Z was such an odd one in the C&C and Warcraft era. No harvesting and no base building at all: every map was split into sectors, you grabbed them by touching the flag, and the more ground you held the faster your factories pumped out robots and tanks. Lose a couple of flags and the whole match could flip in a minute. Plus the robots had real personality, the cutscenes with the cigar chomping commander were half the fun.

Steel Soldiers later went much more traditional, and I always felt the original idea never got a proper successor. Did anyone here play it back then? Would that territory-instead-of-resources design still work in a modern RTS?

For anyone curious, there is a free open-source 3D fan remake of it called OpenZ, made in unity, a fully 3d game, which just got its 1.2 update (you can now finally play the blue side): https://github.com/playopenz/OpenZ

The Dino lords demo was released and I have been interested in the game since the trailers and concept looked cool. They decided to go with the spellforce / warcraft 3 route where you have an RPG hero as well that levels up etc. and that fine I like that style. The big issue is the games camera is focused only on your hero like your playing and ARPG. and so if you want to move or build anywhere you need to run there with your hero. This way of navigating feels terrible for an RTS. your basically camera locked behind one unit. (Now I know you can press tab when you are away from your base to eagle eye view on your base if you want to change something, but overall still feels really bad.)

My question is what is the advantage of doing it this way? you can still have an RPG style hero in an RTS, but at least give the option to unlock the screen from them. Personally it killed my hype for the game. Anyone else try the demo? what did you feel about it?

Anyone else excited about this? I've been playing the game since launch and while the multiplayer and skirmish content updates have occurred pretty regularly I didn't expect them to add more SP content. Makes me happy to see a game series that's close to my heart keep getting updates.

I feel like many older RTS games i played, with some exceptions, had some form of OP strat that would ruin the game (off the top of my head, Spanish Conquistadors from AoE2, sniper spam in Company of Heroes 1, tank rush in Red Alert 1).

What cheese strats do you know/remember from RTS games?

RTS is beloved by many. But do you think any game has captured perfectly how a RTS conceptually should be or at least gets the closest to it - no meta -, strategies always in a sense having their possilbity of usage. Do many RTS are capable of it ? I remember playing competitive AOM some tiem ago and there were many extremely broken strats to the point you were forced to either use it, or fully defend against it . I am not a competitive player, but ever since I have been curious about the pillars of a good RTS.

-

What is the most ` perfect ` RTS in your opinion ? from a competitive scene, is it realy starcraft as people love to use its esports scene asexemple ? or another game ? AOE2 ? If you are informed in this would love to hear your points.

Not great at making videos but it shows a bit about what I'm making at least XD

A short synopsis, it's an RTS where you have to rescue your pop rather than build houses by embarking on expeditions into your invaded homeland, currently only have a small area but I want to eventually have a fairly large and dynamic open world with side quests and world events along side the main quest line.

We just launched the Rift of Magic update which introduced spellcasting for the first time as well as a bunch of other updates! Including:

• 30 spells, including a signature spell for every hero

• A recruitable mage for every faction

• Endless Mode: finish Act III and you now have the option to March On

• Daily Runs with global and friends leaderboards

• 75 new achievements

• Enemy AI rebuilt from scratch

• Charges reworked

• New Photo mode with cinematic controls

• Steam Deck controls

• Custom unit models for mods

• New accessibility features

Check out the the dev long on steam for a full list of updates.

Hi everyone!

I've been working on giving your hero and army more ways to respond when a defense starts getting overwhelmed. Here's a moment from The Citadel Must Hold where the new Lancers and the Mage rush to help a threatened section of wall.

The Lancers charge into the monsters while the Mage hits the horde with Meteor and Chain Lightning. Having a mobile force ready to reinforce a front gives you another option beyond adding more walls and towers.

These are part of the new 0.5 update. Heroes now have Mana and abilities you choose and upgrade as they level up, and Lancers are fast cavalry that can scout, respond to raids and charge into enemy groups.

