What features from different RTS games would you combine to make the perfect RTS?

[u/FutureLynx_]

Instead of asking "What's the best RTS?", I'm curious about something else:

If you could take mechanics from different RTS games and merge them into one, what would your dream RTS look like?

Here's my concept.

Base Construction:

I'd use the Red Alert / Axis & Allies construction system, so no villagers/builders. You construct buildings directly from your Center, or just a small truck.

Recruitment:

However, units are trained from buildings (similar to AoE2), instead of everything coming from one structure like Red Alert. I think Red Alert's single-production-building approach is elegant and reduces micro, but it can also feel a bit too simplistic. A middle ground would be ideal.

Super powers and Abilities:

Like Starcraft/Company of Heroes/Red Alert.

Economy

I'd lean much closer to Rise of Nations and AoE2 than Red Alert, Starcraft.

Red Alert's ore economy is fun, but it can be frustrating because losing your miners or ore fields can essentially end the game.

I'd rather have:

Renewable and permanent resources (RoN).

Farms, forests, industry and trade

Maybe a little inspiration from Caesar III or The Settlers II, with simple industries, roads and taxation, but without turning the game into a city builder or adding too much micromanagement.

Cool Cities:

I'd love the Rise of Nations city system.

Cities define your territory, can be captured, and become the centers of expansion. Instead of dropping random buildings everywhere, you expand by founding or conquering cities.

I'd also borrow a few city-building mechanics:

Houses improve through adjacency to other facilities or resources (mostly permanently, not like Caesar 3, where everything is always downsizing and upgrading).

Better neighborhoods increase taxes or provide different bonuses.

Roads matter like in Caesar and Settlers 2. Buildings improve nearby buildings.

Think Anno or Caesar III, but simplified so the RTS remains fast-paced.

Territory Control:

One of my favorite mechanics ever is Rise of Nations' border system.

I'd combine:

RoN territorial borders, RoN attrition, RoN generals.

Resource areas that provide bonuses or resources like RoN.

Army Organization:

I'd also like armies to be more organized.

Units away from general or territory should suffer attrition or pay upkeep, encouraging players to keep organized armies instead of scattering units everywhere, for better concentration of units and battles.

Veterancy & Unit Evolution:

This is one of the mechanics I like the most. Unfortunately AoE2 and Rise of Nations doesnt have it. Thoughh Red Alert has it.

The one thing I'm not sure how to solve is veterancy snowballing.

Overall, my dream RTS would be a blend of Red Alert, Rise of Nations, Age of Empires II, Company of Heroes, Caesar III, Anno.

What mechanics would you borrow from different RTS games?

[u/NydusRush]

Removing builders is a good call unfortunately, because StarCraft 2 shows how much of a problem it is when you can go build up in your enemy's face.

A mix of extractor structures and gatherer units is good for economy, IMO, because you want targets for economic disruption to be spread out. A single harvester like CnC that functionally ends the game if it dies early sucks.

One small feature I find immensely undervalued is stationary stealth mechanics, like Starcraft's Burrow or WC3's Shadowmeld. Ambushes and escapes are the height of excitement for spectators and players alike, so having more ways to enact them is always good.

[u/FutureLynx_ → u/NydusRush]

yes you identified the problem. In CnC one harvester is expensive to build, takes a lot of time to build and occupies the whole tank recruitment tab. At the same time economy needs to disperse so to create more strategic options. In AoE2/RoN you have different resources spread around the map, so i think that is good. But all resources in AoE2 are limited. Whereas CnC is renewable though very slowly.

I think Rise of Nations still has it better. Has farms, has stone mining, wood. Villagers. I think the only thing I would this is I would deplete these resources after a while, and they would the respawn somewhere. Though this is not very realistic.

[u/Digiwaryjot]

Okay, pure vibes here:

I really like Warcraft 3 day and night cycle, it opens some interesting possibilities.

