Any old school RTS players here?

[Franco Cozzo]

Just wondering if we have any people here who used to play strategy games on PC/Console?

I'm interested in getting a few people together for a couple of games if possible, particulary the original "Red Alert" on PC (its free these days).

If you do play, want to play or want to learn if you could post here it would be sweet, thanks. Its good for killing some spare time.

[CFOUR]

its been a while but I played the hell out off age of empires and total annihilation back when they where fresh (1997). I still play the occasional game of total annihilation every year or so.

[Franco Cozzo]

http://www.red-alert.net/n3trunn3r/r...t/fullra+.html

There is the download for Red Alert, EA Games released the full game not too long ago. This is what the online community uses.

[veqlargh]

I used to love the old Starcraft and Warcraft franchises. Once the new Starcraft comes out i will be playing that a hell of a lot. Never did get into Red ALert.

[351@GT]

i still got the RA2 disc's somewhere.... dabbled in sc, aoe, ta wc etc
spent too much time playing dark reign

[XPfalcon170]

man, those screen shots bring back memories (Ah, those cheesy RA cutscenes). Still got the original Ra, Ra2, CnC, CnC2 and TA games in the boxes lying round somewhere haha. I think these games had taken out a few years of my life from playing them for so long.

[Franco Cozzo]

Yeah, they're still fun to play to this day as well, lots of re-playability. I've been playing some guys 1v1 and free for all just today, theres some good people out there.

[uranium_death]

The best RTS for me is Dune II.
Basically the first big-time RTS ever..I know there was another one in the 80s, but Dune II was the first great one...

C+C and Red Alert came after Dune II...same company; Westwood Studios.

The only Warcraft anything I have ever loved is Warcraft II.

Nothing else comes close for me....

[uranium_death]

Originally Posted by Big Damo

There is the download for Red Alert, EA Games released the full game not too long ago. This is what the online community uses.

It's called 'Abandonware', when a company no longer sells the game for profit and therefore it is made available for free online.

You can find many great old games online...

To find them, type in '<game name> Abandonware' and you'll probably find it.

Abandonia is a good site to visit too.

Enjoy.

[Franco Cozzo]

I've never played the Dune series, was interested a long time ago when CNC Renegade came out and they had a trailer for one of the Dune games on there, was in full 3D.

The newer RTS' are pretty cool, but long gone are the old days when you could just crush anything with hundreds of crappy rifleman haha. Its not so simple now unfortunately.

[Riksta]

I was an AoE addict for many years, I've still got the old original genuine CD's for AoE 1 & 2, plus their expansions, here somewhere. I should reinstall them, I loved playing them.

Empire Earth was AWESOME when that first came out, I remember hours upon hours of wasted time playing that against mates. Especially when you could start nuking them lol.

[uranium_death]

Originally Posted by Big Damo

I've never played the Dune series, was interested a long time ago when CNC Renegade came out and they had a trailer for one of the Dune games on there, was in full 3D.

The newer RTS' are pretty cool, but long gone are the old days when you could just crush anything with hundreds of crappy rifleman haha. Its not so simple now unfortunately.

Dune 2000 was absolutely crappo.
Emperor: Battle for Dune was a lot better.

The first Dune game was not an RTS. It was an adventure/management game.
Dune II was pure RTS. No rescue missions...skirmishes only. Build an army and then go in and raze. Three different Houses.

If you consider yourself an RTS fan but have not played Dune II, then you're doing yourself and the genre an injustice.

[Franco Cozzo]

I play the CNC series, started off with Red Alert and still play it, RA, RA2, Generals and C&C3 are my main ones (Red Alert 3/C&C4 is poohouse). I played some Warcraft III but I don't really like the series. Age of Empires II is great fun to play too, Company of Heroes is really good and same with World In Conflict for modern RTS.

Did they release Dune for free yet? I'll look into it.

[SSD-85]

C&C 2 & 3 are my favourites. Although many consider them to not be RTS (too simplistic or something). C&C 4 is horrifying. I was in absolute shock after playing it.

[Franco Cozzo]

Also EA Games ruined the series when they bought out Westwood Studios, RA2 was really cheesy and looked like a cartoon, Generals had nothing to do with the series, its like the RTS version of Battlefield 2 (it is a decent game, but not worthy of the C&C title), C&C3 was a step in the right direction, RA3 was hopeless, it got even worse than RA2 with the cheesyness and it was completely cartoony. C&C4, my god... How did they go so wrong? What a weak way to end the series.

All EA Games did was buy out companies, take over their series and them ruin them, hell they even ruined their own "Need for Speed" series. They churn out games with fancy graphics and hoping people don't notice the shortfall in gameplay.

[uranium_death]

Originally Posted by Big Damo

Did they release Dune for free yet? I'll look into it.

I know Dune (the first game was not an RTS) and Dune II are both freeware abandonware and available on many abandonware sites.

Don't bother with Dune 2000.

Try downloading torrents if you want Emperior: Battle for Dune, or if it is still sold, you can buy it probably cheap.

[uranium_death]

Originally Posted by Big Damo

All EA Games did was buy out companies, take over their series and them ruin them, hell they even ruined their own "Need for Speed" series. They churn out games with fancy graphics and hoping people don't notice the shortfall in gameplay.

You deserve a beer. You near the Grand Ridge brewery in Gippsland? :

Great point. Gaming is going down the crapper, with many franchises releasing garbage to appeal to the naive. Disney and co. release a game for every film and it sells squillions. Gold like Star Control II is hardly known nowadays.

I love Star Control II for the game, and also because Fred Ford and Paul Reiche III (creators of the game) basically told Accolade to shove it up their backside when it came to releasing the game on Accolade's terms. They worked for six unpaid months over the initial release date just so the game could resemble what they wanted.

