Tzar: The Burden of the Crown is a 2000 RTS by Haemimont that never got the attention it deserved: three very different civilizations (European, Asian, Arabian), heroes, magic and a surprisingly cunning AI.

ReTzar rebuilds it from scratch (Rust + Bevy), as close to the original as possible: same rules, same combat, same random maps, the original AI.

Yes, this is another "i revived an old game with AI" post, i know, I'm riding the wave like everyone else, i just picked a wave from the year 2000. Most of the code was written by Claude, i did the playing, the testing and a lot of "no, the original didn't do that".

I started it just for myself, to play Tzar again without fighting Windows, and never meant to publish it. But after all that work, leaving it on my hard drive felt like a waste.

• All three civilizations, the original campaigns and missions, random maps
• Runs natively on Windows 10/11, crisp up to 4K, seven languages
• Optional modern touches (smooth zoom, night lights, CRT effect), all off by default

Free and open source (GPL-3), single-player only. It needs your own copy of Tzar (GOG, Steam or CD): no game data is included, it makes its own from your installation on the first start.

Download, unzip, run: https://github.com/ColCarlo/ReTzar/releases/latest

Feedback welcome, especially from people who remember the original!

RTS enthusiast playing casual multiplayer games in Warhammer 40k dawn of war 1 with the RTS community, playing comp stomps, ffas, any mode we can get to play; getting better at Sisters of Battle, and dipping my toes with Necron. go to the discord if you want to skirmish too: https://discord.gg/7yEMgfuGaC.  or Join the stream and lets chat about Real Time Strategy!

Hi everyone!

Here's another battle update from Admiral Yi: The Imjin War, the historical RTS I'm developing solo.

This time, I've been working on artillery combat in land battles.

Players can manually select where their cannons bombard, rather than simply ordering them to attack individual enemy units.

When enemy infantry gets too close, the cannons can switch to grapeshot, dealing much heavier damage to soldiers at short range.

In this video, Joseon artillery bombards advancing Japanese troops, switches to grapeshot as they approach, and eventually causes the Japanese forces to break and flee.

I'm trying to make different weapons and ammunition types offer meaningful tactical choices on the battlefield.

There's still plenty to improve, especially with combat AI, animations, and battlefield behavior.

I'd love to hear what RTS players think of the artillery mechanics!

※ Historical events and gameplay may differ depending on how the game unfolds.

What happens after the arrest? Find out as you start your law enforcement journey as the newly elected Sheriff who has to rebuild the County's Law Enforcement. Get the alpha for free here: https://theonlygambit.itch.io/ceder-creek-county-sheriff

So... I've been developing a medieval strategy game named "Beyond the Rhine" and want to gauge interest from the community.

The game focuses on large-scale sieges against intricately designed, concentric walled cities. You can deploy vast armies consisting of cavalry, infantry, and cannons from the surrounding forests to attack these fortifications. The combat features dynamic destruction where cannon fire blows holes in the town walls, towers collapse in fiery explosions, and fires spread through the city buildings as your troops push through the breaches.

The tactical experience is supported by detailed campaign mechanics and customizable environments. You plan your army's movements on a regional map, such as preparing for the "Siege of Quedlinburg". During gameplay, you can use the settings menu to adjust environmental factors like the day/night cycle, rain, and fog to change the atmosphere of the battle. After securing a victory, the game provides a detailed breakdown of your casualties and plundered loot, followed by narrative events where you make decisions about the conquered town, such as seeking out mercenaries in the woods.

I'm trying to see if this mix of tactical deployment and explosive real-time destruction appeals to strategy fans. There is pixel mode graphics and normal 3d graphics, to mix things up...

THIS IS PRE-ALPHA, THE GAME MAY LOOK SUPER BAD IN SOME SCENES.

Hey, is anyone still playing Earth 2150? I’m looking for some more players for multiplayer ;-)

Hello, Silica 1.0 is being released on November 3rd, marking the end of the Early Access period.

For those who don't know, Silica is an RTS & Hybrid, developed by Martin "Dram" Melicharek set in a desert like planet called baltarus.

Details here!

Silica - Devblog #07 - Full Release Date Announcement, Word from the Lead Developer - Steam Ne

Thank you

Lucho

Always loved the RA soundtracks so put together a playlist of my own, including making some instrumentals that didn't already exist. Enormous respect to Frank for absolutely killing it across the entire series

Text and background were made in blender to get that 3D look with proper lighting, too.

Hey there!

I’m Erik, the game director of Steadfast which started a year ago as a hobby project of mine. I was inspired to bring back the feeling of Age of Sail I/II games. I then began working with Igor, who is a talented game artist who has previously worked on the Ultimate General/Admiral series of games.

We’re excited to reveal a slice of the game with you. It’s a RTT (real-time tactics) strategy title which is set during 1793 - 1815. It puts you in command of your fleet with a range of ship classes from small nimble cutters up to first rate ship of the line. Everything from hull damage, crew morale and weather is modeled.

We will be revealing more and more over the weeks to come. But hope you enjoy our teaser trailer which shows some footage!

Official website: https://steadfast.game
Wishlist on Steam: https://store.steampowered.com/app/5235740/Steadfast/

Modb: https://www.moddb.com/mods/empire-earth-reforged

Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@mapachin_escenarios3/featured

Hi everyone!

I’ve been developing a mod for Seven Kingdoms II. While diving deep into the game's code, I noticed that the original game was released with quite a bit of unfinished content.

