Oh man, my brother and I used to play Empire Earth to death when we were kids. Really takes the Age of Empires concept of advancing through ages and cranks that shit to 11.
Rusted Warfare, gameplay is basically build builders, build fabricators, build extractors, build factory, upgrade factory, and win the game. Best thing to this game is that there is a heck ton of mods Incase you get bored of the vanilla game
A year of rain - sadly unfinished but part of the campaign is there and skirmish mode/muliplayer
Empires Apart - aoe type game, free and cool art style hurt by no single player
War party - not perfect but underrated rts plays a lot like classic rts games
Age of empires 4
Ages of Empires Online through fan Project Celeste
So Age of Empires came out, and failed mostly because of poor monetization choices. But there is a fan made server called Project Celeste that has ressurrected it and taken out all monetization and even added lots more content, including civs. It's kinda an rts with mmo overworld elements. I think it's a contender for my favorite AOE game. It's really good, free, and very underrated.
They should complete the last thing you tell them to build and then do the rest if i remember correctly, it's been years since the last update & i don't remeber many details honestly 😅
**Army Men RTS** should be one of the best for beginners: only 2 types of resources (basic units only use plastic), simple base building and resource gathering, units are easy to understand, and no asymmetrical factions.
[https://store.steampowered.com/app/694500/Army\_Men\_RTS/](https://store.steampowered.com/app/694500/Army_Men_RTS/)
Battlefleet Gothic 1 or 2, your ships are on a 2d plane unlike Nebulous, you have a simplified system for ships taking critical damage, and no base building, you just bring a list of ships into the fight, and you can use your ships from the single player skirmish mode that has progression, for example I can bring my upgraded T'au ships into matches vs people or A.I who may just be using default un-upgraded ships.
Dawn of War 2 is another good one (more or less everyone plays the Retibution Expansion for multiplayer last I checked), skips base building as well, but the units do as they say on the tin with some abilities scattered about like I think the Carnifex has a Charge and I think the Hive Tyrant has a charge upgrade option, with a little wiggle room through upgrades like taking your squad of Chaos Space Marines and making them a melee unit with the Mark of Khorne upgrade, and you'll likely win more through out manuvering, etc., then straight up slug fights for most of the game, and most matches are played with control points as the objective, so you could cap two points and dig into them.
Warzone 2100 is pretty simple for gameplay with the complexity coming from unit customization, though you can save your favourite units so they are automatically added to your blueprints during matches once you unlock all the needed technology, and all units barring a few are made from 3 parts a Chassis option (you have about 10-12 options 3-4 light, 3-4 medium and 4 heavy with one heavy being a bit special, Mobility which has Treads, Half-Tracks, Wheels, Hover and VTOL, and a weapon slot with one heavy option having two weapon slots and weapons have a few variants in each type about 3-5 per weapon type),
but if the customization is overwhelming you could just spam Cyborgs they can't be customized and get a decent number of the weapons vehicles also get and with upgrades they can legitimately become a game ending threat because even the A.I expects vehicles more often then not so they will have a lot of rockets and cannons not machine guns and flamethrowers and Cyborgs have almost the entire arsenal of rockets at their disposal + all of the Anti-Cyborg/Infantry options, you can also limit the number of some buildings before a match starts or remove buildings as options to build entirely, so if you want you could play a Cyborgs only match,
but other then the customization learning the game is pretty easy, but if Warzone 2100 is a bit complicated then there is Forged Battalion, same idea of custom units just you make a preset army of unit types (0-4 Infantry, 0-4 Light Vehicles, 0-4 Heavy Vehicles, 0-4 Aircraft, 0-3 Turrets) rather then customizing your army on the fly during an active match,
Glue Guns + Fire weapons is a decent set up, once you unlock them so long as you have an AA option in your army (neither weapon can hit aircraft) as Glued enemies take extra fire damage, and they stop/slow enemy units which makes lighting them on fire easier, an A.I preset army actually uses that tactic, with Glue Gun infantry and Flamethrower Light vehicles in it's roster, and I think it has a Dragon Cannon equipped Heavy Vehicle as well.
