RTS noob

D

Darkatom

[H]ard|Gawd
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Jun 2, 2006
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Its been a while since a "good" game has been out and im beginning to grow tired of finishing FEAR for the 100th time. Ive tied Stalker but find it extremely boring. Ive seen many popular RTS games come out recently (SupC, CC3, CoH) but I have never played anything else than a fps. My question is, how hard or different is it to get started compared to an fps ? Which of the 3 is the easiest to dive into?
 
Out of those 3 C&C3 is probably the easiest to get into due to its old school gameplay. But if you are just getting into the RTS genre, I'd suggest you to try out the classics first - Warcraft 2 & 3, Starcraft, etc.
 
CnC3, its nice and easy, no micromanagement. Crank out the units and go kick ass, supcom and CoH are a bit more in depth
 
I echo what azn said - Warcraft 2 or Starcraft is an excellent place to start.

Of the 3 you listed I think C&C3 would be the easiest to learn.
 
i'll go ahead and pickup CC3 later today, i would try something older, but I feel like playing something pretty. I would have thought that company of heores would have been the easiest of the three. Could someone elaborate a bit more on the "micromangament" part.
 
Darkatom said:
i'll go ahead and pickup CC3 later today, i would try something older, but I feel like playing something pretty. I would have thought that company of heores would have been the easiest of the three. Could someone elaborate a bit more on the "micromangament" part.
Click to expand...

Macro-management
You drag your mouse over several dozen units then send them all out at once and more or less forget about them until they reach the front line, or you can put them aside until you need them for a big rush. You usually do this with the normal foot soldiers. Basically, you just have to concentrate on resources and production.

Micro-management
You control units individually. Every action, every shot, every cover, every path has to be done one click at a time. You usually do this with rare and powerful units, like Heroes (WarCraft, BattleRealms, etc.), snipers and commandos.

I wouldn't recommend Company of Heroes for someone starting out. Too much micromanagement. Imagine clicking all over the map for the entire game because you can't trust your units to hold the front line on their own. You can't just plop a tank in a pass expect it to automatically take out enemies, you have to fire each shot yourself and have it manually do maneuvers to make the most of it. You can't dig in either because you need to capture flag bases to keep your resources and production competitive. With other RTS, after you capture an area, you can take a breather and go defensive while you regroup. CoH has you constantly micromanaging multiple fronts in a mad grab for resource flags. And quite frankly, it's exhausting :(



If you want, i can recommend BattleZone II It's an FPS/RTS hybrid. While starting out, you can build tanks as wingmen and lead them into battle yourself in FPS. Then as your army grows, you can build a comm center for a satellite view and manage multiple squads RTS style :)
 
Sly said:
Macro-management
You drag your mouse over several dozen units then send them all out at once and more or less forget about them until they reach the front line, or you can put them aside until you need them for a big rush. You usually do this with the normal foot soldiers. Basically, you just have to concentrate on resources and production.

Micro-management
You control units individually. Every action, every shot, every cover, every path has to be done one click at a time. You usually do this with rare and powerful units, like Heroes (WarCraft, BattleRealms, etc.), snipers and commandos.

I wouldn't recommend Company of Heroes for someone starting out. Too much micromanagement. Imagine clicking all over the map for the entire game because you can't trust your units to hold the front line on their own. You can't just plop a tank in a pass expect it to automatically take out enemies, you have to fire each shot yourself and have it manually do maneuvers to make the most of it. You can't dig in either because you need to capture flag bases to keep your resources and production competitive. With other RTS, after you capture an area, you can take a breather and go defensive while you regroup. CoH has you constantly micromanaging multiple fronts in a mad grab for resource flags. And quite frankly, it's exhausting :(



If you want, i can recommend BattleZone II It's an FPS/RTS hybrid. While starting out, you can build tanks as wingmen and lead them into battle yourself in FPS. Then as your army grows, you can build a comm center for a satellite view and manage multiple squads RTS style :)
Click to expand...


I totally agree with the Company of Heroes micro-management being essential. Throwing grenades, sticky bombs, etc. Very important.
 
Yeah, I think of Company of Heroes as "micro" and SupCom as "macro." Though there is plenty of micro possible in SupCom with building a base/economy as you attack, but queuing orders goes a long way (and auto building within a factory).
 
if going from an FPS get company of heroes... its COD2 only you don't aim :)

if i was really going to point you to an RTSeque like game that is FPSeque like i'd tell you to pick up Soldiers Heroes of WWII or Faces of War..

they are RTS like, no micro management and you have hte option to Direct control your soldiers (Eg.. you aim and shoot and move the soldiers)... although they are a bit hardcore as far as difficulty goes.. check the for sale section, i saw SHOWW2 going for 7$ shipped..
 
In terms of easy of use and learning how to play a RTS I would suggest.... *drum roll*.... Battle for Middle Earth.

Not too many units, simple base building (just points on a circle), basic resources gathering, easy to recognize units (I take it you've seen or read Lord of the Rings?), and it's fun. If you want to just learn how to play a RTS but are afraid of it being overly complicated or just too hard to master I would definitely suggest trying out BFME (either one or two, but version one is even simpler to master).
 
I say Company of Heroes it's gotten me more into RTS, and for one member of my clan it's the first RTS they've ever played and now they are totally into the genre.
 
Well I really appreciate all the great advice given in such a short period. I ended up going with CoH after all, I was set on getting CC3, but when I got there it all changed. I figured it would be like CoD2 except with no aiming, like someone said earlier. I'll take the advice given and use gernades and sticky bombs carefully.
 
The best advice I can give for RTS is to memorize the hot keys. As many as you can. This saves tons of time. I'd also say to pick up a copy of starcraft. It's dirt cheap now and one of the best RTS games ever made.
 
Definitely give Rome: Total War a try if you haven't. Hands down the best I've played in terms of fun factor, but I certainly haven't tried everything.
 
You are going to get eaten alive in C&C3 man. I was really good at war2 and sc (sc being the last RTS i played), and im having problems in C&C3, mostly with my timing.

People still play war2 BNE, and of course SC. Id start there until you have a winning record with at least 100 games played before moving on to C&C3.
 
Original "Blitzkrieg", saw it tonoc at Wal Mart for 9 bucks. Lots of add-ons and mods, been playing it for a couple of years.
 
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