THIS!!!!!! I LOVE THIS GAME!!!!

I still own my Total Annihilation disk that I bought it 1997

Amazing strategy game!

Both the sequel and American Conquest were disappointments in my opinion.


Another amazing strategy game. Had so many epic online battles in this. It's a shame EA had to shut it down...

Rise of Legends. RISE OF LEGENDS. Why did nobody mention it? It's only the best RTS ever! Shame people dismissed it because of the scenario, just like Paraworld.

Command & Conquer: Red Alert 1
MechCommander 1

Awesome games!

MechCommander 2 is now freeware, I think.

the two kohan-games could be something, the first is my prefered one when it comes to gameplay,while the second one have much better graphics but I never quite got into that one before I returned to the first title immortal sovereigns.
7 kingdom have two decent titles,same there, ancient adversiares have "old" graphics (sprites) but good gameplay,the other 7k game worth mentioning is frythan wars,you get to play a frythan in addition to humans,the campaign was very fun,occasionally hard depending on which race you played as, think I saw both over at gog but could be wrong there.

I love AoE. If you haven't played it before, get the third one, it's a blast. I wish I could get AoE:Age of Kings to run

Stronghold 3 is out soon, Stronghold 1 is pretty ancient but good fun, Stronghold 2 always gets slated but I enjoyed it a lot! Not tried crusader but stay away from Legends

Also, Rise of Legends, it always spilts opinion but I loved it.

oh and the Anno games are pretty cool not so much about combat though.

I played Command and Conquer 1 which is now known as Tiberian Dawn and Red Alert 1. Tiberian Sun was also a really fun game. Command and Conquer was best when it was made by Westwood, when EA bought the franchise they made red alert2 toned down and it became kind of kiddy and cheesy. EA ruined command and conquer in my opinion. CnC3 was a good game but way too easy I beat that game on hard in 1 day. My first online game was Red Alert 1 playing with a 56k modem! I actually started playing red alert 1 agian on hard difficulty and man it is hard. I can't seem to get passed the 2nd to last Allied Mission Why is it that older games were so much harder... Command and Conquer well always be my favorite RTS franchise. Command and Conquer Tiberian Dawn and Red Alert 1 well always be a cherished childhood memory!

What about starcraft1 that's classic it was made in the mid-90's. Starcraft is probably my 2nd favorite RTS franchise.

both 1 & 2 are

& one that deserves mentioning IMHO is "Dune 2" which is free as well.

Classic+rts = starcraft.
Honestly if you haven't bought this game go ahead and do it now. The storytelling and events in it will make you wonder, why there are other rts games out there.

Stronghold is very economy based, I only ever played the demo for the second one, but I did enjoy it. The Settlers games also give a lot of attention to economy building, the most recent game claims that you can build an empire off trade entirely, so that might your thing.

Dawn of War has very little resource management, and C&C is the same. C&C has one two things to manage, money (ore) and power, I'd also like to say that I never really enjoyed any C&C game apart from Retaliation on the PS1

As Steampunk says, Company of Heroes is similar in resource management to Dawn of War, but it is executed better, and there is more strategy involved within it.

The Battle for Middle Earth games, again have very little resource management, you build farms, and that's it (lumberjacks if you're the evil teams), although I do actually really enjoy those games.


Age of Mythology is excellent, Titans is horrid.

I wouldn't say Titans is horrid. More okayish, while the original game is absolutely amazing.

Dawn of War is fantastic, but pretty much the exact opposite of what you're (OP) looking for.

I always enjoyed the Stronghold series.

Its horrible unbalanced in favour of Atlantis, I never could stand playing it :shrug:

I never liked the Atlanteans either, neither to play myself nor as enemies. I always played matches with only the original three factions and profited from the new stuff.

Only one way to go here: StarCraft 2! A recent game that takes a classic formula and gives it a polish with amazing visuals and some of the most balanced and lagfree multiplayer ever. I used to love games like Age of Empires but since I got this I haven't been able to play another RTS of its style.

I would say Starcraft 2 is mediocre. Sure, it's well-balanced, but at the cost of being ridiculously simple and one-dimensional. 3 races, limited build options, and a rush for resources being the only viable strategy = boring. There's not enough room for ingenuity.

Starcraft 2 felt a bit too Starcraft 1.5 for me. Very conservative gameplay, missed convenient features that have been introduced to the genre since like formation moving (I'm not a big fan of obsessive micro in RTS). They could have done more while still keeping the basebuilding/resource-gathering gameplay. But I suppose when a game obtains e-sport status, any sort of change or addition to gameplay will cause a volcanic eruption of nerdrage (see: Counter-Strike 1.6 and the riot shield).

You're joking, right? StarCraft 2 has way more units than your average RTS (of that type) and the current state of the metagame gives players plenty of options (except maybe in Protoss v Protoss). Have you ever watched a pro game? They're always about scouting to see what your opponent is planing, and a rush for resources is hardly the only strategy since whether you expand early or go for an early push is a decision you must make every game.

Ach, no, don't bring metagame into it. You can turn anything into a travesty of metagame.

I understand both points though. Starcraft 2 is a very well balanced RTS, no doubt at all, but it's strategy lies in very specific and very small things. Like which second of the match you build your Warp Gate in, or how many SCV's you build in the first 2 minutes. Those kind of things end up being the deciding factor in skirmishes, and while there's lots of room for variation in there, it has a rushed feel.

Starcraft 2 matches are short. Maybe intentionally so, as it only takes about 15 minutes to reach full potential and end a match. We've all seen them ended in far less time than that.

Then there's the reference. Age of Empires II. It takes a good player at least half an hour to reach the imperial age, and even then it's not always the best strategy to rush for it. You have an entire economy to consider of food production, wood production, stone and gold production, and you have to balance it with the population of your villagers and the size of your territory and military. Games can completely turn around at any time, even in the late game. I've had AoE2 matches where my entire base was destroyed, and I STILL managed to cobble together enough of a rebellion force to outlast the rest of the players, cutoff access to 1/4th of the map, and guerrilla my way to a noble defeat. You can't do that in Starcraft 2. If you get wiped out at the base, it's over.

It's a shame that developers think classic-style RTS nowadays should only cater to the competitive super hardcoe niche. I have been a fan of the genre since the C&C1 and Warcraft days, yet I have never liked focusing on stuff like strict build orders, micromanagement, etc. This is why I don't like Starcraft, Red Alert 3, and especially not Warcraft 3 with its focus on heroes.

I also enjoy multiplayer matches where the tides can turn suddenly and at any time. Some of my best memories are from Red Alert 2 LAN sessions where this happened quite often.

Would Heroes of Might and Magic be considered classic? I played Heroes of Might and Magic III (released in 1999) only game I've played in the series its kind of a classic.




Yeah that seems to be the problem with newer RTS games. I hated Warcraft 3 hero system! that's why I stopped playing it and would never consider it a game I like. Warcraft 3 would be so much better if there was no heroes! Ever play Red Alert 1 matches those could be really insane at times those battles could go on for hours on when playing maps with massive ore. So many units! I really don't like what EA did with the Command and Conquer series. EA's Command and Conquer games are alright they are playable and can be fun but they just don't have that Westwood touch which well always be cherished.

Those games are turn-based.