The Real Time Strategy Thread [OT] Starcraft, Warcraft, Age of Empires, Halo Wars and C&C!

Yeah, incredible time sinks! :smiley: One of the best series in gaming at the moment in my opinion. Creative Assembly and Games Workshop got something special going with it. Wonder if they’ll do a 40k version next.

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I believe 40k is the natural progression after fantasy, it would be an even bigger success in my opinion.

Warhammer 3 will still see at least 4 years of content, after that 40k will take them forward.

I Think the main problem Is relating to the version of Essence Engine used for Aoe4. However, the new engine created by Blizzard for all their upcoming (and unannounced projects) seems incredibile detailed and optimzied. It could be the next engine for all RTS under Xbox.

Look at how beautiful It appears.

Aoe5 with this graphic could be Amazing. Blizzard has again the best Graphic artists (with CREATIve Assembly)

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I really think that MS Will bring back Warcraft 4 and StarCraft 3. We are talking about incredibile IPs for PC gaming and they could adapt them also for console or releasing them with M&k support.

Mike Ybarra seems leaked a possible StarCraft 3

BLIZZARD Born as RTS developers so i Think there Will Happy to develop RTS games again

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I dont think that tweet implies anything other than “I hope so too”

But yeah, when Bobby is gone, they will be full Blizzard again… without the abusse stuff

Nah, that’s on Blizzard too. Let’s not pretend everything is the fault of Activision. Blizzard has a lot of work to do internally.

Obviously, but when Microsoft comes in they’re supposed to clean house and anyone that was protected by the awful management of Bobby isnt gonna be safe. I’m not saying we get classic Blizzard with masterpieces day 1… nah, but in 2,3 maybe 4 years? its very possible.

And even if they’re just awful devs(they arent) we would still get a massive development studio with several teams that could do something at some point.

I grew up playing the likes of Warcraft: Orcs and Humans and Warcraft II. Looking back now those graphics have not aged well. Great games tho.

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Same with the gameplay… I played the Age of Empires I Definitive Edition and it just doesn’t hold up and didn’t get the QoL updates Age 2 did.

Though have to say, Starcraft I from 1998 still plays great. Loved the remaster too.

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Mhmmm.

Speak your mind :stuck_out_tongue:

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Sure. Full heartedly agree that blizzards culture needs work and that while Activision probably fostered the continued bad acts and deserve some of the blame. Claiming blizzard wasnt at fault is silly. The whole company needs alot of healing done.

Which makes me wonder about some of the blizzard and Activision off shoots… were some of the bad actors just moving to create more cesspools? (I hope not i just havent done any research into it yet)

Though I am looking forward to a potential in house rts team if it still exists in anyform still.

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I need Halo Wars 3 by Creative Assembly ASAP.

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Empire Earth was also owned by Activision. So add that to the list of MS’s RTS IPs.

I would love to see Warcraft IV. I think a few key changes to the formula would revolutionize the genre in the same way that Warcraft III did.

  1. Instead of four factions, in multiplayer you pick a hero like in Halo Wars 1+2 that has their own unit composition. Some heroes are support heroes, others are carry heroes. This would balance the game towards team games. Additional heroes can be purchased as DLC.
  2. Main source of gold are not mines, but respawning creeps.
  3. Victory condition is the destruction of the main stronghold building in 1v1. In team games, it’s a shared neutral building, similar to the throne in mobas. This would allow comebacks to be possible if one or multiple teammates were ganged up on and demolished. Teams should win together or lose together.
  4. The hero building that allows buy back of your hero also teleports your units directly to your hero. This should greatly improve one of the biggest issues that plague every RTS game, pathfinding, as most of your units should be rallied to your hero anyways.
  5. No more artificial APM sinks like farms, and burrows. Supply is tied directly to your stronghold / keep level.
  6. To improve accessibility and adoption by new players, all hero, unit, and structure abilities can be set to be auto-casted intelligently by the AI. Obviously higher level players will disable this option, but this should greatly improve the barrier of entry by new players into the genre. They would only need to focus on troop positioning, and strategy. Warcraft’s macro is already very simple.
  7. End game unit will a mechanic to end a stalemate, sort of like the Aegis of Immortality in Dota. The idea is that a boss creep can drop an item (Azerite?) that allows you to construct a super unit that if used correctly can tip the scales greatly. Killing the boss creep would require a major commitment allied forces, so it’s a risky move that can lose the game, as the boss would be in a chokehold where the enemy can easily trap you in. End game unit can be DLC. You can pick different end game units the same would you can pick unit skins. Balance would be an issue because the unit is supposed to be unbalanced.

Example of end game units:

Alliance Skyship.

Draenei Dimensional Fortress.

Alliance Mobile Fortress on wheels.

Horde Red Dragon.

Horde Mounted Beast.

Horde Juggernaught. (Steam powered battlewagon)

Horde Black Dragon.

Undead Ariborne Citadel. (Final upgrade to the Undead HQ)

Undead Slaugher House on Wheels.

Undead Frost Wyrm.

etc.

The game’s MP will be FTP to encourage a massive install base. Revenue will be made through cosmetics, hero add ons, and end game unit.

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Obviously I don’t want this, but Warcraft as an RTS is easier to implement for consoles than Starcraft in my opinion. The micro is less intense and the macro is more focused on production and map control. And as you suggest, you could make the game even more MobA-like to make it more accessible.

Not what I want, but I can see how it would increase the possible audience. Warcraft is quite a unique RTS due to the heroes and RPG/looter shooter mechanics implemented.

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They should add as much AI assistance as possible to units in RTSes. Players only need to focus on what they want / can focus on. The other aspects should be automatically handle with acceptable efficiency (obviously not as good as a hunan). In the real world, a general can delegate many tasks to aides and prioritize the stuff he/she focuses on.

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While I’m maybe too ‘hardcore’ to appreciate these changes, I do think it’s what is needed to bring the genre forward. Because currently, it’s mostly 80’s and 90’s kids on a nostalgia trip playing the genre. :smiley:

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I suck at RTS games but I did grow up on Settlers and C&C, so they have a soft spot in my heart. As I’ve said elsewhere I do like watching competative, especially Star craft since SciFi >>>>>> Fantasy.

I do prefer turn based “strategy” games such as Civ or XCom/Xenonauts etc, but I would love to see more RTS games come to consoles, even if there is some layer of AI to smooth out the micro.

This too.

oo!

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I have to add that AI assistance is completely optional and one can turn them off cross the board, or per unit basis.

It’s basically going to be an evolution of the stances that we have in AOE4 + autocast. As an example, villager production in AOE4 should be auto-castable. It would just be an QOL improvement that RTS in general desperately needs.

Also get rid of supply buildings as a mechanic entirely. It has no gameplay purpose beyond artificial APM sink.

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