Conquest: Frontier Wars: one of the last finished games made by Chris Roberts. A 2D space RTS (with 3D graphics) where you control one of 3 factions with uncanny resemblance to what we get to know in Starcraft. On the other hand, the gameplay isn't like Starcraft at all - you controll multiple of space ships and build your bases on rings around planets. The game has some neat twists, like having to support your fleet with supplies, but the nicest thing was that you had to play on multiple maps (systems) simultanously. All around very decent game.
Yep, the game was pretty good. My only issue was that the amount of star systems was limited (I've always liked very large maps).
The RTS genre never died a natural death. It was killed by corporations who refused to make more games in the genre because they decided on behalf of us consumers that we were apparently done with the genre. Well, in a way many were since they kept releasing subpar online PvP focused RTS' because dumb suits kept chasing that esports high. They completely misunderstood the part where RTS players want a meaty single player campaign as well and not just something that focuses on dull esports shit. MOBAs overtook the RTS genre as the big esports thing, but it didn't poach the playerbase. They appeal to very different people.
It's the completely wrong approach because popular competitive online RTS games started by having a good campaign that got players interested, and then a community formed around them.
Star Craft, Warcraft 3, Age of Empires 2. They all had good campaigns which makes it worth buying the games even if you never want to play online. And then you get a big playerbase for the multiplayer once the game is successful, and from there it becomes an esport.
If you wanna make a popular esport RTS and focus on the online functionality, it is bound to fail because you're skipping the step of where you make a good game that naturally builds its own community by being fun in single player.
But the suits don't understand that. They only see SC, WC3, AoE2 having tournaments watched by thousands of people and wanna have a slice of that cake too. They don't understand
why these games grew a dedicated esport community around them.
It definitely is. But publishers are stupid, so you can't really expect anything from them. It also reminds me of Ubisoft when they wanted to create an "esports shooter". Needless to say, it failed.
Overall RTS games pushed the technology to the max in the 1990s but were exposed as mechanically dull and repetitive in the 2000's. MOBA's completely took over the space.
Did they tho? Age of Empires 2 multiplayer survived into the 2010s, then they released a HD Edition in 2014, then they released new expansions for that HD edition, then they released a Definitive Edition which still keeps getting new expansions despite AoE4 being a thing now...
Definitely not. I even played AoE II on Voobly myself in the 2010s. The thing is that with the decline of RTS releases, people sticked with the games they already got, if they didn't switch to MOBA/DotA. Of course, the DotA scene completely dwarved the RTS one but RTS were still relevant.
I was shocked when I once saw an esports video or live stream about about 2 starcraft players facing off and the announcers sounded exactly like Al Michaels announcing Dave Henderson's home run in the 1986 Boston Red Sox/California Angels playoffs or any number of other slick, professional ABC sports announcers or color commentators over the years, and how excited these dudes were getting over two incels playing video games. Never felt the desire to ever watch another eports broadcast but it was startling how professional it all sounded. I guess there's an audience for this and big money in this stuff?
And the US scene wasn't even that developed. If you were a fan of competitive gaming in the 00s (like I was), South Korea was the place to look at, followed by Germany. Both countries had esports on TV (free in Germany, paid in South Korea but a lot more content), as well as some more or less developed infrastructure. Team houses where you train had been a thing in both countries in the early 00s but only ten years later, they would become more common. Esports penetration in South Korea was a lot higher which is also why they got a 220k (IIRC) live audience in...was it 2005 or 2006 for the Brood War Proleague finals on a beach. Money really flowed there and it continued to do well. Meanwhile, in Germany, it was more limited to young people with not much money available. That's also the reason why it went mostly under at the end of the 00s (demographic reasons played a role, of course, but also vilifying games due to some school shooting, media and politicians being garbage as always etc), exemplified by Giga going offline. The ESL could have done a better job for sure. In the 10s, esports got revived but unfortunately, Germany never really picked it up again and as such, ESL simply got bought by some Swedish media company. As for commentators, the Korean ones were great. I say that as someone that has watched a lot of Korean esports over the years.
Warlords Battlecry 2 has a low story campaign but the strategic layer where you conquer the world is fun so I do recommend it. Battlecry 3 has a interesting campaign which feels like a RPG, where you move around the world and do quests, and is more heavy on the story, I do recommend it.
The map was cool. I even printed out a screenshot of me owning all the provinces back in the day (with the race which had the white colour...whatever that one was...not that it mattered because since the game is broken, I just killed everyone and everything with my hero alone). Warlords Battlecry III was nicely different but the game had one or even two gamebreaking bugs which made you unable to continue the campaign (somewhere at a wall). So it had to be patched first.
Strange choice to put DoW:Soulstorm that high. It is worse than Dark Crusade. The flying units were shit and the new races were also poorly balanced. Battlezone and Sacrifice(<- actually one of the best games ever made in my opinion) are great games but I don't think they fit in here.
Well, Sacrifice is a weird RTS hybrid. And yeah, it's a really good, fun (loved the gods bickering) and unique game. Definitely recommended. Playthroughs/Units also differ, depending on which gods you align yourself to. I went mostly with the death (?) one on the very right.
Mentioned in another thread: Battle Realms is a really excellent RTS game too. Unfortunately, it often gets overlooked. I'm also seconding other not-as-popular games such as Stronghold, Stronghold: Crusader, Ground Control and Cossacks: European Wars. Personally, I liked Empire Earth, despite it being janky due to 3D models. The later ages were a lot of fun to play in. But like with most other RTS games, the sequel sucked. Thandor (2000) I remember being a sci-fi RTS which I liked. It basically never gets mentioned anywhere, despite being one of the earliest games with 3D stuff. Too bad it flopped..but I guess it was because barely anyone knew it existed?
/edit: Warcraft III -> Warlords Battlecry III (seems like my inner auto-correct set in)
