Original War

Original War is a real-time strategy game with role-playing elements. The story is based on the novel The Last Day of Creation (1981, by Wolfgang Jeschke). The game has been designed by Vladimir Chvatil, author of some well-received board games, e.g.: Galaxy Trucker, Space Alert or Codenames. After not so stellar sales Original War source codes have been given to the community. The game has a small but active player base and it is continuously expanded.

RTS aspects: - building structures (both defensive and civilian) - building vehicles - researching technologies - resource management (in most missions resources are very limited and are so scarce that You will be even recycling structures and vehicles to obtain some) RPG aspects: - there is a YOU character through the whole campaign, that You can make dialogue decisions with and that You must keep alive - character skills with levels from 0 to 10 for: - fighting (combat effectiveness with personal weapons, also some defensive stats) - building also affects repairing structures, structure levels of built structures - mechanics also affects driving (combat effectiveness of driven vehicles), repairing vehicles - research also affects medicine (healing characters) - characters are persistent through the whole campaign (they may not appear in every mission but they can reappear in later missions if they are alive) - there is no way of producing manpower, therefore people are the most precious resource Originally there were 2 story campaigns with branching missions (Your decisions and mission performance change the story and what the next missions will be). The 2 story campaigns are from the opposite sides of the conflict, letting You experience the story from both sides. Later there was a fan made campaign for a 3-rd faction with a full story and branching missions of its own. This is truly a game that deserves its place among Good Old Games. People still play it, mod it, write about it.

one of the best games ever made.. note this is not your usual rts.. you have limited manpower and each your soldier is unique and each lost will hurt you

Got the cd version of the game from my best friend years ago, and I am still playing it after all those years from time to time. It is not your average rts, the campaign is awesome, you make the choices, and the choices matters, if you save someone, he will help you in the next mission, or the mission after that... If you kill him instead, a mad girfriend of the guy attacks your base in a suicide bomb vehicle in one of the missions... Its just awesome, one of the best in the genre. Spent tens of hours in the campaign trying every possible ending... The people are the main power in this game, resources are nice and everything, but if you lose just one of your guys, it HURTS. Details are the key to atmosphere, you can see out of the forest easily, but you won't be noticed in there, a lot of tactics can be utilized in this game :)