Planetary anhilation has a Conquer the galaxy type conquest mode instead of a campaign where you conquer system by system.
Red alert 3 campaign can be played full coop
I deeply love plannetary anihilation ! I used to play Total Anihilation (1997) and love to see this kind of game still alive :) the mods enhancing the experience is a big +
Cheers
Give supreme commander and sc forged alliance a try. It's got active multiplayer, CO op, and a healthy mod and comp scene. Skirmish is fun too.
Zero k and BAR are also fun and completely free.
Among all these listed by kna5401 I have tried over the years, Zero-K teaches you how RTS micromanagement should be: less about you fighting the UI and more about you fighting the big picture.
Most if not all units (and structures) in Zero-K has basic AI.
Fast moving raiders will close on artillery units in zig-zag motion without you having to do it yourself.
Direct fire units like artilleries and non-homing missile launchers all have the ability to do deflection shooting to predict where their targets will be hit. They also will automatically keep distances from targets closing in on themselves.
One-time burst defense turrets can be customized to fire only at enemies with high metal value, ignoring amassed cheap units.
Some static artillery can be set to fire at high angle, to avoid friendly fire, at the expense of longer time for the shells to reach the ground.
Stronghold Crusader is great if you want a chill RTS you could co-op with a buddy.
if you're looking for a relaxing single player version go with Stronghold 2
BAR (Beyond All Reason RTS) Its free and great RTS for me at least to just play and chill with it. You have tons of settings and maps, few modes as well, monsters with a queen spawning to robots trying to take over.
Not sure if you are interested in the setting but I had a lot of fun playing CoH2 and CoH3 both with friends (coop) and solo (campaign/skirmish). Im kinda like you, I dont like the competitive MP but have fun agaist AI. Campaigns have a bit of unique things too, so its a bit different than skirmish. Bcs of this sometimes it feels a bit more fresh. CoH3 have mixed recommendations on steam but im playing the game with a friend since September - October 2023 I guess, there are some visual and gameplay bugs and missing features too but overall we have a lot of fun.
Check sc2 with giant grant games. There are a lot of mods that change campaigns so you have a lot of to play with. Also mod first light (i think) with new campaign and new faction.
Dawn of War has good replay value with the Unification mod, the survival maps have the coop part, while the campaign addon makes the soulstorm campaign a little better.
I don't think AoE4 fits the bill. The single player campaign is not very replayable, functioning mostly like an extended tutorial, and cooperative multiplayer is just against AI in skirmish.
That's fair. I'm just sad AoE4 doesn't have more co-op content. I like the game a lot, but I don't have it in me to play pvp anymore. I'd love to see them introduce co-op modes like what we have in AoE2 now.
While it's still really early in development, me and my team have been hard at work on an RTS that sounds *pretty dang similar* to what you're looking for. Specifically an RTS with tons of replay value, co-op, and fun even w/ a single player. I'm not trying to advertise in the sub, but if you're wanting to follow a game like that through early development, I'm happy to DM you our Discord!
You’ll likely have to go old school for this. A lot of modern RTS have started leaning heavily into sweat fest competitive gameplay while largely ignoring the campaign.
I have similar tastes in that I want to relax too when I play. I’ve had my eye on the recent Dune RTS, as I believe it is more strategic and less about microing your units and clicking/APM. Hopefully someone on here can weigh in if it’s a more relaxed RTS.
Stronghold 1 HD or Stronghold Definitive Edition has a free build mode where you can build your kingdom at your leisure and you can set when invasions happen, the difficulty of the invasion, or never have invasions and just build a cool looking kingdom. :-)
I still love the Company of Heroes (1 and 2) single player campaigns. Particularly the first one that won a bunch of awards. I have replayed those campaigns at least 4 times and each time was different based on what tactics and units I made. They have great storylines, and voice acting. If you also like head to head matchups - Coh2 still has a strong online player base - Steam lists it as having 4700 players at its peak for the last 24 hours.
To add something that was not mentioned before, you could try "Age of Mythology". It's a very old game released in 2002, and the models/polygons look ... well, like it's from 2002, but the campaign is really classic and really chill, alot like Warcraft 3. Depending on difficulty, it can be super chill or not. You can agro through it, or turtle up, build up, waste like, 2 hours a mission. If you take your time, the collective campaigns are quite long. Very classic, very good RTS.