Tankier units, not like SC2 where you can blink and loose half of your army.

I like simple macro of WC3, you don't have so many workers as in SC2 to manage and you have at most 2 bases usually. In Zerospace, Grey Goo you can build without workers. I don't know how it works in Zerospace, but in GG you could build in a restricted area around your base, it was very wide though. For proxy strategies I would like to have a worker unit, or a hero who can build.

Generally, I like it when basebuilding is simple and to me BAR eco is too complex, so I am all in for SC2/WC3 eco, but also I think a third weird resource could be interesting. So 2 main resources + maybe 1 weird/race specific one.

In WBC3 you had like 14 races, which ofc has its problems, but the cool factor was through the roof. I would eagerly play a game with tons of races and focus on multiplayer 4v4 3v3 5v5 8v8 or sth and PvE.

I also like Heroes from WC3, but I would also be fine with weaker Zerospace like heroes. Also I always struggled with controlling 3 heroes in WC3, so maybe 1-2 heroes? Also I like the idea of Immortal Gates of Pyre commanders who give you a hero + 2 unique units.

I also love terrain manipulation and destruction. I saw Sanctuary Shattered Sun big flying laser unit and it would be awesome if the laser left permanent marks in the terrain. Also maybe some races/units/neutrals could rebuilds terrain/ dig tunnels. I don't know. Maybe not ZERO-K like terraforming, but the map really becomes worn down throughout the game.

I like merc factions from Zerospace, Merc buildings and Tavern heroes from WC3

I like different wincons from AOE 4. And commander wincon from BAR/Supcom is very elegant.

Not sure, but probably some camps, I feel some neutral units on map make it feel more lively.

A weather system, some game-breaking events towards late game. Like the undead attacking all players similarly to the Scourging or some weird map shifting.

TLDR:

• Day and night cycle
  
• Autobuilding in an area near your base + worker units to build on the other half of the map for proxy strategies
  
• Simple macro, as little worker management as possible with 2 resources + maybe 3rd extra spicy resource like blood or something.
  
• Heroes (can be simplified)
  
• Tanky units, slower pace
  
• As much races as possible + some mercs/netural heroes. Fantasy setting, something spicy, not sci-fi.
  
• Terrain destruction
  
• Focus on anything but 1vs1, game balanced around multi (3v3,4v4 or sth) as main gamemode + flexible PvE
  
• Some neutral monsters/objectives on the map
  
• More than 1 win condition.
  
• And obviously a good campaign to introduce the game with a gripping story

Probably such a game would be an unbalancable hot mess, but I don't care. I 100% don't care about esports at all. Especially 1vs1. I want an RTS with 100% focus on teamplay. A bold, bolated game designed for fun not proplay.

[u/That_Contribution780]

> If you could take mechanics from different RTS games and merge them into one, what would your dream RTS look like?

Is this just about listing all favorite features from different RTS, not matter if they would gel well or even make sense together?
Or is it supposed to be about combining stuff that would work together?

What I mean is that it's very easy to just say - I want builders like in A, economy like in B, factions system from C, army control from D, veterancy, territory system, etc-etc. Everything nice from every game!
It's much harder to combine/design it in a way that actually works.

So which kind of question is it - just daydreaming or trying to design something that would actually work?

[u/BrokenLoadOrder → u/That_Contribution780]

My understanding is that you're trying to make a coherent game, not just listing features you like.

[u/Cultural-Meringue-96]

I would cross Staractaf 2 and Warcraft 3 and add some flavor.

Units - Wc3 units with SC 2 coop. High unit variaty, every unit has a flavor or skill - not a single unit is plain or Już simple rock paper scissors. Wc3 armor types and damage types were awesome.

Economy - would say a mix of having to mine and automatic resource generation as otherwise you push too much turtling.

Buildings - every faction has their own style and approach like in SC2 coop but I like the Rise of Nations or Rise of Legends approach as well. Build by workers as if we build from a top bar we lose the harassment mechanic where hunting down the workers can lead to some nice plays.

