I could never stand AoE2 too much since every faction was basically a copy of every other faction with minimal differences so I'm basically playing the same thing over ad over and over again while in SC you have 3 completely different factions.

I guess I should have specified.  'There's only 3 strategies when you play tournament people who only play Lost Temple all day.'  And really, that's kind of what Starcraft has become, the ultimate method driven, I do this so you counter with that gg RTS.  There's nothing inherently wrong with that.  But I just like more variety and options in an RTS.  And the ability to do something new every game without having to go 'No, can't do that or I'll be defenseless to an early drop...no can't do that or I'll be defenseless to his Tanks...."

Well in AOE2, each race has differences with unique units (like the British Longbowmen or the Japanese Samurai) but they also get unique advancements (like Chinese can research maximum farming techniques and the Monguls can research all forms of gunpowder tech).  But like any good RTS series, the sequels improved on these features.  AOEIII have much more variety and every race has many more unique features and units.  But to make it even better, you get a 'consulate', to allow you to make pacts with other races and use their units.  Plus you can find 'Native' units on various maps, from Pawnee Indians to Shaolin Monks to Jesuit Missionaries who ride horses and wield guns.

There's really a wide variety in the AOE series.

If we're going into series, AOE has 3 while SC has only 1 game, so You can't really argue series here, just games. Also AOE3 was horrendous. Whose idea was it to do the leveling of cities in an RTS game? Whoever it was needs to get fire.

However AOE3 does have more variety, but it's still annoying, my swordsmen are almost the same acros all civilizations except the ones who have a unique unit or 2, meanwhile in SC all units are unique.

I was wondering what MMO they would choose for the list. Glad they picked UO. Woot for scamming and ganking!

Leveling cities produces variety each game (because it gives you cards, to produce extra units/techs).  You can't claim it makes the game 'suck' and then say 'Starcraft is better because it stays stagnant'.  It just makes it seem like you're saying is 'Starcraft is better because AOE sucks'.  If that's your opinion, then so be it.  Also, Starcraft II is coming soon enough and while no one has played it yet....its not like all the preview videos and details on the game make it seem like the next game is going to innovate anything in the RTS genre.  Just pretty much add new units and graphical effects to the same Starcraft triangle model.  Which pretty much is the only thing they can do, because changing the 'most popular' RTS system out there is economical suicide.

But whatever, because of the OVERWHELMING bias against AOEIII, then I propose we use Company of Heroes as a better example of an RTS that has surpassed Starcraft in the last 10 years in its genre.

Also, I'd like to point out, while it may seem that all units in Starcraft are 'unique', they are...sort of.  Marines are still comperable to Zerglings, who are still comperable to Zelots.  And etc on down the line.  They all have unique abilities and Str/HP, but they still serve the same purpose for their specific race.  And that's what makes Starcraft work.  All three races are in a triangle balance with each other (though Terran is arguably overpowered).  Why is it so bad that AOE3 has similar units, when there's 14 different races?  Or do we have to make up a different kind of swordsman for French troops than Spanish?  After you go beyond 4 races, balancing becomes an issue.  Again, that's how Starcraft works so well, because it stuck to 3 races.

I'm not going to try to comment on "StarCraft vs. AoE/CoH" because it's trench warfare and I don't even know the other ones too well.  And to be honest, it's been a long time since I played StarCraft.  Nevertheless:

Your assertion that Zerglings/Marines/Zealots are all 'basically the same' just because they're the cheapest basic combat unit is just wrong.  Zerglings require different tactics to use effectively compared to using Marines of Zealots.  Marines can shoot at air units while the other two can't, and Marines are ranged and the other two aren't.  Ranged fire is a HUGE difference -- not just because a ranged unit gets "free" hits before the other unit closes, but because it's easier to gang up without having to be physically adjacent to the target.  The Zealot, meanwhile, although behaving similarly to the Zergling, is a massively stronger unit.

I'd say the Hydralisk is closer to being a counterpart to the Marine than the Zergling is, or rather the Marine is in between the two of them in power.  Which just proves that there is no direct equivalent.  You can't just use the same tactics with another race. 

It's true that with huge numbers of races, balancing completely different unit types would become an unreasonably difficult task to ask of a game maker -- but why does that give the game a pass?  It's their fault for insisting on tons of races, knowing that that would be a consequence.  Or you can argue that the unique units/abilities that the races DO get make up for it when there are so many to pick from -- but if so, say that instead of making excuses. 

I never met anyone who thought Starcraft was better than Age of Empires I or II during all my years playing on the Zone.

^ The Twilight Zone?

@ Kenryoko maxis.

Just to point out facts, there are several openings in Starcraft for each race, including rushes and economy openings, some opeinings counter other openings while others are more safe. From these openings, there are several ways to transition to mid-game depending on what the oponent is doing (there is still choice) And after that, there are several ways to play out late game. Creativity is always a factor when playing Starcraft, it's risky to try something new, but it just might work, many new tactics have been popularized quite recently. Just to point out that there are always choices you can make.

No, you silly.

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