Real-time-tactics(RTT)

[TheMany]

Really enjoyed Men of War. Never really enjoyed Total War, apart from the first one. The Myth(Fallen Lords...etc) series while having great atmosphere(the first two anyway) and a cool engine really lacked game play and level design. Sid Meier's Gettysburg is one RTT that i loved to bits; a real gem.

It seems whenever i play a RTS i am always looking for elements of realism found in the RTT genre, things like line of sight, elevation and real physics. I'm usually disappointed. Rock paper scissors doesn't cut it, it seems to much of a simplification for me. Men of War has rekindled my faith in this genre.

As a side Question: is Company of Heroes a RTT or an RTS? I just brought it for £2 in the off chance it would be fun.

I'd like to make a list of good RTT games and i might add descriptions and pictures if i got time:

Myth: 1/2
Sid Meier's Gettysburg
Men of War
Warhammer: Shadow of the Horned Rat/Dark Omen
Starship Troopers: Terran Ascendancy
Take Command: Second Manassas

 

[Nicolai]

first

 

[Shannow]

Don't bother with Company of Heroes. It doesn't deliver. But you could try Close Combat. I'd go with CC 2 first.

 

[Darth Roxor]

Give S.W.I.N.E. a shot. I think it even has a freeware status nowadays.

 

[Destroid]

CoH is most certainly an RTS.

 

[Panthera]

The very best RTT game released in the last few years is Take Command: Second Manassas. It's like SM's Gettysburg taken to the next level. Currently only $5 on steam.

http://store.steampowered.com/app/25840/

Though, you need to patch it to get it to work, because Paradox didn't bother to test it before putting it on Steam.

http://www.madminutegames.com/support.htm#TC2MPatch

 

[NiM82]

Ground Control (first one)

 

[TheMany]

I only just realised Close Combat was a real time game, i should check it out. Whats the learning curve like?

Is S.W.I.N.E. any good? It looks pretty basic to me. I vaguely remember playing it and being unimpressed, but that could of been another parody RTS.

I really should get Take Command, i've been meaning too for a while.

Is Ground Control really a tactical game? I remember playing it years back, don't remember if i used any realistic tactics.

Booooo on CoH. Well £2 spent for some eye candy then.

 

[Panthera]

I only just realised Close Combat was a real time game, i should check it out. Whats the learning curve like?

Pretty steep, but if you know anything about infantry tactics it'll all make sense. The interface is easy, the gameplay is tricky.

I recommend one of the Matrix updated versions. Modern Tactics is pretty fun, but it's really only good in multiplayer and trickier to play since everything has longer ranges and more killing power.

http://www.matrixgames.com/products/368 ... ongest.Day
http://www.matrixgames.com/products/363 ... t.am.Rhein.
http://www.matrixgames.com/products/335 ... ss.of.Iron

Here's another good RTT game that's a lot more obscure: http://www.shrapnelgames.com/One_Games/RA/RA_page.html

Very much like Gettysburg but with sci-fi units.

 

[MetalCraze]

Is Ground Control really a tactical game? I remember playing it years back, don't remember if i used any realistic tactics.

Ground Control is more of a "fired first - won first"
But it can be pretty good.

 

[PorkaMorka]

mechcommander gold

its free too

 

[NiM82]

As skyway says it was largely a case of shoot first win first, but to do that you had to have eyes on target, undetected, as you were always numerically outnumbered. Recon was criticial, you couldn't just rush about the map as you could rarely afford to lose too many units. Games were all about getting your spec ops guys to scope out the map for artillery units (who you had to protect from ambushes/flanking) and setting up ambushes with recon units dropping mines & infantry equipped with anti-tank rounds etc.

Might want to add the Blitzkrieg games to your list too, they are all about using artillery correctly and recon, some nice historic mods for it too.

 

[MetalCraze]

What about X-Com Apocalypse?