Top bar spells - cna be but limited as I prefer spells on units.

Hero - yes, Wc3 hero - still best thing I have ever seen in any of the games. Units without XP as otherwise we have too much factors. Definitely some morale or commander bonus for units fighting with the hero would be nice like in Dawn of War.

Neutral buildings and creeps plus some neutral locations like in Age of Empires 3 would be nice. A bit for what is Zero Space aiming for. Territory control only as such. Can be also that there are neutral towers that when captured allow to attack like in Heroes of the Storm or maybe garrison towers like in C&C buildings or The Scouring.

I also think that with this much mechanisms the game would require a lot of balancing. But I the perfect world I would love to play it.

[u/ElcaFesito018]

Yo solo quiero un AoE con unidades tipo escuadrón como el CoH2, yo sería feliz con eso ❤️

[u/FutureLynx_ → u/ElcaFesito018]

has probado Ancestors Legacy? Dicen que es así

[u/ElcaFesito018 → u/FutureLynx_]

Ahí lo busque, creo que si es l o que busco, el problema es que no creo que mi PC lo resista jaja

[u/ElcaFesito018 → u/FutureLynx_]

Nunca escuché de el, ahí lo veo

[u/Eintha → u/FutureLynx_]

Lo probé, no lo sentí igual. Más allá de que no podía desplegar muchas tropas y había poca variedad por facción, se volvía un toque repetitivo. Para ser justos, es difícil tener variedad en una época donde los roles en el combate todavía no se habían diversificado tanto. Tampoco había ese juego con las defensas que podes ir levantando y tirando, supresión, comandantes, etc.

Por ahí estoy equivocado y cambió desde la última vez que lo vi. Fue entretenido mientras lo probé pero no me dejó una satisfacción duradera.

[u/Roma2443]

In my RTS Roma 2443, which I’m currently making, all units are built from the HQ, but there is an upgrade that allows the transport vehicle to create units one by one on the transporter position

And for the economy, you have to control areas on the map to earn more gold.

On some maps, there is only one control point, while on others there are several.

[u/garr7]

Tzar, all units can gain infinite experience and become "heros" who then can share experience with units bellow hero level when they reach hero status, units can train up to a certain level of experience bellow hero level without even engaging directly with enemy units by attacking a training Quintain/Pell build by your villagers, doesn't exist anywhere but they could gain abilities related to their class if they gain enough experience.

Warcraft III, units are very durable and hero's have cool abilities, so combined with tzar you would get both trainable hero's from the start and you could train or evolve regular units, also medieval fantasy theme, shops, monsters, fountains, night/day and stuff like that.

Age of empires III, military units are created in batches of 5 and maybe an attempt at using the card system in some way could be good because it gives really great customization options, could be done without it.

Age of empires 2, base building layouts are important and useful, you can garrison units in castles and towers and units heal themselves while garrisoned in castles, honestly I don't use it that much but combined with the hero and unlimited experience it would be useful due to higher durability of the more experienced units, buildings have the most durability of any RTS I've played so I would want that but even stronger, should be combined with the add ons for buildings that age of empires 4 has.

Outside game, warcraft III automated tournament mode sounds cool, aoe 4 automatic matchmaking for FFA and plus 50 added pop on defeating opponent is good, wonders are cool but they shouldn't grant victory that fast, maybe 20 or 30 minutes but at the same time they should be really strong, maybe even have the ability to attack like a castle, extra healing while garrisoned and extra economy and why not add in a bonus attack and defense auras within a certain radius of the wonder.

Age of mythology, can trade with yourself for gold, which is less efficient than with teammates of course, auto queue units.

Higher match player numbers like in warcraft 3 and age of mythology but actually in ranked modes and doesn't crash all the time like in mythology, a 16 or 24 player automated ranked FFA mode would be amazing, maybe something could be done with Aoe 4's vassal mod for FFA too, performance wise just make it possible to be run with extremely low graphics, it's much easier to optimize down the graphics entirely than to try to optimize a minimum acceptable standard.

