I wrote my second post while I was extremely tired, so I am re-writing it so that it is shorter and probably easier to follow. In case I miss some points here, I'm leaving the old copy up.
The primary goals of Rush are to be able to go on the offensive very quickly, and be very good at general map control. A common effect of these goals is that most of their units are quite fast. This means that they can cross the map more easily, and also move to engage an opposing attack force far more effectively than a Turtle task force.
At the onset of a skirmish or multiplayer game, two of the mod's three teams start off with a construction unit. For Rush, their builder unit, the "Constructor Transport", is not only fast but also serves as a decent, though risky, transport. Since they start with one, they can quickly move to attack or secure resources. It still needs to be filled up with infantry, which can take a little while to get from the game start.
This ability allows them to begin attacking an enemy position extremely quickly, though any savvy opponent will have by then built their own forces to counter, or have moved away entirely. Obviously, an early attack force will be fairly unversatile, but also be used as a stop-gap between better adapted forces.
Their map control is mostly about their build mechanics and their economy. We'll deal with the economy with a later post, but for now, map control is important. As Rush have no defence structures, they have two ways of staving off defeat. They can defend their base with units, an eventually futile endeavour as their units are designed for hit and run, or they can use their cockroach mechanic. All of their buildings can build their constructor unit, and their constructor unit is fast, so making a speedy get-away is important.
Ah, says the person who is paying attention. What if the bad guys catch your speedy, lightly armoured constructor unit? Well, yes, that is true. That's why you need map control. Your constructor will likely not survive an ambush, so you must always take steps to avoid that.
Of course, map control is also important for other reasons. A Rush player must, if his initial attack fails, attempt to keep its enemies on the back foot. Taking the initiative should be the foremost thing in your mind. Allowing a turtle player to take the initiative means (perhaps a lot of waiting, but also) that they will surely take you apart with super weapons, support powers, and their more powerful combat units. It should be noted that Rush chooses their battles, not in the same way as stealth, but by having faster units, and evading a strong enemy force.
Rush is also a very simple team, by virtue of having few units that perform all the necessary combat roles. In particular is the IFV, which is fast and lightly armoured, but can hold two infantry inside that can shoot out. By putting various different infantry in, the IFV functions as everything from mobile AA to artillery.
Anyway, that looks a bit neater, but is also shorter. Still posting on wednesday, for those who care.
Saturday, January 31, 2009
Tuesday, January 27, 2009
Post 2!
When making a mod, you should really start out with a plan. With this one, I wrote up every unit and building with specific goals for each of those units. It helps to stay on track. It isn't set in stone, however. Since I started working on the mod, a couple of things have changed from their original ideas.
For instance, originally the Turtle faction would gather resources in a similar manner to the teams in Command and Conquer Generals. However, this changed to the team automatically acquiring resource collectors rather than having to manually build them from a supply depot. There are a few reasons for this change.
Firstly, it is pretty cool. Other than that, it reduces the amount of attention a player has to give to resource management. If an opponent shoots down some of the collectors, they'll be back. Also, the other two factions have their economies based around military units, effectively getting a two-for-one deal when they spend their money. So it's fair that Turtle should not have to pay exorbitant amounts for their own resource collection.
RUSH
In competitive gaming, it seems, quite a lot of the game comes down to the opening moves of the game. Fast grabs of resources, or destroying enemy construction vehicles and early economy. Time spent doing nothing is time wasted.
The idea behind Rush is to promote that sort of gameplay. Everything about the team exemplifies attacking early.
For instance, their first unit is the Constructor Transport. It is fast, cheap, can build buildings, and can also carry infantry across the battlefield. It is not as durable as its Turtle counter-part, but is probably more useful and an integral part of the army. It does have its drawbacks, though. If the Constructor Transport dies, then all the infantry who were riding it also perish. This means players must work out at what range is best to dismount from. The transport isn't as squishy as the infantry, but it is also riskier, so players must determine where the best point to dismount is to maximise distance traversed and minimise damage taken.
All of their infantry are shorter ranged than their counter-parts, specifically so they have to either weather the fire or use Constructor Transports. They are rewarded by doing much higher damage than Stealth or Rush infantry. Their infantry also fill multiple roles. Their basic anti-infantry infantry can switch to garrison clearing mode, and their anti-tank infantry can switch to artillery mode. The exception is the anti-air infantry, which are the only anti-air unit that Rush has access to.
Their vehicles, as one might expect, are faster than their Turtle counter-parts, but do less damage. However, an upgrade can be acquired that enable the light tank to gain a lot of "frontload" damage, that is damage that is delivered up front, although it gains little "DPS", which is average damage per second. What this means is that the light tank becomes an ambusher, flanker, and primarily good for drive-by attacks, but remains poor at sustained combat.
