rare vst games thread 2 - /vst/

Anonymous07/11/25, 20:44No.2091209Rare /vst/ games thread #2

ITT: Strategy games that no one besides (you) have played. Recommend rarities and discuss games that you vaguely remember playing as a kid or seeing in a magazine that one time. Continued from: >>1919459 I'll start: Conflict Zone. Early 00's strategy game that I haven't seen anyone mention in my entire adult life. I remember it being unique because you public opinion was a key currency. As totally-not-NATO that involved airlifting civilians out of conflict zones, and as the bad guys it involved sending TV crews to film you blowing up enemy troops and enemy atrocities. The better your rep, the more advanced units you could bring in. Actually pretty surprised few games tried to make public opinion part of gameplay. Not a great game, but certainly a mechanically unique one. Your turn, anon!

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Replies

Anon07/11/25, 20:52No.2091218

Does everything need to be a general now?

Anon07/11/25, 21:21No.2091252

>Anon wants to talk about old games >The world's sourest cunts ride in to whine This is why we get almost nothing but Paraslop and Total War rehashes here.

Anon07/11/25, 21:36No.2091266

https://store.steampowered.com/app/674190/Conquest_of_the_New_World/I remember playing this as shareware back in the 90s. You could play most of the game, just couldn't upgrade beyond tier 3 buildings I think. Honestly pretty amazingly deep colonization game for its time, graphics and UI aren't even bad.

Anon07/11/25, 21:53No.2091285

I'm not sure how popular Act of War was, I never hear anyone talk about it though, but it was a C&C like RTS from 2005, complete with live-action cutscenes. Good game, had a good expansion pack without the live-action, and it had a spiritual sequel called Act of Aggression that was complete garbage.https://store.steampowered.com/app/2710/Act_of_War_Direct_Action/

Anon07/12/25, 04:41No.2091549

Does anyone remember the name of a 90s Windows shareware game that was like a cross between turn-based strategy gaming and the board game Go? The playing field was a rectangular grid, each cell was either painted one of the player colors, neutral, contained a city, or you could put a soldier silhouette on it. Each turn you got a number of soldiers and you could use them to take over a bit of the enemy territory. It used Windows UI elements and very simple graphics.

Anon07/12/25, 06:20No.2091584

Conflict Zone has a DC version? Is it any good?

Anon07/12/25, 06:50No.2091597

Direct Hit Missle War. Shame the game wasn't finished. The premise of the game sounds interesting, researching and designing your own missile and base components ( engines, stealth, ecm, missile defense ) then flinging them to the enemy's base in order to destroy his infrastructure while enemy does the same to you. Other than missle war part, you had your standard base building and power/resources/research management.The other game is Frontile Attack: War Over Europe. Very dated now but I remember having a blast playing it as a kid.

Anon07/12/25, 12:48No.2091780

Warrior of Rome 2 was a RTS for Sega Genesis. It was the first RTS I had ever played. It had a fun campaign and you could play with a friend on a split screen, but this would slow the game down drastically.

Anon07/13/25, 10:28No.2092539

i forgot the name of the Flash game. you choose between red, blue ,green or yellow balls.all the units and commanders are balls, balls with arms and legs. basic units are swordsman, spearmen and archers? commanders can also be mages or artillery. maps used hex tiles. very basic plot. and chance to unlock non-campaign maps with some daily missions and achievements.

Anon07/13/25, 12:42No.2092663

>Strategy games that no one besides (you) have played Populous 3? I never see it mentioned in RTS discussion despite being both really fucking good AND really fucking unique. Is it just because it's too old, or too weird?

Anon07/13/25, 17:45No.2092937

I have the PS1 version of it, it has great soundtracks. Here my fav.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SW9GqsZdt9U

Anon07/14/25, 00:09No.2093277

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BVeOp7GNI5k

Anon07/14/25, 13:24No.2093754

It must have been played by somebody since the Mid-east Crisis2 mod team ripped this game's main unique mechanic for their IDF faction. Here's something that nobody outside of my shithole never played.

