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my hot take on RTS : I like the genre (or rather used to like, the last one I loved was SupCom) but I wish somebody would make an RTS with no/minimal macro. Con

my hot take on RTS : I like the genre (or rather used to like, the last one I loved was SupCom) but I wish somebody would make an RTS with no/minimal macro. Controlling the builder/peons units is a chore at best and I would love to see it streamlined a lot. For example just ask for a building to be built instead of finding/assigning builders to the task and micromanaging what they will do next. Dungeon Keeper comes to mind as a game that starts to go in that direction but it can be argued it is more a (very) fun management game than an RTS. Probably not doable, we would lose a lot of expressivity in such a change. However, if there is a new RTS coming, I personally would love to see an innovative take on the genre, closer to Brutal Legends 2 / Sacrifice 2 (or as another commented posted, something emulating logistics would be another interesting avenue) than to the inevitable Warcraft 4 (for ios ;)).

AussieWog93 6y ago
SupCom's still active, through Forged Alliance Forever. I got back into it a couple of months back and was pleasantly suprised by how easy it was to find a game.
- on_and_off 6y ago
  happy to hear that this is still going on ! I lost interest in FA around the time when FAF was in its first betas. Planetary Annihilation is more or less a successor but I could not get into it. I like its idea but in practice the micro was insane in order to keep an eye on several different planets.
the__alchemist 6y ago
AOE2 Deathmatch mode? Thanks for bringing up Brutal Legend and Sacrifice - genuinely fun, interesting games.
- on_and_off 6y ago
  They had some sweet ideas. I just watched a retrospective on 20 years of Double Fine. Tim had some interesting comments in there about how BL came to be. They were avoiding very hard to make or market the game as an RTS because the genre already had a big stigma at the time. It might kinda explain the weird state of the game. It was definitely a fun and interesting experience but it was also flawed .. way too many games packed into one for its own good.
paulryanrogers 6y ago
Did you mean no micro?
- on_and_off 6y ago
  oups indeed I meant micro not macro RTS without macro would make no sense
  - chii 6y ago
    > RTS without macro would make no sense actually, the game "world in conflict" has no macro - you get free units (in limited quantities), and you micro the set of units to take control of points in the terrain (which leads to more reinforcements/units). Quite an interesting RTS, i would say. It's completely about tactics and micro, no macro at all.
    - on_and_off 6y ago
      interesting, I will have to give it a look at one of these days ? I heard about it but haven't played it. Looks like it was made from the same team as Ground Control, so this would be a tactics game (maybe a bit of a pedantic point to make though .. the 2 genres are closely related) ? Indeed, it was not what I had in mind but removing the strategic layer would also serve as making these games more focused and hopefully less frantic.
qznc 6y ago
https://globulation2.org https://globulation2.org might fit your bill except that it is Open-Source-crappy and dead. Its core idea is good though.
Laremere 6y ago
Consider trying http://www.toothandtailgame.com/ http://www.toothandtailgame.com/ It's designed to be playable with a controller, and uses a player character who commands the army and builds buildings. (Units autoproduce to a limit per building.) It removes APM from the equation, and also adds a new resource as a result: Position and focus of your commander.
abacadaba 6y ago
This is why I've always liked C&C over SC. Side note, openra is still addictive.

AussieWog93 6y ago

SupCom's still active, through Forged Alliance Forever. I got back into it a couple of months back and was pleasantly suprised by how easy it was to find a game.

on_and_off 6y ago
happy to hear that this is still going on ! I lost interest in FA around the time when FAF was in its first betas. Planetary Annihilation is more or less a successor but I could not get into it. I like its idea but in practice the micro was insane in order to keep an eye on several different planets.

the__alchemist 6y ago

AOE2 Deathmatch mode? Thanks for bringing up Brutal Legend and Sacrifice - genuinely fun, interesting games.

on_and_off 6y ago
They had some sweet ideas. I just watched a retrospective on 20 years of Double Fine. Tim had some interesting comments in there about how BL came to be. They were avoiding very hard to make or market the game as an RTS because the genre already had a big stigma at the time. It might kinda explain the weird state of the game. It was definitely a fun and interesting experience but it was also flawed .. way too many games packed into one for its own good.

paulryanrogers 6y ago

Did you mean no micro?

on_and_off 6y ago
oups indeed I meant micro not macro RTS without macro would make no sense
- chii 6y ago
  > RTS without macro would make no sense actually, the game "world in conflict" has no macro - you get free units (in limited quantities), and you micro the set of units to take control of points in the terrain (which leads to more reinforcements/units). Quite an interesting RTS, i would say. It's completely about tactics and micro, no macro at all.
  - on_and_off 6y ago
    interesting, I will have to give it a look at one of these days ? I heard about it but haven't played it. Looks like it was made from the same team as Ground Control, so this would be a tactics game (maybe a bit of a pedantic point to make though .. the 2 genres are closely related) ? Indeed, it was not what I had in mind but removing the strategic layer would also serve as making these games more focused and hopefully less frantic.

qznc 6y ago

https://globulation2.org https://globulation2.org might fit your bill except that it is Open-Source-crappy and dead. Its core idea is good though.

Laremere 6y ago

Consider trying http://www.toothandtailgame.com/ http://www.toothandtailgame.com/ It's designed to be playable with a controller, and uses a player character who commands the army and builds buildings. (Units autoproduce to a limit per building.) It removes APM from the equation, and also adds a new resource as a result: Position and focus of your commander.

abacadaba 6y ago

This is why I've always liked C&C over SC. Side note, openra is still addictive.