RTS games

== RTS Game? The fuck is that?==
If you know what Blizzard is, odds are you already know what an RTS is. RTS's are games where you need to plan some shit out before attacking, getting troops, defending your base, or even giving a fuck in general. They're really a blast to play, especially with bros over the interwebs. Or even consoles if you're desperate.
==RTS's Around the world==
A lot of countries play RTSs in the same way that some of us play fighting games, competitively against hundreds. Thats what E-Sports is all about, really.
But of all the most popular E-Sports countries, South Korea has to be the best. These fuckers can take out squads and shit like you don't even motherfucker. These manly fucks have true skills in terms of Starcraft, and probably every other RTS if they tried them. ZERG RUSH KEKEKEKE.
Shit like this http://www.gomtv.net/ is where you can see some good 'ol RTS action done by ol' SK.
==RTS Games==
Box Art	Name 	Description_of_the_game 	Year	Multiplayer 	System
 	Age of Empires 	A well-known daddy of RTS games, Age of Empires offers very good RTS gameplay in a game that will have no problem running on any computer available today. Still goes strong even after 15 years. 	1997	Very basic online from Gamespy (1st party online support removed) 	PC
 	Age of Mythology 	Everyone always seems to forget just how great this spin-off title was. Instead of having 12+ similar but slightly different factions, it had 3 + 1 (expansion) VERY different factions with a lot of unique units and changes to how they played. 3D graphics were a huge step up from AoE II, tweaked a lot of things with resources, came with a great editor and hero/myth units were a neat addition. 	
2002
2003 (expansion)	Nope, but you can get Tunngle, LAN, Hamachi or any other similar program	PC
 	Blitzkrieg Series 	With no base building, Blitzkrieg would appear to be a pretty simple RTS. But with a huge number of units, and a solid difficulty curve spanning a crazy number of missions, it's defiently a complex game. Not only that, but it runs on a toaster and is pretty cheap, worth a shot at least. Has 3 expansion packs, just beware the sequel which isn't as good. 	
2003
2011	Yes 	
PC/Mac
 	Command & Conquer Series 	
The classic series by Westwood studios, command and conquer wasn't the first RTS but it might be the most important one and it set the standard for which many other games would follow. Separated in the Tiberium and Red Alert series, both come highly recommended.
Also available on consoles and not shit either. 	1995	Yes 	PC and various consoles.
 	Company of Heroes Gold 	
A World War 2 RTS with two factions in the base game. Sounds a tad shit, right? Well you'd be wrong, a huge modding community, solid cover based gameplay, large amount of units with 3 different commander tree's all combine to form a rock solid RTS from Relic. It got two expansions (although only Opposing Fronts added factions, 2 of them to be precise).
Mods to check out;
Blitzkrieg Mod, Eastern Front, European Theatre and Modern Combat. Also a WW1 mod in the works 	2005	 	
 	Dawn of War 1: Anthology 	
Generally one of the more popular RTS games of the last decade. Takes place in the Warhammer 40,000 universe and is much more combat focused than some other games. Poor AI but great voice-acting, a pretty fun game. If you're only interested in conquer mode and multiplayer, get Soulstorm instead.
Multiplayer uses Gamespy system. 	