Anon07/15/25, 18:57No.2094914

This game, hard as balls I have no idea how I managed to beat it as a kid. I think I had pretty much collected all wizards by the time I finished it.

Anon07/18/25, 15:57No.2097362

I don't know if it's good. I was too young to figure the game out.

Anon07/18/25, 17:05No.2097406

Has anyone played Force 21? It's essentially like EndWar, but without infantry. The gameplay is quite similar, focusing on a conflict between the US and China. If you can get it working it's worth a try. The game was even published by UbisoftAdded a link to the game because I can't upload a picture.https://www.myabandonware.com/game/force-21-diw

Anon07/19/25, 16:20No.2098030

i played this, it was on one of those game cd collections, i kinda likes it because im a sucker for modern warfare rts games,i remember that bazooka infantry was basically just a straight upgrade to normal infantry and that there was a bug where vehicle wrecks would spin at 10000 kmh when they were destroyed

Anon07/19/25, 21:09No.2098187

I've never seen anyone discuss this one https://store.steampowered.com/app/1500970/BlackChain/ Which is pretty excelent, everything feels meaty and the campaign is hilarious.

Anon07/21/25, 20:42No.2099778

Since the thread is about all kind of strategy games and not just rts games. Tycoon is a genre filled with shovelware but Hotel Giant I have nostalgia for. I remember it being decent but then again I don't know if I knew better back there. Btw I always assumed it's a German or at least European game but to my surprise it was actually made by studio set in Hong Kong.

Anon07/22/25, 06:35No.2100130

Was too young to appreciate this at the time. I though it would be another RTS like C&C.

Anon07/25/25, 10:15No.2103232

Feels bad that it's abandoned and basically a scam If you know a game with the same comfy semi nomadic tribe vibe please tell me about it

Anon07/28/25, 01:36No.2106273

I never see people talk about Battalion Wars. I love these kinds of RTS like Brutal Legend and Pikmin. I wish there where more.

Anon07/28/25, 02:07No.2106285

there's a game I remember playing when I was younger but can't recall the name. It was a turn-based Civil War game and I'm pretty sure the menu font was comic sans

Anon07/29/25, 12:25No.2107383

Tried "To End All Wars" a ww1 grand strategy game. Not a fan. Not a fan.

Anon07/29/25, 13:30No.2107426

My mom bought me this because i liked history and strategy game, but you basicly end up fighting demons and reincarnated versions of historical figures brought back to live to enact the revenge Marie-antoinette, but end up being saved by the ghost of louis the 16. Crazy shit

Anon07/30/25, 04:52No.2108099

fire emblem killed the advance and batallion war series

Anon07/31/25, 12:31No.2108953

M.A.X. (Mechanized Assault & eXploration) was well-received at the time, enough so that it even got a sequel. However few people talk about it nowadays.

Anon08/11/25, 02:45No.2116821

Anon08/11/25, 20:38No.2117385

Anyone here play Gary Grigsby's games? Should I try them?

Anon08/16/25, 07:53No.2120752

Got it from a bargain bin way back when, apparently it was made by Paradox and Slitherine though

Anon08/16/25, 07:55No.2120754

Comfy starcraft in the wild west. Pretty basic but nostalgically sovlful.

Anon08/17/25, 07:02No.2121624

Total Annihilation: Kingdoms Everyone loves the original game, but for some reason nobody talks about it's fantasy spin off, which is still pretty damn fun. Speaking of which, I think I had my second hardest battle in the game so far. First one was Mission 34 in the base game, this screenshot is from Mission 8 of Iron Plague expansion.

Anon08/19/25, 09:05No.2123382

A great game, It's too bad that the multiplayer "community" is dominated by eastern europeans...

Anon08/21/25, 12:40No.2126026

Power DoLLS, despite me shilling it over the years. I loved that game as a kid and it “exposed” me to anime, strangely enough. It had an OVA and I stumbled across all that when I was researching more information. Dial-up era, 40-something boomer, prease understandaru.

