Dear RTS Players.

[DazZ.]

Mostly to the skilled RTS players.

When you skip from an old RTS that you're really good at, to a new one, are you still able to do well from the start (online) without having much practise.
Basically do RTS skills from one game transfer to another well?

With FPS games, I've been playing since Wolf3d and I can generally hold my own even when I've never played the game before. I've only played a handful of RTS games, and struggle to play anything new. I've only ever been (what I thought was) good at Age of Empires 3.

Also throw here any advice you have for playing Company of Heroes, I'm getting my ass handed to me.

 

[Rusty Bucket]

I think RTS' have a longer learning time than shooters would. Much of your success in a shooter comes from how well you can aim ( or how good your connection is), whereas RTS' rely far more on different mechanics.
Take for example Supreme Commander. Sure, it has the same basic concept as say, C&C. Build a base, build an army, go kill. But a long time C&C player will have a significant learning time while playing SupCom for the first time. They have to learn the economy system, unit roles, factions etc. Also, scale plays a much bigger part in the game than in shooters. MAG and CoD don't play all that differently, whereas if you put that kind of scale difference in an RTS then it's a whole new ball game.

 

[Amnestic]

Some skills will transfer (high numbers of actions/minute) however a new RTS means new tech trees, new resource management system, new unit counters, and new mechanics to learn. Obviously a veteran RTS player will pick up on these nuances faster (as well as being more likely to go out and find theorycrafting sites on the matter) than newbie RTS players, but it's still an entirely new system.

Take the transfer from Starcraft to Dawn of War. Entirely different management systems, squad systems, no air units at all (except for Soulstorm, which is generally seen as being shit) meaning only one 'plane' rather than the two of Starcraft...

Like I said, some skills will transfer over, but it's still a whole new mechanical system generally.

The more RTS games you play though, the more you can find similarities between different series and bring those experiences through as well.

 

[DazZ.]

That's what I thought.
Awesome it's not just me being shite.

Pretty sure some micromanagement has followed me from AoE3, but not much as that's mostly "make big army, go blow up their crappy base", unlike CoH where you fight in the middle of the map mostly and flanking is an important tactic.
Kamakazing at an army like in AoE won't work.

but I always play the single-player to get an idea of what works, what doesn't, etc, before I jump into online play.

I would, but I can't stand playing against bots. It doesn't feel fun, so I play about 2 games and then have to get online.

 

[Kuchinawa212]

yeah, since you have mastered the basics of RTSs that transfers, but good RTS won't copy another one, making it hard to learn what all the new armies and faction's pros and cons are