When comparing Ashes of the Singularity: Escalation vs Command & Conquer: Tiberian Sun, the Slant community recommends Command & Conquer: Tiberian Sun for most people. In the question“What are the best RTS games for PC?” Command & Conquer: Tiberian Sun is ranked 20th while Ashes of the Singularity: Escalation is ranked 28th. The most important reason people chose Command & Conquer: Tiberian Sun is:
With other iterations in the Command & Conquer series, the direction and acting in Tiberian Sun is one of the best of the series. Tiberian Suns includes and all-star cast, with Michael Biehn (Aliens, Terminator) and James Earl Jones (Conan the Barbarian, Star Wars) as members of GDI, and Joseph Kucan returning as Kane, NOD's maniacal and religious figurehead. The filming style and lighting prevalent in each FMV helps paint the perfect picture of a future, post-apocalyptic dystopia. This helps aid the game in conveying the dark atmosphere that is featured in each mission or multiplayer match. With the FMV and gameplay matching each other with such perfection, players can find themselves easily getting immersed in this title.
Specs
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Pros
Pro Better framerate when ran in DX12
This game is DX12 compatible which allows for a higher frame rate over DX11. DX12 is only able to be taken advantage of on Windows 10, so that is something to consider, but for those that can take advantage, there is a slight gain to be had.
Pro Pleasing graphics
The graphics stand out as polished and make for a really nice looking RTS. This is top of its class in graphics for an RTS in 2016.
Pro Cool mechanic for controlling troops
There is a tool in the game that allows one to "lasso" their units together into an army. By making an army the player can then control that army as they would one troop unit, meaning that all micromanagement for a large group of troops is unnecessary as the game will deal with it in a more intuitive an easy manner. This can be done with as little or as many troops as the player want, which overall makes for an easy way to control the game when in the heat of battle.
Pro Good mix of gameplay modes for any skill level
The game features a single player story mode, a story mode called Ascendancy that will walk the player though how to play the game and multiplayer modes that are ranked as well as custom multiplayer modes. Through the assortment of modes the game allows for any type of player to find gameplay that they may like, whether they are a seasoned RTS player or a newcomer to the genre. Whether playing locally in single player or online with friends or random people, there should be plenty on offer for any skill level.
Pro Focuses on positioning over micromanagement
The maps in this game are large, sometimes taking up as many as 20-30 zones in a single map. What this means is that the player will need to focus a lot more on position of their units over actually micromanaging every aspect of each unit (due to the vast size of maps and the amount of units on them). This allows for gameplay that has a broader scope in strategy, as it forces the player to plan out what is best to protect and the best position to hold of enemy attacks all while still trying to grow their army in order to overpower their enemy.
Pro Easily allows the player to utilize specific info on their enemies
At all times the player can vies on a mini map how much their enemy has expanded and into what areas. There is also a thing called player power rating, which allows the player to know on a point scale what their enemies military and economic power level is. Which means you can get a sense of what fields your enemy is expanding into. Combining these tools allows for a quick way to know where the enemy is expanding and into what fields of tech they are concentrating on. This way the player can adjust their strategy accordingly, making for an even deeper level of strategy overall.
Pro Tiberian Sun's well-filmed FMV aid in atmosphere and immersion
With other iterations in the Command & Conquer series, the direction and acting in Tiberian Sun is one of the best of the series. Tiberian Suns includes and all-star cast, with Michael Biehn (Aliens, Terminator) and James Earl Jones (Conan the Barbarian, Star Wars) as members of GDI, and Joseph Kucan returning as Kane, NOD's maniacal and religious figurehead.
The filming style and lighting prevalent in each FMV helps paint the perfect picture of a future, post-apocalyptic dystopia. This helps aid the game in conveying the dark atmosphere that is featured in each mission or multiplayer match. With the FMV and gameplay matching each other with such perfection, players can find themselves easily getting immersed in this title.
Pro Forethought of base defense required due to burrowing units
Command & Conquer: Tiberian Sun features burrowing units that can wreak havoc upon bases. As these units can only be seen if players have built sensor vehicles, they can unburrow directly inside bases virtually undetected. This allows players to sneak infantry transports and flame tanks into compounds, completely decimating undefended buildings. Due to this, players must think ahead of these threats and act accordingly; building defensive structures inside their bases, or leave a token force to protect the area.
Pro It's free
Tiberian Sun was licensed as freeware by Eletronic Arts in 2010.
Cons
Con Physics are unrealistic
Many of the units will pass right through each other, making for units that behave in an unrealistic way and can pull the player out of the immersion of the title. The units also all hover over the ground, which means they have no real weight to their actions, when combined with the unrealistic way they move makes for something that just does not looked polished.
Con Demanding system requirements
The game requires a high end GPU as well as at-least a 4 core processor. This means the game is quite demanding and needs to take advantage of multi-cores in order to play smoothly at high graphical settings. So for those with a mid-range system, the game may play at lower frame-rates, which can be frustrating.
Con Lacking in options for factions and units
There are only two factions available in the game to play with, so makes for limited choice. On top of this each faction has only so many different units, which also shows a lack of choice. Combined, once the game has been experienced and both factions played with there will be little in surprise as to what the game has to offer.
Con Slow-paced construction and gathering times add unnecessary length to matches
Unfortunately for Tiberian Sun, the game suffers from a massive slowdown when it comes to building and amassing an army. With Barracks and War Factories only training one unit at a time, players must build more of those facilities in order to train those units faster. This makes it imperative to spend resources on multiple builds just to make an army faster.
Resource gathering is also a slow endeavor that impedes player progress. Tiberium Harvesters, your resource gathering unit, have both slow movement and gather speeds. These units can take over a minute to bring back additional resources, which usually give players only a few hundred tiberium. This slows down the pace of the game even further, as players will need to build more Tiberium Refineries in order to gain money faster. Thus, this requires players give a large focus on economy over army to start each match.