Anon08/22/25, 14:01No.2127120

I'm surprised this hasn't got a good remake or sequel it was really great: free movement in space (not just to planets), ships can run out of fuel, diverse and customizable races, tons of depth, stealth, mass drivers, stargates, minefields, customizable ships, rule-based tactical combat, built-in multiplayer, etc. and the game took just 3MB of space

Anon08/22/25, 14:07No.2127128

For me, it was Conquest: Frontier Wars A space-based RTS, utilizing a map of subsectors interconnected via wormholes. Resources could be harvested via buildings built in a ring around planets, or harvested from asteroids, gas fields, or the wrecks of lost ships Each unit also has a supply capacity, so you have to maintain supply ships or fight in the vicinity of logistical buildings to keep up the fight Races were pretty much starcraft: Terrans with big dreadnoughts and a few sneaky ships, Mantis as zerg with some heavy hitters but plenty of carriers, then Caelarians as robots with various tricksy options It was a fun compstomp game, and my Austrian cousin burned me a disk, so I can only play with German audio. The OST is bombastic, but atmospheric for a space rts

Anon08/24/25, 02:48No.2128429

I 'member.

Anon08/24/25, 23:43No.2129058

Me and my younger brother got these two AGESSSSSSS ago one on the left is like Total War (it has been years since i last played so dont hold me for my word) and one on the right is in well space where you command Spaceships in 3dimensional space IF i remember correcly (i never beat the tutorial since well i was a fucking kid and i didnt know english) (also my brother put his full name on his game so that is why it is censored)

Anon08/30/25, 04:21No.2133271

Anon, maybe you can help me recall a game from two decades ago? >early 2000's, 3D, graphics-wise somewhere on the level of Perimeter or Ground Control >3 factions >red imperial types sort of resembling TR from Planetside >blue matriarchy types incl. spandex, main character's name was Elam or something like that >yellow barbarian types (I think, not too sure on that last one) >turn-based global map and RTS battles Back then I couldn't get it to run properly and it probably wasn't very good since I've never seen it again, but it'd be interesting to make sure it's not some fever dream of mine

Anon08/31/25, 01:59No.2134033

Any anon remember Hesperian Wars? late 90s fantasy rts

Anon08/31/25, 06:35No.2134136

Star Wars: Force Commander

Anon08/31/25, 07:38No.2134148

I love all strategy games where you can possess your units like in Dungeon Keeper.

Anon09/06/25, 07:02No.2138264

Is it a good game? Eh, probably not. Is it a game that needs a modern remake instantly? YES.Floor 13 is a management game where you run a shadowy government burau tasked with making sure the government stays in office. Smear the opposition, kill unsavory people, kidnap and torture political foes, all while trying to stay discrete and not cause a major ruckus. A modern take on this could be amazing. A lot of what was conspiratorial in this game's just taken as business as usual these days and even if it was completely pozzed there would still be some comedy value in it. >Director, I must inform you that the suspect, one Mr. Richard Smith (he/him), has had intolerant comments about transfolx tied to his biometric government ID >Kidnap him, blow up his house, run a smear campaign, kill his family Literally no way it wouldn't be great. It'd either be a chilling take on government overreach in the modern era, or a comedy gold mine.

Anon09/08/25, 21:40No.2140389

never seen anyone talk about the Emergency Fire Response/Fire Department series from the early 2000's

Anon09/11/25, 08:41No.2142286

If it wasn't for PCgamer back then I wouldn't have known about Dominion whatsoever. Ion storm made a good refreshing RTS but seems it didn't get the sales they wanted. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zPkPkmjy468Urban Assault from microsoft is another good game close to heart. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zi44DDQ45zIThese days I'm exploring a game called Megalomania on the SNES very interesting zone control type rts game.

