When comparing 0 A.D. vs StarCraft: Brood War, the Slant community recommends 0 A.D. for most people. In the question“What are the best RTS games for PC?” 0 A.D. is ranked 12th while StarCraft: Brood War is ranked 18th. 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 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.
Pro Well balanced
The game is fairly well balanced, so nobody gets an advantage by choosing a certain race.
Pro Remastered Version!
The Remastered version brings updated graphics and widescreen support to the best RTS game ever!
Pro Very balanced
Cons
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.
Con Large focus on micromanagement
Do not get this game if you are more interested in building massive armies and fighting wars of attrition.
Con Old
With the original release dating back to 1998 the game is quite old now and graphics are not at par with current game offerings.
Con No widescreen support
Starcraft is only available in a 4:3 resolution. A hack to make it work in widescreen can be found here.