/vr/ - Retro Games

Total Annihilation

Age of Empires III

Final Fantasy Tactics

>>2130048
WarCraft 3 by a long shot, as a matter of fact, WC3 is what separates "retro" from "Modern" for me, everything before is retro, everything aftewards is modern, the game itself is Jesus the Jesus of vidya.

runner-ups are AoE 2, Rise of nations and starcraft.

galactic civilizations 2

Command & Conquer Red Alert. Had some balancing issues for multiplayer but the campaign was fantastic.

>>2130048
Red Alert 2.
Fucking good campaign.
Fucking good cutscenes.
Fucking good multiplayer.

Starcraft was pretty good too.

>>2130151
This and Emperor: Battle for Dune.

>>2130167
>emperor battle for dune
That was really good too.
I'm sad that there are no longer Dune games.

All the C&C games up to RA2.

Dune 2000 was okay too.

>>2130048
>'Here's Jimmy'

Also
>KoreaCraft

kek

>>2130136
>Age of Empires III
>Not Age of Empires II nor I

I always hated Age of Empires III
I dont know why

>>2130268
Different anon here.

I like 3 more than 2. I was always kind of disappointed with 2 after playing 1 religiously.

Rise of Nations

RoN 2 WHEN?

>>2130268
>play AoE 3
>thought it was about the various European empires conquering the world
>get America vs. the Illuminati

needless to say, I was disappoint

>>2130321
Why you were disappointed?
AoE 1 was clumsy, yet fun to play.

AoE 2 is way more complicated, you can do a lot of stuff and strategies, way more variated than AoE 1.

>>2130369
Another reason to not play it.

Hanjuku Hero

Earth 2150, so interesting in so many ways. Also super fucking hard.

>>2130486
I dunno I just never found it as fun to play. I bought it again when it got that HD re-release or whatever on Steam but it still did nothing for me.

Very hard to say because I'm a huge RTS buff. Probably Age of Empires. The original. AoK/AoC and AoM are great, but AoE was my first game ever and will always have a special place in my heart and is the game I go back to the most often. Plus it just has a better setting than AoK and most RTS games out there (I am a sucker for ancient Egypt and Mesopotamia).

Starcraft is a close runner-up but I've never truly mastered it enough that I could say it's my favorite. Same with Warcraft 2.

Warcraft III was a glorified game making engine, not a good game on its own merits. I spent thousands of hours on it, but I love it for its custom maps, not its RTS gameplay. In fact, WC3's melee was incredibly clunky and slow and vastly inferior to WC2 or SC.

Primitive Wars is my pet obscure RTS game you haven't even heard of. Sure it's a clunky, broken and unbalanced straight clone of Starcraft, but I still like it for some reason. Maybe because I'm a hipster like that, and games no one else's played have some sort of an innate appeal to me.

>>2130048
Dune 2000 because it's the only thing I played, really. I installed it the other day and was still impressed, nostalgia goggles or not.

>>2130048
Ogre Battle.

>>2130150
Figured I'd ask here instead of making a new thread, but what would be the best way to get Red Alert running on Windows 7, and what would be considered the "essential" mods for it? Stuff like support for higher screen resolutions, or higher res menu icons based off of concept art or something. I'd like to leave the gameplay, or at least the unit stats and balance, vanilla.

OpenRA looks neat, but it looks more geared to multiplayer and rebalancing. While updated controls might be nice, I'd really prefer the original unit balance for campaign play.

I don't know enough about Red Alert myself to even know where to begin interpreting how the changes would change the gameplay. RTS's aren't really my thing (more into turn based personally), but I want to do this as a Christmas present for my father, who played RA almost exclusively for a number of years.

Lego Rock Raiders

>>2130712
I had sets of these legos as a kid and had no idea that there was a Rock Raiders game, let alone an RTS

Gotta go find it

I don't know if I can pick one. I grew up with a lot of warcraft 2, starcraft, total annihilation and command & conquer. I didn't get into AOE until later but loved that too. Also while not strictly RTS I regret waiting so many years to get into the Total War series. I remember seeing medieval 1 and rome on the shelves and thinking they looked lame, boy I really was a dumbass kid.

