What do you think the future of Real time strategy games (like Age of Kings, Starcraft, etc.) is going to be. Warcraft III is going to be a RTS game in a 3D enviroment. If you were going to create a RTS game, and wanted to advance it in any way, what would you do?

Actually I would consider Warcraft III a RTS, its more a blend of genres rts, rpg etc.

I don''t think 3D graphics in RTS is an advancement. It doesn''t make the game more fun/exciting. It might look more realistic but realistic isn''t necesary for RTS.

Some things I think can be an improvement in the RTS:

• Line of sight
  
• AI that are able to build fortresses from scratch (So the developers doesn''t have to cheat by giving the enemies a base from start or more resources and such.)
  
• AI that can learn to defend against different tactics
  

Some of these already exist or are being developed for future RTS games, but they are not standard and as such I consider them advancements to the genre.

Basically the improvement should be in the strategy area, not the presentation of the game.

I think the closest revelation of strategy games is that designers are gonna stop the idea that each unit has a single job. For instance, you can basically play starcraft two ways (keep in mind, I consider it one of the best games ever made, don't think I don't like it): either you build up a huge ass army and rush 'em (quickly or slowly, but if you're not using the next method, technically you're just storming the base with about three hundred guys) or you can use the "special" characters like ghosts to launch nuclear bombs, steal the other team's members, or take control of their facilities. What you should (and, will, eventually) be able to do is switch mid-game, without making up your mind when you start playing that you are either gonna make a hundred battlecruisers or fifty nukes. So, you could storm a base with fifty guys, have most of them get shot off, then have the commander take his troops to a hill overlooking the base to snipe off surviving enemies, then go on to call for an airstrike, should you have one availiable. What I'm getting at here is that we will no longer have Marines with machine guns and tanks with cannons, we could have the marines carry bazookas and the tanks have machine guns. And don't give me any gall about how this has already happened in a few games before my writing this. You can't take a marine from any RTS out there, tell him to go back to the base to pick up a sniper gun, and then till him to take out a specific person. Or take a guy that has been trained extensively in sniping, put him in a tank, and have the tank able to aim much more accurately from much farther away. I'm happy to say that my ideas have already been thought of by the best, because just look at what blizzard is doing with Warcraft III. Sorry for the long rant, but I had to say it.

Edited by - Campster on 3/4/00 2:28:30 PM

Massive Multiplayer on persistent worlds that remain when you''re offline. like the game 10SIX