Good games, but might not want to recommend a series from a developer who has been regularly creating friction with their various communities over the last few years. The video seemed like it was more about safe bets that should still be accurate a year from now. Like imagine making this video in 2019 and recommending Warcraft 3, only for Reforged to happen a few months later. Plus it's been just over 13 years since Starcraft 2 came out and Warcraft 3 got a remaster after 17 and a half, so it could be coming sooner rather than later.
I am quite surprised that Starcraft 2 wasn't mentioned on this list. Before I get screamed at for daring to bring up the 'toxic' game I should mentioned I have rarely if ever played the ranked multiplayer on the title and have instead sunk hundreds of hours into the three campaigns, Co-op and arcade respectively. Having played all of the other games on this list I cant think of any that match up to the quality of the single player campaign especially I think old-blizzards production quality was hard to beat. This being said the Command and Conquer series has always been my go to before all others XD
For a singleplayer experience Creeper World 3 is really great. No PvP or Co-op features, but turtling through the singleplayer campaign is a tonne of fun, and it has effectively endless content provided via custom maps made by other players (which are played through an in-game menu, no modding required), additional experimental maps, and a powerful map generator.
Recently I just finished the CW 2 and it's neat, I really like to make anti-creeper :P The new game Knucracker is making, CW IXE looks very promising and nice to play, I'm really excited to see its release date and be able to play it :D
We're working on Cataclismo, and appealing to newcomers has always been a top priority. We do think that our build-by-brick building system can help as it feels kinda like playing with legos. That being said, one such game we love that's especially welcoming for those new into RTS is Thronefall. It's super minimal, intuitive, and gripping. Highly recommended!
Zade, excellent idea for a video, and very nicely done. A future similar would be intro to RTS depending on your current genre. For example: • Coming from shooters and action, recommend fast-paced with minimal base building, iow RTT. • Coming from 4X, recommend the opposite, ie heavy on the strategy. • and so on :)
Got into rts with AOE2 De in 2021 after watching some videos from T90(shoutout to his Low Elo Legends series for showing that even noobs like myself can get into ranked multiplayer and have a good time) played all the campaigns and countless ranked 1v1 and quite a few 4v4 coop vs ai. Also played dawn of war since i like the warhammer setting. Tried totalwar warhammer2 but it was a bit too complex, I'll give it another shot sometime. Currently quite excited to playthrough the c&c series since they finally got released on steam. oh and creeper world 3 is a quite fun rts/tower defense hybrid.
I'd add rise of nations in general, but especially for newcomers, given the focus is more on tech and big picture than actual micromanagement (especially with resource gathering requiring fairly little oversight by the player)
For a new game that i think is good for newcomers i would reccomend Starship troopers, its not hard, almost no base building, you manage a low amount of units and the campiagn is really fun.
0:06 Yeah, that's me. Played a lot of RTS back in the 90 and early 2000's but I'm returning to the genre this year (and FIghting games too), but mainly for campaign and custom maps, at least for now. Then I'll see if I jump to PvP
It's probably got the biggest multiplayer community, though I would temper that recommendation by including its one of the most toxic and difficult to get into, especially considering how much the competitive gameplay is dominated by twitch reactions and APM more than most other RTS. It also really only supports 1 type of gameplay strategy (2 if you consider cheese a strategy). Single player is great though, even if the story gets stupidly cleche and cringe near the end. Coop is pretty fun though and lots of options due to the custom game types, though not sure how those are still faring w/ the recent Blizz "We own everything you make" service changes. One of the oddest things about the game is how different the campaigns and multiplayer games are though with massive changes to units and gameplay.
@1:43 lmao I've been looking for this game for literally 9 years thank you. I used to binge wic multiplayer on my school laptop in 2014. Tried to find it again years later and couldnt remember the name for the life of me. My itch/inability to find this game is what got me into Wargame red dragon. Cheers!
I assume the reason Supreme Commander isn't listed under the PVP section is because you don't want to talk about mods, but FAF is IMO one of the best ways to play PVP RTS today. I'm also a bit curious at the lack of Company of Heroes as it seems to have a pretty vibrant community for PVP, although maybe a bit suffering from fragmentation now with COH3 being out.
I think you SHOULD have added a "love to mod" section. A HUGE part of single player RTS is modding! I dont think many genre's of games have the expansive modding seen that rts have. I pourd countly hours modding Red Alert 2 Yuri's revenge and Generals. I couldnt play enough of those two games and each mod was like getting a full DLC. Its nuts.
Great video but borderline criminal not mentioning StarCraft2... Beginners have lots of fun with awesome campaign, cool coop missions with commanders and lots of Arcade Mods accessible right through the game without having to instal anything. Oh and all of that is for free.
Liked the video, I play mostly solo and I like Campaigns, really think you should have included StarCraft 2's first campaign for the single player suggestions - SC1 can gen very hard in the Brood War expansion, better go with SC2 :)
Your suggestion for AOE4 hit me, i'm kinda addicted now :D I like that the matches are relatively short and i can try new strategies every game, rather than being stuck in a dozens-of-hours-long campaign of a Total War game
StarCraft II is overall the best RTS for both newcomers and veterans. It's free to play, has the best tutorial of any RTS, great campaigns, and coop missions is the best PvE mode of any RTS game. Also, best pathfinding.
@@pumpkinpie8235 Mate, that's how the internet in general works. Don't assume SC2 as special toxic. Not to mention your previous poster didn't assume PVP in the first place - that is purely on your sorry arse.
@clemenscohn7371 no, that's not how internet works, not in other RTS games which generally have more mature communities, not even close. I have seen quite a bit of internet in my life, and the toxicity in SC2 far surpasses even toxic communities like CoD. When it comes to RTS, it is even more of a shock. For example what in SC2 is something normal now to spam extremely vulgar stuff in chat, in AoE2 is almost unheard of. People will even wait if you pause the game there. Even unpausing someone's pause is considered extremely rude and very rarely happens. While in SC2 forget about it, no chance for any sportsmanship or decency. Also, SC2 was mostly made for 1v1s, any other options you have better alternatives.
No, it's not the best. Far from it. It's the most mainstream and the one with the biggest marketing budget behind it but isn't that great as either co-op or solo play. Campaigns in particular are extremely lazily designed. It's a good spectacle RTS for high level VS play but average in other categories. Still manage to be a lot of fun, don't get me wrong, but there's better stuff out there.
@@pumpkinpie8235 This must be a new thing. I played SC2 from about 2012-2015 and don't remember it being toxic. I was playing League of Legends in that era and that was incredibly toxic. StarCraft 2 is usually 1v1 and usually all that is said is "GL HF" and "gg."
I'd add the "Ground Control" games for a single player experience, nice campaigns and no building : you choose your units when the mission starts. Kind of felt like a Tabletop game on PC when it released. And Total Annihilation + Total Annihilation Kingdoms. Somehow I love the music in those 2 games.
The 8-bit series from petroglyph include both single and multiplayer campaigns;the skirmish mode is simple in both good and bad ways(there aren't many game modes)but it is engaging,mostly if you have at least 2 games of the series,allowing things like a facing between aliens and orcs.
