Any good RTS out there?

[Juli]

What the thread title says. I want a nice RTS which is not overwhelming (feature and micromanagement wise) but is not dumb vanilla stuff either. With a kinda realistic combat system would be nice. Graphics do not need to be top notch, but good visuals can be nice

Can you recommend me an RTS like that?

EDIT: I'd also accept suggestions for TBS games. I'm downloading Battle for Wesnoth, which seems to be good

[Maximinus Thrax]

You could try Praetorians, Nemesis of the Roman Empire, Cossacks 2.

[Nevins]

Are you asking for an RTS like Company of Heroes/Dawn of War with smaller battles and more micro, or games that more resemble tactical battles in the TW games?

[Cadmus]

If the first, try World in Conflict, also very good, but taking place in the modern days.

[roy34543]

It sort of depends on how simple you want it to be .
Red Alert (either 1 , 2 oe 3) or any of the tiberium war (C&C) games are quite good if you like the basic gameplay to be very simple and much about claiming resources and quick reactions.
WIC(World In conflict) is a bit after that, its also relatively simple but in a different way , intense micromanagement over a (usually) small are and a small amount of troops is required, and its less about building a balanced force and sending it out then picking fights that you can win with the right units. In multiplayer especially so, Teamwork is easier to get the hang of then in other RTS games yet more important
COH is a much more complex game, with extremely detailed cover mechanics , rock-paper-scissor systems (this unit beats that etc) upgrades and very limited resources you have to use wisely. Even worse, none of the complex details are to be trifled about, a single misstep can cause you to lose, and each factor in the game can be used to your advantage or abused by someone else. The rather unfortunate thing about the game is that balance is a bit screwy . Flavour of the day strategies change with every patch, and you have people who spam Pioneers (Base building unit) with flamethrowers against the british for an easy win and then claiming that they do it because it is literally impossible to win in any other way. Micromanagement is not only intensive, but usually your attention has to spread across the entire map.
Then you have Supreme commander, also a very complex game. The micromanagement level needed is even worse, The game focuses on mostly creating and sending massive amounts of units towards your enemy and the occasional enermous (Experimental) units at the end of the game to crush your enemy. As of Forged Alliance (the expansion) usuaally holding slightly less resources, Building a factor at the wrong time and moving up a tier at the wrong time means more or less a definate loss.

Just to make it clear, C&C has base building and a moderate (Usually 1-100 or so troops) WIC has no base building and a small amount of troops (Usually no more then 1-6 at a time, if squads are counted as one unit) COH has base building and generally a small amount of troops (1-20 at most , but you will rarely if ever get to the maximum amount and the important battles will be at the start) Supreme commander has an enermous amount of troops (1-1000? Maybe more)

As far as turn based strategy goes ive always like heroes of might and magic V , Which is a strategy game that has a lot of very important RPG elements for "heroes" that lead your armies. The campaign in the original is difficult, sometimes beyond justifiability , but the gameplay is good and you can get the standalone expansion for it which has a much better story(which..In all honesty is not saying much. The originals story is kind of bad, or at least very poorly presented if the actual plot isnt terrible) and a huge amount of units and potential tactics .

[Juli]

Whoa, thanks guys. Will check out some of these

[Manco]

Reading this, I've just realized there hasn't been a good RTS in two years. There's been a few decent ones, but nothing that stands out.

[Bolkonsky]

Empires Dawn of the Modern World has some good mods, and good gameplay, but the graphics stink.

[Douchebag]

If the first, try World in Conflict, also very good, but taking place in the modern days.

^^
what he said.

awesome characters
awesome voice acting
awesome storyline
awesome graphics
AWESOMEAWESOMEAWESOME

i think steams selling WiC + expansion pack for $9.99

[Kanaric]

Supreme Commander is an excellent RTS.

[Hilarion]

Take Command: 2nd Manassas.

...Which is more or less considered an RTS.

[Cadmus]

^^
what he said.

awesome characters
awesome voice acting
awesome storyline
awesome graphics
AWESOMEAWESOMEAWESOME

i think steams selling WiC + expansion pack for $9.99

That's already two votes. Don't we get a cookie?

[Cornelius Plautus]

Empires Dawn of the Modern World has some good mods, and good gameplay, but the graphics stink.

Criminy! I thought that everybody has forgotten about that already. I loved that game.

If you're willing to tolerate bad, old graphics, I suggest Age of Empires games, along with Age of Mythology. They're great fun.

[QuinZeEskimo]

The orignal Dawn of Wars are pretty fun.
3 expasion packs in total, and the last two have a really fun turn based/RTS campaign.

And if you can find it C&C the first decade is absolutely amazing. I think its about 6 full fledged games and there expansion packs all on 1 disc.

[Timefool]

That's already two votes. Don't we get a cookie?

Make that 3! WiC is my favorite game of all time, beating out Rome TW and AC2.

[Mithie]

Whoa, thanks guys. Will check out some of these

If you DO end up getting one of these recommendations and need someone to play with in multiplayer, I volunteer.

[♔Charles the Bold♔]

Company of Heroes, World in Conflict are two of my favourites. World in Conflict is incredibly graphics heavy though (I have to run it on minimum specs) but if you can play Empire TW then you can probably play WIC.

[EDIT] Also try American Conquest, based on the Cossacks 2 engine it has three games in the series covering American warfare from 1795 (Revolution) to American Civil War.

[Mithie]

Company of Heroes, World in Conflict are two of my favourites. World in Conflict is incredibly graphics heavy though (I have to run it on minimum specs) but if you can play Empire TW then you can probably play WIC.

Hey, Charles, you have World in Conflict? I've been meaning to pick it up - but am afraid that the online play is dead.

Is that the case? Are people still playing this game online?

[Juli]

Yeah, I know E: DotMW. However, I did not know there were mods for it. Wait, are they mods or scenarios? Cause Empires is totally based on Empire Earth, which, while good, is not very moddable

And I've heard about Cossacks, might be good to try

If you're willing to tolerate bad, old graphics, I suggest Age of Empires games, along with Age of Mythology. They're great fun.

AoM has quite good graphics, if you ask me

@Cadmus

Sure, knock yourself out man:

[Mithie]

Yeah, I know E: DotMW. However, I did not know there were mods for it. Wait, are they mods or scenarios? Cause Empires is totally based on Empire Earth, which, while good, is not very moddable

And I've heard about Cossacks, might be good to try

You know, Juli, here's a suggestion that's completely off the board, but there's this great free-to-play-with-micro-transaction-options RTS-lite called "Battleforge". It's free to play, with a magic-the-gathering type card collection system that works pretty well.

I've been playing it on and off for 2 years now and it's pretty interesting.

Did I mention it's free yet?