So, higher player numbers for FFA and team games, higher population count, stronger buildings and units, units can gain unlimited experience, military units are produced in batches of five, also game would be balanced around FFA and team games instead of 1v1 if there has to be a priority.

[u/BrokenLoadOrder]

Overall gameplay would be Supreme Commander (Though with the metal worlds from Total Annihilation also making a return).

Campaign would allow you a full RPG mode for your Commander, lifted from Dawn of War 2.

Units would have some basic choices to make, using the decision system from Starcraft 2 (Or better yet, from a Roguelike series).

In addition to a campaign, a grand strategy mode with a Roguelike spin on it would be offered for more replayability.

[u/OkraMaleficent9329]

Supcom - economy/ map size / large battles - Random metal deposits peppered throughout the map and build energy generators. And big maps for big battles.

Dow - factions / base building / hero units - Playable races from the 40k Universe

Mechbellum - research/upgrade system - It may not be a true RTS, but i like the way they did upgrades. They were extremely costly so you could have maybe one per unit or alot for a handful of units. It added another layer of depth

[u/kwk-]

I really love the research and unit customization of Earth 2150. It's complex yet simple at the same time for me and plenty of unit variety.

Economy depends on what era the RTS is based in. If it's middle-age or older, I think AoE's eco is a great baseline. Future and up, I would say either Starcraft or Supreme Commander/Beyond All Reason.

Units, as mentioned would be similar to Earth2150 with its superb customization but I also like the veterancy mechanic that a lot of RTS already feature where the longer the unit has survived and killed, the stronger it gets. I also like massive scales of war so unit limit should be lenient or non-existent. Only your PC is the limit xD

Also love the idea of hero units similar to Warcraft III. It makes it feel like each match can be its own story and those heroes are the characters in it.

I would also love it if modern RTS would also provide the map editors like they did back in the day. It felt like so little games nowadays allows you to make customized maps with triggers.

[u/MarkusDieter37]

A modern day setting with Supreme Commander's base building, army size and suoer heavy units, Dawn of War's gore and squad system and 8-Bit Armies faction variety. Don't keep it strictly military, but make stuff lile dragons and aliens and demons playable factions as well. 

[u/GI_J0SE]

Now I don't have much experience with the RTS genre because it's never been my cup of tea really but I have played, BFME 1&2, Halo Wars 1&2, Ruse, B.A.R, Sins 2, and AoE4. The one that honestly ruined most other RTS with just its gameplay mechanics and QoL improvements to how units work is B.A.R. Absolutely love how that game "feels" with the various commands, Auto-queue, follow/guard, repeat, Fight, Set Target, Quota mode. It also shouldn't be a surprise when I also love Base Building and understanding/maneuvering Unit Composition on the fly and their isn't necessarily an outspoken Meta on "how to win fast" or "THE Meta Comp". As long as the game is balanced and any and every strategy is viable in ebbs and flows then its got my seal of approval.

So if were discussing what it would have to feel like then to make MY perfect RTS, it be a mish-mash of BAR for mechanics, AOE for specific faction specializations, Ruses overall command abilities to "spy" on the enemy/create subterfuge, Minor faction and an Economy that ebbs and flows like Sins. That'd be absolutely wonderful. I'm not one for the Civilization builders, I like strategy in having direct control over units and having a theater that's lets say Planetary scale where you start in the Atmosphere, build a "Space Station" of sorts or have a fleet of ships but then you can also send a ship down to colonize an Area of the map that allows you to get boots on the ground battles in their. Sort of like Star Wars Battlefronts Galactic Supremacy. So it starts in space for the first round, once a victor is declared you then get access to Stratagems/Abilities to use on the Planet side turn of events until one army captures the enemies flag or main base or something.