Emperor: Battle for Dune
Shares rank 20 of 24 real-time strategy games by recommenders
People recommend it as one of the best real-time strategy games of its era that still holds up, praising its gameplay, soundtrack and campaign missions. The most common caveat is uneven balance between the five sub-factions.
People recommend it as one of the best real-time strategy games of its era that still holds up, praising its gameplay, soundtrack and campaign missions. The most common caveat is uneven balance between the five sub-factions.
6 people gave an opinion
- recommend it
- 6
- criticize it
- 0
- approval share
- 100%
Recommended in 2 of 13 months
- November 2025: not recommended
- December 2025: not recommended
- January 2026: not recommended
- February 2026: not recommended
- March 2026: not recommended
- April 2026: not recommended
- May 2026: not recommended
- June 2026: recommended
- July 2026: recommended
- August 2026: not recommended
- September 2026: not recommended
- October 2026: not recommended
- November 2026: not recommended (month in progress)
Why it doesn’t carry the badge
- 6 people recommend itNeeds 10 or more, not met.
- Nobody criticizes itNeeds 2 to 1 or better, met.
- Recommended in 2 of 13 monthsNeeds 4 or more, not met.
The same three rules apply to every product, and the badge can’t be bought. How the badge works
What people say about it
The reasons people give, with the number of comments that give each one. Open a reason to read what they said.
What people warn about
Each mark is one comment
Five sub-factions seem imbalanced
“My only real complaint was the five sub-factions seemed to be imbalanced.”
Comment from 5 Jul 2026 in “Command and Conquer Generals natively ported to macOS, iPhone, iPad using Fable” Worm timer mission in ending
“ending had some worm timer mission i couldn't get to in time”
Comment from 5 Jul 2026 in “Command and Conquer Generals natively ported to macOS, iPhone, iPad using Fable”
Other real-time strategy games people recommend
The four most recommended other real-time strategy games, with the same counts for each, so you can compare like for like. The tick on each bar marks the 2 to 1 line the badge needs.
| Product | Recommend | Criticize | Approval | Months | Owned | Badge |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Beyond All Reason | 76 | 17 | 82% | 10 | 1 yr6 owners | Approved |
| Warcraft II: Tides of Darkness | 51 | 2 | 96% | 8 | — | Approved |
| Total Annihilation | 48 | 7 | 87% | 7 | — | Approved |
| StarCraft | 36 | 22 | 62% | 10 | — | — |
| Emperor: Battle for DuneThis page | 6 | 0 | 100% | 2 | — | — |
What people said
5 of the 7 comments that mention it, newest first. Each links to the original comment.
“ending had some worm timer mission i couldn't get to in time”
“My only real complaint was the five sub-factions seemed to be imbalanced.”
“This was one of the best RTS of the era. Still holds up today.”
“The gameplay, soundtrack, and campaign missions were awesome.”
“I've spent a lot of time on”
Counts come from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026. How we count. Report a mistake.