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Alternative to Starcraft?
Anyone of know any non-Blizzard produced RTS games currently out that have a legitimate competitive scene? By "legitimate" I mean thousands of active players and developer-endorsed tournaments. It's not that I have something against specifically against Starcraft, but often battles feel like a contest of who can best micromanage a blob of a few dozen units rather than an epic tactical war simulator. I was hoping to try some other strategy games before Shogun 2 comes out in March.
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Dawn of War 2 sounds like just what you are asking for. It might be running short on players and games ready, but you can still get games regularly.
It's much more strategic and unit-focused than Star Craft 2. There's also a new expansion coming out in March, and hopefully that will revitalize the player base.
Some "never got" the DoW 2 multiplayer, but those who stick to it find it to be more or less excellent. I for one only needed a very short time playing Star Craft 2 before I knew that I could never take this game serious. DoW 2 had made sure of that.
Edit: Heres some multiplayer footage:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cDFRWvcr51A&feature=related
There's CnC4. I played the beta, and it was pretty fun, it's more micro-management and paper-rocks-siccors combat. No unit building (unless you're Defense set).
A lot of traditional CnC people hate it. I liked it, but because of that hate I'm hesitant to get it (Think it's 20 bucks from eb) because I don't want to get a game that struggles to get games going.
I wish they would do a reboot of Age of Empires i loved the first 2 and the multiplayer was great.
They're coming out with Age of Empires Online if you weren't aware. I believe it's going to be an MMO(?), though I don't know how true - or even good - to the original games.
Currently Playing:
Nothing.
Dawn of War is your game. That and the second.
There are no RTS games out there with as big a player base as SC1/2 or developer endorsed matches AFAIK.
But if your looking for a solid game that can toe to toe with SC2 but with a more epic feel to the battles then you cannot go wrong with companies of heroes (original + 1st expansion). Still an active online userbase of around 8,000 players at peek and weekends.
DoW2 is even more Micromanagment heavy than SC2 so stay away from that, DoW1 is ok but theres no widescreen support so I stopped playing it a while back.
DoW2 more micromangement heavy than SC2? Blasphemy! If you fuck up with your micromanagement in SC2 you've your entire army(and will have to rely on superior macro to get it back). If you fuck up in DoW2 you should retreat - always. I really like DoW2, it's got depth and all, but SC2 is simply much more punishing when it comes to being able to micro/macro. This said, DoW2 is probably a good choice for a good competitive RTS alternative to SC2.
Also for CnC4: It's a complete shit game. Absolutely no skill in it. No resources, no points in scouting, losing your army is a 3-minute delay in building up again, it's rock-paper-scissors in the more boring way. No micro, no macro, no nothing. Complete and utter disappointment
Everyone in the competitive scene knows that. I would recommend either RA3 or CnC3 if you want a CnC game to play that is skilled.
If you want epic war simulator though, then you should check out SupCom 2.
hmmm try playing alien shooter 2, it's a good alternative
Command and Conquer series is one of them. Try dragonshards its a good game even its a decade old.
RTS pretty much dead. Gotta thank them koreans for keeping SC alive. I would love to see battlezone reboot IMO it was revolutionary during its time. That and Total Annihilation.
What about Supreme Commander 2?
Wikipedia says, that when released, it was perceived as a simplified version of Supreme Commander, and thus got only an average rating of 77 of 100. But with the updates, that improved mechanics, the game got higher scores in the 90s of 100, and got pc gamers "coop title of the year" award.
It's been released less than a year ago, and I picked it up during one of steams special sales for something like 10€ to 15€ including expansions. I didn't have the time to play it much though.
Also, you can still play Battle Forge. On the one hand it got great graphics, awesome voiceovers and great RTS play combined with trading card mechanisms to build your army. On the other hand, EA kinda ruined it with their greed. Still, for a few hours it can still be fun.
Let's play Fallen Earth (blind, 300 episodes)
Let's play Guild Wars 2 (blind, 45 episodes)
You should try Age of Empire series its a pretty good alternaative to starcraft. or age of mythology its a good game.
Check out MOBAs like HoN or LoL.
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My favorite alternative to starcraft is red alert, tiberium wars actually all the command and conquer series. hmm got to add the age of empire series its a great alternative to the undying starcraft.