>>2130819

shit, and I'm completely forgetting grand stratagy, I'm kind of glad that I didn't discover that genre until I was an adult. If I would of had games like Europa Universalis or Hearts of Iron as a kid I don't think I would have ever left my room. I would have been like those asians you hear about that die after playing for a week straight without even stopping to eat or shit

>>2130048
Was I the only one here who played this?

>>2130048
MAKE A HOLE

>>2130842

Was trying to remember the name of that one. Yep I loved that game!

>>2130846
Seriously though guys, Myth is the most underrated strategy game of all time.

>>2130849
Great music also.

Settlers 2 all the way.

>>2130826

Oh yeah, love me some EU. I've never been able to get into HOI or CK, though. Or any of their sequels... EU 2 is the shit, though.

Z - Steel Soldiers. Not just because I am a Bitmap Brothers fanboy as it's a solid title.

Red Alert up to 2 - great campaign, first RTS I played on a LAN at high school.

>>2130365
They made Rise of Legends, which was really different, but honestly I liked it better. Probably my favorite RTS actually.

Tiberian Sun

best goddamn C&C

I will always have a soft spot for the original C&C and War craft 2. I have many, many great memories playing those with my brother.

Age of Empires is up there, too.

>>2131023

I bought that game years ago, but my computer at the couldn't run it well. Would it be worth trying it? What're some highlights of it?

>>2131071
What is Brian Reynolds up to these days?
He did Alpha Centauri, the Rise games, and then I never heard anything about him again.

>>2131409
He did FrontierVille, he's currently working on a mobile games I believe.

>>2131523
>he's currently working on a mobile games I believe

>>2131667
>tfw Carmack and Romero do this too

>>2131667
>>2132184

How the mighty have fallen.

>You will never have enough money to unite all the wayward greats of the gaming world

>>2132201
>no games will be as good as those you grew up with

>>2132207
That's not what I was getting at. I'd just like to form a vidya dev super group.

>>2132214
Why would make greatest dev crew if not to recreate greatest games in history? Nothing noteworthy was made in last 10 years

>>2132216
How about a new Commander Keen game?

Total Annihilation, sans l'ombre d'un doute.
C&C Tiberian Sun has a strange atmosphere that I really enjoyed at the time, and sure Warcraft 3 is
a milestone in vidya history.
But when I want to play a RTS, I always come back to Total Annihilation. That music, the maps and all...
Brace yourselves Commanders, this war is never to end.

Warcraft 2 niggas.

Never found so much atmosphere in other RTS

Orcs and Humans and Tides of Darkness will always have a special place in my heart

>>2132245
Klooptar

Has RTS gaming gone completely downhill post /vr/ or did I just grow out of them and lose patience?

I loved and still love AoE1+2, AoM, Warcraft 2+3, and Red Alert 2 to death, and can go back to them once and a while and play the fuck out of them- but every new RTS (or relatively new RTS) can't hold my attention. I bought Starcraft 2 day of release and played it for 2 days before getting bored, and bought Supreme Commander and hated it, yet they both have extremely high reviews. Am I just an impatient fuck now and don't want to bother learning an RTS or is the genre dead now?

>>2132281
mope, those games are just shit

C&CRA2 is great because multiplayer games can be very quick, but the game is really well balanced and the single player campaigns are engaging.

I don't always have the time, but I think EUIV is the best RTS I've played recently.

>>2132226
Tiberian Sun has a really gloomy atmosphere. Almost apocalyptic IMO.

>>2132281
Gooks killed the RTS genre

>>2130048
war craft 2

Juwanaxe?

>>2132281
The RTS genre is literally dead. With the exception of some indie games and remakes (AoEII HD or SC2), RTS games have been completely replaced by the squad-based subgenre (Company of Heroes and Dawn of War 2), because macro is too boring for kiddies these days. It's as dead as point and clicks.

>>2133556
Good riddance. It was the most derivative sub-genre ever. Every single game was basically a carbon copy of each other.

