Where are all the strategy games? (Death of RTS geanre)

[ibex333]

What happened to all the RTS games?

In my opinion, the golden age of RTS is long gone, and RTS fans pretty much have to "settle" for what's out there, and what's out there, is not very much.

Starcraft? It's game mechanics are stuck in 1998. You cant even hold "shift" to queue up 5 units at a time! A Marine, on the ground, armed with an assault rifle, can shoot down a Battlecruiser which is technially be in space, in orbit outside of the actual planet, but conveniently goes all the way down so that a Marine can shoot it....

There are no formations in Starcraft, and graphics look like all the units are made out of plastic. Thor looks and talks like an idiot... Please bring back the Goliath. Many units have references to Warcraft 3 which IMO, should have nothing to do with Starcraft. I don't deny Starcraft is still a good RTS, but where are other choices?

Company of Heroes 2 Great gameplay, wonderful graphics, but the Germans are wayyy overpowered.

Dawn of War 2 and 3 Well they are also great, but 2 is old, and 3 is not out yet.

I don't consider crap like Sins of Solar Empire and Ashes of Singularity RTS games... They don't even have a good single player campaign.


The death of Westwood was a horrible blow to the RTS genre. When EA took over, they actually did a great job with C&C Generals and C&C 3, but it all went downhill from there. What the hell happened? Why did they kill the multiplayer servers?! Surely EA can afford to continue running them. Why doesn't anybody care? Screw Overwatch! I don't even want to try it. I don't care for Call of Duty either.

 

[local]

You forgot SupCom:FA. Something will eventually have to top Supreme Commander: Forged Alliance, until then I don't see any other game gaining any traction. It looked like Ashes of the Singularity was heading that way but they gave up.

I'm sure there will be something eventually but I'm not going to hold my breath.

 

[KMFJD]

Europa Universalis 4 has been very addicting once i figured it out, but not really an rts

 

[Stg-Flame]

They are remastering Starcraft, so give that some time.

However, the simple answer is that if it doesn't have Starcraft somewhere in the name, it's not going to sell (unless Blizzard's next rumored project is a new Warcraft RTS). Too many companies shifted away from traditional RTS gameplay in favor of the 4X genre. The other major factor is that they don't sell as well as a game like Overwatch or Destiny these days. Developers don't want to sink millions into a new game only to have it sell to a niche crowd. I always heard World of Goo was one of the best RTS games to come out recently, but not only was it confusing as hell (little to no tutorial), but it felt like they were trying to remake Earth 2140.

 

[Zenoth]

Dawn of War 3 is coming soon, that's all I needed in my life.

 

[lehtv]

Age of Empires 2 needs a proper sequel, like what Supreme Commander was to Total Annihilation.

 

[Red Storm]

RTS games don't get pumped out by the handful every year like FPS games, and that's a good thing. A good RTS takes a lot of time to make, and lasts for many, many years. I still play StarCraft and Age of Empires 2. I still consider games like Company of Heroes and Supreme Commander as "new" RTS games. Companies have tried to dumb down the genre (SupCom 2, Age of Empires Online, etc) and have failed, though to veteran RTS gamers it's no surprise. A good RTS is a real game, which takes real development, not this free to play dlc lazy crap that's taking over the industry.

 

[Yakk]

As a big, big RTS fan dating back to the first C&C and DUNE; after moving on from the SupCom games Ashes of Singularity Escalation has my group and myself well covered, plus the AI is worlds ahead of any other game bar none if you want to play single player. Campaign is nothing to write home about, but having an actual good AI and massive, massive maps more than makes up for it. Happy for years to come with AotSE.

 

[Raduque]

Tried Deserts of Kharak? Ground-based rts from the Homeworld franchise, a prequel.

 

[dud]

RTSs are my go-to game genre above all others. I agree that few good games are or have been released recently (Deserts of Kharak being one of the better ones). As I age I use RTS gameplay to keep my mind agile.

Fortunately, I have a LARGE collection of (IMHO) the best RTS games ever released ... probably enough to keep me busy for decades. I'm not complaining of a lack of good RTS games to play ...

 

[Red Storm]

Fortunately, I have a LARGE collection of (IMHO) the best RTS games ever released ... probably enough to keep me busy for decades. I'm not complaining of a lack of good RTS games to play ...

Exactly this. A good RTS lasts many, many years. They are the opposite of the types of games that seem to be popular today (i.e. >100 hours gameplay, buy the dlc throughout the year, then buy the next iteration the following year).

 

[lefenzy]

RTS games don't get pumped out by the handful every year like FPS games, and that's a good thing. A good RTS takes a lot of time to make, and lasts for many, many years. I still play StarCraft and Age of Empires 2. I still consider games like Company of Heroes and Supreme Commander as "new" RTS games. Companies have tried to dumb down the genre (SupCom 2, Age of Empires Online, etc) and have failed, though to veteran RTS gamers it's no surprise. A good RTS is a real game, which takes real development, not this free to play dlc lazy crap that's taking over the industry.

Ensemble studios actually put out games at a decent frequency, but they are long gone now.

 

[XavierMace]

I don't consider crap like Sins of Solar Empire and Ashes of Singularity RTS games... They don't even have a good single player campaign.

LOLWUT?

 

[Ricochet]

You consider Dawn of War 2 RTS? The 1st one + expansions were very enjoyable. The 2nd seems to be more action-RPG with RTS element. I hope the 3rd would resemble the 1st more than the 2nd.

 

[thejunglegod]

You consider Dawn of War 2 RTS? The 1st one + expansions were very enjoyable. The 2nd seems to be more action-RPG with RTS element. I hope the 3rd would resemble the 1st more than the 2nd.

