If you gave the definition of the genre a slight stretch, then I'd say Evil Genius, though that's enough out of the mainstream not to really count.

I'd say Command and Conquer: Red Alert 2, with expansion. That was a lot of fun. Warcraft 3 is ok, but I never really could get into it, and though StarCraft is definitely quite an amazing game, I can't really say that it makes the top due to the fact that, though I'm good at it, I don't much like games that force you to be absolutely 100% speedy and efficient with your mouse clicks and hotkeys, and considering the number of SC players that do have that skill, I don't see any real purpose in online play. Singleplayer got boring after awhile.

Also, the entire C&C series is quite amazing. Red Alert 2 just happens to be my favorite, though Red Alert 1 was also quite awesome.

The AoE series was fun and minorly educational (though, honestly, studying the middle ages turns out to be quite boring, considering that there was absolutely no progress technology-wise for a good long while there), but not the best.

And finally, the entire Civilization series takes the cake (which, as it turns out, is the embodiment of truth this time) for being fun, educational, and quite decent at single-player. I really don't have the patience to become good at playing an RTS online. They annoy me.

Agreed about the online, although do not agree with the civ comment. CIV N'EST RTS PAS.
(civ is not an rts or something)

oh god yes

i have this
strongly reccomended

Ferret, the purpose of online play in SC is so those people can play eachother, Blizzard doesn't just sick their Starcraft goons on new players.

Also, UMS SC maps for the win.

Everything here I agree with completely. Evil Genius rox (try Dwarf Fortress by the way), Civilization rox, online play sux (especially in games that have been refined into something totally based on clickspeed).

world in conflict hands down,
beautiful graphics, an actual sense of real battle,
can call in nukes(online )
A campaign that will be emotional ( yea thats right a actual compelling story :O)

slight downfall is that theres no pause button D:



also company of heroes is good

Does Fire Emblem count? I think it slightly fits into this category.
Age of Mythology was, in my opinion, a better RTS than Age of Empires. But that may be because I have only played an older Age of Empires...

Well, for the Civ (and previous Fire Emblem) bit, it's admittedly not a real time strategy game. Personally, I just did the translation from RTS to just "strategy" in my head, and honestly, I think the turn-based strategy games deserve some merit here. though we might actually might want to start another thread, considering the disparity between play styles (hey look, I DON'T have to learn hot keys!) and the lesser disparity between gaming stereotypes.

Also forgot to mention Rise of Nations. That was fun in the sense that the strategy played a bigger role than the fighting if you wanted it to and that it added new elements that deepened the strategy. I personally dislike fighting in my strategy games (not an oxymoron) and I typically go for building a perfect base with a perfect build strategy and then just defending until I've managed to create an impenetrable defense, after which I either quit or go through the laborious process of building a dozen nuke silos. Almost without fail, attacking is my least favorite part of any given strategy game.

And I would really, really like Company of Heroes if I didn't hate attacking, because that game has some wonderful design. Unfortunately, the focus on attack --> secure --> attack --> secure means that I never really feel like I am in a safe position, which really bums me out.



I suspect that it wouldn't be all that bad, but the problem is that at this late stage in the game's life, the only people still playing are said goons, so I can never get a fair match in.

And finally, Evil Genius earns props for being the first game with which I ever participated actively on an online community, and the openness of the gameplay and excellence in design (the graphics are much like those in Team Fortress 2) allow for some truly wonderful moments. you can probably grab it out of the bargain bin now, since it didn't do all that well and was mostly a mediocre game due to some bugs and balancing issues, meaning that with just a bit more development time, it would've been so much better...

You just lost the game. There. I said it. Now read another post for a change.

Of all the RTS's I've played, Red alert 2 and Total Annihilation have to be my two favorites. Starcraft just isn't such a great RTS compared to those two.

I haven't played it in a while, but I love Medieval II. I love how it just allows you to ally with every country on the planet through marriage and deals and handing out money, or just kill them all.

I also liked how none of the other countries cared when I wiped out scotland.

My favorite RTS I don't actually own, is Dawn of War: Soulstorm. Not as complicated or as (I admit it) good as others, Soulstorm has interPLANETARY conflict.

WITH DARK ELDAR.

I think that deserves some praise. Plus the fact that Dark Eldar kick so much ass, and still have the weakness of- Oshi- I need to send a builder across the battlefield to get some souls so I can build me a thing.

Sisters of battle or whatever it was are just Space Marine clones. Actually, more like inverted Chaos. They have the almighty god unit of death and destruction, they've got scary robots. They've got similar units to the Chaos/spacemarines most of the time. But they are themed around angels.

Hehehe. Sisters of battle are warnuns. Hehehe.
[/rambling]

Warnuns ftw.
UaW=EA is good in my opinion.

I had a choice = Sins of a Solar Empire or DoW:SS and I chose Sins. Why: there was one copy left and I doubt they would have a constant restock, where as DoW (I own the first one) had plenty o copies, and is a popular series so I can (and will) pick up a copy when I get the money.

I absoultely encourage buying sins though because It's an entirely different experience that is very engrossing. Right now I own like a quarter of the solar system im SPing in and I am working up to the wormhole so i can phase my empire into the second solar system. AWESOME.
The downside is that it has no actuall story and only little diffenciating senarios (I.E. starting with pirates killed or having more then one system to conquer) and I haven't tried out online yet, but appearently it's better than single player.

Red Alert 2 was the most unbalanced piece ever.
I'm dissapointed you even compare Red Alert 2 to Starcraft.
Starcraft is the epitamy of balance, apart from reaver drops.


Rome Total War anyone?

RTW is alright, I would say. After a while though you run out of things to find fun in the game, a shame

Is Starcraft really worth it? I keep hearing good things about it but never bother to try it myself.