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OK people you are asked to design a new RTS using modern day equipment.What do you do? how do you set it up ?what factions do you have? and what resiources do you use?

I'd take more time to think about it. So... if this thread is around in week, and I don't forget about it, I might post something.

Design it along similar lines as Sudden Strike 2, only with more construction options, e.g., foxholes, sandbags, razorwire, etc. That would be coolness.

The military aspect ofAge of Empires crossed with the administrative aspect of Sim City. That's the basic idea.

is it supposed to be balanced, or genocidal bloodbath?

I'd like to make everything to scale. Sure you can't see the units, but that's what zoom is for. Too bad it'll suck system resources like hell. When you zoom out, units will be represented by icons, sort of like the way Homeworld overlays the icons over the units when you press Caps Lock. Oh well, wait 10 years.

Since it's ridiculous to control each soldier individually, organize them into groups. There will be AI to take care of micromanagement, though you can step in if you like. It will be scriptable, so you can write you own auto micromanagement routines. No resources for this tactical game, since you don't build units (unrealistic). Or you can combine this with a strategic component like Total War, in which you allocate money to military, tax cuts, etc, and capture mines and other natural resources.

How about a new, graphically up-to-date version of X-COM? Obviously this isn't an original idea, but it would still kick-ass. The tactical element could take place in a zoom-able 3D environment, which would hopefully add a new degree of tactical sophistication to the game.

Pu-239 wrote:I'd like to make everything to scale. Sure you can't see the units, but that's what zoom is for. Too bad it'll suck system resources like hell. When you zoom out, units will be represented by icons, sort of like the way Homeworld overlays the icons over the units when you press Caps Lock. Oh well, wait 10 years.

Since it's ridiculous to control each soldier individually, organize them into groups. There will be AI to take care of micromanagement, though you can step in if you like. It will be scriptable, so you can write you own auto micromanagement routines. No resources for this tactical game, since you don't build units (unrealistic). Or you can combine this with a strategic component like Total War, in which you allocate money to military, tax cuts, etc, and capture mines and other natural resources.

Then again you can always use sprites. However it would be a pain for the computer, and especially in a multiplayer environment, to keep track of thousands of individual soldiers, tanks, and whatnot.

I think it'll be US vs China, with the Chinese having their inferior forces in larger numbers. Maybe Russia included, though then it would not be balanced. Then again just modify it so that the russians get cheap use of nukes. Acceptable compromise for balance.

MMORTS

Plays at the pace of TBS

With advanced Queues and AI for low level command, and player gets only finite "focus points" to micro battles and other micro stuff. The focus points and log on limit is server dependent. This'd should limit powergaming and abuses. Muti-player countries should be allowed for certain servers, with build in chain of command for truely epic battles.

Allied victory set default at 1/2~1/4 countries remaining, but some servers can have last man standing, king of hill or mirco-world battles for a change. Some games will have "free land" that would only become unlocked with people joining, others will limit joining to pre-starting.

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I'd definetly make something like Medieval Total War, with strategic elements played out in turnbased kinda way, and tactical elements played in real time.

I would shamelessly copy everything Harpoon did so well. That was technically a RTS. Where do modern RTS like Real War fall down? They fail to take into account the immense range of today's weapons.
So we could instead have a truly large-scale map where units, denoted primarily by representitive symbols, slug it out in real time - at realistic ranges. Want to call in a MLRS strike on that resting tank unit from 25 miles away? Go for it!
Accurately represent every land and support weapons system available for each country in the game. Instead of relying on artificial game balance, make it completely true-to-life as possible and let the cards fall where they lay (Harpoon was wonderful for this; who didn't, at least once, sit there slackjawed as their escorts ran out of SAMs and the USS Saratoga was set on fire?).
Have the ability to switch to a 3D-view of the action, increasing the illusion that you're commanding men and machines instead of mere symbols and allowing you to see the lie of the land from your troops' perspective.
Include a good map editor, and maybe even a unit editor so you can update or backdate the game's equipment or compile new units from scratch.

Ho ho! My dream RTS would completley level a modern comp, I mean melt it into a steaming puddle.

I'm talking hundreds of thousands of units on the screen at once, fully rendered in 3-D by ILM or something. Thousands of guns, explosions, lasers, infantry, tanks, aircraft, you name it I'd put it in. Think Geonosis.

Naturally with so many units you'd have to give more broad commands like "flank them" but the action would be so intense you could just watch and never get bored.

But that willneverever happen.

3rd Impact wrote:How about a new, graphically up-to-date version of X-COM? Obviously this isn't an original idea, but it would still kick-ass. The tactical element could take place in a zoom-able 3D environment, which would hopefully add a new degree of tactical sophistication to the game.

There is a new 'X-Com' game in development. Its been in development for several years and has been passed around from studio to studio with several name changes. At one time, it actually had the name X-Com. Its original title was called Dreamland Chronicles: Fredom Ridge, then just Freedom Ridge. Right now the game is called UFO: Aftermath, its 3D and uses modern day military equipment. If you remember, the original UFO became X-Com when it was brought over the US.