Nice content, I am exactly the type of player the video is aimed at: dabbled in RTS in the past, but never got fully into it. I am giving it another try and am really enjoying Dawn of War: Dark Crusade right now. I tried AOE2 previously, but it got pretty soon to the stage where I had to memorize build orders to improve, even for single player. Dawn of War is simpler and probably easier, but that makes it more accessible and more immediate fun, at least for me.
I have to agree on supreme commander 2, it is much easier for people to get their heads around and also has the best campaign as a bonus. I convinced one of my friends who dislikes RTS to play Iron Harvest (which he could tolerate in the same way your friend did) and Supreme Commander 2, and he did okay. One thing I will say about SupCom 2 is that though the game is simpler the AI is MUCH harder than in non-loud mod FA, meaning that co-op games can be more difficult than expected.
Coop in Starcraft 2 is very fun. There is Coop match with variable faction and leveling for more customization. Also it has archon mode where 2 player play as one faction .
Idk i personally found all the rumors about RTSs to be completely true lol. Tried Starcraft, DoW, and AoE and just couldn't figure it out enough to get into it or have fun. I only put about a dozen or two hours into each game but still, they're just so far beyond my apparent skill level, even after spending so much time in the tutorials, that i found it very hard to advance from level "0" to "1" so to speak. There seems to be a massive disconnect between what RTS is in theory, and how you're supposed to play RTS in practice. And that particular information seems to be the lacking aspect from what i can gather from my own experience as well as the many others ive read that experienced a similar predicament trying to get into the genre. Ive learned that trying to approach RTS from a tactical or strategic aspect is a guaranteed way to lose, but you must instead learn what the game WANTS the player to do, which is always different and very hard to interpret if all youve ever played is the other 99% of game genres which provide zero applicability towards real time strategy games
IMO the GOAT of co-op multiplayer is still zero-k. It have a 71 missions campaign that you can play co-op (archon mode) and that is a lot of fun. IMO it's a better pick than BAR that is currently unfinished. And it's also free. Plus the campaign is still awesome alone. Another good pick for co-op campaign is Red alert 3, its campaign are though as co-op (which is what makes them meh in solo) and can be a great time with a friend. The Uprising commander's challenge makes for a really good solo campaign. For the "introductions" to RTS from other genres : Good old Spellforce will be able to introduce CRPG players to the genre with ease. Something quite slow, like Sins of a Solar Empire, can also help those who might feel intimidated by the popular fast paced RTS. Even Starcraft 2, which have a lot of it free now, can be fun in co-op mode and its campaigns aren't that hard. Plus the arcade modes can ease you in with some mini-games that do not involve all the mechanics at once. I also absolutely disagree on C&C3 being good skirmish : the version you buy is broken by some already included multiplayer patch. The AI does not even gather ressources (they don't make refineries because they're too expensive now and softlock themselves). If you want to play C&C3 on a more free-form gameplay then I would reccommend the global conquest mode from Kane's wrath. The original campaign is also broken, with dead triggers, wild imbalance (for example infantry efficiency was almost trippled by the patch and the campaign isn't made with that in mind, ressource gathering was also heavily nerfed without compensation) and stupidly productive AI. It's also quite hard to find C&C Generals, Tib Sun and RA2 or their extensions. As there's no legal way to buy them now except finding a 15-20 YO installation disc that works (and finding a way to run it on 5 generations of windows later than their original one) If you manage to find it : Battle for the middle earth 1 have an extremely good campaign and skirmish mode and the IP helps getting into it. BFME2 is also great but a IMO a lesser game.
everyone I know has this presumption that in order to play an RTS you must have pro level APM like what they see in Starcraft 2. Being arguably the most popular RTS game out there, it's not hard to see why newcomers would be intimidated to try out any other RTS.
In terms of learning resource management side I'd say that C&C might be better starting off since you only need tiberium/ore and power and then moving into AoE for the addition of population cap and progression via technology.
That's definitely the process I went through, though I can't recommend that anyone starts off with C&C1 on the N64 like I did. It's the full game rebuilt with 3D graphics, but they did not know how to do good unit control on a controller in the 90s.
@@saffral It'll have still been better than the voice controls for endwar on the 360, an experience I recommend to anyone who hates their life as a gamer
@@andybrown4284 I believe you, C&C64 just mapped a mouse pointer to the analogue stick, it wasn't egregious, but I don't remember there being any shortcuts or unit grouping (though maybe to open the purchase UI). The 3D aspect was relatively new for RTSes in 1999, and in particular it was the first 3D C&C game, three years before even Renegade.
Still a really underated game series that players looking for great Singleplayer/Co-op: Spellforce (especially Spellforce 3) It is the only Game that i know of that pulls the RTS-RPG Hybridisation off in a really good way.
if only the first game wasnt somewhat obnoxious with some of its mission , ESPECIALY that goddamn demon canyon i got that far and then lost all my will to play the game
I feel like that Tooth and Tail was really onto something with how it simplified RTS gameplay, economy, added MOBA elements etc. It just didnt catch on enough, which is such a shame
Honorable mention here to Eugene Systems with Wargame Red Dragon, Steel Division 2 and their latest Warno. If you never play an RTS before then I would recommend SD2 since it at least has a workable tutorial. Wargame and Warno you should definitely try if you want a semi modern setting with a large units selection. W:RD is a lot more micro managing compare to SD2 and Warno since it is older
In my opinion Stronghold (Crusader) in terms of Singleplayer Content but also Coop Comp-Stomping is really great. Multiplayer Competitive is sadly kind of toxic. And since these 2 games being about 20 years old its pretty cheap.
Sins of a Solar Empire 2 would be my addition, it gives my favorite setting of space ships, and it’s relatively simple. It is a longer game, lacks any campaign/story, but simple resources and depth of strategy (blob up to hit and run tactics).
I would do that in other way around: what setting do you like? Fantasy, Sci-fi, medieval? Than you could choose the best game in that category and start with it ;-)
I agree with Igor, I find setting to make a major difference-there are some I just don't enjoy. Other choices to make are pacing-slow or fast-and base building or not. Many games which call themselves RTS are actually RTT, ie very little strategic play, almost all tactical.
i play a bit of dawn at war and age of empires as a kid but havent touched anything like it for years, just bought aoe2 definitive and im gonna give it a proper crack!
My first RTS experience was in 2020, watching a streamer play AoE4. It looked amazing, so I started looking into the genre. I played AoE2, AoE4, Company of Heroes, Starcraft II and a bit of some others. Since I got to the genre fairly recently there's still lots of games I didn't even try out. I had a big issue with many of the RTS I have played: they felt clunky and unresponsive. Even AoE4, which is one of the most recent big RTS, didn't feel great to me. AoE2 is clearly a work of art for the time it was made, but it feels mechanically dated. So I'd like to help other newcomers out there who might have similar limitations. For sure try out Age of Empires, but if you fall into the same feeling I had, don't rule out the whole genre. Here are some games I found that play really smoothly: - Singleplayer: Starcraft 2 (beautiful campaign. Starcraft 1 story is also great, but game feels too dated to me) - 1v1 multiplayer: Starcraft 2, Supreme Commander 2 - Co-Op multiplayer: BAR, Starcraft 2 Additionaly, Company of Heroes style games feel and play really nice, but like the video says, are a thing of it's own, not really my kind of game. I recommend to try it out (either Company of Heroes or other, like Iron Harvest).