Anon09/12/25, 21:40No.2143516

KKND

Anon09/13/25, 09:32No.2143874

the youtube algo randomly showed me Abomination: Nemesis Project, a game from 1999, and i kinda wanna play it despite it being mega abandonware and seemingly zero attempts to bring its compatibility up with newer versions of windows Its like a 3d XCOM but still isometric and with some gritty art stylehttps://youtu.be/qDLSzZI5MU8?t=1

Anon09/15/25, 18:17No.2145711

Urban Assault 1998 Great ass atmosphere

Anon09/25/25, 13:45No.2153497

The other day I learned that Z had a sequel which no one seems to care about or remember. Original at least had a niche cult following. Am I wrong? Does anyone remember this?

Anon10/06/25, 13:56No.2164205

Anon10/08/25, 13:54No.2166235

please please PLEASE PLAY ZERO-K I NEED MORE PLAYERS TO FIGHT 1v1's with

Anon10/09/25, 20:56No.2167577

bump

Anon10/13/25, 23:09No.2171334

No one has played this game. Prove me wrong.

Anon10/14/25, 11:42No.2171710

>1926873 >the most adventurous real time strategy game ever They weren't kidding. Some of those scenarios were wild

Anon10/20/25, 00:32No.2178262

The Dune game no one remembers or cares about. 2? A piece of history remembered for laying many of the foundations for the genre, warts and all. The Wolf3D of /vst/. Emperor? A well-made cult classic celebrates by many as one of Westwood's finer games. 2000? A remake lost to time, Red Alert-like #9726 in a golden age of strategy games. Well, I liked it at least, but I never see anyone talk about it.

Anon10/21/25, 12:05No.2179749

https://youtu.be/Gab0aQX-ah4

Anon10/22/25, 13:22No.2181145

i dont think its that obscure here but I liked syrian warfare, very no nonsense game

Anon10/24/25, 07:04No.2183769

how come nobody ever talks about Space Empires 4? The ai sucked but surely multiplayer was insane if anyone ever tried it.

Anon10/24/25, 14:29No.2184103

I know zilch about this game but this goes hard as fuck.

Anon10/27/25, 01:43No.2187345

Anon11/01/25, 21:52No.2196732

sup

Anon11/01/25, 21:56No.2196739

i don't think i ever saw this mentioned on 4chan, ever. is anyone did, i can't remember it

Anon11/01/25, 22:02No.2196756

>assemble robots from parts >can only build a few at most >small maps with enemy robots spawning in some places and attacking you automatically >no buildings, no resources, just robot cap remember this being hard as fuck in some missions. i'm quite certain it was basically unknown outside of poland

Anon11/02/25, 12:59No.2197865

>He got so mad over the lack of a (you) that he bumped the thread again >His melty over a line break has lasted for several days >Literally incapable of functioning in society

Anon11/02/25, 23:39No.2199432

>Having to write a full paragraph insisting that he isn't mad after seething for several days

Anon11/03/25, 16:39No.2200825

>now you understand why there was only 1 game created in the Earth2150 engine which featured infantry units

Anon11/05/25, 11:28No.2207503

Game is brilliant but fucking hard to run https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h3w2zTH5ans an RTS according to google.

Anon11/08/25, 21:11No.2219293

bump so many dogshit pointless threads on this board these days

Anon11/08/25, 21:31No.2219372

Space Rangers 2 is a an RPG/tactics/arcade/text quest/RTS mix about a space ranger (duh) who can engage in trade, piracy, quests, etc with the ultimate goal of liberating the galaxy from the dominators - three competing species of intelligent robots that went rogue and started occupying the star systems of the galactic alliance.After liberating a system, governments of its planets will offer you a quest to defeat the remaning robots on the ground which takes place on some pre-made map. These RTS battles are completely optional.You start with a base where you design and construct new robots (they have customizable weapons, chassis etc), and your objective is to eliminate all dominators. Economy is very simple: there are 4 resources required for different robot modules, each produced by capturable generators. The only thing you can build besides robots are different types of turrets to protect your bases and generators but they can only be constructed on pre-set locations, so turtling up is not an option.

Anon11/08/25, 23:09No.2219629

Game where the good guys can win the war.

Anon11/11/25, 02:54No.2227539

it's a bit ass but i had fun

Anon11/12/25, 11:44No.2231454

Baldies cannot be beat Ross could because hes semi autistic.

