Metal Fatigue from 2000 is an RTS where, as well as usual units, you can build mecha/robot units out of parts, can even scavenge and re-use parts as i recall. there are 3 levels of combat - orbit, surface and underground

i found it enjoyable but as difficulty increased almost impossible to keep up across all three levels while also trying to optimise use of the robots!

the story wasn't one that stayed in my mind though, the usual alien threat type i think. The c&c series win on story in the rts genre imo

Honestly can't say if the story was good or not, as I never really played it myself, but back as a teen, I had a friend that really loved War Breeds. I remember him showing it to me and it seemed very different from the more well known games..

Does anybody like Serf City (Settlers) ? Not much of a story, and Im not even sure if it is a real RTS, but just watching these guys chopping wood or baking bread was soo relaxing...

gerry wrote on 2025-07-14, 08:41:

Metal Fatigue from 2000 is an RTS where, as well as usual units, you can build mecha/robot units out of parts, can even scavenge and re-use parts as i recall. there are 3 levels of combat - orbit, surface and underground

i found it enjoyable but as difficulty increased almost impossible to keep up across all three levels while also trying to optimise use of the robots!

I kept getting forced underground and had to do sneaky tricks just to push through later half of the game.

Did anymone try Baldies and Biests and Bumpkins? They look interesting and a bit more unconventional. My biggest disappointment was Dominion (pic 1) from Ion Storm. That was just bad but looked so cool.

Aui wrote on 2025-07-14, 11:25:

Does anybody like Serf City (Settlers) ? Not much of a story, and Im not even sure if it is a real RTS, but just watching these guys chopping wood or baking bread was soo relaxing...

Absolutely. Serf City was a game we played for dozens of hours, sometimes without sleep, in split multiplayer on the Amiga 500.

Settlers II is the pinnacle of the series. Fantastic game.

I mostly played part one (also splitscreen) but also part two. I vaguely remember that there was a bit of a story. Some mysterious Roman Gate or something ?

Aui wrote on 2025-07-16, 13:22:

I mostly played part one (also splitscreen) but also part two. I vaguely remember that there was a bit of a story. Some mysterious Roman Gate or something ?

Yeah, you were trying to get off an island using portals or something. 😀

Settlers or Siedler is one of these games that had most drastic changes in their gameplay of the sequels. If you look at how they continued with part 3 and part 4 and I think the newer parts also tried to change their gameplay drastically but nothing really worked so good compared to the classic first 2 games. And I believe the initial creator came back with the Pioneers of Pagonia and the more classic approach and everyone loves it.

mombarak wrote on 2025-07-14, 21:19:

Did anymone try Baldies and Biests and Bumpkins? They look interesting and a bit more unconventional. My biggest disappointment was Dominion (pic 1) from Ion Storm. That was just bad but looked so cool.

I only played the demos. Baldies is odd because you can grab your units like a literal hand from the sky and drop them where you want, Dungeon Keeper style. The whole game feels a bit cartoonish, it does undermine the immersion for me.

Dominion played a huge role in the development of the genre, because Blizzard scrapped its original "Warcraft in space" design for StarCraft when they saw Dominion at E3 '96 (IIRC). So we kind of owe how StarCraft looks in its final state to Dominion, in a way. Other than that, it seems to be a fairly generic C&C clone with several twists, albeit also with good music.

Beasts & Bumpkins, I did not get very far in the demo, it was already a bit of a task to run in WinXP. It had interesting ideas, but I never fully figured them out.

On your original question, I must say I have not found many RTS titles that would pull me in in the same way as StarCraft did. Maybe it's just novelty that wore off pretty quickly, but everything else was either not on the same level, or poor imitation attempts.

Out of new-ish titles, BlackChain -- a one-man StarCraft clone -- has some pretty decent story that does not entirely feel like a cliché. I played a bit, but did not super enjoy it either.

Five Nations felt like a fairly budget StarCraft clone where they didn't even bother to create proper terrain tilesets and ground units. Not fun. The story seems to be in parts directly plagiarised from Blizzard. But the art and the gameplay are competently done, so you might want to check it out. However, I'd just play a custom StarCraft campaign instead. Were they to go full cloney and made ground units, perhaps it would have been more to my tastes.

Recently I bought Grey Goo, and it felt rather lukewarm to be honest. I only got through a couple Beta (the "good" aliens) missions. It plays okay, but I wasn't really very interested in the story at all.