What about RTS/FPS hybrids?

>>2133556
>replaced by the squad-based subgenre

Is there any new game that actually has any tactics involved ?
Something like myth.

>>2133595
Battlezone 2 was fantastic. I can never tell if the voiceacting is really good or really bad though (in the campaign that is, the units were great).

It's TBS but I loved Ultimate Domain/Genesia

>>2132307
>Almost apocalyptic

It's supposed to be. The idea is that Tiberium has converted large swathes of the Earth into either barren wastelands or alien hellscapes (pic related), and GDI are fighting a desperate (and possibly futile) battle to stop it from overrunning the entire planet, a job made all the more difficult by having to deal with Nod and CABAL at the same time.

It really deserves a remake IMO.

>>2133645
not -quite- a remake, but the OpenRA team is working on it

god bless the OpenRA devs

>>2133557
So kind of like fighting games

>>2133660
Same basic thing. Your average fighting game was way, way worse than your average RTS Command and Conquer clone, though.

MY FAVOURITE RTS WILL ALWAYS BE COMMAND & CONQUER RED ALERT I LOVE THAT GAME SO MUCH THE CAMPAIGNS WERE SO MUCH FUN TO PLAY ESPECIALLY THE SOVIET ONE WHERE YOU TOOK ORDERS FROM STALLIN HIMSELF I REALLY LIKED THE CHEESY CAMPY B MOVIE FEEL OF IT ALL IT WAS ACHIEVED ABSOLUTELY PERFECTLY ALSO I REALLY ENJOYED THE ACTUAL GAMEPLAY AND OVERALL CHARM/SPIRIT/LOOK OF THE GAME I REALLY LIKED IT WHEN I SELECTED A CHARACTER AND HE WOULD RESPOND WITH "YES SURR?" AND THEN WHEN I WOULD CLICK TO DO SOMETHING HE WOULD SAY "AHCKNOWLEJJED" OR "AFFERMATEEF" THAT SHIT WAS SO FUCKING AWESOME I NEVER EVER GOT TIRED OF IT HOWEVER I HAVE TO ADMIT THAT I AM NOT REALLY AN RTS CONNOISSEUR AND SO I DON'T REALLY KNOW IF IT WAS THE BEST THE GENRE HAD TO OFFER PROBABLY WASN'T AS STUFF LIKE STARCRAFT EXISTS THAT IS OBVIOUSLY A REALLY BIG E-SPORT HOWEVER MY PERSONAL FAVOURITE IS COMMAND & CONQUER RED ALERT BECAUSE I HAD THE MOST FUN WITH IT OH MY GOSH I WOULD LOVE TO PLAY IT AGAIN OH YEAH THE GAME HAD SUCH A GOD TIER INTRO AS WELL CHECK IT OUT HERE https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_R6xCWcf_VU GODDAMN I LOVED THE HELL MARCH THEME ALSO I FORGOT TO SAY THAT I HAVE VERY FOND NOSTALGIC MEMORIES OF PLAYING THIS GAME AT MY RICH FRIEND'S HOUSE WHEN I WAS A KID HE HAD A LAN SETUP CONNECTING TWO PCS BACK TO BACK AND ALL THE CONSOLES TOO AND WE USED TO ALL GO TO HIS PLACE AFTER SCHOOL AND PLAY A BUNCH OF OLD '90S GAMES MULTIPLAYER INCLUDING C&C RED ALERT SKIRMISH AND WE HAD MADE ALL SORTS OF CUSTOM MAPS AND MAN WE HAD A LOT OF FUN PLAYING THIS GAME ALSO INCIDENTALLY C&C RED ALERT WAS THE VERY FIRST GAME I EVER PLAYED ONLINE ON OLD 56K INTERNET AND OH MY GOSH THE GAME RAN SO SLOWLY EVEN IN 1V1 ONLINE SKIRMISH BUT FOR SOME REASON ME AND THE RANDOM OTHER GUY AT THE OTHER END PLAYED THE GAME TO THE END TBH IT WAS TOO BORING FOR ME TO EVER TRY AGAIN AND I DON'T EVEN REMEMBER IF I WON BUT IT WAS HISTORY IN THE MAKING AS FAR AS MY GAMING CAREER GOES ALSO IT'S TOO BAD THAT EA KILLED WESTWOOD STUDIOS HUH

>>2133809

>>2133813
I AM OK

Total Annihilation.
AoE2 and Warzone 2100 both occupied a fair amount of my time but in the end I default to my true love.