Hopefully, it will be released this Summer.

http://www.ufo-aftermath.com/

The original Harpoon still puts ever other simulation to shame. Though it is easier to sim naval combat then land warfare. FlashPoint did an okay job of simulating close quarters infantry fighting. But is a generally unrealistic game.

Nothing beats a big arc of Hornets closing in on the Kirov and Keiv while my Tomcats splash the last MiG's coming out of Keflavik and the SAG closes into finish off the Red Banner fleet.

Darth Garden Gnome wrote:Ho ho! My dream RTS would completley level a modern comp, I mean melt it into a steaming puddle.

I'm talking hundreds of thousands of units on the screen at once, fully rendered in 3-D by ILM or something. Thousands of guns, explosions, lasers, infantry, tanks, aircraft, you name it I'd put it in. Think Geonosis.

Naturally with so many units you'd have to give more broad commands like "flank them" but the action would be so intense you could just watch and never get bored.

But that willneverever happen.

Might be cheaper to build a scale model battlefield over a sqaure mile or so and direct miniature drones across it.

Sea Skimmer wrote:Might be cheaper to build a scale model battlefield over a sqaure mile or so and direct miniature drones across it.

Hey hey! The realisticly rendered 3-D soldiers and environment would be an integeral part of the game. I just couldn't settle for miniatures.

Incidently the whole reason I enjoyed Sierra's "Ground Control" so much was that I could zoom in on all the action and experience the battle from ground level. Sure you couldn't control your units from down there, but I'd sacrifice a few men for my own sick amusement anyday.

Something like Age of Mythology

ArmorPierce wrote:Something like Age of Mythology

You are truly obsessed with that game aren't you?

Hey, look at my reply of your post saying keeping nakedness out .

Darth Garden Gnome wrote:Ho ho! My dream RTS would completley level a modern comp, I mean melt it into a steaming puddle.

I'm talking hundreds of thousands of units on the screen at once, fully rendered in 3-D by ILM or something. Thousands of guns, explosions, lasers, infantry, tanks, aircraft, you name it I'd put it in. Think Geonosis.

Naturally with so many units you'd have to give more broad commands like "flank them" but the action would be so intense you could just watch and never get bored.

But that willneverever happen.

You just copied mine.

Well, uh you could just reduce the detail when zooming out, so it would run on a computer. Each group of soldiers would act as one soldier*x in terms of damage, to reduce cpu power, instead of being calculated individually. As a unit takes damage, soldiers die when you zoom in. You can't tell individual soldiers what to do, only squads, though you can combine these if the total health is less than 100%. The problem is what to do with the casualties, since they don't always die, so you have to rescue them to retain morale.

The problem is large maps, and keeping track of casualties. Should be able to run on a computer 2 years from now. Another problem is multiplayer bandwidth.

Macross wrote:

3rd Impact wrote:How about a new, graphically up-to-date version of X-COM? Obviously this isn't an original idea, but it would still kick-ass. The tactical element could take place in a zoom-able 3D environment, which would hopefully add a new degree of tactical sophistication to the game.

There is a new 'X-Com' game in development. Its been in development for several years and has been passed around from studio to studio with several name changes. At one time, it actually had the name X-Com. Its original title was called Dreamland Chronicles: Fredom Ridge, then just Freedom Ridge. Right now the game is called UFO: Aftermath, its 3D and uses modern day military equipment. If you remember, the original UFO became X-Com when it was brought over the US.

Hopefully, it will be released this Summer.

http://www.ufo-aftermath.com/

*Weeps with joy*

Thanks, Macross

Darth Garden Gnome wrote:Ho ho! My dream RTS would completley level a modern comp, I mean melt it into a steaming puddle.

I'm talking hundreds of thousands of units on the screen at once, fully rendered in 3-D by ILM or something. Thousands of guns, explosions, lasers, infantry, tanks, aircraft, you name it I'd put it in. Think Geonosis.

Naturally with so many units you'd have to give more broad commands like "flank them" but the action would be so intense you could just watch and never get bored.

But that willneverever happen.

No, we'll still get these shitty Command and Conquer games.

My vision of a RTS is basically gnome's idea, only multipled about a hundred times and the addition of so many units and abilites it would make a supercomputer crash.

Do you have any idea how laggy the game would be? Maybe if they were 2D stick figures....

ArmorPierce wrote:Do you have any idea how laggy the game would be? Maybe if they were 2D stick figures....

That's why I said multiplayer is a no no.

Naval games are better for realism.

And yes they would be stick figures when you zoomed out, but detail increases as you zoomed in.

Groups of soldier will be treated as one uber soldier by the computer to save CPU power.

The problem would be implementing casualties, which I explained above, since they don't just fade away like in AOE or get vaporized. For a naval game they just sink and disappear, so it's easier, and you have fewer naval units too.