Obviously, since this is a mod and not a fully fledged game, there are a number of things that I would have liked to have done but couldn't because of engine limitations or hardcoded settings. Some of these were unrealistic from the get-go, for instance, the Stealth Basic AI Infantry would have been able to hack an enemy's superweapon, giving the Stealth player the ability to prematurely fire off the superweapon's next shot (but only after it has finished loading, obviously). Some other things have been a little less obvious, its inability to being implemented only apparent after trying to code it.

The latest being the Turtle technology mechanic. Originally, they were intended to have 4 sets of two upgrades, and from each set they could choose one permanent upgrade, forgoing the other. However, thanks to the Zero Hour engine being unable to handle mutually exclusive global upgrades, I have had to change this. Now, Turtle must select their upgrades in a specific order (which I have yet to decide, but I suspect it will go basic infantry, vehicle, advanced infantry, other... Vehicle and advanced infantry could switch).

Anyway, on to the economy mechanics of the game.

Pretty early on in designing this mod, I decided that each team should have different economy mechanics. The main reason for this is that I thought it would be cool, and also unique. As it turns out, Universe at War had 2 different economy models, and quite a lot of modern games have different resource collectors for each of their teams.

However, in all those games, even Universe at War, each team's economy is comparable to the other. Well, sure, the Masari have those resource collector buildings, but that's the most different team. I wanted to make each economy as different and unrecognisable as I could. These economic models should change the strategies of each team. I will start with the Turtle's resource model, as it is the most similar to the standard RTS economy.

Turtle has 3 different resources, although most people won't think of the second two as resources, even though they are resources by definition. The first is money, the second is power, and the last is Generals points. The other two teams do not have to manage power. The last two are pretty simple, and anyone who has played RTS games before should be familiar. Power is a non-cumulative sustainable resource, and Generals Points are a cumulative non-sustainable resource. Power is generated by Turtle Power Plants, and Generals Points are gotten by killing enemy units. Good, now what about money?

Turtle gets its money in the same way that all C&C Generals teams do at the start of any skirmish game. You have a supply zone, from which you collect supplies, and then those supply collectors have to make their way back to your Resource Operations base, whereupon you receive your funds.

To mix things up a bit, you cannot individually order your supply collectors, but they are automatically rebuilt for free from your ROB if they are taken out by an enemy raid. This obviously means that you don't have to concentrate as much on your resources, as the enemy will have to destroy the ROB before you need any active input.

This method of resource collecting makes money a cumulative non-sustainable resource. This means that, yes, Turtle has a limited amount of money they can collect during a game, between fifty thousand and two hundred thousand 'moneys' a game, so long as they acquire at least one more supply zone.

The limit means that a Turtle player cannot hide behind a wall of turrets and buildings living off exponential economic growth and superweapons. They must, at some points, venture out of their base and attack their enemies, or at least set up a winning position before their money runs out.

The fact that their entire economy can be contained around these supply areas means that Turtle only needs to defend these relatively small areas to avoid harrassment. Conversely, a hypothetical opponent can camp these locations to attempt to prevent the Turtle player from getting income from these locations, although this is unadvisable as a Turtle's force is generally more powerful in engagements that they choose.

Rush's economic model is different again. They do not have to deal with power, only money and General's points. Their method of income is dependent on how many civilian buildings they have garrisoned. The structure generates money over time (presumably from the ether). This means that money for Rush is a cumulative sustainable income source.

This economy model opens the door for a large number of strategies otherwise not present in the RTS. For instance, one could perform a scorched earch strategy by retreated and destroying all civilian structures that were behind your front line, or advancing and doing the same. With a Rush mirror game, the thought process becomes a bit more complex, as civilian buildings you destroy are also a hit to your economy.

This economy model is a slight nerf to your rush, as you can immediately rush your resources, rush your opponents, but most likely not both. Since you use your military units, as opposed to seperate resource collecting units to get resources, you can't do both.

In a Rush mirror, players must also weigh up whether it is better to destroy the building, or attempt to capture it for their own use. Obviously, other players have to make the same choice, but have less incentive to capture buildings.

Without considering an opponent, a Rush player must also decide whether to split up his forces and gain the most income for the most risk, or put all his eggs in one basket, and have many infantry in one building. This decision is mostly at the start of the game, as later in the game other things influence your decisions, like how your opponents are going about taking down your economy.

The Rush economy is intended to be the easiest to 'boom', but also the easiest to harrass. This makes Rush a more high-risk faction to play and build on, rather much like the rest of its strategy. The economy is permanent, so barring outside influences, Rush can continue to produce units forever.

The last economy is Stealth's economy, which is hugely dissimilar to the standard RTS economy. While Turtle is similar to many many games, and Rush has a similar one to the latest Relic games (and some older games, most likely), Stealth doesn't really have an analagous economy model. They only get money (and General's Points) through killing. You kill an enemy unit, you get money equal to the value of the target. This is the only way to get money, is by killing.

This economy model promotes stealthy strategies and tactics. You should employ hit and run attacks, or ambushes, in order to maximise your kills to death. If you don't, your money reserves will dwindle down until there is nothing left. This obviously discourages spam, since it's difficult to get more money to replace losses, and once your enemy counters one unit, it's uneconomical to keep producing that unit.

This economy is also a nerf. One of the things often encountered in RTS games is that stealthed unit spam is much more difficult to beat than regular unit spam, simply because the enemy can't employ force concentration correctly. Thus, this economy means that you cannot be a stealth player in a larger multiplayer game and slowly build up an epic force of unstoppability. You have to win using non-standard strategies, and not win through attrition (as most RTS games are won by).

The economies are intended to be as different as possible. This does mean that the goal "get more money" is not synonymous with "harrass enemy's economy". This also means that economy harrassment is different depending on who you are facing, and thus increases the importance of scouting at the start of a match.

Here are some other notes:
A resource is cumulative if you get some of the resource now, and can later spend it so long as you have production structures or upgrades to spend it on. A cumulative resource is money from C&C Generals, or Requisition (and power) from Dawn of War. It is non-cumulative if once the resource gatherer/structure is down you may no longer use the resource points acquired. For instance, power in any C&C game (barring Renegade), or Population Cap in Starcraft. You need more overlords!
A resource is sustainable if it can be acquired indefinitely. For example, money in C&C generals, Requisition and power from Dawn of war etc. A resource is non-sustainable if there is a point at which you can get no more of the resource. For instance, General's points in Generals, Population Cap in Starcraft etc.

Anyway, next week I'll dump up a summary of the Turtle Faction.