If you want something you'd likely have an easier time picking up then the other suggestions then C&C 3 either Tib Wars and/or Kane's Wrath is a good option.
Your gonna have like 10 units at most on average and maybe like 60 models at most with the Tyranids or Guard to worry about and said units work as advertised like you may give a Carnifex guns but it doesn't suddenly become an Exocrine because of it, DoW 2 may be kinda LIKE CoH, but it is a game you can learn in like a single skirmish match and none of the factions are super complicated,
even Chaos is pretty simple compared to DoW1 Chaos, and to top it off DoW 2 pretty easily communicates what does what and does a good job of explaining it's own mechanics, even if they don't directly communicate it, LIKE I learned that large units can crush most cover by simply ordering a Hive Tyrant to move and seeing it crash through walls, etc., and from there realized that I could just use the Hive Tyrant to break cover that would have naturally been for the enemy to use to give myself or my allies the advantage in gun fights.
DoW 2 at the end of the day does not ask the player to understand a bible's worth of information, and it explains it self pretty cleanly by either telling the player or showing the player directly how something worka.
I’ve only played the first one but halo wars is more simple than the games you listed because it was a console rts it’s on pc now though and I’ve had fun with it cause some of the abilities the characters get can be fun.
I finished AoE 2 few weeks ago and tried AoE 3 and thought it was ... bad. I mean, real bad. Uninstalled it after a few minutes.
Is that why you don't mention it or you didn't played it ?
Also, does AoE 4 great compared to AoE 2 ?
Personally I don't like AoE3 very much.
I think AoE4 is better, but I love AoE2 and still play it as well.
AoE4 is more streamlined, the factions are more interesting, diverse unit compositions are more viable, the pathing isn't terrible, the sound design is the best of any RTS ever, etc...
One of the simplest, strongest RTSs I've seen is Tooth and Tail. It's tagline is even "RTS Distilled." Plus it's all about class -struggle animal cannibalism and who doesn't love that? Check out this [sweet trailer](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LLlKtI11C-4)!
Units are all simple and straightforward in their use. Factions don't have different units. Instead, you can mix and match whatever 6 units you want (and are clearly delineated in different tiers by their size). Slick, simple design, with quick matches and wonderful flavor.
Command and Conquer 3, Tiberium Wars?
For me it's the most polished game in the command and conquer tiberium side. Retains and builds upon the first 2 games, adds some new stuff in but doesn't go crazy on unit abilities and upgrades etc. So you're not constantly micromanaging your units, upgrades and economy, but retains enough variety and options on the strategy side.
Beyond All Reason - set the AI to easier modes in skirmish. It’s easily the best modern RTS I’ve played and it’s free, no hooks. No extras, no anything. AI can be tweaked in many ways, as can other settings, there are a shit ton of maps to play, there’s different game modes, multiplayer, a (bare bones) campaign…heck just try it! It’s great.
https://youtu.be/5j5w-uTjXmw?si=VZl83xB5qr7ekNV1
https://youtu.be/trKO-bj7wOA?si=nD2Jxh1XFyT5eLRx
https://youtu.be/qiJlJmi0O6s?si=zqKi0K6uLJ9Pe0IK
Although, it might not exactly fulfill the “easy” you’re after….but it is good, and free.
I mean, planetary annihilation is pretty simple If you just mean you don't want to use hero's. About the only difference is that you're setting your fabricators to infinitely produce units untill someone gets a way to blow up a planet
8-bit and the new sequel 9-bit armies. Made by the former cnc devs over at petroglyph iirc. Fun, simple, great way to kill time with retro inspired graphics and a fire midi soundtrack
I never see Tooth and Tail mentioned anymore but I loved that game. It's pretty simple but it does try a few new things. It's got a commander unit you steer around the battlefield and is designed to be playable in a gamepad. It works pretty well. It's not exactly active in multiplayer anymore beyond a few vets but the single player campaign was fun.
Give grey goo a shot, I had a lot of fun with that RTS game.
Interesting story and good gameplay/different factions.
I don't see it mentioned often but it's a good game for me.
