Looking for a nice single/multiplayer RTS game...

My wife and I really enjoy playing Age of Mythology together, and against other opponents online. However, AoM is getting a bit long in the tooth (okay, it's been long in the tooth for awhile now!) and we're looking for something to replace it.

With that said, any suggestions or recommendations would be wonderful. We are open to all RTS themes, such as space, historical, fantasy, etc. so let your imaginations run wild!

 

Warcraft 3? Starcraft 2 (when it comes out), Sins of a Solar Empire

 

Empire Total war... a little different but that is one of the ebst games of all time IMO.... or if you want a more medieval setting Medieval Total war got me started loving the series

Also the new Warhammer RTS games

 

The Dawn of War line of games are great RTS (futuristic, shooter based)

Age of Empires is also a fun game which i enjoyed a couple years back

 

My son and wife love RTS games and play them all the time. Like you, they play Age of Empires (1, 2, 3) and Age of Mythology as some of their favorites, but what always amazes me is they always go back to a much older game--Empire Earth, which they think is the best.

Note: Empire Earth I, not Empire Earth II or III. They didn't like the later games, but the first one they loved. You can still get it (also known as Empire Earth Gold) for $9 at Amazon.

Another older classic is Total Annihilation--some say it was and still is the best.

 

Yeah, they're the only games I play on PC,
Starcraft 2 - when it comes out
Empire Earth I and II - Favorite
Rome: Total War - Greatest

And yeah..

 

I'll second:

StarCraft/ Starcraft 2
Sins of a Solar Empire (Epic game as far as space RTS goes).

 

Empire Total war and Medieval total war were both incredible as well... Different paced but some of my favorite of all time! Think of them like sid miers civilization with better graphics, large scale battles that you can control... soo awesome

Empire has a large focus on ranged and Cavarly obviously , with some awesome ship battles, granadiers and other interesting units, mortars etc..

I still think Medieval was to die for though, had everything and as you advanced through the ages you really got a sense of emerging tech...

 

Thank you all for the wonderful suggestions! Quick question about Sins of a Solar Empire. I've heard that the missions take an extremely long time to complete. Is this true?

 

There are no missions in Sins of a Solar Empire. But for the battles, yes they can take a really long time, depending on how many stars there are

 

Is sins of a Solar empire like Total war in the future?
Becuase I can't wait for Total war to come out with a modern day! And then a Futuristic!

 

The thing about SoaSE is that there is no campaign, and thus no actual missions. However, there are tons of different maps, scenarios, and settings you can pick from which determine how long the games will last.

Therefore you can have a small/quick 30 minutes game, or you can max everything out and have an epic game that will last for days/weeks. The nice thing is that you can save in both single player and multiplayer, so you don't actually have to sit at your computer the whole time.

I'm currently on like hour 10 in one of my games, and only about 1/2 way done. But the game is fairly complex and very fun, and there's also an expansion (which I haven't been able to d/l yet). The planet building/ship combinations take a little while to get used to, but once you do it's still complicated enough to keep things interesting, but simple enough not to give you a headache.

Also, the AI is very intelligent(and adjustable), and don't put it past them to backstab you at any point in the game.

 

There was word that Ironclad Games, developers of SoaSE, are working on an update that will introduce a story-driven campaign mode to the game. Not sure if it will be a pay-for expansion but I'm looking forward to it nonetheless.

 

I cannot wait for sc2.

I wish they would just come out with it already.

 

The SoaSE expansion adds defensive structures (mainly starbases), not a story mode. I think it is quite worth it though.

 

Absolutely Age of Empires 2 and 3, and first one for that matter if you don't really mind antiquated graphics.

Rise of Nations is also quite good, again, somewhat older graphics.

 

Glad you finally got SoaSE and are enjoying it! Pretty addicting isn't it? A little bit of a slower paced game, but it's pretty intense once you finally get your fleet(s) together and start trekking across the planets and star systems.

 

Starcraft. It has very deep game play when play with human.

 

Why not pick up Command and Conquer the First Decade for $20. Has multiple C&C games and are some of the best RTS's out there.