The medium tank, on the other hand, is designed for sustained combat, but is not very good at hit and run style tactics. It is slower, so finds it harder to withdraw, and does not do as much damage up front as the upgraded light tank. But it does more "DPS", so in a longer engagement it will perform better than an equal cost of light tanks.
The last ground vehicle that Rush has access to is the Rush IFV, which can transport two infantry (upgradeable to three), and these infantry can shoot out. The vehicle is fast and lightly armoured, so it effectively allows Rush to have fast artillery, or fast AA for supporting the troops.
Obviously, rushing isn't the only thing that Rush is intended to do. Rushing is an early game attack. Since all teams should have options at all points in the game, lest a player quit because his time has passed, Rush is also the horde and map control team. What this means is that they are supposed to keep the bad guys on the back foot for as much of the game as possible.
They are the only team with a "gunship", which isn't very good at taking on a fortified position, even in bucket loads, is very good at taking on forces attempting to mobilise.
Obviously, they pay for their advantages in different ways. They don't have any base defence, meaning that defending your base requires more active involvement. However, if your base is knocked out, any of your buildings can construct Constructor Transports, so you can easily make a speedy getaway.
To encourage people to defend their bases as Rush, as well as to slightly curb their time to first attack, all their buildings require an upgrade to build each type of unit. This also means that there is another choice for the first attack. Do you try to attack as early as possible, or do you wait slightly longer to have a more varied attack force?
This also means that eliminating a Rush base will earn you a reprieve from attacks for at least a short while.
When coming up with Rush, it was probably my most "from scratch" team. It wasn't particularly based on any previous ideas I had had, it mostly came down to synergies between units, and a relatively simple concept. Wouldn't it be cool, I said to myself, if a team was based around Rushing? Well, what would make it good at rushing? Having a fast transport that is also a builder! And from there, everything flows.
Next wednesday: Economy models!
For instance, originally the Turtle faction would gather resources in a similar manner to the teams in Command and Conquer Generals. However, this changed to the team automatically acquiring resource collectors rather than having to manually build them from a supply depot. There are a few reasons for this change.
Firstly, it is pretty cool. Other than that, it reduces the amount of attention a player has to give to resource management. If an opponent shoots down some of the collectors, they'll be back. Also, the other two factions have their economies based around military units, effectively getting a two-for-one deal when they spend their money. So it's fair that Turtle should not have to pay exorbitant amounts for their own resource collection.
RUSH
In competitive gaming, it seems, quite a lot of the game comes down to the opening moves of the game. Fast grabs of resources, or destroying enemy construction vehicles and early economy. Time spent doing nothing is time wasted.
The idea behind Rush is to promote that sort of gameplay. Everything about the team exemplifies attacking early.
For instance, their first unit is the Constructor Transport. It is fast, cheap, can build buildings, and can also carry infantry across the battlefield. It is not as durable as its Turtle counter-part, but is probably more useful and an integral part of the army. It does have its drawbacks, though. If the Constructor Transport dies, then all the infantry who were riding it also perish. This means players must work out at what range is best to dismount from. The transport isn't as squishy as the infantry, but it is also riskier, so players must determine where the best point to dismount is to maximise distance traversed and minimise damage taken.
All of their infantry are shorter ranged than their counter-parts, specifically so they have to either weather the fire or use Constructor Transports. They are rewarded by doing much higher damage than Stealth or Rush infantry. Their infantry also fill multiple roles. Their basic anti-infantry infantry can switch to garrison clearing mode, and their anti-tank infantry can switch to artillery mode. The exception is the anti-air infantry, which are the only anti-air unit that Rush has access to.
Their vehicles, as one might expect, are faster than their Turtle counter-parts, but do less damage. However, an upgrade can be acquired that enable the light tank to gain a lot of "frontload" damage, that is damage that is delivered up front, although it gains little "DPS", which is average damage per second. What this means is that the light tank becomes an ambusher, flanker, and primarily good for drive-by attacks, but remains poor at sustained combat.
The medium tank, on the other hand, is designed for sustained combat, but is not very good at hit and run style tactics. It is slower, so finds it harder to withdraw, and does not do as much damage up front as the upgraded light tank. But it does more "DPS", so in a longer engagement it will perform better than an equal cost of light tanks.
The last ground vehicle that Rush has access to is the Rush IFV, which can transport two infantry (upgradeable to three), and these infantry can shoot out. The vehicle is fast and lightly armoured, so it effectively allows Rush to have fast artillery, or fast AA for supporting the troops.
Obviously, rushing isn't the only thing that Rush is intended to do. Rushing is an early game attack. Since all teams should have options at all points in the game, lest a player quit because his time has passed, Rush is also the horde and map control team. What this means is that they are supposed to keep the bad guys on the back foot for as much of the game as possible.
They are the only team with a "gunship", which isn't very good at taking on a fortified position, even in bucket loads, is very good at taking on forces attempting to mobilise.
