Good PC RTS games - older + not fantasy

[Treble]

Got my sister and brother in law a PC for Christmas, and they want some Military RTS games for it. These can be set in the past or the present, but not the future, and must be 'realistic', i.e. no C&C, no Warcraft etc.

Also, they only have on-board gfx, so nothing new or flash. Recommendations please, cheers =]

[Super Stu]

I'm a huge fan of the entire Age of Empires series, you can't go far wrong with that. In fact, there's probably a big pack with all of them in it, I think they'd enjoy that. Obviously a past thing, although the latest one, Age of Mythology, steps into the fantasy realm, so they might want to avoid that one.

Alternatively, consider American Conquest. It has a realistic setting, based between 1492 and 1813. Lots of muskets, galleons etc. One of the more interesting features is that, unlike Age of Empires, all the units are to scale, so where you have a few blokes on a screen say, you'll find that a building takes up half the screen (a fort, say), so obviously you'll want to run it at 1280x1024 or 1024x768 at the very least. Brilliant game though, one I probably would have (sadly) missed had I not won it from Eurogamer.

Not sure if there's been a sequel, was a while back when I got hold of it. HTH

[NeilMcRae]

warzone 2100 the best ever RTS.

[Zapp$ter]

Shogun: Total War fits the bill as does Medieval: Total War, I'd also give another vote for the Age of Empires games, particularly the first one and it's expansion pack. There's also the Sudden Strike games

There are a lot of good RTS game but many of them are fantasy affairs, like Warhammer 40k: Dawn of War, Warcraft 3(which incidentally can be bought in the gameplay sale for ?17.99 if it is still available. The pack also includes the expansion pack to it and strategy guides for each of the games).

[Montaver]

Command And Conquer : Red Alert 2

[Harmony]

Command And Conquer : Red Alert 2

He said no CnC games.

There's this relatively new game released in November called Codename: Panzers. WWII RTS. Might wanna look into that. I have it but haven't played it yet.

[Ish]

I'd also recommend any of the Total War games. If the PC will run it then Rome is simply magnificent. If not then I'd plump for Medieval.

[superkully]

Sudden Strike (I & II) is most certainly your daddy - It'll run perfectly on that PC. It's also realistic, set in WWII, immensely satisfying to play and probably ?5-10 nowadays.

[DjSatansfury]

Sudden Strike 1 is a deffo its hard as nails

Sudden Strike 2 or Cold War Conflicts, is a bit poor :/

And by not including Sci Fi or the future your missing some of the best RTS out

[Ersatz Nihilist]

Panzers: Phase One was quite good, but I only ever play it multi, so I couldn't comment on the campaign. Did seem quite extensive, though, and the mechanics were basically sound. Better than most RTS games, at any rate...

[Magnakai]

Cossacks!!
Oh, and the new Alexander game is made by the Cossacks people, so it might be good. Haven't read any reviews though.

Get them to like sci-fi and get them Total Annihilation.
Pwns, tbh.

[Mardigan8]

If you like Lord of the Rings then Battle for Middle Earth is an RTS MUST have. Been playing a lot since purchased it on release day. Not been getting much time due to my DS arriving but will definitly go back to it. Simple enough interfaces and great graphics and set piece battles. Really pulls off the atmosphere of the war from the films!!

[Ersatz Nihilist]

I've got to say I've been put off having a go at LotR: BfME simply because I really didn't like C&C: Generals very much, and they apparently use extremely closely related engines.