>>2135063

Fucking this, the execution wasn't all that perfect but the atmosphere, voiceacting and music were goat

>>2131071
RoL was ok
but I still want my RoN sequel

>>2132281
saying "RTS is dead" implies it was ever alive in the first place

it was always niche and it still is

>>2135249
No it wasn't. At least, not as far as the PC gaming scene goes. You could take 2 steps anywhere from the years 1997-2000 without tripping over 2 dozen shitty RTS clone games. It was only a "niche" in the sense that PC gaming was a niche.

>>2135249
>>2135254
Define 'niche'

>>2135249
>Blizzard games
>C&C
>literally dozens of C&C and SC clones infesting the PC market on the turn of the century
>probably the most successful cybersport genre ever after FPS
>Brood War and Rise of Rome are still literally national sports in South Korea and Vietnam respectively
>niche
It really was not.

>>2136543
only a handful of franchise were popular

It's like saying jRPGs were never niche outside Japan since DQ and FF were always big.

>>2136881
That's just how the genre works. It's exactly the same thing with fighting games: the games in the genre are all very similar gameplay-wise so only a handful of the most tightly designed and well-balanced titles will enjoy massive publicity and popularity.

In the fighting genre, only SF, Tekken, Virtua Fighter and MK are truly big. But you wouldn't argue that the fighting genre is niche, would you? Meanwhile millions of people have played RTS in their heyday, they have left a lasting cultural impact, it's a popular spectator sport in some parts of the world and while data isn't the plural of anecdote, I personally know more people across multiple countries and social circles who have played AoE or Starcraft than people who have played Mario.

I simply can't see how you can possibly say that RTS were always a niche genre.

>>2136928
What this fella said.

>>2136928
yeah I guess it's questionable whether or not fighting games are niche or not

>>2133595
Renegade is so underrated even just as a pure FPS. The campaign is so simple and fun.

>>2133645
In terms of atmospheric "feeling" and in how aesthetically everything "fit"...in combination with it's amazing soundtrack. Tiberian Sun really is one of the best RTS ever made.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3TkgmHWptVc

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MzqFTq6UpaE

>>2132245
yeah, i preferred WC2 over WC3.

just had a better feel to it.

Starcraft and Total Annihilation are my bread and butter. They're just amazing games.

Starcraft has been played to a level that I'm not sure any other RTS will actually reach. So much of what's possible and what's optimal has been mapped out. It's actually kind of interesting to see, from a perspective of someone who's played the game since white people were relevant.

Total Annihilation was so far beyond it's time, in the mechanics of the game (line of sight blockers, projectiles behaving like projectiles and not homing missles all the time), the graphics and soundtrack were amazing, and the multiplayer system was godly.

>>2137653
Starcraft player here

Tell me more about Total Annihilation.
Im curious.

>>2138380

Not that guy, but for a game that didn't look completely 3D, Total Annihilation was very 3D. It had terrain elevation which can fuck up your units' projectiles and firing arc, and all your units that can shoot fired honest-to-god projectiles. Even the actual homing missiles sometimes fuck up and miss their targets completely. Hell, even underwater terrain had elevation (which means that even submarines had to actually see shit and be able to hit shit).

>>2139197

but is the physics real? do they have velocities and angles and always fall in parabolas or do you just have to see em

>>2139206

For units that used cannons, yes, those things fired at an angle, and their projectiles arc, which is why positioning is king for building defensive cannons and using tanks and basic artillery (especially the long-range plasma cannon, that shit also tends to be inaccurate do to its ungodly range). A lot of weapons also had differing projectile speeds.

