No not really, but HoMM was a nice gateway-drug to proper RTS

Nope, it's not an RTS, but back in the 90's - when computers were bulky, few, and preciously expensive, Internet access was charged by the minute, and friends not always within PC carrying distance - hot-seat games such as the HoMM or Worms series were winning the battle for screen-time over the likes of StarCraft or Quake in basically almost any social context.

We'd sometimes meet up and try to take turns to beat a particularly difficult mission, but by the time anyone had a second (imagine!) computer in their house, broadband Internet was getting widespread. My first ever StarCraft LAN was in 2009, IIRC.

They were similar “play feel” - perhaps Unrealtime Strategy would be a name for it.

We’d be deciding to play Action Quake together, or maybe StarCraft or Tiberian Sun/Red Alert, or watch someone play Half Life, or HOMM3 hot seat.

The last would often win out if it was more of a chill night.