When comparing StarCraft II vs 0 A.D., the Slant community recommends 0 A.D. for most people. In the question“What are the best free full offline games for PC that have good graphics?” 0 A.D. is ranked 5th while StarCraft II is ranked 9th. The most important reason people chose 0 A.D. is:
Still currently in development, 0 A.D. is currently in Alpha stages and completely free. For those willing to wade through the multiple bugs, essentially testing the title, this game will scratch the itch of any RTS fan on a shoestring budget.
Specs
Ranked in these QuestionsQuestion Ranking
Pros
Pro A free starter edition is available
With the Starter Edition, players can start the beginning of the campaign, compete in ranked ladder matches, and play anything in the Arcade (a mode that offers a huge selection community-created games and mods).
Pro Big player base
Has a very big player base and everyone will be able to find a suitable opponent whether you are a rookie or an experienced player.
Pro Well balanced, asymmetrical gameplay
Opposing teams will have completely different skillsets allowing players to take wholly different approaches toward completing the same goal. This makes for asymmetrical gameplay that has been painstakingly balanced.
Pro Campaign features an engaging story and acts as a tutorial
StarCraft II tells a very concise and cohesive story, exclusively featuring the Terran, with some exceptions during optional missions. During the campaign, the player is asked to make several choices which partially alter the storyline, as well as give access to some units, while making other completely unavailable. With a new unit unlocked nearly every mission, these levels utilize unique gameplay mechanics that highlight the specific uses of each new unit that is unlocked, thus allowing players to familiar with them. For example, one mission highlights the maneuverability of the Viking, an aircraft that can quickly fly across the map, killing other aerial units, and transforming to become a walking vehicle that can annihilate ground-based enemies.
Pro Gives in-game access to a wide variety of community created games/mods
Users can publish their mods to the game so that other players may then apply them in-game. This makes for easy access to a wide variety of mods and games.
Pro Has an active eSports scene
With a 1.6 million dollar prize pool for the world championships in 2015, StarCraft II has a very large and supported eSports scene that is participated in throughout the world.
Pro Free, Real-Time Strategy title actively being developed
Still currently in development, 0 A.D. is currently in Alpha stages and completely free. For those willing to wade through the multiple bugs, essentially testing the title, this game will scratch the itch of any RTS fan on a shoestring budget.
Pro Multi-platform support
The game will run on any Operating System, whether it be Linux, OSX, or Windows, which is great for people who dual-boot or use multiple OS's across their devices. No matter the OS used, one can install and play this game.
Pro Addictive Age of Empires style gameplay
This game can be seen as a spiritual successor to Age of Empires, thus it will provide similar gameplay to those who are familiar with the AoE series.
Pro Straightforward RTS gameplay
0 A.D. brings recognizable, straightforward, Real-Time Strategy gameplay to the players. With a mini-map in the bottom corner, resources shown in a bar at the bottom, and unit selection through double clicking, all of the major elements found in most RTS games is here, making for a very familiar game for those that are used to the genre.
Pro Code is open-source
Even if the current developer team chooses to no longer work on the game, others can keep contributing to the source code and modify it.
Pro Active development
By being in active development the game allows for frequent bug fixes as well as frequent new content. While it is still in alpha, the state of the game playability is pretty good with new features being added all the time.
Cons
Con Starcraft I units are unavailable
They removed/replaced some of the units with new units. As of 2021 several mods of SC2 engine feat SC1 units are freely available
Con Difficult for beginners
Con Currently in alpha
0 A.D. is an ongoing open source project that is as of yet feature complete.
Con Slow development
0 A.D. is an ongoing open source project that is as of yet feature incomplete. This game is still in Alpha version 23 Ken Wood as of September 2020.