Real Time Strategy

[Pumpkin]

What is a real time strategy game? Could I get some examples of games that are real time strategy?

Thanky!

[Freya]

Warcraft 1-3, Starcraft 1 and 2, Age of Empires, Command and Conquers, Black and White (I love that game.) etc etc

Basically it's your building a base; gathering supplies and building up defenses, and an army while a computer or other player builds their base and army. Then you clash! Or you can just attack them in the beginning or whatever. It's in real time so unlike games like the Civilization series, it's not turn based. It happens at the same time.

Warcraft 3 had an extra mission where you played as one hero. Then they modded it and made DoTA which gave rise to the now popular arena based games like League of Legends.

Warcraft 2 ↓ is my favorite RTS personally. That and black and white, i just have lots of fun with Black and White.

http://i276.photobucket.com/albums/kk38/johnnie_waves/Warcraft2.jpg


EDIT: If you're interested in some, steam sales are going on right now so you can buy some for cheaper (http://store.steampowered.com/tag/en/RTS/#p=0&tab=TopSellers)than normal. If you don't care about age, Good old games or GOG has some cheap strategy games (http://www.gog.com/games/strategy##sort=bestselling&page=1) too as they are having a summer sale too.

[Bolivar]

RTS is a genre where players are given simultaneous control over multiple characters, or units, which they move and order around a map in real time to complete objectives, usually destroying an enemy base. The hallmark of modern RTS is the balance between resource management and warfare, at the same time. Players need to harvest resources, build a base, allocate skill points in a tech tree, scout the map, seize central points, and micromanage their forces in engagements with the enemy. RTS' typically offer players multiple factions to choose from, which differ in aesthetics and play style. The most common distinction is one faction that prioritizes brute force and another that values technology and creative solutions to win. Most RTS' offer story campaigns for each faction, with missions book ended by pre-rendered or live action cutscenes but the heart of the genre is competitive matches against human opponents.

The seminal game of the genre is Dune II. While preceded by other strategy titles which took place in real time or gave you control over multiple units, it was the first to incorporate resource management into the formula that most RTS use today. The studio took this knowledge to create Command & Conquer, one of the most iconic RTS series in gaming, in which the NATO-esque Global Defense Initiative takes on the enigmatic Brotherhood of Nod. Led by the charismatic Kane, NOD wins over third world nations to monopolize Tiberium, an alien resource of powerful properties.

Another iconic series is Age of Empires. It combines classic RTS gameplay with its "ages" mechanic - once you meet certain requirements, you progress to the next age, which updates the aesthetics of your buildings and units while unlocking more options.

The current reigning king of the genre is Starcraft II. Starcraft and the Warcraft games are known for their heavy reliance on APM - actions per minute. The winner is often determined by who is able to out click their opponent and micromanage their units better. As you can imagine, this is something a lot of RTS' purposely try to move away from.

As far as where to start, I definitely recommend looking out for Age of Empires II HD in the ongoing Steam Sale. You can also grab the complete Command & Conquer collection for under $20, which will give you a dozen or so games and lots of good places to start. Also keep an eye out for Grey Goo. It should be in the Steam sale soon and it's one of my favorite games released in 2015 so far. The original creators of Dune II and C&C worked on it, it's a stellar product with lots of refreshing innovations but still stays true to everything the genre stands for. I could write more about it but this is already one long ass post.

[Vyk]

Hard for me to get into these games as they are worse than Japanese strategy RPGs with their limited scope on player immersion. It's just battle battle battle. And cut scenes. Rarely even any choices during a campaign. Only choice you generally get is which faction to start with. And frequently that is actually a difficulty choice. If there were more with real immersive dialog and character building and ways to explore and interact with lore and the world I would love these games. War craft had interesting lore. If a little weird.

Worth noting there were some released on the 360 which were not terrible and had surprisingly good controls on console. And since it is incredibly unpopular to play on console they are probably only like five dollars. Likely even cheaper honestly

[Bolivar]

That's just not what these games are about. Theres a lot of PC games that do this, like Counter-Strike or Dota, Games with a capital G, where the focus is making something where players can test eachother in a battle of wits. I get that it might feel like a missed opportunity, because a lot of these games have interesting lore, but hats like complaining that chess doesn't let you change the form of monarchy or institute a theocracy.

[FFNut]

I recommend age of empires 2. Still one of my favs to waste a day on!

[Pumpkin]

So what are the main differences between real-time strategy and strategy RPG

Sorry if I'm asking too many questions, I'd just like to get a feel for the genre to understand it better!

[FFNut]

Real time the AI is always working at the same time you are. It's not turn based. That's it in a nutshell.

[Slothy]

Hard for me to get into these games as they are worse than Japanese strategy RPGs with their limited scope on player immersion. It's just battle battle battle. And cut scenes. Rarely even any choices during a campaign.

I'm not criticizing your views because you're obviously just a fan of things you won't find in most RTS games and that's cool, but I find a certain irony in mentioning a lack of choice in RTS games as far as story when the gameplay (in the good ones anyway) is nothing but meaningful choices from the start of a battle to the end. It just amused me a bit.

[Ayen]

I came in here to say Command and Conquer and StarCraft, but I see Pike already beat me to it. StarCraft II sticks out to me by having a surprisingly engaging story. More than I'd expect from a RTS game going in. Command and Conquer is pretty decent on that front, too. I remember being really into the FMVs on YouTube and that's what got me to play the games.

That was Freya, not Pike. What even the smurf, Tori?

[Bolivar]

So what are the main differences between real-time strategy and strategy RPG

Sorry if I'm asking too many questions, I'd just like to get a feel for the genre to understand it better!

There's no grid in RTS and you can control multiple units at once, by dragging and selecting them like you would icons on a desktop. The competitive multiplayer is also the heart of the game, although some do have good stories. Warcraft III is the most RPG-like that I've played, partially because it has hero units who level up and buy items.

[Pike]

I'm just jumping in to say, preemptively, that anyone who doesn't think RTS games are capable of brilliant stories and memorable characters needs to play Warcraft III and its expansion (The Frozen Throne) which IMO contains some of the best storylines and characters in any video game, period.

Okay, that's all.

Bye!

[Mirage]

Tanya was pretty memorable... I mean, i certainly remember her.

[Vyk]

I will look into this then! :3

[Mirage]

C&C's charm is basically over-acting things and cheesy cutscenes :p, but with some funny characters.

Oh, and you can't forget about Kane either.

[Ayen]

Which Red Alert takes to the extreme.

C&C4 ruined everything by playing it straight.

[Pike]

Red Alert 2 had the greatest opening cutscene in the history of video games. Fact.

IS IT DONE, YURI?

NO COMRADE PREMIER... IT HAS ONLY BEGUN

[Ayen]

YOU CAN'T THREATEN US! WE'RE THE GREATEST NATION ON EARTH!

[escobert]

my favorite RTS series are the Warhammer 40k: Dawn of War and Company of Heros.