CoH-likes are really a niche and shame not much games do it. Iron Harvest has been the closest I've seen another studio try their hand at this and a shame that it didn't really pop off.
Zero-K is another free game, very similar to BAR, but it has an entire campaign of like 100 missions that is excellent for learning new units and strategies as you go. You can also play shared-unit co-op for the campaigns, wave defense co-op against raptors, and of course co-op against the AI. The AI is really good in that game, as in it doesn't cheat and it has enough sense to run away from bad fights and look for vulnerable positions. The UI and economy is elegant and simple yet still having a great deal of depth to it. I'd say that maybe the game is thematically a bit alien and unfamiliar, also not the prettiest of the batch, but the variety of units and strategies/tactics you can pull off is unparalleled.
Even thought Warcraft 3 Reforged is scuffed as f**k, it needs at the very least an honerable mention on any "best RTS"-List. The Single Player campaign is on of the best if not the best ever made to this date.
Fun video. I'm a bit mixed on the Age of Empires 2 DE as a game for newcomers. It's the best RTS out ther in my opinion but for newcomers AoE1 would be more forgiving. For me the best entry point in the genere would be 8-Bit Armies, 8-Bit Hordes and 8-Bit Invaders. Very playable and they strip down the RTS genere into basics.
honorable mentions if it was not in the video - Command & Conquer: Generals Zero Hour and Kane's Wrath! Also BAR - Beyond All Reason - totaly free game, that is being developed now, not the most easy to learn, but great fun and full lobbies of COOP or PVP, BAR is copy of Supreme Commander FA, last but not least Sins of a Solar Empire Trinity!
This is a really good introduction to RTS genre 😮 niiiice! I myself Research RTS games and as you said in Total War Warhammer 3 segment: The SETTING of Total War. I am surprised to see a lot of Historical, Medieval and Fantasy, but very little Sci-Fi 😢 Edit: Addendum: Due to increased 😅 interest in Mind Control, I am looking for a Sci-Fi setting for an RTS or a 4X game. So far, I have: Warhammer 40k Dawn of War , Stellaris , StarCraft , Age of Wonders: Planetfall and... that's it 😅 there isn't much with Mind Control
In terms of Total War games I'd recommend a version of Empire TW with Darthmod or alternatively Rome 2 TW. The main difference there is merely what country people want to do map-painting with on global maps & if they want there to be guns.
An RTS I recommend is AI war 1 and 2. No PVP only PVE and coop against an AI on an asymmetrical war where you and your enemy play different games while try to win against all odds.
For single player I still play Rise of Nations conquest the world campaign to this day and Rome total war 1 remaster, for multiplayer coh2 3v3 2-2 and age of empires 2 vs IA/online, Age IV looks pretty cartoon to me. Strongly recommend Dawn of War Dar crusade for single player also.
You just have to talk about Starcraft when talking about RTS. I think 2 especially is better to start with. It is the most competitive one if you're looking for competition. It has really well designed campaigns. It has a really well designed co-op mode. It has an in-game browser for community content. Visually it still manages to somehow look like a recent game no matter how much time passes. It simply feels the smoothest to play out of any RTS, very polished. This is what old Blizzard used to be so highly acclaimed for, making the most polished games in their respective genres. Blizzard as a company aged like the milk kept in a car under the sun for the entire summer, but Starcraft 2 might aswell be a new game in terms of how it feels and looks.
I've been burned out recently from playing other game genres and this video happened to pop up on my recommended so I think it's a signal. I might just get AoM/AoE 3 again and play the campaign on higher difficulty than I did when I was 15
AoE2:DE recommended 3x... this pleases me greatly. It is, BY FAR the best RTS on the market currently. It has a small but dedicated community and its always fun to jump in with friends to comp stomp AIs on Black Forest.
I'm kinda missing the superb Warcraft III campaign. It does an excellent job introducing players step-by-step while immersing the player in a well-written story. It's many years old but never surpassed.
Great deconstruction/content, as always. Absolutely stand behind the AoE2, CoH1 and DoW recommendations. But. Homeworld - Cataclysm ("Emergence"), ser? Whence?
StarCraft 2 is super beginner friendly if you stay away from PvP. In fact, it has the most approachable campaign out of all of these. It even has a casual difficulty setting which makes it practically impossible to lose for almost any player.
It's not on Steam (Heaven or Hell forbid Blizzard would do the same attempt as Overbotch 1.8's Steam Edition and then expect positive reception), EGS, GOG or VK
Only rts I ever played was a few the c&c and warcraft 2 lol only just got pc recent too so c&c UC and remasters were first buys along with fm lol for me it's campaign/solo, also any with free build modes I can just chill with pass the hours away with a beer
The ONLY RTS that I have any hope for at the moment is DORF which really captures what I consider the real 90s feel (it also has an incredible trailer)
Why no mention of starcraft 2's coop mode? It's pretty addicting and was so successful the guys at frost giant are making stormgate from the ground up with coop in mind. It's also very easy to carry your less experienced friends through so they can pace themselves and learn the game better.
No Warcraft 3 for singleplayer at least? Dang that’d be my first pick, I’d also put a smaller gamer impossible creatures somewhere in there coz the making animal combos part is quite fun
Mentions AoE2 as an easy to pick up title. A game that you have to manage 5 resources (if you include supply), advancing to the next age, and tons of economic and unit upgrades. Not to mention the arrow dodging, height advantage, walling with "currently being built" structures and boar pull shenanigans. This screams so much bias and nostalgia bait.
@@Zade_95 understandable, still a great Single player experience and if I think about it the "trails" campaign also learns new players how to handle difficult scenario's bit by bit. Still as I've said, great list none the less
I am never a fan of pvp rank RTS. I prefer coop with a friend vs AIs and sometimes 1v1 with a friend. I also enjoy solo or singleplayer vs AI. I want to add Age of Empires 3 DE and even original complete AOE3 both on Steam. Aoe3 is my favorite due to deck card system and the setting. Very good lists of RTS games which I have most of them. As always excellent video man.
any recommendations for someone who only plays singleplayer and doesn't enjoy fast gameplay with micromanaging i don't have good reactions speed and there doesn't seem to be any rts games like that or if there are the ai always cheats in skirmish and it ruins everything
The best RTS game I played is command and conquer generals zero hour. Also, the best RTS game I played and I think most people would like is 'The Lord of the Ring Battle for Middle Earth Rise of the Witch King'. I can see why starcraft is not on this list it is a really really hard game and you're aiming your video at newcomers. However it is a lot of fun too.
