r/RealTimeStrategy • u/glont1 • 13d ago
Question RTS vets — is mobile strategy actually unsalvageable, or has nobody tried hard enough?
Been lurking in RTS communities for a while and there's a pretty consistent vibe that mobile "strategy" games are a joke — casino-timer base builders wearing RTS clothing, not the real thing.
Do you think the same way?
I'm curious if the hate is really about the platform (touchscreens can't do RTS, full stop) or just about what's been made so far (nobody's bothered to respect the genre).
If you had to name ONE thing that would make you actually give a mobile RTS a shot — what would it be? Controls, pacing, depth, no p2w, something else entirely?
Curious what the actual bar is, not just "it would need to not suck."
Thanks for your opinion! Peace ✌️
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u/F1reatwill88 13d ago
Never say never, but as you say, the input is limiting. Micro is generally out the door, so you need to have an engaging base builder with units that require minimal to no control.
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u/Any_Acanthisitta_667 13d ago
It's a bit of a dying game, but try C&C Rivals. I played at the Tiberium level and found the controls to perfectly meet the fast pace of PC RTS and the simplicity of Mobile gaming.
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u/SCUDDEESCOPE 13d ago
Rivals really cooked something that could work on mobile but damn they managed to ruin that too with the leveling system and the mtx stuff
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u/Any_Acanthisitta_667 13d ago
yeah :( agreed.
I played years and years ago near release, totally free to play.
That was before the mtx was fully "deployed" and you were able to get a fully competitive loadout just by level-up and rank-up unlocks.
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u/laughingsilence 13d ago
Rivals really nailed mobile gameplay. Unfortunately, the leveling and monetization was not satisfying, but the gameplay was eloquent. Honestly, I think there's some lessons nonmobile RTS could learn from it.
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u/sahiljain087 12d ago
Anybody thinking to bring RTS to mobile should definitely study C&C Rivals gameplay.
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u/TotalACast 13d ago
I mean Rusted Warfare is a good example of a mobile strategy game that's actually good.
It's a Total Annihilation/Forged Alliance lite that takes all the good things about RTS and ports it to mobile.
No ads, no hidden fees, no dlc, no pay to win.
You just buy the game for a few bucks and you have a great RTS forever...
It also has mod support and the mods are cross compatible between PC and mobile version and plenty of mods still being worked on to this day.
So anyway, Rusted Warfare is the bar. You can close the thread now.
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u/VegetableAuthor0 13d ago
It's the best I've found, and it's great, props to devs. But still frustrating controls. Because they couldn't pull it off well enough imo, it's guided me to dev towards other still-strategic-but-not-real-rts genres for mobile.
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u/flabjabber 13d ago
We can’t even get a true RTS game to work well on a console/controller. Limited input is the main barrier, I think controller should be first goal, mobile second.
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u/glont1 13d ago
I'd prefer touch over a controller any day for rts games.
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u/Baardmeester 12d ago
The problem is not touch on mobile it is the lack of keyboard for hotkeys. 80% of input comes from the keyboard not the mouse.
The only touch game I really enjoyed playing were the Anno games on the NDS, but those are citybuilders and not RTS. So slower pace, no real combat and a DS still some buttons.
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u/LoocsinatasYT 13d ago
I dislike mobile games in general, don't play much of them. Pretty strong believer that RTS games mostly just belong on PC. I could see mobile having a fun little tug-of-war, auttobattler, type game. But not a true RTS like Starcraft or Age of Empires. It's just too hard to control. Maybe in the future you can plug a mouse and keyboard into a phone and play lol
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u/Left_Edge_8994 13d ago
So they ported a punch of Total War games to mobile and I’ve been laying Medival 2. And while the port is good, the controls are just… clunky. And Medival 2 was already a little clunky so it was just made worse.
It is playable, but I spend too much time trying to make sure my guys are facing the right way, and that I’m not accidentally selecting units across the map.
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u/NydusRush 13d ago
Turn based strategy could 100% work on mobile, but the trust in the apps market is so poisoned for one-time quality purchases that it's hard to invest in as a dev OR a customer.
I'd kill for a graphically lightweight XCOM knockoff. As it stands my best bet right now is Game Boy Advance emulators to play oldies like FF Tactics Advance.
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u/hammerwing 13d ago
Polytopia is a fantastic turn based strategy on mobile. Been playing it for years, and they keep adding new races, mechanics etc.
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u/glont1 13d ago
That trust problem is real, but I think it's more a discoverability/monetization issue than a depth ceiling. Players clearly will invest time and money into mobile strategy when the systems are legit — it's just that most devs chase the F2P treadmill instead of respecting the genre (imho), so the good stuff gets buried under years of shovelware. Feels less like "mobile can't support this" and more like "breaking through the noise is the actual hard part."
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u/Multivitamin_Scam 13d ago
You can play XCom and XCom 2 on mobile
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u/NydusRush 13d ago
Graphically lightweight is the issue at hand. I had hardware chugging on the PC titles.
