Real-time Strategy
Age of Empires (1997), Invasion of an enemyA real-time strategy (RTS) game is a type of computer strategy game which does not have "turns" like conventional turn-based strategy video or board games. Rather, game time progresses in "real time": that is, it is continuous rather than turn-by-turn. (The word "strategy" originally referred to warplan at the level of armies and squadrons instead of giving order for individual units or persons).
Brief History
Dune II
(1992), an early RTS
The first RTS game was the 1983 Stonkers by Imagine Software for the ZX Spectrum. [1] But the game that first exemplified the genre was the 1990 Battle Master for the Amiga and Atari ST. [2]
The precursor of modern RTS games was The Ancient Art of War by Dave Murry and Barry Murry of Evryware (published by Br?erbund) in 1984, followed by The Ancient Art of War at Sea in 1987.
Other RTS games from the 1980s include Rescue Raiders for the Apple 2 in 1984, Nether Earth for ZX Spectrum in 1987, and Herzog Zwei for the Sega Genesis in 1989. However, the genre was defined by Dune II (1992), which at once introduced the core concepts of RTS games: resource-gathering, base-building, technology development and direct unit control.
The success of Dune 2 encouraged the development of such games as Stronghold (1993), Warcraft (1994), Command & Conquer (1995), War Wind (1996), Dark Reign (1997), Total Annihilation (1997), Age of Empires (1997), StarCraft (1998), Warzone 2100 (1998), Empire Earth (2001), Empires: Dawn of the Modern World (2003) and Rise of Nations (2003). In fact, the designers of Dune 2 traced its spiritual lineage back to the real-time simulation SimCity (1989) and their previous game Battletech: The Crescent Hawk's Revenge (1988), a real-time wargame without base-building elements.
Gameplay
Because of the generally faster-paced nature (and in some cases a smaller learning curve), RTS games have surpassed the popularity of conventional turn-based strategy computer games. In the past some traditional strategy gamers regarded RTS games as "cheap imitations" of turn-based games, arguing that RTS games had a tendency to devolve into "clickfests", in which the player who was faster with the mouse generally won, because they could give orders to their units at a faster rate. Real-time strategy enthusiasts counter that micromanagement involves not just fast clicking but also the ability to make sound tactical decisions under time pressure. It is noteworthy, however, that due to the games being shorter because of the faster pace of the game and absence of turn switching pauses, RTS games are far more suitable for Internet play than turn-based games; this is indubitably an important reason for their popularity. Furthermore, turn-based games are often more taxing on the attention of casual gamers, as each game generally takes much longer to play.
Total Annihilation (1997), Core base.
The more recent generations of RTS games usually have features which reduce the importance of fast mousework, enabling the player to focus more on overall strategy. For example, queuing allows the player to put in an order for multiple units at a single building instead of requiring the player to return to that building to order the next unit built whenever a unit ordered earlier is completed. The ability to set waypoints allows the player to give multiple movement commands to a unit at once. Most games also give each unit strengths and weaknesses, discouraging players from easily defeating an opponent with simple "rush" tactics or "swarm" tactics in favour of more balanced armies.
Generally, most RTS games follow the same pattern:
- Build up your base and forces (your economy).
- Acquire more resources.
- Attack the enemy, attempting to deprive him of resources and destroy his infrastructure.
However, some games do not allow the player to create new units, or build bases. Some of these games include Myth and Ground Control. These games are purely tactical, forcing the player to play only with the units he or she is given. You could even further define these types of games as RTT (note real time tactical games are NOT real time strategy games), "real-time tactical games".
Most RTS games also feature single-player campaigns -- a series of missions where a human player plays against the computer with a defined scenario and objectives, usually within the context of a background story. Often each mission has a different style of play, sometimes dramatically so. It has become something like to a tradition for single-player campaigns to include at least one mission with no base construction or resource-gathering; typically at the start of these missions the player is given a number of combat units, occasionally with a "hero" unit. These units must be used to complete the mission in a level which is usually mazelike; often additional units can be gained as reinforcements or rescued as the mission progresses. These missions eliminate the resource-gathering, or "macromanagement", as it's called, and focus solely on micromanagement.
