Forum adverts like this one are shown to any user who is not logged in. Join us by filling out a tiny 3 field form and you will get your own, free, dakka user account which gives a good range of benefits to you: No adverts like this in the forums anymore. Times and dates in your local timezone. Full tracking of what you have read so you can skip to your first unread post, easily see what has changed since you last logged in, and easily see what is new at a glance. Email notifications for threads you want to watch closely. Being a part of the oldest wargaming community on the net. If you are already a member then feel free to login now.

So we'll never get it, but shouldn't there be a spritiual successor on the RTS front by now?

Considering DoW 3 was a failure, it's unlikely. RTS games also aren't as popular as RPGs or shooter/rip'n'tears.

It depends. The RTS genre took a big dive, but there's been some talk of it creeping back, even if its bringing some elements of other genres with it.

No one is going to be in a big hurry to greenlight DoW4 after the disaster of 3, however. They'll wait to see how upcoming games do first.

It's about time we got a new narrative about the Blood Ravens fighting Orks, when a mysterious new enemy is revealed in the Eldar, who are actually trying to defeat Chaos and/or Necrons.
Original plot. Do not steal.

The third instalment was geared towards esports, something that the core demographic was not looking for one bit, it's a shame, as the game had some potential, a game mode a-la the Tiger campaign of Company of Heroes, but with reworked Imperial Knights, would've been ace.

The series could do with a reboot at this point, or someone else could have a go at the RTS formula with a chapter of their own design. I am in minority here, but I love Dawn of War 2 and its first expansion (not the second one), where you were a demi company at war, trying to put out fires and try to keep things propped up for as long as possible until the rest of the Chapter can help out, I would love to see a return to that sort of game.

I would say the split between DoW 1 and 2 players is about even. Each has its own merits and issues but they're both enjoyable games. Plus they both have stellar music and VA work which makes it so much better to play.

Must haves:

1. Big maps
2. Big armies
3. Free cam
4. 8 Player Multiplayer: PVP, Co-Op over LAN, IP, or Official Servers, Online Matching, Ladder
5. PC Customization
6. NPCs

 Gert wrote:
I would say the split between DoW 1 and 2 players is about even. Each has its own merits and issues but they're both enjoyable games. Plus they both have stellar music and VA work which makes it so much better to play.

Honestly the biggest way Dawn of War 2 failed, for me, is that they built a beautiful tactical game system; then gave you the most linear missions and maps. Retribution was a massive let-down as the maps were almost pure linear. Granted it shone in multiplayer and its last-man-stand mode was honestly very popular and quite a surprise.


If they did a 4th I'd say the best thing would be going back to its roots - open maps, base buliding, resource harvesting, unit building and commanding armies. Heck Dawn of War 1 was quite a revolution in terms of giving us running whilst shooting; shifting from ranged to close combat weapon animations and fighting and sync kills that you actually got to see a fair few times (TW Games have them but often there's so much going on you can easily miss them).

I feel like no RTS since has ever really recaptured that feeling nor the implementation of features that DoW 1 did. 2 Kind of did, but its much more tactical style and units are as apt to be told to run-away rather than get stuck in for a good fight.


But yeah if they did a 4th I think the best way to rekindle would be to go right back to its roots and just make larger maps, more factions, more units, perhaps even have larger armed forces.



The other option is try something new and go full Supreme Commander style!

Tactics for sure. There's no excuse for not having tactics anymore in RTS.

Maybe HomeWorld 3 will help rekindle the genre. I’m certainly looking forward to it.

Starcraft 2
Age of Empires 4
Warhammer Total War (all but esp 2)
Homeworld 3



Eh we've had some big players make big games and honestly none of them has really rekindled the market. I think the core issue is that you need to be a pretty big studio to start with to do RTS right.
What amazes me more is that 4X is doing really well and historically that was always way more of a niche. For some reason the Civ series struck a chord and has enjoyed quite a few years of lots of alternative games in that genre.

I think part of it is that RTS is just demanding on all fronts to actually build a good working game. You've got AI, pathfinding, visuals, performance - you have to hit so many complex spots and get them right to get a functional game let alone a really popular one.


I'd love to see RTS rekindle and get off the ground again; but these days there's only one or two studios dabbling in it and then a myriad of smaller ones who end up with things like Iron Harvest - visually nice but totally devoid of any actual fun in singleplayer (their AI is useless) ;or perpetual "early access/in development" until they run out of money.


The other risk is this, honestly bizzar to me, desire to keep seeing the tower defence MOBA as the "RTS". Managers just have to learn if you want to do that you do that, and if you want to do a big high profit micro transaction heavy game DON'T do RTS. Heck going that pathway killed both whatever was left of Westwood in EA and the whole CnC franchise (which then only came back for a moment under Petro with the remaster, which was honestly done really well); and it killed the Rise of Nations team

Total War is a TBS with real-time tactical battles. Not classified as RTS though.

 Adeptekon wrote:
Total War is a TBS with real-time tactical battles. Not classified as RTS though.

True, but honestly the real time battles are just as good as what you'd get in an RTS game without base building - and there's good few of them. The Ground Control games were like that (though you could call in reinforcements). It's not as common, but there are a few "no resources" style RTS games over the years.

So I do often throw the TW game into RTS chat, because so much of the game is built around those real time battles. Plus the visual, mechanical and technical aspects of building those real time battles are basically exactly the same as for a "CnC" style RTS game. Heck Warhammer 3 and Three Kingdoms both have building during battles; so really the only thing they don't include is resource harvesting.

So last I played RTS, tactics were not on par with Total War so that's fantastic to hear.

Yeah it's this:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=38B0XxiQ1g4

EDIT: No Dakka.