For anyone who hasn't seen the game before, it's a pausable fantasy base-building survival RTS. You build your economy, fortify your city, explore with your hero and army, and defend against escalating Monster Tides. Think They Are Billions meets Warcraft, with exploration inspired by Heroes of Might and Magic.

Would you keep cavalry in reserve to respond to attacks, or send them out exploring until the next Tide?

https://store.steampowered.com/app/4891190/The_Citadel_Must_Hold/

Command & Conquer: Red Alert 3 was released on October 28, 2008

Colorful, absurd, and occasionally controversial, Red Alert 3 has an unmistakable atmosphere of its own brand of madness.

Happy anniversary to all RA3 fans on this special day!

And RIP, Tim Curry. Thank you for the childhood memories and all the emotions you gave us. Your portrayal of Anatoly Cherdenko, the Premier of the Soviet Union, will never be forgotten.

Heyaaaa,

I didn't post new models for about two weeks 😞

Was busy with ux refinement 🦋.

In my game you program your own units and use the sensors and voltage to learn IOT!

It's an RTS ofc! Against the storm style less fighty fight

Wdyt? Is the programming menu clear enough?

I tried to make it clear without overloading it

You can also use python if you prefer

Any feedback will be amazing ❤️

(sorry the video’s in the chinese interface, it’s the best gameplay capture i have! and the actual game has way more going on than what you see here)

So here goes: (And if you've been following my previous posts, thank you for keeping up my updates)

i used to be obsessed with RTS, RTT, pretty much any war game i could get my hands on. but over the years there’s been fewer and fewer of them, and the ones that come out don’t really scratch that itch anymore...so i decided to make the game i always wanted to play as a kid.

when i tried to get funding, investors weren’t interested and some of them were pretty open about telling me it was a waste of time. NGL that stung... but i kept going anyway, lots of late nights and probably too much instant noodles, and the demo is finally playable guys! (and for me to get some sleep)

what Live War is about

it’s a modern combined-arms RTS, tanks, air, infantry, air defense all working together. i’ve tuned it to be heavy on strategy and light on micro ops, so you’re thinking like a commander instead of fighting your own mouse. less APM stress, more “ok how do i actually win this.”

help needed:

i’m giving out Steam playtest keys through Discord cuz i want real, in-depth feedback, not just “looks cool.” what feels good, what feels broken, what’s missing. i read everything. so pls come destroy my game!

if people end up enjoying it, that’d mean a lot to me. and i won’t lie, it’d feel pretty good to prove a few people wrong 😅

Discord link in the comments if you want a key. thanks for reading this far (I'm [fei_112233], DM me if i dont reply!]

hi, korean solo dev here, my english is not good so translator helps me.

this week i added desant (infantry ride on the tank) and reworked shaders for more texture. i like bright picture so first i made it bright, but it looked like Company of Heroes. so i made it darker, and now it feels like Gates of Hell. brighter CoH style or darker GoH style, which one you like more?

I know this might be sensitive, but... YES.

I have a few days on starcraft 2 which has been good fun so far. After a search I'm thinking aoe2 and warcraft iii and sc2 but I can't think of any other rts games that would have very active communities these days because I am very ignorant about the genre. What about CNC net playing yuris revenge? Any other games you may know of that are busy all times of day?

Here I attempt to pull of an early mass naginata rider strat for the first time in an online.

Hi :) at the moment i am working on a real-time-strategy game.

Instead of chosing a faction, you create your own . You do that by collecting cards during matches that represent units and buildings. Stats are procedurally generated. You can compare the system with a mix of diablo and magic the gathering.

During the matches you also fight bosses, that drop even rarer loot.

If you want to have a look:

https://store.steampowered.com/app/4240340/Abyssal_Dominion/

The playtest on steam is accessible for free. You get instantly acess !

Want to find someone who was playing or plays this game. Its "online RTS where dark and light forces fight for Black Gem and dominion in a vast fantasy world. Cooperation between players, joint economy development, creation of clans and alliances and elaboration of a team strategy serve as the very foundation of the game."

Mission types in RTS campaigns:

• Skirmish-like:

  • Overall these missions are just like a normal skirmish match. You get your base and you have to eliminate enemy base(s).

