this post was submitted on 26 Jun 2023
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Back then I played Warcraft 3 ladder games and I hit my skill ceiling quite fast because my micro was simply too bad/slow. I still very much enjoy real time strategy games. Is there any real time strategy game that is played competitively with an active community where micro is not that essential? (Ruling out Star Craft 2.) Besides real time strategy games, what other games are out there being played competitive with an active community and where clicks-per-second are not too important?

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[–] pory 13 points 1 year ago (1 children)

The obvious answer is CCGs like Yugioh Master Duel, Magic Arena, Pokemon TCG Online, or Hearthstone. But of course those all use predatory monetization mechanics. A fun sorta-competitive strategy game that doesn't have booster packs you buy with cash is Super Auto Pets.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 1 year ago (2 children)

Thanks, makes total sense and I loved Slay the Spire. The monetization mechanics are really what prevent me from starting Magic etc.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Legends of Runeterra is a good alternative. If you want zero monetization then I would recommend Netrunner. Fantasy Flight Games pulled the plug on the physical card game some years ago and it became a community run enterprise. You can also play online via https://www.jinteki.net/.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago

Nice, I hear a lot about Netrunner, but wasn't aware about the website. Thanks a lot! :-)

[–] pory 3 points 1 year ago

If you liked Slay The Spire despite it not being competitive, check out other deck building roguelikes like Monster Train and Peglin. You could also play TCGs using unofficial free simulators like Yugioh Omega, but those will likely have a steeper entry curve because only veteran yugioh players are on there vs Master Duel having millions of scrubs and bads to ladder against.

[–] [email protected] 9 points 1 year ago (2 children)

Action game, but World of Warships, maybe? Game is VERY slow and you don't need reflexes or clicks per second to win, but rather planning and game sense

[–] [email protected] 6 points 1 year ago (1 children)

World of Tanks is similar too. A little faster paced perhaps but doing the right thing in the right place is a 1000% more important than reflexes imo. Never played in clans and it might be different at that level.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago

If you only play artillery it's certainly slow paced :p

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Thanks, looks very interesting and like a chance to enhance my horizon and test the waters. :-)

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago

Fair warning that wg.net are massive dickbags about wine. Don't even bother unless you enjoy ban evading.

[–] [email protected] 8 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Probably not entirely your wheelhouse but have you considered coop turned based strategy games (or just turn based in general)? Something like Divinity 2 requires strategy and planning, especially on higher difficulties, but they are entirely turn based and can be played in real time in co-op. Alternatively, games like Disciples Liberation which centers around tactocul turn based combat can be absolutely brutal on high difficulty.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 year ago

Thanks for your suggestion, as I said: I am mostly looking for competitive games. Turn based games are great, though, especially games like Dominions 4 with simultaneous turns.

[–] [email protected] 8 points 1 year ago (2 children)

It sounds like you might really like auto-battlers, also called "auto-chess" style games. Auto Chess started as a Dota 2 mod, and now Dota has their own called Underlords. League of Legends also has an auto-battler spinoff; it's called Teamfight Tactics. And don't sleep on the indie Super Auto Pets. It's pure fun.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 1 year ago

Has TFT had any updates that decrease how much you have to know about league of legends stats/chars? I really enjoyed the first season, but when they started changing things all the time it was way too much

[–] betternotbigger 1 points 1 year ago

Even these games require fast reflexes to beat the timer to do all your optimal trades on time. That turned me off from the genre but generally liked it early on.

[–] [email protected] 7 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Might be outside of what you're looking for, but have you considered online chess? It's fun to learn, doesn't need quick reflexes, and the playerbase is never going to die.

[–] [email protected] 7 points 1 year ago

I have an Lichess account, so your suggestion is spot on. What I miss in Chess is the 'fog of war', you have at all time 100% of the information clearly on the board. I especially like the scouting/deception/gambling part in RTS games like WC3/SC2.

[–] bobdowl 7 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Hunt Showdown!

Slow paced extraction shooter, completely without automatic guns.

Tactics and patience win almost always over twitch aiming skills.

[–] caut_R 5 points 1 year ago (2 children)

I‘ve seen the name so much but never actually checked it out, don‘t even know what it looks like. Maybe I‘ll check out a beginner‘s guide on YT or so to see what it‘s all about. Do you have recommendations?

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 year ago

For an english guide I'd recommend RachtaZ (https://youtu.be/ZfjK6GiF-L8) the guide is a little outdated i.e. the tutorial of the game has been updated since then but most if not all the information you'll be given in the guide will still be relevant. If you happen to speak german Siegismund has an entire tutorial series that goes into a lot of depth and is honestly one of the best tutorial series I have ever seen for a game. If you decide to start playing I'd also second the suggestion to not play solo and either find a friend to learn the game with or someone who is already experienced. Also some people might recommend playing the secondary solo gamemode called quickplay/soul survivor (the name is being changed to soul survivor in the upcoming update) but it's a lot quicker paced and lacks skill based match making so you'll have to deal with even more very experienced and highly skilled veteran players.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 year ago

Haven't played but from another thread I saw about that game awhile ago was to try and play co-op to start. Was told it can be very difficult initially playing solo.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (1 children)

You might like Total Annihilation and its modern descendants, like BAR or Zero K. There's still some micro depending on the variant, but the focus is much more heavily on macro, along with making the units smarter.