2004
to
2006	
Yes 	PC
 	Dungeon Keeper 	Dungeon Keeper is a strategy video game released for the PC in which the player attempts to build and manage a dungeon or lair while protecting it from (computer-controlled) 'hero' characters intent on stealing the user's accumulated treasures and killing various monsters. 	1997	No 	PC
 	Goblin Commander: Unleash the Horde 	The best RTs you've never played. I honestly feel like this would have done better had it been on PC, but the fucktards at Jaleco kept it console exclusive. It was on PS2, Xbox, and Gamecube. Such a shame. 	2003	Yes, Local 	PS2, Xbox, or GC
 	GrimGrimoire 	A fucking weird, unconventional and yet familiar RTS on the PS2. Most of the genre's mechanics are here, then comes some outlandish stuff like map design and magic schools. Graphics are highly stylized, especially the unit design. Real time battles allow pauses, so a DualShock controller will do fine, though it could've used a Move controller update upon the PSN re-release. 	2007	No 	PS2, PSN
 	Ground Control 	This game leans towards Real Time Tactics (ala Men of War) and shares a lot of things in common with other similar games. Cover, Higher ground, suppression and different armour values for different areas all play a role. Considering it was made free after Ground Control II came out, why the hell not? It'll run on a toaster after all. 	2000	Nope 	PC
 	Halo Wars 	The perfect "babbys first RTS" game, Halo Wars is a pretty simple game with 2 factions and not a massive number of units for each size. What makes it interesting however, are that the 2 factions share 0 troops in common. It's still fun for those experience in the genre, and it was made by Ensemble before they got killed off. 	2009	Yes 	360
 	Homeworld 	An excellent sci-fi RTS game. Aside from it's amazing presentation, story and music that is amazing even to against modern titles. It is also a rather complex RTS that allows you to command your very own space fleet of ships and squadrons of attack craft. Has a remaster if you want better graphics and interface. 	1999	Yes 	PC
 	Knights of Honor 	If you've ever wished Medieval Total War is also in real time outside of battles, this game is for you. It plays almost like a 4X game in real time, but as a trade-off, the pace of the game is slow as a snail. Not as deep as something from Paradox Interactive, but maybe a streamlined 4X might be what you're into. Made by (out of all developers) Crytek 	2005	No 	PC
 	Kohan: Immortal Sovereigns/Ahriman's Gift 	In a nutshell: HOMM if it was adapted into a RTS. The game lifted the micromanaging headache by grouping units & heroes into companies, so you are always in tight control even during unbelievably huge-scale battles that you'l tackle more than once in the campaign. Game speed hotkeys also help either to trim down the dull moments or to keep chaotic battle under control. 	2001	Yes 	PC
 	Kohan II:Kings of War 	Mostly the same game, but improved in every way. Shiny, colorful 3D graphics, increased company size (from 6 to 8), visible town structures, individual skills for heroes, more distinctive races. Great campaign and music too (by Jeremy Soule). 	2004	Yes 	PC
 	Men of War (series) 	
The sequel to Faces of War, Men of War can be described simply as Company of Heroes without the safety filters on. Any tank can be killed by any infantry with a grenade or an AT gun in 1 hit, for example. All units on both sides are fragile as fuck, so you better be careful. That said, it's very flexible, has great squad level AI, huge range of units and factions (Assualt Squad had: Jap, RUS, Germany, USA and britbongs). Also terrible voice acting and bad pathfinding
The MoW series has 5 games, the vanilla game, the punishingly hard Red Tide Expansion, the heavily multiplayer/skirmish focused Assualt Squad expansion, a meh Vietnam spin-off and Condemned Heroes, a huge engine update and closest to the original's formula.	
2009
2011
2012	Yes 	PC
 	Myth:The Fallen Lords 	A RTT(Real Time Tactics) created by Bungie. Unlike other RTS games, there is no base-building or resource gathering and you already have your units in the battlefield. You'll have to take in consideration of your unit's strengths and weakness, not to mention your formation, terrain, weather,etc as take care not to lose your precious units against hordes of enemy forces. 	1997	Yes 	PC
150px 	Sins of a Solar Empire 	
While it is more of a 4X game, it does kind of fit into the RTS genre. The game has you controlling a solar empire in a vast region of space, it requires long term thinking and has solid space combat as well as a wide range of tech to research, units to build and pirates to bribe into attacking rivals. If you want to play a larger game be prepared to lose days of your life, but everything about it is well handled. Looks good, controls well and sounds good, as such it's a decent entry to 4X
Trinity comes with the two expansion packs, so it's generally worth picking up. The game is also DRM as a side note. The 3rd expansion (Rebellion) isn't included	
2008
2009
2010
(2012 for rebellion)	Yes 	PC
 	Starcraft / Brood War 	Game is basically Warcraft, BUT IN SPACE AH! Choose one of 3 races of people, Terran, the humans, Protoss, the techie aliens, and the Zerg, the evil bad enough dudes. Just like most RTS's, construct your base and use strategy to defeat your enemy. Pretty nice cinematics for 1998, as well as some great 2D-ish graphics. Brood War is like a part 2 expansion, N64 version has both and a new expansion and a split-screen multiplayer, so thats pretty fucking great too. Best bought as the Anthology version on Blizzard Store, chances are it's cheaper than a used physical copy.	
1998
1999	Yes 	PC, MAC, N64
 	StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty/Heart of the Swarm/Legacy of the Void	The sequel to the original Starcraft. Despite what some of the detractors may say, this is a solid game that improves the gameplay of the original Starcraft. 	2010	Yes 	PC, MAC
 	Stronghold Crusade Extreme 	The most updated version of the original Stronghold - the ideal castle building game. Since the series has become a trainwreck after it's gone 3D, this is the version to go. 	