It will as per the gameplay trailers that came out a while back. Well, at least as of now, it will.

 

[[DHT]Osiris]

LOLWUT?

I'm with this guy. If you consider SoaSE to be garbage and DoW2 to be great, I'm not sure if the Strategy genre is exactly what you're looking for. DoW2 is more like a squad tactical combat thing with some vague unit building capability, kinda like Heroes of Annihilated Empires or the Spellforce series. DoW2 was fun, don't get me wrong, but DoW1 was a far superior 'base building' strategy game (even if it had its own flaws).

 

[mikeymikec]

Starcraft? It's game mechanics are stuck in 1998.

Have you tried playing StarCraft 1 recently? I just did, and I've never encountered anything quite so tedious and mind-bogglingly dumb in gaming in many, many years.

In StarCraft 2, if I send a ground unit from one place to another on the map (assuming the destination isn't physically inaccessible by ground), 99% of the time the unit will get there without having to have its hand held by me. In SC1, I was just trying to play a campaign map and because I had quite a few ground units massed, a drone decided that it couldn't get through because there were lots of other units in the way, and of course because I can't select more than ten units at a time I am basically moving the other units manually out of the way. In SC2, the other units move out of the way automatically when another wants to get through.

In SC2, if I tell a unit to build a structure, it gets built unless there's such a huge amount of sustained activity in that spot for at least ten seconds. In SC1, if that space if unavailable for the split-second that the unit is ready to build it, the operation is cancelled.

In SC2, if I want to tell my entire army to move and attack an area, I can. I can even tell it to go by multiple waypoints if I wished. In SC1 it's like herding a group of toddlers: If I tell them to go left and there's a bit of terrain to navigate, chances are a good percentage of them will wander in the other direction for ages and then inexplicably turn back. I ended up getting about 30 hydralisks minced by dark zealots because SC1 units that are given anything but the simplest instructions will herp-a-derp their way across the map like I could imagine The Three Stooges attempting it.

In SC1, if there's a group of units nearby and one is getting attacked, many of the ones nearby just sit there presumably because the aggressor isn't in their attack range. In SC2, if nearby units are getting attacked, the ones not getting attacked yet are nearby will move and join in the defence.

On the SC1 campaign map I was actually doing just fine, and maybe in two hours' time I would have finished it, but on SC2 I could have accomplished the same feat in probably a quarter of the time I spent on this map. SC2 is so far an advancement from SC1 that I can hardly believe that anyone in their right mind would compare the two in a way that suggests that SC2 isn't much different.

I think given the choice between playing SC1 ever again and watching paint dry for three hours straight, I'd seriously consider the latter. There are quite a few things that irritate me about SC2, but at least it's enjoyable to play! In the time taken to write this post I've considered snapping my SC1/BW discs more than once because unless I'm feeling seriously masochistic at some point, there's pretty much no chance on the planet that I'm going to subject myself to that ever again. If it was possible for an SC1 player to play an SC2 player, I think the SC1 guy would have to be a grand master to even vaguely stand a chance against the SC2 player.

 

[Red Storm]

If it was possible for an SC1 player to play an SC2 player, I think the SC1 guy would have to be a grand master to even vaguely stand a chance against the SC2 player.

Actually because of the derpy pathfinding and unit selection limitations in SC1, I'd say it's the other way around. The SC2 player will not be as good at micro and whatnot, IMHO.

That's the beauty of choice though. People that enjoy the modern improvements to the genre can play SC2, while those who grew up with SC1 and simply prefer the mechanics of that game can play that (soon to be updated visually too!). And then there's people like me who enjoy both, and so we play both.

 

[mikeymikec]

Actually because of the derpy pathfinding and unit selection limitations in SC1, I'd say it's the other way around.

I meant "if it was possible for an SC1 player playing SC1 to play an SC2 player playing SC2", therefore all the SC1 limitations would be a massive handicap.

 

[Ranulf]

I don't consider crap like Sins of Solar Empire and Ashes of Singularity RTS games

Blasphemy. Sins is not a pure RTS but a great mix of RTS and 4x. DOW2 is not an RTS. Its basically Company of Heroes 1/2 in Warhammer40k form.

 

[Stg-Flame]

and of course because I can't select more than ten units at a time I am basically moving the other units manually out of the way.

This is why the grouping function is used... Sure the pathfinding is dated in SC and WC, but if you just select a giant group and tell it to go from Point A to Point B, it's going to follow the programmed AI path. However, the player must take the role as the intelligent commander and tell the units to go elsewhere to circumvent the archaic pathfinding.

 

[Elixer]

I don't consider crap like Sins of Solar Empire and Ashes of Singularity RTS games... They don't even have a good single player campaign.

For what it is worth AotS was reworked, and it is much better now than it was before, however, it still is lacking when compared to Supreme Commander.
If you didn't know, they gave everyone AotS:Escalation for AotS owners, and they have more of a SP campaign there as well.

I know lots of people are waiting for DoW 3, hopefully, it will turn out to be pretty good, and not meh.

 

[bigboxes]

This thread reminded me I have a copy of Age of Empires III that I never installed. I got it for free when I built my first dual core back in 2006.

 

[gregoryvg]

This thread reminded me I have a copy of Age of Empires III that I never installed. I got it for free when I built my first dual core back in 2006.

What? AoE III is one of the best RTS games ever made! Play it!!

 

[bystander36]

I bet one of the major reasons RTS games are not created all that often anymore is that they are PC only games. They do not work with consoles, and almost all games these days are designed for consoles first, unless it's an indie project.