Is this possible through the unofficial patch? There is a thread in the subforum about a missing pause function and that there is no option for this.

I watched some gameplay videos and it looks very intersting (great ideas, different ways to play), but the gamespeed would be too fast for me.

I like TBS. Preferred ones would be JA2 (best for me), Incubation, HoMM3.

A good TBS is about tactics. RTS also about tactics but many of them are about fast reactions and lots of hotkeys. I care more about tactics.

Question: I keep hearing good things about TW: Shogun 2, people telling me to play it. How much of it is TBS and how much of it is RTS?

Oh, you mean pause and still issue commands? No, you can't do that.

But if you drag the game speed slider (it's in one of the menu tabs) all the way to the left (slow), it will slow right down (i,e, you will have to pause to be able to count the "game ticks" slow). I think they did that specifically because some people don't like the "fast and furious" gameplay.

This is mostly true. There is one main exception to the RTS being more about tactics, and those are the grand strategy games by Paradox. These are the only real time games that I have played that are purely strategy, since they focus running an entire nation, from policy and economy to the military. War is kept at the strategic level as your control is limited to telling your armies where to go. Any battles are resolved by the computer. As far as speed, there are multiple settings and it can be changed in game on the fly. I usually have the games set to max speed during times of peace, but slow it down to slow during wars and pause when an event pops so I can think about how to respond.

I do generally enjoy TBS and TBT (turn based tactics) games more. I like being able to analyze the situation each turn. For TBS, I really enjoyed Alpha Centauri (still need to reaquire), Civ 2 and Civ 5. For TBT, the X-Com and Jagged Alliance games were fun.

I also like games that combine RTS and TBS/TBT elements. X-com does this by having the world view as an RTS where you recruit and equip your soldiers and research in real time and then switch to turn based for the tactics part when in combat. Lords of the Realm flips the two, using the turn based mechanics for the strategy part of the game and real-time for the battles.

As a note, I define strategy games as games where your focus is more on the logistics than the combat. So things like running your economy, directing research and building your forces are what constitutes strategy. Most of the decisions for these activities are made to progress towards a long term goal, such as achieving a certain tech level, or eliminating a certain opponent. Tactics, I define as games that focus more on combat and directing troops actions in combat. Here, the decisions are almost always made to react to the current situation.

I'm no expert in TBS, but usually I fall asleep during TBS session. RTS has more feel of urgency, it is like real battle which is ongoing, and I am trying to tell my troops how to fight.

The original Dune 2 was very slow though, even in the "fastest" setting. Then again, because you had to command each and every unit one by one, slowness was a necessity.

I felt that Warcraft 3, and was it Age of Empires 2, were a bit too fast for me even in the slowest setting. For example in the very last mission on WC3 I felt the biggest problem for succeeding was that I was not able to command my troops fast enough.

One odd thing though. In RPGs, I much prefer turn-based combat to realtime combat. For example I liked the clear and simple TB combat system in "Betrayal at Krondor" a lot, near perfect. RPG combat scenes are so short compared to strategy games, so I don't get bored in them.

I hate to admit it, but I got bored in e.g. X-Com (turn-based) combat scenes. That's the reason why I never completed the original X-Com games.

Thanks for the information, that sounds interesting. I will wishlist it for now and take a closer look when it goes someday on sale.

Ohh, yeah! I forgot about Sacrifice.

So the best RTS games for my taste are:

1. Homeworld 1 & Homeworld Cataclysm (not on GOG)
2. Sacrifice
3. Ground Control 1

Turn base and rts games are both fun in their own little ways.

Turn base:Plotting and planning each and every move years ahead.Getting it just right and then hitting the end turn key.Watching as your plans unfoils before you.Laughing as your enemies lay dead before you and as smoke raises from their lands,which now belong to the one true ruler of the world!All from your masterful planning.


Rts:Quick and you need to think on your feet.Make plans, then remake them time and time again.Even making up a few new ones on the spot.watching and waiting for the enemy to make that one flaw which will let you win.Some are slower pace and could be close to or like a turn base game in speed.