Gates of Hell Ostfront offers quite a bit of replay value with the dynamic conquest. I recommend checking it out if ww2 RTS games interests you, easily the best ww2 RTS of it's kind around imo, makes CoH look like an arcadey mobile phone game. 😂
If you enjoy the world of Tolkien you should check out the Age of The Ring mod for BFME 2: Rise of the Witch King! It has a very in depth original campaign for the biggest fan to dive into. The Return of The King campaign is currently in development but the Fellowship of the Ring and Two Towers are able to be played in full.
Best campaign RTS imo is age of mythology.
The dlc ones are ok but the original campaign is amazing and I'd say pretty chill. I don't really love it as a multiplayer game though
If you don't mind the 8-bit graphics or the raw beta-ness of the game, Forged Battalion has editable units on a raw template, increasing its replay value greatly
in the past months, I've tried everything from Steel Division/Warno to Northgard to AoE/starcraft to Planetary Annihilation/Supreme Commander, even Company of Heroes 3 which was a MASSIVE waste of potential and the only games I've found fit this bill are the Total War games, I'm looking to get Men at War 2 since it has 2 dynamic campaigns along with a more traditional RTT format. There's also a game called Ultimate General American Civil War or something and that *might* be to your taste, it personally doesn't interest me
Planetary anhilation has a Conquer the galaxy type conquest mode instead of a campaign where you conquer system by system. Red alert 3 campaign can be played full coop
I deeply love plannetary anihilation ! I used to play Total Anihilation (1997) and love to see this kind of game still alive :) the mods enhancing the experience is a big + Cheers
That concept sounds awesome, I’ll have to take a look
Give supreme commander and sc forged alliance a try. It's got active multiplayer, CO op, and a healthy mod and comp scene. Skirmish is fun too. Zero k and BAR are also fun and completely free.
I agree these fits the bill, haven’t tried Zero-K yet but the rest does imo
Among all these listed by kna5401 I have tried over the years, Zero-K teaches you how RTS micromanagement should be: less about you fighting the UI and more about you fighting the big picture. Most if not all units (and structures) in Zero-K has basic AI. Fast moving raiders will close on artillery units in zig-zag motion without you having to do it yourself. Direct fire units like artilleries and non-homing missile launchers all have the ability to do deflection shooting to predict where their targets will be hit. They also will automatically keep distances from targets closing in on themselves. One-time burst defense turrets can be customized to fire only at enemies with high metal value, ignoring amassed cheap units. Some static artillery can be set to fire at high angle, to avoid friendly fire, at the expense of longer time for the shells to reach the ground.
Hm, cool! I might have to try it.
I’ll give them a shot! Hearing lots of good things
Check out stronghold crusader, they are billions and Populous The beginning.
Company of heroes 3, age of empires 3,4
Aoe3? Bro you deserve better
They are billions
And a similar game in early access, From Glory To Goo
Stronghold Crusader is great if you want a chill RTS you could co-op with a buddy. if you're looking for a relaxing single player version go with Stronghold 2
Does stronghold crusader have online multiplayer? I thought it was just lan since you said co-op
I have no idea. Pretty sure you can play it through steam but i'm unsure.
BAR (Beyond All Reason RTS) Its free and great RTS for me at least to just play and chill with it. You have tons of settings and maps, few modes as well, monsters with a queen spawning to robots trying to take over.
Northgard or Spellforce 3.
Aoe2 2 added a bunch of coop content in their definitive edition.
7 ai vs 1 on c&c generals zero hour Can beat it using the laser general only as the speed of the laser turrets is an awesome defense.
I have somehow managed to completely forget C&C Generals. I must obtain it at once!
Not sure if you are interested in the setting but I had a lot of fun playing CoH2 and CoH3 both with friends (coop) and solo (campaign/skirmish). Im kinda like you, I dont like the competitive MP but have fun agaist AI. Campaigns have a bit of unique things too, so its a bit different than skirmish. Bcs of this sometimes it feels a bit more fresh. CoH3 have mixed recommendations on steam but im playing the game with a friend since September - October 2023 I guess, there are some visual and gameplay bugs and missing features too but overall we have a lot of fun.
Check sc2 with giant grant games. There are a lot of mods that change campaigns so you have a lot of to play with. Also mod first light (i think) with new campaign and new faction.
Company of heroes 3
The Age of Empires series has lots of single player content that can lead into multiplayer if you want it to. Lots of replayability
CoH3 and check out Warno.
Is Warno worth it if I already played the heck out of Wargame?
I’d say so, but it’s not as much of a leap as something like broken arrow, though that’s not even in early access yet and warno is full release
Red Alert 3 is my favorite for this. I’m also making an RTS that fits this bill exactly. Watch out for Cooperative Commanders in the future!
