WZ2100 is an old RTS game made by Pumpkin Studios which originally came out in 1999. Unlike most RTS games, where units are unlocked in a linear path, Warzone was unique in the sense that you were able to design your own units from a myriad of various parts, allowing for a total of 70,000 possible units- everything from construction trucks to VTOL craft armed with plasma cannons.

The story is essentially as follows: Warzone takes place near the end of the 21st century. Most of humanity has been destroyed by nuclear war, and much technology was lost in the process. You are the commander of "The Project", an effort to restore our technological horizons through exploration and research. Your primary foe, early on, are Scavengers- these are groups of ragtag, second-rate hostiles that are weaker than you from the get-go, but make it up for that physical weakness with sheer number and defensive structures. Many Scavenger bases contain technological Artifacts- by destroying (or as the game puts it, eradicating) a Scavenger base and collecting an Artifact, you can then reverse-engineer that Artifact by using a Research Center and then be able to produce it en masse, whether it is a defensive structure, weapon turret, or a new method of propulsion.

Besides the primary Campaign, there are also Challenges, side missions you can undertake that are meant to test your skill as a commander; the popular Skirmish mode, with up to 8 factions on a single map, and many settings for the mode such as the intelligence of each faction, whether or not alliances can be made, how advanced your base is when you start, etc; and finally, Multiplayer mode, which is essentially just Skirmish with human players.

There's a good chunk of user-made mods and maps available here; the game is completely free and can be downloaded here.

PROS
-Free
-Unique design system
-Varied gameplay
-Re-playability value
-Usermade Mods
-Very low system requirements, so there's no worries about whether or not you can run it.

CONS
-Not much official support: the game itself was "revived" in 2005 by a third party group of fans, and the original company is dead AFAIK.
-Graphics may seem lacking in comparison to other RTS games today, but they're bearable and can even pass for 'nice' on a high resolution.
-Friendly AI can be a bit wonky at times due to the mediocre pathfinding: sometimes units will bump into each other or move out the way, etc.
-Most missions have a set time limit to accomplish, usually an hour from what I've seen.

There's a game that's very similar in the sense that you can create your own units, called Earth 2150.
I'll check this one out for sure.

<3 Warzone. I had it back when it was actually moneycost, it was the ♥♥♥♥. Came in a three-part cardstock envelope, two discs and a manual.

What you're playing now, the revived version, is a HUGE improvement over the "finished product" that was forced out the door (from what I remember of one of the employee's rants, they had maybe another three months worth of coding left to do to get rid of all the bugs and tighten up gameplay when corporate told them to wrap it up and sell it).

There's an AI mod out there, I forget the name (Evolution, perhaps?), which improves pathfinding and the skirmish AI's difficulty (to brutal levels). I would suggest grabbing that if you're up for a challenge.

EDIT: Earth 2150 was also the ♥♥♥♥, both of them make me squee with joy.

How interesting. I rediscovered WZ2100 a week or so ago. I'd be up for a game if any one wants

Speaking of multiplayer, I think the revival developers pretty much had to recode it from scratch, it was so rushed on the official side of things...

I love this game. I'd be up for a round anytime.

I could potentially play today and tomorrow. After I redownload it that is.

I've actually got this on my USB, I never go to school without it.
http://portableapps.com/apps/games/warz ... 0_portable For those interested.
Discovered WZ about 3 years ago, loved it and still do.

So people, what's your favourite unit build?
Mine would be the lightest tank body with the stinger cannon(? the one with orange black stripes)
Cheap to build(in comparison to heavies) and masses would cut through anything.
Or the heaviest tank with 2 missile launchers, massive build times, massive damage, massive range, massively slow....

Oh well, and lot's of napalm VTOLs

End of game: Dragon body, Tracks, Needle cannon. Supplemented by Wyvern hover wide spectrum sensor thingies and a bunch of archangel turrets back home.

So wait, you design robots...and build tons of them? Sign me up, hombre.

Quality of this video is shitty, but you get the idea of the scale of things.

Duh: Tracks? Bleh. I only use it with mostly-stationary units, eg tanks armed with Ripple Rockets, Archangel Missiles, AA missiles (Avenger, Vindicator, Stormbringer) and the like. It does add a ton of HP, especially when used with a Wyvern or Dragon body, but the speed is just horrendous.

ALSO: VTOL fleet is the ♥♥♥♥. Many VTOL weapons get considerable damage upgrades from their ground counterparts- a fully upgraded Pulse Laser does 1250 damage per shot, for instance. Add the dual-turret capability of the Dragon body and the convenience of the Rearming Pad, and you have an unstoppable force of forceful unstoppableness- and it doesn't hurt that many of the AI forces in Skirmish have little to no AA emplacements. (Plus, VTOL craft just look cool.)

Of course, my favorite weapon hands-down is the Satellite Laser. Who cares about the agonizing reload time when you can wipe out half an enemy base with a good shot?

EDIT: 1250 actually sounds high for the Pulse. Maybe I'm thinking of the Heavy? Ah, whatever.

I'm up for a game now if anyone wants, but someone else would have to host, university network doesn't agree with the lobby server apparently.