 

Age of Empires 3 and the expansions
R.U.S.E looks like a great game, WWII-ambient game
Starcraft 2
C&C Tiberium Wars: Kane's Wrath is great
C&C Generals Zero Hour was one of my favorites, and still like it


for some reason there seems to be more RPG, MMORPG and FPS games than RTS.

 

I'd highly recommend looking up DOTA if you get Warcraft 3. An alternative would be Demigod. Those are both good games that you can play with each other against other people online or the AI.

Well, I've actually found for there to be quite a dearth of good RPGs out there....much less than good RTSs.

 

No one said anything about them being GOOD, just that there are MORE. And there are more. Shooters and cookie cutter action RPGs are easier to make and can be released on more platforms than strategy games. They also have larger markets to sell in to.

 

no way, empire tw is cool but its not nearly as good as medieval 2 total war which is not as good as Rome total war (yeah Rome is da best, period) you should try it out

 

1. Total War series (pick your flavour)
2. Dawn of War 1 and expansions (stay away from DoW2)
3. Red Alert 3 (just silly fun imo)
4. World in Conflict
5. Starcraft (the original is still very popular)

 

Command and Conquer Series-Futuristic land, air, water type game
Dawn of War-futuristic land only game
Age of Empire Series-Based in the past, the timeline depends on which game you get
Sins of a Solar Empire-Futuristic space battle game (Matches in this can range from an hour to a week, depending on what you set the settings to)

 

I you want to laugh while playing a game, definitely Red Alert 3 and the Uprising expansion.

If you like massive battles--and I do mean massive battles-- Supreme Commander pleases.

 

Red Alert 3 can be rather interesting, with tesla weapons, fighting animals, transforming robots, cryo technology, bombs that you can drop into your enemies base, telekinesis, the list goes on

 

dawn of war2 is good. Warcraft III dota is fun, you guys should try battle forge online. It's strategy card game and it's free in my opinion it's good.

 

It's definitely addicting...I just finished my second game (I got owned in an hour the first game I played) and it took about 20 hours to complete with 8 computers and a large map. I don't have the expansion yet because I don't have anywhere to dl, but I'm really looking forward to more "offensive" defensive structures. That's a huge thing the game was missing, because even 10 gauss cannons (I like TEC), and a few hangars can't hold off even a moderate attack so I constantly had to split my fleet just to hold ground.

I have to say this is the second best RTS I've ever played (StarCraft being the best).

 

I believe some female gamers would take offense to that statement... You shouldn't ever not play a game because it might be too "complex" for someone. Games that make you think make you smarter, and there's nothing wrong with that.

 

Ok I took back what i said. Thank you for ur opinion though

 

Supreme commander Is definately an awesome game... Its just a pity that at the time of release it ran like a dog on any machine slightly below recommended specs (therefore due to high masses of people who couldn't easily play it it lost popularity). However if you wanted to try some turn based games Civilisation 4 is A pretty brilliant game or as long as graphics don't bother you Lords of magic is a decent turn based game (don't think you'd be able to find it though anywhere)..

Universe at war is an interesting Rts, there are a lot of random rts's that are playable, some are brilliant whereas other's ain't. That all depends on what your cup of tea is in regards to games sometimes simple is better like dark rein... Hell if you wanted a completely different type of RTS go with stormrise!! It's different, ignore the reviews and you'll find it enjoyable (It's like the 2nd transformers movie, it's really entertaining, but it's not one that makes you think... so why the hell would it be rated 3/10 for a movie when generally most people enjoyed it?!?)

 

To be honest I was too lazy to read each and every post so I kinda skimmed through. But I just wanted to recommend "Battle for Wesnoth". It's free and open source. It is actually turn-based like Civilization, but it is fantasy-based and it is much more focused on combat/tactics. So there is no micro-management to worry about. It's a fun little game that you might enjoy playing for an hour or two In contrast.. Civilization takes at least 5-6 hours to finish a game

Here's the web site: www.wesnoth.org