Battle Realms. There's an updated version at Steam, and I heard this game being praised for good AI. What I played so far feels like typical early 2000s narrative-driven campaign, with some non-linear elements even, and there are some pretty good 3D visuals and animations, but I'm not enjoying both the base-building and the combat aspects in it.

Rising Kingdoms. Generally, I think this is one of the better examples, the missions are varied and the tweaks to gameplay mechanics that the devs introduced appear workable. Still, the story is kind of just "there", I played last year (or maybe in 2023, even) and I cannot remember anything remarkable. Human kingdom, some baddies, the fair folk and demons or what are those. But overall this must have been a good competitor to StarCraft and Warcraft III back in the day.

Armies of Exigo. This was branded a Warcraft III clone in the press back in the day, but I read that actually it was made by some hardcore StarCraft fans from Hungary. There are no Warcraft III-style additions like heroes, so it generally works like a StarCraft-ised medieval fantasy RTS. I've not played anything beyond the single- and multiplayer demos, and both refused to work on my Win10 machine. The full game has large campaigns that appear decent, but the game is not available for purchase these days.

Loria. It's a mix of Warcraft II and Warcraft III, leaning more to the latter overall. The story is likely more remarkable because of the snarky main character and some plot twists (I dropped it a while ago and haven't picked up again yet). If you liked Warcraft III, give this a try. The game has been made freeware a few years back, Steam and GOG.

Also, I think a cool thing to check out is a stand-alone mod/TC for the original Command & Conquer called Dawn of Tomorrow. The author made their own video briefings and made many other changes. The story seems a bit more original than what you'd expect of the standard fare of RTS clones.

Stories in RTS are as important as stories for DOOM, in the sense that, unlike Adventure games, they do not influence the gameplay. They are there, but the main pull of this genre is winning a map at the end of each mission. Unlike DOS CD-ROM era adventure games which had multiple endings, the stories are not that important in RTS games. It's either you win a mission or not, and if you win, the game progresses to the next level. Saying that, the only RTS game that made me want to watch the cutscenes after each mission was Z. And maybe Command & Conquer 1 and Red Alert 1.

Malik wrote on 2025-07-21, 08:37:

Stories in RTS are as important as stories for DOOM, in the sense that, unlike Adventure games, they do not influence the gameplay. They are there, but the main pull of this genre is winning a map at the end of each mission. Unlike DOS CD-ROM era adventure games which had multiple endings, the stories are not that important in RTS games. It's either you win a mission or not, and if you win, the game progresses to the next level. Saying that, the only RTS game that made me want to watch the cutscenes after each mission was Z. And maybe Command & Conquer 1 and Red Alert 1.

an interesting thought - were there rts games that had branching missions based on success/failure - ie an extra mission to 'redeem' a loss

you're right about story, its minimal although although it can play out in missions too - remember the nod missions in c&c that seemed questionable in moral terms but consistent with their ethos

i have memories of playing RTS games way back and being cautious and careful, building bases, resisting aggression, picking away at opponent economy and ultimately succeeding - and then playing online (by modem!) and basically being rushed by low level units mere minutes into the game by people with twitch gaming levels of mouse clicking, impressive but not very interesting either way 😀

gerry wrote on 2025-07-21, 12:59:

an interesting thought - were there rts games that had branching missions based on success/failure - ie an extra mission to 'redeem' a loss

In the original C&C the mission briefing in GDI mission 6 keeps cutting out so you don't really hear the building your supposed to destroy.
Your meant to destroy the Airstrip, if you destroy anything else you don't fail as such but forced to do another level (based on the same map)

C&C 2 had a few "side" missions such as "Capture Train Station" which if completed is supposed to make GDI mission 3 easier.

gerry wrote on 2025-07-21, 12:59:

i have memories of playing RTS games way back and being cautious and careful, building bases, resisting aggression, picking away at opponent economy and ultimately succeeding - and then playing online (by modem!) and basically being rushed by low level units mere minutes into the game by people with twitch gaming levels of mouse clicking, impressive but not very interesting either way 😀

I was also preferred "slow and steady" making good looking, well defended bases and trying to limit casualties.
Our little gaming circle of my brother and 2 school friends all had the same playstyle. Wasn't till another friend came over with his 2 mates that we got a taste of the "real world" and tank rushing (well ogre as it was Warcraft 2)
We retreated back to just us 4 from then on. (either LAN on a weekend or 1v1 over modem after school)

Cool thing is still mates with one of those friends and of course my brother is still my brother, so every now and then we play c&c remastered on Steam as we no longer live near each other.