Apart from that, the Civ games are turn-based, but scratch a similar itch as RTS games

[–] markopi 3 points 1 year ago

Zero K has a great interface that really minimizes the need to fiddle with individual units. "Line move" should be part of every RTS.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 year ago (1 children)

it’s definitely outside of your scope, but since when I discovered boardgaming (specifically german boardgames - which are actually not made in germany, it’s just the name of the genre) I got severely hooked into that. these are mainly no-luck deterministic games where you compete with your opponents through strategy and tactics. my favourites are Imperial Steam and Caylus, but you can also start from Terraforming Mars for a more easier rules overhead :)

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Is there a competitive scene for this games? For me only games with an electronic version (like Terraforming...) make sense, because it is hard to meet with friends physically regularly.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago

Check out Tabletop Simulator - I wouldn't be surprised if something has added these games to the Steam workshop.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Rocket League, f2p, one of its kind, high skill ceiling, reflex is not that important but does require practice and time commitment to play at higher level. I am 45yo and usually play around champ 1~2 in both 2s and 3s queue and only solo queue.

It's fun even at lower level unless you run into smurfs, but that will happen to every game.

There are no active cheat that gives cheater significant advantage. After last time dev ban bot users(first and only time since 2015) I have not run into any bot users online.(which means auto ban works really well). There are macro users but since it's macro they can't change what it did, and mostly only useful for kick offs.(which you can adapt and intentionally guide the ball where you want.) So it's easy to beat once a you play more. (Oh, and they ban those as well, so don't do it.)

[–] primevandal 1 points 1 year ago

i was always under the impression that RL was a mechanically-intensive game. my reflexes are really bad so i feel like i couldnt really even get good at the game. how did you start out playing and how long did it take before you felt like you got the hang of the game? its still something id love to play

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 year ago

Overwatch has plenty of viable competitive heroes that don't require quick reflexes

[–] mrfriki 4 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Not sure if the X-COM PVP qualifies as competitive but it sure was a blast and it doesn't require any reflexes.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago

I love X-COM, but I am afraid it doesn't qualify :-)

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago

Are you me? I played sc2 not wc3 but feel the same way. I've been playing valorant which is CSGO style lots of holding corners and team tactics. Only really good if you have a good group to play with though. I also have a lichess account and the same desire for fog of war! Following this post for ideas :)

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (1 children)

I recently noticed that 100% Orange Juice is actually getting a competitive scene, it seems.

It's a 4-player virtual board game where there's strategy involved in deck construction (one funny thing is that anyone can draw your cards so you have to choose carefully based on your choice of character and their special abilities), movement choices, understanding probabilities and other tactical decisions, and balancing risk/reward under uncertainty.

I used to be huge into the game but I haven't been following it for the past couple years or so.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago (1 children)

The competitive 100OJ scene is a strange thing given how random this game is and how much your results are dependent on dice rolls, warp panel destinations and other random effects. You get many hilarious situations like rolling four zeroes or getting seagull'd in your face, but if you play it for wins, this can be pretty frustrating.

On the other side, this game is pretty chill and fun, has large userbase and doesn't require much clicks or reaction! So it's perfect for relaxing with friends in a voice chat on a hard day's night.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago

Yeah, 100% OJ is...interesting.

Though I'd say if you're beating 25% wins or so you're already doing above par. (Par may be slightly above that since CPU players tend to be stupid, though they may have improved the AI since I last played.)

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (1 children)

Prismata is the best 1v1 turn-based competitive game. It even looks and feels somewhat like Starcraft.

It isn't very pooular, which I blame on bad tutorial and monetization decisions. It used to have just a series of missions for learning the game but in an attempt to make it palatable for a wider audience, the developers replaced it with a story and way too easy tutorial missions. The monetization is random loot boxes which doesn't fit well, as the game itself has no rng.

Unlike Starcraft, Prismata can be mastered simply by playing. (I went from bronze to gold in SC2 by not playing the game for years. It helped me focus on actually important things instead of getting my build order timings just right.)

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago

Thanks, the game looks very interesting, although I had hoped for a game where players don't have perfect information, I'll check it out.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

Strategy games such as Pokemon or Yugioh might be well in your alley

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago

Competitive Pokémon is something I’d definitely recommend. It’s similar to speed chess in that there’s a game timer but you have like 30 seconds per move to lock in. VGC is an incredibly deep and constantly evolving meta game. The NAIC tournament finished yesterday and is on YouTube if you want to see it being played at a top level with great commentary.

You can practice singles and doubles for free on pokemonshowdown.com. IRL contests held by The Pokémon Company are always doubles, played on Switch and will be played with Scarlet and Violet for the foreseeable future.

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