We are now in the second half of the most brutal war to play out on the pages of this venerable website—a war that will determine, through democracy and science, which RTS unit is the greatest of them all.
Two weeks ago, the conflict started with 16 units. Last week, eight survivors duked it out in the quarterfinals. Blood was shed and four more units were tossed into the void. It was tight—with two battles ending with the victor claiming only 10% more of the votes. My two faves, the noble Dolphin and humble Peon were killed off. I weep for these fallen heroes.
But there's no more time for sentimentality. Another battle is about to begin. Clean off the blood and get ready for the semifinals. It's time to choose which two units will be going head-to-head in the glorious final battle.
The semifinals bracket
During the quarterfinals, I made a prediction. One I was pretty confident about. But was I right?
I was pretty close, actually! The only one I got wrong was Peon, which has honestly shocked the hell out of me. In the first round, my sweet green boy utterly dominated the Glass Dragon, and it's been getting plenty of love in the comments. I did not expect to see it get knocked out by a tank. Just a tank! OK, it's probably unfair to call the indomitable Mammoth Tank "just a tank", but the Peon was robbed.
Clearly we've got some tank fans, but even more Star Destroyer fans. The sneaky Mirage Tank, another of my favourites, was blown to smithereens by Darth Vader's Executor Super Star Destroyer. When you've got that many turbolasers blasting at you, pretending to be a tree ain't gonna do you any good.
Spaceships are clearly doing well. The Pride of Hiigara was up against a bunch of horseboys, and unsurprisingly one of the most iconic videogame ships around triumphed over a bunch of lads who love a gymkhana.
I knew it was coming, but it still hurts to see the brave, noble Dolphin getting taken out by the Priest—a thief and a trickster who can't fight his own battles. In the war between nature (because what is more natural than a weaponised aquatic mammal who can destroy ships with sonic blasts?) and organised religion, organised religion won. A tragedy.
Anyway! That's all in the past now. We're down to four combatants, and your votes will determine who goes into the final. You'll have until the end of Tuesday (BST) to make your picks, but otherwise there are no rules. This is not a case of "Who would win in a fight?" unless you want it to be. Maybe you just think the Priest looks sexy in those robes, or you're broadly pro-Sith and must show the Star Destroyer some love. Right, let's get fighting!
Mammoth Tank vs Pride of Hiigara
Mammoth Tank (Command and Conquer: Red Alert)
God bless these great, trundling beasts—implacable Soviet strength wrought in steel and pig iron.
Mammoth Tanks are unfathomably costly and painfully slow, but whatever. I'm convinced just one of them could probably win the entire RA1 Soviet campaign by itself. Akh-knowledged. —Joshua Wolens, News Writer
Pride of Hiigara (Homeworld 2)
While other ships are spitting out missiles and other little projectiles, the Homeworld Mothership is spitting out capital ships. It is both a unit and your base—an impossibly huge mobile factory that can carry your whole fleet inside of it. Its direct offensive capabilities are extremely limited, but like I said: It can spit out capital ships.
I've picked the Kushan/Hiigaran version specifically because of its iconic design, which for me is right up there with the Enterprise D and Star Destroyers. While it's largely stationary in the original Homeworld (at least in the campaign), it's fully mobile in Homeworld 2, giving it an extra dose of utility. —Fraser Brown, Online Editor
Super Star Destroyer vs Priest
Executor Super Star Destroyer (Star Wars: Empire at War)
My colleagues have, for some reason, chosen to prioritize things like "funny voice lines" and "subtext" while proposing their favorite RTS units. Sorry, gang: you're about to get crushed by 19 kilometers of steel and turbolasers.
This enormous Death Triangle is the ultimate wish fulfilment vessel in Empire at War, one of my favorite Star Wars games. It's not a top-tier RTS, but it is top-tier Star Wars fantasy in game form, letting you move around a bunch of little toy ships and play out the "what if" of throwing Rogue Squadron's ace pilots up against a Star Destroyer. They've got a real chance in that fight, but not against the Executor, Darth Vader's personal ride.
The damn thing is practically the size of Manhattan, and you can really feel that scale in the game. It makes regular Star Destroys look like Doritos by comparison. It's swimming with so many turbolaser batteries it can bully an entire Rebel fleet by itself. Don't even try that A-Wing trick against it—that sort of nonsense only works in the movies. —Wes Fenlon, Senior Editor
Priest (Age of Empires)
"Wololo." I win. —Jody Macgregor, Weekend Editor
