RTS Recommendations

[Soukyan]

So I was going to start a thread for just Company of Heroes, but then I thought I might as well ask for other recommendations while I am at it. So here goes...

I was replaying Warcraft III the other day for shits and giggles, and I've gone on a bit of a RTS binge now. I have been grabbing demo versions left and right looking for a good one to play. So here's the list of demos I tried out.

Rise of Nations (played this when it came out and had a blast, demo was as I remembered. Good stuff)
Rise of Legends (didn't grab me like the original RoN, not sure why)
Warhammer 40k (fucking FUN!, I want to try the expansions to this, too)
Company of Heroes (currently downloading the almost 2Gb demo)


So basically, since Company of Heroes has the Opposing Forces expansion, I guess I'd like to know what you all think of Company of Heroes as a game. Also, what other RTS games would you recommend I try (from within say the past 4 or 5 years)?

Also, other strategy game recommendations are welcome as well because I do like the Europa Universalis series and such, but I suppose that falls under Turn-based (TBS?). Thanks in advance.

[schild]

Rise of Nations. Stick with it. Luv.

[lesion]

You can get all the 40K Dawn of War stuff for $29.95 on Steam, which is awesome. As usual. You could try Supreme Commander, although it's just Total Annihilation with different names.

[schild]

Only get WH40k stuff if you like control point conflict.

Though, you did say you liked it.

I really wish RoN would hit Steam. I mean, it works at 1920x1080 when you change a single variable from 0 to 1 in the game.ini.

[Soukyan]

Only get WH40k stuff if you like control point conflict.

Though, you did say you liked it.

I really wish RoN would hit Steam. I mean, it works at 1920x1080 when you change a single variable from 0 to 1 in the game.ini.

Yes. I wish RoN was on Steam as well. So the WH40K expansions were good then?

Just got done with the Company of Heroes demo and wow was it really well done! Amazing work by those guys. Of course, it is a lot of control point conflict, but wow... just wow.

I'm open to any and all suggestions so I'll give Supreme Commander a look.

[IainC]

World in Conflict is very good indeed, especially if you're a fan of Patrick Swayze's early work.

Dawn of War is pretty straightforwards but the expansions make it a better game - at least in campaign/skirmish mode. In the original walking forwards slowly and consolidating as you go is pretty much a guaranteed victory, the expansions add a lot more depth to the game, particularly Winter Assault.

[schild]

Only get WH40k stuff if you like control point conflict.

Though, you did say you liked it.

I really wish RoN would hit Steam. I mean, it works at 1920x1080 when you change a single variable from 0 to 1 in the game.ini.

Yes. I wish RoN was on Steam as well. So the WH40K expansions were good then?

Just got done with the Company of Heroes demo and wow was it really well done! Amazing work by those guys. Of course, it is a lot of control point conflict, but wow... just wow.

I'm open to any and all suggestions so I'll give Supreme Commander a look.

Actually, I hate control point gameplay, as such, I hated World in Conflict and WH40k.

[Stormwaltz]

Only RTS I've ever enjoyed were the Homeworld and Kohan games. The latter is control point (city) based.

[caladein]

I'll throw another vote towards Rise of Nations, I was pretty burned out with it by the time the expansion rolled around, but I remember enjoying the additions.  I didn't like Rise of Legends nearly as much, mainly because I hated the units with a special passion.

(As an aside, FFH2 ruined RTS games for me, since it took out that whole real-time silliness that I suck so badly at .)

[Driakos]

Company of Heroes is great.  Yes.  I've put a ton of hours into it, and often still find myself learning.  I'm still reeling from the depth Opposing Fronts has added to it.

I cannot really use words to describe the glee artillery causes.  If you can't run it max-res and cranked graphics, lower the res till you can.  It's worth it, and you don't lose much. 

Salvaging weapons from the battlefield, digging trenches, setting up radio triangulation, flanking, pinning, suppression.  Good game.

[Megrim]

Are you interested in single-player RTS, or multi-player RTS?

[Mrbloodworth]

Me, personally. I would go with Company of Heroes. While the other RTS's are great in there own right, Company of Heroes is a smaller scale of RTS, with that being each unit (A unit is typically a squad in that game) is more potent, and can change the battle. The AI is much smarter in this game, referring to individual units, to the point of being aware of the battle, and will take there own actions such as defense ,taking cover, using the right weapon on the current target, flanking ETC. They wont just sit there and take it as in many other ones. I find the smaller scale of the battles (As in Not 100-1000 of units, but about 8 squads of 5-6) refreshing. The maps are fully destructible, so over time the field take different shapes. I find the game incredibly more tactical than some other titles that really boil down to "He who has the most units".

There is a lot more to the game that makes it different than other RTS titles, but i think the most notable is scale.

[Soukyan]

Are you interested in single-player RTS, or multi-player RTS?

Oh right, I should have specified. Looking for good single-player campaigns and scenarios. I'm not really looking to do any multiplayer or random maps anytime soon. So yeah, single-player.

[CadetUmfer]

+1 for Homeworld if you haven't played it.  Great SP story, in addition to the rest of the awesomeness.

[Murgos]

I'm pretty optimistic about Sins of a Solar Empire.  It's due out next Tuesday and looks like Homeworld *= MoM.

YMMV.

[eldaec]

Desktop Tower Defence!

[Soukyan]

Desktop Tower Defence!

Not sure why, but I just cannot get into this. Thanks anyhow.

I'm pretty optimistic about Sins of a Solar Empire.  It's due out next Tuesday and looks like Homeworld *= MoM.

YMMV.

Yes. That one does look very cool. I'm hoping there'll be a demo soon after release.

[AngryGumball]

Are you interested in single-player RTS, or multi-player RTS?

Oh right, I should have specified. Looking for good single-player campaigns and scenarios. I'm not really looking to do any multiplayer or random maps anytime soon. So yeah, single-player.

Age of Mythology, and expansion had good single player campaigns albeit they were a tad easy, I wish I had played both games more and burned myself out on them more is all.

[Chenghiz]

Thirding World in Conflict. It's just beautiful and the multiplayer rocks as well.