Have you played Supreme Commander? It's basically a simplified Supreme Commander.
You gather credits by building extractors, and extractors can only be put on resource deposits, so your aim is to control those deposits.
But where SupCom 2 has mass, energy, and research, Rusted Warfare has only credits.
What I look for
When I play RTS games, it's almost-exclusively:
- co-op against the AI
- with teammates
- ^^ teammates who don't spend time practicing RTS skills
So I'm looking for very specific things in a game. So far, of the games I've played, Rusted Warfare is top three when it comes to those things. (The other two in my top 3 are Age of Empires 3 and Nemesis of the Roman Empire (aka Celtic Kings 2)).
It got into my top three by being strong in the following areas:
Simplicity
Rusted Warfare is simple enough that my teammates can follow my requests without needing to train and practice on their own.
For instance, I can advise my teammates, "upgrade your extractors" and they can follow my advice without requiring a tutorial on resource management and energy shortages.
For comparison, in Supreme Commander (the franchise that was very clearly the inspiration for this game), trying to upgrade your extractor without sufficient knowledge on energy shortages can lead to choking out your entire economy.
Bull-headed AI
This is the most important thing I look for in casual co-op RTS.
In most RTS games, if the AI has 100 units? They are now attacking you on 100 different fronts. And focusing on any one front will deliver you losses at the other 99. It's a game of whack-a-mole where you are punished for every mole you miss.
I know I said Age of Empires 3 is in my top three, but Age of Empires 2? Exhausting, excrutiating, and infuriating. It's basically impossible to enjoy playing against the AI.
Same goes for Company of Heroes. I have broken a clavicle and wrist, and I can tell you without hesitation that playing against the AI in Company of Heroes is several times more painful than breaking bones.
Some people like that in a game. I do not.
Rusted Warfare, on the other hand, features an AI that mostly attacks you directly. Put a cluster of turrets between your base and theirs? You're now battling 80% of their incursions. They'll attack your flanks eventually, but you don't have to divide your attention evenly between all 100 different locations. It's almost like you and the AI are looking at the same place.
It's rare to find an RTS game where you are allowed to enjoy yourself. Most punish anyone who drops below 200 actions per minute.
But in Rusted Warfare, you can just... play.
Progression
I have extraordinarily heavy ADHD (first percentile on impulse control and sustained focus). But as long as a game has the bare minimum of progression (upgrades, building tree, etc) then I don't get bored and disengaged.
And Rusted Warfare has that. It's got at least the bare minimum.
There's always something for me to do: upgrade extractors, add turrets, build experimental factories, etc. And finishing this process does yield some pretty satisfying armadas... especially if I'm playing with mods.
In summary
I highly recommend it for casual co-op.