Real-time Strategy Games PC & RTS Amiga

Real-time Strategy Computer Games

This is an index to cRPG Blog commentary on real-time strategy games, aka RTS games. Most of the RTS games covered are historically significant computer games whose influence on gaming has been incalculable.

Indeed, due to their fine-tuned gameplay some RTS games constitute high-points of 1990s Computer Game History.

• The Ancient Art of War IBM PC 1984: The First RTS
• BattleTech: The Crescent Hawks' Revenge 1990: Precursor to Modern RTS
• Sid Meier's Railroad Tycoon 1990: Realtime Business Strategy
• Dune 2 Review: The Formalizer of RTS
• Populous Amiga: The Seminal God Game
• PowerMonger Amiga: Wargame / God Game Hybrid
• SimCity IBM PC 1989 Maxis: The Seminal City-builing game
• Caesar IBM PC 1992 Impressions Games: Real-time strategy & City-building
• The Settlers Amiga: Too Little Too Late
• Carrier Command: Hybrid of Vehicle Simulation & Real-time Strategy
• WarCraft 1 Review: RTS Popularizer I
• WarCraft 2 Review: RTS Popularizer III
• Command and Conquer 1 Review: RTS Popularizer II
• Command and Conquer: Red Alert Review: RTS Design Mastery & Optimization
• StarCraft 1 Review: RTS Super Popularizer
• Terran Campaign StarCraft 1
• Zerg Campaign StarCraft 1
• Dune 2 Units
• Command and Conquer 1 GDI Units
• Command and Conquer 1 Nod Units
• WarCraft 1 Units
• WarCraft 2 Units
• WarCraft 2 Heroes

RTS games play out in real-time; that is, they are twitch-based action games that stand in stark contrast to meditative TBS games. RTS demands quick reflexes and quick thinking, TBS no reflexes but deeper thinking.

Some older gamers prefer RTS to TBS, but no longer have the reflexes to play them well. RTS can be exhausting to play whereas TBS can be played at one's own pace. In certain missions of StarCraft players can amass 800+ killcounts in 30 minutes, but in TBS games one can spend 30 minutes considering the action of a single unit.

RTS games have missions, but missions are just levels in disguise: almost nothing carries over from one mission to another. But in TBS games you are in it for the long-haul.

In addition, RTS games are mostly about laying waste to the enemy, but in most TBS games you can employ trade, espionage and diplomacy to great effect.

RTS games almost always feature avatar-anchorless edgescreen-scrolling.

Other launchpads:

• History of Computer Games 1976-2024
• History of Computer Role-playing Games (cRPG)
• History of Turn-based Strategy Games PC (TBS)
• History of Combat Flight Simulators
• History of Shoot 'em ups
• History of Racing Computer Games
• The First Flat-shaded Computer Games
• The First Texture-mapped Computer Games