I'm looking for a good strategy game with a good online population to play against. I know Starcraft 2 has a really large base but I'm not too much into the memorization of keystrokes and build orders. Rather, I want to know if there is anything else out there (turn-based or real-time) that has a good online population to play against. I've read that Supreme Commander has some people milling about on a custom server browser but that's about all I could find.
Frozen Synapse has a solid enough player base; you'll rarely see more than 20-30 people online at a time, but the play-by-e-mail style guarantees you'll almost always be able to have a few games going at a time.
Im going to throw in for Fozen Synapse aswell, though i regularly see 500+ players online. Like agentorange said, the play by email style means that you can have a or multiple games easily, the other person isnt required to stick around, nor are you.
Its also hughly tactical and fun.
I would also imagine that most, if not all, RTS online require memorization of build orders. I know SupCom isnt different, as they guy who famously improved the ai did so in no small part my giving them better build orders and tech tree paths.
Company of Heroes has maintained a healthy player base, Warcraft 3 is much more forgiving than Starcraft (or 2) IMHO, World in Conflict never seems short of players, Civ always has players, but make sure you are ready for the length of game they intend to play, Sid Meier's Alpha Centauri is actually doing quite well on these forums, every Total War since Rome has players on-line to this day. Dawn of War is pretty busy, but only for the Coop hero thing.
Some far more long play games have healthy but smaller communities like Solium Infernium and Sword of the Stars (get #1).
Frozen synapse as previously mentioned, but my most played strategy game on-line isn't on PC, its Advance wars Dark Conflict on the DS.
I'm failing to writing a blog, specifically about playing games the wrong way
http://playingitwrong.wordpress.com/
Dawn of War 2 Retribution has around 2000+ almost any time, enough to play 1v1 game when you want with someone of the same skill.
I probably shouldn't have said it like that. I've got no prob with build orders I guess, watching SC2 matches and a passing glance at reddit's SC2 community scared the crap outta me and I associated that with a community attitude akin to a DOTA style of gaming.Originally Posted by Peter Radiator Full Pig
I guess you could say I'm sick of playing shooters online. I'm leaning towards SupCom mainly because I'm wanting that sense of getting into a huge battle or just being strategic rather than running around clicking the "fire" button. Hell if there are other suggestions that aren't strategy that are for a game with multiplayer that is just more "high-minded" than BF3 or COD with a good population I'd be open to it.
The ironic part is that I'm saying all this but I'm so excited to see even a glimpse of Planetside 2 that someone wouldn't be wrong to call me a screaming fanboy. I'm sucker for playing with others in a game that requires more than twitch reflexes.
Aye, Frozen Synapse is a fine game. There's also the Rock Paper Synapse leagues to play in.
I would just like to say that SC2's community is nothing like DOTA's, in my experience. Day9's daily webcasts (specifically the newbie Tuesdays ones, specifically targeted to those new to the game) are just one of the examples where the pros and vets try to engage with the wider gaming community; DOTA's community is a very insular and anti-newbie one, by all accounts. All the stuff that gets talked about on, reddit and the like, would mostly be pro-scene stuff which is, by nature, ultra-competitive (what kind of pro-scene would it be if it weren't?). Not every zerg plays like NesTea, and not every Terran player on b.net plays like MarineKing.
I've fallen out of playing, and even when I was playing I wasn't very good. I still enjoyed the game though. Not saying that you must definitely play SC2; just trying to assuage the fears you seem to be having about it. Personally, I find the game easy to pick up the basic mechanics and rules of. I don't think you really need to have a complete and total knowledge of every aspect of the game's controls and every possible build orders to gain some enjoyment out of playing against other people. It is also the strategy game that still has a particularly large and active player base these days =]
Last edited by StormTec; 25-12-2011 at 03:14 PM.
Thanks alot Storm, I'll definitely look into SC2 then. I've grabbed COH but in all honesty I've been so frugal this year I've allowed myself to splurge on Xmas gifts so it may just find its way into my collection.
Does RUSE have a good player base? Its seems like a high minded game where the focus is on something other than build orders (Though arent build orders just for the start of the game?).
Infact, it looks like such a genius idea that it would be a huge shame if it wasnt played all the time.
I remember hearing a lot about it when it was being released but nothing much afterwards. The developers are working on something taking place during the Cold War though so that may be something to keep an eye on.
Company of Heroes still has plenty playing, and isn't overly build-order driven (it's very build awareness important though - you need to know just when to get key stuff, but you'll learn that quickly enough).
Frozen Synapse will keep you plenty busy too.
World In Conflict on-line multiplayer disappointed me though - I thought it would be good, but it didn't really pan out, in public matches at least.
Oh wow I'm suckin it up in COH. It may not be build order based but there is sure as heck something I'm missing while playing it. Should I be starting with matches against the CPU? I've only played against new players and so far no wins after 7 matches.
Has anyone had a better new player experience with Starcraft? I'm downloading the demo now to see if I like the way it plays.
Last edited by jp0249107; 27-12-2011 at 03:58 AM.
Hi,
World of Warcraft is a very interesting strategy game.It is a paid game.Many players played it together and linked with each other.....................
Actually, i got SC2 for xmas, though a massive throat infection has left me unable to play it as much as id like.
So far i roughly followed 3 build orders, 2 zerg and 1 protoss. I destroyed the medium ai as zerg, and got destroyed as protoss. Glad the ai can give me a run for my money at the moment. I also have a friend that plays so we are going to do some 2v2, so i expect him to carry me for awhile. Havent actually had a battle versus another human yet, but there appears to be something called the practice league which if its anything like it sounds like, its a very welcome edition.
Also, i wouldnt call WoW a strategy game, except maybe the arena when you hit max level after 600 or so hours of play.
It's a bot.
Try out Nuclear Dawn. It's actually kinda good.
You could do with playing a bit of the singleplayer or bot matches first too learn how the mechanics of the game work - there are a lot of them, not just simple damage like in SC (yes, I realise that abilities are game changers in SC/SC2) - things like suppressing fire have a huge impact on the game. Equally, losing an entire unit (any unit, except engineers/kettenkrads) in CoH is a big deal and something to be avoided. Always retreat or back off before you lose something.
These guides however will help you enormously
http://www.gamereplays.org/companyof...inst-wehrmacht (note this is a few patches ago, and typical US build orders have changed slightly, but they aren't that important)
http://www.gamereplays.org/companyof...ching-mid-game
http://www.gamereplays.org/companyof...eterancy-works (note that CoH stats is now at http://dow2.info/coh/ and hasn't been updated to the latest patch - although this only brings very minor changes)
If you're looking for some people to play SC2 with, there's a thread here on the RPS social forum for SC2 players. I believe there are still people actively playing team games on here (or at least trying to get some organised). =]
I'm pretty aware of the different mechanics of the game because I've had the original COH for quite some time, I just never had the internet to play it online. I could just be giving up too easily as well as I haven't even tried an automatch yet and could be playing against a bunch of smurfs who title their games "noobs lvl1-6" or something. Thanks for the links I'll have to check them out.
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