What beginner friendly RTS game can you recommend?
As a quick background, RTS is completely new to me. I spend majority of my time in FPS type games but want to branch out a bit and try out something different/new (to me).
Requirements:
- Somewhat casual (if that’s possible)
- Somewhat easy to learn
- Relatively modern with decent graphics (something that looks nice)
- Runs on Linux (of course) and Steam
I recently checked out BAR and liked it. I don’t like micro in RTS games, because I always think “a computer can do this better than I could”, so it’s nice that they’ve got good unit automations available.
What do you mean by micro?
Micro is a RTS term for how well you control your units. In starcraft for example you have the unit “stalker”, which can teleport. Professional players with very good micro can use that teleport to always teleport out a Stalker just before it would die. This means because of good micro they don’t lose their units.
The opposite is macro, which mainly talks about how good a player is in managing the game on a grander scheme like managing their resources and having an overview over the whole map
(I hope my example is still accurate it has been years, that I watched an rts game)
I’d recommend Beyond All Reason. It’s open-source and utilizes a realistic scifi theme. You essentially manage metal and energy to produce more units, to fight against other player’s units. It’s very easy to learn, and looks nice graphically. The only caveat I can think of is that it is not on Steam. Game Link: https://www.beyondallreason.info/
Looks interesting, do you use the AppImage or Flatpak install method?
I use Flapak to run Beyond All Reason. It does include its own updater, which makes it more portable.
PvP only?
No, you can play co-op or against bots if you’d rather.
There’s some not really relevant history, but Zero-K has an extensive single player campaign, and is based on the same engine as BAR:
