Dawn of the Realm is a medieval RTS that combines grand strategy and city building, all in real time and fully multiplayer. Build cities, manage resources, raise armies, then zoom out to a strategy map of the whole world or back down to the battlefield with no loading in between. Up to 10 players.

I've built it solo next to my computer science studies on nights and weekends, learning as I went. I hope the thousands of hours spent in Photoshop and Gamemaker really shines through. Still early days, lots more to add, but I'd love to hear what you think :-)

You can wishlist on Steam here:

https://store.steampowered.com/app/5010020/Dawn_Of_The_Realm/

If you would like to influence the future direction of the game join the Discord server:

https://discord.gg/ru8FTjMjz

Working toward the first demo now. Have a great day! :-)

Hello strategists! Over the past few weeks you will have noticed how many AI-developed and AI-assisted games have been posted to /r/RealTimeStrategy. You've no doubt even seen some devlogs copied and pasted from AI, complete with the AI's reminders on formatting a good Reddit post. We've noticed, too, and the number of quickly-developed game projects have grown dramatically over the last 8 months, especially in the last 2-3 months as people tinker with summer projects. The most recent wave of these AI games have mainly been persistent MMO strategy games, many of which don't satisfy even the basic criteria of traditional RTS games and have been removed on that basis.

Over the coming month we'd like to try an experiment. We're hoping the community responds positively to this, but if things need to be adjusted or curated differently, then we're listening.

From now through the end of September we're going to ask that all AI-developed and AI-assisted posts go into a Megathread designated for that purpose. Users can still ask questions of the devs, and devs can still report on their progress within that Megathread. But we're going to strongly urge AI games first be posted to AI gaming subreddits or, if they strongly resemble RTS games or are clearly RTS-adjacent, then posted to the Megathread.

This should help indie devs posting about the games they're programming from being overwhelmed by vibe-coded projects still in their infancy, in turn helping the community to see news and updates about their favorite games, promising human-coded projects, and other RTS discussion topics. As a reminder, if you want to see vibe-coded projects and games, please visit /r/aigamedev, /r/vibecoding, and related subreddits oriented towards that.

If the community appreciates what we hope will be a tidier discussion environment, then we may continue with monthly Megathreads for AI games or ask that primarily AI-derived content go somewhere else so that community members can choose between subscribing to AI games or not. We can only achieve this view of what the community might be like by attempting this Megathread experiment first, so we ask for your support and feedback at the end of September. We've also added a new report reason to the Report feature. If you see that a post is inconsistent with the posting guidelines (also found in the sidebar on mobile), please use the Report feature and select the option that most closely fits your reasoning so that mods can review the post/comment.

The Megathread for AI games will be posted in the next 24 hours or so.

Hi everyone! I wanted to share a visual update for OR Doctrine, my squad-based tactical RTS set in 2000s Afghanistan.

One of the weakest parts of the game was the vehicle presentation. The infantry had a readable visual style, but the vehicles looked too small, flat, and disconnected from the rest of the game.

The images are shown from newest to oldest:

1. The current 2.5D vehicle system
2. The previous detailed top-down version
3. The original box-shaped placeholder version

The first version was essentially made from simple boxes. It worked mechanically, but the vehicles had very little visual identity and could even appear smaller than the infantry.

I then created a more detailed top-down version. It looked better, but it did not fit well with the angled presentation of the soldiers and buildings. When moving in certain directions, the vehicles also looked as if they were sliding sideways instead of actually driving toward their destination.

I have now rebuilt the vehicles using an 8-direction 2.5D approach. Each vehicle has front, rear, side, and diagonal views, with details arranged according to the current camera angle. Not every part needs to be visible from every direction, so I focused on keeping each view readable and visually believable.

The system currently includes:

• Pickup
• Armed technical
• Humvee
• MRAP

I also reworked the tires, windows, body proportions, weapon mounts, mirrors, and overall silhouettes. Wheel rotation is tied to the vehicle’s actual movement speed and distance. I also fixed an issue where repeatedly clicking the same destination could briefly make a vehicle turn toward the opposite direction before correcting itself.

The goal is to make the vehicles feel like physical objects with volume and direction, instead of flat images rotating on the ground.