Warcraft 3 is also great for beginners IMO with its campaign which is really well tutorialized + the fact that units don't melt in 2 seconds on enemy contact like in a lot of RTS gives newcomers time to understand what the hell is happening before everyone's dead OTOH lots of abilities to manage even if some are autocastable
I don't know, but CC Generals and BFME is probably best RTS to start sole reason why is that is has very very basic resources gathering, very very simple recruitment system, it has heroes units and units that are useless in combat but require your attention, which trains your multi tasking and using special abilities that often decide the winner. In BFME your combat is RPS with heroes that lead armies, in Generals you have same RPS system just with tanks that again lead units into battle and three unique units that train you to use specific set of abilities that also many other units have, Dragon and aircrafts require your full attention even against medium AI not to mention PVP, and are most valuable unit on map if executed right, which encourages you to play more strategic and form that sense of preparing the raid or battle and not just go in and prey all ends well. Rise of Nations is also good starter because it advances through many eras and each era slowly unlocks more more so its not overwhelming whats more interesting about Rise of Nations, it introduces you to every single type of RTS games, so you can see what you like the best... From age I to age III you mostly use infantry and cavalry here and there to raid workers and resources buildings, age III gets into sieges with Forts and more HP and dmg on towers so you must get into catapults, from age III units start to get attrition in enemy territory so you must make supply wagons and make sure your units are getting buffed, so introduction of Medieval RTS games stops RIGHT THERE. Age IV gets you into gunpowder melee is semi non-existent and everything has more HP so you are getting into heavy cavalry units and cannons and infantry is there to protect your cannons while heavy cavalry runs down enemy economy. From age V to age VIII game is all about oil; so motorized artillery, tanks and planes, now infantry is defensive unit with capabilities of raiding enemy workers, tanks provide support and play anti-tank role, artillery destroyes now heavily armored buildings and forts and planes are there to do actual dmg to everything on map they also require a lot of micromanagement to be efficient while being protected at all cost, you brute force workers to venture far from your base and occupy oil while providing defense on that same oil spot so small army that will always go further and further and make sure your borders are safe. End game of Rise of Nations often plays like this, you have 2/3 small armies securing borders and one or two main armies that go into war or react on your borders if needed, while planes demolish everything around. Rise of Nations also has multiple town system which encourages more micromanagement and expansion which is required in all RTS games, traders that also require your attention and some sort of protection since they add huge buffs from luxury resources, it has Wonders that also change tide of the game and require you to focus your economy better which is another aspect of micromanagement and planning, research prioritization which dictates how you will play and whats your next move, has spies and generals who make big difference in combat and overall planning, multiple ages to understand whats your type of RTS and most importantly it has very progressive introduction to very complex resource management. I stand by it; that there is no better game to get into RTS games, but Rise of Nations with its slow phase and steady learning curve. PS: Only thing Rise of Nations missed is post Armageddon age (age IX), after everyone used nukes and instead of gameover, map turns into hell, and nothing makes sense anymore, towns just rebel against everyone, everyone fights for resources and survival you need new special units not to get attritioned (even in your own territory) same goes for workers, everything literally goes to hell and game just turned into fight for survival and actual Rise over all other Nations against all odds; too bad that will never happened.
I can’t recommend Age of Empires 2 enough. simple to learn, difficult to master. It is literally built on a basic Rock-Paper-Scissors. As in, Pikeman beats Cavalry, Cavalry beats Archer, Archer beats Pikeman. Now it does get more complicated, but once you learn the counters (monks counter elephants and knights, light cavalry counters monks, bombard cannon counters siege onager and trebuchet, etc) you will find you improve over every game. AoE2 also now has a single player Art of War training course in game that teaches basic competitive strategy like Fast Castle, constant Town Center production, and formations, among other things. You can play the AI and build these skills. The campaigns are also exceptionally fun.
Hey, I was wondering if you have ever checked out Relic's Impossible Creatures (2003). Similar feel to Dawn of War 1 and an obsession of mine from childhood. Don't see anyone talking about it or even remembering it though. I remember the campaign being great and getting my friends to play skirmishes at LAN.
Absolutely! It's one of my favorite RTSs of all time. I made a video on it 5 years back or so.... maybe I should make another haha th-cam.com/video/KPqY036RDfU/w-d-xo.html
No mention of Starcraft 1 and 2? I get they may be too fast paced for new players but I think they deserve a spot in this list.
It might have been because Starcraft is the one everyone knows about.
Fair - seems a lot of people agree with you too. Pinned as the honorary comment suggested game :)
Good games, but might not want to recommend a series from a developer who has been regularly creating friction with their various communities over the last few years. The video seemed like it was more about safe bets that should still be accurate a year from now. Like imagine making this video in 2019 and recommending Warcraft 3, only for Reforged to happen a few months later. Plus it's been just over 13 years since Starcraft 2 came out and Warcraft 3 got a remaster after 17 and a half, so it could be coming sooner rather than later.
@@saffral Fair
@@Zade_95 Ok, I added an edit to clarify something some people said in the comments. At least from my point of view.
Great video. This is much more quality content than the time you tried to organize Fyre Festival
yeah i messed that one up big time
What was this?
@@rubz1390 He looks like the guy who organized the debacle fyre festival
just googled the fyre festival guy and the resemblance is uncanny lmao
@@vvolfbelorven7084He's just got that MLM type of face
I am quite surprised that Starcraft 2 wasn't mentioned on this list. Before I get screamed at for daring to bring up the 'toxic' game I should mentioned I have rarely if ever played the ranked multiplayer on the title and have instead sunk hundreds of hours into the three campaigns, Co-op and arcade respectively. Having played all of the other games on this list I cant think of any that match up to the quality of the single player campaign especially I think old-blizzards production quality was hard to beat. This being said the Command and Conquer series has always been my go to before all others XD
For a singleplayer experience Creeper World 3 is really great. No PvP or Co-op features, but turtling through the singleplayer campaign is a tonne of fun, and it has effectively endless content provided via custom maps made by other players (which are played through an in-game menu, no modding required), additional experimental maps, and a powerful map generator.
Creeper World is an oddball pick I hope Zade will cover someday. A unique, singleplayer only game that beautifully fuses three different genres.
Recently I just finished the CW 2 and it's neat, I really like to make anti-creeper :P The new game Knucracker is making, CW IXE looks very promising and nice to play, I'm really excited to see its release date and be able to play it :D
Starcraft 2 Wings of Liberty Campiagn is free. It also has Co-op mission which are tons of fun.
We're working on Cataclismo, and appealing to newcomers has always been a top priority. We do think that our build-by-brick building system can help as it feels kinda like playing with legos.
That being said, one such game we love that's especially welcoming for those new into RTS is Thronefall. It's super minimal, intuitive, and gripping. Highly recommended!
Zade, excellent idea for a video, and very nicely done.
A future similar would be intro to RTS depending on your current genre. For example:
• Coming from shooters and action, recommend fast-paced with minimal base building, iow RTT.
• Coming from 4X, recommend the opposite, ie heavy on the strategy.