The pic in >>2139197 accurately portrays projectile physics in the game. If you're pointing a long-range plasma cannon at a ground unit that's maneuvering inside a deep and narrow ravine, you're only hitting cliff faces (the projectile will likely only fly over your target).

>>2139206

I also forgot; the game also has wind speed (it's one of your sources of energy), and, in some cases, gravity (!!!) which can dictate how far and how fast your cannon projectiles can hang in the air (you'll notice this in the moon missions, if you play the campaign; low gravity can make units with cannons fire farther than they should).

>>2139225
fuck, i need to know what game this is

>>2130139
I love Final Fantasy Tactics, but it's hardly an RTS.

>>2139231

Total Annihilation. Shit's rad.

But I like Homeworld better.

totala still the best

>>2133614
Fuck yeah, I believe people still play online.

>>2139197
>Starcraft missiles
>Hurr

Yeah thats kind of right, still made me laugh

>Archer's bow throws fire
kek

>>2139197
>>2139223
>>2139225
Thats intresting, it seems like a good game to play.
Might as well download it and play it, let see if this game stands a challenge for a 11 years old Starcraft player (11 years playing Starcraft... not that Im a 11 years old)

>>2130637
Try PortableRA

>>2139197
>Starcraft's siege tanks fires smart ammunition because it is fucking far future and we already have guided artillery shells
>TA's gun fires dumb unguided shells like it's WW2 even though it's fucking far future

TA is great and all but it's not like Starcraft's linear 2D damage model doesn't make sense.

Homeworld

So many good RTS games during /vr/s lifetime. So greatful this board was created.

Tiberian Sun and Emperor: BfD. Not quite for their gameplay, there are games with better execution and balancing, but for the aesthetics. Tiberian Sun does end of the world incredibly well. Emperor is remarkable for closely it managed to accurately replicate the aesthetics of Lynch's Dune with limited early 2001s 3D graphics and on what today would amount to a shoestring budget for the live-action cutscenes. Hell, it even made the silly $150-per-costume hazmat suit Sardaukar look cool.

Plus, the soundtracks. I'm not really sure why everyone loves Harkonnen soundtrack for E:BfD so much though. I'd rank the other two above it.

What was that one RTS where you had space marines versus grays?

My personal favourite is Red Alert 2, and the expansion (if that counts). Both so, so much fun.

The single player campaigns were unbelievably good - only ever played a couple of LAN games in terms of multiplayer so not best placed to judge, but they were both pretty fun and fast paced, unless I'm looking through nostalgia goggles.

Regarding Total Annihilation - I was really young when that came out, but I do have vivid memories of absolutely loving it, although I didn't really fully appreciate how to play it. Was I looking at it through child-like goggles or did it really have as many different units as I seem to remember it having? Absolutely loved the variety in shit you could build, and I was blown away that you had different units that could build stuff, rather than the Command and Conquer method of production.

Forget what the starting unit was called (think it was just "Commander") but I seem to remember it being absolutely badass and able to build stuff faster than pretty much any other unit. Could you self-destruct it, or was it just that it had a massive explosion that destroyed almost everything around it when it died? Can't remember.

I do remember spamming Pee-Wee units in skirmishes against easy computer opponents (as I say, I was really young!) Found it really satisfying to use them, purely because they had a rate of fire that was really fast, so watching loads of them all firing at one enemy was great fun.

Seem to remember playing the original Imperium Galactica at the time (had real time battles so it might count for this thread) I liked it, but didn't have a fucking clue how to play it.

Can't remember why I stopped playing TA - think we lost the disc, which coupled with us having to get a new computer meant we couldn't reinstall it, and we just kinda never got it again. Might have to give it a go again some time - any kind soul know of essential mods? Is it *really* worth playing again, and not just for nostalgia's sake?

>>2140189

You could self-destruct any unit in TA, IIRC. The Commander blows up everything around it with the force of a nuke when it dies, and it's your starting builder (it does build faster than most construction units, still faster than the decoy commanders, though it could only make T1 structures)

The most notable mod for TA I've seen is Escalation, which adds a whole new tier of units and structures. It also raises the game resolution since it introduces units that are really fucking huge.