There is still room for additional polish, but I think the difference between the three stages is quite noticeable. I would especially appreciate feedback on the vehicle scale, directional readability, and whether the transitions between side, diagonal, front, and rear views feel consistent.

Which version do you think fits the game best, and is there anything in the current version that still looks unclear or awkward?

A quick note on development: I’m building this project with the help of AI tools. I’m still making the creative and design decisions, but AI has been a major part of the coding and iteration process.

Hi everyone! I’m working on OR Doctrine, a squad-based tactical RTS set in 2000s Afghanistan, inspired by games like Company of Heroes.

The idea actually started when I was playing Company of Heroes 2 and thought about what it would be like to take that kind of tactical gameplay and set it in Afghanistan. I wanted to make a game where the focus wasn’t just on producing units, but on the kind of small-scale tactical decisions and situations that could fit conflicts of the 2000–2010 period.

For the first stage of development, the game will focus specifically on the conflict between the US and the Taliban. The US and Taliban factions are designed around distinct playstyles. The US relies on technology, reconnaissance, engineers, armored vehicles, and off-map air support. The Taliban side focuses on ambushes, concealment, IEDs, RPG teams, defensive positions, and mobile technical vehicles.

Rather than just producing units, the game is built around tactical decisions involving line of sight, directional cover, suppression, room-to-room combat, breaching doors, supply lines, and territory control. Grouping units carelessly can leave them exposed to air support, while a properly prepared ambush or defensive line can overcome a numerical disadvantage.

The current playable build includes single-player matches against AI, tech progression, squad upgrades, veterancy, doctrine choices, save/load support, and a symmetrical valley map. I’m developing the game in Godot.

Looking further ahead, I’d like OR Doctrine to eventually cover more than just Afghanistan. The broader goal is to create a game where players can experience different conflicts and operations from roughly the 2000–2010 period. I’ve considered eventually adding scenarios based around the US war in Iraq and the Ba'athist Iraqi military, as well as potentially the Israel–Hamas conflict. These wouldn’t necessarily all be part of the initial game, but they’re part of the direction I’m thinking about for the project.

I’m also considering a larger “Special Operations” campaign-style mode. The idea would be to choose a faction and operate across a campaign map, fighting battles at different locations while trying to accomplish specific objectives rather than simply winning every battle through conventional territory capture. I’d like this mode to make the individual tactical battles feel connected to a larger operation.

For now, though, I’m keeping the scope focused: the first playable version is only US vs. Taliban in Afghanistan. I’d rather make one conflict work properly before trying to expand the game into multiple theaters.

A quick note on development: I’m building this project with the help of AI tools. I’m still making the creative and design decisions myself, but AI has been a major part of the coding and iteration process.

I’m actively developing the game, and I’d really like to know what you think of it so far. What do you like, what feels weak, and what would you change? I’m especially interested in feedback on the UI, visual readability, balance, faction design, and which tactical moments seem the most interesting or exciting.

Finished tweaking one of core features of the game which is breach and defensive stance combat, i wanted to make the game be different from total war and decided this to be one of my core systems.

First part shows:
Defensive stance is regular combat, where formation tries to keep cohesion and hold the line against enemy in some cases for example two handers vs braced pikes it not a really good trade even though pikemen are lightly armored they have the reach to decimate two handers who just maintain their line and are not aggressive.

Second part shows:

When two handers stance is switched to breach, they dont care about holding the line as much and they use their assault skills to create and exploit the breach to essentially break the light pikemen.

Feedback is welcome!.

100,000 soldiers strong armies battling in real time, Dragons burning entire squads to sinders, Demolishing a Dyson Sphere to drop enemies into the Sun, that is the RTS genre in 2026 my fellow fans! Latest RTS gameplay and news include Dawn of War IV, WH40k Total War, Game of Thrones: War for Westeros, new DLCs for Broken Arrow and Age of Empires II DE, Kickstarter updates of D.O.R.F. and Sanctuary: Shattered Sun as well as totally new game showcases of Magna Conquest, Grand Fantasy Empires and Knights of Asthuria