Anon11/16/25, 00:04No.2240479

I very much doubt anyone here has ever heard of it, because it was Czech (and only released in Czech language) Dune 2 clone from 1995, but Paranoia! and Paranoia II had a pretty interesting way to command multiple units without the ability to select more than one: You assign them to a command vehicle or command bunker, and then give orders to the commander to command the entire group.

Anon11/24/25, 11:14No.2258443

Achron RTS game but with actual realtime time travel mechanics. Most of the game is pretty generic and time travel makes things confusing, but the campaign was pretty interesting

Anon11/29/25, 10:59No.2268839

https://youtu.be/BbuQV2wjPd0 >See this pop up >It's some random bullshit out of Slovakia around the turn of the century This seems like the kind of barely playable Eurojank that'd be appreciated by this thread's inhabitants.

Anon11/29/25, 11:14No.2268862

For me, it's Real War.

Anon12/01/25, 03:46No.2272576

Grey Goo was forgotten very quickly but I liked it

Anon12/04/25, 21:20No.2279849

Historical fantasy RTS about the magical Celts, Teutons and Huns fighting Romans. I didnt play it but it looks neat.

Anon12/10/25, 01:51No.2289741

You know, I'll never get a chance to bring this up elsewhere but I sometimes wonder what late game furniture and ovens looked like in Pizza Tycoon/Connection.

Anon12/20/25, 17:56No.2303146

I like Rising Kingdoms, it just has so much stuff going for it. - Nice sprite work and animations (units stunned by trolls or trampled by cavalry literally get knocked out). - Unusual but cool and soothing music. - Glory resource which your earn by capturing colonies of the minor races and spend on hiring new heroes and learning hero abilities, or increasing pop limit. - Original and cool abilities: like wolf riders that summon free, uncontrollable wolves following them around which make a great cannon fodder; or soul collectors that can store dead units' souls and resurrect them for a full price on your side; or the wizard of the bow hero ability which creates an ice shelter that protects units inside from damage but allows for ranged attacks from inside. - Heroes have skill trees allowing for various builds and synergies with abilities and units (like making a hero a solo fighter or supporter for your melee/ranged/cavalry/mages).

Anon12/23/25, 21:25No.2306094

Anon12/24/25, 20:42No.2307099

Anon12/29/25, 02:38No.2310718

Playing a lot of Supreme Commader: Forged Alliance lately. The community on Forged Alliance Forever is pretty active, and the game is pretty fun. Very punishing but cool playing like, 6v6 mega battles.

Anon12/29/25, 02:57No.2310728

Anon12/31/25, 09:27No.2312431

Metal Marines on the friggin SNES cause FUCK YEAH!

Anon01/04/26, 12:01No.2315113

It's criminal this game is not on Steam and GOG.

Anon01/05/26, 03:15No.2315601

i think i might be one of five people on earth who played mission humanity

Anon01/05/26, 22:36No.2316140

The first proper wargame I ever played was 'Waterloo' on the Amiga. Amazing back then to have the entire battlefield in glorious 3D with all historic units deployed, even with the primitive polygons it was immersive as hell. Realistic mechanics with dispatch riders carrying orders to units.

Anon01/10/26, 15:41No.2319022

No complete playthrough of 3rd Millenium to this day. Someone managed to run the installer from MyAbandonware?

Anon01/10/26, 19:42No.2319210

Dogs of War: Battle On Primus IVThe number of unknown RTS games from the late 90s and early 2000s is practically endless.

Anon01/23/26, 12:07No.2326648

Let's talk underrated RTS OSTs. https://youtu.be/Baq3FM6IBC8 https://youtu.be/fGRDC2AA0a8 https://youtu.be/j3m5UGn8zj4Not only is this game completely forgotten and underrated as hell but the OST slaps. It's like a techno remix album of the musical of its namesake.Game's good too, you should play it.

Anon01/24/26, 11:03No.2327385

I worked at MASA, AMA

Anon01/26/26, 01:37No.2328311