I feel like War of Dots is a good game for people who are seeking to get into the RTS genre but are still pretty wary of something of a slightly higher caliber like Hearts of Iron 4 or Starcraft or any of the like.
It has relatively simple mechanics that I do think are pretty fun and that encourage you to do daring moves, although the AI probably isn't the smartest (then again they DO try some bookie ♥♥♥♥ too like rushing one of your cities if it thinks it's unguarded) and it could probably do with some improvements in terms of strategy, such as calculating "groups" for itself like us humans do, where we got a certain set of units set out just to defend the cities and get cash rolling, because putting units on your own cities (while it does block new ones from spawning so only station them there if you really need the money or need them to regenerate health) makes them free and opens up opportunities, or attack groups, not just on land, but also on water where I feel like the AI is currently lacking right now, as it doesn't try to turn it's units into boats to then try some sort of naval invasion. However, it's pretty fun to go one of the 4 player maps and see them battle each other out while you try to formulate your own force.
The money system isn't very complicated, it's mostly just "capture city = funds = more units = easier win" which is probably a little too broad and too simplistic, but then again, I'm not asking for sparkling for a game that is literally free. The things it offers are very fun and I really like how you select units by drawing a circle around them or clicking an individual one, and I like how you can do several types of maneuvers, you can drag lines, click for a straight line, build in a loop because why not, and you can micromanage a lot of different units quickly. Allows for these nice moments where you make a push and then sneak another unit into the backlines via boat or something. Absolute Cinema. Even more so if it actually wins you a game.
Yes, it's free. Like, you can pick this up immediately, and if we go to the other systems like boats and the simple distinction of light/heavy, I feel like this is a good game for when you have no idea what to do in your RTS loving friend group and you want to play something together.
But furthermore, I do believe it's good enough fun for me as someone who doesn't have anyone to play this with, too. While the AI is, as I mentioned before, not the most intelligent, they do notice when you try something sly and I really like that. While I never lost to them before, they did catch me off guard a few times as they took a city by brute force and encircled half my units stationed down that area. While it's not hard to clean up the mess when playing against a blockheaded robot, I do imagine in a PvP scenario that stuff like that would probably immediately change the tide of the game.
Fun fact: I did see this game sometime last year on Youtube, probably by the creator and I did think it was pretty interesting to see, since, well, if it got into my Recommended section then surely doing the playtests publicly wasn't a bad idea. All I can say is, I liked the videos and they gave me a first impression, which, a lot of people probably should rely more on peaking curiosity through Youtube and "baiting" someone into looking at their game, because usually it's that sudden first impression that matters and that will sort out which type of person is actually interested in it.