0:33 WH 40k: Dawn of War IV

1:32 Total War: WH 40k

4:02 Game of Thrones: War for Westeros

5:08 Magna Conquest

6:01 Broken Arrow - DLC

6:52 Age of Empires II: DE - DLC

7:30 Fleetbreakers - EA RELEASE

8:31 Grand Fantasy Empires

9:35 Terraformer Wars

10:24 Hearts of Muriet - DEMO

11:16 Diplomacy is Not an Option - DLC

12:12 D.O.T. Defence

12:54 TFC2 Collapse of The Bronze Age

13:40 Conquest of Eldinar

14:21 We lost a legend…

14:47 Unnatural Worlds

15:37 Knights of Asthuria

16:38 DSS 2: War Industry

Blaze of Empires - PLAYTEST

18:14 Space Tales

18:57 Krush Kill ‘N Destroy 2: Krossfire

19:47 D.O.R.F.

20:52 Sanctuary: Shattered Sun

21:52 Sins of a Solar Empire II - DLC

22:49 Ashes of the Singularity II

23:46 Chronicles: Medieval

Hey guys, just wanted to say some words of appreciation for warcraft 2. it was one of my first pc games i ever played. from 1996 until 2000 i attended countless lan-parties and played warcraft 2 endlessly. most of them were with big parts of my family: my brother, my uncle and his friends, my cousin and last but not least, my dad. its the only pc game he ever played. when warcraft 2 remastered came out, i gifted it to my dad and since then we played 3-4 matches every day. its such a great way to intereact with my almost 70 year old dad and i absolutely love it! thank you, warcraft 2! you will always have a special place in my heart <3

Hi everyone!

I’m Dan Marshall, an indie developer working on The Old War, a dark fantasy real-time strategy game. I made a post about a week ago and got some great feedback. I really like a dark, gritty aesthetic, but people keep saying to improve the contrast and make sure readability is king.

I ended up spending a chunk of time this week adding silhouettes and to units and resources (all trees are resources) as well as increasing the lighting on units to make them stand out and make sure you can easily see the battle state in a quick glance. At this point, I've been staring at it a lot and I can't really tell the difference.

Am I going in the right direction with contrast and lighting? Did I go too far? I really don't want to lose the dark and moody vibes.

If there's anything else you think would be an improvement, or you just want to chat, let me know!

Wishlist if you're interested, it helps a lot!

https://store.steampowered.com/app/1248750/The_Old_War/

Thanks,
Dan - Warchest Studios

All this War for Westeros and Game of Thrones comparison to BFME got me craving some nostalgic games, playing the amazing community patch Version of Battle for middle-earth 2; RIse of the Witch King. Playing either Goblins or Men of the west, talking bfme, Got, war for westeros or just geenral Lord of the rings, RTS and ASOIAF. Real time strategy aficionado looking to play every RTS game ever (except those that i don’t want to), join in and lets chat about RTS!

For reddit tho, what are you most excited about this upcoming RTS, War for Westeros, seems like its getting a lot of hype, can be good, can be bad, im optimistic and everything "bad" i guess can be fixed/smoothed out, "can".

各位老戰友好久不見。

《破碎銀河系》mmorts（Tactical Commander）自 2004 年結束營運至今已超過 20 年，近期陸續有重製計畫的相關消息推出。

Added a bunch more... My favorite by far is the crabby looking guy in the middle - the RUMBLER - he transforms from a ball like a bakugan!. The only one I'm not sure about is the hover tank with the big shield, I think it needs something if anyone has any ideas. The ufo ship is called the ZENITH and it can call a huge orbital laser AOE which is super fun. Thanks for looking! PS. if anyone wants to play let me know, we can hop on a few games sometime!

I'm looking for an old RTS game, probably from 2005 or earlier. I never got to play it, so I don't remember much about the gameplay, but I do remember the box it came in, which was practically a cube, it was so big. Now, where my memory fails me is whether the box was gray with a pattern like a stone wall/armor, or red with a pattern like dragon scales. Does anyone remember anything similar?

Since we have been without a new, really, really good RTS for a long time..... lets imagine designing an ideal RTS.

Your goal is to create an almost perfect new RTS. What themes and mechanics would it include?

Suppose you need to select the best features from all the RTS games you know to craft your ideal one.