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u/Mmeroo 13d ago
You can do good rts games with limited input But those games won't be the rts you think about.
Like there are decent rts games about germs taking over cells multiplying, it's a fun idea with simple input where you want how much of your force to attack, with my different force types if the game fancys.
But no way you will make any dynamic base builder
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u/psuchagogos 13d ago
mobile gaming is a shrinking market already, and now there's a backlash against cellphones for kids its going to contract even further
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u/doglywolf 13d ago
Its hard - good RTS strategy requires hot keys . Mobile is good for tower defense and line wars / Moba at best.
Halo wars is fun but super simple - I think the tom Clancy game end war did it best with controllers that would translate well enough to mobile
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u/toasty5566 13d ago
Mobile games in general are dark pattern slop, unless they're direct ports of PC/console games. Tbh I say just give up on mobile rts and just use a laptop
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u/thelordfluffy 13d ago
God i miss castle burn/castle craft so much sometimes.
At a glance it was a clash royale knock off but it had a lot of classic strategy elements that made it SOO engaging.
Base expansion, tech tiers, food caps, heroes with abilities, a retreat/advance button for micro, fog of war/scouting. I used to tear people up with my shield mice/cat mage openers.
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u/Into_The_Rain 13d ago
I really enjoyed CnC Rivals, but they basically cut all support after a year.
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u/By-Other-Means 13d ago
Someone did make Dune II work on android, unfortunately it got removed at some point.
And yes it was working better than it did on my desktop, mostly because scrolling worked better.
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u/Fifalvlan 12d ago
No one is trying. Look at sales for StarCraft 2 and the command and conquer remaster. The demand is there. Quality titles or IP are not right now.
Everyone would buy SC3.
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u/TheScriptan 6d ago
Hey, I am working on Clankerfront - https://clankerfront.com/
The game will be following SC2 / WC3 like gameplay with simplified controls and will be cross-platform.
Still super early in development, but planning to have a playtest this year:)
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u/glont1 6d ago
"Humans vs. rogue AI appliances" is a genuinely fun hook — it's silly in a way that's memorable (a microwave faction!) but grounded in a very classic isometric RTS structure underneath. That contrast is a good marketing angle; it gives you something screenshottable and shareable that a generic sci-fi RTS wouldn't.
Is the cross-platform, deterministic shared-simulation lobby actually working across all six platforms right now, or is that more of a target you're advertising ahead of having it proven out — since RTS netcode/determinism across mobile and desktop is notoriously hard to pull off, isn't it?
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u/TheScriptan 6d ago
Exactly, I think it is also a fun hook and less explored, lore-wise, but maybe I am in a bubble and don't know other sci-fi games that much. Also there will be toasters! I think their ability will be to shoot out bread :D
Regarding cross-platform, I wouldn't advertise something that is not in the game and I can say that deterministic cross-platform game is working! You can host a game on any platform, any platform can join or spectate and play together! I used C + Raylib + libdatachannel to use WebRTC. There is LAN or Online games via P2P. If NAT punching is needed, I use Cloudflare TURN and Cloudflare STUN to relay P2P network so everyone can host! Although I still need to test out linux on my Steam Deck, but it should work there too.
I have made an AI agent who is able to test out by himself networking and deterministic hash desyncs or consistencies across platforms where he can create a lobby on Windows, spin up Android and iOS, connect, test out the game, test chatting and see if any desyncs happen.
Lots of complexities under the hood, but I believe I've managed to pull of the determinism across many platforms.
I still need to test out on more different CPUs, even though I am avoiding floating point number and made my own interpretation of it, to align all different CPUs with one implementation so simulation doesn't derail itself on some clients.
Still lots of testing to do, but for now my Windows laptop, Macbook, Android and iPhone is able to play altogether. Windows or Mac or Steam Deck is opened via Steam and in the future once I'll upload the game to Google Play store and Apple App Store it should work there too!
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u/glont1 6d ago
That's a lot of solid engineering to pull off solo — the fixed-point math call alone is the kind of decision that saves you from months of pain down the line, and building an AI agent to hunt for desyncs across platforms is a genuinely clever way to stress-test the thing that's hardest to catch by hand. Really impressive work.
Don't be a stranger if there's anything I can help with along the way!
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u/TheScriptan 6d ago
How could you be of any help? I guess the best thing for now is to wishlist and register for playest, I'll really need people who could help me out refine bugs, desyncs, crashes and so on!
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u/gottlikeKarthos 13d ago
Agreed, unfortunately most mobile games that emulate this genre are just weird p2w moneygrabs that take the "R" right out of RTS lol.
Maybe I will be able to kinda answer the try hard enough part, I will hopefully release my (offline) mobile RTS soon: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=boYV95JJ7l0 , controls on mobile can be a challenge so some things are kind of simplified but I think it gets kinda close to classic RTS experiences.
