Your favourite RTS games

[Antimatter]

Now when Age of Mythology Retold has been announced, I recall how passionately I had played RTS games 20-25 years ago. Age of Empires I was probably the first game I ever played on a PC. What are your favourites? Do you play RTS games today? What games can you recommend?

As a side note, have a look at this retrospective on Age of Mythology:

 

[mlnevese]

Total Annihilation. Good AI it's one of the few RTS games where your units do not turn their backs to enemies when retreating and actually go on shooting while in range.

 

[Skatan]

C&C > SC1 > Dune 2 are my 3 preferred ones and then it get's more harder. W2 and 3 are great games, especially 3. AoE2 is great and I've had some fun MP on that one, though haven't played the remaster. TA was great indeed but I also loved the less known KKND. C&C had more good ones coming out, I actually liked them all. Generals was a great time, Tiberian sun too. I played the RA games too, but never liked them as much as the C&C line of games. SC2 has (had?) the best league I've ever seen. I followed all tournaments for about 1 year or 2 during the pandemic.

 

[BelgarathMTH]

Personally, I can't get into RTS because I don't like the time pressure that I would guess is precisely one of the main things its fans *do* like about it. I want to relax while I read tooltips and menus, and make decisions. Turn-based strategy gives me that. The thought that the computer is coming to kill me while I don't even understand the interface or what my buildings and resources do, is very stressful to me, which is the opposite of what I want from a game.

I don't mean to throw cold water on the thread or on people who want to share their enjoyment of RTS. I took your wording in the OP to invite people who don't play the genre to chime in.

 

[Antimatter]

A great video by Noclip about the Age of Empires games, it explains very well what is the appeal of these games and their history: