I've been exploring it a lot.
The reason why i like OpenRA, is that you can learn it while making functions and actually test them in the game. The game has a very nice multiplayer, so you will also get familiarized with how the engine behaves.
The engine is like 100mb super lightweight. No bloat at all. And its perfect to develop in my laptop when i go to the countryside.
I think its quite performant since I experienced multiplayer games with it, that reached thousands of units and 8+ players grow a garden. Sometimes it lags a bit with the APathfinding, if many players start moving all their units at the same time.
Though i have no experience with many other engines, i think its fair to say that OpenRA is the best 2D RTS engine.
BAR engine also seems good but its 3D, whereas OpenRA is 2D.
I dont know what else could i go for, for a 2D RTS other than OpenRA, that is as developed and well structured as OpenRA perhaps MonoGame.
The only thing that sucks in OpenRA is the lack of tutorials and documentation.
I figured out how to do a lot of things already with the OpenRA, UI buttons, Units, Buildings.
Though some things are very confusing, but once you get how it works it all makes sense.
What concerns me is that Unreal and the other big engines have quite accurate AI support. You just have to correct it and debug it. Whereas OpenRA its hard to ask AI for solutions.
Other than that is the fact its dedicated to a 2D RTS game, could mean its a bit of a waste of time to learn it, but if you are like me where half of your game ideas are 2D RTS, then it makes sense.
What do you guys think?