I’ve spent time polishing and fixing many of those underlying issues, while also adding new factions, fresh content, and several overall improvements.

If you loved Seven Kingdoms II or are still playing it today, I’d love for you to give it a try! I’ve built a custom launcher that handles updates automatically whenever a new patch drops.

You can download the launcher via the link attached in the post. Hope you guys enjoy it, and feel free to leave any feedback!

sevenkingdoms2 mod launcher

Phantom Havoc Demo

My solo developed project is finally approved & released!

After much, much delay the Demo is now live for everyone to play. There is roughly 90minutes of game play, with quite a few features included. There are still some bugs to work out, but it's fairly polished and ready to enjoy. Had to take some time to myself and regather where this is going and which features to include so excuse the massive delay.

Demo:

Players have control over one playable faction, multiple types of units, from small fighters to large battlecruisers. Players are also able to build bases and defenses. In this demo level, players have to rescue and evacuate civilians back to orbit to complete the missions. Players also have the choice if they want to go on offensive and attack the enemy flagship & fleet command. Use traditional RTS controls, or take direct control of units.

Win condition: All civilians evacuated to orbit.

Thanks everyone for your support in this endeavor and the words of encouragement.

Hope you find it worthwhile to play.

Approved for release.

Steam: https://store.steampowered.com/app/3552260/Phantom_Havoc/

Just want to hear peoples opinions as it is not far away now.

*let luse da juice

Hi everyone!

I've been a software engineer for the past decade, and i've always been a big fan of RTS games, specifically growing up with Empire Earth and Starcraft. I've been working on outside of my actual day job a game that I have been wanting to play myself for awhile now. Essence of Redwall but in a large scale battle environment.

It's currently playable vs CPU opponents (up to 8 players), with different strategies. Each map is procedural generated and each individual aspect of the map is changeable in settings (rivers, mountains, elevation, resources, etc).

https://imgur.com/a/e2F8Eef

https://imgur.com/a/26fkH2L

https://imgur.com/a/kTJenB5

https://imgur.com/a/6sp5bOc

https://imgur.com/a/D2rtEwa

Some of the features i've added that I think help set it apart from the others:

• Rivers/Dams: dams make rivers beyond it cross-able, but if destroyed, temporarily floods downriver.
• Tunnels/Bridges: building tunnels through mountain ranges/impassable routes, and having bridges able to be built across valleys and other terrain, not just rivers.
• Night influences gameplay: during night, line of sight is decreased, and light can increase it. Units can turn on and off their personal lights, so they can sneak up on units to gain advantage.

Of course I have a bunch of ideas, but i'm trying to keep my goals manageable for now to avoid scope creep. It's hard though. 😅

My current still in progress aspects are cleaning up the tech tree, diplomacy, some additional models for the first 3 ages, and overall balance changes.

What are your thoughts on the trailer? And the current UI? I've been in my own world, so any feedback is extremely useful.

Thanks to your suggestions, I reworked all unit sprites so they can change based on health — thank you for the advice! I also added particles after units are destroyed: ships now sink smoothly, and air units fall down with smoke. I'm thinking about adding an explosion animation, so they don't just disappear instantly, plus a smooth fade-out animation. What do you think? (Right now it's quite hard for me to implement, so I'm asking — it would take a lot of time, and I want to push a demo to Steam in February.)

Right now I'm planning to focus on the post-battle menu, so the player can see how many enemy buildings and units they destroyed and how many research points they earned to spend on new units. After that I'll keep adding new ships, planes, and submarines.

I'd love to hear your comments and suggestions!

What RTS style do you like the most for RTS games? Currently I am seeing several pixel art rts games but I really hate it. The visuals are getting so noisy and hard to understand...

On the other side I don't see a lot of stylized RTS games. And wonder if players don't like it either? I just remember stormgate was stylized/cartoony but not received well.

Is realistic/ semi-realistic the most popular style?

What are you thoughts on it? What artstyle do you prefer for a RTS?

I am playing around with an RTS idea I've been musing about, curious how other RTS players feel about tech tree design.

Do you prefer massive, interconnected tech trees with lots of prerequisites, or something that's easy to understand at a glance but still offers plenty of strategic depth? Due to lack of knowledge (being honest) leaning towards the later.

The game has three unique factions, each with their own tech trees, strengths, weaknesses, and gameplay mechanics. While they share some core systems, each faction approaches combat, expansion, and resource management differently.

Our current approach:

• Simple progression: Buildings unlock through a relatively easy-to-follow tech tree.
• Tier 3 specializations: Each building type eventually branches into distinct specializations that change how it functions. Choosing one locks that specialization across all buildings of that type.
• Global research: Your Command Core handles permanent upgrades like resource capacity, armour, weapons, and infrastructure.
• Meaningful trade-offs: For example, at T3 an airfield can specialize in area bombing runs or precision strikes, but not both.

The goal is to keep the tech trees approachable while ensuring each faction has plenty of strategic depth, meaningful decisions, and replayability.

What is the sweet spot is between accessibility and complexity?

I've attached a sample of our current Freehold (human faction) tech tree for reference. It's still a work in progress, and I'd love to hear what experienced RTS players think!

🎵 Music: Cory Richards - Polarity

If anyone has any interest in providing any feedback from my demo update (found here: v 0.9.0 Demo Update - Crowns of Aldmere by Crignog) that would be incredible.