Big companies are not great for games because they are only interested in profit...not making gamers or programmers happy.

EA is a great example. Franchise whores.

[CFOUR]

Ea has really turned over a new leaf the past 3 years. Wheras activision has taken ea's 3rd Reich approach to game devlopement to the next level. Quote from head of activision: "we are not in the buisness of making fun, we are a company that manufactures a product and we are 100% about the bottom line."

[samftr]

Is star control the game with the little space ships that say things like LAUNCH FIGHTERS and DIEEEEEE and stuff like that. was on the amiga.

And very true big damo, EA HAS SHAGGED THE CNC NAME...

[Franco Cozzo]

Also not really related to RTS, but does anyone here still play Diablo II?

[Trek]

Hate me for this if you wish, but I LOVED KKND/KKND2

I know they ripped on others, but I couldn't help but become addicted to them.

Total Annihilation was pretty one dimensional, but still fun to play, on the odd occasion.

Then there was Warcraft II, as unranium_death said. Definitely up there with the best, ever.

Sid Meier's Civilization/Civilization II rocked.

And finally Heroes of Might and Magic II and Heroes of Might and Magic III.

Many fine hours wasted on these awesome, awesome games.

Had played Dune II, but it failed to grasp my interest as much as the ones above, sad to say.

[uranium_death]

Originally Posted by samftr

Is star control the game with the little space ships that say things like LAUNCH FIGHTERS and DIEEEEEE and stuff like that. was on the amiga.

'Launch Fighters' is the Ur-Quan ship...that is in Melee mode.

The adventure game is far more than that though...the music...WOW!

Also, Star Control II was not on the Amiga. Only Star Control was.

Star Control II has a purpose. You talk to aliens, collect artifacts and minerals, and help other alien races. You also have to destroy the Ur-Quan Armada.

You can download it free: It was ported to the 3DO in the mid 90s (the 3DO was Panasonic's answer to the Sony Playstation).

The 3DO version is called, "The Ur-Quan Masters". They could only do a Windows-compatible version from the 3DO port because the original PC source code has been lost.

You can also get Star Control II PC on abandonware, but you MUST use DosBox. I personally do not touch The Ur-Quan Masters, because I'm finnicky and will only play the original, with the original soundtrack, graphics and interface.

[Franco Cozzo]

BTW guys if any of you are thinking about buying C&C4, make sure you buy it when its on the $10 shelf in 15 years time, it seriously isn't worth buying. Biggest disappointment ever.

Infact, don't buy it, don't download it. If you're a fan of the series you'll only wish you could unplay it.

[uranium_death]

Originally Posted by Trek

Had played Dune II, but it failed to grasp my interest as much as the ones above, sad to say.

Did you play Dune II before or after the rest?

I was playing Dune II when I was 9/10. In fact, I used to stay away from school (Grade 3 - 1993 - was 10 that year) just to play Dune II, Star Control II and Microprose Grand Prix.

When Warcraft came along in 1993/4, it just didn't hold my interest as much.

Warcraft II later though came close...but I love Dune. The story from the original game (based on the film) was great.

[uranium_death]

Originally Posted by Big Damo

BTW guys if any of you are thinking about buying C&C4, make sure you buy it when its on the $10 shelf in 15 years time, it seriously isn't worth buying. Biggest disappointment ever.

Infact, don't buy it, don't download it. If you're a fan of the series you'll only wish you could unplay it.

It's $50 bucks on Steam atm...but they have specials all the time.
RTS aren't my genre of choice...though Dune II is probably my second favourite game of all time...

[Franco Cozzo]

Originally Posted by uranium_death

It's $50 bucks on Steam atm...but they have specials all the time.
RTS aren't my genre of choice...though Dune II is probably my second favourite game of all time...

Hmm, whats your favorite genre? I quite like RPG and RTS, followed by some FPS every now and again.

[mik]

bit of a fan of multiplayer shootem up, half life deathmatch i played for years, 2 forts, team fortress, day of defeat, doom, quake 1,2,3, i never took to counter strike.

[Franco Cozzo]

Originally Posted by mik

bit of a fan of multiplayer shootem up, half life deathmatch i played for years, 2 forts, team fortress, day of defeat, doom, quake 1,2,3, i never took to counter strike.

I used to play Team Fortress Classic, 2fort was the best map haha.

[uranium_death]

Originally Posted by Big Damo

Hmm, whats your favorite genre? I quite like RPG and RTS, followed by some FPS every now and again.

RPGs I love, but they have to be good...
Fallout 1 and 2 are in my top five games of all time.
Fallout 3 is okay...but crap story.

Morrowind as a game is superior to Oblivion, but Oblivion is still good. Pity the story is terrible...just like Fallout 3.

FPS I am fussy...still love Doom. Otherwise, RPG/FPS like Mass Effect are well worth playing.

Ye Olde Adventure I love...Sierra Classics are among my faves also. Dune is also a favourite.

For today, I love Grand Theft Auto. The PC gamers are being ****ed on by Rockstar with crap ports from console to PC (unstable as buggery!), as well as the XBoxers getting a couple of new chapters...but it's still a great game.

But for me really, I take each game on its merits rather than judge it purely by genre. If a game of any genre is good, then I'll show some interest in it. Steam has seen to that.

[uranium_death]

Originally Posted by mik

bit of a fan of multiplayer shootem up, half life deathmatch i played for years, 2 forts, team fortress, day of defeat, doom, quake 1,2,3, i never took to counter strike.

During my Year 12 year of 2002, I spent more time playing Day of Defeat than I did studying. Yep...wasn't I smart!

Took me a while to get into CS, but I love that too.

I play Team Fortress 2 now...the spies annoy the hell out of me though.