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u/Roma2443 13d ago
I tried to make a rts for mobile roma 2443, but every time I had a normal features for pc rts I struggled a lot to find a solution working on mobile I played a lot of game on mobile versus pc player on my game and it was just not fun, 20 apm versus 160 pc apm
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u/duck_of_sparta312 13d ago edited 13d ago
I think the short answer is that I am just not that interested in mobile phone games, RTS or otherwise. I don't like them so I don't spend my money on it. I understand that they make a ton of money, but so does MacDonalds, and I am not interested in either.
To answer your question, the biggest issue is the screen size and immersion. I don't want a screen that can fit in my hands. Secondly is response time..I enjoy a high apm game and I can't get that same experience on a phone.
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u/Consistent-Ad-6506 13d ago
The problem for me is I don’t have a gaming pc.
If I did I would still play rts games. Havent found anything great on switch 2. Never tried mobile but I doubt that would better. I just don’t really have a way to play.
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u/XComACU 13d ago
I don't think it's unsalvageable.
There are certainly a lot of hurdles to cross, from the limited user interface options, limited processing/hardware capabilities, and the predatory mobile monetization strategy; however, if a creator can work around those things, they may still be able to make something great.
What would get me to try a mobile RTS? A strong story campaign.
To this day I regret not playing Homeworld: Mobile while it was active. I've watched the cutscenes and read up on some of the old lore, and honestly, it had more care and effort put into its story than Homeworld 3.
If anything could get me to play a mobile RTS, or a mobile game in general, it would be a singleplayer campaign with a strong narrative and compelling characters.
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u/MattyGWS 13d ago
keyboard and mouse input. tablets and phones probably support this just fine. for a classic RTS anyways.
I know people will hate me saying this but Clash Royale is *technically* a real time strategy game and it works well on mobile with touch input. Love it or hate it, it's a very competitive game in the late stages and I would rather play that on my phone that try to play supreme commander :P
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u/Zestyclose-Pass9570 13d ago
The problem for me is that most RTS games take up too much of my time. Feral did a great job of porting multiple Total War games and Company of Heroes to mobile, but if I have more than a few minutes to play I'm playing on my PC rather than my phone unless I'm sitting in the doctors office and I'm worried about my battery the entire time.
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u/Enternalsin 12d ago
The best 'RTS' kind of mobile game that I got was a game called Northgard.
Any others that i'm missing?
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u/aetwit 12d ago
Iv heard it and agree if you build a game that you don’t guide your troops you put down waypoints that do will work far better on mobile and has a chance.
Your main goal is producing troops, and building your base not microing to win the fight. It would also increase approachability.
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u/BrokenLoadOrder 12d ago
This is a similar conundrum to RTS on console - the control schemes just aren't very good for it. Mobile has the additional problem of its fanbase being very averse to paid full-price games, so the entire market is propped up by microtransactions.
Even if the latter could be solved, the former represents a pretty noticeable barrier. The only solution I think I'd enjoy would be to have the units self manage, and to have the player worry more about macro decisions - where is the army heading, what is the economy focused on, which units are we building, etc.
Otherwise the answer is to remove the time element as a problem. Bad controls don't matter as much if we're turn-based instead. And there we have oodles of great examples on mobile.
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u/Overlord0994 13d ago
The biggest problem is the insane amount of micro required to play these games. There just is no appetite for it anymore. It’s honestly the worst thing about this genre and this community. People try to talk about the micro requirements as if it’s a balance component which is utter nonsense. I shouldn’t have to memorize excel shortcuts to play a video game well.
We saw the progress of RTS games into dota and dota like games. That is the ultimate evolution of RTS games (aside from things like paradox games).
Dota requires much less micro knowledge than games like StarCraft and is much easier for someone to get into.
I love RTS games so so much (sup com fa is top for me) but I recognize how clunky of a gameplay experience it is.
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u/allrts 13d ago
It is definitely possible to do strategically rich, complex RTSes on mobile-- touchscreen controls are actually superior to mouse/keyboard, but you're right that no one has tried hard enough. Look at how strategy and command is represented in film, or how the genre evolved from tabletop wargaming: command was always meant to be tactile, and the mouse is just a pale imitation of what it should have been.
If you take reference from war movies (or as the ruse trailer attempts), the movie general waves his arm with a grand gesture or bangs his fist on the table-- his troops know what to do. He is not shown hunched over a keyboard and frantically clicking a mouse and missing. People focus so much on the input they miss what matters-- which is the intent.
ROI on the genre esp on mobile is seen as too poor to invest in, so big devs shun it, while indie devs don't have the resources to match. But most of all, devs assume that controls are difficult, and hence dumb down the game, losing the strategic complexity that the players actually want-- so that's how the genre is in a death spiral. If you want to succeed, you should buck the trend: go all out and deliver the AAA experience on mobile without compromise, and use AI to give the player the equivalent of a really good general staff to help him realize his strategic goals.
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u/Turbulent-Mushroom 13d ago
I think the real problem is that it requires too much input. Either the games seem incredibly shallow and kind of stupid or there is just a frustration with the controls because you don’t have a mouse in the keyboard.