Starcraft or Chaos.

Command & Conquer Red Alert 2 + Yuris Revange

>>2130048
Yuri's or RoC.
AoE2 gets a mention

>>2133595

Giants: citizen Kabuto, that game rocked.

>>2133629
Muh fucking nigga

So thanks to this thread I was inspired to dig up Emperor.

Fuck playing as Ordos. Worst AA, absolutely worthless air units, worst special unit, worst base defenses. So far the only winning strategy I have discovered is "i maek laser tank", augmented by "i maek Fedaykin" and "i maek Sardaukar".

As much as I love Westwood games, I have to admit that gameplay balance really wasn't ever their strong suit.

bump

>>2139823
It's probably one of the most underrated games ever created. They tried to increase its popularity by simplifying it in the second game (which I did enjoy playing nevertheless) but still it wasn't enough for a new game.

I wish there was a similar RTS. I used to literally cry when my pilots said "Cabin pressure dropping"

>>2140090
Dark Colony?

cmon... bump

>>2140073
Ordos soundtrack was good, and I like the way their units looked even if they were a bit shit.

>>2143343
Yeah.

>>2139768
It is a LOT slower than Starcraft and the shift-key is your best friend since you can queue up an unlimited number of orders for your units. It is my favorite RTS of all time. (With Homeworld: Cataclysm coming second.)

Emperor: Battle for Dune is my favorite by far, though I'm garbage at all RTS games. Closest I get is like, Civilization 4.

>>2130842
> 3 selections of Ai choices
> hold fire, return fire, fire at will
> no retreat, retreat at heavy damage, retreat at light damage
> hold position, protect area, chase enemy

> modern RTS games don't even have a fraction of this

>>2147293
Those are pretty awesome commands

Yeah, sad thing new RTS dont have those commands

I still like to sit back and relax with a nice skirmish of Total Annihilation Kingdoms.

The style of building and units, the point control for infinite resources, the way it can be played in a rather relaxed manner. It's up there in my top favorites.

>>2133595
There is always Sacrifice, a wonderful gem of a game by shiny studios. I think it's up on steam/gog for cheap.

>>2140828
My niggah. Sea Reapers were incredibly fun to play in multiplayer, so many good lan parties back in the day.

>>2130048

THIS IS JIMMY! OHHH, RIGHT!

>>2148170

As for my "favourite" RTS... I can't really choose to be honest... but the most "memorable" one is Command and Conquer Red Alert 1.

SC1 is a very close second.

are you newfags for real? Starcraft by far.
>3 totally different races, units and strategies
>best online multiplayer out there for ages
>great graphics
why are we even discussing this?

You breed tiny bald men with each other and invent shit to kill other tiny bald men who wear different coloured overalls.

What's not to love?

>>2149043
>>why are we even discussing this?
because other people have different opinions, silly

I, for one, don't even really like starcraft

I'm a total C&Cfag

>>2149043
Im a Starcraft player and take your head out from your ass

People can like another games

>3 totally different races, units and strategies
Yeah, like almost every RTS game

>Best online multiplayer out there for ages
Im not gonna say it was the 'best', but sure it lasted a long while.

>Great graphics
You are serious?

Go to >>>/v/ Im pretty sure you will fit very well in that place

>>2139823
>>2145126
And that art... The Taiidan Scout/Interceptor design should take its place as a spacefighter archetype among the X-wing, the Starfury and the like.

>>2149442
bump!

This is a really good thread. Are there any good ports of any of these for Linux systems?

>>2154263
OpenRA works on linux, I believe

Retro? Dune 2.
Not retro? C&CG.

>tfw can't help but cheer along with AK 47S FOR EVERYONE! YALLAH!!! every damn time

>>2149293
no most RTS games are either two distinct factions or one faction but copied several times with some faction specific units

I myself don't agree with anon calling SC is the best RTS but they're pretty good on that part

bump

C&CG:ZH /w Shockwave mod
http://shockwave.swr-productions.com/