The RTS* Page
*(RTS stands for Real-Time Strategy)
This page is dedicated to all those many Strategy games out there where one can be a general on the field of battle either durring the civil war, or, of some alien race in another galaxy. While these types of games are a dime a dozen it seems, here are the few that stand out.
Ground Control:
Rating: 5 out of 5
| This is a brand new game by Sierra. Up untill a few
years ago, Sierra made relatively stupid games
(earthsiegie was not good in my opinion). And starting
with Starsiege and Halflife, they have become one of the
greats. Ground Control is another fine addition to that growing list of awesome games. I wish more RTS games were like this. It have a level of detail for an RTS game that i have yet seen before. You can zoom in so close to your troops that you can see the shells pop out from the rifles of one of your marines (that's one to the right)or the driver inside a buggy. |
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Every unit (actually divided up into squads, you can't pick an individual marine or tank unless it's the only one left in the squad) can have up to two different items. From anti personel motars for the marines to afterburners for the arodynes (fancy word for planes).
You can set up your squads with either balanced traits, or more armor for defence in sacrifce of speed, more firepower for less speed, more speed for less armor, etc. And if they survive a mission, they get better, you can also name them how you like!
The only downside to this game (and it isn't one for me) is that there is no resource gathering or tech tree that is found common in more RTS games. But, in my case, i never liked that part (always ended up being my downfall).
Tips:
1. Don't forget that you have special weapons and medkits for most squads. Instead of trying to wear down an idividual enemy infanty unit, have your marines deploy motars and take them out at once. Instead of risking your comand APC to heal some tank durring a firefight, have the squad us a med kit to keep them going
2. Always drive your marines around in the APC and don't forget to drop them out when a fight happens
3. Discression is the better part of valor. Use jagger units with hold fire comands to seek out an enemy base that you have to destroy, and then use a howlitzer to take it out
4. I find arodynes are only good as a back up for your terradynes in case you need more of a certain type of protection (attack arodynes for ground units, air for air, etc)
5.When you ask for your units to move as one, make sure that you don't ask them to go to far before forming up, otherwise, lone squads can find themselves ambushed.
Starcraft and Starcraft Expansion Pack:
Rating: 5 out of 5
| Ok, everyone who plays games has probably heard of
Starcraft, so i'm not going to go into it much. It is (acording to popular opinion) the best RTS game yet that could probably only be beaten by another title from Blizard. Just about everything about this game is perfect and I have no compliants about it aside from the fact that I keep getting rushed in multiplayer games. |
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If you have a good computer and don't have this game, you just have to get it, end of story.
Tips:
There are so many of these out there at other sites, that i'm just going to post links to them instead of break my wrists trying to type them all down, but here is one really good one.
1. Win.
Homeworld:
Rating: 4 out of 5
| Another brilliant piece from Sierra. As far as i can
tell this was the first 3d Real-Time Strategy game made
(except for maybe Wargasim). It featured RTS in the 3d
realm of space. That's right OUTER SPACE. There is no
such thing as up or down in this game, just which way are
the resources and the enemy? This game aside from top-notch graphics and excelent strategy elements, it has great music (the scene where they see what happened to the planet they lived on and the music that played will always be in my memory) and the story line is great. |
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The only problems i find with this game is that the silly cameral is a little too hard in my opinion (while still very good considering you're trying to make a 3d camera in 3d space) and again, it's resourse gathering and tech tree stuff that I hate. Still, a must have for any desktop general out there
Tips:
1. Use resources carefully, an anoying factor is that there are is only so much resources in a level, which means that every unit is precious to you.
2. With Fighters on the attack of a capital ship of sorts, have them go into the sphear formation after you give them the attack comand and they form a globe of death around the target that follows it around
3. Hold back Ion cannon ships untill you are sure of the location of a cap ship, otherwise, they'll get pounded by enemy fighter's.
Mech Commander:
Rating: 3 out of 5
| Mech Commander was made by the same guys who made Top
Gun: Return Fire. I've always wanted a game like this,
unfortunately, I feel it could have been better. The
little boxes where you can watch the pilots when they
speak was cool, as well as the whole concept. But it just
made me feel empty when i played, there is a sequil
planned that i'm looking forward too. On the Whole, if you like Battletech, and you like strategy, you'll probably want this game, the multiplayer is fun and there is a great feeling when near the begining, you can use all your relatively light Mechs to take down a Mad Cat, salvage it, and then use it against the enemy. |
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Tips:
1. Have long-range mechs attack from long range and short range from short range, simple enough right?
2. Don't hesitate to force a pilot to eject if he's about to blow, most pilots will forget to and you lose a lot more cash when that happens (not to mention experienced pilots). In most cases, the Mech will be salvageable (I can only remember one time when I couldn't).
3. Don't listen to the "expert" advice other players on the net will give you durring a multiplayer game, go with your gut. I had a squad of 4 vultures (they told me not to use those) and i went off on my own after we repelled an attack by the other team and got to their own base before they got back. The end result was that i basically won the game for our team by not listening to them and rather my own gut. Remember that.
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Now, if you have something nice to say, e-mail me here: doomsday1982@aol.com (also e-mail me at that same address to report broken links, pictures that won't load, or spelling errors you find, thanks!)
PEACE!
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