I do have a liking for games which happen to be a mix of both,like lord of the realms 2.
Now for a short list of fun gogs rts and turn base games you can get off of here.For its hard to pick the best game with so many great games out there belonging to both turn base and rts.
Sacrifice,you will be playing this rts over and over again for hours!Its hard to put in to words all the great stuff one can say about Sacrifice.A look that happens to fit the game,fun range of powers to play around with.Then there is all the interesting monsters you can control and order around.Story mode,is worth a few play throughs,just to see all paths you could take.

Disciples 2.Fun turn base game where throwing hordes of units at something is the worst idea one could have.One of the fun things about this game is in the campaign.You can take a hero you had since the first mission all the way to the end,as long as they don't die.You can pick a hero,along with a few items to go along with you in to the next mission.As your units earn xp from fighting,they will level up and when they do, will turn in to a stronger variant.What kind of unit it will upgrade in to,depends on the buildings you build at your Capital.For a shorter version.build a stable and once the squire earns the xp, they will upgrade in to a knight.

And now for a short list of [rts and tb.]games which i like,some of which may not be on gog yet.
Battle for middle earth,lead the armies of middle earth!Build up your outpost,train a army earn power points.Spend these power points on new powers to help win the battle for middle earth once and for all!

Empire earth,fun rts.Which takes you all the way from cavemen age to the future!

Knights of honor.So many fun things one can do with this game,its hard to list them all.hire a spy send them to infiltrate a enemy kingdom.And what bad things they can do to your enemy,depends on what they are hire as.To make this short i will only list the marshal.If your spy gets hire as a marshal,they can force your enemy in to signing peace with you or turn all their armies in to rebels.

Dominions 3.To many fun things one can do in this game to list them all.Try the demo out for a small test of what you can do.

The problem I always find is that I play either RTS or TBS the wrong way.

With an RTS, I'm very tentative and methodical. I enjoy establishing base defences, taking resource patches, and slowly grinding my enemy to dust. But this will get you horribly murdered in something like SC2.

Conversely, when I play a TBS, I'm always rushing for the next turn. I don't take as long as I perhaps should when I begin planning the expansion of my empire. But this will get you horribly murdered in something like GalCiv 2.

Ah, well. Guess I'll have to just carry on having fun (and getting murdered) instead of being any good :-)

I tend to prefer turn-based for more combat-heavy strategy games and don't mind RTS for the ones that focus more on economy and building. Examples?...

Turn-based favorites: Heroes of Might and Magic series, King's Bounty series.

RTS favorites: The Settlers series.

RTS games where I felt I would've benefited from turn-based gameplay: Command & Conquer series.

I think that's my problem too - I just hate learning the 'formula' to beating a RTS or TBS game and so am never any 'good' at the game; I get trounced time and again by human opponents, but like to whomp the heck out of computer opponents when I play on easier settings.

Hahha, yea.

Personally, I like both... Don't prefer one over the other.

I like playing either depending on what I happen to feel like playing.

That being said, in an ideal world I really would prefer an Real-Time over a Turn-Based Strategy game, but obviously things are rarely ideal.
Sure, there's the arguement that it's more realistic since real life doesn't have turns, but in real life you wouldn't have one guy managing all that most RTS games have you doing. Realistically you'd have a group of people to split the workload between, and if a task required as much micro-management as some tasks in the average RTS do you'd have someone else assigned to focus specifically on that task.

When I do play RTS games I prefer games like Total Annihilation and AI War: Fleet Command that try to reduce the problem to some extent through features in the interface and various bits of automation.

against the computer I wouldnt mind either, but against humans I prefer not having to wait for my move indefinitely.

That said I hate games like Starcraft 2 where you have to fight the UI more that anything, really... not able to zoom far out, no support for 2 views or screens.. why dint they just make an friggen mappack for the original starcraft? All for nothing else than pleasing their Starcraft 1 clientel that would lose their edge without having to zap across the map with keybinds.

A good RTS would put an emphasis not only on planning your strategy but executing it aswell (if your plan is an diversionary attack you will just need to be able to control and react on both fronts), without getting in your way. Supcom is a great example for this (the best so far), you can plan ahead by qeueing up orders and buildings and then focus where its needed. Automation and a good UI is the key.