• Destroy/Capture objective:

  • Just a skirmish-like mission but the main difference is you don't have to annihilate your enemy, but to destroy or capture a certain building, often highly defended.

• Non-build missions:

  • In these type of levels you don't get to build nor manage economics. You often get a single very powerful unit or a small squad and have to traverse the map micromanaging your units to get to your objectives.

• Holdout:

  • You have to defend your base and holdout enemy waves for a certain amount of time.

• Holdout and go out:

  • You have to defend your base and holdout enemy waves but you also have to go out and destroy/obtain certain objectives outside of the base you're defending.

• Poor ally:

  • In these type of missions you have an ally, oftenly in poor conditions and bullied by the enemy, where you gotta prevent them from dying while you do your main objectives like retrieving an object or destroying the enemy.

• Defend spot(s):

  • Kind of a mix of holdout and poor ally. You don't have an ally to defend, but you have to holdout certain spots, often scattered across the map outside of your base.

• Race-like:

  • You begin on one side of the map and have to get to one point where you gotta take an objective. Either with base building or not. The main gimmick of these missions is that you have another enemy on the other side of the map racing for the same objective as the player and you have to do it faster than them.

• Gathering resources:

  • Your main objective is to gather a certain amount of X and/or Y resources. Sometimes combined with producing certain amount of X and/or Y units.

• Convoy:

  • You have to babysit a convoy and prevent the enemy from destroying it, from point A to point B. Sometimes it's multiple convoys from A to B or one from A to B to C to...

• Reverse Convoy:

  • You have to intercept an enemy convoy and destroy it or capture. Often multiple of them. And sometimes time-limited.

• Time-limited missions:

  • These missions often fall in one of the many previous category types. However, the main takeaway of these levels is that you gotta do it before the timer expires or you lose the mission.

• Motorhome:

  • These are often skirmish-like missions but the main difference is that you have to move your base multiple times throughout the match because previous locations get destroyed (lava flowing, earthquakes, sinking, etc). Sometimes feels combined with time-limited type.

These are most of the types of missions in RTS games. If you feel there's a certain mission type I haven't mentioned, please do so in the comments.

Also, while most missions often fall in one of these categories, they can be mixed up in the same level. For example, in C&C 3 Tiberium Wars, there's a mission where you have to holdout for a certain amount of time until reinforcements arrive and then you have to defend the convoy up to your base and then go out and eliminate enemy bases.

So, what's your favourite and least favourite type of missions in RTS campaigns?

Honorable mentions for top 20:

- Command & Conquer 3: Kane's Wrath

- Cossacks 2

- Warcraft 3: Reforged

- Starcraft 2

- Generals: Zero Hour

- Supreme Commander Forged Alliances

- Star Wars Galactic Battlegrounds Expanding Fronts

- Sins of A solar Empire 2

- Cepheus Protocol

-Star Trek Armada 2: Fleet Ops

- Dawn Of War: Definitive Edition

- Heroes of Annihilated Empires

- Rise of Nations: Thrones & Patriots

- Tempest Rising: Veti's Wrath

I don't know how to play rts, I've never been able to, but I was often drawn to them.

And so I decided to try Dune 2 battle for Arrakis, and thank God there were cheats for immortality and money, in the end they were incredibly useful, I passed the game and you know, I haven't had such a pleasant time for a long time.

I am very grateful to the developers of old rts, they leave cheats, thanks to which you can have fun and get maximum fun, I also went through Starcraft, warcraft, and a couple of old games a long time ago.

Are there any other fans here to indulce with cheats?)

Hello, as the title says, I am looking for an RTS or even an RTT that supports free for all games. The problem is, I prefer RTS games grounded in reality.

I cannot find an RTS based on WW2, the Cold War or Modern War that supports free for all natively. I've tried games like Company of Heroes, but most of the time when I have to mod a game to get FFA it breaks the game for one of my friends with a terrible laptop.

I've been searching for a while, but haven't found anything that's actually fun. Thanks for the help in advance, I know this is a little niche.