• and so on :)
What is RTT?
@@ZyklonBeast12 Real Time Tactics
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Real-time_tactics
@@ZyklonBeast12real
Time
Tactics
Thanks for mentioning BAR! ❤
Always!
Got into rts with AOE2 De in 2021 after watching some videos from T90(shoutout to his Low Elo Legends series for showing that even noobs like myself can get into ranked multiplayer and have a good time) played all the campaigns and countless ranked 1v1 and quite a few 4v4 coop vs ai. Also played dawn of war since i like the warhammer setting. Tried totalwar warhammer2 but it was a bit too complex, I'll give it another shot sometime. Currently quite excited to playthrough the c&c series since they finally got released on steam.
oh and creeper world 3 is a quite fun rts/tower defense hybrid.
I'd add rise of nations in general, but especially for newcomers, given the focus is more on tech and big picture than actual micromanagement (especially with resource gathering requiring fairly little oversight by the player)
For a new game that i think is good for newcomers i would reccomend Starship troopers, its not hard, almost no base building, you manage a low amount of units and the campiagn is really fun.
0:06 Yeah, that's me. Played a lot of RTS back in the 90 and early 2000's but I'm returning to the genre this year (and FIghting games too), but mainly for campaign and custom maps, at least for now. Then I'll see if I jump to PvP
Gonna go ahead and mention the StarCraft (1&2) series as well, as It slots beautifully into every single one of your categories.
It's probably got the biggest multiplayer community, though I would temper that recommendation by including its one of the most toxic and difficult to get into, especially considering how much the competitive gameplay is dominated by twitch reactions and APM more than most other RTS. It also really only supports 1 type of gameplay strategy (2 if you consider cheese a strategy). Single player is great though, even if the story gets stupidly cleche and cringe near the end. Coop is pretty fun though and lots of options due to the custom game types, though not sure how those are still faring w/ the recent Blizz "We own everything you make" service changes. One of the oddest things about the game is how different the campaigns and multiplayer games are though with massive changes to units and gameplay.
@1:43 lmao I've been looking for this game for literally 9 years thank you. I used to binge wic multiplayer on my school laptop in 2014. Tried to find it again years later and couldnt remember the name for the life of me. My itch/inability to find this game is what got me into Wargame red dragon. Cheers!
lets goooooo
I assume the reason Supreme Commander isn't listed under the PVP section is because you don't want to talk about mods, but FAF is IMO one of the best ways to play PVP RTS today. I'm also a bit curious at the lack of Company of Heroes as it seems to have a pretty vibrant community for PVP, although maybe a bit suffering from fragmentation now with COH3 being out.
I think you SHOULD have added a "love to mod" section. A HUGE part of single player RTS is modding! I dont think many genre's of games have the expansive modding seen that rts have. I pourd countly hours modding Red Alert 2 Yuri's revenge and Generals. I couldnt play enough of those two games and each mod was like getting a full DLC. Its nuts.
A later video-it's not a good idea to give new players lots of info :)
Modding is a huge part of RTS in general, singleplayer and multiplayer.
Great video but borderline criminal not mentioning StarCraft2...
Beginners have lots of fun with awesome campaign, cool coop missions with commanders and lots of Arcade Mods accessible right through the game without having to instal anything. Oh and all of that is for free.
Liked the video, I play mostly solo and I like Campaigns, really think you should have included StarCraft 2's first campaign for the single player suggestions - SC1 can gen very hard in the Brood War expansion, better go with SC2 :)
StarCraft 2 arguably fits into all of these categories.
Your suggestion for AOE4 hit me, i'm kinda addicted now :D
I like that the matches are relatively short and i can try new strategies every game, rather than being stuck in a dozens-of-hours-long campaign of a Total War game
StarCraft II is overall the best RTS for both newcomers and veterans.
It's free to play, has the best tutorial of any RTS, great campaigns, and coop missions is the best PvE mode of any RTS game. Also, best pathfinding.
@@pumpkinpie8235 Mate, that's how the internet in general works. Don't assume SC2 as special toxic. Not to mention your previous poster didn't assume PVP in the first place - that is purely on your sorry arse.
@clemenscohn7371 no, that's not how internet works, not in other RTS games which generally have more mature communities, not even close. I have seen quite a bit of internet in my life, and the toxicity in SC2 far surpasses even toxic communities like CoD. When it comes to RTS, it is even more of a shock. For example what in SC2 is something normal now to spam extremely vulgar stuff in chat, in AoE2 is almost unheard of. People will even wait if you pause the game there. Even unpausing someone's pause is considered extremely rude and very rarely happens. While in SC2 forget about it, no chance for any sportsmanship or decency.
Also, SC2 was mostly made for 1v1s, any other options you have better alternatives.
No, it's not the best. Far from it. It's the most mainstream and the one with the biggest marketing budget behind it but isn't that great as either co-op or solo play. Campaigns in particular are extremely lazily designed.
It's a good spectacle RTS for high level VS play but average in other categories. Still manage to be a lot of fun, don't get me wrong, but there's better stuff out there.
Vaniellis, Damn right!
@@pumpkinpie8235 This must be a new thing. I played SC2 from about 2012-2015 and don't remember it being toxic. I was playing League of Legends in that era and that was incredibly toxic. StarCraft 2 is usually 1v1 and usually all that is said is "GL HF" and "gg."
I'd add the "Ground Control" games for a single player experience, nice campaigns and no building : you choose your units when the mission starts. Kind of felt like a Tabletop game on PC when it released.
And Total Annihilation + Total Annihilation Kingdoms. Somehow I love the music in those 2 games.
The 8-bit series from petroglyph include both single and multiplayer campaigns;the skirmish mode is simple in both good and bad ways(there aren't many game modes)but it is engaging,mostly if you have at least 2 games of the series,allowing things like a facing between aliens and orcs.
Yeah great suggestion!
Nice content, I am exactly the type of player the video is aimed at: dabbled in RTS in the past, but never got fully into it. I am giving it another try and am really enjoying Dawn of War: Dark Crusade right now. I tried AOE2 previously, but it got pretty soon to the stage where I had to memorize build orders to improve, even for single player. Dawn of War is simpler and probably easier, but that makes it more accessible and more immediate fun, at least for me.
I have to agree on supreme commander 2, it is much easier for people to get their heads around and also has the best campaign as a bonus. I convinced one of my friends who dislikes RTS to play Iron Harvest (which he could tolerate in the same way your friend did) and Supreme Commander 2, and he did okay.
One thing I will say about SupCom 2 is that though the game is simpler the AI is MUCH harder than in non-loud mod FA, meaning that co-op games can be more difficult than expected.
Coop in Starcraft 2 is very fun. There is Coop match with variable faction and leveling for more customization. Also it has archon mode where 2 player play as one faction .
Would love to see Stormgate added to a video like this soon!