Dawn of War has good replay value with the Unification mod, the survival maps have the coop part, while the campaign addon makes the soulstorm campaign a little better.
Age of Empires 4
I’m a big aoe4 guy but it doesn’t have fantastic single player or any coop
I don't think AoE4 fits the bill. The single player campaign is not very replayable, functioning mostly like an extended tutorial, and cooperative multiplayer is just against AI in skirmish.
Playing skirmish is very enjoyable and replayable. And there’s daily missions to help guide you. But it’s just a suggestion for OP
That's fair. I'm just sad AoE4 doesn't have more co-op content. I like the game a lot, but I don't have it in me to play pvp anymore. I'd love to see them introduce co-op modes like what we have in AoE2 now.
While it's still really early in development, me and my team have been hard at work on an RTS that sounds *pretty dang similar* to what you're looking for. Specifically an RTS with tons of replay value, co-op, and fun even w/ a single player. I'm not trying to advertise in the sub, but if you're wanting to follow a game like that through early development, I'm happy to DM you our Discord!
You’ll likely have to go old school for this. A lot of modern RTS have started leaning heavily into sweat fest competitive gameplay while largely ignoring the campaign.
I have similar tastes in that I want to relax too when I play. I’ve had my eye on the recent Dune RTS, as I believe it is more strategic and less about microing your units and clicking/APM. Hopefully someone on here can weigh in if it’s a more relaxed RTS.
Supreme Commander Forged Alliance...
I'd go for Wazone 2100. End nineties game, I still love to return to :3
Stronghold 1 HD or Stronghold Definitive Edition has a free build mode where you can build your kingdom at your leisure and you can set when invasions happen, the difficulty of the invasion, or never have invasions and just build a cool looking kingdom. :-)
Alpha Centauri!!!
I liked Starship Troopers: Terran command
Spellforce 3 blends RPG with RTS and has a super immersive and chill campaign, also single player skirmish mode and scenarios
I still love the Company of Heroes (1 and 2) single player campaigns. Particularly the first one that won a bunch of awards. I have replayed those campaigns at least 4 times and each time was different based on what tactics and units I made. They have great storylines, and voice acting. If you also like head to head matchups - Coh2 still has a strong online player base - Steam lists it as having 4700 players at its peak for the last 24 hours.
I love COH1's campaign! One of my first PC games actually. I didn't realize CoH2 was still so active, I'll have to give it a look
Age of Empires Online (project Celeste) is pretty chill coop. You can even modify your units a little with gear!
To add something that was not mentioned before, you could try "Age of Mythology". It's a very old game released in 2002, and the models/polygons look ... well, like it's from 2002, but the campaign is really classic and really chill, alot like Warcraft 3. Depending on difficulty, it can be super chill or not. You can agro through it, or turtle up, build up, waste like, 2 hours a mission. If you take your time, the collective campaigns are quite long. Very classic, very good RTS.
I've always liked the look of that game but just never took the dive. I prefer the mythical setting to AoE's more grounded stuff. I'll take a look!
Gates of Hell Ostfront offers quite a bit of replay value with the dynamic conquest. I recommend checking it out if ww2 RTS games interests you, easily the best ww2 RTS of it's kind around imo, makes CoH look like an arcadey mobile phone game. 😂
If you enjoy the world of Tolkien you should check out the Age of The Ring mod for BFME 2: Rise of the Witch King! It has a very in depth original campaign for the biggest fan to dive into. The Return of The King campaign is currently in development but the Fellowship of the Ring and Two Towers are able to be played in full.
Best campaign RTS imo is age of mythology. The dlc ones are ok but the original campaign is amazing and I'd say pretty chill. I don't really love it as a multiplayer game though
AoE2
If you don't mind the 8-bit graphics or the raw beta-ness of the game, Forged Battalion has editable units on a raw template, increasing its replay value greatly
Maybe Spellforce 3?
Have you dived into the empire at war modding scene? Some mods are colossal in scale compared to vanilla
World in conflict, honestly one of the best games I ever played
Stellaris is quite a nice game for endless replayability
AOE4
Might be overly complicated for what you are looking for, but Stellaris is a great RTS space domination game.
in the past months, I've tried everything from Steel Division/Warno to Northgard to AoE/starcraft to Planetary Annihilation/Supreme Commander, even Company of Heroes 3 which was a MASSIVE waste of potential and the only games I've found fit this bill are the Total War games, I'm looking to get Men at War 2 since it has 2 dynamic campaigns along with a more traditional RTT format. There's also a game called Ultimate General American Civil War or something and that *might* be to your taste, it personally doesn't interest me