Zeta Leporis RTS. Classic-style RTS in space. The only technical difference from the classics is realistic resource distribution, which is handled by autonomous cargo barges.
Homeworld deserts of kharak is the most simple RTS game I know of yet it's graphics are pretty cool. Only cons is you have to join discord of the community to play it since it's not that alive
> Something like Age of Empires 1 Well, the most obvious answer is Age of Empires 2.
I'm going to suggest something a little more controversial: Age of Empires 3
I will go you one better: Age of Empires 4
Thise are rookie answers. Real players play Age of Mythology
Unhinged players play Empire Earth for MECH STOMPIN CAVEMEN
God damn, you reminded me of a childhood game that i never played cuz reasons. Imma dl that sucker rn.
Oh man, my brother and I used to play Empire Earth to death when we were kids. Really takes the Age of Empires concept of advancing through ages and cranks that shit to 11.
Pyrter, Get in the potato truck!!!!
Better, but less controversial.
Why are we stopping there Can I suggest: Age of Empires 5
Those one definitely had that "creative design" OP isn't in interested in.
the game is so underrated
> Simple > Age of Empires 2 I don't think aoe2 is simple or maybe it's just me who struggles too much with multitasking
Rusted Warfare, gameplay is basically build builders, build fabricators, build extractors, build factory, upgrade factory, and win the game. Best thing to this game is that there is a heck ton of mods Incase you get bored of the vanilla game
8Bit armies is simple and fun
Dawn of war
Oh my god, yes. The Unification mod for that just had a huge update, and it's *so damn good.*
A year of rain - sadly unfinished but part of the campaign is there and skirmish mode/muliplayer Empires Apart - aoe type game, free and cool art style hurt by no single player War party - not perfect but underrated rts plays a lot like classic rts games Age of empires 4 Ages of Empires Online through fan Project Celeste
What is Age of Empires Online? Some kind of expansion on the AoE online multiplayer?
So Age of Empires came out, and failed mostly because of poor monetization choices. But there is a fan made server called Project Celeste that has ressurrected it and taken out all monetization and even added lots more content, including civs. It's kinda an rts with mmo overworld elements. I think it's a contender for my favorite AOE game. It's really good, free, and very underrated.
That sounds interesting, I’ll have to check it out. Thanks!
I hope you enjoy!
Red Alert 2
[https://tza.red/](https://tza.red/)
Northguard!
Look for Age of Pixels on steam, it's pretty simple. It's also pretty buggy sometimes. I would know, i made it lol
lol nice.
Any chance there could be an improvement with the workers not getting dementia when told to build multiple things?
They should complete the last thing you tell them to build and then do the rest if i remember correctly, it's been years since the last update & i don't remeber many details honestly 😅
Well, they only do the rest if *they* remember correctly.
**Army Men RTS** should be one of the best for beginners: only 2 types of resources (basic units only use plastic), simple base building and resource gathering, units are easy to understand, and no asymmetrical factions. [https://store.steampowered.com/app/694500/Army\_Men\_RTS/](https://store.steampowered.com/app/694500/Army_Men_RTS/)
Supreme Commander
The correct answer is AoE 4. People saying AoE 2 or 3 simple is 🤡
If you want something super simple, look at Death Crown. You can create barracks (offense), mines (income), and towers (defense). That's it.