Idk i personally found all the rumors about RTSs to be completely true lol. Tried Starcraft, DoW, and AoE and just couldn't figure it out enough to get into it or have fun. I only put about a dozen or two hours into each game but still, they're just so far beyond my apparent skill level, even after spending so much time in the tutorials, that i found it very hard to advance from level "0" to "1" so to speak. There seems to be a massive disconnect between what RTS is in theory, and how you're supposed to play RTS in practice. And that particular information seems to be the lacking aspect from what i can gather from my own experience as well as the many others ive read that experienced a similar predicament trying to get into the genre. Ive learned that trying to approach RTS from a tactical or strategic aspect is a guaranteed way to lose, but you must instead learn what the game WANTS the player to do, which is always different and very hard to interpret if all youve ever played is the other 99% of game genres which provide zero applicability towards real time strategy games
IMO the GOAT of co-op multiplayer is still zero-k. It have a 71 missions campaign that you can play co-op (archon mode) and that is a lot of fun. IMO it's a better pick than BAR that is currently unfinished. And it's also free. Plus the campaign is still awesome alone.
Another good pick for co-op campaign is Red alert 3, its campaign are though as co-op (which is what makes them meh in solo) and can be a great time with a friend. The Uprising commander's challenge makes for a really good solo campaign.
For the "introductions" to RTS from other genres : Good old Spellforce will be able to introduce CRPG players to the genre with ease.
Something quite slow, like Sins of a Solar Empire, can also help those who might feel intimidated by the popular fast paced RTS.
Even Starcraft 2, which have a lot of it free now, can be fun in co-op mode and its campaigns aren't that hard. Plus the arcade modes can ease you in with some mini-games that do not involve all the mechanics at once.
I also absolutely disagree on C&C3 being good skirmish : the version you buy is broken by some already included multiplayer patch. The AI does not even gather ressources (they don't make refineries because they're too expensive now and softlock themselves). If you want to play C&C3 on a more free-form gameplay then I would reccommend the global conquest mode from Kane's wrath. The original campaign is also broken, with dead triggers, wild imbalance (for example infantry efficiency was almost trippled by the patch and the campaign isn't made with that in mind, ressource gathering was also heavily nerfed without compensation) and stupidly productive AI.
It's also quite hard to find C&C Generals, Tib Sun and RA2 or their extensions. As there's no legal way to buy them now except finding a 15-20 YO installation disc that works (and finding a way to run it on 5 generations of windows later than their original one)
If you manage to find it : Battle for the middle earth 1 have an extremely good campaign and skirmish mode and the IP helps getting into it. BFME2 is also great but a IMO a lesser game.
In my opinion Warcraft 3 should also be recomended
everyone I know has this presumption that in order to play an RTS you must have pro level APM like what they see in Starcraft 2. Being arguably the most popular RTS game out there, it's not hard to see why newcomers would be intimidated to try out any other RTS.
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Same old story that makes me fall asleep real fast
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In terms of learning resource management side I'd say that C&C might be better starting off since you only need tiberium/ore and power and then moving into AoE for the addition of population cap and progression via technology.
That's definitely the process I went through, though I can't recommend that anyone starts off with C&C1 on the N64 like I did. It's the full game rebuilt with 3D graphics, but they did not know how to do good unit control on a controller in the 90s.
@@saffral It'll have still been better than the voice controls for endwar on the 360, an experience I recommend to anyone who hates their life as a gamer
@@andybrown4284 I believe you, C&C64 just mapped a mouse pointer to the analogue stick, it wasn't egregious, but I don't remember there being any shortcuts or unit grouping (though maybe to open the purchase UI). The 3D aspect was relatively new for RTSes in 1999, and in particular it was the first 3D C&C game, three years before even Renegade.
Agreed, especially since the first 2 games + 3 major expansions were all remastered in 2020, and it was excellently done.
Still a really underated game series that players looking for great Singleplayer/Co-op:
Spellforce (especially Spellforce 3)
It is the only Game that i know of that pulls the RTS-RPG Hybridisation off in a really good way.
if only the first game wasnt somewhat obnoxious with some of its mission , ESPECIALY that goddamn demon canyon i got that far and then lost all my will to play the game
I feel like that Tooth and Tail was really onto something with how it simplified RTS gameplay, economy, added MOBA elements etc. It just didnt catch on enough, which is such a shame
No Brood War / Warcraft 3 / Starcraft 2? Blizzard will remember this insult.
Starcraft 2 is F2P aswell excellent first campaign , they are billions is also a good one..
Honorable mention here to Eugene Systems with Wargame Red Dragon, Steel Division 2 and their latest Warno. If you never play an RTS before then I would recommend SD2 since it at least has a workable tutorial. Wargame and Warno you should definitely try if you want a semi modern setting with a large units selection. W:RD is a lot more micro managing compare to SD2 and Warno since it is older
I love rts games so much but im terrible at them but i just love to watch the battles
In my opinion Stronghold (Crusader) in terms of Singleplayer Content but also Coop Comp-Stomping is really great. Multiplayer Competitive is sadly kind of toxic. And since these 2 games being about 20 years old its pretty cheap.
Remember the mods, many that make the popular RTS (Real Time Strategy) games better, or like a whole new game. AWESOMENESS! Thanks for sharing. 👍👍
Sins of a Solar Empire 2 would be my addition, it gives my favorite setting of space ships, and it’s relatively simple. It is a longer game, lacks any campaign/story, but simple resources and depth of strategy (blob up to hit and run tactics).
I plan to play many RTS games next year...
The year of RTS games for me.
Great video, and exactly what i need to finally start playing this genre
I would do that in other way around: what setting do you like? Fantasy, Sci-fi, medieval? Than you could choose the best game in that category and start with it ;-)
I agree with Igor, I find setting to make a major difference-there are some I just don't enjoy.
Other choices to make are pacing-slow or fast-and base building or not. Many games which call themselves RTS are actually RTT, ie very little strategic play, almost all tactical.
@@silversolver7809 Agree!
I would like to add Tooth and Tail. It's an amazing light RTS game that you can even easily play with a controller.
i play a bit of dawn at war and age of empires as a kid but havent touched anything like it for years, just bought aoe2 definitive and im gonna give it a proper crack!
My first RTS experience was in 2020, watching a streamer play AoE4. It looked amazing, so I started looking into the genre. I played AoE2, AoE4, Company of Heroes, Starcraft II and a bit of some others. Since I got to the genre fairly recently there's still lots of games I didn't even try out.
I had a big issue with many of the RTS I have played: they felt clunky and unresponsive. Even AoE4, which is one of the most recent big RTS, didn't feel great to me. AoE2 is clearly a work of art for the time it was made, but it feels mechanically dated.
So I'd like to help other newcomers out there who might have similar limitations. For sure try out Age of Empires, but if you fall into the same feeling I had, don't rule out the whole genre. Here are some games I found that play really smoothly:
- Singleplayer: Starcraft 2 (beautiful campaign. Starcraft 1 story is also great, but game feels too dated to me)
- 1v1 multiplayer: Starcraft 2, Supreme Commander 2
- Co-Op multiplayer: BAR, Starcraft 2
Additionaly, Company of Heroes style games feel and play really nice, but like the video says, are a thing of it's own, not really my kind of game. I recommend to try it out (either Company of Heroes or other, like Iron Harvest).
