Question for any real time strategy gamers
 

Okay so I normally just played rts games like warcraft. starcraft, aoe, etc. I recently just bought lotr:bfmeII and am not really digging it. I think it's the scale of the game. In games like warcraft you had a much smaller army and it seemed the game was more about strategy then massing hundreds of units.

What I was wondering is if there are any recent, or last couple year, rts games that have a smaller scale to it. Like wc3 or sc?

Thanks

Command & Conquer 3

Starcraft 2 is coming soon.

Rise of Legends was fun.

Company of Heroes

This is one of the best RTS I ever Played and one of the best games too. Its freaking awesome.

see none of those games have a small scale to me.


See look at a wc3 screen and how few units there are and the size and focus of the units.
http://www.gameland.lv/lena/pics/cen..._screen001.jpg

Dawn of war seems to have a similar scope, but every other game, like ROL or COH there are hundreds of tiny units.

I loved Warcraft III as well, I think you would really enjoy Company of Heroes, it seems like it really fits what you are looking for. Company of Heroes is about small scale tactical battles, very similar to Warcraft III.

You have probably seen screen shots and thought there was a ton of soldiers on the screen, but with the squad breakdown it really cuts down on the units you need to command at one time. You don't control individual soldiers, you control squads, so instead of controlling 6 soldiers individually, you control 1 squad. The squad control really turns multiple units into 1 unit.

I mostly built tanks in the campaign, and I could generally only have 5-6 tanks + some soldiers before I hit the cap.

Another vote for Company of Heroes. I never played it myself but everything I've heard about it has been excellent. I'm a huge Age of Empire fan but I don't think you'll like it too much from your description. It plays at a very large scale. If you don't like BFMEII, then you probably won't like C&C3 either.

Company of Heroes is a on a smaller scale compared to other RTS. its not like C&C, your only controlling a few squads at a time. Not a whole army. The game still has an epic feeling though. PLus you can zoom in very very close to where there face fills the screen or zoom out to see the map, you can rotate up and down too.



video review
http://www.gametrailers.com/player/14636.html?type=mov

If you don't mind older games, I'd recommend the Close Combat series -- particularly the second and third title in the series. You can probably find them for pretty cheap used.

If you are looking at Dawn of War, you might as well check out COH. They are similar, and developed by the same company. I think the scope on both are about the same. Smaller in scope than other games I have played. They both have similar capture point systems for resources and ability to upgrade your existing units. It might seem like there are hundreds of units, but thats because the infantry units are grouped in squads. You don't control individual soldiers. So, you might have 15 soldiers, but you are only controlling 3 units.

I think both games are great, but I prefer COH. COH is probably the best RTS I've played in a long while.

C&C 3 was all about massive armies made quickly to bumrush opponents. I found it to rely more on brute force than on strategy sadly :(

If you want just a few units, you may enjoy a squad-based game like the Commandos series or the Desperados series. Those aren't games on the build-a-base/gather-resources/build-units/fight model. Instead, you have a squad of a few characters, each of whom has unique abilities. You then have to navigate a series of levels; each level has unique objectives that you accomplish with your squad.

If you want something cheap, old, and fun, go get a copy of Dune II. Still one of my favorites.