 

[Azael]

The Close Combat games are as good as it gets in book. Very user friendly interface with a lot of different factors deciding the outcome (morale, flanking, terrain, LOS, etc.). Some of my favorite games, very fun in MP as well.

 

[Derek Larp]

What about Combat Mission: Shock Force?

It has a RTWP and a Phase Based Mode.

EDIT: Is it a or an (a)RTWP mode?

 

[mondblut]

"Phase based" in Combat Mission means an usual realtime game, but you can only interact with it once per 30 seconds. It's horrible, proper realtime mode is the only real option in there.

 

[Darth Roxor]

Is S.W.I.N.E. any good? It looks pretty basic to me. I vaguely remember playing it and being unimpressed, but that could of been another parody RTS.

Well, yeah, it is rather basic, since it mostly boils down to 'You have this nifty panzer battalion of yours, now try to eliminate the enemy panzer battalion that has better tech and outnumbers you 5 to 1. But don't forget to refill ammo and gas!', and although I think the last time I played it was 4 or 5 years ago, I remember having a lot of fun with it.

 

[Applegate's Breasts]

More of an action-arcadey type game but you might want to check out Cannon Fodder.

Aforementioned Close Combat series is what comes to mind whenever I read RTT.

 

[TheWesDude]

an usual realtime

learn proper english please, whenever any combination of u or o vowels produce a Y sound, the u or o is not a vowel for a/an rule. "a usual" is proper grammar.

fkin idiot.


now OT:

suprme commander and its xpac forged alliance used a physics engine for its shot mechanics. every shot was calculated independantly for its flight path. most notably obvious with artillery and least obvious with laser/direct weapons.

they just have shitty AI threading.

 

[Shoelip]

And they're real time strategy games.

 

[Panthera]

"Phase based" in Combat Mission means an usual realtime game, but you can only interact with it once per 30 seconds. It's horrible, proper realtime mode is the only real option in there.

This is false, Combat Mission: Shock Force is unplayable in realtime if you have more than a platoon. I play turn based mode without exception.

 

[Zeros]

I'm toying around with World in Conflict that I got recently. It's a RTT game set in an alternate universe '89 where soviet russia invades seattle.

The game system, at least for the first missions in the campaign is that you get a few units then have to follow some objectives, capture command points and get a few more units. It uses a reinforcement point system (with a changeable landzone) where you buy units and they get delivered with a delay, as well as a tactical aid points with which you can order artillery barrages, precision strikes and the likes.

I'm not sure how deep or actually tactical the game is for now, but I haven't played much with it. It does look like it could be decent though. Hope so.

 

[GarfunkeL]

It's an crappy RTS without the base building. Though I only played four first missions before growing utterly disgusted with it. It tried to be realistic on one-hand but with the other constantly flinged poo on realism. The starting concept is already utterly fantastical, why not spruce it up a la Red Alert? Pfft, no, we want to be hard core. So we get a Seattle NG being a mixed mechanical force, responding to an invasion in minutes, choppers flying while air space is contested, artillery ranges in few hundred meters, infantry killing tanks with rifles (just give them enough time), enemy troops waiting patiently at their spawn point for an arbitrary AI flag to send them moving on predetermined waypoints, etc etc

In other words, it's utterly typical RTS. Only "tactical" skill that it requires is the good old rock-paper-scissors.

 

[mondblut]

This is false, Combat Mission: Shock Force is unplayable in realtime if you have more than a platoon.

That's what pause is for. And being able to interact with a realtime game once per 30 seconds means each "turn" you have 29 seconds to be slaughtered at will and can do nothing about it. At least in RT mode you can intervene at any moment.

 

[Derek Larp]

I play that game realtime-only too. It really is better if you have your soldiers advancing (especially in urban terrain) and enemies suddenly appear. The downside is that you can only really focus at one part of your troops (or at least have to accept that you sometimes take casualties without knowing what caused them or because you activated pause-mode too late).