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.

Second Post again

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.

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!

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.