After watching Yahtzee's review of Halo Wars again, I thought of something. You know when he mentioned that his strategy was basically to stockpile the strongest unit and steamroll across the map, hoping the objective got squished along the way.
I realized something - thats basically the strategy in every RTS.
Now granted, I'm not talking aout high-level, "PRO" play. I'm talking about down in the trenches, everday gamer play. In here, there are three basic strategies in eveyr game. steamrolling, rushing, and teching. We are, of course, familiar with each, kind, but they still hold true for almost every RTS. You either wait and run your enemy with sheer numbers or rush early so that nothing more than maybe the basic armor unit gets into play. Maybe sometimes you play it and get a few superpowered units that wade through everything in their way.
There seems to be very little variety in waht goes. Sure, the scale and units change from game to game, but the tactics remain the same. When is the last you actually had to plan a coordinated, multi-facted land, air and sea assualt on enemy position? Used accurate fire support to decimate enemy defenses? Used infantry more than 7 minutes into the game?
Be honest - you just do what everyone else does. Use the fastest, cheapest unit to win the game early, or build up a force of your faction's juggernuat unit and drive straight across the map, hoping you crush the enemy along the way.
I've planned, carried out and been a part of more complicated assualts and defenses in games like Battlefield than I've ever seen in any game of Starcraft. Even trying something like that in an RTS is a death wish - most of your vital units will vanish before they even hit the deck.
So is it just me, or are "stratgy" games ironically, quite a bit less strategic than their gaming counterparts?
I realized something - thats basically the strategy in every RTS.
Now granted, I'm not talking aout high-level, "PRO" play. I'm talking about down in the trenches, everday gamer play. In here, there are three basic strategies in eveyr game. steamrolling, rushing, and teching. We are, of course, familiar with each, kind, but they still hold true for almost every RTS. You either wait and run your enemy with sheer numbers or rush early so that nothing more than maybe the basic armor unit gets into play. Maybe sometimes you play it and get a few superpowered units that wade through everything in their way.
There seems to be very little variety in waht goes. Sure, the scale and units change from game to game, but the tactics remain the same. When is the last you actually had to plan a coordinated, multi-facted land, air and sea assualt on enemy position? Used accurate fire support to decimate enemy defenses? Used infantry more than 7 minutes into the game?
Be honest - you just do what everyone else does. Use the fastest, cheapest unit to win the game early, or build up a force of your faction's juggernuat unit and drive straight across the map, hoping you crush the enemy along the way.
I've planned, carried out and been a part of more complicated assualts and defenses in games like Battlefield than I've ever seen in any game of Starcraft. Even trying something like that in an RTS is a death wish - most of your vital units will vanish before they even hit the deck.
So is it just me, or are "stratgy" games ironically, quite a bit less strategic than their gaming counterparts?