Age of Empires 3 clone...

Actually, EE's scope is MUCH wider than that of AoE. Age of Empires focuses one specific period (ancient period, middle ages, early modern times), while EE lets you run through the entire course of history and further (the previous title ended in 2200 AD if I'm not mistaken).

They're both 3D historical RTS games, but imo that's where the comparison ends.

In my personal opinion the whole style of AOE/EE games is just too....how to say, miniature. The limit on 200 units as i remember it is probably still there, and I find it a shame. I mean I understand if you were managing a tiny settlement or a tribe or something, but with titles like "Empire Earth" and "Age of Empires" it's just misleading. What sort of empire has a 200 man population limit? And yes I understand it's supposed to be representative but it doesn't feel right.

They should focus more on epic RTS games such as the total war series, where even though you often don't get more than 8000 on a battlefield, it still feels much more epic, and the whole management interface is more advanced.

This is of course a personal preference but I dislike the whole rush for resources idea. Basically the first one to get more resources and the first one to build a bigger army wins, which isn't as interesting. I always liked funneling a lot of my resources into research and building (this is in total war) and keeping as small an army as possible, often outnumbered 2:1, but winning through superior tactics on the battlefield anyway. Something you just can't do in these games.

Anyway, no more ranting for today :P

P.S. When i referred to total war being an RTS, I meant the combat part of the game. Imo the idea of having a turn based empire management system is much better.

Your remark (an excellent one, I might add) is a valid one, but it also proves people have different tastes.

Myself, I prefer smaller-scale combat, from the likes of Company of Heroes, C&C: Generals, SW: Empire at War or Homeworld 2.

I can certainly understand why people like Medieval II/Rome: Total War, but it can't keep me busy for too long. I like to micromanage my units, use their special abilities, watch them gain valuable experience, set up specific choke points,...

Still, I can't wait to get my hands on Supreme Commander, which is more large-scale.

I guess it's a matter of preference and it's wonderful to see so many great games in both RTS types.

I love Civ4! ;)

Company of Heroes baby!

I liked that game a lot. I think my main objection isn't against the genre of micro-management and small-scale games, as I often like them. What I don't like is when they have the words "Empire" in them half the time when you're just dealing with small numbers of men and buildings you can count on two hands.

Company of heroes never claims to be an "Empire" type of game, and imo was actually one of the best strategy games of 2006.

u speak like as if its a good game lol, u shuld see the reviews, espicialy on gamespot.com, the games a let down and a total rip-off for 50bucks.