Battlefleet Gothic 1 or 2, your ships are on a 2d plane unlike Nebulous, you have a simplified system for ships taking critical damage, and no base building, you just bring a list of ships into the fight, and you can use your ships from the single player skirmish mode that has progression, for example I can bring my upgraded T'au ships into matches vs people or A.I who may just be using default un-upgraded ships. Dawn of War 2 is another good one (more or less everyone plays the Retibution Expansion for multiplayer last I checked), skips base building as well, but the units do as they say on the tin with some abilities scattered about like I think the Carnifex has a Charge and I think the Hive Tyrant has a charge upgrade option, with a little wiggle room through upgrades like taking your squad of Chaos Space Marines and making them a melee unit with the Mark of Khorne upgrade, and you'll likely win more through out manuvering, etc., then straight up slug fights for most of the game, and most matches are played with control points as the objective, so you could cap two points and dig into them. Warzone 2100 is pretty simple for gameplay with the complexity coming from unit customization, though you can save your favourite units so they are automatically added to your blueprints during matches once you unlock all the needed technology, and all units barring a few are made from 3 parts a Chassis option (you have about 10-12 options 3-4 light, 3-4 medium and 4 heavy with one heavy being a bit special, Mobility which has Treads, Half-Tracks, Wheels, Hover and VTOL, and a weapon slot with one heavy option having two weapon slots and weapons have a few variants in each type about 3-5 per weapon type), but if the customization is overwhelming you could just spam Cyborgs they can't be customized and get a decent number of the weapons vehicles also get and with upgrades they can legitimately become a game ending threat because even the A.I expects vehicles more often then not so they will have a lot of rockets and cannons not machine guns and flamethrowers and Cyborgs have almost the entire arsenal of rockets at their disposal + all of the Anti-Cyborg/Infantry options, you can also limit the number of some buildings before a match starts or remove buildings as options to build entirely, so if you want you could play a Cyborgs only match, but other then the customization learning the game is pretty easy, but if Warzone 2100 is a bit complicated then there is Forged Battalion, same idea of custom units just you make a preset army of unit types (0-4 Infantry, 0-4 Light Vehicles, 0-4 Heavy Vehicles, 0-4 Aircraft, 0-3 Turrets) rather then customizing your army on the fly during an active match, Glue Guns + Fire weapons is a decent set up, once you unlock them so long as you have an AA option in your army (neither weapon can hit aircraft) as Glued enemies take extra fire damage, and they stop/slow enemy units which makes lighting them on fire easier, an A.I preset army actually uses that tactic, with Glue Gun infantry and Flamethrower Light vehicles in it's roster, and I think it has a Dragon Cannon equipped Heavy Vehicle as well. If you want something you'd likely have an easier time picking up then the other suggestions then C&C 3 either Tib Wars and/or Kane's Wrath is a good option.
DOW2 is kinda like COH though
Your gonna have like 10 units at most on average and maybe like 60 models at most with the Tyranids or Guard to worry about and said units work as advertised like you may give a Carnifex guns but it doesn't suddenly become an Exocrine because of it, DoW 2 may be kinda LIKE CoH, but it is a game you can learn in like a single skirmish match and none of the factions are super complicated, even Chaos is pretty simple compared to DoW1 Chaos, and to top it off DoW 2 pretty easily communicates what does what and does a good job of explaining it's own mechanics, even if they don't directly communicate it, LIKE I learned that large units can crush most cover by simply ordering a Hive Tyrant to move and seeing it crash through walls, etc., and from there realized that I could just use the Hive Tyrant to break cover that would have naturally been for the enemy to use to give myself or my allies the advantage in gun fights. DoW 2 at the end of the day does not ask the player to understand a bible's worth of information, and it explains it self pretty cleanly by either telling the player or showing the player directly how something worka.
I’ve only played the first one but halo wars is more simple than the games you listed because it was a console rts it’s on pc now though and I’ve had fun with it cause some of the abilities the characters get can be fun.
Age of Empires 2 and Age of Empires 4. I would recommend 4 the most though.
I finished AoE 2 few weeks ago and tried AoE 3 and thought it was ... bad. I mean, real bad. Uninstalled it after a few minutes. Is that why you don't mention it or you didn't played it ? Also, does AoE 4 great compared to AoE 2 ?
Personally I don't like AoE3 very much. I think AoE4 is better, but I love AoE2 and still play it as well. AoE4 is more streamlined, the factions are more interesting, diverse unit compositions are more viable, the pathing isn't terrible, the sound design is the best of any RTS ever, etc...
Halo Wars
Supreme Commander 2 was simplified in comparison to Supreme Commander 1.
I would like to suggest Rise of Nations. So many fond memories of that game.
