RTS

For as long as I can remember, I have not been a fan of RTS'. Admittedly, i have only played them a few times, but i didn't really enjoy them at all.

On the weekend, I saw one of my friends playing some Supreme Commander online, and watching him nuke the shit out of a guy who was trying to ally with him and the consequent nerd rage piqued my interest. The problem is that all of my friends that play these games play them at a hardcore level, so playing with them is retarded, especially since I have no grasp of what i should be doing at any given time.

Basically, how do you think I should approach this genre? I have a PC that can run pretty much anything, where do you suggest I start? What are some of the simpler RTS' that can teach me the fundamentals? I'm sure there are a few RTS nuts here who can help a brother out.

You probably should start with command and conquer and go from there.

WarCraft III would be a great start. Blizzard provides the most user-friendly experience you're going to find, and the game itself is excellent. It'll really prepare you more for the micro-management style of RTS gameplay than traditional macro-style play (ala StarCraft, C&C), though. That isn't necessarily a bad thing considering it seems to be the trend with RTS play now days. Company of Heroes is another great choice in this vein.

On the other hand, if you'd rather get into the more old school-style, "amass large quantities of shit and throw it at eachother" macro-level play, the upcoming Red Alert 3 will probably be your best bet. Or if you can't wait for that, C&C3 and Generals are both great.

Supreme Commander is a very, very bad choice for a beginner to the genre.

Play old ones.

Arjue, I want the same thing. I only really played the Starcraft and Warcraft 3 single player campaign; the only other time I've played against people in these games was against fucking hardcore people from Clan Love and IRL friends.

WE SHOULD PLAY!!! Do you still have my phone no from Big Day Out?

I've played nearly every major RTS from the last, what, 10 years? And I'm still absolutely terrible at them. Multiplayer is just too different from single player for me to get into it without putting in weeks of practice.

Warcraft III to start and Company of Heros for the new hotness. CoH changes the old "mine money" mold with owning territory. It's a really incredible game. Came out in 2004 and it still looks fantastic as well.

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Originally Posted by epmode

I've played nearly every major RTS from the last, what, 10 years? And I'm still absolutely terrible at them. Multiplayer is just too different from single player for me to get into it without putting in weeks of practice.

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I'm right with ya. I absolutely love playing them for the single player experience but I'm so horrible at multi-player I don't even try anymore unless it's with someone who I know is right about at my level.

Play Starcraft and then brood expansion.

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Originally Posted by Andy

WarCraft III would be a great start. Blizzard provides the most user-friendly experience you're going to find, and the game itself is excellent. It'll really prepare you more for the micro-management style of RTS gameplay than traditional macro-style play (ala StarCraft, C&C), though. That isn't necessarily a bad thing considering it seems to be the trend with RTS play now days. Company of Heroes is another great choice in this vein.

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Agreed. I'd also recommend Dawn of War Platinum Edition; it's a lot of fun as well. CoH and WC3 are really the top of the pile in terms of interface quality and learning curve.

Don't play Supreme Commander. It sucks ass.

Anyone wants to play WC3, let me know.

The RTS genre is getting more diverse, so you should think about that when you look at what games to pick up. Warcraft/C&C clones aren't the only game in town. Dawn of War and Company of Heroes are pretty different, overall.

Not to mention the Total War series, which is generally slower-paced and more focused on larger groups of troops rather than individual units.

I'm also really shit at RTS games, but enjoy playing online with friends. Dawn of War really is great, and has a nice learning curve.

I would recommend playing whatever RTS you choose on the easiest difficulty in a quick match type game, to familiarize yourself with what structures, units and upgrades are worth working towards. You really need to know what you need on the board before you can start thinking about strategies.

You can get Warcraft 2 BNE for $5, which is way better than feeding a starving African for a day or whatever the hell else you can do with $5.

The Relic games (Dawn of War and Company of Heroes) are really good, but I don't think they'd make good beginner RTSes. The resource management in those games is much different than what you find in any other RTS game.

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Originally Posted by kingoffighters

Play Starcraft and then brood expansion.

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/thread

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Originally Posted by kingoffighters

Play Starcraft and then brood expansion.

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this

Thanks for the replies guys. I think i might have WC3 around here somewhere, my friends force me to play dota sometimes (which sucks arse, its like baldurs gate: dark alliance minus the combat). I'll definitely give it a go. I'll also buy a bunch of the other shit recommended.

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Originally Posted by AstroBlue

Arjue, I want the same thing. I only really played the Starcraft and Warcraft 3 single player campaign; the only other time I've played against people in these games was against fucking hardcore people from Clan Love and IRL friends.

WE SHOULD PLAY!!! Do you still have my phone no from Big Day Out?

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I'd definitely be up for some slow paced noob games of something, I just gotta actually get some RTS' to play. I know my brother and his friend play Dawn of War occasionally, I'm sure they'd be up for some 1v1v1v1 of the other games.

Yeah, I'd be up for anything.

I'll play starcraft with you anytime, Arjue. It's not slow-paced but we can slow the speed down and play co-op against some comp players.

It depends though, if you're super into macro style games then you should probably play something like age of empires or some shit. Civilization.

Warcraft II is absolutely a good intro choice, I think.

Why don't we play some Starcraft right now?

Because I'm in Delaware. About to go see Burn After Reading.

That does make it a bit hard to play, yes.

also I've got to take a huge shit

Can we hold hands while I join you?

Company of Heros is probably the best RTS I've ever played, but my jump off point was Warcraft 2. Either of those should suffice in the "this is how I know I like this genre or not" category.

I never got around to CoH. Does it use the same kind of squad system as Dawn of War?

C&C, Starcraft, and Total Annihilation are a must. Warcraft II and Age of Empires are secondary, but also good.

World in Conflict is a damned fine game. No micro, just bomb the shit out of Russians.

I recently started buying (but not really playing) a bunch of strategy games. I noticed Age of Empires II had a "beginners" mode. Might that be a good one to start with?
So far I have Civ 3, Age of Empires 1&2, Galactic Civilizations, and Age of Mythology (basically all the <$10 games at Wal Mart/Target).

Starcraft of gtfo.

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Originally Posted by Josh

Starcraft of gtfo.

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Is that another expansion?
For the $20 the complete package costs, I really do need to pick it up.

shut up