2001
to
2008	Yes 	PC
 	
Supreme Commander: Gold 	
The spiritual sequel to Total Annhiliation, Supreme Commaner (SupCom) is an RTS on a HUGE scale. each player can have up to 1000 units at a time, and theirs plently of variety between the 3 + 1 factions. Online is shutdown, but the FAF system has an active community, and if you want to 1v1 a bro something like tunngle is always available 	
2007
2008	
FAF 	PC and 360
 	The Lord of the Rings: Battle for Middle Earth 	
A pretty cool RTS game set in the Lotr universe, has a decent amount of factions to play as and all the units/heroes you'd expect. Gameplay is fairly standard X counters Y but still buzzword. Uses the same engine as C&C Generals 
Had a sequel that many view as inferior to the original gameplay wise, but it's still worth a shot in this anon's opinion. 	2004	Nope 	PC
 	Warcraft: Orcs and Humans 	Ol' Blizzy's first RTS. Seeing how old this is, you could probably run this shit on a fucking toaster or sumtin'. 	1994	Nope 	PC
 	Warcraft III: Reign Of Chaos/The Frozen Throne 	Probably THE (if not one of the) greatest RTS games of all time Far from being perfect, and its not an RTS in a complete form, more like an RPG-RTS since you can level up "Hero" units. The graphics are pretty good and are nice for an RTS from '02/'03. Shit like DoTA came about through modding this game. Best way to buy this is now and physically. 	
2002
2003	Yes 	PC
 	Warhammer: Shadow of the Horned Rat 	An awesome RTS game set in the world of the Warhammer. A ridiculously difficult RTS where you face hordes of Orcs and Skaven while you try and ensure that you accomplish your mission AND work hard to ensure that your mercenary force receives less casualties and less costs to your money. 	
1995
1996	Yes 	PC, Playstatiom
 	Warhammer: Dark Omen 	An excellent sequel to Shadow of the Horned Rat. You play as Commander Morgan Berhardt who leads his mercenary force against an ever growing army of Orcs and Undead. You can also recruit unique units if you seek to accomplish the side missions. A much more refined RTS when compared to its predecessor but it is still frustratingly difficult. 	
1998	Yes 	PC, Playstation
  	World in Conflict: Complete Edition 	The closest thing you can get to a Red Dawn strategy game right now. Being a baseless RTS, the pace of the game is a lot faster than most of its peers. Long and well-designed campaign (well-narrated by Alec Baldwin too), great camera system, large maps and graphics that can drop some jaws in grand scale battles (especially if it involves artillery units). Has a lot of great mods too. 	
2007
2009	Yes 	PC
 	Warlords Battle Cry III 	If Warcraft isn't enough to satisfy your cravings for fantasy RTS, then Warlords Battlecry can satisfy it. Has over 16 playable races and you can also create and customize your own heroes set in the world of Eteria. 	2004	Yes 	PC
 	Z 	You're a troop of red robots on a campaign to beat all the other colored robots in the universe. On your side you have a screaming robot-sergeant ready with a cigar in mouth and a cowboy-hat. This isn't Halo, it's hardcore robot RTS-massacre. Everyone's got good voice acting and it's another take on RTS where your unit-building is limited by a timer which decreases with the amount of territories you acquire. 	1996	No 	PC
==Action RTS Games/MOBA (Multiplayer Online Based Arena)==
Okay, before you wonder what this shit is, Action RTS's or "MOBAs" as some people like to call it, are like DOTA2 or League Of Legends in which they focus more on player team versus player team than two teams strategizing bases and shit to send forces to win. Action RTS games/MOBAs are pretty cool, and a good couple are free to play as well. Think of it as a subgenre of sorts.
FUN FACT: RIOT games came up with MOBA as a buzzword so their game wouldn't be called a DOTA clone. Look it up! 
 
Box Art	Name 	Description 	Year	Multiplayer	System
 	DOTA2 	A.K.A. "Defense Of The Ancients". Pretty good sequel to WCIII mod done by Valve of all people. Sizable /v/ and /vg/ community exists. Least casual of the ARTS/MOBA games and requires a lot of effort. Free for everyone on steam. Ten-thousand dollar hat resides in this game.	2012	Yes 	PC, MAC, Linux
  	Heroes Of Newerth	  	2010	Yes 	PC, MAC, Linux
 	League Of Legends	Free to Play Action RTS which utilizes unique heroes to fight in battle with 2 teams of 5. Basically DOTA for babbys. Very fun and lengthy to play. Community is a hit and miss here. But there is a large /v/ community out there. 	2008	Yes 	PC
Category:Genre Lists
Category:PC Games