Obviously, they pay for their advantages in different ways. They don't have any base defence, meaning that defending your base requires more active involvement. However, if your base is knocked out, any of your buildings can construct Constructor Transports, so you can easily make a speedy getaway.
To encourage people to defend their bases as Rush, as well as to slightly curb their time to first attack, all their buildings require an upgrade to build each type of unit. This also means that there is another choice for the first attack. Do you try to attack as early as possible, or do you wait slightly longer to have a more varied attack force?
This also means that eliminating a Rush base will earn you a reprieve from attacks for at least a short while.
When coming up with Rush, it was probably my most "from scratch" team. It wasn't particularly based on any previous ideas I had had, it mostly came down to synergies between units, and a relatively simple concept. Wouldn't it be cool, I said to myself, if a team was based around Rushing? Well, what would make it good at rushing? Having a fast transport that is also a builder! And from there, everything flows.
Next wednesday: Economy models!
Wednesday, January 21, 2009
Introduction to this blog and the RTSmod mod
I thought I'd start this blog to give people insight into what I was thinking when I was creating this mod in my head. It also makes me seem a little more like a pretentious berk, particularly when I talk about a lot of this stuff.
However, hopefully you, the reader, will find it interesting enough.
This mod is a sort of conglomeration of various ideas I've had in the past for total conversions, minor mods and so on, but never really got around to doing. When I get around to posting another post next Wednesday, I will likely go through the history of the ideas explored in the post.
Eventually, all these ideas came together when I decided to do a slightly more humorous mod, with each team being named for its playstyle. Since then, I've been thinking a fair amount about how it should work, and have changed quite a lot of things.
The three teams are based on the three major playstyles of RTS games that occur. Well, these are the archetypes as I see them.
Rush is the most common archetype in competitive online gaming. Attacks happen fast, and often, primarily to disable the enemy's prospect of building up or perhaps even destroying them entirely. However, this team isn't just about attacking early. It's also about keeping your opponent on the back foot for as much of the game as possible with large numbers of light vehicles, and map control.
Turtle is more common in casual gaming circles and in singleplayer. Because AI doesn't adapt very well, turtling is quite easy, but obviously much more difficult against an imaginative and competent human player. However, this team is not just destined to lose against a Rush player. It is also the steam-roll faction, and has some advantages over Rush in early game. It has more defined map control as its goals, and is also the only team with damaging support abilities, base defences, and a superweapon-esque building.
Stealth is the last team, and while it isn't as widely played as the other two, it still exists as a playstyle. Basically, the team is designed to be sneaky, and is supposed to win without the opponent knowing it. Analogous situations include sneaking large numbers of shadow teams into the enemy base without them knowing, or chronosphering a tanya in an IFV into their base. Probably the most micro-heavy faction, they must always keep their opponent's guessing, and hide, and not be afraid to abandon a position if it is overrun.
Each of these teams have their own economy model, their own method of teching up and so on. They are entirely unique in this mod, although you will definitely see concepts taken from other games. These will be explained further in future blog posts.
Next week: A summary of the Rush faction.
However, hopefully you, the reader, will find it interesting enough.
This mod is a sort of conglomeration of various ideas I've had in the past for total conversions, minor mods and so on, but never really got around to doing. When I get around to posting another post next Wednesday, I will likely go through the history of the ideas explored in the post.
Eventually, all these ideas came together when I decided to do a slightly more humorous mod, with each team being named for its playstyle. Since then, I've been thinking a fair amount about how it should work, and have changed quite a lot of things.
The three teams are based on the three major playstyles of RTS games that occur. Well, these are the archetypes as I see them.
Rush is the most common archetype in competitive online gaming. Attacks happen fast, and often, primarily to disable the enemy's prospect of building up or perhaps even destroying them entirely. However, this team isn't just about attacking early. It's also about keeping your opponent on the back foot for as much of the game as possible with large numbers of light vehicles, and map control.
Turtle is more common in casual gaming circles and in singleplayer. Because AI doesn't adapt very well, turtling is quite easy, but obviously much more difficult against an imaginative and competent human player. However, this team is not just destined to lose against a Rush player. It is also the steam-roll faction, and has some advantages over Rush in early game. It has more defined map control as its goals, and is also the only team with damaging support abilities, base defences, and a superweapon-esque building.
Stealth is the last team, and while it isn't as widely played as the other two, it still exists as a playstyle. Basically, the team is designed to be sneaky, and is supposed to win without the opponent knowing it. Analogous situations include sneaking large numbers of shadow teams into the enemy base without them knowing, or chronosphering a tanya in an IFV into their base. Probably the most micro-heavy faction, they must always keep their opponent's guessing, and hide, and not be afraid to abandon a position if it is overrun.
Each of these teams have their own economy model, their own method of teching up and so on. They are entirely unique in this mod, although you will definitely see concepts taken from other games. These will be explained further in future blog posts.
Next week: A summary of the Rush faction.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)