Warcraft III (2002), Humans fighting orcs
Of the games that do allow the player to build up a base and an army, they seem to be diverging into at least two main camps: micro-management and macro-management.
Micro-management games
Micro-management games allow an army and base to be built, but they limit the size of the army (sometimes, rather severely). The purpose of this is to create more of a tactical atmosphere, and to prevent one side from simply cranking out units and throwing them at the enemy until he collapses.
By limiting the size of the army, the game requires the player to intelligently utilize his "partially" limited troops. This is more similar to the purely tactical Myth-style games. Good examples of this type of game is Warcraft III, where further units require more upkeep, and Battle Realms, allows only a maximum of 40 units. To simplify the control, however, the player can combine individual units into groups. This is even more found in the game ArenaWars, where every player only has 1000 credits to build units. If the unit dies the credits are refunded.
Macro-management games
Homeworld 2 (2003), Hiigaran Carrier
On the other end are the macro-management games. These games have more of a focus on economic production and large-scale strategic maneuvering, and include games such as Empire Earth, Total Annihilation, and Supreme Commander.
Others
Some games, especially on the video game consoles, use RTS merely as a vehicle to tell the story. For example, in the PlayStation 2 game Kessen (2000) the player has a limited control over the units, as the game unfolds historical battles with a heavy use of cutscenes.
Massively multiplayer online real-time strategy (MMORTS) games combine aspects of massively multiplayer with real-time strategy.
Graphics
Command & Conquer: Red Alert (1996)
As the category grew, some RTS games, most notably Stronghold (1993), Myth (1997, which pioneered the use of 3D in real-time wargames, but was arguably not a true RTS), Homeworld and Warzone 2100 (both 1999), have attempted to break away from the 2D board-like view of Dune 2 and original Warcraft to richer 3D environments. These games are played on a 3D battlefield. In the case of Homeworld, the game is set in space, offering a true 3D environment in which players are required to think three-dimensionally, as all units can move vertically as well as on a flat plane as was standard for RTS games of the time. Stronghold, and many future games including subsequent Command and Conquer titles, began to use isometric 3D graphics, and in later years these games began to use true 3D graphics, making it possible to rotate the view of the battlefield smoothly, instead of in 90 degree intervals as per Stronghold. These effects became even more visually detailed in later games, such as Warcraft III, Empire Earth, and Command & Conquer: Generals. A notable recent RTS game for breaking away from the trend is Phenomic's Spellforce - The Order Of Dawn, which incorporates the choice of a third person view of the main hero for you to control.
Command & Conquer: Generals (2003)
As companies are striving to come close to cinematic level of visual quality, the improvements in graphics accelerate. In 2004 two landmark games were released: Rome: Total War from Creative Assembly and The Lord of the Rings: The Battle for Middle-earth from Electronic Arts.
Another two notable games were released in 2005: Act of War: Direct Action and Age of Empires III. Both games featured realistic physics (Age of Empires III uses the Havok physics engine), realistically destructible buildings and ever more stunning graphics. In addition Act of War boasts a well developed techno-thriller story by Dale Brown told via machinima and live action cinematics.
Future games
Future games are likely to further enhance the realism of RTS games, giving each unit a limited intelligence, similar to how it's done in MASSIVE (and to some extent in The Lord of the Rings: The Battle for Middle-earth) and generating unit animations procedurally (currently all games use recorded animations done with motion capture or manually), similar to how it's done in NaturalMotion's endorphin software.
Some future releases:
The Lord of the Rings: The Battle for Middle-earth II
Rise of Nations: Rise of Legends
Star Wars: Empire at War
Supreme Commander
Command & Conquer: Tiberian Twilight
External links
- Top 10 RTS games of all time ranked by GameSpy in 2004