Im personally not a fan of sc2 but it does have the most responsive unit control out of any rts
CoH-likes are really a niche and shame not much games do it.
Iron Harvest has been the closest I've seen another studio try their hand at this and a shame that it didn't really pop off.
Zero-K is another free game, very similar to BAR, but it has an entire campaign of like 100 missions that is excellent for learning new units and strategies as you go.
You can also play shared-unit co-op for the campaigns, wave defense co-op against raptors, and of course co-op against the AI.
The AI is really good in that game, as in it doesn't cheat and it has enough sense to run away from bad fights and look for vulnerable positions.
The UI and economy is elegant and simple yet still having a great deal of depth to it.
I'd say that maybe the game is thematically a bit alien and unfamiliar, also not the prettiest of the batch, but the variety of units and strategies/tactics you can pull off is unparalleled.
As a new player to this genre, i recommend buying a month of gamepass and trying out all the different rts games on there, its what im doing rn.
Even thought Warcraft 3 Reforged is scuffed as f**k, it needs at the very least an honerable mention on any "best RTS"-List. The Single Player campaign is on of the best if not the best ever made to this date.
Given the recent advancements, Gates of Pyre definitely deserves a spot on the list.
Fun video. I'm a bit mixed on the Age of Empires 2 DE as a game for newcomers. It's the best RTS out ther in my opinion but for newcomers AoE1 would be more forgiving. For me the best entry point in the genere would be 8-Bit Armies, 8-Bit Hordes and 8-Bit Invaders. Very playable and they strip down the RTS genere into basics.
Aoe1 is awful imo, or at least i think most people would be put off by it
Better suggest aoe4 if aoe2 is too hard
Very helpful info. Thanks! Liked and Subscribed.
my man
Great list! I’ve played them all. Don’t forget Rise of Nations!
I could never forget RoN
honorable mentions if it was not in the video - Command & Conquer: Generals Zero Hour and Kane's Wrath! Also BAR - Beyond All Reason - totaly free game, that is being developed now, not the most easy to learn, but great fun and full lobbies of COOP or PVP, BAR is copy of Supreme Commander FA, last but not least Sins of a Solar Empire Trinity!
This is a really good introduction to RTS genre 😮 niiiice! I myself Research RTS games and as you said in Total War Warhammer 3 segment: The SETTING of Total War.
I am surprised to see a lot of Historical, Medieval and Fantasy, but very little Sci-Fi 😢
Edit: Addendum: Due to increased 😅 interest in Mind Control, I am looking for a Sci-Fi setting for an RTS or a 4X game. So far, I have: Warhammer 40k Dawn of War , Stellaris , StarCraft , Age of Wonders: Planetfall and... that's it 😅 there isn't much with Mind Control
Thanks mate :)
Endless Space, HomeWorld series.
In terms of Total War games I'd recommend a version of Empire TW with Darthmod or alternatively Rome 2 TW. The main difference there is merely what country people want to do map-painting with on global maps & if they want there to be guns.
An RTS I recommend is AI war 1 and 2. No PVP only PVE and coop against an AI on an asymmetrical war where you and your enemy play different games while try to win against all odds.
For single player I still play Rise of Nations conquest the world campaign to this day and Rome total war 1 remaster, for multiplayer coh2 3v3 2-2 and age of empires 2 vs IA/online, Age IV looks pretty cartoon to me.
Strongly recommend Dawn of War Dar crusade for single player also.
You just have to talk about Starcraft when talking about RTS. I think 2 especially is better to start with. It is the most competitive one if you're looking for competition. It has really well designed campaigns. It has a really well designed co-op mode. It has an in-game browser for community content. Visually it still manages to somehow look like a recent game no matter how much time passes. It simply feels the smoothest to play out of any RTS, very polished.
This is what old Blizzard used to be so highly acclaimed for, making the most polished games in their respective genres. Blizzard as a company aged like the milk kept in a car under the sun for the entire summer, but Starcraft 2 might aswell be a new game in terms of how it feels and looks.
Available on only one storefront
I've been burned out recently from playing other game genres and this video happened to pop up on my recommended so I think it's a signal. I might just get AoM/AoE 3 again and play the campaign on higher difficulty than I did when I was 15
I played through the AoE3 Campaign recently and I had a really great time. Recommend if you've never played it.
AoE2:DE recommended 3x... this pleases me greatly. It is, BY FAR the best RTS on the market currently. It has a small but dedicated community and its always fun to jump in with friends to comp stomp AIs on Black Forest.
I would say the community's pretty big! For RTS anyway. And yes, couldn't agree more :D
that or wet woods
I'm kinda missing the superb Warcraft III campaign. It does an excellent job introducing players step-by-step while immersing the player in a well-written story. It's many years old but never surpassed.
Great deconstruction/content, as always. Absolutely stand behind the AoE2, CoH1 and DoW recommendations.
But.
Homeworld - Cataclysm ("Emergence"), ser? Whence?
starcraft 2 coops mode is one of my favorites!
For true Co-Op multiplayer campaing I recommend two games: Red Alert 3 + A Year of Rain.
Great video buddy! Glad i found your channel!
Thanks mate, welcome :)
StarCraft 2 is super beginner friendly if you stay away from PvP. In fact, it has the most approachable campaign out of all of these. It even has a casual difficulty setting which makes it practically impossible to lose for almost any player.
It's not on Steam (Heaven or Hell forbid Blizzard would do the same attempt as Overbotch 1.8's Steam Edition and then expect positive reception), EGS, GOG or VK
Warzone 2100 is great it has co-op & pvp & story. Kinda old but it's community supported.
Oooo imagine if they had a RTS battle royale 😁
Civ 6 sorta did that with 4x
You forgot something important a really important game
The lord of the rings battle for middle earth 1 and 2 and the rise of the witch king
Great games but not that easy to download and play for a newcomer imo
@@Zade_95 tho i do see your point
WOW why did you have to remind me of the Fairlie Bakery...so good but so far away
For Singleplayer I highly recommend Lord of the Rings: Battle for Middle Earth 1, the campaign is amazing!
Only rts I ever played was a few the c&c and warcraft 2 lol only just got pc recent too so c&c UC and remasters were first buys along with fm lol for me it's campaign/solo, also any with free build modes I can just chill with pass the hours away with a beer
The ONLY RTS that I have any hope for at the moment is DORF which really captures what I consider the real 90s feel (it also has an incredible trailer)
[[PROSTAGMA INTENSIFIES]]
Ever played the Hegemony games? Just tried out the first one, its like what Total War imagines itself to be
I haven't actually. Will try to one day!
I love those RTS game guides...
Its over guys, Zade defended C&C Rivals, mission failed.
in all seriousness, great video.
Why no mention of starcraft 2's coop mode? It's pretty addicting and was so successful the guys at frost giant are making stormgate from the ground up with coop in mind. It's also very easy to carry your less experienced friends through so they can pace themselves and learn the game better.
