very jarring, well everything.
First they show you a loading screen with the bodies being hanged to the city gate then the game starts and its toys r us version of medivac that looks like it would belong in paw patrol or something with snarky ai that is cracking bad jokes, and other moments like that.
And it clearly that they put some effort at the campaign to at least make the cutscenes and shit so people thought thats it,thats how it will look like.
In terms of skermish battles they advertised it being less apm intensive they even made the whole interface that lets you build shit without selecting workers and buildings. BUT they gave you a scout unit that is perfect for harasses and takes intence micromanagment. And it took legitemate week to do something about it and now they completely got rid of it.
The thing was a mess.

Also, how were the Co-Op heroes? I heard that the steep prices for the heroes turned off many players from playing.
 
Also, how were the Co-Op heroes? I heard that the steep prices for the heroes turned off many players from playing.
People rightfully complained that all the supporters also had to buy a hero for like 20(?) bucks which is pretty blizzard thing to do.
But FG evetually caved in and said the next one will be free for supporters cause figuring out who is supporter and bought it to refund them is a logistical nightmare.
Edit: also holy shit they are broke
they had 30 mill1747981093214.webp
 
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i did some research on the topic of stromgate and its development
theres not much funny shit but a couple of chuckle worthy moments
1) When they were hiring 5 years ago the did DEI themselves
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2) Tim and Tim (the 2 CEOs) have a 250k yearly income each
to the credit of one of them he changed his paycheck to 1 dollar a year as of now
3)Devs did review their own game at some point and tried to hide it (badly)
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