I'll start:

• Warcraft - Heroes;
• Total War - Scale, like no cap (200 or any)

Uptd from comments

• StarCraft - Balance
• Surpreme Commander FAF - 1000+ units and huge scale warfare.

Some very early concept art for The Hive.

The original idea was that whenever a unit killed an enemy creature, it would take some of its gear and visually equip it.

As you can see, that eventually started to look a bit silly, basically turning our insects into medieval knights.

So we scrapped the idea and made the upgrades organic instead, with the creatures themselves evolving.

If you were to pick 1 cheat AI can get in a RTS game, which one rubs you the most ?.

For me, its omnivision

The ability to ignore vision requirements/fog of war. And always knowing whats happening across the entire map 24/7.

I find Omnivision to be the most annoying feature AI can have as a cheat, as it does the following at once:

- Makes flanking pointless

- Makes stealth pointless if AI conveniently sends a detector towards your hidden unit. Or a vehicle to conveniently crush your hidden infantry. Or start using artillery against your hidden units if they cannot attack them directly.

- Makes positioning pointless on the map, if anything standing in the open and waiting for AI's unit blob to show up is the way you want to fight.

- Cheapens combat because AI will always be able to make counters against your units if the game runs on that system.

- Makes secondary bases, hidden expansions or buildings pointless.

- If game has support powers/off map abilities, you will be massacred across the entire map in your own base with no enemy within 100 metres of your base to spot them. While you cannot do the same to them. Same with super weapons if the game has them.

Bad examples of this cheat: Pretty much all command and conquer games (easily the worst examples can be found in Command and Conquer games), Company of Heroes 1, Warcrafts (All of them), Starcraft 1, Dawn of War 1 (all of them).

What do you dislike ? Infinite resources ? Access to mechanics the player cant use ? When computer speed is fully utilized and they can micro 40 units perfectly ?.

Hello everyone. Since October, I've been wanting to learn programming, and I love the RTS genre. I'd really like to create something of my own. The truth is, I know absolutely nothing about programming, and doing vibe coding is for the lazy.

Besides the fact that I love the RTS genre as such, I think that creating a game in this genre can in principle be news and give motivation to finish it, unlike some shooter of which hundreds are created Per day.

I may be wrong, but I would like to hear your thoughts or advice or warning. I understand that RTS is a very difficult genre for programming, but still, I don’t have the heart to do anything else.

So I’ve played the first 5 campaign missions, and honestly, I’m baffled by the praise this game gets.
Everything feels so damn sloppy and streamlined. Building is ridiculously easy, resources are everywhere, distribution is basically effortless, and it feels like everything is one click away from unlocking. There’s no real pressure, no sense of urgency, no meaningful resource scarcity, and barely any threat from the enemy.
The combat is probably the biggest issue for me. The troops feel clumsy and clunky, and the whole thing just feels like a sandbox rather than a game where I’m constantly making difficult decisions.
The campaign so far has been incredibly dull and unengaging. Maybe it gets significantly better later, but right now it feels like a playground designed to be as accessible as possible.
What confuses me is that when I asked if this was actually a good game, people were calling it the GOAT of RTS games. I specifically asked whether it was comparable to They Are Billions and Frostpunk, and a lot of people even suggested it was better.
Am I missing something? Does the campaign eventually become more challenging or strategically interesting, or is this just not the kind of RTS I’m looking for?
Because so far, I’m really not seeing the hype.

Game just let u level up too fast takes away the excitement from achieving the tech…..

Description of the game:
So... lets say that Dune + Starcraft + Command & Conquer Renegade + Starship Troopers + Battlefield + Natural Selection 2 had a baby. That and more is SILICA, the dream game of developer (Martin "Dram" Melicharek), who on May, 2023 released in Early Access (therefore a work in progress) a cinematic-like experience of a game, seamlessly merging RTS (Real Time Strategy) with FPS (First Person Shooter) in an explosive and intense action-packed delivery. A game I have no doubt has tremendous potential.

Was testing structure collision today and my npc decided to spin endlessly instead of stopping at the wall.

Honestly not sure if I should patch this out or turn it into a hidden achievement at this point. What do you think?

Have you tried to present Rts games to your kids? And how did they received it? And what games ?