Impossible creatures are great too :)
a man of CULTURE
the older men of war games are also pretty good including some of their offspring like battle of empires (ww1) , and the more recent gates of hell
No Warcraft 3 for singleplayer at least? Dang that’d be my first pick, I’d also put a smaller gamer impossible creatures somewhere in there coz the making animal combos part is quite fun
Very surprsied Dawn of War 2 didn't make it into the co-op section. The campaign was completely co-op and pretty fun.
Maybe this is the year and the next year will be rts comeback. And I'm still waiting for C&C2 remake/remastered
Mentions AoE2 as an easy to pick up title. A game that you have to manage 5 resources (if you include supply), advancing to the next age, and tons of economic and unit upgrades. Not to mention the arrow dodging, height advantage, walling with "currently being built" structures and boar pull shenanigans. This screams so much bias and nostalgia bait.
Surprised I didn't see stronghold crusader 1 (and 2) in the list, but in all great choices
I couldn't mention every game ofc - Stronghold certainly wasn't far off being included
@@Zade_95 understandable, still a great Single player experience and if I think about it the "trails" campaign also learns new players how to handle difficult scenario's bit by bit. Still as I've said, great list none the less
What!!! Dark reign got a mention! not seen that mentioned anywhere
There's a full video on it coming very soon, too!
I am never a fan of pvp rank RTS. I prefer coop with a friend vs AIs and sometimes 1v1 with a friend. I also enjoy solo or singleplayer vs AI. I want to add Age of Empires 3 DE and even original complete AOE3 both on Steam. Aoe3 is my favorite due to deck card system and the setting.
Very good lists of RTS games which I have most of them. As always excellent video man.
any recommendations for someone who only plays singleplayer and doesn't enjoy fast gameplay with micromanaging i don't have good reactions speed and there doesn't seem to be any rts games like that or if there are the ai always cheats in skirmish and it ruins everything
I only play agains A.I LOL. I hope to get into PVP, I purchased AOE4 after DLC update Japanese
The best RTS game I played is command and conquer generals zero hour. Also, the best RTS game I played and I think most people would like is 'The Lord of the Ring Battle for Middle Earth Rise of the Witch King'. I can see why starcraft is not on this list it is a really really hard game and you're aiming your video at newcomers. However it is a lot of fun too.
Warcraft 3 is also great for beginners IMO with its campaign which is really well tutorialized + the fact that units don't melt in 2 seconds on enemy contact like in a lot of RTS gives newcomers time to understand what the hell is happening before everyone's dead
OTOH lots of abilities to manage even if some are autocastable
I don't know, but CC Generals and BFME is probably best RTS to start sole reason why is that is has very very basic resources gathering, very very simple recruitment system, it has heroes units and units that are useless in combat but require your attention, which trains your multi tasking and using special abilities that often decide the winner.
In BFME your combat is RPS with heroes that lead armies, in Generals you have same RPS system just with tanks that again lead units into battle and three unique units that train you to use specific set of abilities that also many other units have, Dragon and aircrafts require your full attention even against medium AI not to mention PVP, and are most valuable unit on map if executed right, which encourages you to play more strategic and form that sense of preparing the raid or battle and not just go in and prey all ends well.
Rise of Nations is also good starter because it advances through many eras and each era slowly unlocks more more so its not overwhelming whats more interesting about Rise of Nations, it introduces you to every single type of RTS games, so you can see what you like the best...
From age I to age III you mostly use infantry and cavalry here and there to raid workers and resources buildings, age III gets into sieges with Forts and more HP and dmg on towers so you must get into catapults, from age III units start to get attrition in enemy territory so you must make supply wagons and make sure your units are getting buffed, so introduction of Medieval RTS games stops RIGHT THERE.
Age IV gets you into gunpowder melee is semi non-existent and everything has more HP so you are getting into heavy cavalry units and cannons and infantry is there to protect your cannons while heavy cavalry runs down enemy economy.
From age V to age VIII game is all about oil; so motorized artillery, tanks and planes, now infantry is defensive unit with capabilities of raiding enemy workers, tanks provide support and play anti-tank role, artillery destroyes now heavily armored buildings and forts and planes are there to do actual dmg to everything on map they also require a lot of micromanagement to be efficient while being protected at all cost, you brute force workers to venture far from your base and occupy oil while providing defense on that same oil spot so small army that will always go further and further and make sure your borders are safe.
End game of Rise of Nations often plays like this, you have 2/3 small armies securing borders and one or two main armies that go into war or react on your borders if needed, while planes demolish everything around. Rise of Nations also has multiple town system which encourages more micromanagement and expansion which is required in all RTS games, traders that also require your attention and some sort of protection since they add huge buffs from luxury resources, it has Wonders that also change tide of the game and require you to focus your economy better which is another aspect of micromanagement and planning, research prioritization which dictates how you will play and whats your next move, has spies and generals who make big difference in combat and overall planning, multiple ages to understand whats your type of RTS and most importantly it has very progressive introduction to very complex resource management.
I stand by it; that there is no better game to get into RTS games, but Rise of Nations with its slow phase and steady learning curve.
PS: Only thing Rise of Nations missed is post Armageddon age (age IX), after everyone used nukes and instead of gameover, map turns into hell, and nothing makes sense anymore, towns just rebel against everyone, everyone fights for resources and survival you need new special units not to get attritioned (even in your own territory) same goes for workers, everything literally goes to hell and game just turned into fight for survival and actual Rise over all other Nations against all odds; too bad that will never happened.
I don't know if you count it but for co op and specificity co op vs co op. Carrier command 2 might count? Community is small but growing slowly.
I can’t recommend Age of Empires 2 enough. simple to learn, difficult to master. It is literally built on a basic Rock-Paper-Scissors. As in, Pikeman beats Cavalry, Cavalry beats Archer, Archer beats Pikeman. Now it does get more complicated, but once you learn the counters (monks counter elephants and knights, light cavalry counters monks, bombard cannon counters siege onager and trebuchet, etc) you will find you improve over every game. AoE2 also now has a single player Art of War training course in game that teaches basic competitive strategy like Fast Castle, constant Town Center production, and formations, among other things. You can play the AI and build these skills.
The campaigns are also exceptionally fun.
Until now I still play Three Kingdoms Total War and Call to Arms.
Thanks for the videos. I'd like to opine that there's a tutorial for new players on the Gates of Pyre which helped me get back go to my peak
I really wish Age of Empires and Total War series could come to GOG platform.
Hey, I was wondering if you have ever checked out Relic's Impossible Creatures (2003). Similar feel to Dawn of War 1 and an obsession of mine from childhood. Don't see anyone talking about it or even remembering it though. I remember the campaign being great and getting my friends to play skirmishes at LAN.
Absolutely! It's one of my favorite RTSs of all time. I made a video on it 5 years back or so.... maybe I should make another haha
th-cam.com/video/KPqY036RDfU/w-d-xo.html
Dark Reign was included in this video omg giga based
next video too!
No Dungeon Keeper 1 and 2 or Warcraft 2 and 3? Ggreat video btw.