My all time favorite RTS is Company of Heroes. What made it stand out was the way the game forced you into constantly fighting and trying to fight attack your enemy. It also had squads which is a feature I really really like because it reduces the number of command units you have to deal with. It also incorporate cover really well. It also had things like suppression, pinning, and retreating which really upped the tactical decision making of the game. Most RTS games are rather bland with their combat IMO, but the way they did it in Company of Heroes was great.

I agree, imo CoH is hands down the best RTS out there and by far, They introduced a tactical approach to combat that you can find in more hardcore tactical RTS's like Close Combat series where you have pinning, arc of fire and all that good tactical stuff, a little simplified to fit mainstream standards of accesability but not lossing it's realistic feel.

And that leads me to an idea that introducing realistic game mechanics into the RTS genre will add depth that will make it stand out of the crowd.

I myself can't stand 'unit squads that already come as a squad and move like one' in RTSs. am I the only one remaining that likes the old single troops system?

I myself can't stand 'unit squads that already come as a squad and move like one' in RTSs. am I the only one remaining that likes the old single troops system?

I would be fine with squads if they could be formed and customized from singles. But the ones that spawn as single units piss me off. The only auto squad implementation I've ever liked was Total War. And Dawn of War 1 was okay but not ideal.

Using the environment to gain advantage over your enemy would be something i would consider would make the game stand out.

For example a rts with a modifyable heightmap terrain would allow digging trenches, making small dirt obstacles to slow down less mobile enemy units... Things like that.

A playerbase is nice to have too...

Wasnt fun waiting 2 hours to start a game because the playerbase had 10 people online at a time.

And it was a newly bought game -.-

I would be fine with squads if they could be formed and customized from singles. But the ones that spawn as single units piss me off. The only auto squad implementation I've ever liked was Total War. And Dawn of War 1 was okay but not ideal.

the usual Ctrl+1/2/3/etc and then pressing 1/2/3/etc to form squads from singles was always good for me

Using the environment to gain advantage over your enemy would be something i would consider would make the game stand out.

For example a rts with a modifyable heightmap terrain would allow digging trenches, making small dirt obstacles to slow down less mobile enemy units... Things like that.

I remember how Dark Reign had different movement speeds based on the ground type and slope of the terrain... on a 1997 2D game. then the expansion came up with 2 units called Terraformers that when activated would self-destruct and would change the ground type to either clear and fast ground, or very slow mud/marsh

meh, I miss Dark Reign :)