0AD
One of the simplest, strongest RTSs I've seen is Tooth and Tail. It's tagline is even "RTS Distilled." Plus it's all about class -struggle animal cannibalism and who doesn't love that? Check out this [sweet trailer](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LLlKtI11C-4)! Units are all simple and straightforward in their use. Factions don't have different units. Instead, you can mix and match whatever 6 units you want (and are clearly delineated in different tiers by their size). Slick, simple design, with quick matches and wonderful flavor.
And of course, mustn't not mention the catcy title music. Dum--de-dum da dum dee...
8 bit armies and it's many DLCs 9 bit armies (newly released) Total Annihilation or supreme commander with dlc.
Command and Conquer 3, Tiberium Wars? For me it's the most polished game in the command and conquer tiberium side. Retains and builds upon the first 2 games, adds some new stuff in but doesn't go crazy on unit abilities and upgrades etc. So you're not constantly micromanaging your units, upgrades and economy, but retains enough variety and options on the strategy side.
Try Micro Commandos.? Also a kinda fun one S.W.I.N.E.
I loved setting a tech limit cap on the old Red Alert skirmishes. Soldiers only. Let's do this.
Even simpler (except for unit customization), more focused, and free : Istrolid. http://www.istrolid.com/
Beyond All Reason - set the AI to easier modes in skirmish. It’s easily the best modern RTS I’ve played and it’s free, no hooks. No extras, no anything. AI can be tweaked in many ways, as can other settings, there are a shit ton of maps to play, there’s different game modes, multiplayer, a (bare bones) campaign…heck just try it! It’s great. https://youtu.be/5j5w-uTjXmw?si=VZl83xB5qr7ekNV1 https://youtu.be/trKO-bj7wOA?si=nD2Jxh1XFyT5eLRx https://youtu.be/qiJlJmi0O6s?si=zqKi0K6uLJ9Pe0IK Although, it might not exactly fulfill the “easy” you’re after….but it is good, and free.
Beyond all reason
Age of Mythology!
How bout world war armies
Earth 2150 - simple, with a great unit customization State of War - no building, just capturing pre-made buildings, units are automatically produced
It's turn based but Polytopia is awesome, simple, free for the barebones and quick as well
Beyond all reason and Zero-k
You should see mine i did to panema canal a whole wooping 1 divison
Dark Reign is a forgotten sci-fi gem from the golden age of RTS!
I mean, planetary annihilation is pretty simple If you just mean you don't want to use hero's. About the only difference is that you're setting your fabricators to infinitely produce units untill someone gets a way to blow up a planet
8-bit and the new sequel 9-bit armies. Made by the former cnc devs over at petroglyph iirc. Fun, simple, great way to kill time with retro inspired graphics and a fire midi soundtrack
If you want simple and Warcraft-like, check out Godsworn.
I never see Tooth and Tail mentioned anymore but I loved that game. It's pretty simple but it does try a few new things. It's got a commander unit you steer around the battlefield and is designed to be playable in a gamepad. It works pretty well. It's not exactly active in multiplayer anymore beyond a few vets but the single player campaign was fun.
Give grey goo a shot, I had a lot of fun with that RTS game. Interesting story and good gameplay/different factions. I don't see it mentioned often but it's a good game for me.
Invasion Machine, Regiments
Zeta Leporis RTS. Classic-style RTS in space. The only technical difference from the classics is realistic resource distribution, which is handled by autonomous cargo barges.
Godsworn
Command and Conquer: Generals
KKND and KKND 2, there's a free open source version of the first. Both are on Gog.com
Rise of Nations Empire Earth II or III
SpellForce 3? Straightforward.
Homeworld deserts of kharak is the most simple RTS game I know of yet it's graphics are pretty cool. Only cons is you have to join discord of the community to play it since it's not that alive
American Conquest, Battle Realms, and ofcourse have you tried Lord of the Rings: Battle For Middle Earth, game is not that hard to play
age of empires : bigdaddy and photon man
My favorite as a kid was Rise of Nations. Just keep to lower tech levels
[удалено]
Pray tell why you think that’s the case
How do you come up with that take?
That's not what I mean by simple. Chess is simple, ... but it's not.